€671,000 win means 'Yo-Yo' Thew clears the mortgage

In 2004, Nottingham based draftsman Thew (39) gave up the day job as a professional draughtsman to concentrate on on his blossoming poker career. At the time, he made his wife Amanda and two Sons a promise, he would pay off the mortgage entirely before his fortieth birthday!

Thew, upheld that promise with two weeks to spare when he lifted the winners trophy and collected a cool €671,000 (£470,000 / $950,000) cheque as victor of the PokerStars EPT tournament in Baden, Austria on Wednesday night. In fact, there is probably cash to spare, as Julian revealed before the final table show-down that his results this year had already left him with just £10,000 to repay on his mortgage.

Thew, is sponsored by UK gaming giants williamhillpoker.com and playing with maximum confidence he cemented his position as the UK's Number One, adding this EPT title to last months success in the GUKPT qualifier at Plymouth. Renowned as one of the nicest guys on the poker circuit, both on and off the table, Thew has enjoyed a steady string of successes since turning professional with three EPT Final table appearances this year.

In this tournament he played an uncannily patient game, until winning heads up with it up with Hungarian, Denes Kalo. At the death Thew drew Ace - Eight against Kalo's Ace-Five and moved all in to KO the Hungarian. Speaking with some emotion immediately after the win after Thew attributed his recent run of form to the fact that sponsorship by williamhillpoker allowed him to play regularly in all the major tournaments.

Given his current form, it could be a red letter year for Julian who still has final of the GUKPT to come in December at the Victoria Casino, London,

Thew beat a total of 282 players who entered the Pokerstars EPT €8,000 No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament from 32 countries, creating a prize pool of more than €2m

The final table comprised:

Vladimir Poleshchuk, 42, Russia

Julian Thew, 39, from Nottingham, UK

Denes Kalo, Budapest, Hungary

Manfred Hammer, 55, Dinkelsbuehl, Germany

Anton Allemann, Switzerland

Thierry van den Berg, 35, Holland

Thomas Fuller, 24, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Ted Lawson, USA