In July, Deepstacks University instructor and Full Tilt Poker Red Pro Justin Boosted J Smith pulled off a rare feat. One year after taking third in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bellagio Cup for $464,000, Smith once again made the final table. This time, he bowed out in second place, falling to Moritz Kranich in a final table that also featured Phil Ivey. Smith added another $594,000 to his bankroll, boosting his career WPT earnings over the $1 million mark. Smith is our featured guest this week on the PocketFives.com Poker Podcast.

The 17th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) got underway on Wednesday with the first of 34 tournaments. FTOPS XVII will guarantee at least $19 million and includes six Rush Poker events, twice as many as during FTOPS XVI. On the fast-paced poker format, Smith told the PocketFives.com Podcast, “Rush Poker is great for players who play smaller stakes. You can play tons of hands. It takes away from game flow and dynamics and history a little bit, but it actually brings a different dynamic to the table. People play a little more aggressively in Rush Poker because they think they can get away with it more.”

Smith is an instructor with Deepstacks University, a role he takes on alongside pros like Mike Matusow and Tristan Cre8ive Wade (pictured). If you’re not familiar with the poker training outfit, Smith breaks it down: “We define ourselves as having the niche of training amateur players and mid-stakes live professionals. We try to teach them all of the fundamentals and some advanced plays to try to turn them into winning players. We have a pretty prestigious lineup of instructors.” In fact, Deepstacks recently signed World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Niner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.

Smith has over $300,000 in lifetime World Series of Poker (WSOP) earnings and cashed in events around the world. He’s also a fixture of nosebleed cash games in places like Bobby’s Room and online at Full Tilt. Smith imparted these words of wisdom for aspiring live poker superstars: “The two most important things when it comes down to the differences between online and live are a good sense of the game flow and live reads. There is so much information to be had when you’re at the table. You get to see how your opponents react to certain cards, how they react to plays that someone else makes, how they handle getting a bad beat, and how they handle getting a monster pot.”

On playing in the richest cash games and tournaments that the poker world has to offer, Smith told the PocketFives.com Podcast, “It’s pretty fun to play high stakes. It’s cool to be playing for a lot of money and playing for a lot of money makes me want to accelerate my learning curve. Otherwise, I’m going to face the consequence, which is losing a lot of money, if I don’t stay up to par against my opponents.”

Finally, we asked Smith about an infamous weight loss prop bet with five-time WSOP bracelet winner Ted Forrest (pictured). A few weeks before the 2010 WSOP began, Forrest, Mike Matusow, and Smith were chatting at the Commerce Casino when talk of a weight loss bet came up: “Ted said he thought he could get down to 139 pounds. We went up to the gym on the second floor of the Commerce and he weighed in at 182 or 183. I didn’t think Ted would be committed, but he was. He ended up losing a great majority of the weight towards the end of the World Series and somehow, he pulled it off. Bad beat, I guess.”

Check out the rest of this week’s PocketFives.com Podcast with Full Tilt Poker pro and Deepstacks University instructor Justin Boosted J Smith.