Through Rain, Low Battery, and Glitches to New Best Cash: Story of Aliaksandr Shylko

I finished my “work period” in Cyprus. I relaxed for a day in the sun, and then Sunday’s tournaments awaited me. At 5 AM, I managed to secure a second day in a 1k tournament and bagged 17bb. I wasn’t particularly happy about this, as the chances of making a profit in such a situation are usually slim, and we weren’t even in the money yet. The next day was a long flight, and I had five hours of sleep left. I woke up feeling a bit underwhelmed, boarded the plane, dozed off a bit, but made it safely to my destination. Upon arriving at the airport, I decided to immediately check when the second day of the tournament started. I texted my friend Renat, and he said, “The tournament starts in 8 minutes.

I already had my luggage handed in, and I hadn’t yet gone through passport control. I had to take my laptop out of my bag, share my phone’s internet connection, and start playing at passport control. After going through passport control, I quickly ran to get my luggage because my laptop had low battery, and the charger was in my suitcase. I grabbed my luggage and ran quickly to the nearest cafe to get a power outlet. Having successfully completed this part of my plan, I stayed at the airport to charge my laptop and wait for the moment when I either dropped out of the tournament or doubled up and my laptop would have at least 50% battery.

It was pouring rain outside, so when I pulled up to my apartment, I realized I had no chance of making it there in that rain. So we decided to have dinner at a cafe, smoke hookah, and wait out the rain there.

Every third hand, my table on screen would go black, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Luckily, my girlfriend had her MacBook with her. Meanwhile, I was struggling with a glitch, trying to make normal decisions in the tournament, and installing the client on a different computer.

I decided to run in the rain during my break to look for a rental apartment. But the task turned out to be difficult because I couldn’t find the entrance to the apartment building, and the rain was still pouring. So, I decided to go to the computer club, which is located in the same building, instead.

An American player prone to reckless decisions and endless aggression. He also likes to smoke something before a poker tournament.

The lineup [of the final table] was quite challenging, consisting almost entirely of regs — but I understood exactly how I needed to adapt to each of them. A big thank you to my friends: Zhenya, Vanya, and Renat, who helped me prepare better, analyze my opponents, and be ready for any scenario.