Nic Szeremeta (1943 - 25 January 2021) was a poker player of English and Polish descent, the publisher of ''Poker Europa'' magazine, and creator of the ''

Late Night Poker ''Late Night Poker'' is a British television series that helped popularize poker in the 2000s. It used "under the table" cameras that enabled the viewer to see each player's cards. The show originally ran for six series between 1999 and 2002 ...

'' television series (and commentator with

Jesse May Jesse May is an American poker commentator and player. Jesse May was born in New York City in 1971 and raised in Madison, New Jersey, where he first became hooked on poker playing with friends. In 1988, he started attending The University of C ...

during its first three series).

Early life

Szeremeta's father, who used to play draw poker himself, was a rear gunner who went missing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Nic was brought up by his mother in Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire in the post-war years. He began playing poker in 1962 during college, where he ran a game from his room. He was eventually asked to leave due to a French

au pair An au pair (; plural: au pairs) is a helper from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a mon ...

being found in his bed.

Career

He formed his own newspaper "The Weekender" in Torbay and magazine publishing group in 1980/81 and sold it in 1989. At the age of 47, he found it difficult to get work, so he bought a betting office. It lost money despite a reasonable turnover, yet was sold at a profit. In 1995, he was made secretary of the European Poker Players' Association. He was permanently on the poker circuit until 1998 when he began editing ''Poker Europa'' magazine. In 1999 he created ''Late Night Poker'' and has been credited for contributing to the poker boom in the UK, although he eventually left the show due to a money dispute and disagreement about the show's direction. He also helped create the

World Heads-Up Poker Championship The World Heads-Up Poker Championship (WHUPC) was an annual elimination-format poker tournament of heads-up no limit Texas hold'em matches. The tournament was co-created by Late Night Poker's Nic Szeremeta, PokerInEurope's Jon Shoreman, and gamin ...

. Nic has played poker in over 10 countries to date. In his retirement years, one of his favourite destinations to play poker is Vienna where he achieved his most recent live cash. Szeremeta was the Independent Newspaper's poker correspondent from 1999 to 2016. His daughter Kate, a former piano teacher, also plays poker and appeared in the first "Late Night Poker" episode. He currently resides in the town of

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...

in the southwest of England. Szeremeta was the first non-American to win the World Series of Poker Media Event in 1996. He is also a keen 7 card stud player and managed to win the Amsterdam Master's Classic (stud tournament) in 1995, which was his biggest live tournament cash ($18,046). Szeremeta's most successful year in terms of poker came in 2006 where he cashed $51,901. As of 2019, his total live tournament winnings stood at $206,659.

Personal life

Szeremeta died on 25 January 2021, aged 77.

References

External links

Szeremeta columns for The Gambling Times

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szeremeta, Nic 1943 births 2021 deaths English poker players Polish poker players Poker commentators British gambling writers Mass media people from Torquay Sportspeople from Torquay