In February, the Dominican Republic’s Alberto Meranwon the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up following a five-way deal. He blasted through a field of almost 2,900 entrants en route to a $74,000 score, as the tournament beat its guarantee by 14%. His payday was the largest given out by about $20,000.

“I’m feeling very happy,” Meran told PocketFives. “It’s a great accomplishment in my career. It’s my biggest cash as a poker player. Two days before, I was wondering when I would have a chance to win one big tournament online.” Talk about solid timing.

Coming in third and fourth in the Sunday Warm-Up were longtime PocketFivers stlouis6and HustlerGrune, who cashed for $45,000 and $47,000, respectively, as a result of the chop. “Both played well,” he said of his competition. stlouis6 plays as holla@yoboy on PokerStars, while Meran plays as alberto.m7.

As far as the money goes, Meran already traveled to the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure this year and now has the urge to play in LAPT events. He also wants to head to Las Vegas to play live and continue churning out wins online. “I like live poker,” the Dominican said. “I like live cash games too. Last year, I took a couple of poker trips and this year I want to do more of that.”

In August 2013, Meran took down the PokerStars Sunday Storm and raked in $28,000, which helped kick off his poker career. Last May, he won the PokerStars Hot $55 twice and final tabled a SCOOP Wrap-Up event, all in the same week, for over $50,000 total.

Speaking on the Sunday Storm victory, Meran said, “It was very helpful for my career. I was not expecting to win a tournament with 33,000 players, but I did it and it allowed me to grow as a poker player and move into different stakes.”

His poker career began on the Blackberry. After enjoying playing on his mobile device, Meran went to the local casino to play with friends in an affordable $3 Rebuy. “I heard about poker originally through a friend who used to play,” he recalled. “I joined the world of poker looking for a fun time, but noticed it was a game of skill; if you are good, you will win long-term.”

The result of his hard work so far is being the top-ranked player in the Dominican Republic and having almost $900,000 in career online MTT scores. He plays on 888 Pokerand Full Tiltunder the screen name albertomeranand is #504 worldwide on PocketFives.

“I always work hard to be a better player,” Meran closed by saying. “I always say, ‘The harder you work, the luckier you get.’ I want to thank my friend Nohaymiedo. He is always by my side and I started playing with him at the micro-stakes. I also want to thank zcedrick (pictured) because he has been supporting me. Thanks to all of my friends in the Dominican Republic who were railing me in this tournament!”

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