A Chessington man has been crowned UK Dealer of the Year, beating the 23 other elite croupiers in the final at the Sportsman Casino in London.

Judges gave Slawomir Workun, 34, top prize based on his performance as a chipper, pusher and stacker, and his demonstrations of maths and customer service.

He said: “I was honestly surprised. I was not expecting to win, especially with the standard of the other competitors.

“I thought third would have been great. I couldn’t believe it.”

There are an estimated 10,000 dealers in the UK’s 148 casinos, making the finalists the top 0.25 per cent in the country.

The UK competition was run by the National Casino Forum.

Mr Workun said: “I’m not the best at anything. There are people who are better at customer service, better at the maths, better at cutting cards, but I feel I do my job at a high standard all over.”

Along with the runner-up, Mr Workun will now go to Montenegro for the European Dealer Championship in May.

He said: “My friends and colleagues are all asking about it. Everyone is interested. What I’m trying to do is not put pressure on myself. I’m going there to have fun.”

His start in the casino business came by chance, when after finishing university in 2006 he decided to move to England from his native Poland to earn money to pay for a master’s degree and possibly contribute to his sister’s wedding.

A friend was working as a bartender at a casino, so Mr Workun called him and got a job as a chef’s assistant – he had never set foot in a casino before.

Then when Caesar’s opened The Empire in Leicester Square, he was accepted onto a training course for dealers – “everything happened at the right time”.

Asked what the secret is to achieving the standard he has reached, Mr Workun said: “It’s like learning to walk. Be slow and focus on the techniques. When you do that, you will not need to concentrate later.

“Some people try to go to fast early in their training. Just take your time. You can’t unlearn bad habits.”