British Novice Wins £462,000 at Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure.

Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure

John Gale of Bushey, Hertfordshire, won $865,000 - nearly half a million pounds - at the PokerStars World Poker Tour (WPT) event in the Bahamas late on Tuesday evening.

The 51-year-old father of four became WPT champion after taking on 416 of the world's top poker professionals from the USA and Europe.

Gale, a management consultant who plays online poker at home for fun, won his seat in the Caribbean event on PokerStars.com. With an investment of just $127 (£67) he won a $10,000 (£5,400) flight and hotel package to enter the prestigious WPT tournament in the luxury resort of Atlantis in the Bahamas.

Expecting to be knocked out early so he could enjoy a sunshine break with his wife Shirley, Gale instead found himself making surprising progress through the four day tournament, reaching the televised final table with the largest stack of chips.

Among those who finished in the Briton's wake were 2004 World Champion Greg Raymer and 2003 World Champion Chris Moneymaker.

This was a remarkable performance from a player taking part in only his second ever live poker tournament, the first being a casual game in Belfast, Northern Ireland - and that didn't go particularly well.

"That didn't really count because I only played for about ten minutes," Gale said.

In front of the TV cameras and knowing that each turn of the card could win or lose him hundreds of thousands of pounds, Gale kept his cool. His relaxed demeanour and powers of concentration finally enabled him to clinch the top prize when he knocked out professional gambler Alex Balandin of New York with a pair of jacks.

After winning the final hand, Gale described himself as "completely overwhelmed, actually flabbergasted. I feel very, very humbled, actually."

The WPT tournament, a made-for-TV event, attracts millions of viewers in the United States, and Gale's victory will be broadcast in the UK later this year.

"We are absolutely delighted that a real English gentleman has won this prestigious event," said PokerStars marketing manager Conrad Brunner. "John surprised a lot of US professionals with his outstanding play, and he made plenty of friends out in the Bahamas with his fun attitude and sense of humour.

"John's achievement is a bit like Chris Moneymaker winning the World Series in 2003, a guy who bought in on PokerStars for $40 and won $2.5m. It's poker's version of the Cinderella story."

As well as his $865,000 (£462,000) winnings, Gale wins a $25,000 seat to compete in the elite WPT Final event in Las Vegas this summer.

Gale is only the third British player to win a WPT event, after Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott of Hull (2003) and Wolverhampton's Surindar Sunar (2004).