Last week, Jaroslaw YanniYankievich Jaskiewicz entered the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings at #87 worldwide. One week later, he’s ballooned to #79 on the prestigious leaderboard on the strength of wins in the Full Tilt Poker $75,000 Guaranteed and PokerStars $100 rebuy in the last four months for a combined $44,000. In October, he final tabled the Ultimate Bet $200,000 Guaranteed to the tune of $18,000 for his third place effort. Jaskiewicz sat down with PocketFives.com from Las Vegas to recap his recent performances.

In July, Jaskiewicz took 198th in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, earning $36,000 for his efforts in the $10,000 buy-in tournament. The festivities will finish airing on ESPN next Tuesday and, on his run, Jaskiewicz told PocketFives.com, “I only made it to the top 200, but it was great putting in long days. I was riding a super short stack for the first four days and didn’t even get to over 100,000 in chips until Day 4, so that made it that much more fun and exciting for me.” Top prize in the event pays $8.5 million.
In 2008, the PocketFives.com member finished second in a Pot Limit Omaha event held during the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for $60,000. In October of that year, he took down the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance for another $54,000. Appropriately, he’s currently bunking with a wealth of poker talent in Las Vegas, including Carter ckingusc King (pictured at left), Michael benvo123 Benvenuti, James croll103 Carroll, and Dan USCswimmer White. Jaskiewicz is fresh off railing Benvenuti in a $500 buy-in preliminary tournament held during the Festa al Lago in late October. Benvenuti ultimately took second in the event for $25,000, falling to fellow PocketFives.com member Mike GoLeafsGoEh Leah heads-up. Three days later, Jaskiewicz railed Benvenuti in a $5,000 buy-in event at Caesars.

On his lifestyle, which is about to undergo a major change, Jaskiewicz noted, “Carter, Michael, and Dan got the place during the summer and I moved here. We basically grind a ton online and hit up some live cash games here and there. I’m moving out, though, and will be heading back to Vancouver in about three weeks to get a new life started there.” Jaskiewicz added that while he’s enjoyed experiencing the Las Vegas lifestyle, he no longer wants to live out of a suitcase.

In the Rankings, he sits at #79 worldwide and owns the 72nd best PLB Score in the business. He’s come a long way since tearing his ACL while playing soccer, a freak accident that ignited his climb up the online poker ladder. He revealed, “I played in a couple of home games and really enjoyed it. I ended up taking $300 to the casino and turned it to $3,000 over one weekend. It made sense to try to make that work, as I couldn’t really work.”

He could then be found camped out at River Rock Casino Resort (pictured at right) in Canada, where he noted, “I did that for about eight months and didn’t really leave the casino. I pretty much lived there, grinding $1/$2 for a living. I went bust eventually after putting in way too many hours.” Jaskiewicz then headed for the oil rigs in Northern Canada, where he worked for six months away from the game. Then, he discovered online poker, which led to his current profession. The rest, as they say, is history.

In October, the PocketFives.com member accumulated $119,000 in tournaments that are tracked for the Online Poker Rankings in 76 qualifying cashes, an average of $1,500 each. He’s final tabled the weekly Ultimate Bet $200,000 Guaranteed in each of the last two months.

So what other movers and shakers were there in this week’s edition of the Online Poker Rankings? Check them out for yourself.