2007 WSOP $1,500 Limit Hold'em winner Gary Stycznynksi knows a thing or two about playing against skilled cardplayers.

"Yeah, I play against the best competition,” Styczynski told PokerListings.com after the win. "I have what I feel is balance in my life - I know that the life of a poker player has a lot of ups and downs."

His sense of stability is due in part to how he divides his life: part-time work as a consultant and part-time poker player on the tournament circuit. No stranger to hard work, the man earned his first gold bracelet for the victory after toiling four hours on the felt. For his efforts he was awarded $280,715 - a sum all the more impressive considering it was Styczynski's first WSOP cash.

In fact, for a part-time pro, Styczynski's only wins were three events at Foxwoods in early 2006, all of which were in his favorite game, No-Limit Hold'em.

The Hold'em event wasn’t the only thing for which the Pearl River, N.Y., native will be remembered following the 2007 Series. The husband and father of two also had the honor of being the first player to ever have his hole cards revealed on the WSOP simulcast on the Internet.