Imagine playing for the title in the PokerStars Sunday 500, a $530 buy-in tournament with one of the largest top prizes of the week, and being forced out of your hotel room because it’s checkout time. Such was the nightmare of Alex lynskey99 Lynskey (pictured), who was in Hong Kong for the tournament, but had to play the final table from the corner of a bustling hotel lobby. Oops. Fortunately for Lynskey, who is from Queensland, Australia, the Sunday Major ended in a heads-up chop for $67,000.

PocketFives: Awesome job in the Sunday 500. How are you feeling about it?

Alex Lynskey: It feels great to get my first Sunday Major win under my belt. I’ve had a bunch of final tables, but never managed to close one out. I had been playing the Sunday session in my hotel room in Hong Kong, running off very little sleep, but managed to make a run in the 500. The final table rolled around and I had to check out of my hotel room and so ended up playing the whole final table in the hotel lobby.

Once we got down to heads-up, both of us were pretty tired, so we decided to do a chip-chop and play for an extra $6,000. It lasted about 30 minutes and was pretty even, but I managed to get hands at the right time and closed it out.

PocketFives: You chopped with Roman Romanovskyi (pictured), aka Romeopro, a longtime PocketFiver. Talk about his play.

Alex Lynskey: I play with Romeopro a lot in the daily tournaments. He’s a very tough player and played really well.

PocketFives: Do you have any plans for the money?

Alex Lynskey: I’ve been traveling the live circuit, so I’ll probably keep doing that for the next few months. I will be heading to PCA and then the Aussie Millions.

PocketFives: How crazy was playing in the hotel lobby?

Alex Lynskey: It was pretty crazy. I had to pack all of my stuff while trying to play short-handed with 12 left and then race down to the lobby and switch between the different WIFIs at the five-minute break. They set me up with a little desk in the corner and luckily I managed to take it down.

PocketFives: You’re near your all-time high in the PocketFives Rankingsat #20.

Alex Lynskey: Yeah, it feels really good. I also became #1 in Australia for the first time, which feels great as well. I am hoping to crack the top ten worldwide in the next few months.

PocketFives: What do you do away from poker? What else interests you?

Alex Lynskey: I love to travel, so when I’m away for poker tournaments, I love to get away from the casino and see the cities and try all the food. I also play a lot of sports, soccer mainly, and enjoy getting to the gym.

PocketFives: What’s your favorite city, casino, and restaurant thus far?

Alex Lynskey: My favorite city would have to be London. My favorite casino is the Crown in Melbourne. I have far too many favorite restaurants to just choose one. I love to eat. I really enjoyed the Mexican food and beer pong bar in Macau. It’s super random, but it’s a cool place.

PocketFives: Finally, tell us about your WCOOP $700 NLHE final table this year for $74,000. Did that change anything about your career?

Alex Lynskey: That was my first WCOOP final table and my biggest cash ever, so it obviously felt really good. It was a bit bittersweet at the time getting sixth with such a large amount of money on the line, but when I look back on it, I ran really well to get that far and am happy with the result. That result, coupled with some lucky action-buying, allowed me to get out of being staked and onto my own dime, which was a really big achievement as well.

The Sunday 500 runs weekly on PokerStars. If you don’t already have a PokerStars account, sign up through the links on PocketFives to get a 100% up to $600 deposit bonus and one free month of Tournament Poker Edge or CardRunners poker training. Get started here.