I quit football at just 21 to become professional poker player – now I’ve banked almost £4MILLION with prestigious win

FORMER top-flight striker Mario Mosbock has proved himself a bigger ace with cards than on the pitch by winning almost £4 MILLION in a poker tournament.

The Austrian, 27, played for St Polten in his home country between 2014 and 2017.

Instagram @mariomosboeck

Mario Mosbock, left, quit football at 21 to play professional poker[/caption]

Instagram @mariomosboeck

Mosbock banked almost £4million at a prestigious event in Las Vegas this week[/caption]

That included just a handful of Austrian Bundesliga games, and he moved on to Wiener Neustadt.

He retired from professional football to devote himself to poker, having become hooked on the game online.

And on Wednesday Mosbock scooped an eye-watering £3,693,018 at a prestigious tournament in Las Vegas.

He came second at the WPT Big One for One Drop event at the high-end Wynn Hotel and Casino – having paid $1m (£791,822) to enter.

Belarussian Mikita Badziakouski won the top prize of $7,114,500 – £5.63m.

Mosbock had previously won over £1m from playing poker.

But his latest score catapults him into the game’s elite.

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The ex-footballer saw off 15 top poker pros to land his bumper payday.

British star Stephen Chidwick, as well as US legends Phil Ivey, Isaac Haxton and Nick Petrangelo, took part in the World Poker Tour event.

Mosbock joins a host of past and present players in trying their hand at poker including Neymar and ex-Everton and Real Madrid star Thomas Gravesen, who even moved to Las Vegas to enjoy the casinos.