Darius Wajda, who may be better known as ‘KomodoDragonJesus,’ has been playing poker since he was a teenager. He only recently decided to take the game up on a full-time basis, though, but in the short period of time, he’s done well enough to land himself on the roster of GGPoker’s Stream Team.

“I first learned to play as a teenager and then made my first real-money online account when I turned 18,” Wajda said. “I played casually for many years, making a little spare cash, and then one year ago I decided to play full time.”

Wajda played on the side while in school for mechanical engineering. After he school, his side hobby continued but it wasn’t his regular profession, or at least not yet. He plays mainly cash games at the $200 buy-in level.

“I play and stream professionally,” Wajda said. “I played poker casually while earning my mechanical engineering degree and for a few years while working as a structural analyst in the aerospace industry. Eventually, I came to my senses and decided to switch to poker full time.”

Wajda’s interest in poker came about in similar fashion to many others. He and his friends had an affinity for card games and were eventually introduced to Texas Hold’em. Even though Wajda and his pals may not have had proper poker chips to play with early on, it didn’t stop them from getting games together for fun, competitive entertainment and poker quickly became a favorite of theirs, he said.

Now, Wajda can be found regularly streaming the game he loves for a global audience, and he’s joined the GGPoker Stream Team alongside fellow streamers George ‘ShroomTheRiver’ Davidson, Torsten ‘Jektiss’ Brinkmann, and Karlen ‘Karlencho’ Aladzjan.

“I’ve been a little on and off with streaming,” Wajda said. “I was one of the first poker streamers on Twitch back in 2014, then I took a long break from streaming after my son was born as it was only a hobby back then. Now, I’ve been back full time for nearly a year and I don’t plan on stopping.”

Like those other streams on the GGPoker Stream Team, Wajda was quick to point out that the best thing about playing regularly on GGPoker is the action that’s presented. The site is getting past the stage of being the new kid on the block, but the environment and player base lean more fun and action-friendly than can be commonly found elsewhere.

“GGPoker has some of the softest cash games I’ve ever played,” Wajda said. “The games are both more profitable and more enjoyable – less nitty, more action – than most other sites I’ve tried.”

The poker streaming community is a welcoming, passionate one. From streamers to their audience, the affection for poker is palpable and infectious. Wajda said that the best thing about streaming, for him, is the community that he gets to interact with, and that’s something you can’t truly get through online poker. Online poker is a very solitary activity, but streaming adds a whole new social layer to what is very much an individual practice.

“The best thing for me is the community and getting to share a game that I love with other people,” he said. “Playing poker online is an amazing experience and I love it, but unlike live poker, you’re not surrounded and engaged by people who share that interest. Playing for long hours by myself would take a toll on me mentally. Through Twitch, I’ve met a ton of amazing people from all over the world and I guarantee I wouldn’t view the game the same way as I do today had I not discovered Twitch.”

Although Wajda plays mostly No Limit Hold’em these days, his favorite poker memory came from a very different game.

“My favorite memory comes from when I was first learning to play,” Wajda said. “I made my first-ever final table in a multi-table tournament, a $1 razz tournament. I’m still not sure why I was playing razz, but it turned out nice. I was a member of an old staking forum called PartTimePoker and because I had nobody to share it within real life at the time, I posted about my final table on the forum. It didn’t get much traction because let’s face it, it was a $1 razz tournament and I think I ended up somewhere around fourth place for a negligible amount of money. Then later, I logged on to the forum and found an extremely wholesome private message from one of the best players on the forum (‘herschelw,’ if you’re out there, you rock!) congratulating me on the final table. It really meant a lot that a professional player would take the time to write me for my silly little accomplishment.”