Online Player of the Year - Paul ‘paulgees81’ Volpe

Three years ago, Paul “paulgees81” Volpe was a part-time player working the 9-to-5 grind at an insurance company. The Philadelphia native was a hard worker, and before long, he was winning more money online than he was making at his job. After a year of playing it safe, he finally made the jump to professional poker player, leaving the shirt-and-tie business world behind.

Since then, the 29-year-old has managed to win more than $1.35 million in tournaments. In 2010, he won nearly $640,000 and finished 23rd in the Card Player Online Player of the Year (OPOY) race. This year, he’s already won the PokerStars Sunday Million, and was named the Full Tilt Online Poker Series [FTOPS] XIX Player of the Series for making three final tables and finishing fourth in the $10,000 heads-up event. The $440,000 and 3,024 points that he has earned in the first two months of the year have him sitting atop the 2011 OPOY leader board.

In this interview, Volpe explains how he got his start in poker and discusses his recent success.

Julio Rodriguez: You picked up poker later in life than most online professionals. What were you doing before that?

Paul Volpe: When I got out of high school, I spent a few years working as a cook at a couple of Italian restaurants. When I turned 21, I got a job working for an insurance company. I started out in the mailroom, but slowly made my way to bigger and better jobs within the company. By the time I left at age 27, I had started working with some computer operations programs. Honestly, I could have quit sooner, but I wanted to make sure that I could be successful in poker before I left myself with no backup plan.

JR: How did you get your start in poker?

PV: I was really naive in the beginning. I had no idea that there were forums out there to help you learn the game, and I had never read a poker book. Most of what I picked up was through trial and error at the smallest stakes around. My older brother was a sports bettor on a skin of Cake Poker, and had about $1,000 online. I was watching poker on TV one day, and bought $100 from him. I was kind of paranoid about losing it, so I really stuck to the smallest buy-in sit-and-gos and tournaments they had. It wasn’t because I knew anything about bankroll management. It was just because I didn’t want to have to redeposit. After a few months of playing and building up my bankroll to a few thousand dollars, I noticed that some of the sports bettors on the site were sitting down in $300 heads-up sit-and-gos. I took a bunch of shots against them, and really built up my bankroll by targeting the weaker players on the site. A few months later, I took my much bigger bankroll to the other major online sites, and fortunately, I haven’t had to reload.

JR: It couldn’t have been all smooth sailing the entire way. Have you ever experienced a downswing that made you doubt your decision to turn pro?

PV: I have had my share of downswings, but I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t really experienced anything major. I was kind of sweating a three-month, six-figure downswing that I had earlier in my career, but most of that was due to variance. I’m pretty good at recognizing when I’m not playing my best. I made the necessary adjustments, and before long, I was out of it and winning again. In order to be a professional poker player, you really need to be able to separate yourself from the thought of losing. Just keep putting in the hours and keep grinding, and you’ll eventually find yourself on the good side of variance.

JR: How would you describe your playing style?

PV: I tend to be on the more aggressive side. I recognized pretty early on in my career that tight and passive wasn’t working, even at the lowest tournament stakes. That approach may win you a tournament or two, but in order to consistently find yourself at the final table, you need to open it up a bit and win the pots that others don’t want. Take a look at all of the hands that you win without a showdown, and you’ll realize that your cards are irrelevant. Why should you wait for premium hands if your opponent is never going to see what you’re holding anyway? It sounds so simple, but it’s a concept that beginners really struggle with.

JR: Do you have any standout wins from early in your development as a player?

PV: I remember when I won a Mini-FTOPS event. It was a $10 rebuy tourney with more than 11,000 entrants. I was staying at the Borgata, playing in its tournament with some friends, and decided to fire up some of the online tournaments that day. Within a couple of hours, I had busted out of everything but that event, and was ready to just give up and punt away my stack so that I could get off the computer. I then managed to quadruple up with aces to put myself in the top 10 with several thousand players left, and I told myself that if I was going to invest the time, I might as well win the thing. Several hours later, I won it, for just over $57,000. That was kind of my breakthrough online win.

JR: You recently won the PokerStars Sunday Million, for more than $253,000. That tournament featured another big field of 8,630 players. What does it take to navigate these large tournament fields?

PV: To be honest, I ran really hot in that tournament. I was the chip leader from about 500 players down to 25. The key in the Sunday Million is to always stay ahead of the blinds and antes. Because there are so many weak players, you can really pick your spots well and chip up relatively risk-free by stealing. It’s something I’ve really improved on in the last year or so. It’s becoming much easier for me to pick out the players who are willing to lay down big hands and the players who are just trying to move up the pay ladder. When we got down to the final few tables, I was stuck at about 25 big blinds. The dead money was pretty much gone, and it became much harder to steal. From there, I had to play much more post-flop poker, but up until that point, I was stealing to stay alive.

JR: You now have $1.35 million in tournament earnings over the past two years. How has your newfound wealth changed your life?

PV: I’ve had a lot of success over the past couple of years, but my life really hasn’t changed that much. I’m still that same guy who worked at an insurance company. I bought myself a used car, but I use my winnings mainly to travel and play more poker. I think playing poker for a living is exotic enough that I don’t have to run around living some crazy lifestyle. That might seem boring to some people, but I’m a pretty sensible guy. My goal is to keep playing for a few more years, put some money away, and set myself up for the future. I guess that’s the same goal as most people’s, but I get to do it on my terms and by playing a game. That’s enough for me.
JR: You currently are in first place in the Online Player of the Year standings. Is an OPOY title something that you will gun for, or are you just going to take it as it comes?

PV: I’m into the leader board aspect of online poker. I have some friends who are kind of “been there, done that” when it comes to playing tournaments. After banking a big score, they no longer feel the need to keep grinding. I’m kind of the opposite. I feed off that success and use it as a motivator to stay on top. I’m happy that just two months into the year, I’m already number one at Card Player. Holding off the rest of the field will take a lot of work and some major scores, but I’m looking forward to the challenge. ♠