 John Hesp sells caravans in Yorkshire for a living and plays poker once a month at his local casino - so it was a huge shock when he went to Las Vegas and won a small fortune. 约翰.黑斯普本来在约克郡卖小面包车为生，每个月会在他们当地的赌场去玩一次扑克—所以当他来到拉斯维加斯小赚一笔之后，这还是挺令人震惊的。 But perhaps it's just as surprising that his life hasn't changed a bit. 但也许同样令人震惊的是他的生活一点也没变。 He's still selling caravans, playing poker with a £10 ($14) stake, and going on holiday two hours' drive from his home. 他还是接着卖他的小面包车，玩10英镑（14美元）一局的扑克，在例假两小时车程的地方度假。 I'm at a poker festival in an east London casino and with more than 300 tournament players around 34 tables, the room is thrumming with the muttering of calls and raises. 我在伦敦东部的一个赌场里参加扑克节，这里总共有300名竞赛选手，总共34桌，房间里闹哄哄地全是喊注和加注的声音。 There is a victory whoop here, a groan of defeat there, and the constant clacking of chips riffled by players contemplating their next move. 这里有胜利者的欢呼，那边有输家的叹息，还能不断听到正在考虑下一步怎么打的玩家们翻动筹码的咔哒声。 There are lots of dark sunglasses and hoodies, sported by those striving for the textbook inscrutable "pokerface". 那里有很多戴墨镜和穿连帽衫的人，他们尽力想摆出一副教科书式的神秘的"扑克脸'来。 ’There are scarves and snoods to conceal neck-vein bulges when attempting a major bluff. 他们还会选择围巾和发网来掩盖当他们想要虚张声势的时候脖子上暴突的血管。 With a £440 buy-in and five-figure prizes up to £43,000 for the top five finishers, for many participants this is serious business. 每一注价值是440英镑，前五名的选手奖金高达五位数43,000英镑，对很多参赛者来说他们很重视这种比赛。 One player, though, is taking no such precautions. 不过，有一位选手，并没有这样完备的准备措施。 Clad in a loudly-coloured jacket and Panama hat, John Hesp, a 64-year-old caravan seller and grandfather from Bridlington, seems more interested in chatting to his neighbours and flashing smiles at the dealer. 穿着一件花哨的夹克，头戴巴拿马帽，约翰.黑斯普，这位64岁的小面包车推销商，来自布里德灵顿的爷爷，似乎对跟邻居们摆龙门阵和对发牌的人微笑更有兴趣。 Compared with his younger, stiffer tablemates, he's conspicuously relaxed. 跟那些更年轻，更严肃的牌友们比起来，他明显更放松。 An unknown figure this time last year, having only ever played in low-key games at pubs and his local casino in Hull, Hesp made history in July by entering the game's most prestigious tournament - the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas - finishing fourth out of 7,220 entrants, and winning $2.6m (£2m). 去年的这个时候还是无名之辈的他，仅仅在酒吧和赫尔当地的赌场低调地玩过的黑斯普在七月创造了历史，他打入了最有名望的扑克比赛—在拉斯维加斯举办的世界扑克大赛—最后在7220名参赛者中位居第四，赢得了260万美元（200万英镑）的奖金。 The unorthodox Yorkshireman captivated the poker world with his colourful attire and jovial demeanour. 这位非职业出生的约克郡男人就这样用他花哨的着装和轻快的举止征服了扑克的世界。 Many of the game's biggest names, having been pipped by the amateur to the final table, ended up rooting for him to win. 很多扑克界的大神都被业余选手淘汰未能进入决赛，而似乎注定了他的胜利。 "I'd never have dreamed in my wildest dreams that it could happen," Hesp says, during an interval at the 888Poker Live London Festival. "我做大梦的时候也想不到会有这样的事，”黑斯普在伦敦扑克节的888人扑克大赛现场的间隙时说。 "It's just something that was on my bucket-list for ages. My aim was to finish in the top 1,000 and have some fun. “这算是我的遗愿清单上的事情吧。我的目标是入围前1000名，玩的开心就可以了。” "I'm not a seasoned player playing four or five times a week - it was once a month at my local casino in Hull on a £10 buy-in. So to progress to £2m and international poker superstardom almost overnight has been a proper fairy tale." “我也不是那种每周玩四五次的赛季选手—我在赫尔当地的赌场一个月玩一回那种10英镑一局的。所以最后能够赢到两百万英镑，一夜之间成为国际扑克巨星兼职就像是童话故事一般。” While many in his shoes would immediately have chucked in the day-job and jetted off to the Caribbean, John returned to his Bridlington caravan business where he continues to work four days a week. 如果换作别人多半会立马辞掉平凡的工作，马上飞到加勒比去，而约翰会回到了他的布里德灵顿的小面包车生意，继续每周上四天班。 He did allow himself a short break, but not on a tropical island - at his static caravan in Pateley Bridge in the Yorkshire Dales. 他也确实给自己放了个小假，但不是在热带海岛上—在约克郡山谷的帕特里桥上他的小面包车里。 "I have to say I'm very boring," he says. “我得承认我这人挺无趣的，”他说。 "I don't spend large sums on flashy clothes or Rolexes. I've gifted a big chunk of the money to family and invested in another business as a sleeping partner. But I'm still driving the same car." "我不会把钱花在豪华的衣服或者劳力士上面。 The car is a silver Land Rover Discovery, with 25,000 miles on the clock - though he also owns a classic DeLorean sports car, the type made famous in the Back to the Future films. 他的车是银色的路虎发现，里程表已经走了25,000英里—不过他还是有一辆经典的德洛雷安跑车，在电影《回到未来》里面大热的那种。 More mystifyingly, for poker tournament organisers and the professionals he trounced in Vegas, John has returned to his local £10 buy-in games, £200 his biggest win since, and only appeared at the 888 Poker event at the express invitation of the organisers, who think his fun-loving image is good for the game. 对于扑克的组织者和他在拉斯维加斯打败的职业选手们来说，更令人大惑不解的是，在赢得了两百万英镑之后，约翰又回到了当地去玩那种十英镑一局的，而组织者盛情邀请他才在888人扑克大赛上露了面，组织者觉得他的快乐有爱的形象对这个比赛有好处。 It was that very carefree nature that unwittingly worked in John's favour in Vegas, making him almost unreadable to pros accustomed to the expressionless poker faces of the game's younger competitors. 正是约翰的无所谓的天性无形中在维加斯为他赢得了好运，这让他无法被那些习惯了面无表情的扑克脸的年轻选手们看不透他。 "Youngsters who've grown up with videogames and the internet often don't have a social side to their game," he says. “那些从小打电子游戏上网长大的年轻人通常在扑克游戏中缺乏社会性的一面，”他说。 "They sit quietly with their shades and headphones, some looking like they've never seen daylight. They should enjoy it more, and not be afraid to socialise at the table." “他们带着墨镜耳机安安静静地坐着，有些人看起来跟从来没见过阳光似的。他们应该更享受这个过程，不应该害怕在牌桌上的社交。” Another difference between them is that John has never bothered with cyber-poker. 他们之间还有一个不同就是约翰从来不玩网络扑克。 "Online poker has never turned me on," he says. “网上扑克我从来都没兴趣，”他说。 "It's just not the same when you can't see the colour of your opponents' eyes, or feel the atmosphere in the room." “如果你不能看到对手的眼睛的颜色，感受到房间里的气氛，那是截然不同的。” 感谢关注 跟amber一起看世界 |
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