My Poker Resume

When I discover a new poker blog, sometimes it's hard for me to get a handle on what kind of player is doing the writing, and therefore what to expect from his or her reports. So as a new blogger I think that it's only fair to offer up some information about myself to the audience for their entertainment. It feels good to lay out my credentials like this here for you because I've never done it before. Also, the biggest poker tournament in the world is going on right now and somehow this makes me feel associated with that greatness. This is in no particular order..

- I was taught poker when I was about three or four, and you know they say that you've got to be taught a skill at a very young age if you ever hope to master it. I've always known poker as this fun (albeit occasionally frustrating) card game that I enjoy playing. All "the poker boom" did was give me some incentive to get back into the game. It just reminded me about a forgotten opportunity that I used to watch out for.

- The first time I went to Vegas I arrived with a pocket full of Jacksons and left with a pocket full of Benjamins; no ATM and nothing but poker. Fresh off the plane and sleep-deprived I hit the Riviera for an hour or two and made my first $100 playing a short-handed cash game in the early afternoon with locals. Afterwards I passed out in my hotel room that had curtains so heavy they wouldn't allow a single shred of light to pass through... I woke up at sunset. That's my kinda town.

- My lifetime winnings exceed $30,000 from both cash games and tournaments, I like both. I specialize in no limit hold 'em but I'm also good at Omaha Hi, 7-Stud, Razz, and limit hold 'em.

- I spent most of my youth and teenage years poker-less. It was always too hard to get a game together because no one really knew how to play. Therefore I was forced to play spades, which naturally I took to well and quickly mastered.

- Just after I graduated high school I went to Canada for a few months. I was dreadfully broke, but eventually I convinced the people I was staying with to host a poker game. I forced them to make it dealer's choice and I kept picking 5-card draw. They tried to teach me a new game (probably NLHE) but I never got the hang of it. I forget the details of how I won (I was the youngest and poorest player in a friendly home game so maybe they lost to me on purpose) but I made enough money to buy a bunch of new clothes, snow boots, and some mixtapes!

- I turned 2,500 Full Tilt points into $17,500 in two days, then ran that up to $23k within ten days after that by playing the biggest cash games I have ever played in my life (this was obviously before I knew about proper bankroll management)

- I made almost three thousand dollars on Absolute Poker (A.K.A. Ultimate Bet) and successfully cashed it out. For those who don't know, this is a website that has been known to cheat its players time and time again. Long story short, I beat the cheat.

- I'm a stand-up guy and you'll never catch me cheating or even angle shooting. People like that ruin the game for everyone. I love poker too much to ever act like that. I see so much long-term potential in poker, why risk it all on a short-term grift?

- I've read a lot of the "must-read" poker books, but more often than not a lot of those tips contained therein I had already arrived at independently. I feel like I was a pretty good player before I read the books, and now I just have a better understanding of the other players' thought processes. That being said, I'm always trying to improve my game and I will always welcome constructive criticism.

- At one point, on my best night, I had so many tournament chips in front of me that their real money value was something like $60,000. Everyone else at the table had more, but it was a good feeling anyway. People commented on the internet that they expected me to be nervous but were surprised that I wasn't at all and in fact played pretty well.

- I'm friendly and like to have fun at the table. Despite evidence to the contrary, I am not one of those people who is tortured by poker, always complaining about the brutality of it all while running around with a pissy face. The game has never felt like an obligation to me, and I try to enjoy every minute of it. I don't understand people who hate their job. No one likes to work, but everyone's got to do it; it's not something that you're supposed to enjoy, so you might as well make the best of it! Poker's not my job, but even if it were I know that as a person I am not defined by my profession. What you do for a living has very little to do with who you are... if anything, it's the other way around.