A bunch of guys are good-humouredly bickering on the first tee of a north London golf course about how much money they’re going to bet on each hole. They look familiar, and when you hear what they’re planning to play for – ,000, possibly even ,000 a hole – you realise why. These are some of poker’s biggest gamblers – Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Barry Greenstein and Ram Vaswani – all of whom fancy themselves as contenders for the Ryder Cup.

But the focus is on a lesserknown man, dark-haired, slim, 47 years old. It’s clear he’s the best player (actually he plays off a handicap of one) and the others are determined to weight the game accordingly.