In the August 22nd running of the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl, Manorville, New York native T Money (pictured) came out on top of the pack and banked $75,000. The $256 buy-in tournament generated a field of 2,529 players, with the top 279 making the money. T Money bested fellow online poker pro Tony D1rtyR1v3r Nardi heads-up. That wasn’t an easy feat, either, as Nardi owns the seventh spot in the PocketFives.com Rankings, is a Triple Crown winner, and has over $3 million in tracked cashes to boot. PocketFives.com caught up with T Money to get the inside scoop on his breakthrough win in the weekly bounty event.

PocketFives.com: Thanks for joining us. Tell us what it means to you to win a high-stakes Sunday Major like the Brawl?

T Money: Winning a Major definitely propels the confidence. I’ve applied a lot of hard work to this game and it’s a very nice reward. It's been long sought-after and I'm glad to have finally achieved it.

PocketFives.com: You told us that you’re pumped up for the upcoming PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), which starts on Sunday, September 5th. What tournaments are you looking forward to the most?

T Money: All of the No Limit Hold’em events. I'll be playing all of them with a few Pot Limit Omaha and Mixed Events as well, but of course along with everyone else, I’m most excited about the Main Event. I would just like to wish everyone good luck during the WCOOP. I’m very pumped for this series and can't wait to see everyone at the tables so I can take their chips.

PocketFives.com: Talk about dropping $5,200 to register for the 2010 WCOOP Main Event, which boasts a $10 million guaranteed prize pool.

T Money: Nowadays, I just look at it as part of my job and I've grown accustomed to it. Playing all of the events adds up, but the excitement of the series definitely overcomes the possibility of losing heaps. I was fortunate enough to add a nice padding to my bankroll by chasing after Supernova Elite back in the day, so I'm not too worried about the swings. The only event I'll be trying to satellite into is the $10K and I’m pretty disappointed that PokerStars has not added more satellites for it.

PocketFives.com: Tell us about your Supernova Elite bid.

T Money: It was fun, but after a while, I did not enjoy the pursuit of it. Three-quarters of the year in, I stopped and realized it was not for me. I turned to MTTs because of the level of creativity they offered. I surrounded myself with respectable MTT players and never looked back.

PocketFives.com: What players have been most influential to your MTT growth and why?

T Money: As of late, Bryn BrynKenney Kenney has been on top of the game and I enjoy watching him the most. However, my good friend Athanasios 9 and I discuss hands all day and I owe a great deal of thanks to him. We help each other’s game and I'm very happy at where it has led us.

I owe a lot of thanks to the other players I discuss hands with as well. Poker allows us to discuss hands with a lot of great minds and sometimes there isn't once correct answer, so it's always nice getting more feedback. I’d also like to mention that GINS FINEST has been working very hard on his game and it’s very influential to see players grow as well. I’m sure he will have an amazing WCOOP.

PocketFives.com: Can you tell us how you got started in poker originally?

T Money: Great question and, again, I would like to thank some more people for that. A few of my buddies (j0hndayt0n and hg18l7) started playing locally and they were chasing Supernova Elite while playing high-stakes SNGs. The game intrigued me so much and all I wanted to do was learn it, so that is when I started playing SNGs. It's been a bumpy but nice road so far.