We caught up with PocketFives member PremiumStud, otherwise known as Paul Dewald (pictured). He splits his time between Las Vegas and Colorado and has been very busy of late, playing anywhere from six to 12 tournaments a day on WSOP.comand some cash games as well. Follow Paul on Twitter under the handle @Pokerisallluck. Visit PocketFives’ Nevada poker community for the latest news and discussion from Nevada players.

PocketFives: How did you choose your screen name?

Paul Dewald: My old school name is iridium, which I feel this is what most know me by because of the volume I put in on Full Tilt Poker from 2007 to 2011. That came from a band I was in back in high school. It was a jazz funk rock band that I played trumpet in.

PremiumStud (my PokerStars name) came from me working at the Home Depot back in 2004 walking down the aisle and seeing a sign that said “Premium Studs.” Not knowing I would have any future in poker or know that the name was permanent, I created this name.

PocketFives: What do you base your current successes online on?

Paul Dewald: I’ve been playing online poker for a living since June 2005. I was a cash game specialist and then in 2007 I met Hunter the_Hunt_D Frey, who taught me and backed me for tournaments. He introduced me to a bunch of great players such as Steve gboro780Gross, Jamie thecronic420Rosen, Eric blizairBlair, Ben Palmer, Zachary CrazyZacharyClark, Bryn BrynKenneyKenney, Amit amak316Makhija, David Doc Sands Sands, and the list just goes on and on.

Talking to some of the smartest minds in poker really took my game to the next level. Not everyone plays the same, which is one of the cool things about poker.

PocketFives: You put in a great volume online. How do you prepare for playing a heavy schedule?

Paul Dewald: I’ve always been a high-volume player. I do it to challenge myself and see if I can be profitable playing a lot of games. I think this is okay playing small and medium buy-ins, but if you are playing the higher stakes games, fewer tables is more profitable because you can pay more attention to table dynamics and game flow.

I don’t just click buttons like I used to. I try to always look at all angles because nothing ever has to be “standard” with the game of poker. Taking a bad beat never tilts me; it only makes me more focused on my game. Physically, the long hours can be draining, but that’s why I take some days off and have been going to the gym.

PocketFives: What do you like best about playing online poker?

Paul Dewald: The great parts about online poker are being able to multi-table, being able to take player notes, the sites take less rake than live casinos, and it’s just fun. The bad part right now for an MTT player with the Nevada sites is that there are not big fields in the higher buy-in games, so you can’t really have a big payday like the rest of the world, who can play PokerStars. There is no way I could just play tournaments on Nevada sites and make a living. Online cash, live cash, and live MTTs need to be added to my schedule.

PocketFives: What are your World Series of Poker plans?

Paul Dewald: Win every event I play, obviously! I will focus, pay close attention to everything that is happening around me, and hopefully crush the events that I play. I have only played 30 to 40 live tournaments lifetime, which is not many, but I do plan on playing a few this summer like the Millionaire Maker, a Six-Max event, and the Main Event.

I have always had online backers when playing such high volume and high stakes and it would be nice to find one for live stuff, but that seems very hard to do. WSOP.com and Ultimate Poker are not high-variance, so there is no need for a backer on those sites as a tournament specialist.

PocketFives: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Paul Dewald: Poker is always changing because players are constantly learning how to get better. You need to always be open-minded to new ideas and see what is working for winning players. When I bink a tournament or one of my friends binks something huge, I like to go over that hand history, which is saved online, and you can use a replayer to do this. If you can see what you did right in a tournament, what you did wrong, and what worked for other players, you can always be learning.

There are a lot of great players out there who have been around awhile, but there are also new up-and-coming ones. It’s hard work and takes a lot of hours to get really good at if you want to win consistently. The hardest part for me in the past nine years has been finding balance. I used to want to just play every hour I was awake and, in the last two years, I finally realized I also needed to have a life and enjoy it. I have great friends and family who are very supportive, so I am very appreciative of that.

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