WARRINGTON, England, July 19, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- A student fromStratford-upon-Avon has turned a GBP33 game of cards into a GBP90,000 fortuneafter striking lucky at the prestigious World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100719/399962 )

Matt Harris, 21, won a coveted $10,000 seat in the biggest pokertournament on the planet when he triumphed in the Betfred UK Student PokerChampionship at Birmingham's Broadway Casino in April.

And after taking his place in the world's entertainment capital with morethan 7,000 of the best poker players from around the globe, Matt found thecards turning in his favour as he finished in a fantastic 57th position worth$138,285 (GBP90,250).

"It was an absolutely amazing experience and so exciting... it stillhasn't sunk in," said Matt after returning from his all-expenses-paid trip toLas Vegas provided by Betfred.

"Only a few months ago I paid GBP33 to enter the Betfred UK Student PokerChampionship and next thing I'm playing on the same table as star pokerplayers such as Annie Duke and Tony Dunst."

Matt reached day seven of the event and also sat at the feature tablebefore his hopes of reaching the November showdown for the final nineplayers, worth a minimum of GBP500,000, were cruelly dashed.

"My first aim was to reach the top 10% who cashed and after a shaky starton day one, I did really well over the next few days," said Matt, who studiedat Exeter University.

"The field was being reduced very quickly, but I managed to keepsurviving and after I had made it into the top 10% there was no pressure onme.

"It was upsetting that I had to go out on such a bad beat though. I wentall in with a pair of kings and was called by a player with ace-king who hitan ace on the river. If the hand had gone my way, my chip stack wouldprobably have been in the top 20."

Matt, whose Facebook account was flooded with good-luck messagesthroughout the tournament, hopes this could be the start of a glitteringpoker career for him.

"My family and friends are all really happy for me and I plan to use someof the money I won to enter some more poker tournaments," said Matt, who alsohas his eye on a new car.

"But none of this would have been possible without the UK Student PokerChampionship, so I'm really grateful to the organisers of that and tosponsors Betfred for providing such an amazing prize package."

Fred Done, boss of Betfred, the world's biggest independent bookmaker,added: "I'm proud of Matt for performing so brilliantly in Las Vegas and herepresented Betfred with tremendous credit.

"It's fantastic to be able to give students such as Matt the opportunityto display their poker talent on the biggest stage of all and I'm delightedto be supporting the thriving student poker scene in the UK."

*** Note to Editors:

If you would like to interview Matt Harris, please inform Jon Wilde viathe contact details on the footer of this document.

SOURCE Betfred.com