David Colclough: Professional Poker Player Profile

David "El Blondie" Colclough is a highly aggressive player. He is best known as an Omaha expert, enjoying top rank in Europe and second overall. His total live tournament winnings exceed $1.65 million as of 2005.

David Colclough has finished in the money 12 times in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). According to Colclough, he won a WSOP event in 2000, presumably at the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em event, but he had to give away the bracelet in a deal. It was shortly after this happened that he turned professional. He had a final table appearance on the World Poker Tour (WPT), in an event also featuring Chip Reese and Sam Farha. He took home $103,507 from this achievement.

Quite a few great things happened to Colclough in 2003, besides voted European Poker Player of the Year. In November, he won the £1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event at Midland Masters, Walsall. The win earned him £54,000, or $91,993. He also placed first in quite a few events, including the €2,000 Omaha Cup Summer Tournament, held in Paris, which earned him €66,000 or $75,920. There was also the €400 Pot Limit Omaha event at the Irish in Dublin, in which he won €21,740 or $23,723.

2005 was also a good year. In May 2005, Colclough reached the semi-finals of the €2,000 World Heads-Up Championship. He earned €20,000 in the event. He was also inducted into the European Poker Players Hall of Fame at the age of 41, making him the youngest inductee of all time.

Colclough was born on March 4, 1964 in Carmarthan, South Wales, to a Welsh Mother and an English father. He played a lot of poker as a child during family weekends in Stoke-on-Trent. While he was taking his A levels, he was warned and detentioned twice for playing poker in the common room. Undaunted, he proceeded with his education, eventually getting a BEC/TEC qualification in Information Technology.

While working in the IT industry he found employment in the Post Office, the National Health Service, the Inland Revenue and Fujitsu. He gave up his IT career when he saw that the demanding hours were getting in the way of playing poker. Professional poker had always worked well for Colclough, although he hit a spot of bad luck in an investment; he had put in most of his winnings, savings and time on a failing night club, and ended up almost broke before he closed it down. Fortunately, that was also when his life at the poker circuit went on high gear.

He has one daughter named Sian from his ex-wife Anna. David Colclough and his wife Rhowena live in an apartment in Birmingham.