Because tournament results are really easy to track, the highest players at the tournament circuit are likely to command among the poker world’s attention. As a result, there are countless excellent cash-game grinders who often fly under the radar and are just known by their peers.

Sam Soverel may be the most efficient young poker pro you’ve never heard of. The 25-year-old high-stakes phenom have been dominating the live ring games for the simpler a part of the last six years and, had it not been for a perfect two-year tournament stretch, including winning a global Series of Poker bracelet, it might was years before Card Player’s readers got a correct introduction.

Even though he only plays tournaments when he can’t discover a good cash game to terrorize, Soverel has managed to rack up $2.15 million in live tournament earnings, nearly all of which has are available the last three years. In fact, his 2016 campaign was so stellar, that he currently sits in third place within the Card Player Player of the Year race.

Poker Beginnings

Soverel grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida and was obsessive about winning from an early age.

“When I USED TO BE a child I used to compete in track and field,” he recalled. “I remember the fact that I ran sprints. Then, in sixth grade, I had hernia surgery and, during my recovery, I played a large number of games. I’ve always been into games for some reason. I played chess for a bit, then I got into competitive StarCraft, after which I DISCOVERED poker. I ATTEMPTED to do all three of these things for some time before poker roughly took over.”

After cutting his teeth in home games, Soverel turned his attention online, even supposing he couldn’t legally play yet.

“I played poker with numerous my highschool friends. Our home games were small. We’d play for quarters or even a $10 sit-n-go. It was mostly for fun. I BEGAN playing online after I was 16 under my dad’s name. I MIGHT deposit $10 and run it as much as $1,000 before I bumped into trouble looking to cash out. I did that a bunch of times. The cash was important to me, but I treated it more like a video game, so it was fun simply to attempt to build it up.”

Soverel’s father wasn’t around much, and his mother left when he was just 15, so it was as much as his sister Emily to maintain him on the right track. Poker took a backseat to getting his life squared away, but once you have into college, the sport called him back.

“I really depended on my sister during those years,” he admitted. “She was the one that got me through all of it and made sure I USED TO BE okay. I FINISHED up on the University of Florida and that i got a scholarship and a few federal aid to hide my expenses. The plan was to get my degree in economics. But during my second year, two of my highschool friends whom I used to play poker with, got me back into it. I dropped out shortly after that. I made something like $100,000, just running up my bankroll by taking these big shots. I played anyone. I played numerous hands with individuals who were better than me. I had a large list of the regs on Skype and would message anyone simply to find action. I even started playing $25-$50, which was pretty reckless with that bankroll.”

He moved to south Florida to continue to grind online. Once the law changed within the state that allowed the boundaries for live poker to head up, he started going to the casinos.

“After Black Friday, I USED TO BE more or less stuck,” he explained. “I got about $30,000 back from PokerStars, but I also had some on Ultimate Bet and much more on Full Tilt. I BEGAN playing $5-$10 live and ran good very quickly. I spent a few year traveling everywhere in the state, living in hotels, searching for the following game.”

Soverel was uninterested in living out of a suitcase, so he moved to Las Vegas, hoping for more consistent game options.

“In 2012, I moved to Las Vegas. The games got really privatized in Florida and that i wasn’t into the politics behind any of it. I didn’t need to maintain the hustle of it. But in Vegas it’s much easier for a game to pop up every once in a while.”

Finding Tournament Success

Ever because the move, Soverel has continued to generate income his focus, often playing the largest game within the room. But if the high-stakes games began to run less often, Soverel began searching for more action. As a result, he started playing within the nosebleed tournaments that run monthly in Las Vegas, and it wasn’t long before he started crushing.

In the primary four years of his professional career, Soverel had only cashed in five tournaments. Just one cash constituted an important score, when he finished runner-up within the WPT Jacksonville Spring Series in 2011 for $187,762.

Then in October of 2014, Soverel won the $50,000 buy-in Super High Roller at Aria for $480,200. In December of 2015, he made two final tables within the Aria $25,000 buy-in High Roller Series, earning $159,000 and $74,880 for second- and fourth-place showings.

In January of this year, he won the $25,000 event for $309,400. He followed that up with a fourth-place finish within the WPT L.A. Poker Classic main event for one more $316,440 after which took second in an April $25,000 at Aria for $136,800. Most recently, Soverel took a couple of days off from cash games to play on the WSOP and managed to win a $1,000 pot-limit Omaha event for his first bracelet and the $185,317 first-place prize. That’s an important amount of success in a brief time frame for somebody who doesn’t even love to play tournaments that often.

“I play tournaments once they are nearby, but I don’t really travel for them,” he explained. “I really only play tournaments when there aren’t any games running. It’s a large number of fun to move out with friends and celebrate a large win, but I don’t care in regards to the attention. I play poker for the money.”

Although he doesn’t care concerning the prestige that incorporates big tournament wins, Soverel does admit that he has a newfound admiration for tournament players after setting up some more hours on the tables recently.

“I used to think all the tournament players were pretty bad,” he said. “But I’ve been playing much more tournaments lately and I’ve gained a brand new respect for the highest tournament guys. I did a large number of work on short stack strategy and ICM considerations, because those things don’t really arise in cash games.”

Moving Forward

Although tournaments have brought him some recent media attention, Soverel has no plans to stray from his cash-game-first mentality. But his days of 80-hour work weeks are possibly something of the past.

“I enjoy playing poker, but I'M HOPING I’m not playing for a living at 70 years old,” he said. “When I first starting playing, I played on a daily basis. The last three or four years, I’ve been a lot more selective of once I play poker. I’m not sick of poker, but I’m just not as competitive as I WAS. Back then, I WISHED to be the most important winner within the room, but at the present time I’m a lot more thinking about finding a balance and being a well-rounded person.”

While he won't have poker in his plans for the remainder of his life, Soverel is anxious concerning the overall health of the sport and thinks other players in his position wish to do more to advertise growth.

“The biggest problem is that a lot of poker players don’t make it very fun for the amateur players,” he explained. “I don’t know how you'll be able to berate these people after they make a foul play. They're obviously very smart, successful people outside of poker or they wouldn’t have the cash to lose. And without them, all these pros could be struggling to overcome one another. It’s a nasty environment and poker pros wish to realize that that is entertainment for many the amateurs. I don’t really accept as true with Daniel Negreanu on numerous issues, but I ACTUALLY admire the best way he acts on the table. He’s never mean to the fish and he always takes the time to sign autographs or take pictures with fans. I don’t even think we should always call them fish. In Macau, they call them VIPs. I FEEL stuff like that may be great for the game.” ♠

Read More... [Source: CardPlayer Poker News]