Footballers Turn Their Attention To Poker

Football is a game that take tremendous athleticism, stamina, focus, and concentration.  Many of the same abilities are needed to become a successful poker player.  As such, it is no surprise that current and former football players have chosen to take up the game of poker and many doing so at very high levels.

Teddy Sheringham, formerly of Manchester United, had a storied football career with 289 career goals and 11 international team goals.  After retiring in 2008, he turned his attention to poker.  His largest win to date is an $118k score at the EPT Villamoura Main Event in 2010.  So far, Sheringham has won $289,236 in live poker touranments.

Gianluigi Buffon, the Italian football icon, happens to be an avid poker player.  Currently a member of Serie A club Juventus and the Italian National team, Buffon is sponsored "Sportstar" on online poker site on PokerStars.  As such, he has appeared in many live events around Europe, such as the European Poker Tour.

Poli Rincon is a former striker who played the majority of his career with Real Betis and also played for the Spanish National Team.  Nowadays, he is a member of Team PokerStars as a "friend" of the site and has played in events such as the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, EPT Monte Carlo, and the Estrellas Poker Tour.  Rincon is said to be taking the game seriously and frequently plays online.

Tony Cascarino is a former association football player and member of the Irish National Team.  After retiring from professional soccer in 2000, he turned to poker professionally.  In that time, he was won over $500,000 in live poker tournaments, including a win at the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Grand Final in London in 2009.

If you look at a list of the most popular poker sites in the world, you will see that poker is potentially available in every nation on the planet.  As such, soccer players can take up the game at their leisure.  Many find that once they get started, it is almost as addictive as soccer, but without 50,000 screaming fans cheering you on. 

I would love to hear any comments you may have. 

Suarez Given Eight Match Ban

Luis Suarez has toinght been given an eight match ban after allegedly racially abusing Man United left back, Patrice Evra. It is believed that on more than one occasion, Suarez called Evra "negrito".

Luis Suarez, 24, has been prolific for Liverpool this season, being their main man as Steven Gerrard has been hit by injuries since the start of the season.

This lengthy ban comes as a surprise to many  and I'm sure this will also come as a shock to John Terry who now must be assuming the worst after he said a few naughty words to Anton Ferdinand as Chelsea lost to QPR way back in October.

Liverpool now have to rely on Andy Carroll or either play Craig Bellamy in a more central role and hope he can find the same form he found when playing with the likes of Newcastle and West Ham.

Andy Carroll, I think it is fair to say has been a bit of a shambles since moving to Merseyside but perhaps this could be his chance to be a Kop hero.

Who knows what was said, but I think the FA have made it very clear that they won't accept any racial abuse and of course I believe that this is the correct thing to do.

What do you think? Is eight matches too much? Can we expect Liverpool to appeal?

I would love to hear any comments you may have.