Cardiff, UK’s Les lpackerPacker hit it big in the PokerStars Sunday 500 last month, chopping the tournament heads-up for $57,000 and officially taking first place. There were almost 700 entrants in the $530 buy-in event, crushing its guarantee and vaulting Packer to nearly $400,000 in lifetime online tournament winnings.

“I’m feeling over the moon,” Packer told PocketFives in an exclusive interview. “It’s hard. I’ve only been playing for about two years. It’s starting to come together now. I am over the moon with my result on Sunday.” It was his second time winning the PokerStars Sunday 500 in 2014 and his third largest tracked cash overall.

Why has a part-time poker player from the capital city of Wales had so much success in the talent-rich field of the Sunday 500? He speculated, “I don’t think I can put it down to any sort of way of playing it. At the beginning of the year, I was playing quite aggressively, which helps in some tournaments but not in others. In recent tournaments, I have reduced my aggressiveness. I feel comfortable when we get close to cashing and once we’re in there.”

In the early days of poker, aggression was all the rage. However, in recent years, many players have pulled back a bit. Packer explained, “The back end of tournaments is the time to run aggressively because of the blind structures and because the stakes are higher. I was applying that sort of aggressiveness in the early parts of the game and not giving other players enough respect. Fundamentally, what I’ve learned is not to be as aggressive early on and let that be more normal.”

In the two years he has been playing part-time, Packer has won the Sunday 500 twice and final tabled a WCOOP $1,050 No Limit Hold’em Eight-Max event.

“Poker was introduced to me by a couple of friends a couple of years ago. I had a go at it and really enjoyed it. The reason why I’ve played it quite a bit more over the last two years is because I am running a business during the day and poker helps me fill time while I am not at work. I have been fortunate enough to be able to afford playing in the higher stakes games. The first year, I was entering higher stakes tournaments and losing them because of my lack of experience, but I learned a lot from playing with pros and very experienced players.”

It was a trial by fire, if you will.

His main business is in the renewable utilities market and if you live in the UK, you’ve seen the fruits of Packer’s labor. He told us, “We provide infrastructure for renewable structures all over the UK. We have been in business for 15 years and have been focusing on renewables for three years. Prior to that, we were in the construction market. We put in the electrical structures for Wembley Stadium (pictured), Wimbledon, and other high-profile places.”

Packer is the #3 ranked player in Cardiff, #47 in the UK, and #482 worldwide. As Packer lauded about the game, “I hope people get hooked on poker. It’s not luck; it’s a game of thought.”

He wanted to send a shout out to his chopping partner in the Sunday 500, drik717, as well as the rest of the final table: “They were all very good players and it was a pleasure sharing the felt with them.”

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