Friday, 29th March 2024 09:48
Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP 2016: “To hell with modesty!” Aethyr13 on his SCOOP win

In poker, as in life, you sometimes just have to have a little faith in yourself.

“When I got to the second day of the event, I told myself: ‘To hell with modesty! I’m winning this SCOOP!'”

So said SCOOP 8-L winner Aethyr13 from Romania, aka Floki The Carpenter (taken from his favourite show The Vikings), who supressed modesty brilliantly this week to win a SCOOP title in the heads-up format, and the $5,731 that came with it. But then, as far as he was concerned, there was logic behind it all.

“In the last 32 rounds, I got into a huge all-in pre-flop with ace-queen vs. ace-king. From that point on, I had to win it all. No other choice.”

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You get the impression that Aethyr13 The Poker Player is the lively type, as anyone who watched him streaming the event on Twitch might verify. But then there’s a reason why COOP titles appeal to so many. It’s a badge of honour between peers that all recognise as an achievement, regardless of size or scale.

“I was so full of life until the last hand, but then reality hit me. I was speechless. I couldn’t believe it. How can I just win a SCOOP when I don’t usually play MTTs?!”


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Aethyr13, who even before his win professed a love of heads-up tournaments, bought in directly and satellited into other buy-ins of the same event, where he busted early. A poker player for seven years (“Part-time poker, part-time sloth”), the 25-year-old found focus during each round of play to come naturally, often the case when the stakes are high.

He talked through the highlights:

“The first key moment was getting a weird message on my screen saying the tournament is paused for 13 hours or so. I was like, WTF is going on?! #SCOOPfish. Then winning the 40 big blind all-in ace-queen vs ace-king in the round of 32.

“After that, in the last four, I won another one with similar stacks, eights vs tens – got a runner-runner flush. Like my coach says, if you want to win: ‘play bad, get lucky.’

“To be honest, I was a bit scared every time I got a small stack or when I got all-in with so few outers, but not too much. This SCOOP was my destiny, and I knew that. Just a temporary loss in faith!”

At $5,700, the first place prize money will not rank as one of the biggest wins in this SCOOP season, but it means much to Aethyr13, who as a $15 Spin and Go player now has a beefier bankroll with which to absorb those occasional setbacks. Aethyr13 is familiar with them, being a former 1c/2c player and all.

“I was such a fish back then. Fun times.”

My guess is that there are more fun times ahead for Aethyr13 The Poker Player.


Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

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