Michelle Orpe

Michelle Orpe - TV presenter and poker journalist.

She is also a former sponsored poker pro as well as being the Voice of the EPT for Channel 4 and Sky Sports.

She rose to prominence as the lead presenter of the hugely popular Sky Poker programme, which involved 4 hours of live presenting, twice a week, where she would analise the play along with the studio 'expert' and interview celebrity guests.

During that same period between 2007-2009, she was also the lead presenter for Poker Night Live. 5 hours of live interaction with poker players via emails and call-ins, twice a week.

Michelle is a well loved and respected poker 'face' and one of the most recognisable, especially among the UK Poker Community.

Here, in her own words, is a tale she recalls with fond memories....

Has to be my first live game in Las Vegas.

I was working as an Affiliate Manager for Purple Lounge Poker and was sent last minute to experience Las Vegas and look after the companies pro's.

I was so excited to be going, quickly packed, jumped on Virgin and arrived 10 hours later. 

With no idea where I was going or what I was doing I dropped my stuff off at the Flamingo where I was staying (since then it has always been the Mirage) and rushed off to the nearest game I could find, which was the MGM Grand randomly, don't know how I ended up all the way over there.

At the point I sat down at the table, slightly freaked out by seeing a caged lion on my way, I had been awake for about 22 hours. I sat in a $1/$2 game which I quickly found out was a very expensive way to lose a lot of money very quickly. 

I was drip fed bottles of beer by the waitresses and must of donked off about $100 in 10 minutes before I thought it best to give up and get some sleep.

I left the table in style of course, well by style I mean in the most embarrassing way possible.

I mucked up a bluff and threw my cards on the table, one landed in the lap of another player who lifted it back onto the table, laid it down next to my other card and politely informed me that I actually had a straight.

I quickly picked up my chips and left, tripped over my chair and fell flat on my face. 

The most embarrassing moment of my poker career, without a doubt. My ordeal didn't end there though. 

On my way back to my hotel room I got accosted by my good friend Karim and ended up partying the night away at 'Pure' nightclub in Caesars palace with Liv Boeree and Marc Convey. 

We were at a VIP table so the drinks were all paid for and coming thick and fast, being from Essex I made the most of this. I ended up crawling back to my hotel at 3 in the morning after being awake for nearly 30 hours and threw up over a random American trying to hit on me...Good Times

Poker - The Greatest Game in the World.

The poker boom of the last decade may be subsiding but we have been left with some enduring images and memories of people that we would never have heard of, had it not been for this wonderful game.

Tom Dwan v Phil Ivey and the first ever televised $1,000,000 poker hand.

Dan Harrington executing the perfect 'squeeze play' at the final table of the World Series Main Event in 2004.

Daniel Negreanu's seemingly telepathic ability to 'read' his opponents hole cards.

Mike Matusow and his infamous 'blow-ups'.

And who could forget Phil Hellmuth's entrance for Day 1 of the 2009 World Series Main Event, dressed as a Gladiator!?

It's characters like these that have become legends of the game and not just because of their antics at the table.

They are truly gifted poker players and what separates them from other poker players is that when they 'go with their gut feeling', their gut is more often right.

Many of these players are 'gamblers' in the true sense of the word, but not when it comes to poker. Then they become cold calculated assassins, ready to destroy your chip stack at the first available opportunity.

Life at the table can be intense and a huge mental strain on the body, as well as physically taxing with hour after hour sat at the tables, often long into the night.

Players need to let off steam somehow and it's these times that we want to document.

We want to bring you stories of excess. Crazy prop bets and wagers. Mad tales of what poker players do as 'routine' that the rest of us would consider insane. The best and worst things they ever did, heard or saw, both at the poker tables and away from them.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy the posts as they appear.