Tyler Patterson found poker before the boom, and worked in the industry as a dealer for a few years before making the switch to professional player. The Washington-native has split his time between cash games and tournaments, but has still managed to rack up more than $2.6 million in earnings on the circuit.  

Patterson has a World Poker Tour title, having taken down the 2015 bestbet Bounty Scramble for $375,270. He final tabled the event the very next year, taking fourth for another six figures, and he very nearly did it three years in a row, finishing just short in 14th place. Patterson won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2014, coming out on top of the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better event for $270,992. He's also final tabled the WPT Borgata Poker Open, and has wins at the LA Poker Classic, and Fall and Spring Poker Round Ups. Most recently, he finished fourth after an ICM deal at the Bay 101 Shooting Star for $113,840.

Highlights from this interview include having golf in his blood, playing trumpet in a ska band, diving into poker after becoming a dealer, a crazy night at Spanish 21 with a biker bandit, Too Lay Lip Casino, the adrenaline factor in tournaments, playing $25-$50 with half his bankroll on the table, winning his World Poker Tour title, the interesting timing of his WSOP bracelet, a love for PLO, being notoriously bad at prop bets, weigh-ins for marathons, beer-per-hole golf matches, being hospitalized after a race with Matt Savage, Hoge Bogey, losing an $80k+ home game pot, Alabama poker, how feta cheese ruined his pizza job, Parmesan cocaine, bath tub crocodiles, and the link between Chipper Jones and Boyz II Men.