Horst Koch was born on 9th May 1958 as the first of four children in the borough of Haslach near Tübingen. His father, Walter, worked as a plasterer and his mother was fully occupied with raising four children. So, in effect a typical 1960s working class family like so many in this protestant community. The nearest cities were Tübingen and Reutlingen and even they were 15 kilometres away and barely accessible for a young school kid. Not exactly the kind of background you expect for someone setting out to play poker.
Nevertheless, even then there were signs that Horst Koch was willing to travel far to achieve his goal, even if it was only his favourite sausage stand in Neckartenzlingen where the chips were simply the best. So, he would jump on his racing bike and cycle to the neighbouring town to satisfy his yearnings.
