Caspar Berry

Caspar Berry has had a career rich in variety including spells as a film writer, television commercials director, entrepreneur, broadcaster, professional poker player and – for the last eight years –speaker on the subject of risk-taking and decision-making. Over 300 companies around the world have benefitted from his expertise and experience.

Caspar uses the metaphor of poker to engage and inspire audiences to change completely the way they think about risk. In an increasingly risk-averse world, participants to learn about the nature of risk and the fallacy of risk management; the brilliance and the flaws of intuition; what getting the edge actually means and how others have done so in the past; how risk aversion is stopping you from maximising your returns and why fear of failure is actually brilliant if you know how to use it to your advantage.

His sessions are energetic, uplifting, and full of original messages. Companies including: Google, IBM, Visa, BT, Siemens, and EBay have already used his services.

While poker is his metaphor, no knowledge or experience of poker is required by the audience - and no gambling takes place. Rather, he shows how all decisions are actually investment decisions and then using poker strategies, he illustrates what it means for the way we run our organisations. His rich sessions deliver messages each member of the audience takes away something different.

Caspar’s varied career began as the lead in a BBC teen soap, but acting was not for him but directing film and television was. As part of this grand plan that Caspar went to Cambridge University ostensibly to study economics and join the world famous Footlights and learn how to write and direct. He fulfilled this ambition, working with incredibly talented people like Sasha Baron Cohen in the process, and aged just 23 Film Four produced his first movie.

By the age of 25, Caspar had directed over 20 TV commercials, was a Royal Television Society award-winning television director, and had had a second film produced - this time for Columbia Tri Star. Despite this success at 26 he moved to Las Vegas and became a professional poker player!

Caspar spent the next few years making a living at the tables of The Mirage Hotel and Casino before coming back to the UK where – during the poker boom of the 2000’s - he hosted over 200 episodes of an award-winning poker TV show and was even the poker advisor on James Bond’s Casino Royale.