QUALIFIERS - Jeffrey Anderson

What's your home town?
Hermosa Beach, Calif.

How about your education?
I graduated from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Wash. in June 2006.

What's your marital status?
I am engaged as of Christmas 2007 and plan to wed on August 2, 2008.

What do you do for a living?
I have been playing poker full time since March 2006.

How long have you been playing poker?
I started playing in 2004 after seeing Moneymaker win the WSOP* and being able to see the hole cards on the WPT.

What or who inspired you to start playing?
I would say Moneymaker and his huge bluff inspired me to start but my friend Scott “bigriskky” Clements really made me want to play poker professionally. I grew up a few miles from Scott and have been good friends since elementary school. We both started playing home games around 2004.

How long have you been playing at Bodog?
I started playing on Bodog occasionally in June 2006, but now it’s my favorite site and I play there about five days a week.

Tell us about your best poker win...
My best online win was on Party Poker in June 2006. I won the Saturday $200K for $44K, and beat “apestyles” heads up. I had flopped trips on a J-J-8 flop, holding J-10, and “apestyles” turned a 9 with 9-7 - we got it all-in and he was drawing dead which felt pretty good.

How did you win your seat?
I won my WSOP* seat on Bodog by playing in a $250 winner-take-all format. I was pretty excited about winning my Main Event seat and I’ve set a goal for myself to win five seats for this year’s WSOP*. I currently have two.

What do you think your chances are of winning the WSOP*?
I am a realist. I am confident in my skills but I have also played enough tourneys to know there is a bit of luck involved. I will have to win a few coin tosses, and they say you have to crack somebody's aces once to win a big tournament. As long as I bring my A game, which I have had going for quite a while, now I am confident I can cash. Ask me again after Day 1!

Who is your favorite poker player?
My favorite poker player is Scott Clements because we grew up together and I consider him one of my best friends. I was the best man at his wedding last March and he is a groomsman in my upcoming wedding. His style of poker is power poker and he applies pressure to his opponents so well. He is just extremely aggressive/take no prisoners and it works.

What would you do if you won?
If I won I would pay off my new house that I’m moving into this summer and play more WPT events all over the world.

I usually spend most of my time playing poker when I go to Las Vegas but I do enjoy going out to nice dinners and meeting players that I compete against every day online.

What type of player are you?
I usually play tight-aggressive but if I feel like the table is soft or playing tight, I usually tend to play more hands and LAG it up a little.

Have you ever been to Vegas before? If so, any good stories?
I have been to Vegas multiple times for tournaments. Last year I finished 11th in a World Series preliminary event for $25K and this year my goal is top 3. If that happens there will definitely be a good story afterward; 11th was unfortunately a huge disappointment.