I think people who play for fun mistake how hard it is [to be a pro]. They see someone win million and think that’s the poker life...

And it came as no surprise when the 24-year-old was snapped up by Bodog.com as one of its sponsored players.

The world series was really quite draining. It was hard to just play and think poker for 12 hours a day. There were some moments when I felt really tired and it was a little hard for me to stay focused all the time. But I think the excitement of being in the main event and of going as far as I did really helped me to focus.

I pretty much turned pro right after I graduated from college. There was a definite shift in mindset. When I was playing recreationally I had other focuses, but after college I was more serious about my game, studied it and put in more hours. It made me a lot more disciplined.

I learned that I really like playing ‘small-ball’ poker in deep-stack events. It was about picking up a lot of small pots and not playing big pots without premium hands. I was waiting for others to make mistakes – there were so many in the field that didn’t quite know what they were doing. I capitalised on them playing too fast.

In the bigger games I like to tighten up pre-flop. There are a lot of recreational players at that level with a lot of money. They’re in there with drawing hands, so I’d rather wait for a hand and punish them.