For many of us, our most sought after dream or goal in online poker is to take down a Sunday major. We go to sleep every Saturday visualizing a run at the final table and actually allow ourselves to fantasize and feel some of the excitement it would bring. We imagine ultimately making it to the final nine after playing impeccably and accumulating millions of chips. And then, after plowing through our competition and making great read after great read at the final table, we get to the pot of gold at the end of the tournament rainbow. Inside that pot we find our six-figure reward awaiting. <READMORE>

We reach our hand in to take what is rightfully ours. After all, we just conquered the HU match and displayed our dominance. When we go to pull out a large stack of Benjamin's, we are abruptly woken up and find our hand not in a large pot of cash, but in a bowl of warm water with our younger brother racing out of the room and laughing hysterically. We are left disappointed and all too aware that the huge score we had possessed a moment ago was merely a figment of our imagination ...

Winning one of these large buy-in large field events is something that at times seems very feasible, but ultimately is never realized during the majority of our poker careers, except for maybe in our dreams. For Chris "sooooted" Vaughn however, not only did he realize this dream, but he did it twice in one week taking down the two biggest monthly tournaments on the net. This sort of accomplishment is a statistical anomaly, and one that deserves to be recognized.

On October 21st, Chris won the $500 buy-in $1 Million Guaranteed on Full Tilt. In order to do this, he had to beat out 2,151 other players, and when he did just that he was awarded $197,984. I talked with him about the tournament, and asked him to tell me about a few critical hands. He had this to say: "I remember having aces early and getting paid off by queens in a monster pot. Later in the tournament, I ran one giant bluff versus a very weak player on my left. That hand probably led me to win the tournament, and also gave me the confidence to make the kind of plays I needed to in order to be successful."

Most people would be ecstatic in just making a final table as big as the $1 Million Guaranteed on Tilt, however Chris told me that he was able to stay very composed while making decisions with thousands of dollars at stake. This gave him a significant edge, he said. His ability to keep it together during an incredibly stressful situation is even more impressive considering the fact that he has had little actual poker experience.

One week after Chris took down $197,984, he was not on some extravagant vacation, or rolling around in hundred dollar bills on his new Persian rug. Instead, he was back at it and registered for the PokerStars $500 buy-in $1 Million Guaranteed. The probability of him going on to win yet another Sunday major in a span of seven days was miniscule, but as his opponents dropped and he remained his chances improved.

I asked Chris if he gave himself a realistic chance to win the Stars Million, and at what point he realized it was a possibility: "There was an exact time I knew I had a shot. With about 4-5 tables left, I opened J9ss in early position to 62,500 with 12,500/25,000 blinds, and about 1.2 mil behind. Puffinmypurp then made it 180k in the cut off. I 4-bet shoved and he folded leaving him with about 500k. Puffinmypurp was an extremely dangerous player and it really knocked him down a bit, and at that point I realized I was probably the favorite to win given my chip situation. Also, it was a huge confidence builder for me. I realized that I could make a play at who I thought was the best player at the table. After that, I really turned up the aggression in my game, and other than a few bumps, I sailed through most of it."

When the play got down to three handed, Chris was involved in nearly every hand and said he was easily 90% VPIP along with the other bigstack blanconegro who ended up taking 2nd place. The short stack got run over, and the rest is history. Only one week after winning almost $200k, sooooted cashed in on an even bigger score of $240,633 outlasting 2,616 other players. Naturally, I asked him what he was going to do with the money and if he had spent any of it already. He said this: "I just bought a 24" monitor to go with the one I already have. Then I got a 42" Samsung LCD TV for my bedroom along with a Playstation 3 and some games and other stuff to go with all that. And I got something nice for my girlfriend, but I can't say what because she'll read this. As for the rest of the money, I will probably invest 90% of it, and other than that I'd like to get a high-rise condo somewhere here in Atlanta."

Chris is 24 years old, and lives in Atlanta, Georgia (where he is now ranked #1 in the PocketFives Sortable Rankings). He is the Managing Editor at Bluff Magazine and he made it clear that his recent success will not have an impact on his position at Bluff. When I asked him if he had any intentions of leaving his job he replied, "No way. I have a great job. We have so many big things happening at Bluff and I am really excited to be here for it and contribute to keeping it as the best poker magazine in the business."

Congratulations to Chris "sooooted" Vaughn who made the unlikely a reality and in doing so helped keep our dreams alive.

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