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Best of British #7

John Gale

John Gale finally gets his mitts on a bracelet and the money, but it’s the desperate need to be respected by the best players in the game, rather than the cash, which drives him

He’s one of only two British players to win a gold bracelet at this year’s WSOP, ‘will the real John Gale please stand up?’

John Gale lays down his knife and fork and for a moment abandons the steak he’s enjoying in the restaurant at the top of Binion’s Horseshoe casino, and says, ‘My aim is to become the No. 1 ranked poker player in the world.’

This surprises me a little. It seems overly ambitious. And uncharacteristic for someone who majors in humility. Of course, he can be forgiven; he’s still on a high after just winning his first WSOP gold bracelet and becoming only the second British player (Devilfish is the other) to have won both a WSOP and a World Poker Tour title.

But what it really reflects is the contradictory strands in the man’s personality.

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