There were amazing scenes in the Bahamas this week when a 33 year old German walked away with over half a million pounds sterling, a world record payout for a backgammon tournament.

Hosted by the online gaming site Partygammon.com Andreas Maertens beat 36 year old Danish player Lasse Hjorth Madsen to take the loot.

The prize pool for the event  stood at over £614,000 and was contested amongst ten former World Champions and 25 out of the top ‘Giants of Backgammon’ including a number of British players.

Reacting to his huge win Maertens said “ When I came here I had a chance but never really thought that I could win as there were so many strong players in the field. I’m not sure what I am going to do with the money, I’m certainly going to play more high stakes backgammon but I am also going to buy my girlfriend Monica a car.”

A spokesman for PartyGammon.com said "We saw the huge rise of the internet qualifier in poker and, remarkably, at the very first attempt we have seen online qualifiers compete and beat the world's best players at backgammon. Like poker, the entrance of the online aces promises to change the game of backgammon forever."

So it seems online poker in Britain and elsewhere is attracting the same high quality players as in casinos across the globe. With such high stakes tournaments becoming more regular the future of poker and other card games may rest squarely online.