In late August, Greece’s Theodoros Aidonopoulos (pictured), who might have the most number of letters in his name of anyone we’ve ever interviewed and who is known as teo96here on PocketFives, was part of a three-way chop of the PokerStars Sunday $100 Rebuy. His reward was $45,000, tied for his largest tracked cash here on PocketFives with a final table appearance in the Sunday Million in February.

PocketFives: Can you walk us through how the $100 Rebuy went in general for you?

Theodoros Aidonopoulos: It was a typical $100 Rebuy and had top regs at every table. I played a bit tight after the rebuy period, 3betting here and there just to seem active. I manage to hit some flops and double up. As we progressed close to the bubble, I totally changed gears, especially pre-flop. I managed to 4bet twice successfully close to the bubble and was opening a lot also.

Then, we got in the money and I played a bit tighter. When there were like 60 left, I started applying pressure again. I won a critical flip with J-J against A-K with around 25 left, which gave me the chip lead. I won the first hand at the final table, and in the second hand, Dattebayo opened from UTG+2. He was the chip leader at the time and I was third in chips. I 3bet next to him with A-5 offsuit, he 4bet, I 5bet, and he folded. That was the most memorable hand for me. Later on when we were six-handed, I manage to win five pots in a row.

PocketFives: Can you talk about the three-way chop?

Theodoros Aidonopoulos: We looked at the numbers four-handed, but iwonthurtyou did not want to deal and he went out fourth. Three-handed, I was the chip leader. One of the remaining players was really inexperienced, so I asked for $1,000 more and we made a deal. I think $45,000 is nice, but most of all, it’s a huge psychological boost chopping one of the most difficult and prestigious Sunday tournaments.

PocketFives: How does a chop in the tournament affect your confidence and mindset going forward?

Theodoros Aidonopoulos: When you win such a difficult tournament, you feel like you deserve to play at this level. Over the last couple of years, I have been playing ABIs of $120, which is big for online poker and means I play with the best, but the swings are very big too. Oftentimes, you start doubting yourself.

PocketFives: We have about 250 members of our all-new Greece pokercommunity. Tell me about poker in Greece.

Theodoros Aidonopoulos: Poker in Greece has been allowed in casinos for two years now. Before that, there were some legal restrictions and we had to travel to play live. We used to have to play some variations of poker in Greece, like with cards from 7 to Ace. I think people in Greece love and enjoy the game and Greek poker is really fast growing. I feel that poker is going to be huge in Greece as long as our market doesn’t get regulated like in France, Spain, and Italy.

PocketFives: How did you get started in poker originally?

Theodoros Aidonopoulos: A friend of mine introduced me to the game in 2006 and I loved it. I made a deposit and started playing some small-stakes sit and gos. I loved poker because you can outplay and outsmart your opponents and with the money involved, the feeling of a win is amazing.

PocketFives: What else do you want to accomplish in poker? What are some of your bigger goals?

Theodoros Aidonopoulos: Win an EPT event. I played in the PCA this year and have also played five to six EPT events and cashed twice. I chopped a €2,000 side event heads-up for €140,000. I have considered poker a job for the last two years, but I also do other things and so will try to find a good way to invest the winnings.

I invested a good amount of money in my family business, which is retailing wedding dresses, so I also try to run the shop. It is going well at the time, but still nothing is more fun and more interesting than poker. I have in mind that poker might be regulated in Greece and I won’t be able to grind online, so I need a backup plan.

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