Polarizing Team PokerStars Pro Chiren80, real name Boumazza Bachir, is well on his way to playing over 1,000,000 hands in just one month’s time. The Belgian initially garnered fame by playing World of Warcraft, a popular MMORPG. In fact, Athene, as he is known in the WoW community, recently leveled up his character to Level 85, the highest level, in just five hours.
Bachir is a tad outlandish. He went to PokerStars Headquarters in person to turn in his application for Team PokerStars Pro. Of course, his crew got it all on tape and posted it on YouTube. At the 2010 PCA Bachir sported a ridiculous ponytail, wore pink sunglasses, and handed out self-promoting t-shirts at the Main Event. To top it all off, the WoW/poker phenom played Drybes – Cash Out (bing blang blaow) after eliminating an opponent. Unfortunately, Chiren80 was knocked out when he got his chips in the middle with KK and couldn’t hold against AQ and A6.
Since December 18 Bachir has been getting his grind on. He puts in 12 or more hours a day at PokerStars playing the shorthanded 2NL (.01/.02) tables. For some of the poker community, the play at microstakes has put a damper on the upcoming 1,000,000 hands in a month accomplishment. He is crushing what little competition there is and is up over 1,000 buy-ins according to a third party tracking site.
If Bachir wants acceptance as a talented poker pro he will need to accomplish more than playing a ton of hands at paltry stakes. Until then, he will simply be known for his goofy YouTube Videos and baseless boasts of his poker skill. In 2009, Bachir said he would win the WCOOP. It’s safe to say that lofty goal did not come to fruition but it did cause quite an uproar throughout the online poker community.
He isn’t the best player on the planet but there is no doubt Bachir can garner a ton of attention. He has over 300,000 subscribers on his YouTube Channel that have viewed his videos millions of time. We especially like his covers of the Mortal Kombat Theme Song and My Heart Will Go On. Bachir is a funny guy who plays poker and we have embraced that.