Meet the player who drafted himself – and won SCOOP Pick 3

But it was a lesser-known player who won it for him. 'AmateurGOAT' went on a tear in the second half of SCOOP, finishing top 10 among all Pick 3 players and giving StopLossing a 290-point win over the runners-up, Team Fandango's Flyers. AmateurGOAT was only drafted eight times.

Team StopLossing 

1. FAL1st: 4,755 points
2. AmateurGOAT: 1,690 points
3. zidix: 1,345 points

The name of the winning manager? AmateurGOAT. 

We spoke with AmateurGOAT (who wants to stay anonymous) after the thrilling Pick 3 finale.

Ivan 'zidix' Zhechev was drafted by 93 players, and he played a strong supporting role in StopLossing's win.

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Pick 3 winner backs himself

Congratulations AmateurGOAT! How did you pick your team, and were you surprised to see your own name on the draft list?

I was very surprised to see my name on the draft list. I dabbled in COOP events in the past, but WCOOP 2025 was the first time I'd grinded an entire series. I won a PLO (L) event at WCOOP 2025 and a NLO8 (M) at SCOOP 2023... nothing overly noteworthy. 

A friend of mine noticed my name on the list and told me it was now mandatory for me to enter a team and draft myself. FAL1st is, of course, a well-known crusher, and zidix is someone who has impressed me in the past and plays all the variants. 

You had a successful SCOOP yourself – what were the highlights?

The main highlight was the PLO8 (H) event that I won... I had to overcome a field full of crushers, and PLO8 is one of my favorite variants. 

Outside of that, I had five deep NLH runs, which is by far my weakest game historically, and so ultimately this is likely what made the difference on the leaderboards.  

How do you stay motivated and playing your A-game through such a long series?

With my career in financial markets, I don't get to play poker anywhere near as much as I'd like to, so SCOOP provides a good opportunity to scratch the poker itch, particularly for my preferred PLO/mixed variants. 

As I don't put in the same poker volume as others over the course of a year, it's much easier to stay switched on and enjoy the grind. A lot of my friends enjoy grinding SCOOP recreationally too, so we're always competing amongst each other, which helps increase motivation levels.

Were you aware that your team had enjoyed a late surge and was leading the Pick 3 leaderboard?

The truth is I had written my team off from the start because I didn't expect myself to be a good pick. But I was probably referencing myself against the true GOATs who crush every variant at every buy-in level and didn't appreciate 'The Field' players were on a more even playing field. 

A friend notified me when I was at the top towards the end of the series, and I followed it more closely from then on.

Did you play more late on, knowing you had a big shot at the Irish Open prize, or were you nose down to the grind? 

Knowing that I had a shot at winning the competition and that it was to an extent in my own control definitely provided some extra motivation towards the end of the series, particularly as the schedule became more NLH-intensive.

Have you played much live? Have you been to the Irish Open before, and are you looking forward to playing it?

If there are any good live PLO/mixed game events in London, I try to get involved – otherwise, going to Vegas for a few weeks during the WSOP each year is my main poker fix. 

I've been to the Irish Open once before for a brief trip and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I'm glad to have the chance to go again. Hopefully I can continue the recent NLH form into the Main Event and put up a good showing.

Good luck to AmateurGOAT at the Irish Open! We'll be back with another big fantasy competition for the 2026 World Series of Poker. Don't miss out on your chance to pick the winning team on the biggest stage in poker this summer – sign up for free by hitting the 'Register' button at the top of the page.