"It's sick, unreal & simply incredible" - Sunday Million Champion 'suppenkasper'

Tobias Frey interviews PokerStrategist 'suppenkasper' following his $1,038,540 win in the Sunday Million 8th Anniversary.

"It's incredible to achieve something like this"

This is a 'suppenkasper' from an  old German fairytale, where our member gets his PS.com nickname from

PokerStrategy.com: Congratulations on winning the Sunday Million's anniversary edition. All in all it took nearly 15 hours to finish this tournament - were you able to celebrate your victory or did you have to take a nap first?

suppenkasper: Thank you for your congratulations! Well, the tournament ended at around noon and even though I was tired to death I stayed up until 8pm then finally went to bed. The party took place the other day with George 'fucking' Danzer, some other shareholders and friends.

PokerStrategy.com: Can you tell us what it feels like to win this special tournament and see your seven-digit bankroll?

suppenkasper: Of course - I was super happy to win this huge tournament. It's simply incredible to achieve something like this. I think I haven't really realized yet what that actually means... it's too sick too unreal and incredibly amazing - just like the birth of my son, one and a half years ago. Maybe the real feeling of happiness will come in the next few days when I fully realize what has happened.

PokerStrategy.com: Do you already have plans about what to do with the prize money?

suppenkasper: I think I'll put some money aside for the taxman... There are no other plans yet.

"I participated because of the guaranteed $8 million"

The Sunday Million final table (Click to enlarge)

PokerStrategy.com: The response for the $8M Sunday Million was huge, a total of 46,586 players registered for this event. Do you play the Sunday Majors regularly or did the guaranteed $8 million persuade you?

suppenkasper: Currently, I'm one of those modern house husbands, who spend a lot of time with their families. So playing many Sunday Majors is more or less impossible. I often play big online series like the WCOOP or SCOOP. But to answer your question: no, I do not play regularly and yes, I was participating because of the guaranteed $8 million (laughs).

PokerStrategy.com: How did you experience the course of the tournament? What were the crucial spots or key moments?

suppenkasper: There really were no crucial spots in this tournament, but a lot of key hands: I won two 3-outers for my tournament life (at 200k/400k blinds I was down to 4.5bb) and one 2-outer for a huge chip lead.

PokerStrategy.com: At what point did you realize that you could win the whole thing?

suppenkasper: That's a good question. During the tournament I don't really think about winning, because every time I did this in the past, I busted just a few moments later (laughs). The closest thing to that was when I won with K-K against A-A. I think that happened at the final two tables and, as I have said, it was the hand that gave me an infinite chip lead.

Of course, this was the worst case scenario for the guy at the other end of the internet. I know how it feels to lose a hand like this - usually it's me busting in similar situations. It's nice to be on the other side!

"Messing up the final table would have been hard but not impossible"

Big payday for PokerStrategists (Click to enlarge)

PokerStrategy.com: You reached the final table with a huge chip lead. Hand on heart: how disappointed would you have been if you had busted early on the final table?

suppenkasper: Hand on heart and fingers crossed? No kidding, I would have been super happy and wouldn't have begrudged the other players their victory! (laughs)

PokerStrategy.com: Was there a particular pressure being the chipleader at the final table? Your chances of winning were pretty big and everybody expected you to easily win the tournament.

suppenkasper: It was exactly the opposite. I had around 190 million chips, the runner-up had 70 million and the other players between 10 and 40 million - I was able to gamble very relaxed. The only pressure I felt at the final table was that I only had three cigarettes left...

Of course, my chances of winning were big and some of my shareholders asked me to pay them their shares even before the final table started - they were sure I would win. This reminds of a situation at the EPT Prague where I went all-in with 96s in the final three hands of that day and got called by Aces. The flop came 6-6-9 🙂 The turn was a 9 *yeahwoohoohighfivewithjackiecokecheersitsallover*. On the river came the A. Even with my huge chiplead I could certainly have messed it up on the final table - it would have been hard but not impossible. Luckily it turned out all right.

PokerStrategy.com: The prize money at the final table was a lot bigger than usual and every finalist was guaranteed to win at least $100,000. How did this influence your game and what was your strategy for the final table?

suppenkasper: I tried to apply a lot of pressure while preserving my stack as well as possible. I think the huge prizes affected the shorter stacks more than the other players. The steps in prize money were huge and most of the players were playing more cautious, waiting for other players to bust.

Raise any two, 3-bet the hell out of them, punish every open raise, float any flop, playing God - that was the plan. But in reality there was not much to do. The short stacks were battling it out amongst themselves and the rest was snuffed out by fabinho12. All that happened quite quickly and suddenly we were playing heads-up.

"You sit there for 15 hours, you're hungry and thirsty, your pants are wet, your cigarettes are gone and you make mistakes"

The heads-up of the Sunday Million (Click to enlarge)

PokerStrategy.com: With three players left you discussed a deal but couldn't strike an agreement. The Dutch player 'cynfarAA' wanted $650,000 even though according to ICM he was entitled to only $600,000. So you preferred to continue without a deal. Why didn't you accept his proposal?

suppenkasper: I couldn't take him seriously when he demanded $650,000. That was never an option for me. I think he had 38 million chips, fabinho12 around 100 million and I was sitting on 320 million, a little more than 100bb. Even when considering variance I thought I had a bit of an edge. But nice try, Sir!

PokerStrategy.com: Only a little later the Dutch player busted and you went to the heads-up against our member fabinho12. Did you know him before and how well did you think he played?

suppenkasper: Since I don't many tournaments I didn't know him or any of the other players at the final table. The only thing I knew was what I saw during the final. And that wasn't much... I was consistently wetting my pants while waiting for the pay jumps and calculating how many euros that brought me.

PokerStrategy.com: When the two of you were about even you agreed a deal after which you were still playing for $160,000. What was the final heads-up battle like? 

suppenkasper: From my point of view it was a perfect ending (laughs). The last hand of the tournament was kind of misplayed by my opponent. But you always have to remember: you sit there for 15 hours, you're hungry and thirsty, your pants are wet, your cigarettes are gone and so mistakes happen. And $877,090 is a pretty nice consolation prize. fabinho12 did the best he could and earned his prize money - congratulations to him. Don't squander it all at once! (laughs)

by tobiasfrey