We spoke to Bruce immediately after the last hand of the entire tournament, which decided that he took home €93,000 as the runner-up after the deal: I know you wanted to win the tournament, but congratulations anyway, it's still an incredible prize.
"Yes, it's the most money I've won so far!"
That's where my first question goes, you've only won $8,321 on hendonmob so far and your first entries are from 2022. It's like no one has heard of you until now. Could you tell me something about yourself and your poker career ?
"I started playing poker when I was 18 and then in my twenties I stopped. When the corona came, I lost my job at a gastro and I didn't have money to live on and I had to pay for school on top of that. I studied industrial management. So I needed money, I was completely broke. At that time I started playing poker online and I found that I slowly got to the point where I could make 1-2k a month. So I focused more on that. I play more online than live. 1-2 months ago I was even on a TV table on a streaming show where I won a ticket in a satellite. And there I won the biggest cash so far - 10,000€. That almost completely paid off my student loan."
Fiancée: "He's also won quite a lot of packages, for example at EPT Barcelona, cashing there, also EPT Prague. Well, a year ago in August he finished his master's degree, started working full time. But he wants to focus more on poker and it's hard to have a full time job and play at the same time. So he decided to quit his full time job. And now we had a nice week in Vienna and Bruce checked out the casinos in the area and we saw this festival."
Bruce: "Yeah, it was a complete coincidence that I found this festival."
So the trip to Bratislava was an accident? Can you tell me more about that?
Bruce: "I'm still working as a financial controller and I was in Vienna for the home office. And on Friday I saw that there was a turbo on Saturday. I even sold some shares because I didn't have the bankroll for a tournament like that."
Fiancée: "We went here on Tuesday night for the opener. And then Bruce said he had to play the Main Event afterwards."
And in the end it was a beautiful second place. So how do you feel now, right after the heads-up?
"So I finished second, it doesn't feel good right now. And I'm also exhausted. We made the deal and I had €93,000 sure. And in a situation like that, when you're finishing for €10,000, it's a different story. Yes, it's still a lot of money, but against that amount...I just wasn't as focused."
Going back to the whole festival, did you play any side events?
"We both played the opener on Tuesday. I finished eighteenth there and ITM was 11 places. And she finished thirteenth."
So your fiancée plays poker as well?
Fiancée: "We also met in the casino. He's from a completely different city than me and we met in Aš in the Czech Republic. We've been connected ever since, we even got engaged on the EPT in Barcelona."
So you always travel to tournaments together.
Bruce: "Yes. I'm a tournament player, she plays more cash. This year, for example, we were together in Dublin. Anyway, I've won a lot of packages that have allowed us to travel, but I've never cashed a bigger amount."
Coming back to this tournament, how did you find playing it?
"It was such a roller-coaster as usual. I was always ahead in the turbo flighty when I was in the all-in. The important spots worked out and I went into Day 2 with 250k, which was about 6x my starting stack. Well, at the start of day two I got to a table with some very good players. I feel like I had the toughest tables on the second day. But unluckily they fell out and suddenly there were more fish on the table, but ironically that wasn't easy either. So I pretty much fell off but at the end of the second day I got close when I won sevens against ace king for 40bb in the most important spot. And then I was chipleader on the table and I could push quite a bit. So on the final day, I was starting at 2.6m. And then it was a roller-coaster, I won the hand, lost the hand, no double-up. But slowly I moved up to the final table and there I went sixth in chips. The next important spot was a double-up with jacks against ace-king and then a double-up with queens against ace-eight, and that's how I got the lead at the final table."
Fiancée: "We were actually very surprised that in all the important spots it held up. Because we expected something different based on past experience, that in the important spots he always got suckout and only won the less important ones. That was really unbelievable!"
You won a big prize money, do you have any plans what to do with the money?
"I'm going to pay off the balance of my student loan, which was a lot of pressure, and now I can concentrate on playing and studying poker. And maybe we'll go to Vegas!"
We're coming to the end, let's lighten things up a bit more. About your name, it sounds quite unusual, is there a story behind it?
"Yes. My dad was a professional hockey player and I think my parents gave me that name because they thought I'd be a famous hockey player sometime in the future too. They wanted to do something special (laughs)."
I'm not going to keep you any longer, I know you're tired. Last question, is there anything you would like to say to our readers in the end?
"I just want to thank the poker community and my friends who have kept their fingers crossed for me and believed in me. I really appreciate it!"
