Jimmy's a diamonds geezer

Interesting hand, Steve

Jimmy White has announced plans to face Steve Davis over the green baize in an attempt to retain his world title.

No, you didn't have a bout of amnesia that wiped out the whole of April (Jimmy never wins the Embassy, remember?). This, my friends, is poker.

Amazingly, rookie White defied the odds to triumph at last year's Ladbrokespoker.com Masters tournament, seeing off Davis and a host of seasoned pros.

Robbo on Jimmy's poker win

This year the pair will be joined by another four celebrities - including triumphant Ryder Cup skipper Sam Torrance.

The rest of the 72-strong field will be made up of professional players and online qualifiers.

White, who has finished runner up in snooker's world championship an agonising six times, admitted: "I love playing poker.

"There's no way Steve's going to take this one off me. I'm aiming for a treble - British Open snooker, Poker Masters and Chelsea to win the league."

White released a single called Minted to celebrate last year's £90,000 poker pay-day - featuring killer lines like: "Freedom for all is a nice idea/But I'm going for a curry and ten pints of beer."

Cue the music, Jimmy

But the bookies don't fancy him to pull off a repeat - quoting him at 66/1. Davis fares better at 40/1, while Torrance is the 150/1 outsider.

The remaining three celebrities have yet to be confirmed, but White will be praying Stephen Hendry's name is not among the list.