Last month, Latvia’s woxix(pictured), whose real name is Martins, took down the PartyPoker $250,000 Guaranteed Sunday for $45,000 officially. He stood tall from a starting field of 1,190 players and watched as the tournament fell short of its $250,000 guarantee. It was the largest tracked score we have for Martins by a mile, and so we thought we’d catch up with the Latvian to talk a little poker.

PocketFives: Thank you for joining us. Tell us how you’re feeling.

woxix: I’m feeling okay. Nothing has really changed that much after my PartyPoker $250,000 Guaranteed win, but I was pretty low on my bankroll when I started playing the tournament, so I sold 45%, but I was happy to bring money home. Now, I’ll have a more comfortable bankroll to play the games I’ve always loved.

PocketFives: Talk about the field of the PartyPoker $250K. How have you done in it in the past?

woxix: I’ve always liked the PartyPoker Major because it feels softer than all of the huge-field Majors on other sites. But, all of them are really variance-heavy because you are so often 10 to 20 big blinds deep, so you have to win flips. The money is great though. It feels good to have binked it, as I have finished 10th in it once, so I have my revenge.

I didn’t really know any of the final table guys this time around, but there were two guys from Mexico and they seemed to be solid. I managed to get back from being 5/5 to being the chip leader. From there, it was just basic. I let the most aggressive guys fight it out while I comfortably sat there with 40 big blinds when they had 10 to 15.

In the top three, thompson1951, who was from Mexico, seemed to very solid and, at that point, I didn’t really feel like I was dominating the field. I got a cooler with 2-2 against A-Q versus him, then Q-Q against A-J, and then it was heads-up. I had a 5:1 chip lead and second place had just 10 big blinds, but still I offered him $3,000 more if he accepted. PartyPoker’s pay jumps are huge and I didn’t have a huge bankroll, so I didn’t want to lose $25,000 potentially.

PocketFives: What cash or score has been the most important to you and why?

woxix: This was definitely my biggest and most important score because I binked a Sunday Major and that will stay in my mind forever. When you are grinding on Sundays in these big fields, it often feels like it’s impossible to get first place because the fields are so huge and the structure is very fast. But, this proves to me that it’s possible. You just have to come back and go for it Sunday after Sunday and weekday after weekday.

PocketFives: Speaking of that, what piece of advice would you give people trying to win their first Sunday Major or bigger tournament?

woxix: Be aggressive in later stages and don’t wait for regular push/fold spots. You have to find the little spots, which will be very profitable exactly at that point and in that situation. Also, pay attention to your bankroll management.

PocketFives: How did you get started in poker originally?

woxix: Like many of the gamers did. I was playing Counter-Strike when my friends added me to their Skype chat. They were playing freerolls on a poker site after being fed up with grinding Counter-Strike for hours. I instantly fell in love with poker. I was grinding a lot of freerolls and then deposited $10, trying to build it up to $100. I was studying a lot of articles and videos trying to play by the charts.

Then, I binked $6,000 for getting fifth place in the $22 Double Deuce on Full Tilt Poker and decided that I could do this for a living. Later on, I found out that there was stuff like staking, so I found some stakers. I’m really thankful to all of the guys who have worked with me because each of them also taught me poker. My biggest thanks go to lessthanthree, who basically transferred my way of thinking from fish to pro, and zimafor letting me be in his superb stable where there where lots of talented players and talking about poker was always really helpful.

Now, I’m playing on my own. I was struggling, and still am, with playing lower than when I was backed, but this bankroll boost will let me play my regular schedule on a daily basis. I also think I will go and enjoy an evening with my girlfriend and be able to take more days off, as it’s summer now.

Visit PartyPoker’s website for more details on the weekly $250,000 Guaranteed.

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