Belarus online poker player Peetoon made the final Sunday of August count. He landed in the top spot of the high-dollar PokerStars Sunday Million after a two-way chop and walked away with $232,000. The tournament drew a solid field of 8,190 players and the top 1,170 finished in the money, or 14% of the field. He chopped heads-up with PokerStars member FightnIrishh, who collected $193,000. This isn’t his first rodeo, either, as Peetoon also chopped the PokerStars Super Tuesday back in July for $65,000.

Peetoon and FightnIrishh decided to leave $30,000 on the line for the tournament’s winner. He immediately made that decision count, pulling through for his first six-figure payday and Sunday Major title. He final tabled this tournament in March for $37,000 and told PocketFives.com, “I won the big tournament of the week, so I'm very glad.”

Peetoon recently took up playing live poker and explained that the new windfall of cash will help fuel that part of his game. However, don’t expect to see much of a change in his internet poker presence: “I don't think that anything will change online for me. Maybe I’ll play some more tournaments with bigger buy-ins.” Since the beginning of July, he’s racked up nearly $350,000 in tournaments tracked for the PocketFives.com Poker Player Rankings.

Why chop, you ask? Why not play the Sunday Million out with a $60,000 difference between first and second on the line? Peetoon explained his thought process when talk of a chop arose: “I was rather tired and it is really big money for me. I understand that my opponent was far from being a pro, but playing heads-up for about $60,000 is not possible within my bankroll. I might have lost $13,000, but I played a good game and won the title. I think those are the main things to focus on.”

Only nine members of PocketFives.com have listed Belarus as their home country. Not surprisingly given the mammoth Sunday Million score, Peetoon sits perched atop the Sortable Rankings for the European country with nearly 4,000 PLB Points. On the state of poker in Belarus, Peetoon told PocketFives.com, “Now, the game has become much more popular due to the closing of poker rooms in Russia.” He added that many people in his homeland frown upon card games.

He got started in poker about two-and-a-half years ago through PokerStrategy.com and then became an MTT instructor at the site’s Russian arm. Among those that the Belarus native looks up to in the poker world are PokerStars pros Ivan Demidov, Alexander Kravchenko, and Max decay Lykov (pictured). The latter, a member of the online poker community, final tabled the Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC) Main Event in January for $56,000. Kravchenko is a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, while Demidov made the final tables of the 2008 WSOP and WSOP Europe Main Events.

When he’s not logged into the virtual felts, you can find Peetoon living what he calls the “simple life,” swimming, playing sports, and hanging out with his friends in chilly Minsk. His goal now is to make it to the Bahamas for the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which will pan out in January from the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.

Congratulations to Peetoon and all members of the online poker community who cashed in last weekend’s Sunday Majors. Check out the August 29th Tournament Review for more details.