Last night he became just the fourth player from the Netherlands to become a WSOP champion.
“The WSOP is the main stage,” he said. “This is where you want to prove yourself.”
The 24 year old from Utrecht outlasted 970 players and beat Charles Tonne heads-up to win his first bracelet in Event 11 $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha.
Van Der Fluit took down $265,000 for his efforts at a tournament that also featured bracelet-winner Tristan Wade coming in third place.
Known as vingtcent online, Van Der Fluit has not exactly lit the WSOP on fire since he started playing it two years ago.
“I’ve struggled here for the past two seasons,” he said. “I had one or two deep runs, bubbled a whole bunch of events. Never felt like I got anything going at the WSOP.
Event 11 was the first tournament that Van Der Fluit has played at the 2012 WSOP.
Dutch Poker Players Go Wild for Van Der Fluit
A raucous Dutch crowd at his bracelet ceremony cheered Van Der Fluit earlier today. He said it was an honor joining the elite group of Dutch bracelet-winners at the WSOP.
“I’m starting to get a little bit known internationally but in the Dutch community I’m one of the big faces basically nowadays,” he said. “It’s awesome because most of the my cheering section is Dutch. They all wanted me to win. It was pretty sweet.”
It seems a far cry from when he was working his newspaper route in Utrecht in the mid-2000s. A high-school dropout, Van Der Fluit took to poker when a friend showed him the game.
“I obviously lost my first deposit,” laughed Van Der Fluit.
In fact Van Der Fluit said he lost about $1,000 before he started trying utilizing tools like the Deuces Cracked training site, where he would go on to become a coach.
When he was still learning the game Van Der Fliut looked up to Dutch poker icons Marcel Luske and Lex Veldhuis.
“I liked Lex because he’s maniacal and insane, which is how I’ve turned out to be,” he said. “I also love Marcel for his personality and everything he’s done for poker.”
The 2012 WSOP continues through July 16, 2012. For in-depth coverage live from Las Vegas check PokerListings' Live Updates brought to you by 888poker.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com