Pro Player Richard Cole Found Dead in Amsterdam
8 years ago
06 Feb
British poker player Richard Cole has been found dead in an Amsterdam canal, after going missing on a night out in the Dutch capital. Police pulled his body from the Herengracht canal after a search involving sonar equipment, police stated.
The popular 30-year old pro from Gloucestershire had apparently been on a night out with strangers in the Thorbeckepleim area of the city before disappearing around 2am. He had been travelling from Copenhagen to Assen, in the north eastern Netherlands, via the Dutch capital.
A police investigation - which will include officers from Cole’s home police force in Gloucestershire, England - is underway to determine the cause and nature of death; foul play has not been discounted at this stage. Dutch Police stated that a tracking dog became "restless" in a particular area being searched, after which divers and sonar equipment were brought in and a man's body was recovered.
His girlfriend Alicie Marie, based in Las Vegas where Cole often played successfully at the lower-levels of the pro circuit, was his last-known contact.
Her attempts to contact him via SMS and Apple’s Facetime app were unsuccessfu
I imagine that he turned off his phone or his phone died. Throughout the night, when I was at work, I tried to Facetime him and I tried to text him, but nothing went through."
She also told the BBC:
He had been out with some people he had just met, which is common for Richard as he is very friendly. I just said to be careful, please go home, get a cab. We got off the phone and I texted him a picture of his address to show his cab but it never went through.”
After Richard’s disappearance on January 25th, his brother Lee had travelled to Amsterdam “to visit bars and distribute leaflets as part of the search,” according to the BBC, and he has since formally identified the body. His family are in contact with the British Consulate who are providing assistance.
Detectives from Gloucestershire will now liaise with Dutch police officers to provide information to the coroner's office, and anyone who saw Cole on Monday night or may have any information about Cole is being urged to contact their local police force or comment on the “Help us find Richard Cole” Facebook page so the information can be passed on to the Dutch authorities.
Cole’s professional tournament career had seen him play quite often in Las Vegas, though at the lower level of the professional ranks. Victory in the 2014 Deepstack Extravaganza had brought him a $13,232 payday, followed a month later by a PLO victory at Binion’s Horseshoe Casino which netted him $6,825.
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