By Ian Herbert

After 25 years running a company that makes drying equipment for the pharmaceutical industry, Paul Maxfield reckoned he had earned two weeks of fun on the Las Vegas poker tables. But returning home with the largest sum ever netted by any Briton in a poker game in the United States had not formed part of his calculations.

Mr Maxfield was back in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, yesterday $1.7m (£900,000) richer, after clinching the second place spot in the week-long World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship.

So meagre were his expectations of success that he had to cancel return flights home twice, as his participation in the competition was prolonged.

Mr Maxfield, 48, who employs 25 people at the company he established in 1980 with his brother-in-law, Steve Elliot, has always had an eye for the gaming tables.

He started out at age 17 playing for pennies and graduated to a local casino where winnings were £100 tops. Amid the daily grind of producing flatbed dryers and granulation suites, internet competitions have yielded the odd big win. And there have been a couple of good events; among them, a £60,000 payout in the European Poker Tour in Paris last year.

Mr Maxfield, who has two children and is divorced, paid out £1,000 for the cachet of playing in the all-night qualifying competition for the WPT event and surprised himself by earning the right to compete with 450 others in the competition itself.

A place in the last 100 (guaranteed winnings £30,000) was certainly not expected and prompted the second cancelled flight.

As Mr Elliot looked on, Mr Maxfield found the opposition whittled down to five, and eventually one - the talented Vietnamese-American player Tuan Le, with whom he contested a dramatic eight-hour final.

"It was like the Ryder Cup," said Mr Maxfield, as he described the final, at the luxurious Bellagio Hotel, which was watched by a huge television audience in the US. "All the audience [was] shouting for the American and there were only about eight English people shouting for me."

Mr Maxfield's success adds to the reputation in the US of British poker players, whose audiences in the UK have been limited to competitions screened by Channel 4 and Sky Sports.

Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, a former stand-up comic, bricklayer and lorry driver from Hull, has had an extraordinary five-year record on the US poker tables and was watched by 1.7 million British insomniacs when he won a competition on Channel 4 in 1999. But his biggest purse, $589,000, for seeing off a field of 160 players in the Jack Binion World Poker Open at Tunica, Mississippi, last year, pales in comparison with Mr Maxfield's haul.

Mr Maxfield has decided that his winnings will buy a "Mercedes, not a Ferrari" and said that he is looking forward to leaving the pharmaceutical industry. "I'm going to pay off my mortgage and retire - which isn't bad for 48," he said.

SANTA MONICA, California -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Are actors better bluffers or will the poker professionals sweep the celebrities in the high stakes game of No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em? The question will be answered when GSN premieres Poker Royale: Celebrities vs. Poker Pros, a seven-episode series debuting as part of GSN's weekly Casino Night, Friday, May 6 at 9:00PM ET/PT. The announcement was made today by Ian Valentine, Senior Vice President of Programming, GSN.

Shot on location at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California, the latest edition of GSN's Poker Royale franchise sparked witty banter across the table between the pros and the representatives of the fastest growing group in the poker world, celebrity players. Not underestimating their opponents, the experienced pros put on their best game faces in an attempt to make it to the final table for a chance for the $50,000 championship grand prize.

"Our goal is to make our Poker Royale series better than other poker shows and this new format of the celebrities challenging the pros is totally cool," said Valentine. "Viewers will enjoy the unpredictable action, great table talk and top notch poker on both sides."

The team of celebrities include: Lance Bass (*NSYNC), Tracy Bingham (The Surreal Life, Baywatch), Morris Chestnut (The Best Man, Boyz N the Hood, GI Jane, Ladder 49,), Mimi Rogers (The Door in the Floor, Austin Powers), Jennifer Tilly (Liar Liar, Bound), and Patrick Warburton (Less Than Perfect, Seinfeld).

The professionals include Scott Fischman (Two World Series of Poker bracelets), Kathy Liebert (One World Series of Poker bracelet), Cindy Violette (One World Series of Poker bracelet), Roxci Rhodes (Ranked one of the top ten women players by Card Player magazine), Paul Darden (Winner of the 2003 World Poker Tour Gold Rush Tournament) and Kenna James (One World Series of Poker bracelet).

The third installment of GSN's poker franchise will be hosted by John Ahlers, who calls his first poker tournament. Ahlers is the play-by-play voice of the NHL's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Joining him on POKER ROYALE is sideline reporter Lisa Dergan who was named as the sexiest sportscaster by STUFF magazine and also appears on Fox Sports Net's "Best Damn Sports Show." Returning as color commentator is professional poker player Robert Williamson III.

In the first six one-hour episodes of Poker Royale: Celebrities vs. Poker Pros three professionals and three celebrities face off. Every episode champion wins $10,000 and ten points. The player who finishes second receives eight points, third place receives six points, fourth place receives four points, fifth place receives two points and last place receives zero points. The players who make the final table will each receive $10,000 in chips to begin.

In the two-hour finale, the top three point leaders for both the celebrities and the pros take the top seats. Airing on June 17, the finale winner will take the $50,000 grand prize.