Wednesday 15th April: A new fly-on-the-wall documentary featuring one of the UK’s most iconic boxing heavyweights taking on the world of poker will premiere on Amazon Prime from Friday 17th April.
David versus Goliath is a true underdog story charting the ups and downs of former Unified World Cruiserweight and WBA World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, David Haye, and his journey to learn the skill and strategy of poker to compete in the world’s biggest live poker tournament outside of Las Vegas, Grosvenor Casinos’ Goliath 2019.
Much like the famous fable, Haye’s poker story is one of humble beginnings. After officially retiring from professional boxing in June 2018, he confesses to not knowing whether a joker can be played in the game before taking on the challenge.
But following 12 months of intense training with some of the world’s best players, the documentary follows David as he competes against 9,000 seasoned amateur and professional players to win hearts and minds at the Grosvenor Casinos’ Goliath tournament in Coventry.
Speaking about what viewers can expect from the documentary, David said: “When Grosvenor Casinos issued the challenge to me back in 2018, I had just retired from boxing and was ready to get my teeth into a new challenge.
“I’ll be the first to say that I initially underestimated the complexity of the game and size of the challenge I had taken on. I certainly had a harsh awakening in my first tournament! However, with time and finding the right learning environment for me, I fell in love with the game and I’m proud to now be a sponsored poker player for Grosvenor Casinos. This challenge has become just the start of my poker journey and I look forward to getting back to the poker table and playing more in the future.
“It’s been a crazy journey so far, reconnecting with old friends and making new, it’s going to be amazing to watch it all back in the documentary we made. I’m sure I’ll cringe at some of the moves and decisions in the early months, but it’s all part of the journey. I hope people enjoy the story of David versus Goliath as much as I did. I would like to say again, thank you to everyone who helped me with this epic challenge, it was a real adventure, their patience helped ignite a fire within me and I will be back at Goliath this summer looking to go better than 2019!”
David versus Goliath sees David Haye travel the world from Blackpool to Las Vegas to take part in poker events and unique training opportunities with actors, memory coaches and psychologists to forge his own style and poker personality. David even enlists the help of his old nemesis, Audley Harrison, who becomes his poker mentor in which a bromance quickly unfolds.
One of his biggest successes on his poker journey took place in the Philippines, when against the odds after an intense 48-hour bootcamp with Harrison, Haye entered the Manila stop of the Asia Poker Tour finishing an incredible 28th out of 500 to cash in, which Haye marked as a similar feeling to winning a world title belt.
As part of this challenge, Haye has also been coached by some of the best poker professionals on the circuit, such as Grosvenor Casinos’ sponsored players, Jeff Kimber, Katie Swift and Joe Beevers, who have won more than $4million dollars between them.
Russell Tamplin, Head of Poker for Grosvenor Casinos, said: “We were all in awe of what David was able to achieve at last year’s Goliath tournament. To do that well in such a short space of time was extraordinary and we can’t wait to see how he does this year. The challenge now will be to push on and sharpen those skills to take his poker game to another level.”
For more information on David versus Goliath, visit www.grosvenorcasinos.com
Please gamble responsibly: www.begambleaware.org
