Poker ace Sam Holden has missed out on a staggering £5.4 million jackpot at a money-spinning tournament in Las Vegas.

But, the Kent University graduate, who made it through to the final table of the World Series of Poker tournament earlier this year, flies home with the tidy sum of around £500,000 ($782,115) for his troubles.

Sam, 22, was battling it out with eight other card sharks for the jackpot at Vegas’ Rio hotel this week, but was eliminated early on in the tournament on Sunday night.

Bookies had him down as a 16-1 outsider and Sam, who has moved to London since graduating in forensic science, bowed out first from the final table in ninth place. He was forced to go all in with an ace and a jack, which was trumped by an ace and a king held by American Ben Lamb.

He was the last remaining player in the tournament from the UK, which was eventually won late on Tuesday night by 22-year-old German Pius Heinz. Pius, from Cologne, collected the third highest jackpot in poker history in a final lasting more than six hours.

More than 10 of Sam’s friends, who helped pay for his entry to the tournament, travelled with him to Las Vegas for the final. They even caught the eye of television commentators on ESPN with their curly wigs, imitating his own hairstyle.