Very rarely in poker do we see players getting second chances. Financial hardships and a poor string of events are quite difficult to overcome in the face of variance, large player pools, and finite bankrolls. In the case of tilt21sted(pictured), however, a second chance was most assuredly in the cards. The Romanian chopped the PokerStars Sunday Million on January 6 and banked an outstanding $176,000.

“I’m feeling good,” tilt21sted told PocketFives in an exclusive interview. “It was my first day of grinding in 2014. I was coming off a two-week vacation that involved a lot of partying, so I wasn’t playing my best. Actually, when I started the day, I was feeling like it was one of my worst sessions in a while.” He is up to 231 tracked top-three finishes.

tilt21sted narrated that he doubled up early on in the Sunday Million after winning a flip and had a beneficial table draw the entire way. “I played aggressively and used my stack to my advantage,” he said. “I also received a couple of gifts. In the middle stages, I coolered a guy with KK>AA to build a huge stack and everything went smoothly from there until late. I won chips without showdown and busted short stacks.”

A deal was discussed when play was five-handed, with tilt21sted asking for more because he felt like he had an edge at the table, but his four foes wouldn’t give in and the cards continued to fly. “Three-handed, the guy who eventually won had built a big stack of around 70 big blinds, while the other player and I were short stacks. It was pretty late also, so we all agreed on an ICM dealwithout talking much.” Payouts ranged between $160,000 and $234,000.

As for what he plans to do with his $176,000, tilt21sted told us that he’s trying to grow from past mistakes: “I’m trying not to make a huge deal out of it because the first time I shipped a six-figure score, I partied for two months and spewed my money on the tables. I’m trying to learn from my mistakes. My mom’s 50th birthday is next month, so I plan to get something really nice for her. Also, I want to go to some EPTs in 2014.”

We mentioned second chances earlier, so we’ll tell you what tilt21sted learned as a result of his early success: “I wasn’t playing MTTs for that long and the score came out of nowhere. Of course, I overrated myself as a player because of that score, which didn’t really mean anything in terms of how skillful I was at the time.”

He added, “I played higher than usual and partied a lot at the same time; that can’t ever end well and it resulted in a six-month downswing. I now think that a big score coming that early on cannot be good for a poker player in the long-run. You overrate yourself and it actually sets you back in terms of skill. Financially, it’s great, but that’s it.”

tilt21sted is the #2 ranked player in the Romania poker community and started playing with friends during his last year of high school. He eventually found online poker and played cash games to rake in a little extra dough. He recalled, “I was a fish, but the games were so easy back in 2008, 2009, and 2010 that anyone could make some good money, especially in Romania, which is a cheap place to live. I have been playing for a living for roughly three years now, starting with sit and gos and moving to MTTs.”

Heading into 2014, his goals are to get in better shape and eat well, two lifestyle choices he deviated from in 2013. He explained, “2013 was my worst year so far.” It’s safe to say he is off to a hot start this year.

tilt21sted wanted to close by sending a shout out to the Romanian MTT community as well as his coach, “who helped me a lot in the past six months.”

The Sunday Million runs weekly on PokerStars. If you don’t already have an account on the site, create one through PocketFives’ links to get a 100% deposit bonus up to $600 and one free month of PocketFives Training when you make a deposit. Plus, PokerStars will host a special PocketFives Open as part of a three-tournament series on January 28. Get started here.

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