The poker-mad 31-year-old spends more than 30 hours a week playing card games on-line.

Builder Lee Hackett is an expert with a set of spades, and not just of the digging variety.

The poker-mad 31-year-old spends more than 30 hours a week playing card games on-line.

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Now Lee will pit his wits against professional betters in the quarter-final of an international poker tournament in which he could win half-a-million US dollars (£274,000).

Lee, from Tamworth, will also compete against celebrities, such as ex-England footballer Neil Ruddock, at the two-day 888.com Pacific Poker Open 2004.

Also competing in the event, which started yesterday and is being broadcast from Maid-stone, in Kent, on cable television station Challenge TV, is Stuart Fox, of Perry Barr, a 26-year-old professional on-line poker player.

Lee said: "I play poker six out of seven nights a week on-line and spend in excess of 30 hours on poker sites each week so I fancy my chances against the professionals.

"It gives you such a buzz when you win. The adrenaline rush is fantastic.

"You never know what kind of hand of cards you are going to get or whether you have the best hand, which makes it all the more exciting.

"Patience and cunning are the most important skills in poker."

Lee started playing ten months ago and has already won £2,000.

He has promised wife Debbie a safari trip in Kenya if he wins this tournament.

More than 100 players won places in the quarter-final through the pacificpoker.com website.

The final will take place on November 10.

Source: Jessica Sheperd, Evening Mail