Jan 28, 2008
You’d have to be living under a rock not to notice a definite trend of late at PokerRoom.com: the tournaments are getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Not only is The Grand smashing total players entered and prize pools nearly every month, but the newest kid on the block – the $500,000 Guarantee -- had quite a debut on January 19th.

2078 players turned out for the $500,000 Guarantee, each ponying up $220 + $15 for a shot at huge payday. When the dust finally settled, pmryytis was crowned the champion, sitting atop a heap of players that included many of PokerRoom’s finest tournament players.

We caught up with the young Finnish winner to chat about poker, life, and any plans for what to do with his big tournament score:

“I started playing poker about 1½ years ago, a bit more 'seriously' after I turned 18 in February 2007. I really only play online, unless random homegames with my friends count. I still haven't visited the casino, though. Online I play NL25 and NL50, 10-$20 sit n go's and $1-20 MTTs.

I won a ticket to the $500,000 Guarantee from Pokerroom's Team Tournament Special, which was held somewhere in December; the whole team got tickets. My biggest win before this tournament was probably something between $300 and $500.. I’ve never played a multitable tournament with a buy in bigger than 20$ before this.

Poker is really just a hobby for me, as I'm on my last year in upper secondary school. At the moment I'm trying to focus on school but I can still find the time to go jogging a couple times a week.

As far as plans for the money, I plan on investing (with no or almost no risk) a big part of the money. I will probably also get a driver's license and something like that. Now I also have some money ready for moving to an own apartment and I don't have to take a loan when I start to study.

My favorite poker players are Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and Daniel Negreanu. I wouldn't play against them with my own money though ”

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