My Poker Career

The first time I can remember playing poker was in middle school. I lost like 5 or 10 dollars which was alot of money for me at the time, so I think I decided to never play again. I didnt for a long time.

While living in Portland, OR my friend Scott and I then saw Rounders sometime around in 1999 I think. We started playing heads up against each other for fun. We also took a trip sometime around that time frame and played some 7 card stud against his Dad and some friends. I didn't really understand alot about the game at that point but I did win one big hand. I was dealt JJ in the hole with a J as my hole card I believe. I caught the fourth J on sixth street. Me and another guy started raising each other back and forth. Eventually I just called on 6th and the reaising insued on 7th until it was maxed. I proudly flipped over my hand and he mucked a full house.

Eventually I moved back home to Minnesota in the fall of 2001 and soon after found myself looking into playing poker. I worked with a guy that played in tournaments at Foxwoods and he told me about pokerpages (I think that was it), were I could play tournaments online for free. I started playing in these and despite the huge fields I did very well, in fact I was on the top 20 leaderboard. This was good and all but I wanted to start and play for money.

I did some searching on the internet and found out there was a card room about 30 minutes from me. I also read on the internet about books to read on the game. I picked up a copy of Lee Jones' Winning Low Limit Texas Holdem and began to study. I memorized almost everything in that book before going to the card room. Luckily the book also included some tips on how to play in a card room. When I felt I was ready I headed to the card room (Canterbury Park) and began to play.

I got to the room and asked to get on the list of the lowest Hold'em game. There was a seat open and I sat down at a 2-4 limit table. It was truly amazing that first time I played. I was a very tight player from the get go and lost my first few sessions. It wasnt a big deal at the time as I had a good job and could support my poker habit. I suffered some beats for sure, but I was sure what I was taught in Lee Jones' book was correct and I would eventually start to win.

Around this time I also found you could play on the internet for money. So I looked around and found Ultimate Bet. I deposited 100 dollars and I started playing 1-2 limit. The game was slightly tighter then playing at Canterbury but I managed better results. Unfourtounately this was before tracking software and I didnt keep track of results (I wasnt relying for poker as an income so I didnt keep track). But overall I did well.

Soon I found other sites that offerred poker and I started to play at Pokerroom.com. They had 5 max limit games and I started at 1-2 there. I quickly built up a bankroll and became a regular at 5/10 limit. I would occassionally take shots higher and one day while drinking heavily at a bar I won 2k playing 10/20 limit (this was before most people multi-tabled so I was playing 1 table). I soon found out that Party Poker was the softest site so I began to play 10/20 and 15/30 limit there.

On the live side I started to have more positive results. My bankroll management at the time was to keep all my live money in a shoe box. I started with maybe like 200 and soon had 2 thousand in there. I began to play higher, with my prefferred game being 8/16 limit. One night after drinking heavily I gave the biggest game in the room a shot 30/60. I was so wasted that I flopped a set against 2 players and didnt see 3 to a flush on the flop. The board didnt pair and I lost alot as they both had flopped a flush. I walked out 2k in the hole that night.

In 2004 I changed jobs and moved to Marshall, MN. I moved in with a buddy and we began to have No Limit home games. I think it was .50/1 with 100 max buyin. The game was so easy and I always seemed to crush it. The first night I beat my bosses boss out of a couple hundred and had to explain myself the next day. The job didnt last long as my life was in turmoil at that point from the use of drugs and alcohol.

Upon losing the job I decided I'd give playing poker a shot. I had always done well and thought I could make it work. But once again partying got in the way and I did alot more of that then playing. When I did play I played terrible, and this was around the time when the games were very soft. I started to multi table playing 4 games of 25 NL on the Prima network at the time. I can tell you my exact results, but Im sure they weren't good.

Around 2005 I moved to Topeka, Kansas for a change of scene. Problem was I brought me with me and keep using drugs. I did find some time for poker though. There was a Harrah's about 20 minutes from town that spread 2/5 NL. I played in a few tournies cashing a couple times and winning 2 of them. I also played in a home game of 1/2 NL once a week and did very well in it. I ran pretty good at the casino as well, but I was using drugs to often to play alot. One hand Ill never forget happend while playing at Harrah's. I flopped a set of 9's on a 9 5 4 board. Guy to my right checked, I checked, and a kid bet 75 into the pot of about the same size. The guy to my right shoved all in for about 200. I had a stack a little above 500, so I shove as well before thinking. The kid to my left goes into the tank forever (I'd beat him in a few big pots before), and says set of 5's no good? I just said Im all in, call if you want. He had a stack about the same size as me. He folded the 5's face up and I was left all in against the guy on the rights AA. The moral of the story was think before u shove all in.

Over the next few years I didnt play much if any poker. I had gone to treatment for my drug and alcohol problems and the people in my live at the time didnt think playing poker was a good idea, so I didnt. I would return though.

Spring of 2008, I had just relapsed after 2 years of sobriety and decided to give poker another shot. I had never actually deposited on full tilt, so I decided to give their bonus a try. I played 10 or 25 NL and found the game to be very tough, much tougher then I remembered. For some reason I decided to give tournies a try. I tried them and did very well, cashing in a few. I then went on to win a tourney for 4200 and cash another for 700 in the same week. I thought I was invincable, nothing could take me out. Problem was that between my drug use, bad play, and very poor bankroll management skills I gave it all back, and then some. I got stuck for 2k that year and gave up playing again.

This bring me to 2009, a year I was sober the whole year and began to play with some more sense despit not having much of a bankroll. I'll cover that in my next post.