Mike Byrd’s introduction to poker was six years ago when he “started as a reserve player at a weekly game.” Now the Network Administrator enjoys playing poker online but definitely prefers live games. His current favourite poker game is No Limit Texas Holdem and admits to favouring ring games over tournaments. Some of his poker successes include “winning two other online tournaments and coming second out of 850 players in a satellite for a Main Event seat at a major poker tournament.” When he found out he had won a $7,500 South African PokerNews Open Freeroll, Mike was “happy.” He goes on to explain, “after having come second for the Main Event qualifier a year earlier, I was so happy that the same thing didn’t happen again… I think about losing that heads up battle last year almost daily and winning this time around definitely sets my mind at ease.” He celebrated by “calling a bunch of close friends and family to let them know… they were very surprised when I told them where the trip was going to take me.” The Canadian considers his hobbies as “watching and playing basketball, technology/electronics and poker, of course!” This will be Mike’s first trip to South Africa. We look forward to watching him and the rest of Team PokerNews battle it out at the 2008 South African PokerNews Open in Johannesburg.