AN IRISH poker star has played his cards right to fulfill a weighty promise he made to his family three years ago.

Card shark Julian Thew, who was raised in Dublin and attended Balinteer Community College, gave up his career as a professional architect to pursue his poker dream.

He pledged to his wife Amanda and two sons — three-and-ahalfyear-old Ruben and nine-month-old Barney — that he would pay off his mortgage entirely before his 40th birthday.

And with two weeks to spare the Nottinghham-based poker prodigy has done just that with victory at the European Poker Tournament (EPT) in Baden, Austria.

The triumph earned him a cheque for £470,000. The William Hill poker sponsored star expressed his delight at making good on his promise.

He said: “It’s always nice when a plan comes together and I remembered making the promise when I was sat at the final table in Austria and just hoped it would come off. “But it was still an unbelievable feeling when I won and I was very emotional.

“I didn’t really celebrate in Austria, because the family was at home, and I had a nightmare to get back the next day because my flights out of Vienna were cancelled.

Julian Thew is a regular writer at William Hill Poker