THEY call him the Milky Bar Kid, but Ben Grundy is no soft touch when it comes to dealing with his new career.

In fact, he is flushed with success - travelling the world to play professional poker.

The 27-year-old, who went to school in Newport, where his mum, Judith, still lives, left his job with an internet company to concentrate on his game, and also writes a weekly column for a national newspaper.

Mrs Grundy says Ben, who was given his nickname because of his youthful looks, has played poker since he was about 18 and is master of a version called Texas Hold'em.

He came seventh in a championship game in Monte Carlo last year, winning £50,000, and earned £80,000 by playing cards in 2004.

Ben has just left for a world tour which will take him to Mexico and Las Vegas, as well as Vienna, Paris, Dublin and Monte Carlo in the next 12 months.

In his weblog, an article posted on May 26 by Ben says: "I am off to Mexico in a couple of days. This week has been so busy trying to get everything organised, not only for that trip, but also for Vegas.

"I will try and update my blog (web log) when I can... but most of the time I will just be relaxing in the sun and preparing myself..."

Poker championships are held all over the world and many are televised. Celebrity players are said to include Ben Affleck, Mena Suvari, Teddy Sheringham, Stephen Fry and Carrie Fisher.

But poker was not one of the games the family played when Ben was growing up with his sisters, Louise and Jessica.

"I don't understand anything about poker," says Mrs Grundy, 55, who lives in Baneswell, adding that she was not sure where his interest began.

"He used to love playing snooker with my late father, Tom Rondel, who used to take him to the RAFA Club. He used to bet on it and made quite a bit of money. He also loved to play the gaming machines.

"My father played poker but he didn't play with Ben."

The family also lived in Castleton for a while, and one of Ben's friends was the son of neighbour Mansour Matloubi, a professional poker player who won a world series poker match in Las Vegas in 1990. Perhaps that was the start of it.

Judith is not bluffing when she talks about him.

She says: "It is amazing, I'm very proud of him." Keep up with Ben's weblog on milkybarkids. blogspot.com