Introduction
I suppose now is as good a time to start this as any. The big turkey day is over, so I have a little extra time now, plus I am really steamed over a horrific beating I've taken the past couple of days. I can't really lose any money while I'm writing.
Getting started is a little difficult. After all, I'm just your Average Joe poker player who got inspired to play watching Rounders and the World Poker Tour. And, I suppose like everybody else, I have dreams of one day making it big with my card playing skills. Of course, days like today make me wonder what skill I really do have.
First, a little about me. I'm a 35-year-old media professional in Kentucky. I'm married (12 years now) and have two rambunctious boys, ages 6 and 10. And, I like to play poker.
I've been playing seriously for about 18 months now. Before that, I had only played like most people -- every now and then. But in mid-2003, the bug hit me real hard. That was about the time I first watched WPT on the Travel Channel. Now, a lot of people, obviously, have enjoyed that show or the WSOP on ESPN, or any of the other shows that now blanket the airwaves. But I really got caught up in it. I enjoyed the drama that came with each card on the board. I liked getting to know the personalities and hearing some of the old stories. In short, I enjoyed every aspect of the game.
But there was something else, as well, that just sort of clicked for me, something that told me that maybe I could play the game. Again, a lot of people have obviously felt that way, given the explosion in poker the past couple of years, but something about poker just felt right for me. I suppose it's just my disposition. I am mathematically inclined, plus I'm an extremely competitive person. All in all, poker just felt right to me, like it was something that just fit my nature.
So, I decided to give online poker a try. I spent a couple of weeks at the play money tables and then plopped down $20 to give it a whirl, already making plans for how I was going to spend the thousands, probably millions, of dollars I was going to win with that $20.
It lasted maybe 10 minutes. I don't think I made it a full orbit before my $20 was in somebody else's bankroll, but it was my first lesson and it didn't cost too much.
The next time I decided to make a deposit, I did pretty well and ran my $20 to somewhere around $300 over the course of an evening. This was more like it! I was obviously the victim of some sort of fluke the first time, but now I was going to make start pulling in some serious dough.
... right ...
The smartest thing I did after that rush was cash most of it out and take my family on a little weekend getaway to Cincinnati. The rest just flew away. And, for the next six months, so did everything else I deposited. I made a plan of just depositing $20 on payday, or maybe $40 or $60 if I felt I could spare it. If I was lucky, it would last me almost until the next payday, so that I could continue playing.
Note: I know talking about risking, at most, $60 isn't exactly breathtaking, but that's the way it is when you're raising a family.
Early in Jan. 2004, after I had taken a break from poker during the holidays, I decided to give it another go, this time depositing a whopping $40. Now, however, I had more experience, had read a few books about poker and had the benefit of a couple of good friends who were just as addicted to poker I could bounce ideas off of. Within a month, that $40 had grown to over $1,000, and I was feeling really good about my game. I made $600 more the next month and things were looking good. But then I had a setback the next month and by May, my bankroll had been cut in half.
Then, on Mother's Day weekend, after taking even more beats, I entered a $30 multi-table tournament on a whim and ended up winning the thing to make over $1,300. That was a huge rush, but it was probably the worst thing to happen to my game. Afterwards, I would sit at a table and lose $100 and think, "Who cares? I just won $1,300!" Well, I cashed out some of that and lost a bunch more before I finally settled again. I started making money again and eventually built my bankroll to over $2,000. Pretty good for a $40 investment.
But, alas, it wasn't meant to last. I took a couple of bad beats playing $5/10 one night, went on the worst tilt of my life and pissed away $900 in a single evening. After that, I went into panic mode and, over the next few weeks, I ended up losing everything. Well, not entirely everything. I had, after all, managed to cash out around $750, which is still pretty good for a $40 investment, but that's little consolation when your hard-earned bankroll has disappeared, and you have no one to blame but yourself.
Since then, it's been more of the same. I start doing really well, then I crash and burn. I can't seem to isolate the cause, other than when I start winning, I get more confident, which helps my game. Then when I start doing even better, I get cocky and and make stupid decisions, thinking I'm invincible. Then when I pay the price for that, I panic and try too hard to win.
Well, I think that is enough of an introduction for now. I know it's a pretty dry and dull history, but I figured I would have to put it in there at some point, so I might as well get it over with. I could have gone into far more detail, but that would have just been abusive. In summary, this has been a positive poker year for me. I actually have gambling earnings to report on my taxes this year!
But one last point: I consider myself an apprentice poker player with ambitions. And, as it says in the subtitle, I have given myself five years to graduate from my apprenticeship. For me, this means that I would like to be able to make my living solely from playing poker. I know this is a tall order, but I think I can make it happen if I am dedicated to studying the game and improving my play. For the sake of convenience, I am starting my countdown on Jan. 1, 2005, meaning I hope to be a professional poker player by Jan. 1, 2010. By that, I don't mean to imply that I could be another Brunson, Hellmuth, Lederer or Negreanu by that point. I simply would like to be able to earn my living from cards by that point, which, for me, would be a minimum of $75,000 a year. That will have to mean a huge improvement over my current year take of around $1,500, but everybody has to start somewhere.
If this introduction hasn't been too boring, I hope you'll check in from time to time to see how I'm doing. Along the way, we'll share stories and news from the world of poker, and maybe we can learn some things from each other.
Until next time, keep making good decisions at the tables ...
Getting started is a little difficult. After all, I'm just your Average Joe poker player who got inspired to play watching Rounders and the World Poker Tour. And, I suppose like everybody else, I have dreams of one day making it big with my card playing skills. Of course, days like today make me wonder what skill I really do have.
First, a little about me. I'm a 35-year-old media professional in Kentucky. I'm married (12 years now) and have two rambunctious boys, ages 6 and 10. And, I like to play poker.
I've been playing seriously for about 18 months now. Before that, I had only played like most people -- every now and then. But in mid-2003, the bug hit me real hard. That was about the time I first watched WPT on the Travel Channel. Now, a lot of people, obviously, have enjoyed that show or the WSOP on ESPN, or any of the other shows that now blanket the airwaves. But I really got caught up in it. I enjoyed the drama that came with each card on the board. I liked getting to know the personalities and hearing some of the old stories. In short, I enjoyed every aspect of the game.
But there was something else, as well, that just sort of clicked for me, something that told me that maybe I could play the game. Again, a lot of people have obviously felt that way, given the explosion in poker the past couple of years, but something about poker just felt right for me. I suppose it's just my disposition. I am mathematically inclined, plus I'm an extremely competitive person. All in all, poker just felt right to me, like it was something that just fit my nature.
So, I decided to give online poker a try. I spent a couple of weeks at the play money tables and then plopped down $20 to give it a whirl, already making plans for how I was going to spend the thousands, probably millions, of dollars I was going to win with that $20.
It lasted maybe 10 minutes. I don't think I made it a full orbit before my $20 was in somebody else's bankroll, but it was my first lesson and it didn't cost too much.
The next time I decided to make a deposit, I did pretty well and ran my $20 to somewhere around $300 over the course of an evening. This was more like it! I was obviously the victim of some sort of fluke the first time, but now I was going to make start pulling in some serious dough.
... right ...
The smartest thing I did after that rush was cash most of it out and take my family on a little weekend getaway to Cincinnati. The rest just flew away. And, for the next six months, so did everything else I deposited. I made a plan of just depositing $20 on payday, or maybe $40 or $60 if I felt I could spare it. If I was lucky, it would last me almost until the next payday, so that I could continue playing.
Note: I know talking about risking, at most, $60 isn't exactly breathtaking, but that's the way it is when you're raising a family.
Early in Jan. 2004, after I had taken a break from poker during the holidays, I decided to give it another go, this time depositing a whopping $40. Now, however, I had more experience, had read a few books about poker and had the benefit of a couple of good friends who were just as addicted to poker I could bounce ideas off of. Within a month, that $40 had grown to over $1,000, and I was feeling really good about my game. I made $600 more the next month and things were looking good. But then I had a setback the next month and by May, my bankroll had been cut in half.
Then, on Mother's Day weekend, after taking even more beats, I entered a $30 multi-table tournament on a whim and ended up winning the thing to make over $1,300. That was a huge rush, but it was probably the worst thing to happen to my game. Afterwards, I would sit at a table and lose $100 and think, "Who cares? I just won $1,300!" Well, I cashed out some of that and lost a bunch more before I finally settled again. I started making money again and eventually built my bankroll to over $2,000. Pretty good for a $40 investment.
But, alas, it wasn't meant to last. I took a couple of bad beats playing $5/10 one night, went on the worst tilt of my life and pissed away $900 in a single evening. After that, I went into panic mode and, over the next few weeks, I ended up losing everything. Well, not entirely everything. I had, after all, managed to cash out around $750, which is still pretty good for a $40 investment, but that's little consolation when your hard-earned bankroll has disappeared, and you have no one to blame but yourself.
Since then, it's been more of the same. I start doing really well, then I crash and burn. I can't seem to isolate the cause, other than when I start winning, I get more confident, which helps my game. Then when I start doing even better, I get cocky and and make stupid decisions, thinking I'm invincible. Then when I pay the price for that, I panic and try too hard to win.
Well, I think that is enough of an introduction for now. I know it's a pretty dry and dull history, but I figured I would have to put it in there at some point, so I might as well get it over with. I could have gone into far more detail, but that would have just been abusive. In summary, this has been a positive poker year for me. I actually have gambling earnings to report on my taxes this year!
But one last point: I consider myself an apprentice poker player with ambitions. And, as it says in the subtitle, I have given myself five years to graduate from my apprenticeship. For me, this means that I would like to be able to make my living solely from playing poker. I know this is a tall order, but I think I can make it happen if I am dedicated to studying the game and improving my play. For the sake of convenience, I am starting my countdown on Jan. 1, 2005, meaning I hope to be a professional poker player by Jan. 1, 2010. By that, I don't mean to imply that I could be another Brunson, Hellmuth, Lederer or Negreanu by that point. I simply would like to be able to earn my living from cards by that point, which, for me, would be a minimum of $75,000 a year. That will have to mean a huge improvement over my current year take of around $1,500, but everybody has to start somewhere.
If this introduction hasn't been too boring, I hope you'll check in from time to time to see how I'm doing. Along the way, we'll share stories and news from the world of poker, and maybe we can learn some things from each other.
Until next time, keep making good decisions at the tables ...
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