It’s hard to remember the story of Chris Moneymaker without a little bit of envy creeping in. Who wouldn’t love to score one of the biggest titles in poker, all for less than the price of a hoodie in the WSOP store?
And so it is that everywhere online poker is played, people have been trying to replicate Moneymaker’s moneymaking success ever since. That includes the players of ACR Poker, as the site sent at least 40 players to the WSOP this summer.
One of those was Sergey Ulitsky of Ukraine, pictured above with Chris Moneymaker, who bagged his Vegas package for just $109.
Sergey’s now out of the Main Event, but not before surviving the bubble and making the money — $22,000 of it, to be precise.
Now based in Bulgaria, Sergey bagged his package in the Moneymaker May-Hem promo a couple of months ago. With some extra cash in his pocket, he shares some of the details of how he landed his five-figure score in the WSOP Main Event.
‘I met very strong opponents’
To qualify, I first took 4th place in the Online Super Series XL Moneymaker tournament and won $23,000, after which I was automatically registered for a tournament with the 36 finalists of the Moneymaker tournaments for the entire month of May. My performance in that tournament is how I won my WSOP Main Event seat.
Now it’s over, I am happy with the result in the Main Event — I feel an increase in self-confidence. As I went deeper into the tournament the field became a little tougher, I met very strong opponents, for example Jason Mercier and Joao Simao.
The mental pressure increased a little because of the size of the prizes and my lack of experience in such big tournaments, but I tried to play my best game. It was interesting to sit at the same table with Jason Mercier.
The bubble was a unique experience, and my last hand was interesting. Before this hand, I had been dealt all kinds of premium hands but not KK, and then I was dealt KK in the cutoff position with about 11 blinds.
There were two spots to go before a pay jump. I opened with a min-raise. On the big blind, a very active high roller from Colombia named Farid Jattin called with T-5o. The board came 5-7-9 with a flush draw. I stalled for time and bet 1/3 of the pot. He went all-in.
I stalled for time to try and outlast the pay jump. He called the floor, I was timed for 30 seconds, and eventually I called. The turn was a 5 and the river a 10. He hit a full house and I was out — and short of the pay-jump.
For me this is in my top 5 best cashes, and my biggest cash offline. A unique experience.
