The Full Tilt Online Poker Series brought in players from around the world. From the United States to Australia to India, one goal united poker enthusiasts over the 10-day tournament series: win an FTOPS event and become an instant sensation. Hailing from Germany, PocketFiver Sebastian sebbau Bauer took fourth in the $2,620 buy-in Two-Day tournament, outlasting nearly all of the 942 players who entered. It marked the largest cash of the 21 year-old’s poker career and weighed in at $194,287. PocketFives.com caught up with Bauer just a few days removed from his massive payday to learn what makes this German such a worldwide success.

Ironically, Bauer almost didn’t play in the FTOPS Two-Day tournament, which started on Saturday, August 16th. He told PocketFives.com: “It feels really good to get fourth place. I nearly missed the tournament until a friend said that I should play. I was going to chill with some friends, but he offered to stake me 50%, which got me to play it in the end.” The gamble paid off. Bauer and his backer in the tournament became $194,000 richer.

It was the fifth time that the Two-Day event has been offered as part of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series. Previous winners include Grndhg25, wuddacooler, csimmsux, and Halfrek. This year, hAAydon emerged as the champion of the Full Tilt Poker tournament, pocketing $541,650. Bauer commented on the field, “It has been the hardest two days of poker that I’ve ever played. Every well-known player participated. You couldn’t find any dead money.”

Players were given 250 times the big blind as a starting stack, or 5,000 chips. The prize pool, which was guaranteed to be at least $2 million, eventually topped $2.3 million. Bauer added, “The structure is very nice. You have a really deep stack to start with and the minute blind levels last 30 minutes. The average stack was always over 50 big blinds, which allowed for a lot of post-flop poker.”

He’s been actively involved in the poker world since 2005: “I started playing in school with a couple of friends, first only to make some spending cash. By the end of 2005, I discovered online poker. I played only sit and gos and then began grinding some low-limit cash games. I also started to educated myself by reading books and visiting online forums, which allowed me to beat my opponents.”

Bauer is a professional poker player, but he is studying “informatics, so I have something to come back to if poker doesn’t work out.” So far, so good. In fact, he took 29th in the Two-Day tournament during FTOPS VIII, cashing for $7,642. He also has a $7,986 cash in the $200 buy-in Turbo $30K Guarantee on Full Tilt Poker, which he logged back in May. Around the same time, he finished third in a $55 buy-in no limit tournament on PokerStars for $6,750.

Bauer discusses the area of poker that has been the most challenging for him to master: “Trying to read my opponent, to guess his hand, to predict his action, and then to decide what move I’ll make. I like the mind game of poker. For the same reason, I like to play chess.” In the process of learning and playing the game, he’s received support from some of his family and friends: “Most of my friends where very supportive. My mother was very supportive too, I have to thank her for that because my father hates gambling and really wants me to quit.”

Bauer hails from Germany, where poker appears to be on the rise. He discusses how his profession is viewed in his home country: “It's very popular in Germany. Everybody wants to play poker nowadays. A lot of people have home games, watch poker on television, or play online poker.” Another German PocketFiver, triathlon4, finished second in the FTOPS Two-Day event, pocketing $341,475.

Congratulations to Sebastian sebbau Bauer and all PocketFivers who cashed in FTOPS events. We’ll see you soon for the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.