FATHER-OF-TWO Arshad Hussain recently scooped a whopping £345,000 at an international poker tournament in Monte Carlo. Here the 32-year-old, 'King of Cards' who lives in Bentcliffe Gardens, Accrington, talks about how he first got involved in game often frowned-upon by his religion.

Q. What time do you normally get up in the morning?

A. I don't have to get up at a particular time. I'm a manager for the family firm which is a cushion factory, Accrington Foam and Fibre in in Horne Street. I can go in when I like really which is good because If I'm playing in tournaments it can be 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning before I get home.

Q. What's your routine like?

A. In the afternoons I'm at the factory and go and help out there and most evenings I'm playing poker from home, on-line. Doing it this way I can still be with my two children Kiran, who is seven and two-year-old Iram because you get breaks while you are playing. It's not a short game though, I can be playing for up to five hours a night.

Q. What do you love about the role?

A. Muslims are forbidden from gambling by our religion but as far as I'm concerned I don't see it as gambling. It's more of a sport. The way I see it is you have to pay to enter pool tournaments and you have to pay a fee to enter poker tournaments so I just see it that way and it's very rewarding at the end if you win.

I didn't pay to enter the Monte Carlo tournament I won it on-line. I didn't pay for a thing, the hotel and travel was all included. I have never really lost any money while playing. I love travelling, the fact that you meet so many people is something I really enjoy. I have made a lot of friends playing poker.

I first started playing about eight years ago with my friends and it built up from there. Since I started I have been all over the world and have played in Las Vagas in the world championships.

Q. What's the stangest thing that has happened to you?

A. The strangest thing for me is winning so much money. I've never won anything close to this amount before. It didn't hit me until I got home. I was playing for four days and towards the end my wife, Safia, was texting me every half an hour to find out how I was getting on. I didn't feel under any pressure because I didn't realise it was for so much money. The most you usually win is around 40,000 euros so this was a massive win. But I don't believe in wasting money. I want to pay off the mortgage I have on the house at the moment and the only thing I've bought so far is a car for my younger brother and my wife wants a BMW.

Q. What has been your proudest moment?

A Winning this tournament has made me so proud. There's been a lot of media attention which I'm glad of because it helps raise the profile of Muslim players and may encourage more to get involved in the sport.

I was in the process of buying a new house so the first thing I did when I got home was check the money had been paid into my account and then phone the mortgage people and tell them I didn't need it anymore. That felt sweet!

Q. What's the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

A. One guy told me don't take any rubbish off anybody and to play people at their own game. The Scandinavians are very aggressive players so I have to change my game and use different tactics. I'm good at reading in-between the lines which is a good skill to be able to take into every day life.