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Back in November of 2005, Jerry sandler1860 Payne first joined the PocketFives.com online poker community. He was a certified newbie looking to improve his game. He lacked an Instant Messenger account to boot, making communication with his poker peers a difficult task at best. Flash forward three and a half years. Payne took third in the Super Tuesday on PokerStars in mid-February for $38,000. He broke onto the online tournament scene in June of 2008, making the final table and finishing fourth in the Sunday Warm-Up for $30,000. The PocketFiver from Dayton, Ohio talked about the birth of his poker career.

When he first signed up for PocketFives.com, Payne had been playing poker for about a year. However, his game was hindered by several obstacles. He explained, "I had no friends who played poker, so PocketFives was exactly what I needed to get to know other players. I didn’t have an AIM account when I first signed up and now I have tons of poker buddies on there to talk hands with."

His watershed moment came on February 17th, 2009. His $38,000 cash for taking third in the Super Tuesday marked his largest online score ever. He had come a long way since his humble beginnings. Three-handed in that tournament, he lost a race for over half of the chips in play, coming out on the wrong end of A-K to pocket queens. While many players would have been frustrated by losing a key hand, Payne was content. He told PocketFives.com, "I had also won two flips for all of my chips earlier at the final table, so it wasn't like I could whine about losing that one."

Like several other PocketFivers, Payne is backed, which has allowed him to play in higher stakes tournaments like the Super Tuesday. On his decision to pursue a backer, he recalled, "I was way too much of a bankroll nit when I played for myself, so being backed was perfect for me. I don't have to risk my own money and have shots for big scores in tournaments that I would never have the guts to play with my own money." In September, he banked $17,000 for finishing 56th in the $5,200 buy-in PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event. In November, he took second in the $65,000 Guaranteed on Full Tilt Poker for $15,000, one month after finishing as the runner up in the $55 Cubed on Stars for over $7,000.

He claims he's a patient person by nature, a trait that has helped him effectively play 10 to 20 big blind stacks. He added, "I feel like that is one of the best parts of my game. I'm also a product of PokerXFactor; Eric sheets Haber (pictured at left) taught me how to manage that size stack." Payne's patience has also allowed him to gain success in live poker tournaments. He was the runner up to Craig Brumfield in a $550 buy-in World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Event tournament at Caesars Indiana last April for $21,000. He explained, "It can get tedious playing in a live tournament after being used to six tables going online, but I have no problems with it."

When asked whose game he respects the most, he answered the man who was on top of the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings for over a year when Payne first became involved with the site: WSOP bracelet winner and PokerXFactor instructor Cliff JohnnyBax Josephy (pictured at right). On what makes the popular online poker player successful in his eyes, Payne commented, "The amount of focus that he maintains while juggling his family life and poker is awesome. Also, he's one of the classiest online players there is." Payne also admires the game of the 25th player in the Rankings, Mohsin chicagocards1 Charania. Payne explained, "He has been crushing it over the last couple of months and is definitely someone to watch out for."

Repeated commercials featuring Mike Sexton's smiling face encouraging viewers to sign up for PartyPoker caused Payne to deposit in February of 2004. Back then, poker was about the money. However, he had his fair share of growing pains: "I was terrible, to say the least, and basically had to teach myself by losing money. I love the game so much now, though. I play only multi-table tournaments and the feeling you get when you make a final table and turn a small investment into a ton of dough is great." In tournaments that are tracked for the Rankings, Payne racked up $23,000 during the first month of 2009. In December, he piled up $34,000 in 40 qualifying cashes.

Payne wanted to send a shout out to fellow PocketFiver Damage1, who made the final table of the Full Tilt Poker $1 Million Guaranteed in September for $65,000. He was Payne's first poker-related friend on AIM. Payne revealed, "He's a great kid and another player to watch out for. I can't stress enough how important it is to have players who are better than you on your AIM list to discuss hands with. It's invaluable."

We look forward to seeing more from Jerry sandler1860 Payne in the future!