Luis Suárez
With the World Cup coming along like a one of those silent yet super-fast Japanese railway trains it is really bad news that one of its potential superstars might be injured.
Luis Suárez the brilliant yet vicious footballer has a knee injury which may rule him out of Brazil 2014. He has a reputation for not being boring when it comes to playing football and will do anything to win a game. He has been sent off making a blatant handball when Uruguay played Ghana, costing The Magical Tipster many £100’s of pounds when Ghana subsequently missed the penalty. Found guilty of making racist remarks against several players. He has also bitten two opponents because the had the audacity to tackle him when on his way to scoring a goal.
His last biting offence cost him the participation of 10 games which ran into the 2013/14 season, yet, when he came back into the squad, he still managed to score 31 in 33 games and ended up the Premier League Player of the Season and then was voted Europe’s most influential player of the year. So it was going to be a nailed on certainty that fireworks would be flying with his participation in this World Cup.
If he does not play what will he do? Well apparently he will probably play poker as he is one of a growing list of sportsmen and sportswomen who love to play poker. This confirms the argument that poker is a game of skill because it seems very natural that humanity need to compete when relaxing is taken up by a game in which physical exertion may not be obvious but is a vital requirement. Just like in darts the ability to keep a steady hand may not be a strain physically but mentally; in poker being able to control your tells and body language is a premium task.
It is not surprising that two of the World top football players love a game of poker since it is known that Cristiano Ronaldo loves a game of poker. Clearly it cannot be the love of the money since both players will have more money than they can ever spend, and, it cannot be the need to gamble as both players are not known to spend hours in casinos or on race tracks. It is the challenge that they crave and any level of poker will give them that in spades.
Here are a list of other well known poker players who were or still are top players in their chosen field of activity.
Steve Davis – snooker champion
Teddy Sheringham – footballer
Rafael Nadal – tennis legend
Gerard Pique – footballer and Mr Shakira
Fatima Moreira De Melo – hockey gold medal winner
Sergio Garcia – golf
Marcus Hellner – cross-country skiing
Ronaldo – football superstar
Shane Warne – cricket superstar
Boris Becker – former tennis wunderkind
Paul Pierce – NBA ‘The Truth’
Andriy Shevchenko – football great
Lothar Matthaus – football genius