Earlier this month, Max yipyiphupbupRotko (pictured) won the PokerStars Sunday Million after a five-way chop and earned $149,000, far and away his largest score to date. There were 5,766 entrants that day and the Fin helped PocketFivers grab almost 40% of the prize pool. He’s a student who plays poker on the side, so we virtually traveled to Finland to talk about his career-defining cash.

PocketFives: Congrats on chopping the Sunday Million. Tell us how you’re feeling about it.

Max Rotko: It’s pretty crazy to win the Sunday Million! I can’t really comprehend it yet, but I can bet you that there aren’t too many better things on Earth than that.

PocketFives: Walk us through the chop and whether you’re still happy with it.

Max Rotko: I had the deal button checked and, suddenly, without people really saying anything, the tournament went on a break and I thought, “What the heck? Let’s see those numbers.” When the numbers came and I saw I could guarantee a prize that was only $3,000 less than second place, I thought it was pretty much a no-brainer.

I’m still really happy about it. The money jumps are so big and being only $28,000 under the first place prize, which wasn’t certain at all that I’d get, I feel very happy with the result.

PocketFives: Do you have any plans for the money?

Max Rotko: Being only 21 years old, I think I have a chance to stabilize my future a lot, so I’m probably going to invest most of it somehow, but I haven’t thought about it that much yet. Only one thing is for sure: I won’t be doing any crazy raises to my average buy-in at the moment.

PocketFives: Do you play full-time?

Max Rotko: I study economics here in Turku, Finland simultaneously and sometimes it’s quite hard to combine both of them. I like going to school and I love poker, so for now at least I’m doing both. I play poker every chance I get, but I can’t say I’m playing full-time. I’m very excited about the future, though, and I will have to re-evaluate my balance between poker and school later on.

PocketFives: What were you planning to do after school?

Max Rotko: I have no idea. I’m majoring in marketing, so if it’s not poker, it’s something related to it, but I’ve always had an itch to do something entrepreneurial and be my own boss. At the moment, there seems to be too many good options to choose from, so I’ll go with the flow and see where it takes me.

PocketFives: What did your friends and family think of your Sunday Million score?

Max Rotko: I think they all were at least as astonished as I was. My parents have always been quite supportive of my “hobby.” Of course, mom is always worried about some aspects of poker. My friends have been really excited about it and I feel like they understand the amount of work I’ve put into poker, so they, at least most of them, think I’ve won the Sunday Million deservedly.

PocketFives: How did you get started in poker originally? Why was it interesting to you?

Max Rotko: Around the poker boom, I had my first encounter with Texas Hold’em. We would play with friends on the schoolyard and I really enjoyed it even though I think I was one of the worst players back then. I had an account on Full Tilt and I would grind the freerolls there, and on this Finnish site we played NL10. But only in recent years I really started putting effort towards poker when I won a grand during a weekend just before my entrance exams.

What I most enjoy about poker and what makes it interesting for me are the competitiveness and the non-stop learning possibilities. I actually get bored with a lot of things really quickly, but poker has been something I have played on and off for more than five years. It has been my only income source for about a year now and I feel more than fortunate about the results I have gotten. A year ago at this time, I was practically broke because I couldn’t keep to my budget in normal life.

PocketFives: What do you want to accomplish in poker in 2016?

Max Rotko: I would like to take my shots at EPTs and see how I fare at live poker, but I mostly want to take my game to the next level and keep learning. My skill level is still so far away from the best and that’s where I’d like to be some day. I mostly hope that life would be as enjoyable and fun as it was in 2015. This was a great year off the felt too.

PocketFives: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Max Rotko: I want to thank everyone for their support. It has been truly amazing. I’m also reviewing the hand history with Evan from Gripsed sometime during January on Twitch. If anyone is interested to see me mess up really badly in couple of spots and still be lucky enough to take it down, keep your ears peeled.

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