The 55-year-old will be one of 7000 card sharks looking for a share in the record $75 million purse. Such is the magnitude of the prize pool, a finish in the top 700 will guarantee Adams $100th000 in earnings.

Adams won an Australian Poker League Pro Open tournament in Sydney last month to book his seat in the world's most prestigious poker tournament, run over two weeks next September.

He qualified for the Sydney tournament earlier this year when he won an APL event in Batemans Bay. It cost him just $10 to enter.

Last month he travelled to the Penrith RSL Club to face off against 500 opponents all vying for a ticket to Las Vegas and a seat in the WSOP.

``When I got to the final table in Sydney I was on my third bottle of red wine and by that stage I couldn't really care what happened,'' a laid-back Adams said.

``I had a glass of red wine on my table, and there were two glasses on the table behind me, so if I wasn't playing a hand I'd go sit at the next table just to try to annoy the people I was playing.

``They put the clock on _ you only have two minutes to make a decision so I sat there for the next four hands and as soon as it got to one minute 50 seconds I just folded.

``The other players were so serious, you've got to try and throw them off and in the end I upset a couple of them so they ended up going all in.''

Adams won the tournament with a king and queen of diamonds in his hand, and he managed to Leg 2pair his queens which was too good for his opponent's king and jack.

He compared playing poker to his day job which he said had helped him get this far.

``I've been working at Aldi for seven and a half years and playing a game of cards is no different for your concentration,'' Adams said.

``The customers come in and pay for their groceries and you're talking to the customers while you're giving out their change and a card game is just the same, except you're playing with cards. You're always talking with people while you're thinking.''

The focus has started to shift to next year's massive tournament, and Adams has set himself a modest goal.

``I don't want to come out last. If I can get through a couple of days I'll be happy _ I'd like to get through to the top 700 but you've got to have the cards.''