Andrew 'southrnctowl' Badecker

Like anyone that is serious about achieving their dream, California native Andrew Badecker put down everything around him to focus on making it in poker.

Like anyone that is serious about achieving their dream, California native Andrew Badecker put down everything around him to focus on making it in poker. Dropping out of college and quitting his job at the age of 20 after a particularly lucrative session where he bagged $7,000, his family was not supportive of his pursuit. Kicked out of the family home, it was only when Badecker continued to prove that he could make a living at the game that his parents became more understanding of his career choice.

Playing as 'southrnctowl' on PokerStars, Badecker had great success in online multi-table tournaments. In all but one year between 2007 and 2012, he ranked in the top 0.2% of all online tournament players according to the Official Poker Rankings site. Making more than $1,000,000 in this period of time and claiming a SCOOP title in the process, he expanded his horizons by diving into the live scene.

A few months into his live tournament career, he final-tabled the WPT $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event in Atlantic City for $21,420 in 2009. One year onwards and Andrew had earned himself a WPT title, two EPT cashes and his first ever WSOP prize. 2011 marked his most successful year in live poker to date – explaining why his live tournament ranking fell slightly during this period. He earned his first WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Shootout event for $369,371, which was a particularly satisfying victory for him when you consider the nature of shootout tournaments. To close out 2011 with almost $1,000,000 in prize money for live and online tournaments combined, Andrew came first in the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event at the Borgata Fall Poker Open. He earned himself $388,657 for this achievement after getting through a final-table that included the likes of poker crusher Cliff Josephy.

As of 2016, Badecker transitioned to playing live cash games after experiencing a slow period of frustrating tournament variance.

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