“It was so much adrenaline, so much tension, it was so ridiculous. I was faint. I felt like I was going to throw up.”
Last Sunday, the Sunday Million Anniversary Take 2 kicked off with $10 million in the guaranteed prize pool and $1 million+ for the winner. More than 56,000 players registered for the massive event, all hoping to hit a score that changes his life. It was, “Daenarys T“, an unknown player from the Netherlands, who fulfilled this dream.
“This was the third or fourth day online. It was pretty sick. On Sunday, I had my biggest score ever online for $19K.” – started the champion. “The next day I had another big score,” he added.
“It’s ridiculous. I literally won the lottery. Really happy! I play tournaments off and on. I moved to Amsterdam four months ago. I’ve been lazy, playing a lot of live cash instead of grinding tournaments online, which is pretty tough. I chose the easy way and played cash in casinos.”
As he felt they needed the overcome laziness and focus more on online grinding, “Daenarys T” got back to the virtual felt. At that point, little did he know, what was waiting for him.
“I was chip leading till the final two tables, then it went worse for me. When the final started, I was in the middle of the pack. Then one of the first hands I won queens vs aces, which was pretty [good]. It was so much adrenaline, so much tension, it was so ridiculous. I was faint. I felt like I was going to throw up.” remembers the winner.
“I grinded up and I was roughly the same. Then down again. Then won some all ins. The other guys punted it off against ThEcLaiMEer.”
Although many believe, the finalists of these huge tournaments always have the well-calculated solution for any situation, as “Daenarys T’s” example shows, it’s not the case at all: “I was not sure what to do in some spots. I didn’t really know how ICM works and it was a high stress situation. Nine-handed till three-handed I just didn’t know what to do in those spots.”
“Heads-up is very different, especially so deep. All of a sudden I was very comfortable. I got lucky to get heads up but I was very comfortable playing and stuff went well, obviously.”
Despite the stakes being incredibly high (the pay jump between second and first was about $300,000!), “Daenarys T” was not afraid to pull some risky moves: “I check-raised the flop, bet turn over bet jam river, as a bluff,” he said with a big laugh. He folded. After that I just, everything went well.”
“Final few tables I was 100 per cent sure I was best player in the field. There was only ThEcLaiMEer. All the others were recreational players. Two regs and 25 Rec players.”
“Then from before that I was just going ridiculous and everyone was folding, folding, folding… and I was opening 50 per cent from every position and everyone was fold, fold, fold.”
“So obviously, I did a good job being really aggro. Everyone was scared money. I was ALSO scared money! But I knew I had to go crazy because everyone was scared.”
He reacted to the win as probably all of us would: “First I ran around the room for a little bit. Then I cried. I’ve been dreaming of this moment for years now, it’s just a moment you dream about and think it’s never going to happen. To have it happen is amazing. So, I cried for a little bit, and my girlfriend said ‘what the f*** are you crying about? You just won a lot of money’.
“Then my room mates came home and we had a couple of beers. I couldn’t sleep. I slept for one hour. I just bought a Rolex. We’re going to dinner with friends. I haven’t told my parents yet so I’ll tell them on Thursday.”
“I literally am clueless about what I’m going to do now,” he said. “I have no idea. I’m going to go with my girlfriend to Ibiza next week. After that we’ll see. I’m going to grind SCOOP and after that I’m going to keep grinding. It’s been a good start.”
Watch the entire final table here: