No rest required for EPT Cyprus qualifier Bogdan Berinde
If you turned $55 into $1,042,000 in a single poker tournament, how much time, if any, would you take away from the game?
Your mind might jump to that around-the-world trip you’ve always wanted to take. Or a passion project you now have the financial freedom to pursue.
Not Bogdan Berinde.
When asked what he’d do if he went on to win the European Poker Tour (EPT) Cyprus Main Event, the Romanian tells us he’d just take a couple of weeks off to “reschedule his mind”.
“Two weeks without poker is all I would need,” he says. “The thing is, I’m not just a grinder. I love the game, and it took me a while to understand that.”
Berinde is one the last remaining online qualifiers in the Cyprus Main, having qualified online for just $55 on only his second attempt. Moreover, he also booked his ticket to the Eureka Main Event online and cashed it for $6,800.
This is his first EPT Main Event cash, but thinking back to his stack at the end of Day 1, he wasn’t sure he’d still be here.
“At EPT Paris, I made it through to Day 2 with 280,000 — almost 200 big blinds,” he says. “Then I exited within three hours. This time I made Day 2 with just 35,000 but then made Day 3 with 215,000 or something.
“It shows it doesn’t matter. If you’re still in, you have a chip and a chair.”
“I wouldn’t change anything”
Bogdan Berinde, known as “bogdanel27” on PokerStars, has been a professional player for the past nine years and has $1.7 million in online cashes, as well as more than $200,000 in live earnings.Â
Berinde is one of Romania’s top online players
“I’ve had a few good live cashes this year,” he tells me, and a quick scan of his Hendon Mob profile proves it. In March 2023 he took down a €330 event in Bucharest for €28,400, and then in June he won a €150 buy-in event for €9,565.
He says online poker was a bit “meh” for him until last month’s World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), where he managed to claw some back, making the final table of a $1K PKO and a $215 Thursday Thrill.
But he’s still seeking a breakout live score on the PokerStars circuit.
“PokerStars stops are the best in my opinion,” he says. “Especially the location, but also the team, the staff, the dealers, the punctuality, everything is perfect. I wouldn’t change anything, for sure.”
YEAR OF ROMANIA
At the time of writing, Bogdan Berinde is the third highest-ranked player in Romania, according to PokerStake – no easy feat when you consider the amount of poker talent emanating from the country. It was only earlier this year, at EPT Paris, that Romania found its first EPT champion in Razvan Belea.
Berinde is hoping to become the second here in Cyprus.Â
“Just to make the final table… from $100K to $1M, it’s a huge difference,” he says. “If I came fifth or better, it would be life-changing money.”
Life-changing… for about two weeks. Then he’d be right back pursuing his poker passion.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, Bogdan Berinde busted the Main Event in 95th place for $14,150.
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