A 22-year-old professional gambler and former JFS pupil has asked a judge to dismiss a £140,000 payment demand from a rabbi who lost the sum in a betting deal that they had made.

The High Court heard last week that in 2008, Andrew Feldman, of Bushey, made a deal with Rabbi Simon Nissim, to place a spread betting deal for him.

The two met at Jewish education group, Aish, in Hendon, where Rabbi Nissim was an educator.

Mr Feldman had allegedly lost £700,000 on online poker, and Rabbi Nissim offered to help him by placing new bets using his own spread betting account.

But according to Jonathan Lewis, for Mr Feldman, Rabbi Nissim placed extra bets besides the ones he had agreed with Mr Feldman.

Richard Ritchie, defending Rabbi Nissim, said that the two men had agreed that Mr Feldman was prepared to lose up to £200,000, which he would repay. When Rabbi Nissim lost £140,000, he asked Mr Feldman to pay. But he refused, claiming that the alleged extra bets broke the agreement.

On Friday Mr Feldman, who won the 888 UK Open in 2007, asked deputy High Court judge Richard Snowden QC to set aside the statutory demand for the money served on him by the 34-year-old rabbi in December 2008.

The judgment has been reserved and is expected in two weeks.