Thirty-year-old Sotirios Koutoupas from Thessaloniki became the first Greek poker player to win the European Poker Tour.
The European Poker Tour was held in Deauville, France and Koutoupas ranked 1st, pocketing 614,000 euros. He had also ranked 2nd in last year’s Poker Tournament in Prague, winning 510,000 euros.
“If someone believes that poker is only a game of chance, he is terribly wrong. Poker is a game requiring mental skills. Your opponents are usually very smart people and you should be able to fool them to win. I am a living example of how skilled you need to be in order to win. I have been trying since 2010 and until now I have won 1.2 million euro,” Koutoupas said.
“Poker is a misunderstood game in Greece. The poker status abroad is very different. Many tournaments are frequently organized and there are many players who are playing poker for a living,” he added.
Sotirios Koutoupas studied economics and has been working at his family business in Thessaloniki, in Greece. He first began playing poker for fun back in 2002, before playing professionally since 2010. He is going to invest a part of his winnings and with the rest he intends to participate in other poker tournaments where an entry fee is required, such as the 5,300 euros buy-in required for the tournament in France.
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