Hello Tikay, where are you right now?
At home in beautiful Derbyshire, just for a change! The last few months have been hectic. Copenhagen, Deauville, Vienna, Monte Carlo, Dublin. And Belfast & Jesolo in the next few weeks. I usually travel out on Thursday, & return home on Monday. And Wednesday's is the day we record the TV show in London, so not much time at home at the moment. But there's only me, Charlie, & Angell - that's the two cats - so I am a free agent, why not travel & enjoy myself before it's too late, that's my view.

Dave Colclough's website, BlondePoker, has taken you to a number of poker rooms in Europe. Can you explain to the readers what you do at Blonde?
My responsibility is to provide the written content. I am hopeless at managing affiliates, & just don't enjoy it, so I try & stick to the writing, which I thoroughly enjoy. If I could just do one or two things, it would be to write "diary" stuff, "scene & heard" sorta thing, and tournament reports. I could do them all day & all night - and I often do! And I really enjoy doing the Live Updates, especially when we get viewers interacting with us. We have plans to improve the Live Updates big time, if there is a demand for the service, & there does seem to be.

Where is the next stop for Blonde?
Good Question! All sorts of offers have come in, & we are evaluating them now. These include sponsorship of parts of the site, sponsorship or syndication of the Live Updates, & offers for us to provide content to various parties. But the site in un-developed (= not good yet), & the choice we face is marketing a work in progress, or improving the site & then marketing parts of it for sponsorship at a better price. Hence we are keeping our powder dry right now with new content, & building up a nice stock of stuff. And we have pretty much decided to add an online card-room, that will be cool. And some other stuff, but we want to keep that under wraps for a while.

You are also a regular face on the Poker 425 programme, how did you land that job?
A mystery to me! I certainly did not apply for it, what would be the point? But I got invited, right out of the blue, to do a screen test, & the rest is history. No idea how I got through the screen test either, but I sure ain't arguing! It's tremendous fun though. But I'd really like to have a crack at commentating - I think I would be much better as "voice only" than visually, & I do believe I could bring an interesting dimension to it. I like to "paint pictures" with words, and I know most of the players pretty well. William Hill have been terrific, they took a huge gamble in picking me. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, eh?

How long have you been involved in poker? How did it all start for you?
About 5 years. Simon Hawksworth - "Slo-Mo" invited me to Stanleys in Derby for a comp, I finalled in 3 of my first 4, & off I went. Then I tried Nottingham, & hooked up with Julian Thew. It was my first £100 comp, I had finalled in OK shape, & with 4 left, a deal was proposed. Basically, I was being taken advantage of, but Julian, who'd been playing for a while, stood my corner for me, & we have been "partners" ever since. He's a terrific guy, and a very special friend. I have always enjoyed gambling, & have been through the whole lot. Dogs, horses, football, spreads, but Poker now fulfils all my gambling desires, plus I am fascinated by the characters in the game.

Is there a result you are most proud of?
Several, but oddly enough, the results which gave me most satisfaction were not mine! When Julian beat a really strong field to win the Main Event at Luton earlier this year I was as proud as Punch. I have said for a long time that he is as good a player as I have ever seen, & this showed I was right. And Dave Colclough winning the biggie at Walsall recently is near the top too. He's my partner in blondepoker, & I really think a lot of him. He'd had a lean spell for 8 months, & I knew how much the result meant to him. Personally? Runner-up in St Petersburg's main event last year was fun, especially busting Tony G, who'd given me a tough time in the Final, he's a helluva player. I enjoyed the EPT in Deauville too, but made a truly dreadful play on Day Three in the semi when in OK shape & paid the bill. I think I must have made more "Day Two's" than any other player of such little experience, but I need to improve my game at that stage, because I tend to bubble or finish low in the Final. But I enjoy it immensely, & that's what matters to me. It's the contest I enjoy, rather than winning. Just as well.....

During your work you must see a lot of the different aspects to poker. If you could remove something you consider bad for poker, what would it be?
Bad manners & rubdowns. And nippers. I positively LOATHE folks who borrow money & then avoid me. And guys that can't take a beat with a bit of dignity. I believe that if they can't take a beat with good grace, it's hard to give them respect. I have a whole bunch of friends in poker, and they all take their beats like men.

and something you'd like to see more of? (apart from Isabelle Mercier )
I'd love to see a standard set of rules, & a governing body for poker. Football, rugby, tennis, motor racing - they ALL have a standard set of rules, & are better for it. And a governing body could ensure players got a fair deal. I find it astonishing that such a big enterprise as poker is not properly governed. So we see different rulings in different casinos every night of the week. Crazy, & it will end in tears unless someone does something about it.

Any tips for future stars to come out of the UK? (please explain your choice as best you can)
I'll exclude the obvious guys, such as Thewy, who's already made it big. John-Paul Kelly, the boy from Luton, has a huge future, he has maturity & judgement way beyond his years. Greg Junior Hill, from Notts, has some game on him if he gets chipped up. Richard Gryko, once he finds that gear lever.

Will you be at this year's WSOP?
Yes, but unikely to play the big one, much as I'd like to. It's a bit out of my reach, $$ wise, unless the Sponsor Fairy comes along. Fat chance of THAT! But I hope to be doing some Live Updates, that'd be something special I reckon. We are talking to a few folks about financing it, & if the numbers add up, we will do it.

Thank you Tony, I look forward to seeing you in the near future.
Thank YOU Paul, it's been a pleasure.