A 15-year veteran of the online poker scene, 34-year-old Andrew ‘Head218’ Carnevale is one of many top-ranked online poker players in Pennsylvania looking forward to the impending launch of legalized and regulated online poker in his home state.

Carnevale, who currently works full-time in providing investment products to investment professionals, has been playing long enough to remember the heyday of online poker and the pain of Black Friday. The return of online poker to Pennsylvania represents a big step for the evolution of US online poker as well as the next step in Carnevale’s own poker journey.

“I guess my first experience was obviously kind of playing at the dinner table with my grandma and grandpa…stupid card games, probably like five card draw and whatever game the old times used to play,” Carnevale said when reflecting on his start in poker.

“I really didn’t get into Hold’em until I was in college. I went to school in Washington, DC and I was of the age when the World Series of Poker was on TV,” Carnevale recalls. “Watched that. It might’ve been even before Moneymaker won and I just fired up an account on PokerStars. Just kinda…got going.”

Like many who took a flyer on the fledgling field of online poker, the game provided him an avenue of entertainment and competition. He played small stakes cash and tournaments, just looking to bink a tournament or two.

“I would just fire online and probably didn’t even have any idea what I was doing.”

But over time, Carnevale leveled up, taking online poker more seriously and he even thought about taking a shot at going pro.

“I had some aspirations [of turning pro]. After I graduated college I was a caddy for a private golf club. I had cash on me and we would go down to Atlantic City and play live. That was when I was 21, 22, 23 and I thought about it. But as much as I loved the winning sessions, I couldn’t stand losing. I didn’t have the right mentality to handle the swings that you need to in order to be a professional,” he said.

But those swings didn’t stop him from staying in the game. Not by a long shot. Carnevale has been a member of PocketFives since 2007, playing small-mid stakes tournaments whenever his busy schedule would allow.  He currently has over $200,000 in lifetime earnings and sits as the #4-ranked player in Pennsylvania.

Nowadays, he continues to play tournaments on off-shore sites like America’s Card Room and he’s been splashing around in PLO cash games. Having spent some time in New Jersey, he’s ready to take the plunge into the soon-to-be alive regulated online sites of PA.

“I’ve been waiting for it for quite some time now,” Carnevale said. “To be honest, I would much prefer to play on the regulated sites, such as the New Jersey sites, then the non-regulated sites – just based on my experience there.

“But, yea, I’m totally excited. I don’t know if it’ll change my schedule as far as how much time I spend with it, but it will certainly add an option that I’m looking forward to.”

Having played on the regulated sites in New Jersey, Carnevale is hoping that not only will online poker in the U.S. continue to grow but the online operators that are currently offering poker in New Jersey and are coming to Pennsylvania will continue to grow as well.

“I just hope that these companies, if they decide to get into it, really spend time with the software,” he said, expressing frustration at some of the current options that are currently rolled out in New Jersey. “I also hope it becomes a competitive landscape that does right by the online community that wants to play and offers the best services that they can in order for everybody to have the best capability to log on and enjoy it.”

Carnevale has long since put those pro aspirations behind him, but he continues to ‘log on and enjoy’ online poker. Although he not sure how often he’ll be playing, he still does have ideas of what may be next for him.

“I’m really enjoying PLO cash games in general. One thing though, especially in live poker, I’d love to have a big score again…kind of get your name out there. I’d love to take a trip to the World Series of Poker and have the opportunity to play the Main Event.”