He was born James Michael Sowers, but he goes by Mike, and most of us know him as SowersUNCC, so I guess you can’t blame Cardplayer for being a little confused when they reported James Sowers won the Borgata Winter Open event 12. You see, Mike Sowers already had a cash in the Cardplayer database from a preliminary event at Aruba last year. That $35k was a nice payday, but it was chump change to the $399,000 James Sowers took home for his win at Borgata. I am sure Cardplayer will get their story straight soon enough, because it looks like SowersUNCC is taking his online poker skills live in a big way.

At the ripe old age of twenty-one, Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers is a senior statesman when compared to some of his online peers. Nonetheless, to win $400,000 in one day is an eye opening event for anyone, no matter their age. It wasn’t an easy time to take home all that cash and a WPT bracelet. At the final table Sowers faced Eric Lindgren and Tom “Durr” Dwan as well as six other players who made it through the 266 person field. For Sowers his luckiest moment of the tournament came six-handed when he tried to pull off a squeeze play against Lindgren and Durr. “Durr opened for 45k with the blinds at 6/12 and Lindgren flat called. I shipped 320k and Lindgren made a good call with KQ vs my K10,” Sowers said of his squeeze play gone-bad. Luckily, he spiked a ten on the river, crippling Lindgren, who went out in fifth. Sowers never looked back, despite a tough heads up battle versus Durr.

I had the opportunity to speak with Sowers about his recent win:

Lenny: What did you think of durr and Lindgren’s play?

SowersUNCC: Durr is a fantastic player and I was most impressed by Lindgren’s play. He was excellent compared to other live players I have played against.

Lenny: What’s it like playing after a big win? Is it hard to focus at all, or just another day at the tables?

SowersUNCC: I usually take a little while off, but this week I haven’t been playing much at all. I’ve been looking at properties. I’m going to buy a beach house as an investment and I’m also looking to buy a house for myself in Charlotte.

Lenny: In your house shopping, are you trying to get financing? How do you state your income/profession? Or are you trying to pay cash?

SowersUNCC: It depends really. For an investment I will probably get financing and let whoever is renting pay the mortgage. I will most likely pay cash for my house. I have a good CPA and I file as a pro poker player. Plus my mom is a realtor with 21 years experience in the business, so I have the inside track with the real estate market.

Lenny: That’s good to have help with that sort of thing. Even if you think you know everything, when handling transactions like that it’s nice to have a pro on your side.

SowersUNCC: Definitely.

Lenny: In your profile you ask people not to hit you up for poker advice and tell them to join a training site instead. Are you a member of any of the training sites?

SowersUNCC: I have been on PokerXfactor. I credit a lot of my success to the teachers there, especially the money I have made in Sit N’Gos.

Lenny: Do you play cash games often?

SowersUNCC: Very rarely. If I want to play poker and I don’t have a lot of time, I’ll sit in a cash game for a while, but mostly I play MTTs.

Lenny: You have already had a great year, but it’s just getting started. Do you have any goals for 2008?

SowersUNCC: Honestly, I don’t have a specific poker goal. I want to get in shape physically and close the deal on two houses. Besides that I want to continue winning! I might give POY a chance since I will be playing a lot more live this year.

Lenny: Do you gamble? I mean craps, roulette, and table games, things like that?

SowersUNCC: No, I hate gambling.

Lenny: What is an area of your game that you would like to improve?

SowersUNCC: Tilt control when I am playing live.

Lenny: You are more prone to tilt in a live tournament than online? Is it the pace of the game, the stakes, or not being able to multitable that makes you more susceptible to tilt?

SowersUNCC: I don’t know why. I went on tilt badly in the 10k final of the Borgata on day two. I couldn’t get any momentum going, and I guess I lost my cool.

Lenny: How do you think you can help avoid situations like that in the future?

SowersUNCC: Listening to music helps. I usually have a few beers to calm my nerves in live events. I love the feeling though. I get a little nervous because I want to do well and I’m hard on myself when I lose. I’m never expecting anything less than first, no matter who is at my table.

Lenny: Well, you can’t get first every time, are you just setting yourself up for disappointment?

SowersUNCC: I am a big fan of Tiger Woods and I try to emulate the thought process he goes through before every shot. He always focuses on what the object he is trying to hit and then fades everything else out of the focus of his vision. Whenever I am in a live hand I always fade everything out. Sometimes I am sitting there with music blasting in my headphones, but all I can hear are my own thoughts as I try to come up with the optimal play.

Lenny: What would you say is one of your strengths?

SowersUNCC: I really don’t want to brag but I do a lot of things well. One of the most important for me is that I always try to learn from my mistakes.

Lenny: What are some of your interests outside of poker?

SowersUNCC: I like playing and watching sports. I also just bought a telescope. I love astronomy.

Lenny: What is your favorite sport to watch? What about to play?

SowersUNCC: Football would be my favorite to watch. I only play tennis nowadays, except for golf every now and then.

It’s not everyday that one wins almost half a million dollars, but from talking to SowersUNCC, as well as watching him play online, I get the feeling that this is the first of many six figure scores for the young man. He plays poker as if it is his job, and it seems to be working for him.