Nurse Wins Two Mini-WCOOP Events At Same Time

(Photo: Pokerstars.com)

He may be on a quest for love, but 34-year old Iwan Robert put his romantic desires on hold just long enough to land an historic double at the mini-COOP, scooping two titles simultaneously – taking down $15,000 and being rewarded with a free entry to the Main Event for his astonishing achievement.

Playing under the screen-name ‘Ethanolol’ on PokerStars, Iwan entered two events within an hour and half of each other. With 12,000 entrants in the first, and 18,000 in the second even cashing twice would be a major result for the cinema-loving nurse. Instead he went on to win them both.

"I ran like Jesus. I was in the zone. Nothing could reach me. A very strange feeling," he said afterwards. "When I realized the two final tables were coming, I was conscious that it was complete madness. I was defying the variance," he added. "And then when I won both of them, I was shocked somehow, but I was aware that subnormal just happened and that these scenarios should not exist somehow in real life. But it did!"

The odds-defying evening of poker came as top online pros such as Dzmitry Urbanovich was scooping titles in the WCOOP proper, but the mini-COOP gives players of all levels and bankrolls a chance to shine; Robert’s buy-ins amounted to a tiny $15, his return thousand-fold!

And Robert found himself the subject of Jason Somerville’s epic Twitch coverage, the online broadcast supremo focusing on events numbers 27 and 28, the first of which saw Ethanolol taking down some $3600.

"Holy moly!” commented Somerville, “ $40,000 prizepool for a $2 buy-in – jeez louise! That is a LOT!”

Somerville then is even more surprised at the next event Iwan ‘Ethanolol’ Robert won, a $15 buy-in.

"Is that the same guy?” he asks incredulously. “Wow! Wow – that is freaking boss!” he exclaims. “That guy from the,” starts Somerville, having to check the flag out before continuing “…the Czech Republic... what a boss! Ethanolol…nicely…done….dude!”

Somerville wasn’t the only one impressed by the double the Frenchman – currently living in in Prague looking for love of all things - had just pulled off.

The mini-WCOOP bosses decided that rather than have him spend a third of his new winnings on a Main Event entry, they would comp him a seat in the biggie, where he will again have to raise his game if he wants to complete a hat-trick.

The Main Event in the WCOOP proper has a $10million guarantee with the winner picking up a minimum of $1.5million! Last year it was Belgian Coenaldinho7 who took down the top prize of $1.3million.

For Robert, however, it isn’t poker which fills his every waking minute – the Frenchman in true Gallic fashion placing the search for true love above his poker desires. He said:

"I know guys will laugh at me, but I'm a helpless romantic. There is nothing to compare between love and poker."

That wasn’t always his view, however, as he admits when asked about his introduction to the game back in the mid-noughties with friends.

"I had this intense feeling like the one you can have when you meet a girl for the first time and you connect directly,” he explains. “It was almost mystic. I literally felt in love with the game."

When he found online poker, it wasn’t always plain-sailing – as with many before him and since, he blew his entire bankroll one drunken evening – “stupid drunk” Robert describes it!

Sitting in a $1000 game with $7000 was almost always going to end in tears. He admitted:

"That night numbed me a lot."

And now, just a few years down the line, another night has numbed Robert in a much more positive way!