On June 2, a player who goes by the screen name “WElcomeINnferNO” took down the $10k SCOOP Main Event-H for over $1.1 million dollars. Here we learn more about the player, and what it’s like to take down a tournament of this magnitude.

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If you search for WElcomeINnferNO online, you’ll soon find out about his recent SCOOP victory. Aside from that, very little information is out there about the Austrian player. No photo. No real name. No record of his results.

WElcomeINnferNO is one of those players who likes to keep it anonymous, and not much is changing following his recent result, the single biggest score of the SCOOP 2022 series. Fortunately though, WElcomeINnferNO did respond to an interview request from Joe Hartigan and Joe Stapleton of PokerStars TV, who probed for more information on his performance and his incredible win.

And it truly was an incredible win. WElcomeINnferNO steamrolled over a final table of elite players, utilizing his position as chip leader and never really putting a foot wrong.

“It was a great spot to be in and I ran amazing. Every time I opened with a super strong hand someone shoved on me. So that was the easy part!”, says WElcomeINnferNO.

The hard part came earlier. The SCOOP Main Event was a four day tournament. That’s a lot of focus, a “long grind” as WElcomeINnferNO puts it.

But once play did reach the final table it was plain sailing. So much so, that WElcomeINnferNO personally knocked out five opponents before reaching heads-up and delivering the final blow to Dejan “dejanlc357” Kaladjurdjevic, who placed second for $834,273.

The final hand sums up how WElcomeINnferNO ran that night. He got his A♣ 10♦ in against Kaladjurdjevic’s A♦ Q♣ , only to hit a Ten on the turn to close the action. And that was it. The moment WElcomeINnferNO was crowned SCOOP Main Event-H champion.

“I remember I was like, how can I lose? Whatever I was doing I was winning the hands. It was a relief (to win the final hand), a really nice feeling,” says WElcomeINnferNO. In the end, I won the tournament and it was a dream achieved!”

It always helps to run good. But that’s not to say WElcomeINnferNO didn’t put in the work. Although already accustomed to high stakes poker (he usually plays cash), he didn’t take his situation lightly.

“I realized that this has been a dream since I started playing poker, to be in this spot. I prepared to be focused for a long ride. I tried to meditate and visualize myself playing heads-up. I listened to a lot of MP3s from poker coach Elliot Roe.”

“When I ended up on the final day, I started to search more about my opponents and watch replays about their final tables. I knew some players before and yeah, I tried to see what I could pickup to make better decisions,” says WElcomeINnferNO. “I didn’t have many tough decisions on the final table, but I was prepared for all kinds of stuff.”

Finally, here’s one more lesson for all players who hope to follow in WelcomeINnferNO’s footsteps. If you do win $1.1 million, don’t spend it all on junk. WElcomeINnferNO will instead be investing it elsewhere and, as Joe warns him, hopefully won’t be pumping all of that investment into NFTs.

Good luck and congratulations WElcomeINnferNO! We hope to see you next time you take down a life changing tournament.

(Interview conducted on the PokerInTheEars podcast with James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton)

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