Paul Smith AKA UCLABruinz, shown here with his daughter (yes his head really is that huge), just took down a $2000 Bellagio prelim event for $203,495.
I’ve known Paul for a while through the 2+2 forums, but I first met him in real life at the 2006 WSOP. I was really impressed with him as both a poker player and a person, and I can’t imagine a nicer, more deserving guy to win a big score like this. Except for me of course. But Paul is a notable exception to what I was just saying about how I don’t like spending my time in the company of poker players.
On a recent episode of the 2+2 Pokercast, Eric “Sheets” Haber spoke about the difficulties of running a staking empire: managing your money well, determining how good a potential horse actually is, dealing with the inherent risks of deception and tilt on the part of your horses, etc. Paul, who has just made Eric a good deal of money, strikes me as the rare sure thing. He’s undoubtedly a strong player and very reliable to boot. I just wish I had a Sheets-sized bankroll so that I could afford to put great players like Paul into the largest buy-in tournaments.
Way to go Paul! Very happy for you. Hopefully we can meet up again this summer.