PocketFives had the opportunity to chat with Nevada’s ChaosTheory. With $10,000 in wins on WSOP.com, he also had impressive pre-Black Friday results on Full Tilt, with lifetime earnings of over $214,000. Visit PocketFives’ Nevada poker community for the latest news and discussion from Nevada players.

PocketFives: How did you choose your user name?

ChaosTheory: I made my screen name at the Rio when WSOP.com was offering freerolls into WSOP events for just signing up. I thought, “What a chaos theory if I make a screen name and win a seat into an event” and decided to just go with that name.

PocketFives: How long have you been playing online poker?

ChaosTheory: I started playing online poker in 2009 and started off really small, mainly sit and gos, and then moved into MTTs. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2010 that I started to see good results and had my big break playing tournaments. When WSOP.com had their Summer Series events running this past June, it sparked my interest in playing online again. I played a good chunk of those events with some success and started putting in more volume.

PocketFives: Prior to Black Friday, you were able to accumulate winnings totaling over $214,000. What did you do after?

ChaosTheory: When Black Friday hit, that was the worst because I left a big chunk of my bankroll online due to the FTOPS starting up. It was a tough transition to go from the comfort of my own home playing almost every day to pretty much losing a huge chunk of my money that I wasn’t sure if I would see again.

I have a degree in computer science, but realized I enjoyed poker too much to try to look for a standard job. Luckily, I had a good friend help me get back on my feet and that’s when I transitioned to playing live poker and pretty much did that from the end of 2011 to the beginning of 2012. I played a lot of $2/$5 NL just to realize I was terrible at live cash.

Everything was completely different than what I was used to and adjusting to the slower pace of live was also difficult at first. I wasn’t a major loser in the beginning, but wasn’t winning at a high rate like I wanted to. I dropped down to $1/$2 NL, played that for a few months to get acquainted with the transition, and things started to click. I moved back up to $2/$5 and have been doing that ever since.

PocketFives: What do you base your current successes online?

ChaosTheory: I’ve put in a lot of hours and work into trying to improve my game since I first started playing online. I do think my old online days while Full Tilt was around gave me the fundamentals and experience to continue to play well today. I watch videos online, which is nice because if I can learn one new thing to implement in my game, then it’s worth it. But, having a lot of trial and error and trying different things to see what works have been the most beneficial.

Times have changed since I last played online and the player pool is a lot smaller on WSOP.com, so I find it a lot easier to adapt to certain opponents I see often. I don’t play a robotic game even while multi-tabling. I’m always mixing up my play depending on who’s in the pot.

PocketFives: What do you like best about playing online poker?

ChaosTheory: It easily has to be the fact that I don’t have to leave the house and so can sit in a more comfortable setting compared to live. I’m a homebody, so being able to stay at home and still make money playing online poker is a win-win.

PocketFives: How did you do at the 2015 WSOP?

ChaosTheory: I played in about four WSOP events this summer. I originally planned for more, but focused on cash and played some other events around town instead. I made a few deep runs and cashed, but no life-changing money. Maybe next year!

PocketFives: How do you prepare yourself for live tournaments?

ChaosTheory: I usually try to get plenty of sleep the night before. I eat a healthy breakfast and occasionally I’ll juice in the morning. I make sure to bring a backpack with plenty of snacks and water. I stick to salads and fruits for the majority of what I eat throughout a tournament.

PocketFives: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

ChaosTheory: Always stay positive, not just in poker, but in your life in general. Remove any negative thoughts or people from your life because it’s going to slow you down from ever progressing to where you want to be.

I still struggle to maintain a positive outlook on everything and have to keep a conscious effort to do so. My wife does a great job keeping me leveled and staying positive. There are no bad beat stories and pity parties here; she doesn’t listen to it. It’s amazing when you change your thought process what kind of impact it has.