Paul Jackson aka Actionjack

Paul Jackson started off playing brag and later played blackjack and roulette in casinos. At one casino, he saw poker being played and picked up the game in 1985, choosing a nickname based on the Carl Weathers film ”Action Jackson”.   

Paul is best-known as an online player (he once won two large online poker tournaments http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_tournament  in the same night), but has also made numerous high finishes in major live events. 

Paul had intended to play in the 2005 London Open event, but had already booked a holiday that clashed with the event. He called Iwan Jones, whom he knew from playing online at Ladbrokes and staked a third of his action along with Nick Gibson. Jones won the $750,000 first prize, resulting in Jackson making $250,000 whilst in a caravan in Dorchester. 

After Paul’s strong finish in the 2005 Monte Carlo Millions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_Millions  event, he clearly remembered one hand from the event, where Phil Ivey’s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Ivey  Q♥ 8♥ and Jackson's 6♠ 5♦ bluffed against each other continuously, it is considered to be one of the best hands of poker broadcast on television. Jackson also pointed out that Ivey stared him down for 7 minutes during the hand, which was edited out of the televised version. In the final hand, Jackson moved all-in with Q♥ J♥ and Ivey called with K♣ Q♦. The board of T♥  6♣ 9♣ 2♠ 5♠ failed to improve both players’ hands, and Jackson was eliminated in second place, for $600,000. 

Jackson finished in the money of the World Heads Up Championship in 2005 (final 16) and 2006 (runner-up.) Along the way he eliminated Juan Carlos Mortansen in the quarter-final and Markus Golser in the semi-final. He also finished in the money of the 2004 World Series of Poker main event and the European Poker Tour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Poker_Tour  (EPT) second season grand final.