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Copyright 2005 Archant Regional

December 2, 2005

HEADLINE:
Poker player flushed with success

Body:
POKER player David Lee knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em - as any good gambler should.

Just to prove it he has beaten 150 other card sharps in a game of online poker to win a family holiday to the USA for himself, his wife Lucy and their two daughters, Amy, aged five, and Jessica two-and-a-half.

David, aged 31, a mobile phone business analyst, of Vicarage Gardens, Flamstead, was holding two jacks in his hand the night he won the tournament played on WPTonline.com

He said: "It wasn't a bad hand but I kept just matching my opponent chip for chip so he wouldn't suspect I had anything decent."

The whole game took three hours to play out with David seeing off his opposition in true poker-faced style.

David, who has a degree in business science from the University of Hertfordshire, has only been playing poker for around six months but grew up in a card-playing family.

He said: "I enjoy a bit of a punt and I've always been quite lucky but it's just mainly for fun to add a bit of interest to sporting occasions."

His biggest wins to date were £200 for his grandmother when he was 12 on a horse-racing accumulator bet and 340 US dollars in a recent online poker tournament.

But he and his wife Lucy sometimes play poker games at their house with friends from university.

David said: "Lucy doesn't object to my hobby of playing two or three evenings a week online because I never bet more than a few pounds here and there and I wait until she's out or having an early night.

"My dad says I'm a lucky so-and-so ever since he took me to a casino on my 18th birthday and I won £260 on roulette with my last fiver."

As the winner of the competition, David was able to choose from a trip to Monte Carlo, Las Vegas or Orlando. With two young children and the proximity of Disneyworld, Orlando was the obvious choice. The family are off on their all-expenses paid trip in May.

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