For some years, snooker and poker have had a strong connection through sponsorship. The moment tobacco companies were forced to bow out, several of the big name poker sites were happy to step in, putting their names to the most prestigious tournaments and their logos on the waistcoats of the top snooker players.
But the connection runs deeper. Back in the 1970s and 80s, top players would be seen waiting to play their shot and smoking the sponsor’s product. Today, just as many get personally involved in poker tournaments, and as we will see from some of the following examples, it is not just to add some celebrity sparkle to proceedings.
Steve Davis
Hendry and O’Sullivan might have won more tournaments, but no player dominated the baize like Steve Davis in the 1980s. He had the ultimate poker face at the table, looking equally unmoved whether he cleared the table or missed a black off its spot, so perhaps it should be no surprise that he has gone on to be highly successful at poker. He has earned $118,000 in live games to date, including participating at five WSOP main events. Davis told one poker publication that poker strategy is not so different to snooker: “Some players would choose the negative option while some would choose the positive. The attacking, or the reckless or the conservative or the percentage; there are different ways of looking at it.”
Jimmy White
“The Whirlwind” is a force of nature, still playing snooker on the pro circuit at the age of 60. He has also created a few storms in poker. When he and Steve Davis were invited to play in the Poker Million in 2003, they surprised everyone by making it to the final table. But that was nothing to the astonishment when White beat everyone in a tense final to walk away with $150,000.
Mark Williams
The Welsh Potting Machine has been described by no less an authority as Stephen Hendry as the best poker player in snooker. Unlike some, he eschews the big live tournaments and prefers to play online, so who knows, if you visit one of the US poker sites listed at Tight Poker you might even run up against him. He’s easy to recognize – he’ll be the Welsh guy with no clothes on.
Ken Doherty
Incredibly, 25 years have gone by since Ken Doherty won his one and only World Snooker Championship. Since then, he has built a successful career as a commentator, but he has also won a few more titles – at the poker table. He won first prize in the 2007 Sports Stars Challenge, and also finished in the money in his home event five years later, when the World Poker Tour visited Dublin. He says Steve Davis got him interested in the game by playing poker backstage on his laptop at major snooker events. He also says he and the other pros often while away idle hours at snooker tournaments with a few friendly games of poker.
