In the January 24th running of the PokerStars Sunday 500, longtime PocketFives.com member Russell rdcrsn Carson emerged victorious after a heads-up chop, pulling down $79,000 for the win. He outlasted 1,022 players and the final table featured fellow PocketFivers Joe Joey Capp Cappuccio, Steven SteveyBallGame Merrifield, and Ohio’s becomelegendary. Carson sits at #16 worldwide in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings and owns both Triple Crown and Monthly PLB accolades.

Before we get into the interview with the Sunday 500 winner, here is how the final table stacked up that fateful day:
1. rdcrsn - $79,000 (rdcrsn)
2. MaltLiquor40 - $74,000
3. emily4 - $48,545
4. Joey Capp - $35,566 (Joey Capp)
5. muratfb - $25,295
6. $teveyMoney - $20,185 (SteveyBallGame)
7. hanitz - $15,075
8. celofyz33 - $9,965
9. plz be live - $5,621 (becomelegendary)

PocketFives.com: Congratulations on the $79,000 bankroll boost courtesy of PokerStars. Can you walk us through the chop heads-up against MaltLiquor40?

Russell Carson: I didn't have a huge chip lead or big edge in my eyes. MaltLiquor40 was playing really well and I don't make a habit of playing heads-up for $25,000. Normally, I like to chop it up and leave a little on the table to play for or just go to bed. The chop numbers were actually $78,000 and $74,000, with $1,100 for the winner. We said we'd just go all-in until somebody won and I took the first hand down. I was wired for a bit, but went to bed shortly after that.

PocketFives.com: You’re coming off wins in the Full Tilt Poker $150 rebuy and UB.com $150,000 Guaranteed Deep Stack in recent months. Tell us about your ongoing success.

Russell Carson: It feels good. The big ones are always nice. I’m close to having our house paid off, so this helps accomplish that and a few other things. I haven't put much time in lately because the holidays only gave me a few sessions, so it’s good to get back at it. I feel like last year was pretty slack and wasn't as good as it probably should have been, so it’s good to get off to a proper start this year. I need to cash for $10,000 on a Sunday just to break even pretty much; it’s silly expensive these days.

PocketFives.com: Talk a little bit about the typical PokerStars Sunday 500 field.

Russell Carson: The Sunday 500 always has a pretty tough field. You always see a lot of names towards the end. I think the week I won had fewer names than normal, but there were still plenty of regulars. When I looked up some folks at the final the table, everybody was a winning player. You don't see that too often.

I tend to play reasonably straightforward in that tournament. I had quite a few chips from 35 people down, so I was able to open pots and maintain my stack size. I made one bad river call, but other than that, I think I played really well. I picked my spots well and had the cards when I needed them. All told, it was a solid day. I had another final table in the PartyPoker High Roller, so my expenses were pretty much covered at that point. It’s always nice when you are freerolling on a Sunday.

PocketFives.com: You said that you needed to cash for $10,000 just to break even on a typical Sunday?

Russell Carson: I did. I haven't added up my buy-ins exactly, but it's definitely around $10,000 and more on some days. It depends how the big rebuys go for the most part. In Canada, we have access to a lot of the Euro sites as well. There's a $200 rebuy, eight $100 rebuys and cubes, four $50 rebuys and cubes, four to five $500s, and that doesn’t include all of the smaller rebuys and freeze outs. The high-stakes MTT player these days is dropping a ton of cash every day. Midweek isn't that much better if you put a full session in.