When Paul first started playing online, he loved the idea of playing a game and earning money while doing it. He sat down to play $10 sit-and-go's and by dawn he was up to $110 online.

He started out with rookie mistake number one while competing online - he played too big for his bankroll. Wasicka only had about $300 in his account and he was already testing the waters of the $2/$4 No-Limit game with a $200 buy-in. After struggling there, he decided to draw $5,000 from his credit card to put into a poker account. Starting off a poker career in debt wouldn't work for many people, but Paul isn't exactly your typical person either.

At one point he'd lost all but about $500 of the initial $5,000 he deposited. He had told himself if he lost it all, he wouldn't redeposit any money, so he had to come up with a better game plan. He took some time away from poker to let his frustrations blow over. After a week he came back to the tables with a clear head and a plan to only play each day until he was up $1,000 and then quit. Eight days in a row that plan worked for him to bring him back into the black.

Unfortunately, his tilting ways weren't gone for good. He'd have great runs and then lose whatever headway he'd gained as soon as he took a bad beat or made a bad play. For months he followed the same roller-coaster pattern before the stress got to him and he figured he'd have to go out and get a job again.

He took a job managing a restaurant for his brother-in-law and promised he'd stick with the job for a year.

During that time, his friend came to his rescue again, loaning him his online poker account with $5,000 in it so he could get a little confidence back. Two $2,000 tables and four hours later, Wasicka had turned that $5,000 into a $16,000 profit.

In late 2005, Paul says he finally took control of some of his tilting issues. He was making $1,000 to $3,000 per day on average and his online poker career was flourishing. Despite having some issues with spending more than he should, he wanted to quit his job and re-embark on his poker career.

He had made a promise though, and his one-year commitment to the job wasn't up yet. Wasicka stuck it out, raking in the money online each day and collecting his $12-an-hour manager's paycheck.

In March 2006 his time was up though, and then Paul was off to Vegas. He came in 15th place in the WPT Championship to take home more than $146,000 after winning a seat into the event via satellite. That momentum also followed him into the 2006 World Series of Poker where he cashed in three events. But it was his second-place finish in the Main Event that gave him his biggest cash to date and left him standing at the edge of the spotlight as he was propelled into fame.

Second was enough to make Paul a multi-millionaire. He won more than $6 million, plenty to boost his bankroll and keep him playing in tournaments.

Just a few days after a strong finish at the WPT LA Poker Classic, Paul filled in as an alternate for Phil Hellmuth at the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. 72 hours later, Paul was $500,000 richer, and the NBC Heads Up Champion.

Paul has always appreciated his friends that took the time to sit down with him and teach him the game, which is one of the main reasons Paul wanted to be a part of PokerVT.