In recent years, we’ve seen various successful sports stars try their hand at poker with mixed success. Most notably we’ve seen former World No. 1 tennis player, Yevgeny Kafelnikov switch to poker, who made a series of impressive finishes at the World Series of Poker 2005. And more recently, Australian cricket legend, Shane Warne, announced his retirement from first-class cricket to become a professional poker player.
And now, it is believed that perhaps that global sports superstar, soccer player, David Beckham, will be playing at this years World Series of Poker Europe.
It is understood that organizers Harrah’s Entertainment have struck a deal which will grant Beckham a wild-card entrance into the £10,000 event. Beckham is one of the most recognizable figures in world sport and it is believed that his presence in the tournament will see viewing figures soar, where he has a cult following all over the world, especially in South-East Asia.
The WSOPE is to be held on September 19th until October 1st in London, England, which will see Beckham miss at least one soccer match for LA Galaxy.
Beckham’s poker skills have yet to be revealed on television, however, it is believed that Beckham first learned the game, when away on England duty, playing with team-mates, Michael Owen and Teddy Sheringham. Sheringham himself, is a respected poker player amongst the UK poker community, and has been seen to make various appearances on the UK Poker Circuit.
An insider revealed “Teddy taught him the basics and David has had an interest in the game ever since. He loves the mind games involved.”
The extent of Beckham’s poker skills have yet to be seen, however, one thing that we do know, is that he will certainly bring a strong table presence with him and a following which would be unparallelled with any professional poker player.