Neil Andrew Channing, aka "Bad Beat" or "Badbeat1", was born in Reading, Berkshire in the UK on December 9th, 1967. He claims he wasn't always a gambler: until he turned 8 years old he barely bet on anything whatsoever. Since age 8, though, Neil Channing bet on almost everything he could find and fund. Card games, pool games and more brought young Neil Channing both great profits and great losses of many weeks' pocket money.
After he graduated high school, Neil Channing went to University, and there he discovered the magical racetracks. He started traveling all over the UK watching horse races and betting on them, as well as on dogs races, and made a fine career as a bookie in that field. He Neil Channing found himself spending his evenings either in the horsetracks, the dogtracks or in casinos playing poker tournaments.
Neil Channing became familiar with poker when he was 12, and you can call it love on first sight. He only started playing real live tournaments when he was 22, though. Shortly after he started playing the game as an adult, Neil Channing began to play poker in various casinos every night, and it didn't take him too long to get to the final tables of many tournaments.
Over the years, as his poker career grew hotter and better, Neil Channing found out that being a bookie is not always profitable. His sports betting career, though, was highly successful. Therefore he decided it was better for him to become a full-time bettor and professional poker player, and quit the booking business.
Since he's single, Neil Channing can find enough time to play poker both online and in live professional tournaments, and he claims to bet every single day, at least on one thing.
When he's not playing at the poker table, Neil Channing likes to… well, gamble on anything, mainly. He also likes to sleep, although it doesn't usually involve any typical sort of gambling. His favorite movies are "The Godfather II", "Goodfellas" and "Hanna and Her Sister". He likes to listen to artists such as Bob Dylan, Morrissey and R.E.M, and mostly to the Beatles. His favorite place in the world is the Secret Garden of Seigfried and Roy, and his favorite celebrity is Jesse May. When asked what his favorite quote is, Neil Channing once answered, without getting confused: "If you keep playing like that, you'll be back to living on cat food", a quote by Francis Rohan.
So far, the greatest achievement for Neil Channing was taking the 1st place of the No Limit Hold'em championship at the Irish Open event. He won the grand prize of €801,400 (over a million dollars worth).
Neil Channing is not only a gambler in his heart and soul, but also a requested opponent in poker tournaments. The reason is probably his personality and his gaming style, that make the poker game at hand fun and light for all players around the table, though not very easy, considering the poker skills Neil Channing has developed over the years.
A while back Neil Channing signed a sponsorship agreement with Pokerverdict.com, and now they sponsor his tournaments. In the little free time he has, Neil Channing is also a regular columnist for the Bluff Europe magazine.
Neil Channing Quick Facts
Cashes: 51
Total Winnings: $1,946,430
First place finishes: 10
WSOP bracelets: 0