Paul Wasicka, aka "Kwickfish", was born in Dallas, Texas on February 17th, 1981. As a child, his parents taught young Paul Wasicka to develop a competitive spirit, teaching him soccer, chess and backgammon. When he was seven, the entire family moved from Dallas to Boulder, Colorado, where he grew up.
Young Paul Wasicka found himself living right next to the Rocky Mountains, and soon enough he began skiing on his spare time. In addition, he also started playing bowling, and continued playing chess after joining his middle school chess team. Soon enough Paul he that the middle school chess bored him, and moved to play with the high school chess team instead. By the time he got to high school, Paul Wasicka constantly practiced five kinds of sport: volleyball, running track and cross country, skiing and wrestling. He relentlessly activated both his mind and his body, and enjoyed every second of it.
His love for sports, oddly enough, is the thing that introduced Paul Wasicka to the world of gambling, and later – poker. He and his friends went for a skiing trip in Vancouver, Canada, and on their way they stopped in a casino for a few hours. he tried his luck at the blackjack table, put down $10 and soon enough turned them into $100. Obviously enough, Paul Wasicka, who just realized the passion he had for gambling and the potential it had for him, didn't make it to the mountain, and stayed in the casino instead. Apparently it was worth it, as five days later Paul Wasicka was $17,000 richer than he was prior to the "skiing trip". Later on, as he realized that he had a talent as far as it comes to card games, it occurred to Paul Wasicka that blackjack was nice, but not exciting enough for him. That was how he ended up playing poker.
Paul Wasicka probably owes his career in the poker field to his friend, Thomas Fuller, who invited him to join an underground poker tournament that took place in Denver. With only a little experience and a quick lesson from Fuller in the ways of the game, Paul Wasicka played the tournament along with about 100 other players, and made it to the 9th place. Later that night, Thomas Fuller revealed the online poker world to his amazed friend. Paul Wasicka, who just realized he can both play sort of a computer game and earn money at the same time, wasted no time at all and registered to an online poker website right away.
Although he started a little rough and got into some small debts at the beginning, Paul Wasicka learned to make profits from his online poker games, once again with the help of his friend, Thomas Fuller. Together they managed to both keep a balanced account and win more and more tournaments. At some point, when things were going a little rough, Paul Wasicka thought of quitting the game and even got a job as a restaurant manager, but in the end he managed to get back on his feet and continued playing.
In late 2004 Paul Wasicka started playing live poker tournaments along with the online ones, and had his share of small winnings in some of them. He probably would've stayed rather anonymous in the professional poker scene if it wasn't for the No Limit Hold'em Championship of the 37th Annual WSOP, on August 10th, 2006. On that tournament he made it to the 2nd place, a runner-up to the winner Jamie Gold, but he also made a profit of $6,102,499, an unbelievably huge winning! So, perhaps Paul Wasicka hasn't made it all the way to his first WSOP bracelet, but he sure did get a great boost both for his ego and his bankroll.
Ever since August 2006, Paul Wasicka continued playing both in online and live poker tournaments, making profits in both types, and he even managed to take the 1st place at the Heads Up No Limit Hold'em tournament of the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship, but unless he wins yet another huge prize or an important tournament, Paul Wasicka will probably be most remembered for his grand winning of over $6M in 2006.
Paul Wasicka Quick Facts
Cashes: 12
Total Winnings: $7,940,846
First Place Finishes: 1
WSOP Bracelets: 0
