zlatan35 - every inch a champion (pic courtesy of the APT)
"I woke up this morning, opened my eyes and saw a trophy... So it wasn't a dream, I really won it! Yeah! I realize my life is changing, it is hard to explain anything else right now.
It all started one evening on PKR.com, when I decided to play the Daily $17K tourney, and while I was playing I decided to register for a lottery to Macau for $5. I finished first out of 68 runners, having played very well as I was all in everyhand, an interesting strategy!
After that it was the Satellite to the APT Macau for $350, where I managed to defeat the 28-runner field. It was here that I realized I had perhaps made a mistake, as I have a fear of flying and I would obviously have to take a plane to play the tournament!
To be honest, I never intended to go to Macau, and played the $5 satellite as I would never pay $350 to qualify, because I'm too scared of flying! But now it looks as if it was my destiny...(oh and I won the Daily $17K on the same evening by the way!)
So anyway, I get on the plane with my friend Waswini and five minutes before take off, I feel an anxiety attack! "Why the hell am I on this plane, I should never be here, let me out of here!!!" Waswini will tell you I wasn't looking good at all!
After 16 long hours of flying with my fingers crossed, we landed in Macau and I felt much better (although the air in Macau is hot and wet, and there were no seat belts in the taxis!
The Rio Hotel!
Here we are! We realize we're two lucky guys, staying in a luxury hotel. A lot of players would love to be in our shoes, playing a huge tourney at the other side of the planet. The jet lag was very tough to deal with - it was impossible to go to bed early and impossible to wake up, so we went out a lot before the start of APT.
Thursday is the day Waswini and myself started our proffesionnal poker with the same objective: passing through this fronking day 1
Sadly, Waswini will not get as lucky as me and will be out after 6 or 7 hours of game. (sorry for you Waswini you deserved a lot better...)
The Main Event
Day 1 wasn't a great day, I didn't hit a lot of hands, but my aggressive style paid off. I got up to 60k but five minutes before the end of the day, I moved all-in pre flop with KK against A T, and of course an ace came out on the flop. Had I won this pot, I would have been chip leader at the end of Day, very frustrating as an hour before I had lost another nice pot with JJ vs K5 pre flop, a king dropping on the turn.
Lucky ladies
At the start of Day 2, I felt in good shape, but I couldn't accumulate chips and even sunk to 30k. In a crucial hand, with 60 players remaining (top 40 paid) I went all-in with QQ against JC Tran's AA. I thought, "I'm going to bust, but...omg, a QUEEN on the river, yesssssssssss!!".
From this point my stack started rising, and I finished Day 2 with 482k. I really dominated all the tables I played on, and I remember a French guy on my left telling me I was going to win it all, even with 40 players left. So I told myself, "Hey, these players respect me, I have a lot of power at the table and no one will stop me."
The final table
What a dream. I looked around me, it was crazy. I thought, "Yes, people are looking at me, yes I am the most aggressive at the table, yes it's me giving a hard time to JC Tran on my right. This tourney will be mine!" I busted two short stacks in the first few minutes, one with a lucky 99 against KK!!!
With only four players left, all had big stacks, but felt I had the psychological edge. No one stole my blinds, I was given respect. I earned the chip lead, and thought, "I am going to crush them all!"
After six hours at the final table, I had won! I couldn't really understand it. In my head I was like, "OK, it's like I've won a PKR tournament, no?!!! I won APT Macau, my God, I won it. People are taking pictures of me everywhere...give me a minute! Is it so big, what I have just done?"
I'm very happy, I dont know it yet but my life has changed. I did interviews for two different TV channels helped by my French translator jogal72. That was funny, I mean me talking to the TV now! There were like 100 pictures with everyone, they all wanted a picture! I even got a guy asking me to sign his baseball cap!!! I signed my first two autographs!!! LOL
The smoke clears
Today I am in paradise, my life has changed. I hope I will be offered a contract. I am so lucky and happy right now. Thank you all, I hope this shows you everything is possible. I believed it could happen, and so you should too! Remember zlatan35, it's not the last time you'll hear this name..."
Read more about zlatan's APT win, or watch him in action on PKR TV!