A FISH and chip shop owner from Worcester will swap potato chips for the plastic kind when he appears on a televised poker tournament with a first prize of $125,000 (about £72,000).

Peter Djiallis, who runs Pete's Plaice, off Broadway Grove, St John's, is to take part in the Party Poker European Open, which will be aired on Channel 5.

Mr Djiallis says he has been playing the game for 22 years.

He said: "I was born and bred into the game, being Greek Cypriot. Poker is a popular game among Greek Cypriots. It is part of the social life. It's what we do after work."

Over the past few years, he has won a number of tournaments. About two years ago he won £10,000 and just two months ago he won £6,000. He has also won a number of smaller cash prizes in tournaments around the Midlands and rest of the UK.

But he is not thinking about the grand prize just yet. Instead he will be concentrating on each game as it comes.

He said: "There is a skill to poker - obviously you need the right cards, but when you get the cards you need to know how to play them.

"You have to be able to observe other players."

Mr Djiallis found out about the competition from a friend and has paid a $5,000 (£2,900) entry fee.

The series began on Wednesday, December 14. The preliminary heats will be aired weekly and Mr Djiallis' heat, which has already been recorded at Leyton Orient FC's stadium in east London, is due to be broadcast on February 15.

If he wins he'll go through to the semi-finals, with the final to be played on the same day.

Poker facts and figures

At its simplest, poker involves betting that your hand of five cards is better than the other players' hands, according to a

pre-determined ranking.

The best hand is a Royal Flush (ace, king, queen, jack and 10 of the same suit) and the lowest is a pair of the same value (eg. two 3s).

There are several different variations of poker, depending on how many cards are dealt at a time, which ones can be looked at and when bets are made. The most popular variation is called Texas Hold 'Em.

The origins of poker is uncertain, with some people believing it originates from Chinese dominoes and others from a 17th Century French card game.

The game really took off in the United States in the 19th Century, where it became popular on the riverboats that plied the Mississippi.

A new era for poker started in 1998, when the first online games were launched.