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Timothy "T.K." Miles: Rounder of The Year 2007
 by Johnny Kampis

HE SPENT MOST OF THE YEAR living in Spain, bur came back in time to conquer the Southern poker tournament circuit.

For that, Timothy "T.K." Miles is the 2007 Rounder of the Year.

Miles won two events late — a $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament at the World Series of Poker Circuit event in New Orleans for 580,704 and a $500 NLHE event at the Gulf Coast Poker Challenge in Biloxi for $82,524 - to earn 196 ROY points, enough for first place in the race. In addition, he won the main event of the IP Poker Classic, also in Biloxi , which wasn't a Rounder of the Year qualifying event this year*, or his margin of victory would have been even more impressive.

"It sounds pretty cool," Miles said. "It's nothing com­pared to David Pham and Jonathan Little and those guys and their success in tournaments, but I'll take it."

The 29-year-old Miles began playing poker about six years ago after graduation from Florida State University. The native of Tallahassee decided he wasn't ready for a job so he traveled instead through Central and South America. Along the way, he learned card counting methods in blackjack and when he retuned to the States he moved to Biloxi to play in the casinos. It was there that he fell in love with poker, start­ing out in 4-8 limit Hold'em games.

"I realized it was easy to sit there and play tight and make a living so I moved to Biloxi and then I moved up to 10-20 limit and then played tournaments in Tunica," he said.

Online poker is Miles' bread and butter, however. It was in cyberspace that he built up a nice bankroll, moving from cash games to sir-in-go's to multi-table tournaments.

"I sit there and play 20 a day. I'll play everything from the 24 plus twos to the IKs," Miles said of his MTT adventures on Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. In fact, all of the time he has played online makes live tournaments rather boring.

"I don't particularly like live. I don't like sitting there playing one tournament all day long," he said.

Miles said he also can't play online poker like a lot of the whiz kids, with their four screens and 20 plus games going non-stop. He limits his action to a few games at a time on a rew days a week.

"They play these games like I used to play Zelda and Metal Gear, like a video game. I'm just too old I guess."

After Katrina, Miles moved away from Biloxi, most recently living in Barcelona with his Colombian girlfriend Karol. They now live back in Miles' home oi Tallahassee, but since Karol likes the city life they're looking to move - maybe New Orleans, maybe Vancouver, maybe elsewhere.

"That's what I like about online poker is I can move somewhere for three or four months and if I like it stay there or move somewhere else," Miles said.

Miles only came back from Spain after his friends were raving about the new World Poker Tour event at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi. He got home a week before it started, and after his success there, decided to stick around and play some more tournaments at the IP and the WSOP Circuit at Har-rah's New Orleans.

"It's been a good decision to come back and play these tournaments," he said in understatement of his $200,000 plus winnings in tournaments since August.
As for 2008, Miles said he will go to Tunica for a little while, and to Las Vegas for the WSOP. He didn't fare too well in his first two trips to poker's grandest stage in 2005 and 2006, losing over half his bankroll both times.

"I just don't want to go out there and get caught up trying to chase a bracelet and blow a whole roll like a lot of these kids are doing. Down the drain in two months."

If Miles keeps up his recent success, his roll will only grow.

* In 2008 Players making the final table of 'Rounder' qualifying events with buy-ins ranging/row $300 to $3000 will receive points in the 'Rounder of the Year' contest.