By his own admission the chances are slim but the 55-year-old will compete in the World Series of Poker (WSoP) Main Event for a chance of glory.

The Dubbo resident qualified for the tournament by winning the Australian Poker League WSoP Playoff at Menai on the weekend.

He saw off the challenge of 319 other competitors to win the $17,000 first prize.

Another Dubbo man Brian Stone just missed out on qualifying for the same event when he finished second in an Australian qualifier earlier this month.

This is the third time Mr Allan has won the all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas and $10,000 entry to Main Event.

On the first two occasions in 2009 and 2012 he was knocked out on the opening day but this time he is hoping to go better.

"It's a big event. You are talking six, seven or eight thousand people and the competition runs for 10 days with play going for 10 hours a day," Mr Allan said.

"You start at midday and by the time you factor in breaks, you don't finish playing until about 1am.

"You don't earn prize money unless you make it to day three or four of the competition. I just want to make it through day one this time. It's such a big competition that a lot of pros have the same goal."

At the APL qualifier, Mr Allen progressed through a number of tables to make it through the final eight. He came in as one of the people on a short stack of chips but after about 15 hands he had eliminated a fellow competitor and more than doubled his money to put himself in a strong position.

"There were no experienced players that I recognised on the final table which gave me an advantage. That didn't mean there wasn't good players there but they didn't have that experience and sometimes they can start thinking about what is at stake.

"It got down to head-to-head against a guy in his 60s. He had about twice as many chips as I did when we started but I was able to win an important hand with ace, queen when he had ace, four. I got the win with a jack and 10 of hearts, a very popular hand."

Mr Allan will stay at the Palms Resort and the competition is played at the Rio All-Suite Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The prize covers the cost for two people but Mr Allan is considering taking his whole family

"Winning isn't as exciting as it was the first time but it's a great experience. I will take my son with me this time, my wife went with me in 2012 and my daughter came with me to a tournament in Melbourne so my son is the only one who hasn't gone somewhere with me. But we may end up going as a family," he said.

Mr Allan thanked Justin Lamberton, who drove him down to Sydney for the WSoP qualifier.