At the end of September, Ckb(pictured) final tabled the 888 Poker Whaleand walked away with a $18,000 one week after taking eighth in the same MTT. The London resident is over $600,000 in career online tournament winnings and can be found under the user name ckb4714on 888.

He said of bowing out in fourth place from the $600 buy-in Whale, “I am mostly happy with how I played throughout the tournament, which is my #1 concern. I had final tabled it the week before and got eighth, which was pretty frustrating. I thought it would be really hard to go deep again since it’s a rather tough field, but thankfully I was lucky enough to final table it back-to-back. So, results aside, the latter is what makes me particularly happy.”

The tournament drew 408 players the week he finished fourth and 340 the week he finished eighth. “I really feel comfortable with the structure,” he explained. “It is deep-stacked with 25-minute blinds. It really gives you plenty of room to play. The field is very tough, but at the same time it’s the highest buy-in tournament on the network, so I pay a little extra attention to it, always try to play my A-game, and always try to think my decisions through. Thankfully, I made mostly correct decisions and ran well.”

The 30-year-old is a project manager for a major electronics company by day and plays poker when he’s not chugging away at work. He used to play full-time, which paid for his master’s degree, and said, “I miss the freedom, but I think playing poker is one of the toughest jobs out there. I’m not sure if it’s in my best interest financially and mentally to go full-time. It’s always in the back of my head, though. I am trying to play as professionally part-time as possible, which works out pretty well. I’ll see where that takes me.”

He had a solid 2014. Last year, he won a W Series preliminary event as well as the Main Event on Winamax for almost $60,000 total and final tabled the WCOOP Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars for another $35,000, just to name a few scores. He has been a member of PocketFives since the first month of 2013.

“Everybody close to me knows I have been playing poker for many years. They know how professionally and seriously I treat it and that it doesn’t negatively affect my job or my personal life,” Ckb relayed. “This, along with steady results, has led to approval from practically everyone. I have to say I am lucky enough that it goes way beyond approval from the really close people in my life, as my girlfriend and my close friends are so helpful and supportive that they have a very big role in my success.”

Away from poker, Ckb is a fan of photography. In fact, he’ll use some of his recent winnings for new camera equipment. He explained, “It’s very hard to balance personal life, MTTs, and work, so it doesn’t really leave a lot of time for other stuff. To avoid the long-term negative effects of that lifestyle, I try to travel with my girlfriend and completely shut down from poker and work once every few months.”

Some of his favorite places to travel are various European cities on the weekends, which he said London is a perfect base for, as well as trips back home to his native Greece, especially in the summer. Ckb added, “As far as bigger trips are concerned, I want to go to Africa during the next year and maybe the PCA.”

He closed by telling us, “Thanks to PocketFives for reaching out. Poker is tougher than ever, so much respect to all my pro and semi-pro friends out there.”

Visit 888 to play in the next installment of the Whale. If you don’t already have an 888 account, sign up through PocketFives by clicking hereto get a special 100% up to $600 deposit bonus, $88 free in most locations, and one free month of Tournament Poker Edge or CardRunners poker training. Get started here.

Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook.