HOW STUDENT DROPOUT
Young Chris with mum
While his mates were out on the town, Chris was playing online poker.
He had learned Texas Hold ’Em at uni and earned over €55,000 while still a 21-year-old student.
A year down the line – and with his mum thinking he was stacking shelves – the winnings were mounting. And mounting.
In six months Chris amassed €110,000. Ten years on and he is the world’s top online poker player with a €15million fortune.
He once even left a casino with a million euros in his rucksack.
SECRET
Not bad, considering he never finished his economics degree.
The Essex lad is now 32, has a base in Las Vegas, a gorgeous wife he met at the poker tables – and a passion for luxury holidays.
Chris was raised in Basildon by NHS worker mum Sonya and credit controller dad Simon.
He went to the University of Essex, then lived in Brighton with pals. And he chuckles as he tells how he kept his gambling secret, saying: “Mum would have gone mad. I was starting to win online but covered my tracks by saying I had a job in a supermarket.”
And when he finally came clean, Sonya feared for him.
Chris explains: “She had only seen poker in the movies and was worried someone was going to shoot me or something. She’d cut out job ads and include notes saying, ‘For when you’ve grown out of this phase’.”
But Chris never did. He won more than a million in prize pots at Cannes in 2011 and LA in 2014. But he has also lost €55,000 in just one day.
He goes on: “Winnings gradually increased over the years. It would have been nice to have a huge win early on but at the same time it kept me more level-headed.
“When I came second at Cannes, it was a bit surreal to win so much. There was another tournament in Italy, so I got a taxi over the border with €1million in Poker made Chris flush my backpack. That was scary. The money was easy to carry because euros come in 500 notes. I wouldn’t do it again but, luckily, I got away with it.” Chris played poker seven days Chris during Friday night card session