The Gulf Coast of the United States has produced some of the best players in the world, and recently Jonathan Little looked like he was on the verge of owning it.  Little, born in 1984 in Pensacola Florida, has a resume that a player born in 1954 would envy.  His lifetime live tournament winnings are over 4 million with almost 3.5 million coming in World Poker Tour events good for 9th all time.  His is the prototype of an online poker tournament player who has transitioned to live poker succes.

Little’s success in poker tournaments happened mostly in one place the World Poker Tour and that started in Januaray of 2007.  At the Caribbean Poker Adventure he placed fifth and won $317k.  It was an event that featured many of the best players who play poker tournaments online and were too young to play live poker tournaments.  At the L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino he added another 35k to his bankroll.  Though the cashes came early in his poker career it actually didn’t feel like it.  Prior to it, he confides he had been running a little bad and hadn’t won anything.  Already down nearly 250k before the event the money came at just the right time.

The next year was even better for the youngester.  In 2008, the WPT named Little the World Poker Tour Season VI Player of the Year.  He started that season off with a win at the Mirage Poker Showdown.  Taking down over one million in winnings hinted at the bright future he’d have in live play.  The fact that he conquered a final table featuring Phil Ivey, Amnon Filippi, Darrell Dicken and Jon Friedberg had to be as much a confidence boost as the million was a money boost.  In fact, the win motivated him to give living in Vegas a shot. 

As seems to be a life truth for Little, the future came quickly. Shortly after his Mirage Poker Showdown he was going deep again.   He just missed a final table when he came in 7th at Gulf Coast Poker Championship played at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.  That was a homecoming of sorts as Pensacola is a short drive away.  He still banked 93k but regretted bubbling the TV final table.  He made up for that in no time as he made yet another World Poker Tour television broadcast later that year.

He finished 2nd at the North American Poker Championship and won 680k. Suddenly, he had gone from a kid with a lot of potential to maybe the most feared player on the tour. In his first five cashes, he had a 5th place, a first place win, a seventh place, and a second place. There are professionals who grind a living for twenty years without those kind of results he had reached in his first two. A min cash at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic all but assured him the WPT Player of the Year Award and added almost 30k to his bankroll.  For the year he won just short of two million dollars. 

Prior to devastating live poker tournaments, Jonathan Little spent some time in school studying pyschology at the University of West Florida.  Perhaps, his studies translated to getting a feel for his opponents as empathy at the table is an often overlooked skill.  Playing in a game at school, including five dollar tournaments and 25-50 cent cash games, he dove head first into the thought behind poker and cites The Theory of Poker and other books by David Sklansky as one of his early influences. 

Little started playing online poker and quickly grew his bankroll to 35k.  It didn’t take long to realize he might have found his calling and a career.  Getting active in poker forums was a another big help in advancing his game.  Reading other up and comers thoughts on situations and new ways to look at poker honed his game. 

Another positive influence comes from good friend and talented professional poker player Shannon Shorr.  Shorr, a Tuscaloosa native, gives Little a run for his money as the best young player from the Gulf states.  Little cites Shorrs calm and even demeanor, in the face of bad beats and in winning big hands, as one of the stronger characteristics he admires in him.