I’ve been asked several times how I’ve got started in poker. I figure this would be a great way to just get it all out there. As a four year old, I remember playing 5-card draw in my garage, with plastic chips that were held in a wooden case that rotated. I could barely count, nevertheless know the difference between a straight and a flush. I played with kids four and five years older than me, but I remember check-raising on the river with what I thought was a straight and getting a kid to lay down two pair, and then I proudly showed my hand. Everyone went crazy because of the bluff I had just pulled. I of course, had no idea what I was doing, but it is my first memory of poker.

I spent most of my life playing games like Rum, Gin, Crazy Eights. I also remember a lot of heads up stud against my Grandfather. I was sick from school one day, and I distinctively remember eating ring-o noodle soup while he taught me how to slowplay rolled up sevens and waiting until fifth street to get in my raise because you got more money that way… Needless to say, I was always around cards.

My first experience with texas hold’em was in November of 2003. It was the night of Thanksgiving, and most of my family had already gone home. ESPN was running a marathon of the World Series of Poker from that year. I remember really rooting for Dan Harrington, who went out 3rd. I just thought he was such a cool and witty older man. It actually upset me that Chris Moneymaker had won. I love rooting for the underdogs (I’m a Mets), but I just thought the other players were so much better than him. I liked the story that he was an accountant from the mid-west, but I loved how cool Sammy Farha seemed, with the unlit cigarette in his mouth and his smooth persona.

I was really bored that Thanksgiving, but thanks to the ESPN coverage I remember the time flying by. I really had no idea how to play, but I really loved the simplicity of the game. I was hooked without really realizing it. I was 16 years old and a junior in high school.

I spent the next year and a half playing very casually. It usually consisted of $5 and $10 buyin sngs with my friends. I played far too many hands, but all of my friends were equally as awful. I remember playing a game with people I worked with at Sports Authority, and they would limp every hand and get mad if anyone raised. Due to this, I realized that if you put in a big raise, people would almost always fold. I was wrecklessly aggressive and won that tournament, but I still didn’t take the game too seriously.

I also began playing online for play money on pacificpoker. You started with $1000 play chips, but I never got over $10,000. I then went over to Partypoker, which was offering play money tournaments twice a day. I would play them all the time, and I’d be really disappointed if I busted since the next tournament was so far away. I remember realizing that Q7 couldn’t make a straight, but Q8 couldn’t. It was progress, albeit not that much

In the summer of 2004, I graduated high school. I still played very recreationally, but I really was focused on my studies. In December of 2004 I received a two year degree, and went to SUNY Geneseo the following semester. I had a lot of credits from high school, and I wanted to go through college as quickly as possible. I had a girlfriend who I assumed I would marry, and I wanted to start making money to start a family as soon as possible.When I got to college, I became friends with a bunch of people that loved poker more than I did. They played for money, but not a lot. One of the kids played $5 SnGs, while my roommate was the “high-roller” who played 2-4 limit while grinding rakeback and bonuses. We would play $3 sngs in the dorm and try to get better against one another. I made my first deposit on Pokerstars, and immediately started playing sngs.

I started with $100, and at one point got it up to $400 dollars. I then lost it all. I don’t even think sharkscope was around when I started, to be honest. I then deposited another $100 over spring break, and never had to deposit anything significant again. I played a lot, and I remember the first time I had folded AJ to a raise and a re-raise. I was making progress, that’s for sure.

There were some tournaments going on on Pokerstars at that time, but definitely not to the extent they have now. I would play some $1 or $2 tournaments, but that was really it. One day, with one of my friends in the same room, we both played a $5 tournament. It was the biggest buyin either of us had ever played. We both got final 27, with me eventually winning it for $1500. It was a massive score, by far, especially for a college kid. I was so excited and expected poker to be easy from there on out. I was wrong…

My poker story (Part 1), 9.0 out of 10 based on 4 ratings Comments