A heroic pokies customer has thwarted two would-be armed robbers who smashed their way into a Melbourne venue carrying a machete and a metal pole.

Police are now hunting the pair and have released CCTV footage of the incident, showing the patron flooring one of the men with a right hook.

Detectives now believe the incident in St Albans, in Melbourne's north-west, could be linked to as many as three separate armed robberies in the area.

According to police, two balaclava-clad men broke a window to enter the gaming venue on Clubhouse Place about 11.15pm on November 12 last year.