In the six-year history of PocketFives.com, only two members have ever received a P5s Elite badge. Shawn BigGunXGundrum, who has been a contributing poster to the site since its second month in business, was the very first PocketFiver to get an Elite badge. Now, PocketFives.com Mod wackyJaxon (pictured), who has spent countless hours monitoring our forums and responding to members, has received one. We caught up with wackyJaxon to talk about how PocketFives.com has helped him grow during the past half-decade.

PocketFives.com: Why did you decide to join PocketFives.com originally?

wackyJaxon: I became a PocketFives.com member after I chopped the $150 nightly on PokerStars. Back then, I still played tournaments, but was on the tail end of playing them. I sucked out on ActionJeffwith A-Q against his K-K on a queen-high flop with about 12 people left, saw a post on this site, and joined. That suckout was the topic of my first post.

PocketFives.com: How did our site help you? What have you taken away from it?

wackyJaxon: Over the years, I have enjoyed the easy navigation of the site and the insights of some of the top tournament players. As I was moving to be more of a cash game player, I enjoyed the sports topics and betting in the Off Topic forum.

PocketFives.com: How did you end up becoming a Mod?

wackyJaxon: I was friendly with mhoddi(pictured) from being active in the sports threads in Off Topic. He was planning to come to Vilnius, Lithuania [where I live] last year and I asked him if PocketFives.com needed help because I was interested in volunteering now that I was playing poker for a living. mhoddi asked dhubermex, Mods like jennifear approved of me, and dhubermex gave me a chance once the forum was revamped in June 2010.

PocketFives.com: I think you post more than every other member of PocketFives.com combined!

wackyJaxon: I post a lot more now that I am a Mod and definitely have a lot of interests in life, one of which is traveling. I am fortunate through life and work to have visited 47 of the 50 U.S. states, lived in three foreign countries for extended periods of time (Belgium, England, and now Lithuania), and seen at least 20 other countries on visits. Poker at the moment is a hobby, but one I am treating like a job. One day in the future, I will go back to working in the financial sector and enjoy playing poker for fun once again.

PocketFives.com: You’re from the United States originally?

wackyJaxon: I grew up in northern New Jersey and went to college at Lehigh. After college, I worked for a startup telecom company that went public and stayed with them for 14 years as they grew and then contracted.

PocketFives.com: Did your company’s growth allow you to travel the world?

wackyJaxon: Yes. Back in 2000, the company was thinking of moving its European headquarters to Brussels. That never happened, but I spent a year there enjoying life. In 2006, I had an opportunity to become the financial controller for European operations in London. I was getting burned out in New Jersey and had just broken up with my girlfriend, so the timing was perfect.

I met my current wife in 2008, and when I lost my job in 2009 due to the company contracting, I had a choice of continuing to work for them in the U.S. or moving on. Since I was getting serious with my girlfriend (now my wife), I decided to move to Lithuania where life is calm, things are cheap, and people are generally friendly, especially in the capital of Vilnius. I am also looking forward to my wife having a baby in December!

PocketFives.com: Tell us a little bit about life in Vilnius (pictured).

wackyJaxon: The capital has about 600,000 people. There are good people, restaurants, and bars, but a lot of the culture is new to me beyond that. Outside of Vilnius, there is some beautiful scenery.

PocketFives.com: You’ve seen a lot on PocktFives.com over the past year. Talk about Black Friday.

wackyJaxon: When that came down, I was in limbo on some funds from people I was staking, but most of it was paid back already. I feel bad for a few people who were making a living off poker and for various reasons do not want to leave the country or play live poker for a living. Some of these people have good life skills to fall back on, so they are adaptable and still can play as a hobby on smaller sites. Other people are a bit stuck in what to do and it’s hard to give advice to them.

As far as playing goes, cash games have gotten a little bit easier since there are no Americans, but I am mostly a Mixed Game player and now the Mixed Games do not go off at the limits I like to play as often. Overall, the crackdown has had both unintended positive and negative effects on the rest of the world.

PocketFives.com: What do you want to see out of PocketFives.com and poker in general going forward?

wackyJaxon: That’s a tough question. As far as PocketFives.com goes, the future is up in the air. It could be an exciting time as new sites develop for U.S. players. Best-case scenario, I am hoping for regulation in the U.S. market and to see PocketFives.com grow as a site. It’s unfortunate that a new feature on PocketFives.com, the Staking forum, which would have been a great asset to buyers and sellers, came right before Black Friday.

In Lithuania, poker is treated as a sport. It would be nice to see a similar approach in the U.S. and for regulation to not only bring poker back to where it was a few months ago, but also make it safe for the casual player to put some money online. In the past few years, the games were continuing to become tougher because there was less infusion of casual players from the U.S. market despite inexperienced players coming in from other markets.

Congratulations to wackyJaxon on his P5s Elite badge!