Nikhil Persaud is a professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and he has been playing

for several years. He started off life as an STT grinder on

Ladbrokes Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are c ...

Poker, and he now plays online under the alias ‘reraiseallin.’ Persaud participated in a number of televised events, including the 2009 series: ''

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 ...

''. His best performance on the small screen came in 2006 when he won both his heat and semi-final of the European Open III in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

before finishing fifth in the final for $25,000. On the road to the final, he defeated likes of

Ian Frazer Ian Hector Frazer (born 6 January 1953) is a Scottish-born Australian immunologist, the founding CEO and Director of Research of the Translational Research Institute (Australia). Frazer and Jian Zhou developed and patented the basic technolog ...

and

Thomas Bihl Thomas Bihl (born 1975) is a German poker player who became the first person to win a World Series of Poker bracelet outside Las Vegas, Nevada. Bihl was sponsored by Betfair, the official sponsor of the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) ...

, but the event was ultimately won by Irish veteran

Liam Flood Liam Flood ( 1943 – 16 August 2014) was an Irish bookmaker and professional poker player who was the 1997 European poker champion.Kirby, Terry (2005)Poker playing robots? Surely not, ''The Independent'', 6 July 2005, retrieved 7 November 201 ...

. He writes a monthly strategy column for

Bluff Magazine ''Bluff'' was an American magazine specializing in the game of poker. Separate editions were also published for Europe, Latin America, South Africa and Australasia. The American edition began as a bimonthly in October 2004 and went monthly in Aug ...

, and he is often featured as a speaker at various Boot Camps across the country, including the 2009 and 2010 Poker in the Park in

and

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...

. Persaud also commentates alongside

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 ...

Matchroom Sport Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool (cue sports), ...

televised poker shows. On April 27, 2009, Persaud co-launched both Black Belt Poker with fellow poker pro and the 2008 Irish Open champion

Neil Channing Neil Andrew Channing (born 9 December 1967 in Reading, Berkshire) is an English professional poker player and author based in Maida Vale, London. He is the 2008 Irish Poker Open champion. He is also the Ambassador for Sky Poker. Before turning ...

. He is also sponsored by the site as one of their Brown Belts. In 2009, Persaud cashed in the

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

Main Event, finishing 549th for $23,196. He also made the money in 2005. On November 22, 2010, Persaud was the winner of the 2010

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 gaming ...

at the London Grosvenor Victoria Casino, defeating amongst others; Team

Pokerstars PokerStars is an online poker cardroom that was a part of The Stars Group until it was sold to Flutter Entertainment on May 5, 2020. It can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for the Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It is the large ...

Pro, 2006 London EPT winner

Victoria Coren Victoria Elizabeth Coren Mitchell (' Coren; born ) is a British writer, TV presenter and professional poker player. Coren Mitchell writes weekly columns for ''The Telegraph'' and has hosted the BBC television quiz show ''Only Connect'' since 20 ...

, 2010 EPT Vilamoura winner Toby Lewis, and eventual runner-up Leon Louis.

References

External links

Hendon Mob Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Persaud, Nik Poker players from London Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British sportspeople of Indian descent