Everybody remembers their first big win. For Eric, a 58-year-old husband and father of two from Rotterdam, Netherlands, the memory is just a few days old.
When he isn’t working as a process operator or spending time with his family, Eric plays about a half-hour each day as “RR idecky” on PokerStars. Eric considers himself a recreational player, but at the same time he takes the game seriously. Last week he was playing a small cash game when a message popped up on his screen: his Spin of the Day had earned him a ticket to a freeroll.
“I usually play small money sit and go’s, from 25 cents to $1.50, and $.01/$.02 cash games,” Eric told PokerStars Blog. “I was happy to win a ticket for a $5,000 multi-table tournament. I do not often get the opportunity to play big MTT’s because they last too long, but this one began within a few minutes so I was able to play.”
Eric’s game plan was the classic tight-aggressive approach: play few hands, but play them hard. “At first I tried to last at least an hour,” he said. “After that I wanted to end in the money. With a lot of patience some good calls and luck I made it to the final table. There I tried to survive as long as possible.”
One by one the rest of the players at the table were eliminated until Eric found himself heads-up. “It gave me a very good feeling about the way I played. In the heads up I really did not care if I would win or lose, I came a long way and was really happy about it.”
The game went back and forth from there and eventually Eric finished in second place, winning several hundred dollars — easily the biggest score of his days playing poker.
Studying with PokerStars School prepared Eric to run deep in the Spin of the Day freeroll.
Just as valuable is how his experience in the Spin Of The Day freeroll helped to solidify some concepts that previously had only been theoretical for him.
“During the tournament I saw a lot of things that were explained in poker courses at PokerStars School,” said Eric. “This gives me the confidence that I was doing the right thing. PokerStars School already taught me a lot about the way poker is played and now I only need time to play.”
Eric now has a bankroll that will let him explore other games outside of his comfort zone, and to play in the occasional MTT as well. And it’s all because he logged to play for a just a few minutes.
There’s still time to win with our Spin of the Day promotion. Check out all the details here and get in on the action before April 14th!