Fairy Meadow man keeps his poker face

Arif Mehmet will be practising his poker face this week in preparation for the 2008 World Series of Poker Championships in Las Vegas in July.Mr Mehmet, an ex-blackjack dealer from Fairy Meadow, was given the chance to compete in the "Olympics of poker" after he won a poker tournament at Melbourne's Crown Casino in June.The prize, which is worth $17,800, includes entry to the 39th Annual World Poker Texas Hold'em event, which has an entry fee of $10,486."It's a dream to be going there," Mr Mehmet said."It's only just starting to sink in."Mr Mehmet has been playing poker for 13 years and has been interested in the game ever since he went to Las Vegas on his honeymoon.While he has been practising in other tournaments since his Melbourne win, he admits that luck does play a part in his poker success."There's always a lot of luck involved but you have to make the right choices when you're playing to take advantage of that," he said. Last year the Las Vegas Poker Championships, which are held at the Rio Hotel and Casino, attracted 54,000 entrants from 87 countries around the world and awarded almost $170 million in prize money.In light of this, Mr Mehmet said that the competition was going to be extremely tough, as some of the world's best poker players would be included in the thousands of entrants in the main event. However, he said that he would have just as good a chance as anyone to win."If I'm patient, my aim is to get into the top 10 per cent of players," he said."I'm not one of those people who plays poker every day. I've got a life. I just like to play serious poker."