The Sunday majors this past weekend were full of PocketFivers taking home cash. For Jay “Stiches” Koeller, Sunday meant final tabling two major tournaments, the PokerStarsSecond Chance and the Full Tilt $400k Guaranteed. Winning the former and finishing fourth in the latter meant a hefty $70,000 payday. This 63 year-old retired real estate investor has been married longer than many PocketFivers have been alive – 29 years. He sat down with PocketFives.com to discuss his impressive Sunday.

Koeller comments on his two final tables: “I always felt that I would crack one of the main tourneys, but to be at two final tables and finish 39th on Absolute at the same time even gets an old dog like me a bit excited – like wake up the neighborhood excited.” Winning $46,000 in the Second Chance meant beating out 1,083 other entrants: “I arrived at the final table in the Stars Second Chance tourney with 42 big blinds and in second chip position. My plan was to play Tag style and avoid large pots with the other big stacks. That plan went awry on the first hand that I got involved in, but I wanted to send a message early that if I raised and somebody tried to take the pot away from me, I was willing to get my chips in the middle. That happened when the chip leader re-raised me. I put him on a steal and moved in on him. I think that helped set up my image for the final table and gave me the chip lead. Later, I got lucky in two classic races when my pocket tens and jacks held up against overs. I then had a 3-1 chip lead on the rest of the field and just kept the pressure on.”

Keoller comments on his play in the $400k on Full Tilt: “I arrived in a virtual three-way tie for the chip lead with approximately 85 big blinds and again was in position to play tight aggressive. It was a patient, tough final table and I was able to gain the chip lead early, but couldn’t win the races once we got five handed. So after waking up my wife with shouts of joy from winning on Stars a bit earlier, I quietly sauntered to the bedroom and whispered, ‘I only came in fourth on Full Tilt.’ I was disappointed, yet overjoyed at the same time.” His fourth place score earned him $24,000. 1,962 people entered.

His wife was a profound influence in initially egging on Koeller to try his hand at poker: “I never played real poker until the boom hit during the Moneymaker era. My wife kept asking me why I couldn’t do that. I am a compulsive sort of a person and once I get an interest in something, it’s all or nothing. After a month or so of studying, I told her that I was placing $2,000 in a poker account and, if I lost, it I was done with it. I played limit exclusively for about two years and ran that up to $16,000. Then, and I still am not sure why, my account slipped back to less than my $2,000 seed money still playing limit, but I started experimenting with no limit.”

Things turned for the better in an odd series of events: “In June of 2006, I thought my poker career was over. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I made a small deposit on Absolute and entered a SNG with the last of my deposit and won. If I didn’t win, I probably wouldn’t have ever signed on the account again. I got an e-mail from Absolute saying that I was freerolled into a tourney. I figured that was a joke, but thought oh well. My nephew was having a live monthly tourney in his garage that night and, as time went on, I was playing live and online at the same time. Not being experienced in final table play, I squandered a huge chip lead, finished second, and won $14,700. I was astounded at my biggest win and realized that this was a resuscitation of my poker career. Since that time, I have been putting all of my efforts into studying and learning no limit.”

Koeller has come a long way since that free tournament on Absolute and credits Eric “Rizen” Lynch with some of his success: “I have to credit Rizen for writing articles in Card Player Magazine and leading me to PocketFives, PokerXFactor, and CardRunners.” Congratulations to Stiches on two final tables on Sunday. We look forward to more great things to come.