For those of you who haven’t heard of me, my name is Dave Colclough, often known by the imaginative pseudonym of 'El Blondie'. I am now a Professional Poker Player. I guess!! All I do to pay the bills and put food on the table nowadays, is play poker. Its tough but someone’s got to do it!!

I am sponsored by bet365poker.com, part of the bet365 Group Limited, one of the world's leading betting and gaming groups. During the next year I’ll give you an update with a diary of how I am getting on, telling some amusing stories from the past, but more importantly, giving you some tips on how to keep hold of your hard earned cash.

I've been asked to give a brief history, so please excuse any bragging... I started playing poker 19 years ago. My flatmate gave me a few lessons and a basic strategy on how to play 7 card stud one night, and then dragged me off to the Northampton Rubicon Casino to play a £10 7 Card Stud Competition. I suspected a few flaws in his strategy on the first night. Three months later, I had refined it enough to win my first tournament.

Unfortunately I worked as an IT Consultant until 2000, and it didn't half get in the way of Poker. Nevertheless, I would regularly burn the candle at both ends, regularly playing competitions at Churchills in Stoke, or the Northampton , Victoria and Luton Casinos when working further south. I won my first major championship, the UK Hold'Em Championship at the Park Casino in 1995. At the latest count, (Feb 2004), I think I have won 97 Casino Tournaments, not including satellites or online tournies. So hopefully, we will chalk up number 100 very soon.

I concentrated solely on Poker in 2003, having given up all my previous business interests. And, I was lucky enough to be voted European Player of the Year for 2003, having broken the record for the amount of final tables reached in ranking tournaments. In the States , I reached 2 final tables in the 2003 World Series of Poker at Las Vegas , beaten by Eddie Scharf in the Limit Omaha event. I also started playing a lot of online tournaments during 2003 and made 2 final tables in the Online World Series. The online fields are huge, its not unusual to have 1500 players. Yes 1500!

Speak to you soon.