Poker Player is a Survivor

Author: Simon Dexter

The undoubted popularity of poker emerged again this week with the news that the first professional poker player will appear in this season’s run of the popular US TV series Survivor.

The honour goes to the 36-year-old Jean Robert Bellande, a player who has already earned $750,000 in tournaments this season and who first came to prominence when finishing third in the World Series of Poker circuit event in 2005 and is known for his aggressive table manner. That full-on style saw him being invited to the Bad Boys of Poker event last year won by Tony G .

The show, for anyone who does not know it, is a Big Brother style event usually set on some paradise island where the contestants battle for ’survival’ and face the public vote each week. The show has been running now for 15 seasons and regularly features in the top ten of programmes watched in the US. Bellande is hoping to use some of the skills he has developed in poker tournaments to help him land the huge first prize.

This season’s Survivor will take place for the first time in China.

“Poker is a mental game, and I think ‘Survivor’ is a mental game,” said Bellande on the CBS website.

“My strategy for this “Survivor: China” is going to be similar to my strategy in a poker tournament. For the first couple hours, I am evaluating my opponents; figuring out who the strong players are, who the weak players are, and then I plan my attack accordingly.”

Surprisingly, the poker star is among one of the outsiders for glory and can be backed at a healthy 18/1 to win the title. Now, I could be way off the mark but I thought these knock-out reality shows were about cleverness and cunning. Therefore it is safe to say that any professional poker player would appear to the necessary guile and wit to do well on this type of programme.

This would not be my usual betting medium (I got my fingers burnt backing Maggot to win Celebrity Big Brother a couple of years ago) but it is possible the New Yorker could rate as a shrewd bet to land the title. This is, of course, if he takes it seriously.

However, with one million dollars up for grabs there is a good chance he will be trying his hardest to land the TV title.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 4:53 pm and is filed under News & Promotions Blog, Poker News. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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