Poker Profiles: Roland de Wolfe
It's not everyday that journalists become newsmakers themselves. But Roland de Wolfe proved that it can be done. A former magazine writer for a British Poker journal titled Inside Edge, Roland's numerous encounters with big time gamblers persuaded him to be one of them. In 2003, he did just that. Fortunately, he has been pretty successful.
Roland's first brush with gambling big time was by winning the first prize at the Gutshot Poker Festival. He backed up that win with a money finish at the 2005 World Series of Poker $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event. Next up, he defeated Juha Helppi for the prize pot of World Poker Tour season four's Major Grand Prix de Paris event. If 2005, was amazing for Roland's Poker career, 2006 was even more amazing. First, he emerged as third placer at the WPT's championship event, which took place at Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The WPT achievement made Roland over a million dollars richer. Second, he entered the European Poker Tour in Dublin and took home the first prize amounting to €554,300. To date, Roland's overall prize money from his live tournament appearances amounts to over $3,600,000.
Roland is born and bred in London, England. His earliest connection to gambling was when he was 12. He remembered playing cards with his fellow students while the school bus is in motion. He continued gambling way past his school age, going to casinos every single time he finds an opportunity. Apart from that, Roland's family is also known for making wagers so when he finally decided to take the dive, a lot of people found him to be somewhat of a late bloomer. In Roland's case, everything is in order. All those experiences he had with gambling prepared him for the bigger jungle, so to speak. When he landed the job at Inside Edge, it eventually became imminent that the experience is more for honing his skills at the Poker table than testing his journalistic talents. Although Roland's Poker and writing skills both benefited from the experience, it is obviously Poker that won in the end.
Roland started out his Poker professional journey by entering cash and Internet games. Then again, it became obvious that he is better at tournament games. In fact, his aggressive playing skills at high stake tournaments more than paid off for the amount of money he lost when he was just starting. Roland is currently just taking his time to be recognized. Soon enough, he will be clad with a golden WSOP bracelet of his own.
