Entering Saturday’s action at the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP), members of PocketFives.com had come away with not one, not two, not three, but nine bracelets. Nine! One player fortunate enough to win some jewelry was Sean WormNortonGetzwiller (pictured), who earned $611,000 by virtue of taking down Event #8, a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament. Getzwiller is this month’s guest on the PocketFives.com Podcast.

When we spoke to Getzwiller, he had survived Day 1 of Event #24, a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout. Each table was only four-handed on Day 2, which Getzwiller told us played into his strengths: “I’m actually very comfortable in sit and gos… As it progresses, you’re playing in a sit and go fashion, especially since it’s four-handed. I feel very good about it. I’ve lived in the satellite rooms the last two years at the World Series. Hopefully, that’ll help me win my table.”

With a little bit of Podcast karma, Getzwiller blasted through his Day 2 table to make the final 10 and ultimately came away with $36,000 following a ninth place finish.

The poker community has been buzzing at the side action at this year’s WSOP. Whether the cavalcade of humanity descending upon the Rio in Las Vegas is due in part to Black Friday isn’t clear, but Getzwiller trumpeted, “It’s been amazing. Everyone has been talking about how internet poker is going to kill live poker and it’s actually done the opposite… Everything is up. There are lines out the door in the satellite room… They’re breaking records right and left, so nothing has slowed down whatsoever at the WSOP.”

It’s not just the satellite area, either. “The cash games have been incredible,” Getzwiller told PocketFives.com Podcast listeners. “They’re playing as high as $1,000/$2,000 PLO. That doesn’t make any sense. People are playing for half-million dollar pots right in the middle of the Rio. This isn’t Bobby’s Room; this is just one table in the midst of everything. It’s absolute craziness going on right now.”

The indictments of April 15th, a date that will forever be known as Black Friday in the online poker world, pulled the rug out from under Getzwiller’s blossoming internet career. He had made the decision to move to Las Vegas to play online and set up shop at Panorama Towers.

“A week after I moved in, Black Friday happened and I’m walking across the street to CityCenter to play cash at Aria,” the bracelet winner reminisced. “I wasn’t even that big online yet. I had been playing seriously for the last year or so and finally started getting some decent results. I thought I was breaking through and the Department of Justice threw the curtains over my parade.”

Now, he’s dominating $1,000 events at the annual WSOP. In Event #8, he outlasted a field of nearly 4,200 players and a final table that included familiar faces like Jon PearlJammerTurner (pictured) and Hunter the_hunt_D Frey. “It’s about table draw and staying very aggressive,” Getzwiller revealed when asked what the key to success was in $1,000 WSOP events.

“You’re not going to be able to play passively in a 4,000-man event. You’re going to have to keep chipping up and staying at or above average.”

Getzwiller originally worked in real estate and is now rooming with Paul pauglees81Volpe during the WSOP. Volpe, the 21st player in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, has had a profound effect on Getzwiller’s career.

Getzwiller enlightened us, “Sharing hand histories with [Volpe] has really helped me out a lot. He knows all of the best players in the world. There really is an elite level of player out there, and just talking about hands and going over histories is probably one of the most key things that I’ve learned can help your game.”

Check out the rest of this month’s PocketFives.com Poker Podcast. Also, follow our entire 2011 WSOP coverage.