Ryan "xSCWx" Dodge's Poker Player Profile

Welcome to xSCWx's heads up poker player page.  Here you can find out information about xSCWx's play on his Big Tuna JKo alias and other poker aliases, as well as information about his poker career.

Quick Stats

Started Playing HUSNGs: 2007 (2004 STT's).

Poker Handle: Big Tuna JKo (Full Tilt), xSCWx (PokerStars), xSCWx (Pacific), BIGTUNAJKO (Merge).

Birth Year: 1986.

Went Broke on the Way Up: Never.

Secrets to Success: Learning multiple games, finding soft spots at high stakes, networking with other players.

xSCWx's Strengths: Turbo and regular speed HUSNGs, shorthanded PLO, STT's, MTT's.

xSCWx's Weaknesses: Not playing high enough volume.

The world renouned fist pump!

Early Years

Ryan "xSCWx" Dodge started off playing low stakes single table tournaments on Pacific Poker. "I started with $50 the day I turned 18 and within a week I had run it up to $1600. It sounds impressive, but in hindsight my bankroll management was awful. I had quickly developed a strategy for exploiting 'fit or fold' players but the only thing that prevented my bankroll management from killing me is that I was limited by the highest stakes games on the site - $100 STTs," he said. After growing tired of long wait times for the highest STT's on Pacific, Dodge was eager to make more money and moved to LHE cash games where the stakes were capped much higher. However, his time in limit hold em was short lived when the UIGEA forced him to move to Full Tilt and PokerStars against tougher competition. "I struggled after the UIGEA," he said, "my bankroll was depleted and HUSNGs were my last shot at reviving it."

Starting HUSNGs

After the UIGEA, Dodge's bankroll had dropped from $20,000+ to under $3,000. "I set a modest goal for myself of making $20/hour in the $22 turbo speed HUSNGs on Full Tilt. That's not bad money for a college student," Dodge said. He hit the ground running and quickly moved up to the $110s and $220s where he grinded for the next year and a half with the goal of making $100,000/year.

"I realized that for some reason a lot of people (myself included) were treating $100,000 as if it were the end of the road but realistically it was a meaningless number. I began to push my bankroll hard the same way I had while moving up. I began to play 5/10-25/50 HU cash games against weak players and took shots at the $550's and $1100's. Soon enough 25/50 became a staple in my everyday play and I was fearless about playing the $5600's," said Dodge.

Other Games

After getting help from trex313 and Urindanger, xSCWx spent much of 2010 playing 25/50 through 200/400 shorthanded PLO games but eventually moved back to HUSNGs where the variance was more controllable.

Growing and Improving

"Be ambitious. By far the best advice I can give anyone is to always be investing your bankroll. Don't stop moving up just because you are comfortable at the stakes you are at. If you take enough shots you can be comfortable at a higher level while making more money. The only limiting factors should be your bankroll and your skill level. If you are making the most money possible at a level where you are overrolled then look for outside investments - invest in stocks, businesses, stake other players etc. There is no sense having your money sit idly in an account when it could be doing work for you." - xSCWx

Away From The Poker Tables

Ryan Dodge, along with Croixdawg, Skates and RyPac13, founded HUSNG.com in February of 2009. He has also had success with blackjack, investing in the stock market, and computer games. Additionally, he graduated from Texas A&M in 2009 with a bachelors in Philosophy xSCWx bought a house in Austin, TX shortly after (pictures here and here).