Two-Thirds of a Live Poker Triple Crown and a MiniFTOPS Title
In 2012, Rocco RoccoGePalumbo (pictured) won a World Series of Poker bracelet in a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event for nearly a half-million dollars. One year later, he took down a World Poker Tour title in Venice and captured $180,000. As if all that success weren’t enough, Palumbo won a Full Tilt Poker MiniFTOPS Two-Day Event for another $93,000 in mid-January.
PocketFives: Awesome job in the MiniFTOPS Two-Day Event. Talk about how big that win was for you and the field that showed up for it.
Rocco Palumbo: That was a very big accomplishment for me, being my biggest online score and, more importantly, putting me out of the red since I relocated and started playing again on the global field. Doing that in a huge field rather than in a small and more skilled field is a bit easier probably since you can expect people to play a lot worse when money matters instead of having a bunch of people who are happy to put random pressure on you whenever they can. There were, however, some good players at the final table, but they probably played a bit tighter than usual and let me run over them.
PocketFives: Do you have any plans for the money?
Rocco Palumbo: I am rolled and don’t have any plans when I win, even for big scores. I just try to satisfy myself with little gifts. I just want to refill my bankroll, I guess.
PocketFives: Your MiniFTOPS win came a week after a W Series event win on Winamaxfor $41,000. Do you feel like you’re on top of your game right now?
Rocco Palumbo: I’ve worked on my game pretty intensively over the last three months. Of course, when it starts to pay off, you feel a lot better and more confident.
PocketFives: How do you adjust your game for tournaments on Full Tilt versus Winamax?
Rocco Palumbo: It’s a completely different game. People and regs play a lot worse on dot-fr, but this doesn’t mean they don’t put pressure on you. I would say dot-fr people tend to splash a lot more. Flatting more versus this type of player could be the way to go and that’s what I’ve done.
PocketFives: What do your friends and family think of all of your success recently?
Rocco Palumbo: I have played professionally since 2008 and had some very big scores, which helped me be very popular in Italy. My family always supported me, although when I left my part-time job the exact day my baby was born, they weren’t that confident, but six months and some paychecks later, they knew I was doing the right thing. They, of course, see I’m under a lot of pressure, but they understand it’s a part of the job, and, hey, my mom is one of my biggest fans.
PocketFives: How did you get started in poker?
Rocco Palumbo: I was a Magic: The Gathering player like many other friends I had and I remember exactly where I got my poker dreams from: I saw Dario Minieri (pictured) final table EPT Austria and thought something like, “Why not give it a shot?” I spent a year losing $100 to $200 every month. Then, in 2008, I realized I had to play uber-rolled and never looked back. I switched to playing MTTs for a living in 2010 and was a heads-up player before that.
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