Last week, longtime PocketFives member Justin truesyalose Truesdell (pictured) came out on top in the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event in New Orleans. The re-entry tournament generated nearly 700 sign-ups and the 30-year-old Truesdell made his hometown fans happy by earning $204,000. Truesdell booked his second WSOP Circuit gold ring in the process and sat down with PocketFives for an exclusive interview.Truesdell captured his first ring three years ago in Tunica, Mississippi after winning a $1,000 No Limit Hold'em tournament for $77,000. This time, the nearly 700 entrants in the Main Event in New Orleans nearly doubled last year's total of 382, making Truesdell work for his money.
"When I won the first gold ring, I was on a good run, so I took it for granted," Truesdell admitted to PocketFives. "This one is better because I have been grinding $2/$5 No Limit at the casino five days a week and not playing many tournaments. This was my first tournament over $300 since August, so I picked a good time to run good." He now has nine Circuit cashes and five WSOP in the money finishes to his name.
Truesdell has undergone a life change of sorts. Besides being uprooted last year due to Black Friday, Truesdell explained, "I'm married now and have more to worry about than my buy-ins and living in the moment. I have to think about the future now. Expenses are so much more for live tournaments and you can only play one tournament a day, so you have to close them out when you get the chance."
With a win in the "Big Easy," Truesdell punched his ticket to the WSOP Circuit National Championship in Las Vegas, which has a $1 million prize pool and awards a bracelet to the winner. The tournament is also open to the top 100 players in the all-new WSOP World Rankings provided they elect to pay the $10,000 entry fee.
Truesdell shared his approach to the National Championship: "Same as any other tournament, just get to the table, feel it out, and see who the weak spots are and who to stay away from. Hopefully, I'll get good table draws and be able to run up a stack."
Interestingly, Truesdell wasn't even planning to play in the Main Event in New Orleans: "I wasn't even going to play, but a friend I play cash games with asked if I was selling action, so I did and a few other friends took some." Consequently, he won't lay claim to the entire $204,000 payday, but noted, "We just moved to New Orleans in January, so we will get to enjoy it more now."
When asked to rationalize the increased attendance in New Orleans compared to years past, Truesdell speculated that players were frantically trying to accrue points to qualify for the National Championship: "I went to St. Louis in April, played a few prelims, and recognized so many people because they were all on the bubble of getting into the National Championship. The $10K equity and possible TV time are huge for everyone playing $300s to $500s regularly. The fields were tougher than they had been in past WSOP Circuit Events, but online going away was a big reason for that too."Truesdell met his wife in Cincinnati, Ohio and the two were wed in 2010. "My wife is from Poland, so we go there every year," Truesdell pointed out. "I might even move somewhere to play online again for a few months this fall. I moved to Spain from September to December to grind on PokerStars. Then, I came back to the U.S., moved to New Orleans, and am playing live now. So, I've still been playing full-time since Black Friday."
By the way, his wife is pretty hands-off when it comes to poker. Truesdell explained, "She loves that we get to move around, especially since she was from Europe and we got to move there for a few months, but she had never watched me play poker nor cared to. She lets me do my thing. She got to the final table on a break with four people left and I went from two million in chips to seven million in about eight hands after she got there. So, she is loving it now."
Finally, we asked Truesdell what he thought about the prospects of legalized online poker in the United States: "I try not to get my hopes up, but I know eventually they will come to their senses and regulate it." Legalized online poker could be coming to Nevada as soon as later this year.
