Generation Next -- Bryan 'theczar19' Piccioli

Bryan Piccioli’s poker education began at home. As a child, he grew up watching his father trade pots around the kitchen table while playing hold’em with friends. The game piqued his curiosity, so he went online and grabbed some play-money chips on PokerStars to learn more about it. His father had taught him well; by the end of his high-school senior year, he had built up a bankroll of more than $3,000, without ever depositing a cent.

“I started with play money,” said Piccioli. “A few years ago, people would buy your play-money chips, so I sold 2 million in chips for $20. I then turned that into $3,000 in the first three weeks by winning a $10 tournament for $2,800. So, the fact is, I’ve never had to deposit my own money online.”

Recently, Piccioli exceeded the grand total of his play-money chips by going over the $2 million mark in career online cashes. What’s most impressive about him is that he has no big Sunday-event scores, whereas most players have captured at least one big major to reach such a milestone. “My largest score was $41,000 last year, when I chopped the PokerStars Wednesday $250,000-guaranteed event,” said Piccioli. “I don’t have that many large scores, considering how much my career cashes total. But I play a huge volume of tournaments online, so I have tons of $10,000-$25,000 scores. I’m still waiting for that big six-figure score.”

This past June marked Piccioli’s first trip to the World Series of Poker, as he just turned 21 in April. Before the WSOP began, he opened a Twitter account to keep his father updated during each tournament. He feels very blessed to have the support of his family, and hopes to make them proud by capturing a major event soon. There’s no doubt that with his track record, his next career milestone is just around the corner.

Craig Tapscott: How did you go from play money to taking down such a large-field $10 tournament?

Bryan Piccioli: I studied the game. Back then, I used to watch all of the top-ranked players online. I would search them out on PokerStars, and then watch for hours, trying to figure out what they were doing right.

CT: Share some of what you gleaned from that period.

BP: I noticed that once they got down to a short stack, they would shove all in from the button or the small blind to pick up chips. I never did that when I first started playing tourneys. That was back in the days when people didn’t call shoves from those positions very light. You could basically shove with almost any two cards, which is not the case now. Now, everyone knows that you have to tighten up your ranges to shove in certain spots, because many good players will call light, knowing that your range could be wide.

CT: What do you believe are the strongest and weakest parts of your game?

BP: I’m a very good hand reader. I tend to know when players are raising more than they should. I’m also especially good at picking up on weakness. The main key to hand reading is recognizing who is playing the most pots and playing against him accordingly. Another key is to identify who the tighter players are, so that you can take pots away from them. As far as the weakest part of my game is concerned, I definitely have some leaks in my post-flop play that I need to address.

CT: What gives you trouble post-flop?

BP: I need to focus more on putting myself into my opponents’ heads to try to figure out how they perceive me. One thing I had trouble with at the WSOP was trying to bluff the wrong players, the guys who would just never fold. I would triple-barrel and still get called down to the river with just top pair.

CT: What have you noticed is the biggest leak that most nonprofessional live-tournament players seem to possess?

BP: They don’t play according to their stack size. They should know that when you get down to 20 big blinds or less, you have to play pretty tight, and you can’t really open pots with a marginal hand. You are basically looking to resteal over a raise. But a lot of these guys will be down to 10 big blinds and will be calling raises with small pairs, trying to flop a set. That’s just not profitable. They don’t know how to switch their game up. They play as if they still have their starting stack.

CT: I understand that you used to be horrible with bankroll management.

BP: Yes. But I’m the opposite now. I know that if I bought an expensive watch, I would lose it in a second. I’ve lost five iPhones this year [laughing]. My laptop is the most expensive thing I’ve bought.