John Hesp and family clear the air regarding business relationship with Uber driver

The feel-good relationship between sudden World Series of Poker sensation John Hesp and his Uber driver came to an abrupt end on Saturday before the start of the Main Event.

As reported on Thursday night, Hesp, the colorful 64-year-old amateur player from England, who became an instant superstar in the poker world and beyond by making the WSOP Main Event final table, befriended Las Vegas resident David Perry, his Uber driver, during the early stages of the tournament.

On Thursday night, just before the final table action began at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino, Perry told Casino City that Hesp agreed to hire him as his “managing agent.” Hesp’s wife, Mandy, and oldest son, James, confirmed the arrangement as John sat at the final table and play got underway, but over the weekend Hesp and his family decided it did not want to use the services of Perry.

“David Perry is no longer an acting agent for my father,” James Hesp told Casino City on Sunday. “The agreement my father had with David was purely verbal, and David knows that. They have parted company on amicable terms, which has helped.”

Hesp was knocked out of the Main Event on Friday night, finishing in fourth place and cashing in for $2.6 million. His son said the media attention and publicity requests were overwhelming, and in order to get the word out that Perry was not his father’s agent, the family asked the WSOP to send out a Tweet on Saturday announcing the two were not under any agreement.

“The media storm was happening and things needed to be dealt with very, very quickly,” James explained. “David was spoken to quite quickly and dealt with. I don’t know too much about David but my father told me he’s a former defense attorney. He had his good points and he had his bad points. Either way, whether he was good or not, we live across the pond. There was never any future for this relationship.”

On Sunday morning, John and James Hesp met with Perry and agreed to give him a share of the sponsor profits that Hesp received for wearing patches at the final table for 888 Poker and bestbet Casino in Jacksonville.

“David should be happy,” James added. “He was driving for Uber, walked into the WSOP, made a profit and the rest is history.”

When reached on Sunday night, Perry confirmed that there was a meeting. When asked if he thought the split was amicable, he wasn’t convinced.

“Simply put, I was paid a minuscule percentage of what I was promised and coerced into an unreasonable situation,” he said.

Nonetheless, James Hesp said the attention his father is receiving is more than they ever imagined. Media requests are coming in from all over the world, and he said while they can’t fulfill them all, they are doing their very best. James said that his father will appear on Piers Morgan’s British morning show, Good Morning Brian, on Wednesday.

“We’ve got a lot of business to take care of,” James said. “Hence, upon our return to the U.K. we’ll be making it a priority to put some professional representation for my father in place to negotiate and deal with all of these things moving forward.”