WCOOP Champ and $1.5m Winner "PlayinWasted" revealed as German College Student

There were several famed online poker pros who made final table runs in the 2013 WCOOP Main Event, including Daniel 'Allanon85' Drescher, Giuseppe '1M.BanKroLL' Polichetti, Shane 'shaniac' Schleger and Stefan Tobias 'Vampyboy' Kolossow. But when the dusted cleared, it wasn't one of these big-name pros taking home the title, but rather a virtual unknown who goes by the screen name 'PlayinWasted.'

Even today, we still don't know the big winner's name because he doesn't wish to be recognized. However, thanks to PokerStars and their research, we now know that PlayinWasted is a 22-year-old college student from Cologne, Germany.

The economics major experienced a $1,493,499 WCOOP windfall at an age when many guys are just busy trying to scrape enough change together so they can get alcohol for the weekend. But to PlayinWasted, winning the WCOOP is about so much more than just money. "I once read a sentence on a forum that 'some people like solving puzzles more than money.' I think that fits me quite well," he told PokerStars.

Unfortunately, he still won't let the public solve the puzzle of discovering his identity. But the anonymous German student did reveal some interesting details about himself in an interview with the largest online poker site. And one of the most intriguing facts about PlayinWasted is that he's not even a professional player.

"I am definitely a recreational player," he said. "Earlier in my 'career,' when grinding to get a bankroll to work with, I played a lot more, but recently, especially while finishing my bachelor, I have not played all that much. I mostly played 6-max and heads-up cash games and MTTs. I ever really focused on one thing and tried pretty much everything."

The German believes that what separates him from the professionals is a matter of work ethic. "The biggest difference between me and professional players is that as far as poker is concerned I am not a hard worker." He added, "To be a great player these days, especially online, you have to sit down and do your homework, do the maths and study your ranges off the table - I haven't. That is why you will find me making mistakes from time to time that most small stakes players would never make."

In regard to how he was able to cover the large $5,200 WCOOP buy-in without being a pro, PlayinWasted said that he used money from his first European Poker Tour cash. After covering 29% of the action, his poker friends staked the other 71%. So he ended up with about $417.5k of the winnings while his stakers got the remaining $1 million-plus. PlayinWasted certainly wasn't unhappy with his take, and said it was "obviously a nice payout for a student."

As for whether or not he'll embark on the life of a professional poker player now, PlayinWasted mainly wants to concentrate on his schoolwork, play a few more EPT events, and maybe travel to the WSOP in Las Vegas.