Chris Bigler is an eminently civilized champion. His heartfelt desire for the world is that it suffer no more wars and, for the poker world, that it eliminate smoking and dealer abuse. He is a music lover and when asked to name his favorite celebrity he mentions Henri Dunant, founder of the Red Cross.

Vacationing from his life as a businessman in 1997, Chris paid his first visit to the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, coincidentally during the World Series of Poker. He says of that time: "I remember wondering what the hell was going on there with all those chips on the tables. I didn't even know what poker was."

The game piqued his interest and he was methodical in learning it, reading many books as his enthusiasm to play grew stronger. In his native Switzerland, however, he found few people who had an inkling of how to play. Indeed, it has been his experience that, "In Switzerland most people still think of poker in the setting of the old Western movies, where players got shot during the game."

He gained experience in tournaments in Vienna, Paris and Amsterdam, and then won his first satellite tournament in December of 1998 in Atlantic City. In January 1999, he won a Pot-Limit Hold'em tournament in Reno.

Chris' ambitions subsequently grew stronger and he became determined to make it big in the world of televised poker. In 2001, he sold his business in Switzerland in order to become a poker professional. He says that when the WPT began taping their tournaments, he "Wanted to get on TV really bad." And he did, in May of 2002. He won his $10,000 seat at the Bellagio's Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas and then made it to the final table. Though he was the first eliminated during the final table play, he placed second later that year in the WPT Lucky Chances Championship.

An entry from the online diary he created for his fans during play at the Bellagio reads, "We were taken in a limo to buy new clothes for the final table and the film crew followed us around taping everything. Everything was just classy and professional."

He has showed DVDs of his WPT play to friends in Switzerland and, while they get excited about the action, it has not turned the country into a poker haven. Chris says: "There's a casino about seven miles from my house in Baden, and they just put in two poker tables, making Baden the poker epicenter in Switzerland. But I can't even play there. I don't want to play there. The other players are so bad, it's like sitting at a table with a bunch of craps shooters."

Maybe Erik Seidel, TJ Cloutier and Daniel Negreanu should visit the casino in Baden, as they rank among Chris' most admired poker players.