You may not know the name Jordan Westmorland (pictured), but you might have heard of his online handle, JWPRODIGY. No, this isn’t JJPRODIGY; it’s one letter off. JWPRODIGY calls Thailand home and recently took third place in the PartyPoker $200,000 Guaranteed for $17,000. We took the cash as a unique opportunity to talk to a player from Thailand, where he can be found in Phuket. The American transplant is the #2 player in the Asian country.

PocketFives: Nice job on the PartyPoker final table. Talk about the tournament and how it played out in general.

Jordan Westmorland: It’s one of those tournaments that are bittersweet because, for the entire duration of it, things went smoothly. As a tournament player, you’re just waiting for a massive cooler or suckout to inevitably happen, but it didn’t happen this time until we were three-handed. The other big stack and I were involved in a 6bet pre-flop blind-versus-blind hand. I had A-K, he had A-Q, and he unfortunately ripped a queen for 90% of the chips in play. I can’t complain, though, as I ran so well to get to that spot.

PocketFives: Earlier this year, you took second in the PartyPoker High Roller for $32,000. While your latest final table isn’t your biggest score, what does it mean to you in general?

Jordan Westmorland: It’s an excellent confidence-booster and when you’re out thousands on a Sunday, it’s a relief to make a decent score.

PocketFives: Tell us about life in Thailand.

Jordan Westmorland: Where do I begin? When they say it’s Heaven on Earth, they are not joking. The people truly make this country the “Land of Smiles,” as they say, and day in and day out, you subconsciously feel that.

The time zone is perfect for us because my roommates and I are natural night owls. We are on a ridiculous schedule where we sleep during the day and play at night, but it wasn’t hard to adjust to. We have been so blessed to live in a nice house on a golf course, which is great because playing golf has been a passion of ours. It’s so important to have a hobby in this line of work. I highly recommend any and all people come to Thailand. It changed my life.

PocketFives: How did you end up joining the Thailand pokercommunity?

Jordan Westmorland: It’s funny. I was staying at my best friend’s college fraternity and we threw a party. We were all hammered and one of the guys said, “What if when the summer ends we move to Thailand for poker?” I looked at him said, “I swear I’m down.” The next day, we bought flights and brought our girlfriends with us. Being spontaneous FTW! I grew up 20 minutes north of Seattle.

PocketFives: When did you end up moving to Thailand and how long are you planning to stay?

Jordan Westmorland: We moved in August of last year, so we’re working on a little over a year now. It’s insane where the time goes. In 2013, we plan to do the same thing and have strict goals for poker, so we hope to have way more money. For the most part, people here don’t really know what we do. We just say we work on the computer and nothing usually gets asked after that.

PocketFives: Why did you pick JWPRODIGY? Do people constantly ask you if you’re JJPRODIGY (pictured)?

Jordan Westmorland: You make these names when you’re 18 years old when you’re a fish and don’t think anything of it. There is a group of us who copied our friend JMPRODIGY. He is, and always will remain, the best of the group. He got the name from JJPRODIGY.

PocketFives: How did you find poker originally?

Jordan Westmorland: JMPRODIGY and Bigpapalindare the sole reasons I’m playing this game for a living. They introduced me to poker when I was in high school. They mentored me and definitely gave me a baseline for how to play this game. I was so fortunate to have close friends who worked with me day in and day out.

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