The Double Scoop promotion will run from 1st July until 31st July 2008. Despite being only 23, Betfair sponsored, John Tabatabai is already one of the UK's most respected players reports Matthew Pitt.

Originally from Cardiff but now living in London, Tabatabai was a top-chess player who had represented Wales in both the European and World Championships. He discovered poker whilst studying law at university, and soon put the skills he had learned at chess into practice at the poker tables.

An extremely aggressive player, Tabatabai or ‘Kankuwap’ as he is known online, quickly gained a reputation as being a player where “any two will do” when fellow players discussed his loose starting hand requirements.

His online handle surprisingly does not actually mean anything in particular. In fact, ‘Kankuwap’ is a random word that Tabatabai invented! He explained in an interview that a friend was involved in a minor altercation outside a nightclub and to lighten the mood and calm his friends down he decided to shout random words. Kankuwap was one that everyone liked and his online moniker was born.

Tabatabai is a cash game specialist who plays predominately online but whilst studying at university he became a weekend regular at ‘The Vic’ casino, where the big game players there considered him a star. Despite his tender age and the huge sums of money at stake, Tabatabai quickly gained the respect of the regular players at ‘The Vic’ not only for his fearless approach to the game but for also how he reacted when he lost.

He showed his gentleman status at the WSOPE Main Event when Annette Obrestad defeated him after an epic heads-up battle that lasted nearly 100 hands. Even though he basically lost over £430,000 in prize money to a hand considered a ‘cooler’ in poker circles, when he flopped two pair but was against a set, Tabatabai was extremely gracious in defeat and acknowledged that it just was not meant to be and that the best player won on the day.

Tabatabai proved that his runner-up finish at the 2007 WSOPE Main Event, worth £570,150, was not just a temporary success when he won the All Africa Poker Tournament in South Africa for a purse of $127,584 just five months later. Although the prize money was significantly less that his WSOPE pay day, Tabatabai was delighted with his victory as it showed the world that he could go all the way and win an entire tournament.

John Tabatabai will be returning to London in September 2008 to play in the WSOP Main Event under the sponsorship of Betfair, hoping to repay some of the faith shown in him by going one better this time around and claim a famous World Series of Poker bracelet. I will be one of many fans that will be cheering him on all the way.