When I finished college, I survived by grinding limit hold'em at the lowest levels that you could imagine. But eventually it got so depressing that a job dealing at The Gunshot.

Then I met the guys at blondepoker and started reporting on live tournaments for them. From there I just met a whole bunch of people.

I spent every penny I had at the time on entering the Green Joker Poker Festival main event in Ireland, and then realised I didn’t have enough money for a flight or hotel.

I ended up sharing a room in a B&B that had no hot water and a car alarm going off outside the building all night. But it went really well.’ [Mason won the tournament, taking home $40,000]

People imagine that being a professional poker player is all about driving up to play in the World Series in your Lamborghini. But in reality, you sit in your room pressing buttons until you build up a bankroll. I wish I could concentrate on making money a bit more.

There is still a part of me that thinks I don’t need to play online poker today: “I’ve had a great month. Let’s go watch Judge Judy and drink a white Russian.”

Tournaments that are made for TV have money to be won, so why not play in them. But I was so freaked out the first time I went on a TV table.

It was slow; people act differently and do really erratic things because they are on TV. I’m more interested in being unobtrusive and winning.