Action Dave reveals his dark side.
If you have played much at all on the British poker circuit, you're likely to have met one of the game's most endearing characters: Action Dave. Dave is poker's Peter Pan. He once turned down a chance to marry a millionairess and start a family, because he wanted to be a kid more than he wanted to have one.

His life is one long quest for pleasure, combined with a zen-inspired philosophy of consideration for others that sets him apart from most hedonists. He always strives to see the best in other people. As he's one of the more likeable and genuine people around the circuit, it is with some regret that I have recently learned that he has a dark side.

I don't mean his living on the seat of his pants. Who else could fly to the other side of the world with no money at all, talk his way into sharing a flat with three lapdancers, win $25,000 on the internet and live on it for six months? I couldn't!

I don't mean his sexual adventures. The last time we had dinner, he related a night spent in a country house at the invitation of a rich playboy. When he got to the bit where he said 'And then the minibus with the girls turned up', I tipped a bottle of wine over the table. I don't know why. I should be used to it now. And anyway, that's not the his dark side.

No, what concerns me most is his recent revelation that he enjoys listening to the afternoon plays on Radio Four. Ye Gods! I have to draw the line somewhere. That upper class dross! Stop it now! I've always wondered who listened to that rubbish. It now appalls me to learn that it's someone I actually know.