Last month, PocketFiver ruslanmd(pictured) took down the PokerStars Sunday Storm for $29,000. While it wasn’t a life-changing amount of money, it was worth an interview on PocketFives due to the fact that the field numbered over 34,000 entrants, or half the capacity of CenturyLink Field in Seattle. The top 5,400 players finished in the money and ruslanmd booked his largest online MTT score to date.

“It felt good,” ruslanmd told PocketFives. He is no stranger to large-field events, as he took down a MiniFTOPS tournament in 2013 that had 1,370 entrants. In 2011, he finished second in the $33,000 KO Guarantee on Full Tilt from a field of over 3,100.

Back to the Sunday Storm now. ruslanmd said he was card dead after the money bubble burst and, as a result, his stack largely vacillated between eight and 14 big blinds. On the final table bubble, he continued to be short; in fact, he was slashed to four big blinds after losing with nines against eights.

However, his skill ultimately helped him prevail despite the quick structure, as he told us, “In the final two tables, the field wasn’t too hard; just two or three players were good. I doubled up with aces against eights when there were 12 people left and the final table wasn’t so hard either. I won with queens against A-K and, after that, I had a good stack. One guy gave me a gift by 5betting on a king-high board with K-Q; I had K-K and won. After that hand, I had a huge stack and won the tournament.”

As far as big-field tournament strategy like you’d need in the Sunday Storm, he summed up his philosophy in three simple words: “tight is right.” He explained, “I like to be tight-aggressive. When I have a good hand, I try to get max value.” The Sunday Storm, if you’ve never played it, is held weekly and carries an $11 buy-in.

ruslanmd got into poker six years ago by playing freerolls on a number of sites. Five years ago, he signed up for PokerStars and started playing Double or Nothing Sit and Gos for $1. A few months later, he won a $5 buy-in tournament for $4,000 and a $22 buy-in tournament for $6,000 and started playing full-time.

He is one of 58 members of PocketFives to call the Eastern European country of Moldova(pictured) home and resides in the city of Balti. His PLB score of 3,229 points is good for first overall in Moldova and, in addition to poker, he enjoys traveling with his family and poker friends. Rather than invest time in other non-poker activities, ruslanmd chooses to work on his game to become a better player. Whatever he’s doing has seemed to work well so far.

Congrats to ruslanmd on winning the Sunday Storm!

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