Color Up: John Hesp Returns to WSOP with Film of His Life Planned
Sleep didn’t come easy this time last year for John Hesp. Exhaustion weighed on him as hands ran through his mind. He thought of his wife and family back home in Bridlington, England, and just his whole crazy experience. Just a few hours later, he’d battle 26 other players remaining in the World Series of Poker Main Event.
His cell phone was also a distraction. Buzz. A few seconds of silence. Buzz, buzz, buzz – all night. After rolling out of bed and pulling on his trademark colorful jacket, he gave his phone a look. Scrolling through, it displayed number after number from people all over the world whom he’d never even met.
Marc Ambrose was one of those. The English movie producer now calls Hollywood home, and was mesmerized by Hesp’s story. A self-made British businessman. An occasional poker player who had only played in ￡10 buy-in tournaments at his local casino. The deep run in the Main Event and an eventual fourth-place finish for millions.
And who could forget those garish colorful outfits and that Panama hat?
Ambrose loved the story, and wanted to put it on film. On Monday, Hesp strolled through the Rio, posing for pictures with fans, checking out the action, and promoting the planned film about his life. A year later, John Hesp is still a fan favorite.
Movie Mania
As Hesp’s huge run played out in front of ESPN cameras, Ambrose wasn’t alone in his interest in a Hesp movie. After the series, another company planned to go through with the production, but ultimately backed out of the project. That turned into a bit of luck for Ambrose and his producing partner Niall Perrett, who jumped at the chance to produce a film.
“I saw this colorful character playing poker and it just caught my attention,” Ambrose says. ”So I started watching it, and he is just such an enigmatic character and is just so positive. It just felt like a feel-good story.”
Ambrose fell in love with Hesp’s blue-collar success story and sought to make a deal.
“He's a granddad who sells caravans in England, which is kind of a working-class image,” he says. “It’s sort of a rags to riches kind of story, fish out of water kind of thing, and I felt like it would be a really great, fun movie to make.”
So far, the producers have someone working on a script and hope to have a director by the end of the year. They would then begin casting the film with shooting possible for this time next year.
“I saw this colorful character playing poker and it just caught my attention.”
Who might possibly play Hesp? Ambrose says Pierce Brosnan might fit the role well – James Bond turned poker populist.
“He can play enigmatic, sort of fun characters,” Ambrose says.
He also says 70-year-old British actor Tom Wilkinson would work well in the role as well as American actor John Lithgow. Casting all depends on the budget and actors’ schedule, he says.
The idea of a movie about his life is not just about him, Hesp says. He hopes it spreads good vibes about the game and brings even more players to the tables.
“I'm hoping that we can produce a really fun, feel-good movie to help continue to bring poker to a positive light,” he says. “And to spread the word internationally that poker doesn't have to be boring, it can be fun.”
The Poker Life
After finishing fourth in the Main Event for $2.6 million, life certainly changed but not quite as much as many might think.
“The day after I landed back home in England, I did a live TV broadcast with ‘Good Morning Britain’ with host Piers Morgan,” he says. “So I would say probably for the first month or so after I got back home, there was a lot of media interest and then as you would expect, it sort of died down a little bit.”
Hesp was soon back to work at his caravan sales business about three days a week, and considers himself “semi-retired.” He also just turned 65, and now collects his U.K. pension. He’s a man who likes to stay busy and spend time with family.
While he hasn’t traveled as much as planned after his big win, Hesp has played a few poker tournaments in England and even traveled to Florida for an event.
“I'm hoping that we can produce a really fun, feel-good movie to help continue to bring poker to a positive light.”
Now with a movie in the works and the Main Event underway, life in the public eye has begun a bit again and his popularity with players was on full display in the Rio.
One hand stands out for Hesp at the final table and he is asked about it often. With eight players left, Main Event champion Scott Blumstein raised the action with A?A? and Hesp called with A?10?.
The flop brought A?7?5? and Hesp checked. Blumstein slow-played his hand, checking behind. The turn brought the 10?, giving Hesp top-two pair. He checked again and Blumstein bet 3 million chips. Hesp raised to 7 million and Blumstein raised again to 17 million.
Hesp stood up to contemplate his next move, but eventually moved all in and was called. Much of his stack was shipped to Blumstein, and it was crippling for Hesp’s stack.
“I played it in the moment and I've said to a few people that I thought, 'The only hand that's beating me here is pocket aces,'” he says, believing Blumstein didn’t have sevens, fives, or 10s either. “I didn't feel that he had aces in my head. It was probably several thousand to one chance against him having aces.”
The hand didn’t go his way, but Hesp keeps a smile on his face and is proud of how things turned out. Can lightning strike twice? He’s going to give it a shot.
Return to the Rio
When he returns to the action for Tuesday’s Day 1 flight, Hesp may return with some subtle changes in strategy but is sticking to his overall gameplan. In 2017, he regularly showed opponents his cards after winning a pot, playing with instinct and feel. His raises seemed timely and he caught others off-guard.
Now that many know what to expect, Hesp plans to play a similar game, but may have some tricks up his sleeve. One thing also remains in his outlook on the Main Event – he plans again to have plenty of fun.
“Well you saw what happened last year,” he says. “To replicate that I think it would be very, very difficult. What happened last year was unusual, special, amazing, surreal – and for it to happen again would be like lightning striking twice in the same place. My strategy is to try and play the same game as I did last year and to enjoy it.”
One thing is certain, he’ll be wearing his trademark colorful attire – and has even added a few more items to the collection. Also like last year, just getting in the top 1,000 is Hesp’s initial goal. Once in the money, that goal would move up to a deeper run.
“After that, we’ll see how it goes from there,” he says. “I said last year many times that I'd had it on my bucket list for a while. I bought in and never in my wildest dreams expected to give them the run that I gave them.”
A common question he receives is what was his favorite moment. While the money was nice, and bit of fame was also a kick, those aren’t what he looks back on most.
“I think when I got to the final table, the fraternity and the actual friendliness of all these guys toward me, was amazing,” he says. ”I could not understand that all these guys who were my opponents, with the exception of rooting for themselves, were also rooting for me.”
"I bought in and never in my wildest dreams expected to give them the run that I gave them.”
As the final table played out, Hesp had a small rail but received cheers from other players’ groups when he was playing against the player they were backing. The camaraderie among the players was just amazing, he says.
“I remember that that was something special to know that I'd warmed the hearts of some fellow players, many of whom are probably much better players than I am,” he says. “It was nice to see that they could take to me in that way as I was the old man at the table.”
One interesting note from the 2017 event was Hesp’s playing experience in small-stakes tournaments at Napolean’s Casino, back near his hometown. The property got a shot in the arm from Hesp’s run, and even held a night to honor their hometown boy.
The man in the colorful outfits hasn’t left those tournaments behind. On June 24, Hesp played in the casino’s weekly ￡55 Sunday tournament that featured 64 players. The result? Hesp walked away a winner and took home $1,274. Time will tell if he can duplicate that success again here on the world’s biggest poker stage.
Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions. He is also the host of the True Gambling Stories podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, PokerNews.com, HoldemRadio.com, and TrueGamblingStories.com.
