Seven months ago "stevoL" was an anonymous online poker player who had garnered absolutely zero attention at the virtual tables. Fast-forward to February 2008, and Steve Leonard has a firm grip on the pole position of Australia's Sortable Rankings, and is currently ranked #90 in the world at online tournament play according to the PocketFives.com Online Tournament Player Rankings.

So where did this 22-year old Melbourne native come from? How has he been able to climb up the ladder so quickly? And what's next for a player who studies the games of greats like Jeff "ActionJeff" Garza, Brian "sbrugby" Townsend, and Scott "SCTrojans" Freeman?

Steve's poker story goes back to 2004, when he signed up for an online poker account at PartyPoker and began playing $5+1 single table Sit & Go Tournaments. As he began to improve his game at micro stakes, "stevoL" gradually moved up in stakes and tried out different sites, but never quite fell in love with the SnG grind like so many online players have.

After flirting with full-ring $.10/$.25 cash games for a while, Australia's #1 ranked online tournament player progressed to $20+$2 180-man SnG's on PokerStars, where he put up great results for a few months, and then slowly began to lose interest. In the summer of 2006, after countless 70-hour weeks of small-stakes grinding, Mr. Leonard made a career-changing decision... and left the game of poker in order to focus on Victoria Bitter (VB) full strength lager and nocturnal social gatherings.

Contemplating the perfect beer and partying were quite unprofitable for Stevo (athough he threw himself into those activities with a great attitude). Two months later, he was left with $2,000 and a decision to make: either play poker or get a "real" job. The $2,000 deposit he made onto PartyPoker would mark a change in direction, dedication, and disposition for the kid from Melbourne, and it wasn't long before he moved up from $.50/$1 full-ring cash games to $2/$4 6-max games... always playing 8 tables at a time.

With mind-numbing efficiency, he quickly logged 250,000 cash game hands at a crushing winrate that afforded him the luxury of moving up to higher games. However, midway through 2007, he finally caught the tournament bug. From June of last year to present, Steve "stevoL" Leonard has won 15 multi-table tournaments, and reached 71 final tables. His current PocketFives.com Sliding Leader Board score is approaching 5,000 points, as he maintains his lead over highly-talented Australian players "garage13," "Aussie_JaY," and Tony "Bond18" Dunst.

Perhaps even more impressive -- Stevo has earned all this without a single online score over $18,200 (he placed 3rd in the Aussie Millions Event #6 Bounty live tournament for $51,000 AUD). Known for playing 25+ tournaments per night, even the highest ranked players have taken notice of this former cash game specialist whose is capable of making creative plays even while playing 12 tables at a time.

Steve's future seems to be among the brightest in the business. His parents are both very supportive of his profession. Steve's father actually offers to go pick up dinner during an important final table, although he'd rather watch his son play than run for a burger. As North American online tournament grinders put in extremely late nights, Aussie-born "stevoL" has the luxury of a 10am-8pm schedule on weekdays.

Whether Steve Leornard ultimately decides to move back to cash games, tour the live circuit, or lose himself in a beer mug remains to be seen. Whichever it is, you can bet he'll have the hard-earned respect from his colleagues that only comes through being one of the best!