At Everygame Poker, we take pride in celebrating our players’ successes and the journeys that lead them to exciting opportunities. One of our talented players, InterPrince (also known as PrinceSheba), has won a live-poker package by playing on our site, earning him a spot in the upcoming Malta Poker Festival. He will compete in the main tournament for his share of the €500,000 GTD prize money.
Here’s his incredible story:
InterPrince (PrinceSheba)
In 2004 I stumbled upon a promotion to join an online poker site with “house" money! I build a small bankroll and never looked back. I always liked card games but had never heard of Texas Hold’em. I began by playing 5-Card Stud! So, during the beginning of the WSOP craze when Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event, I began my quest for a poker trip. In 2004, only 4 months into my poker-playing career, I qualified for the Final for a trip sponsored by The Hendon Mob. The World Heads-Up Poker Championship was in Barcelona. Out of 125, only 5 would win a $5,000 prize package. I was crushed when I finished 7th. A few days later, I will never forget, a lady calling from Jerusalem told me that the 5th place winner could not attend. She had tried contacting the 6th place finisher without success. She then offered the trip to me! I was running around the house yelling when I discovered that my passport was still valid. I did not understand heads-up play very well yet, so my $2,500 seat was as far as I got. But, it was a dream trip for me. I was treated like a king!
I qualified for the same Final in 2005. Only two seats were prizes. Wouldn’t you know, I finished 3rd! I received no call saving me this time. ;)
My favorite online poker habit was any tournament with overage, or extra prizes. I loved all the Poker Forums that sprung up, I joined a lot of them. One of them offered a path to a $2,500 WSOP Seat in 2006. I was able to easily qualify for the final. I took the one and only prize, $3,500 package, as one of 20 participants. I stayed at the Rio in Las Vegas. I played very well and I remember winning each of the 3 hands that I had pocket Kings. Later I was allin with my only pocket aces against a flush draw. I can still hear the devastating words “flush clubs” from the dealer. If I had doubled-up there, then I would likely have been playing until midnight, and continuing the next morning.
I continued playing steadily as a semi-pro, greatly supplementing my employment income (as an accountant). Prince Sheba was a recognizable name among Forum players. I attacked the Online Forum Challenge in 2008. They offered a buy-in and freeroll tournament in each of 10 weeks. Only the 20 tournament winners would score a seat in the Challenge Final for a WPT Tour event in the Dominican Republic. I won one of the freerolls with over 1,000 entrants in it. In all my years of playing, freerolls were my specialty, often finishing highly among hundreds of players (once a champ of 6,000!). So those 20 champions met for the prize package. I became the Online Champion of Champions! I was now a great heads-up player. A player from Hungary faced me heads-up with 87% of the chips. I incredibly overcame that deficit and won that only prize package. Becoming the Online Forum Champion of Champions was my greatest poker achievement.
In 2010 there were a couple Finals that I made, but didn’t score another trip as the great proliferation of U.S. online poker was devastated by legislation. I sadly witnessed the end of my profitable hobby.
Over the last few years I kept token accounts in the few brave sites serving the U.S. Everygame was one that I noticed that offered trip packages. My favorite goal! So the Malta Poker Festival was in my sights. 10 days to qualify. I failed in the daily qualifiers, finishing 2nd twice. So the Last Chance qualifier right before the Final would be it. I was happy it guaranteed 2 final seats. Out of 19 entrants, I gained one of those $150 tickets and logged into the final which had already started. 19 players were in the Final, they made 7 re-entries. So, I defeated 26 stacks (I did not re-enter, I would not). I also would have considered 2nd, 3rd, or 4th place money as a loss. I was playing to travel and play live. Fortunately I led virtually the whole time, and faced a great WestSideBruh heads-up (he earlier re-entered twice). So, after 2 hours of Last Chance play, I won the Final after almost 4 more hours. I was stunned and amazed that my dream came true! 16 years after my last trip win.