Rookie wins his way to WSOP 2006 having never played a live poker game

Having won his 2006 WSOP seat, hydraulics engineer Craig, of Brisbane Street, said "I have only been playing the game for five months and I have never played in a casino before so I’ll need to get to the casino and get practicing my poker face. "

Craig first played the game with friends on a Friday night and started going online. So far he has gambled with a pot of £300, but now he is raising the stakes and on his way to playing some high stakes poker.

After entering a satellite competition to win a place in the qualifiers, he had a play-off with 800 other hopefuls and his second place finish sent him packing to Vegas for the top poker event, the one and only World Series of Poker.

Craig has now got his $6,000 entry fee paid as well as the 2 flights that he needs to get him to and from Vegas.

The World Series of Poker starts in August and attracts millions of television viewers worldwide. First-time player Craig is following in the footsteps of icons such as champion player Daniel Negreanu.

Craig said: "You see them wearing sunglasses and baseball caps but I won't be doing that. I will just try not to give it away if I have a good hand.

"It is obviously going to be a different kind of atmosphere from playing on the computer. "