Endrit Geci won the recent MILLIONS Online Main Event and saw $774,838 make its way to his partypoker account. It is Geci’s largest cash by far, as you can appreciate, and one that allows him to realise his poker dreams.
Endrit lives in Manchester, United Kingdom where he has been a professional poker player for the past five years, although he has played this crazy game for 13-years.
“I started playing poker with friends at their houses from the age of 15, and I fell in love with the game. I discovered the game through people around me talking about it, but whenever I asked someone to explain the rules, they would always reply that it takes too long to explain, so I decided to find out the rules myself.”
Friends in Endrit’s maths class invited him to a home game where they played sit & go tournaments. Cutting his teeth in these fun SNG games naturally progressed to multi-table tournaments.
Endrit Almost Did Not Play the MILLIONS Online Main Event
We all know poker is a game of skill with some luck thrown in. Endrit counts himself lucky, not only because of this massive win but because he almost did not play in the MILLIONS Online Main Event!
“I’ve listened to a few podcasts of the elite players, and the majority of them got their breakthrough by winning a satellite into a big event, so I thought I’d follow suit. I’ve won seats in a few big events, but this is the first once that finally came good for me. If I hadn’t won a seat, I wouldn’t have played it because it’s well above my limits and bankroll.”
Day 1 went as planned for Endrit. The sheer number of satellite qualifiers made for a relatively stress-free experience for the seasoned pro. Endrit openly admits that the standard of play dramatically increased on subsequent days, however.
Key Hands On The Way To Victory
Endrit soared into the lead on Day 3 and never looked back. One hand saw him open with pocket tens in the cutoff, the button three-bet all-in for 20 big blinds, and the small blind cold-called. Endrit called, and the two active players checked it down to the river.
Those pocket tens were kind to Endrit at the final table because they eliminated a tough, talented player in the shape of Christian Rudolph in sixth-place. Not all key hands are one that you win, though, as Endrit explained to the partypoker blog.
“A second key hand was losing ace-jack versus the ace-queen of Daniel Dvoress all-in preflop. Before that hand, I had a lock on the table with four players remaining, but Dvoress took the chip lead after that hand, and doubts started creeping in. He is an unbelievably tough player and a great human being too. Thankfully, I kept my cool and managed to pull it back.”
Endrit won a big coinflip against Dvoress when his pocket eights remained true against ace-king. That hand left Dvoress with a 16 big blind stack, and he busted in third-place shortly after.
Let’s Talk Numbers
Heads-up, Endrit held a 616,020,780 to 467,087,462 chip advantage over Brazil’s Francisco Pinho Correia, but the players ultimately struck a deal to lessen the payouts.
“The thoughts behind the deal were that I’m not bankrolled to be playing a $280,000 heads-up battle, so the nerves were too real. Striking a deal and playing for $50,000 meant there was not as much pressure, and I could, therefore, be free to play my game and not let the thought of playing for a ton of money get in the way of what needed to be done.
Endrit got his hands on that extra money after limping in with 
, and Pinho Correia checked with 
. The 
flop saw Pinho Correia check and Endrit check behind. The 
turn was greeted with a check-call a half pot-sized bet. A 
river saw Pinho Correia check again but then snap-called when Endrit over-bet shoved.
Big Win Helps Endrit Realise His Poker Dreams
What does a professional poker player do with such a massive cash injection?
“A score like this gives me the freedom to play live $1,000 and the WSOP Main Event every year, which has always been a dream of mine. Now I have the freedom to work on myself more instead of just grind, grind, grind. I can also finally pay off my parents’ mortgage, so that’s one less stress for them.”
One thing Endrit will not be doing is firing multiple shots in the high roller and super high roller games, at least not just yet.
“My poker plans, for now, will mainly be to stay at the stakes I was and improve my wellbeing and poker game while waiting for the live scene to pop up again.”
Before Endrit left us, he gave two golden pieces of advice to aspiring poker players.
“You can do anything but not everything, and the best investment you can make is in yourself.”
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