Paul Wasicka Poker Profile -- Information on Paul Wasicka

Wasicka was born in Dallas, Texas. In 2006, at 25, he took 2nd place in the 2006 World Series of Poker, outlasting over 8,700 players and winning over 6 million dollars. In 2007, he won the NBC National Heads-Up Championship and $500,000 dollars. In 2010, he won the WSOP Circuit event in Tunica.

"I would say in the last two and a half years, I've done something poker-related — reading books, playing online, talking about hands, watching poker on TV — for eight to 10 hours a day, every day."

--Wasicka in an AP news story

Pocket 10s

It was heads-up between Jamie Gold and Paul Wasicka in the wee hours of the morning. When the flop came Queen-8-5, Wasicka bet $1.5 million in chips. Gold moved all-in and Wasicka called. Wasicka showed pockets 10s, but Gold had Q-9, and had paired his queen on the flop. The turn was an ace and the river a 4, which did not help Wasicka, and he was out and Gold's queens were golden.

• Until February, 2006, he was managing his brother-in-law's restaurant, Via Toscana, in Louisville, Colo.
• In the 2 years before the 2006 WSOP, he estimated he played 3,000-7,000 hands a day, almost all of it online
• Wasicka describes himself "very spiritual" and believes he "was blessed with the ability to play poker."

WAH'-sih-kah