On Super Bowl Sunday, JimyJamonas, from Israel, headed up a three-way chop of the PokerStars Sunday Million. He cashed for $170,000 and officially took first place, telling us, “I’m really happy! I know there’s a lot of luck involved regardless of how well I played, so it was a really nice turn of events.” It was his second time final tabling the large-field tournament.

The amounts given out in the chop ranged from $122,000 to JimyJamonas’s $170,000. “It was a clear-cut spot to deal,” he assessed, “although the other two players I chopped with weren’t as experienced as I was. But, the amount of money and variance involved compared to my bankroll made it really obvious for me to deal even if I had an edge.” He was able to secure a few thousand dollars over ICM.

As far as the money goes, JimyJamonas is contemplating going on a ski vacation and taking some time off from the felts. “I am looking at going to Austria or Switzerland, but haven’t looked into details yet,” he told us.

JimyJamonas, who plays as holy h3ll on PokerStars, is the third-ranked player in Israel and the lone PocketFiver with a PLB score from the city of Hod HaSharon. “Poker isn’t well received in Israel,” he explained. “The average person wouldn’t think of playing poker as a valid or respectable job, but I can say we have a very awesome community of Israeli poker players here, and some extremely good ones too.”

In fact, one of his chopping partners in the Sunday Million was also from Israel, so the Middle Eastern nation had a pretty lucrative day.

His poker career began about a decade ago. He caught the game on television and competed with friends around the kitchen table like many other PocketFivers did. He attended university in Aberdeen, Scotland and played poker tournaments at the city’s local casino. “I was a massive fish,” he said of his early efforts. “It took me quite a few years to become better.”

He started reading sites like PocketFives and said he became engulfed in poker and left university. “I started reading a lot,” he commented, “and played tournaments online. I ran decently when I started and so stayed interested.” He has been playing full-time for the last two-and-a-half years.

In 2010, JimyJamonas left Scotland for Israel (pictured) and got a real-world job as a shift supervisor for the internet-based customer service company LivePerson. He played poker at nights and explained, “Somewhere in between, I got good enough at poker, or at least I thought so. It may not have been the most responsible or risk-appropriate thing to do at the time, but I was really in love with poker and was very convinced I wanted to play for a living. I’ve never fit well into a structured life; poker, both the game and the lifestyle, really appealed to me.”

Aside from the Sunday Million chop, JimyJamonas won a WCOOP Second Chance tournament in 2013 for $63,000. The same year, he took down the Sunday Supersonic and Big $162 eight days apart for almost $80,000 combined. His eighth place finish in the Sunday Million last year was worth $18,000.

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