The $100 rebuy on PokerStars is widely considered to be among the toughest tournaments offered online. In it you’ll find the very top echelon of poker players battling through a chaotic rebuy period, each jockeying to amass a sizeable chip stack that will give them an advantage later. On the weekends, the field is much larger, although skill ultimately prevails in this high bankroll tournament. One PocketFiver has found success in this challenging tournament: Ryan Mossified84 Skomac. The 84th ranked player on PocketFives.com, Skomac sat down to discuss why he’s excelled in the $100 rebuy.

In order to stand out in anything, you need an advantage over the competition. Skomac described to PocketFives.com what gives him an edge in rebuy tournaments: “The structure does. I have no problem going in for 12 units if the table dictates it. Also, the deep-stack play benefits me. The equity that I gain by building a stack during the rebuy period outweighs the number of times that I don’t cash. You gain so much equity by playing with a 150 big blind stack after the break.” He told us that his willingness to take risks during the rebuy period, even pushing all of his chips in with a marginal hand if other players are involved, is what sets him apart from the pack.

Some players have a specific strategy during the $100 rebuy. Some just sit down at the virtual felts and play. Skomac discusses his mindset headed into the tournament: “It ultimately depends on the table. I play my first two buy-ins really loose. After that, I tighten up to playing premium hands except for Sundays, when the field is much larger and softer. I’ll go in for 15 or 20 units if the table warrants it.”

Whether it’s his willingness to get his chips into the middle of the table or something more intrinsic than that, whatever Skomac is doing, it’s working. He finished second in the $100 rebuy on September 23rd for $22,000. About six weeks earlier, he won it for $23,000. In July, he finished third in the $100 rebuy for $17,000.

He just moved to Las Vegas from Michigan. He told PocketFives.com, “In Michigan, I was two hours away from a casino. There were no real tournaments other than an occasional Heartland Poker Tour event. If I’m going to play in serious tournaments, I needed to be in Las Vegas.”

As a youngster, he used to shuttle drinks for his dad’s home game and eventually started taking part in the action. He jumped into Hold’em about six years ago: “I was home on a Saturday night and decided to put $100 into PokerStars and won a $50 freezeout for $5,000. At the time, I was working 50 hours a week for $50,000 per year. I told the wife one day that I was making more playing poker. I told her that I would pay her $600 every Friday. The first time that I missed the payment, I’d get a job. That was three years ago.”

He entered the PocketFives Online Poker Rankings on August 20th at #89. He’s floated up and down since then with his cross-country move and now finds himself perched at #84. The PocketFives.com Rankings mean different things to different people. Some enjoy the acclaim; some enjoy the fact that being ranked means they’re taking in revenue. For Skomac, it’s about the money, at least in part: “I don’t care as much about the Rankings as I do making money. However, it’s always good to get your name thrown around. My wife gets more of a kick out of it than I do.”

Skomac’s recent move to Las Vegas involved a massive moving truck packed with two dogs, two cats, his wife, and all of his belongings. He’s now adjusting to life in Sin City and says that his wife is contemplating going back to work part-time.

Congratulations from all of us here at PocketFives.com to Ryan Mossified84 Skomac on his recent rebuy success as well as being a ranked player on the site.