When Grant Hinkle has adopted a decision to become a professional poker player and leave his permanent job at a technology company.

Of course, the Grant Hinkle story isn't your typical tale of a gambler wanna-be coming up with some grandiose idea that he could make it to the big time by beating the odds for a living. Hinkle has already proven his potential by virtue of his stunning win at the 2008 World Series of Poker this summer and his collective poker earnings of more than USD 1 million. But even still, this was a carefully planned out decision that the 27-year-old Kansas native made with the full support of his wife, Kim.

Since his victory in the USD 1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event on June 4 that earned him USD 831,462 after outlasting a non-Main Event record field of 3,929 players over the course of a grueling three days and 40 hours of poker, Hinkle has become a semi-celebrity. Following the ESPN broadcast of the, Hinkle, the former marketing communications specialist is being recognized by complete strangers. He attended a Kansas City Royals game last week and several strangers came up to him and asked if he was Grant Hinkle, "the guy who won the poker on ESPN the other night." He's also heard from former classmates from both Washburn Rural High School and the University of Kansas that he hasn't been in contact with for years.

Hinkle was on vacation with his entire family in Hilton Head, S.C. when the episode aired and they had a big viewing party. Hinkle said that while he was playing at the final table he was conscious of the fact that anything he did or said would or could be used against him. And in the end he was happy with how both he and his mother, Lynn, came across.

Hinkle's only disappointment with the ESPN telecast of his bracelet win was that only two hands of the heads up match were shown. And he thought both made it look like he was lucky, particularly the final hand. That's when he pushed all in pre-flop with 10-4 and Akenhead called with A-K only to see Hinkle catch two 10s on the flop and another on the turn to give him miracle quad-10s.

With his shining ESPN moment in the past, Hinkle is now concentrating on his new career. His wife's office is in the upstairs of his house so Hinkle has set up the basement as his own personal "man cave" office.

Hinkle, who won an event in the original FTOPS that paid him USD 145,200, plans on playing in as many events as he can in FTOPS IX, which is ongoing, and intends to play in PokerStars' 2008 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) that runs from Sept. 5-22.

Until then, he'll continue to plug away in the online world, looking to take advantage of the cushion his WSOP win has given him.