Seat 6: Koray Aldemir, 27, Berlin, Germany
Koray Aldemir is another product of the famous Skype chat group of German players that has produced some of the world's best poker talents including the one and only Fedor Holz. Now knocking on the door of the top 10 in Germany's stacked all-time money list with $7.7 million in career earnings, Aldemir worked his way up to the highest stakes.
He first took up poker on the New Year's Eve of 2006. Then 16-year-old Aldemir was introduced to the game by a friend, and while he didn't know the rules, he won. Winning has remained the narrative of Aldemir's stellar poker career ever since.
Originally from Berlin, Aldemir moved to Cottbus to study business administration in college, and that's where he started playing more regularly. He was also making his first steps on the live scene. Selling shares from small tournaments, Aldemir got in touch with Rainer Kempe. That was the base camp for his fantastic rise to the top. Suddenly, Aldemir was accompanied by the sharp and motivated minds of Kempe, Julian Thomas or Fedor Holz, all of them grinding mid stakes back then. And all of them storming to the most prestigious scene soon after that.
Aldemir moved to Vienna to study psychology while laddering through the stakes. It was two years ago when Aldemir's career finally took off as he stepped up his game to a whole different level. Some early indications came already in the spring of 2015 at EPT11 Malta where Aldemir parked in 16th place for €35,800. But his true breakthrough came at the 2016 World Series of Poker. Aldemir finished second to Adrian Mateos in the $1,500 Summer Solstice bracelet event, taking home $252,805.
More importantly, his Skype buddies strongly believed in Aldemir. So much so that they convinced him to take a shot in the $111k Big One for One Drop Event, a tournament Aldemir would have never been able to play on his own. Their instincts proved to be right, Aldemir impressed the world with a third-place finish for a handsome $2,154,265.
Since then, Aldemir has become a prolific home run hitter who crushes the toughest tables all around the world. He claimed his second seven-figure score in February 2017, taking down the Triton Super High Roller in the Philippines for about $1.3 million. Aldemir added another 12 six-figure prizes to his name through the last year, establishing himself among the fearest players on the felt.
Aldemir's Main Event run:
| End of Day | Chip Count | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | 80,800 | 57 / 341 |
| Day 2 | 256,000 | 24 / 101 |
| Day 3 | 757,000 | 7 / 43 |
| Day 4 | 1,420,000 | 5 / 16 |
| Day 5 | 2,340,000 | 4 / 6 |
| Jogador | Fichas | Progresso |
|---|---|---|
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2,340,000 | |
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