Roy "The Boy" Brindley (born June 10, 1969 in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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, now living in

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; ga, Cill Mhantáin , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; non, Víkingaló) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. It is located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island. According to the 2016 census, it has ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Early years

Before his poker career, Brindley was involved in

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

, and worked in a kennels near

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

at the age of 17, then moving to other kennels in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

and

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

before moving to

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

, where he was a professional greyhound trainer from 1991 to 1995. Brindley moved to America in 1995 to continue training greyhounds, but moved back soon after. Following some personal crises Brindley ended up living on the street. Following spells as a TV presenter for regional TV (Town TV, Andover), freelance journalist and as a magazine editor (''Greyhound Monthly Magazine''), he took up poker playing on arrival in Ireland in 2001.

Poker career

After seeing a documentary on

Noel Furlong John James Furlong (25 December 1937 – 27 June 2021) was an Irish businessman and poker player who won the 1999 World Series of Poker main event. Early life Furlong was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He originally became a milliona ...

winning the 1999 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Brindley took up poker in early 2001. In 2002, Brindley won seven ranking

tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

, and finished second to

Kirill Gerasimov Kirill Gerasimov (russian: Кирилл Герасимов, born June 5, 1971 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian professional poker player. Personal life Gerasimov worked as an insurance salesman in Moscow, and started entering poker tournam ...

in 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 gaming ...

(WHUPC). At the time of the WHUPC, Brindley had so little cash that he couldn't afford a taxi home and had to walk back to his hotel every night of the tournament. Yet, after finishing second, Brindley was distraught and came close to throwing his €40,000 winnings out of the hotel window. Brindley also finished third in the 2005

William Hill Poker Grand Prix William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, second in the Masterclassics of Poker Omaha event in 2006, second in the Paris Open of Poker in 2007 and won the televised Betfair Poker Masters of Europe in 2007. As for titles no Player has won more European ranking tournaments than him despite his relatively short career. In addition to his playing career, Brindley regularly commentated on SKY Sports' Poker Million and acted as an industry spokesman. He is a regular

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

for

Card Player Magazine Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position. Position Games of Anglo-American origin In games of Anglo-American origin played in English-speaking countries, ...

and works as a poker journalist for various newspapers. His autobiography, ''Life's a Gamble'', was published on February 26, 2009 by Transworld. As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceed $800,000.Hendon Mob tournament results: Roy Brindley
/ref> From the Spring of 2012 Brindley has acted as the resident F1 betting expert on

At The Races Sky Sports Racing (formerly At The Races) is a British pay television channel devoted to horse racing. A joint venture between Sky Group and Arena Racing Company, it broadcasts coverage of domestic, European and international horse racing eve ...

. In July 2013 he appeared on

Calvin Ayre Calvin Edward Ayre (born May 25, 1961, in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian- Antiguan entrepreneur based in Antigua and Barbuda. He is the founder of the Ayre Group and Bodog entertainment brand. In 2000, Ayre launched online gambling c ...

TV where he announced he was in legal litigation with his sponsors of nine years, Ladbrokes, for their cessation of affiliate payments and breach of contract. In the mid-late 2010's Brindley wrote for BetVictor's blog and Gambling.com. He has made the odd foray back into poker. In 2017 he beat 1,238 rivals to land the LS30 Series in Dublin. He also represented Ireland at the Match Poker European Nations Cup in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2019. His team finished second. As of 2021 he is a full-time columnist for Online-Casinos.com and BestBettingSites.com.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brindley, Roy 1969 births English male journalists English poker players British gambling writers Living people Poker commentators