A British poker champion who moved to Thailand after earning £3.6million playing online has revealed he briefly ended up in jail after one of his friends was caught smoking cannabis at a party.
Richard Sheils moved to the sun-kissed country from Birmingham after becoming a professional gambler.
The 31-year-old economics graduate has been having the’ time of his life’, with a jet set lifestyle replete with wild parties and plenty of beach trips.
But he’s now revealed everything almost came crashing down when a brush with the law saw him nearly kicked out of the country.
Richard Sheils moved to the sun-kissed country from Birmingham after racking up a $4.5million (£3.6m) fortune competing in online tournaments
‘I ended up going to jail in Thailand,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t my fault. It was the wrong place at the wrong time with the police. One of the Thai girls told the police we were having a drugs party. I let the police in saying there was nothing to worry about.’
What Mr Sheils didn’t realise, however, was that one of his friends was smoking cannabis, a drug which is now legal to grow and sell in the country but wasn’t at the time.
‘They found a bag of weed and all of sudden we were down in the police station,’ he continued. ‘It was a pretty stressful ordeal.’
After a night in the cells, he paid a fine and embarked on a three-month journey to secure his visa.
Mr Sheils began playing poker in his childhood bedroom, and in 2015 earned £75,000 in two months along with his father, Matthew, and brother, Brandon.
After his early success he dedicated himself to poker as a full time career, playing high-stakes games in Las Vegas over the Internet.
The Birmingham University graduate said he ended up in Thailand and fell in love with the country during a tour of Asia.
The 31-year-old (seen with his brother, Brandon, 19, and father, Mathew, 48) has been having the’ time of his life’, with a jet set lifestyle replete with wild parties and plenty of beach trips
‘Some of my friends moved to Thailand,’ he said. ‘[They] moved to the beach and started playing small stakes poker all day every day.
‘They probably made 40 dollars an hour and just laid with their Thai girlfriends in a small condo on the beach every day.
‘They were eating Thai food and getting in good shape. I was like ”this sounds great”.’
Then in his early twenties, Mr Sheils didn’t have the money to head out immediately.
But soon after, a short trip morphed into a long trip, and he now lives there permanently.
Following the pandemic, he began buying and selling property before purchasing land to build villas.
But he doesn’t see the spoils from that overtaking his poker earnings any time soon, with one-to-one lessons complementing his income from tournaments.
The Birmingham native said he had no immediate plans to return – even flying his family to Thailand to see him rather than coming back home.
‘No offence to Birmingham,’ he joked.
Mr Sheils began playing poker in his childhood bedroom in Erdington, Birmingham
He is now enjoying a sun-soaked lifestyle near Bangkok
His parents, who still live in the family home, also take part in Vegas-based poker tournaments, as does his brother.
Mr Sheils explained that despite his ‘pale and ginger’ complexion he loved his current lifestyle in the sun, where money goes ‘twice as far’.
He has seen his fortune grow through cash games, many of which have eye-watering sit-down costs of around $40,000 (£32,000).
‘It’s great,’ he added. ‘There’s nothing more I can really say. You can live your life in a western bubble sometimes.
‘Living at home in Birmingham is fine but now I’m paying half of that to live in a capital city where it’s hot all the time.
‘I don’t see myself going back to England any time soon. I love that I’m from England and I’m very patriotic, but I don’t see the advantage of living there for me right now.’