£300,000 profit for professional poker player
Alex Goulder, who dropped out of Nottingham University
From low stakes poker in a snooker hall near the Grafton centre to an international lifestyle playing some of the biggest tournaments in the world, Alex Goulder has no regrets over the gamble he took for a career in cards.
The 25-year-old former Cambridge schoolboy, who quit his economics degree at Nottingham University, has made £300,000 profit in the last four years playing tournaments in places including Colombia, Macau and Morocco.
Alex, who went to The Perse School and now lives in Barcelona, scooped one of his biggest wins when he took home £23,000 at a tournament this month at Nottingham's Dusk Till Dawn, which is the biggest poker venue in Europe. The ex-Saffron Walden resident said it all "snowballed" from visiting a £10 poker tournament at WT's snooker club in Burleigh Street, Cambridge.
He said: "I've been very lucky and poker has afforded me a really great lifestyle. Because I travel a lot to play tournaments all over the world I get to experience the glamorous side of it. "Barely a month goes by without a trip abroad, I love that part of the job "All my closest friends do the same so we travel together and support and learn from each other which really helps because poker can be such a cruel game sometimes.
He added: "It's not all fun and games. You have long periods of losing which is really tough mentally – and financially. "People love the idea of travelling the world being your own boss, but when you tell them there's no guaranteed pay cheque and you can have losing months they're quickly put off."
Alex, who was initially looking for a career in finance, said he was nervous about how his parents would react to his change in career plans, adding it was "gradual process" of "easing them" into the idea of him becoming a professional cards player.
He said they had not seemed worried about it ever since they watched him on an internet stream get his first big win, but he added: "I think inside they might wish I was doing something more 'normal' though."
His mum Caroline, who lives in Great Shelford and works at the Cambridge University Music Society, said she struggles to follow the rules and terminology, but tracks his progress online and knows things are going well when he's got a bit pile of chips in front of him.
She said: "It's not the career we would have chosen for him, but he certainly seems happy and we would never put pressure on him to move away from it." But Alex is already considering other careers.
He said: "Poker is getting tougher every year and there's also new legislation being brought in all the time so the future is not exactly secured by any means.
"I want to use the money I've earned from poker to set up a business or buy into a start-up business. I can't see myself having an office job after doing this though."
