Yes, there are poker players in Iceland. The country’s population is only a bit over 300,000 people, but there are still 79 PocketFivers from Iceland with PLB scores in our Iceland pokercommunity. Chief among them is Bmakk, who has been a member of our site since 2011 and recently hit $1 million in online tournament cashes.

“I’m feeling a little bit surprised, but at the same time pleased to get that accomplishment,” he told PocketFives in an exclusive interview. Not-so-coincidentally, Bmakk is at his highest position ever in the PocketFives Rankings at #213 worldwide.

In December 2014 and January 2015, Bmakk recorded his two largest online MTT cashes to date, second place finishes in the PokerStars Sunday $109 Rebuyand Bigger $55 for almost $70,000 total.

“Those scores changed everything,” the Iceland native explained. “I ran very hot over that span. It was the first time I had ever registered for the Sunday Rebuy. I’m a nit bankroll-wise, but I was playing well and had confidence, so I registered for it and binked the second place behind Conor blanconegro Drinan (pictured), so that was huge.”

Before those scores, he predominantly only played $109 buy-in tournaments and lower. Afterwards, he was able to step up his game and his confidence and enter higher-stakes MTTs. He admitted, “I need to select tournaments wisely because I’m not a +EV player in all of those higher buy-in tourneys, but I’m trying hard and studying a lot to get to that level.”

Bmakk quit his administrative job a few months ago in order to pursue a full-time poker career. “That decision wasn’t very hard,” he told us. “My wife supported me 100% and now I have more time for my family because having a full-time job and being an MTT player are quite difficult when you have a family.”

Yes, we’re talking to a poker player with not one, but two kids. They are both in preschool in Iceland and Bmakk is able to spend more time with them now than he did before the career switch. As for whether they have a clue that their daddy is a rising poker star, Bmakk joked, “Their understanding of the situation is not much, but I think they are happy I have more time for them now.”

He got started in poker through play money games on Full Tilt. Then, he caught a video of a fellow Icelandic player firing up high-stakes cash games on PartyPokerand decided to give real money a whirl. He deposited $20 onto PokerStars and recapped, “I began grinding $0.01-$0.02 cash games where I set-mined my way to $700. Then, I tried the old $11 Sunday Quarter Million and got 15th for almost $1.000. From there, I didn’t go back and played only MTTs.”

He has 147 top-three finishes in online tournaments we’ve tracked and plays as makkarinnor Munnangur. As far as his other passions, Bmakk remarked, “I like traveling abroad, spending time with my family, and playing golf in the summertime. I used to be okay at golf, but now I don’t have enough time to practice. My handicap says six, but I’m not playing at that level right now.”

Check out who else has received their $1 million cash badge.

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