On the very last day of the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, Lebanon’s Nicolas nicccChouity (pictured) and nearly 10,000 other people entered a $215 No Limit Hold’em tournament that guaranteed a million bucks. In the end, almost $2 million was up for grabs and, despite the amount of money at stake, no chop occurred. Instead, Chouity exited in third place and pocketed a cool $143,000.

It was certainly not his first six-figure score. His largest tracked cash to date came in September 2011, when he won a SCOOP Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max bracelet for $167,000. One year prior, he placed fourth in a SCOOP $2,100 No Limit Hold’em contest for $133,000. He said this payday would go toward paying bills and funding investments.

Chouity told PocketFives in an exclusive interview that he had a solid start to Day 1 of the two-day tournament: “I chipped up a bit to go to Day 2 with an average stack. At the start of Day 2, I had no big hands. I just survived with between 20 and 40 big blinds going into the final three tables and then had a double up and coolered the same guy with aces versus queens.”

The cooler propelled him into the top five in chips. He narrated, “From there, I had a huge lead. When we were at two tables, the guy in third place 5bet shoved his 9-7 of hearts into my A-K, so I went into the final table with almost one-third of the chips in play.”

The final table wasn’t so rosy, however: “I played perfectly until the final table. That was by far the worst I played at any final table. I made bad decisions, especially when we were three-handed. I lost many pots and lost a big flip with A-Q against eights.”

Why did the final table go so poorly given Chouity’s massive chip lead? Was it just a mental lapse? He admitted, “I labeled some players scared money, but they actually had heart. The guy who won it really played well and I just didn’t take it too seriously. I thought I could win it easily.”

If you’re from Lebanon (pictured), make sure to check out PocketFives’ all-new Lebanon poker community to see what’s going on in your area. Here’s the low-down on Lebanon poker from Chouity: “We have many players who, although not that good, are getting better. We don’t have many games. Our casino runs cash games and a Turbo tournament once a week. Lebanon is near the rest of Europe, though, so I can go to all of the EPT and WPT events.”

You’ll notice that his signature scores have primarily come in large-field tournaments during major series like SCOOP and WCOOP. Why has he had so much success in those types of events? “In WCOOPs and SCOOPs, I turn my schedule around so I am never playing tired,” Chouity revealed. “I am playing almost every day, concentrating 100%. Also, they are deep tournaments, which suit my game more.” During larger tournament series, Chouity wakes up at 4:00pm so he can start playing two hours later at 6:00pm.

He joined the PocketFives community in the first month of 2010 and told us that maintaining solid, consistent results has been the biggest challenge thus far: “Online, I have been consistent and, throughout the last four years, I have been making a profit each year. Live, it’s tough because there are not many tournaments, so I am looking to win something big.”

Speaking of the live poker scene, Chouity won the 2010 EPT Grand Final Main Event in Monte Carlo for a healthy $2.2 million. That event, the signature EPT tournament of 2010, attracted 848 players. One year later, he final tabled a WSOP $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament won by Brazil pokerplayer and PocketFiver Andre aakkari Akkari (pictured) for $115,000.

He got his start in poker playing with friends and then transitioned online. He explained, “I started to take it seriously during college and after I graduated, I said I was going to try to play poker full-time for a year. If I did well and could live off it, I would continue with poker. If not, I would move on to something else. I am fortunate to be where I am.”

Chouity has a BA in Finance and said his ultimate endgame is to have a steady income from a business and play poker on the side. In the meantime, he just clipped $2.5 million in tracked online MTT cashes in his PocketFives profile.

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