Clearwater Man Cashes in at World Series of Poker

A Clearwater man cashed in big time at the World Series of Poker earlier this week.

Paul Siem finished in 42nd place at the annual "main event" last week in Las Vegas, taking home $191,646 in winnings.

Not bad considering he didn't even make it to the final table of nine players, who will resume play in November in the no-limit hold 'em tournament that airs on ESPN.

This was the 41-year-old IT professional's fifth try at the World Series of Poker, and by far his biggest payday. He had competed in satellite tournaments before, and he finally won enough at a June no limit hold 'em event to cover the $10,000 buy-in for the World Series.

"In the beginning it was pretty much like any other tournament," said Siem, who plays in his spare time at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa and at local dog tracks. "As you go deeper and deeper, ESPN's presence just becomes bigger."

Siem was born in the Netherlands but grew up in the states, went to college in Boston and moved to Clearwater about 20 years ago when his parents retired here. He had friends and family following his progress in Vegas through his Twitter updates and on poker websites and blogs.

He said doesn't get intimidated despite playing alongside pros like Vanessa Selbst, one of the world's top female players, or rubbing elbows with celebrity players like Kevin Pollack and James Woods.

"No matter how good that player is, they still need to get the cards," Siem said. "It's not like chess, where if you're up against a better player, you'll never win. No matter who you are, (in poker) you'll always have a shot."

Siem said he'll definitely give next year's tournament a shot. In the meantime, he's looking forward to watching himself compete at the feature table when ESPN airs its coverage sometime in mid-October.

"It was a blast," Siem said.