Online Poker -- Interview With Steve 'gboro780' Gross

BY: JULIO RODRIGUEZ | Julio.Rodriguez@CardPlayer.com

Gross Talks About Finishing Second In the Online Player of the Year Race

Steve "gboro780" Gross is the consummate online tournament grinder. His success is directly associated with the time and volume he puts into playing, and ultimately winning. Until recently, he had yet to add a six-figure score to his résumé, so when it is pointed out that he has over $2 million in online winnings, you may begin to realize just how consistent of a player he is.

Gross found poker the "old fashion" way, by depositing and redepositing $50 at a time on PartyPoker. After he discovered multi-table tournaments, the deposits stopped and the withdrawals began. In no time, Gross had worked his way up to the top of the online multi-table tournament world.

Gross talked to Card Player to discuss his year and his upcoming plans for the future.


Julio Rodriguez: You just finished runner-up in Card Player’s Online Player of the Year race. Are you a little disappointed?

Steve Gross: Not really, to be honest. The kid who took first was Alex Kamberis, who was my roommate this summer. He’s a great player and very deserving of the award. If I had to lose to anybody, I’m glad it was him. Not to mention that his huge score in the WCOOP main event made it almost impossible to catch him.

JR: You were on his heels in November, but nobody was in striking distance during the last few weeks. Is online poker that streaky where you could be in contention one day and out of it the next?

SG: It seems that way. The last month or so I went a little cold, but the months leading up to that I was doing very well. It’s just how the game goes sometimes.

JR: Kamberis said you were one of the most consistent players he’d ever seen. I noticed that most of your wins have come in the smaller rebuys and guarantees and you don’t have that big Sunday win on your résumé yet.

SG: I’d love to have the success that some of these guys have when they take down a huge Sunday tournament every week, but I’ve always been more consistent with the smaller tournaments on a day-to-day basis. I’ve been close a few times, so we’ll see if I can finally nail down that big win. [Shortly after this interview took place, Gross finished second in the Full Tilt $1 million-guaranteed tournament.]

JR: Can you talk about the volume you put in this year?

SG: I put in a lot of time this past year, but it’s something I’ve done a lot of thinking about recently. I don’t think I want to put in quite the same volume that I have in the past. It would be nice to go outside once in a while and do something outside of poker. The daily grind can certainly affect your life negatively, even if you are winning. Then again, I can’t let my time fall off too much, because that could affect my game. This year I’m definitely going to look for a more healthy balance between the two.

JR: Do you consider yourself to be as good as your ranking implies?

SG: Yeah, I would have to say that I do. A couple of years ago, I looked up to a lot players and took some time to study their games, but now I can honestly say that I’m as good or better than a lot top players. Of course, there are always going to be players who are better than you and pushing you to improve yourself.

JR: What are your goals for the upcoming year? Are you going to play more live tournaments?

SG: I really want to win something live this year. I was sticking to the East Coast, primarily, but since then I’ve opened up to traveling more often and will be making a few more appearances this year on the tour.

JR: What would you do if poker was no longer an option?

SG: I’m not sure if I would play poker forever in the first place, but I guess it’s always going to take up some part of my life. My family is involved with the restaurant business, and that was something I had looked into before poker. Maybe I’ll get more involved with that in the coming years.