When Reda Achnit heard about a promotional freeroll on CoinPoker that awarded a prize package for the upcoming Triton Poker Super High Roller Series festival in Jeju, he did what any ambitious poker player would – he fired up his laptop and took a shot at it.
After grinding his way through the field, the Moroccan computer engineer struck gold – punching his ticket into a $25,000 buy-in on poker's richest stage.
"I was alone, at my parents' house, playing on my laptop," Achnit told Triton Poker. "When it was over I sat there for a while genuinely not understanding what had just happened — I was thrilled, but my brain hadn't caught up. I went and told my brother, and he was amazed, but we didn't run around the house screaming."
"It was one of the biggest moments of my life, and it happened in complete silence," he added.
Once reality set in, it was time to make the journey and get to work.
No live poker experience, no problem
Prior to his arrival in Jeju, Achnit had never played a live poker tournament.
In fact, he had only begun playing a couple months earlier and his experience at the tables was limited to micro-stakes tournaments online.
Then he found himself competing with the likes of Adrian Mateos, Phil Ivey, and Stephen Chidwick – tough company, to say the least.
Impressively, Achnit outlasted all three of them as he battled deep into the tournament before eventually bowing out in 15th place for $51,000. While he came up just a few places shy of the final table, there's no denying that Achnit's run was a special one.
In his bustout hand, Achnit took an ambitious line against one of the game's best tournament players, Seth Davies.
After defending his big blind with 
, Achnit opted to check-raise Davies' continuation bet on the 
flop.
Davies made the call with 
and the turn 
delivered him the nut flush.
Achnit stuck to his story, moving all-in for a little more than a pot-sized bet – showing absolutely no sign of trepidation when going up against the best of the best.
Davies called Achnit's bluff and had his opponent drawing dead going into the river, a mere formality.
It was an explosive ending to an overwhelmingly inspirational story.
Images courtesy of Triton Poker.
