When engaging in a broad historical overview of the World Series of Poker, or even while watching a single televised match, it can be absolutely fascinating to compare the personalities and psychological makeups of various champions. The amount of variety to be discovered in this realm is essentially unlimited. Some players like to verbally and physically intimidate their opponents, others try to call upon powers of mystical persuasion to influence the dealer and the cards while still others remain stone-faced and as silent as the sphinx, revealing absolutely nothing (or, perhaps, revealing everything in their lack of demonstrable emotion. It's all in the eye of the beholder.).

For instance, when you will get a player like Scotty Nguyen, it is it easy to marvel at his bold, brash and highly verbal style of play. And, clearly, this has worked tremendously to Scotty's advantage over the years. But, on the other hand, you have a player like Jim Bechtel. Without question a great champion, yet one whose style/approach is about as different to Nguyen's as night is to day. Or, black is to white, or whiskey is to buttermilk, or...you get the point. But let's take a more detailed look at Jim Bechtel, this quiet, soft-spoken yet utterly lethal poker champion.

Jim Bechtel has played in the World Series of Poker so many times that he's become something of a fixture. He has finished in the money for three separate years (1986, 1988 and 1989) but clearly his greatest highlight occurred at the 1990 WSOP, in which he took the top prize of $1 million. When he put that gold bracelet on his wrist that year, he could not know at the time that it would be his only such victory (at least as of this writing). In fact, watching his face and body language, it was as usual impossible to say what he was thinking at the time. One can only surmise that he was pleased with the outcome of the tournament.

Some poker experts are puzzled at the high level of selectivity that Jim Bechtel employees when choosing which tournaments in which to play. He generally ignores smaller tournaments and saves his energies for big ones like the World Poker Tour events and, naturally, the World Series of Poker. A resident of Arizona, Jim Bechtel continues to work his quiet but deadly magic at major events such as these and it seems only likely that he will end up in the money and possibly even wearing another gold bracelet before he hangs it up.

There is certainly nothing wrong with a little bit of flash and sizzle, but Jim Bechtel has more than illustrated the effectiveness of a quiet and determined game.