When 33-year old Chris Elliot paid $550 to play in the 2008 WSOPE Super Satellite, winning one of the 21 available seats was just a pipedream. But at around 4am on Monday 8 September he and 20 others had outlasted more than 1,200 entrants to claim a $24,000 package to the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event.

Elliot took up playing poker as a way to supplement his income earned from delivering pizzas to the people in Clackmannanshire, Alloa, and quickly found he had a talent for the game and was soon earning more money from poker than his regular job!

Despite his online success, Elliot was not overly confident about his chances in the WSOPE Main Event and decided not to book any accommodation last Sunday, the day of his first day of play. However, Elliot ended the day with 6,900 chips remaining and found himself homeless in the capital when play ended for the day at 4am.

Elliot and his lone supporter, his cousin Scott Elliot, hailed a taxi and asked to the be taken to a hotel so they could get some much needed rest before play restarted at noon the following day. Unfortunately, the driver found it difficult to understand Elliot's Scottish accent and they "ended up in a home of a South Korean family who rented out their basement", described Elliot.

Amazingly, after just two hours sleep, Elliot returned to the tables and battled his way through a tough field and by the time play was over for the day, he was guaranteed to finish in at least 24th from 362 entrants, meaning a payday of no less than £28,960.

With ever-growing confidence, Elliot returned for day three determined to reach the final table in his first live tournament, an accomplishment that would be confirmed when Ivan Demidov outdrew Peter Neff's pair of Kings to leave just nine players standing.

Elliot came into the final table as the short stack, with only 281,000 chips but the slow structure meant he still had plenty of room to manoeuvre. However, Elliot would only manage to last seven hands before making his exit.
Seated on the button, Elliot called a 32,000 raise from Stanislav Alekhin, holding Tc9c. The flop was the best Elliot could have hoped for, Th 9h 2c. Alekhin led out for 45,000 and Elliot quickly called.

When the seven of clubs fell on the turn, Alekhin bet enough to put the Scotsman all-in and holding top two-pair and a flush draw, Elliot called for his tournament life.

His Russian opponent turned over his cards to reveal Ac 5c, meaning Elliot was an 84% favourite to double up, but the cruel kin of clubs came on the river to give his opponent a higher flush and Elliot was eliminated from the tournament.

Elliot's disappointment soon turned to joy as he was handed a cheque for £81,450, over three times the national average wage, a sum of money he described as "life changing". He plans to play a tournament in Blackpool in October but will then set his sights on qualifying for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

I am sure everyone wishes him the best of luck.