In recent weeks, 36 players finished in the money in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit stop in Rincon. The re-entry tournament sported a $1,600 buy-in and, when the final card was dealt, Joe daPHUNNIEman Kuether (pictured) walked away with the title and $111,000.

The Wisconsin native has been on a tear on the live poker scene as of late. Besides his WSOP Circuit Main Event gold ring, Kuether triumphed in two $500 No Limit Hold’em events during the Wynn Classic in March for $40,000 total. He’s now won the last three tournaments he’s cashed in, according to the Hendon Mob, and opened up to PocketFives about his recent hot streak.

PocketFives: Thanks for joining us. We take it you’re pretty pumped about live poker right now given you’ve won each of the last three times you’ve cashed.

Joe Kuether: Yeah, March was a pretty good month obviously. I have been playing a lot and have been pretty motivated lately, especially with the WSOP coming up soon.

PocketFives: Your three recent live wins amount to over $150,000 total. Did the two Wynn Classic victories propel you to victory in the WSOPC Rincon Main Event?

Joe Kuether: I was going to go out to Bay 101, but had played some of the Wynn prelims and the fields were so good that I just decided to stay in Las Vegas and grind those. I was at the L.A. Poker Classic for a month before that and it didn’t go so well, so it was nice to get a few final tables and wins in some smaller tournaments.

I felt like I was playing pretty good, so that probably made me more likely to go to Rincon. Some people were telling me to go because of the Circuit points, but I was kind of sick of traveling around, so I just decided to go for the Main Event.

PocketFives: That turned out to be a pretty good decision. Have you strayed more toward live poker following Black Friday?

Joe Kuether: I always played live poker in some capacity, but played more online before Black Friday. I decided to move out to Vegas after Black Friday instead of moving abroad and have just been playing a lot more live and traveling to more tournaments than I used to. In the past, I didn’t play much live poker outside of the WSOP.

PocketFives: Can you talk about whether fatigue was a factor in you besting Chris Cronin heads-up in Rincon?

Joe Kuether: The heads-up was pretty short. We were even when it got heads-up and without any disrespect to him, I was pretty confident when we got to heads-up and was able to chip him down. I think in general I play pretty well over long hours, which is an advantage I have over people who aren’t as used to the long hours in these tournaments. I don’t really get worn out or anything because of my experience and playing so much.

PocketFives: Longtime poker pro Freddie Deeb (pictured) took fourth place in the WSOPC Rincon Main Event for $37,000. Can you critique his play?

Joe Kuether: I didn’t play much with him until the last day. He seemed pretty irritated with me, as I was winning a lot of big pots against him. He did a good job of waiting out some of the other short stacks and basically went from eighth to fourth just by folding his 10 to 15 big blinds.

PocketFives: We noticed that you had about $660,000 in winnings on Full Tiltprior to Black Friday and the site getting its license revoked.

Joe Kuether: It was pretty poor timing last year. I had my biggest online win on Full Tilt a week or two before Black Friday. I went from feeling pretty good going into the summer and the WSOP to not knowing if I’d ever see that money again.

PocketFives: What about the 2012 WSOP scheduleare you most excited for?

Joe Kuether: Not really any specific tournament, although some of the new ones look pretty cool. I haven’t really gone through the whole schedule, but I’m just excited about being able to play a lot of big tournaments. I have played so much less since Black Friday, so it will be nice to play a lot then. I don’t really mind the grind, especially during the WSOP.