I was introduced to NLHE in 2004, after Moneymaker’s miraculous run in the 2003 WSOP Main Event. A co-worker was hosting a monthly home game and I was hooked. Somehow I landed here.
It’s funny how a stupid game like poker can change a person’s life.
Although I was getting my ass kicked regularly in the monthly home game, I enjoyed the competition and intracacies of NLHE. After a few short months I was introduced to online poker. This is where I discovered my passion for the game.
I reloaded my online poker account several times donking around obliviously. I had a full-time job at the time with a lot of expendable income. Poker was an escape from my daily grind. I couldn’t wait to get home from the office to fire up the online tables.
Early in 2005 I felt like I had a pretty good understanding of the game. But looking back, I really had no clue what I was doing. I knew the basic logistics but still had so much to learn. The first casino I played live poker was at Bally’s make shift poker room in Las Vegas. I sat down at a 200NL game and ordered some drinks. I played scared and tight until i doubled up with 10-10 vs KQo all in pf busting another player. Stacking his chips made me feel incredibly powerful. I drank and folded some more admiring my recent accomplishment.
What a noob.
I started visiting L.A. area casinos, the first of which was Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens. Many well known pros started their poker careers at “The Bike”. For several months I’d take the 1 hour drive to The Bike and splash around. I won and lost but it really didn’t matter, I was feeding my hunger for poker by playing live cash games. The buzz from playing live poker was 10x better than playing online.
I cashed in my first live poker tournament at Ocean’s 11 in 2005 on Memorial Day weekend. A co-worker and I were able win our entry into the $225 event the day before in a single table satellite. There were 250 entries with 27 spots getting paid. I squeeked into the money and finally ran AQo into AA to bust out.
I continued my weekend treks to the Bike while also visiting several other local card rooms in 2005 and 2006 including Hawaiian Gardens, Commerce Casino and Hustler. What kept me coming back to live poker was brief moments of success and the fact I was never very comfortable at the tables. Many times, I felt intimidated and unsure of myself. That was until I won my first live tournament at Planet Hollywood in February 2006. I felt completely confident and comfortable playing live poker for the first time ever. I took home $1750 for my efforts and final tabled another tournament at Imperial Palace the next day finishing 9th.
On my way home I decided it was time to chase a dream, the WSOP Main Event.
I played in several satellites to the 2005 WSOP Main Event and finished runner up in a $160 double-shootout on PokerStars. That was a painful, exruciating loss for me. I was HU at the Final Table for the 12k WSOP Main Event package and went out after getting all in after flopping top pair with A-To and losing to runner/runner broadway. I’ll never forget the other guy’s screen name.
But 2006 was a new year and I was driven to win my way into the Main Event. For several months, I relentlessly spent every spare moment trying to satellite into the 2006 WSOP ME. After countless failures, I made a final table in Full Tilt Poker’s $1k Main Event Qualifier on 6-6-2006 with the top 6 finishers winning a 12k Package to the Main Event. I open shoved AQo from the CO into the BB’s AA and finished 7th. So close. I went on to play several other satellites including a last ditch effort at the Rio that summer.
While I still take shots at trying to satellite into the Main Event every year, I haven’t given it the same effort I did in 2006.
I had several top 3 finishes in online MTT’s throughout 2006 and was really enjoying online poker while still playing regularly on the weekends at Ocean’s 11. I won a live $200r tournament at Commerce in November of ‘06 and was completely confident in my NLHE online and live game play.
Meanwhile, my “real” full time job and responsibilities had gone through several transitions during my 8 years as an IT Manager. I put together a solid team of professional engineers and support staff. We had many successes through acquisition integrations, upgrades and network expansion, always staying a step ahead of our company’s business needs. I outlasted several bosses throughout my career there. In July of 2003 our CFO hired in a new VP of IT. He had his own vision of how our department should be built around the company which I didn’t seem to fit into. In January of 2007, I was layed off from my full-time job.
This was less than a month after my girlfriend accepted my marriage proposal. We announced our engagement in December 2006 and got hitched in November 2007.
I’ve not taken a full time job since getting my walking papers that day.
You can follow my life experiences and recent poker struggles here, thanks for reading.
- smokkee
