Driven

In five years, Paul Wasicka plans to be playing on the PGA tour. Lounging on a wraparound sofa in the living room of his newly purchased Las Vegas home, the 26-year-old poker pro makes this statement like a man filling out a "things to do" list. He'll compete against Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson on the professional golf tour; he just hasn't gotten around to it yet.

"If I didn't have anything else going on in my life, I'd make that a two-year goal," Wasicka says, gesturing outside to the fairway that runs along his stone deck on one of the holes of his gated community's private golf course. He plays every day, but "not 80 hours a week." Self-described as both obsessive and spontaneous, Wasicka finds his five-year PGA plan frustrating. "It's tough. Right now I just have to accept that I'm not going to get really good at golf for a long time."

In the interim, he focuses on poker. The fruits of his other, slightly better-known obsession surround him: the house, the two new cars in the garage, the golf-course-for-backyard lifestyle. It's the American Dream realized for your average 20-something male; it's too bad Wasicka is anything but average. He lives in the immediate present, moment by moment, constantly searching for the new experience. He admits that poker is like any other obsession in his life, and in the months following his $6 million runner-up finish in the 2006 World Series of Poker main event, the excitement and intrinsic satisfaction of the game that brought him fame and fortune waned.

"It was a rough stretch, especially in the cash games; not so much losing money, but losing the motivation to play," Wasicka recalls. "I didn't have the desire. I was kind of questioning my future in poker."

Enter the Bahamas, and the first major tournament of the new year. Wasicka busted out early from the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Then, inspiration came from the unlikely. While still in the Caribbean, he made the final tables of a $50 online tourney. Going deep for the first time since the summer "fired him up," "The Drive," the same obsessive drive that picks at him to make the PGA tour in five years, returned to him for poker.

Between January and March of this year, Wasicka ripped through tournament fields, enjoying a run that few players will be able to match all year. His cashes included: a 12th-place finish at the Aussie Millions; a fourth-place, final-table appearance at the L.A. Poker Classic; and, most gratifying of all, a win at the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

From retirement to dominance in three months … hey, he said he was spontaneous.

The Athlete, the Rounder, and the Restaurant Manager
Wasicka enjoys living in Las Vegas, but he doesn't love it. He misses Westminster, Colorado, his home for the previous 17 years. The Vegas pad? He bought that at the spur of the moment. His number-one requisite while house-hunting was, "How fast can I move in?"

He says his competitive intensity matured in Colorado. Texas born, he moved with his family at the age of 7. By high school, he was a five-sport athlete. Three years ago, searching for a new challenge, Wasicka tagged along to a Denver underground poker tournament. He made the final table, then spent the rest of the night playing online cash games. The Drive created a liking for poker within him, and he wanted to conquer it.

If you ask Wasicka, he'll tell you he started becoming a successful poker player in November of 2005. "I was making anywhere between $1,000 and $3,000 a day playing $10-$20. I was pretty consistent, usually winning nine out of 10 sessions." At the same time, following a lucrative few hours in shorthanded online cash games, he managed a restaurant, making $150 for an eight-hour shift.

"I was kind of a flake at the time," Wasicka recounts. "I wanted to keep my commitment to my brother-in-law to manage his restaurant for a year. I needed to prove to myself that I could stick with something. I'm such a spontaneous person. I go from thing to thing to thing. I wanted to commit to one thing for a whole year."

He kept his promise, honed his game, and built his bankroll.

Back in the Vegas home, Wasicka breezes through the history of his early tournament play. He explains how he saved enough to play in his first World Poker Tour event, the $5,000 World Poker Challenge. That's right, saved. Then and now, Wasicka refuses to take backers. "If I'm going to play in a tournament, I'm going to buy into it. I'm not going to be staked. I'm going to be in for 100 percent of my action." This stance stems not from an inflated ego, but from Wasicka's competitive drive. "If you truly believe that you're a winning player, and that your break is coming soon, why give half of your profits away? That would have been absolutely devastating had someone bought me into the World Series."

At the 2006 WPC, he finished day one second in chips, but ultimately busted outside the money. Losing did not agree with Wasicka - the obsessive, driven competitor. He swore off tournaments and their lousy success rates. Thomas Fuller, a friend, convinced him to fly to Las Vegas for the WPT Championship. Eliminated from the first satellite, he played again, and won a seat.

"I used a lot of what I learned from the WPT Championship in the World Series," Wasicka says. He finished in 15th place, cashing for more than $140,000 in his second major tournament.

Wasicka's black lab, Zoe, hops onto the sofa. He ruffles her hair but remains focused on the conversation. He discusses his methodology that, gauging from the results, few can argue with: applying cash-game tactics to tournament play. "When I'm in tournaments, I think cash games; post-flop play, anticipating what my opponents will do, and having the nerve to go through with my reads. For example, even if I think someone's weak [preflop], I just call, because I figure he's going to continuation bet, I'll raise, and he'll fold. There's a lot of players who are really good preflop but make a ton of mistakes post-flop. That's what I'm looking to take advantage of."

World Series Redux
WSOP talk doesn't bore Wasicka, as he readily answers questions, but his precision suggests a desire to move on to fresher topics. Can you blame him? Even today, his every move at the final table remains scrutinized in forums, on message boards, and in chat boxes. Google his name and dozens of WSOP interviews fill the screen - the same 10 questions, the same 10 answers.

Perhaps he's never mentioned that he considered the 2006 main event a freeroll, due to two prelim cashes, or that he relied heavily on his cash-game tactics (betting patterns, post-flop play, percentages) to outlast the record-setting field.

As for the final table, here are the facts:

1. "The Allen Cunningham bluff" was a deliberate move by Wasicka to negate his perceived "tight" table image. Nothing against Cunningham, he just happened to be in the wrong hand at the wrong time.

2. Wasicka has no regrets about folding the open-end straight/flush draw that hit - period. For all the naysayers, read his blog. He details the thought process and defends the decision.

3. On the final hand, Jamie Gold gave away too much information. "I definitely misplayed it," Wasicka says, smiling. "I watched the hand recently on YouTube, and there's a part where Jamie asks me if I have a queen. After I tell him no, he says, 'Then I got ya!' When I see that now, I'm like, 'Man! I should have folded right there!'"

Wasicka laughs while recounting the final elimination of the 2006 WSOP. There was no sleep lost over a $6 million finish. Besides, self-analysis and reflection play integral roles in Wasicka's poker career. The aforementioned blog, originally a way to keep friends and family abreast of his activities, now serves primarily as a learning tool, a catalogue of every misread and right move, to be read, reread, and studied. "You can learn a ton from one session, one pot. The process is like a staircase - you learn a lot, then you plateau. You play at a certain level for a certain amount of time, and then … bam! One thing triggers your mind, and you just shoot up in knowledge. The whole enjoyment of the game just skyrockets."

2007: A Three-Month Odyssey
Following the World Series, Wasicka's bankroll seemed limitless, but, for the first time in his career, his motivation for the game was lacking. "My mentality throughout my life has been, no matter what it is, 'If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it 110 percent.' I'll devote all of my attention to being the best at it, and once I feel I've attained a status where I've accomplished what I wanted to accomplish, I move on to something else."

The online grind, the cash-game-tactics-in-tournament-play strategies, and the obsessive three-year venture all culminated with finishing second in the largest tournament in World Series/poker history. Realistically, what could top that? Wasicka, not for the first time in his life, felt a lack of direction. His post-WSOP results reflected his ambiguity. Pedestrian performances in major events and a general disinterest in online cash games coincided with private conversations about a career change.

Then came that little $50 online tourney in the Bahamas, his first deep run in four months. The Drive had returned.

"Finally having some success after feeling like I couldn't win at all got me so fired up for Australia. I went into it really confident and enthusiastic, which was different from all the other tournaments since the World Series," Wasicka recalls. "I think the Aussie Millions was one of the best tournaments I've ever played." Opting not to stay at the Crown Casino, Wasicka says his walks from his hotel to the Aussie Millions allowed him to mentally prepare for each day. "I didn't make many mistakes, and I felt that my reads were right on." Its 747 players made the Aussie Millions the Southern Hemisphere's biggest poker tournament. Wasicka finished in 12th place.

The Drive, back in full force, prodded him to keep playing, and improve his results. Halfway around the world from Melbourne, he participated in the Borgata Winter Poker Open. He finished outside the money, and needed a better performance. The opportunity came with the 2007 L.A. Poker Classic. Up to the challenge, Wasicka flew across the country, and placed fourth in the largest $10,000 buy-in event in WPT history, which was good for more than $455,000.

"It's the bigger tournaments, where there's a ton of people, and excitement in the air. I get so pumped up for those." He moves on to the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. "I knew I was an alternate a week before the event, with about a 50-50 chance of getting in. But I asked not to be told until after I busted out of the LAPC. I wanted 100 percent of my focus to be on the LAPC."

Following the final table, his agent told him the news: No Hellmuth. Pack your bags, you're going to Las Vegas.

"Going into the tournament, I decided that I'd accept anything except second place," Wasicka says, looking relaxed in his Vegas home after three successful globe-trotting months on the professional circuit. "I didn't mind if I went out in the first round, or the quarters, but no second place. When I got to the finals, I was really nervous. I thought, 'God, I'm going to be known as Mister Second Place if I lose, and I'm really not going to like it.'"

He beat Eli Elezra in round one, Joe Hachem in round two, and then pulled off come-from-behind wins over Nam Le and Shannon Elizabeth. In the best-two-out-of-three championship, he beat Chad Brown in straight matches.

Wasicka describes the relief of shaking off the "runner-up" label, and ranks the NBC win right behind the WSOP. Checking the clock on his cellphone, he realizes he's been talking for more than an hour. It's time to move on. The Drive creates a craving for something new, a fresh challenge. Wasicka rises from the sofa. On his way out the door to another poker engagement, he calls a friend.

"Yeah, I gotta go film a strategy piece. Want to play golf when I'm done?"

Watch out Tiger and Phil. You've been warned.