My life in sport: Lee Nelson

Lee Nelson. Photo / Paul Estcourt

He's a doctor who has written a book on prostate cancer, he's built a wellness retreat at Abel Tasman National Park and his hobbies include nutrition.

Not quite what you'd expect from a man who spends a good portion of his time huddled in darkened rooms with people who wear sunglasses at night.

But there are many sides to Lee "Final Table" Nelson, the American immigrant rated New Zealand's best exponent at No Limit Texas Hold'em - the "sport" that has swept the globe over the last decade.

A TV pundit who has written how-to guides on the game, Nelson will be one of the favourites for the main event at Sky City's forthcoming Festival of Poker.

Poker players love their nicknames, how did you come up with yours?

It was given to me by the poker room manager at the Crown Casino in Melbourne. I was making lots of final tables at the time and one day he came over and said "y'know, you're just like final table furniture".

Are you happy with it? I mean, wouldn't you rather be known as a guy who wins lots of tournaments rather than a guy who just makes the final table?

Well, final table is pretty good. When you are at the final table you are into serious money. That is always a good thing.

Your first book was called Kill Phil. Was that a reference to poker brat Phil Hellmuth jnr by any chance?

It's a book about how to level the playing field against better players. I wrote it with Blair Rodman, an American player. When we were trying to think of a title we noticed there were a lot of American players called Phil - Phil Hellmuth, Phil Gordon, Phil Ivey. And it was the about the time the Kill Bill movie came out, so we thought it was a kind of catchy title. The next book, we called it Kill Everyone.

So did they sell well?

Yeah. Kill Everyone has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian and Bulgarian.

So you'll be claiming credit for the next wave of great Bulgarian players?

I dunno. There are some good players in Bulgaria. There are good players all over the world. You don't have to be a professional poker player to be good. There are lots of players who take up poker as a serious hobby and some of them are very, very consistent in getting into the money. It is the kind of thing you can take up as a hobby, which is what I did, and get good at it.