Guest of honour at the Hold’em 100 was Gavin Griffin, winner of the Season 3 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. He is in town with his girlfriend Kristen, both of whom are no strangers to raising money for a cause close to their hearts.

Much publicised in Monte Carlo was Gavin and Kristen’s support for the Avon Walk for Life, a breast cancer charity in the United States and the reason behind Gavin’s shock of pink hair - the colour of breast cancer campaigns around the world. Was he surprised how many poker players are happy to dig deep for a good cause?

“I’m not surprised so many poker players turn up for events like this. It’s a good thing – it really allows us to have fun and play wild and crazy for a while and for a good cause.”

There speaks a man after four re-buys.

“I’m looking forward to my first EPT London this week.” He added. “The EPT has a really good structure and it’s my first time in London. We both expected it to be raining, but there’s all this sunshine! Even with the jetlag though all this travelling is something that I love and I wouldn’t be able to do if I wasn’t a poker player. I’m happy to be here.”

No pink hair, just a pink ribbon for Kristen though...

“I’m an engineer” she laughed, “and I start a new job in 4 weeks. I’d be worried about what they might think!”

Fair enough.


Good form

John Talabalai, on a solid run of form after his second place in the WSOP Europe last week, is pretty excited about his first EPT.


John Tabatabai

“After I came second in the WSOP Europe I got a call asking if I’d like to come down to the Hold’em 100. I’m not sure how many re-buys I’ve had. I’ve been all in a lot. But it’s a fun table with a lot of locals from the Vic Casino. There’s Gavin Griffin and Vicky Coren all-in on every hand. No idea how many re-buys though. Four or five?”


In the swing of things

Daniel Negreanu was away from his table between deals, golf club in hand taking a few swings (where do you find a golf club at short notice?) Was the man famous for re-buys on his game today?

“I’ve been really lucky - I keep winning hands! So not many re-buys for me. But other people were re-buying so that’s good! (Swing) It’s been fun working with PokerStars so far. I get to travel to a lot of cool cities here in Europe and I’m falling in love with a lot of places. (Swing) And London will be my second EPT – so I’m looking forward to it.

So is he actually good at golf?

“Getting better...” he smiles (Swing)

Full coverage of the Season 4 EPT London begins on Tuesday.