Don't Bet Too Big At Poker Table, Says Coren

Columnist believes poker prizes have become too inflated.

Card-playing columnist Victoria Coren has warned people against financially overstretching themselves at the poker table.

Writing in her poker column for the Guardian, she urges fans of the game not to get involved in big-money tournaments if they cannot afford to lose a large sum of cash, despite the potential for major prizes.

"Never be embarrassed to let people know the stakes are too high for you … You won't play well if the sums make you nervous," Coren advises.

The writer makes this point after admitting that the prize money at stake in professional poker tournaments may have become "a little too big" in recent years.

Coren reveals that at her regular poker room in London, "players are winning and losing more than £40,000 in a night".

She is no stranger to big cash prizes herself, having won £500,000 at the European Poker Tour (EPT) London event in 2006, when she became the EPT's first female champion.