Greg Ostrander has worked hard to make it as a poker pro. Ostrander won his first bracelet in June when he defeated 1,400 players to take first place, $742,000 and a champion&s bracelet at a World Series of Poker no-limit Texas Hold &em tournament in Las Vegas.

Vegas was a major achievement for Ostrander. In a recent interview, there&s no doubt that he has arrived and he knows it. “If you Googled my name before, it would come up some bowler in North Carolina or a dentist in Michigan,” Ostrander said.

Ostrander has been involved in some form of gambling since he was a kid even winning small change playing his grandmother at scat. His involvement in poker did not happen until about 10 years ago while he worked as a county sheriff&s deputy. He began by going to private games and it&s here where the passion for poker began.

It took two years to learn the in&s and out&s of the game and an expensive two years it was. He played at the table without disclosing that he was a sheriff. If the other players had known, it probably wouldn&t have mattered since he was a newbie and easily separated from his bankroll.