On January 22nd in the early morning hours, John cracker9ballReynolds (pictured) started a thread in Poker Discussionright after his first five-figure score. The superlative came as a result of finishing as the runner-up in Event #12 of the UB.com Online Championship (UBOC), a $162 Sniper No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack contest, for $11,000. His thoughts read in part, “For all you guys wondering if it can be done, I was a losing player online 2004-2009. In March 2010, I joined P5s, started a poker chat, and joined some training sites. I am now a winning player online and improving daily. If you put in the work, anything is possible.”

Three days after his UBOC final table, Reynolds recorded another five-figure cash for taking second in the PokerStars Nightly Hundred Grandfor $17,000. He’s now over $100,000 in cashes from tournaments tracked by PocketFives.com and gave us his thoughts on the UBOC structures: “I like them overall. It starts a little small, but overall I do like their structures. It’s also that Absolute Poker is back in time. You see all of the plays you don’t see on PokerStars. You’ll have some good players, but there are a lot of guys who are going to open-fold 10 big blinds and do strange things.”

On the same day as he created his post, Reynolds booked $9,800 for winning the Full Tilt Poker $33,000 KO Guarantee. He explained why he’s been so successful in recent days: “It’s just that I’m playing higher levels. I was a losing player until March 2010 and had a good live series in the Oklahoma State Championship of Poker. I replaced my laptop after its hard drive went out and started playing online poker.”

He joined PocketFives.com last March. “I made a post on PocketFives.com looking for a chat group,” Reynolds recalled. “I started a chat group that’s been going for 10 months now. I’m on two training sites and am one of the best people I know in the chat group at emotional detachment and tilt control. It’s more than your skill in poker; it’s also emotional control and tilt control.”

Until 2005, Reynolds played pool for a living. Then, Oklahoma legalized poker and he began working at a local casino. He ultimately lost a leg in an accident and then grinded poker for a living. “I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been,” Reynolds told us. “I’ve built my money up. Online poker, if you treat it like college, there’s a lot you can do. You can’t just screw off. You have to watch videos, review hand histories, and network; there’s a lot to be learned.”

His thread about achieving his first five-figure score garnered nearly 100 replies from various members of the online poker community. Among those weighing in was PocketFives.com member PkrMaster_21, who wrote, “This is what I love about the P5s community: posts like this one, which inspire all of us to work hard on our game and show us that by being active in the P5s forum and investing in some training, it is possible to become a winning player and start hitting some big scores. A big congrats for this nice score and thank you very much for posting. Keep it up bud!”

Reynolds told us he was impressed with the onslaught of congratulatory messages: “My name is starting to be seen a bit. Some of it has to be due to the work I’ve put in networking through the site and trying to be friends with people. Also, playing in those competitions – I’ve met so many people through them. I thought the response was awesome.”

Congratulations to Reynolds and everyone who cashed during UBOC 6. Check out our UBOC 6 final tables results for more information.