Adrian Mateos says he is proud and happy after becoming the Global Poker Index #1 after a year that has seen him earn close to $5m and become the youngest ever player to win three World Series of Poker bracelets.

As I walk along the back streets of Tujunga, the decrepit rusted rungs of fire escapes surrounding me like a futuristic hanging garden. I think about my boy.

When I was 16, I decided to watch the clock on the classroom wall move backwards was not my future. I left and found employment with British Rail. I was a boy, frightened, not sure how to fit into the adult world.

My boy has decided to take a different route. He’s staying in school. He’s taking math, physics and business studies. As I leapfrog a fire hydrant, I feel a sense of pride, and gratitude that I don’t have my sister’s concerns, who has a fight on her hands trying to explain to her 16-year-old that fighting on the frontlines of war might not be the best idea.