To close out 2013, the PokerStars Sunday 500drew a field of 848 entrants and featured one of the toughest final tables you’ll see. The final nine included three members of the PocketFives Top 100 and seven members of the Top 500. Only one person in the top nine was not part of the PocketFives community and five out of the eight PocketFivers had at least $1.5 million in tracked scores. When the smoke cleared, Amit bblacklegend Jain (pictured) came away with the win and $76,000 in cash.

Before we get into the interview with Jain, here’s how the final nine cashed out:

1. bblacklegend $76,320 (bblacklegend)
2. moneyinbag $55,120 (moneyinbag)
3. GaborMarton $41,128 (GaborMarton)
4. Otter8759 $30,740 (ott-man87)
5. JIZOINT $21,369 (chaz_man_chaz)
6. chopi7 $16,960
7. Drewfus81 $12,720 (Drewfus81)
8. dulek_jason $8,480 (dulek)
9. chipchucker5 $5,088 (chipchucker5)

As you can see, it was raining PocketFivers in this one. “It feels amazing,” Jain told PocketFives. “It was probably one of the best moments ever. I was on holiday with the wife and friends and didn’t want to miss the last Sunday of the year, so I decided to play a few select tournaments. It was a sick rail.”

Jain had the third largest chip stack headed into the final table and said, “The final table seating was probably the worst possible for me because I had the top two stacks directly to my left and after them was GaborMarton, but what helped hugely was the fact that I busted the first three people after the final table started.” Four-handed play took over an hour to wrap up.

Busting the first three players at the final table likely bolstered his confidence as the tournament wore on. He recalled, “As soon as I saw the final table seating, I decided I had to play very solidly. I was happy I could maintain that throughout.”

Jain, like other PocketFivers from Asia, is headed to the Macau Poker Cup starting on January 10. He is using part of his winnings from the Sunday 500 to buy into events during the series, which is celebrating its 20th running this year, and previewed, “It’s expected to be the biggest Macau Poker Cup ever. I am doing the full series for 12 days. After this score, I am more pumped and looking forward to it.” Macau is the only place Jain, who is from India, has traveled to for live poker.

The India pokercommunity here on PocketFives consists of nearly 600 registered players and Jain is one of the first people from the country we can recall interviewing. Of poker in his homeland, Jain said, “People are not educated enough about the game and they think it’s purely just another form of gambling, but I must add that things are changing drastically. It’s getting much better and there are many home games and poker rooms now.”

With his Sunday 500 win, Jain is up to 21 victories in tracked online MTTs and over 1,000 scores total. He is the #2 ranked player in India and tops in Mumbai (pictured). He wanted to thank his wife to close our chat, saying, “I am at the office for seven or eight hours and then at night, I am playing poker online almost every day. She has been so patient and supportive throughout. I’d also like to thank the Indian poker community because they provided a sick, sick, sick rail during the final table via Facebook, Skype, and text message. I really owe one to them.”

The Sunday 500 runs weekly on PokerStars. If you don’t already have an account on PokerStars, 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. Get started here.

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