If you make your user name on PocketFives Iwantbearich(pictured), you’d hope that you could live up to your expectations. Anything less than being rich would just be, well, ironic. Earlier this month, Yury Shatalov was part of a two-way chop of the PokerStars Sunday 500, coming away with a second place finish for $53,000. The win ultimately went to PokerStars member Berkyy, who cashed for $58,000.

“I’m very happy about it,” Shatalov told PocketFives in an exclusive interview. “It was my second success after the Sunday Brawl in tournaments with a high buy-in. Usually, I play low and middle limits. Oh, and my investors are very happy too.” He is over $400,000 in tracked online poker earnings and final tabled the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl in September for $22,000.

“I think players who play these limits are very strong,” he evaluated, “but I was prepared because I studied with a strong regular player at those higher limits.” He joined the PocketFives community earlier this year in May and calls the nation of Russia home.

Shatalov got started in poker a half-dozen years ago, but has been playing professionally since 2011. He explained, “I started watching videos and reading articles. In March 2012, I was accepted into a team called the ‘Dream Team‘ and now I am a team player with them.” He has over 1,600 tracked online poker MTT cashes for an average of about $250 apiece.

Before playing poker, Shatalov was working as a loader, computer engineer, and sales manager, but said, “I always wanted to play poker. It is a very interesting game. I like to compete with opponents, try to understand how players think, and choose optimal lines.”

Let’s talk a bit about the Russia pokercommunity now. There are over 1,100 registered PocketFives members from the large land area nation that sits in seventh worldwide in our Country Poker Rankings. The top 20 players in Russia have a combined PLB score of 93,539 points and the nation has generated 21 PocketFives Triple Crowns.

Whether Shatalov will ultimately get rich in poker and live up to his user name remains to be seen, but he seems to be set up for success. In the meantime, he is ranked #530 worldwide.

The Sunday 500 and other big-time tournaments run regularly on PokerStars. If you don’t already have a PokerStars account, sign up through PocketFives’ link and make a deposit to get one free month of PocketFives MTT Training. You’ll also get a 100% up to $600 sign-up bonus. Click here for PocketFives’ PokerStars link.

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