Generation Next -- Steven Burkholder

Look, up in the rankings! It's not a fish, not a donkey. It's an online player running well: more aggressive than a rabid pit bull, more powerful than a disintegrating bankroll, and able to leap bad beats with a single two-outer - at least until the kryptonite of variance strikes. After a few big wins, Steven "PiKappRaider" Burkholder felt like Superman, invulnerable to poker's inevitable ups and downs; then, he went broke while going for broke.

While attending the University of Florida, Burkholder came up short on rent money after a round of beats and variance. He then went to the well that many students go to when in need - Mom. They struck a deal as he negotiated a loan. He had to quit poker and get his life together, which basically meant … get a job. But the hustler within Burkholder plea-bargained for some breathing room.

"At the beginning of 2008, I made a bet with my mother," said Burkholder. "The deal was, she couldn't smoke another cigarette and I could deposit only $300 online. Once that was gone, I was done with poker. The end result was that I started winning and she quit smoking for good."

Last year, Burkholder not only won, he crushed the biggest major events online and cashed for nearly $1,000,000. Last fall, he won the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker $500 rebuy six-max event for $211,133, the Full Tilt Poker Sunday $200 event for $135,903, and the $500 Full Tilt Poker Sunday tournament for $201,848. He surpassed his goal of three five-figure cashes for the year by a landslide. In 2009, Burkholder expects to make a seven-figure score and take down a live major event.

Craig Tapscott: You've mentioned that the transition from online success to competing live has been frustrating.

Steven Burkholder: I know I'm making mistakes. While playing live, I have to be able to have complete control of my emotions. I tend to take it personally and feel like a boxer who just got beat up in the ring. Also, it seems like I'm forced to play a different style than how I play online. I like to raise almost every hand preflop if I have a good chip stack and I can abuse the table. That way, they can make mistakes later on against me in big pots. But when I'm doing it live, I get a lot of stares from my opponents (laughing). But I'm due for a breakthrough soon. I just need to control myself more and be more aggressive.

CT: Congrats on winning the bet with your mother. What a great result for both of you.

SB: Thanks. Now she tells all of my relatives how well I've been doing and how much money I've won.

CT: I understand that you attribute a lot of your success to a bad accident.

SB: I broke my leg really bad when I was wrestling drunk in college. I had to withdraw from school for a period of time, and I had nothing to do at home. That's when I started to play tournaments, read forums, and watch training videos. I also made about $30,000 during that time.

CT: What is one key to your success?

SB: What I know that I do better than most players is adjust to my opponents; a lot of people say they do that, but they don't really implement it. Deep in a tournament, I think the cards don't matter as much as adjusting to your opponents.

CT: What's this I heard about Daniel Negreanu berating you at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure?

SB: I was in the lobby, playing online in a big event. I had 28 big blinds and had raised with jacks. The one guy who had me covered reraised me. That is an awkward stack size; it's shove or fold. All of my friends were around, and I asked for their opinions. Then I called Daniel over for kicks, and he told me to call. I said no, I had to fold or shove. Those were the only two things I would do with that stack size. So, I folded. He said, "Oh, my God. That has to be a mistake." He was berating me, but I stood confident in what I was doing.

CT: Thanks for the interview. Good luck this year, Steven.

SB: Thanks.