Well, I finally got all the traveling done for the year... now it's just poker, poker, and more poker. I just gotta wait for my nieces to leave town with my sister again... and hopefully nothing happens with this cute cocktail waitress I'm gonna watch a movie with tomorrow... either way... here's a post at a forum I recently subscribed to... I don't think I ever told you guys....

I'm here like you guys, to seriously take a stab at making some cash at this game... (or go down in flames.) So, a little bit about myself and how I came into this site...

I moved to Las Vegas about 4 years ago... broke and 15K in debt! I had a small business that I waited too late to let go of... around the time that it was falling apart in late 2003 I was playing a lot of poker to kill time... specifically the pokerroom.com daily freerolls. Because I was broke in Los Angeles, I really was afraid of the idea of gambling or playing poker, so I just picked up Sklansky's book and read it front to back. I figured I might want to play poker to make some money. I moved to Vegas in February 2003, and I went with a friend to go watch the final table of the WSOP... ironic that it was the year that Moneymaker won, and really the explosion began!

I didn't start making any real money off the bat... hey I was in a lot of debt, and with a new job in sales, I really couldn't justify "gambling" with that money. Either way, I didn't make a good salesman (don't sell insurance and retirement accounts in Las Vegas... tough racket when their objection is "I need that extra money to gamble), so I went to dealing school and started dealing blackjack in feb 2004.

I began to work off all my debts and I knew that I wanted to make a bankroll. At first, I knew I wanted to pay off some major expenses before I really got into it. So, after placing second in a $50 buy in tourney at UB for $3k, I used that money to pay off lasik surgery. I used some of the other money I'd won at poker as payment for a new car. In 2005, I'd won first for $4k and 3 mos. later I won first for over $3k at a Binion's tournament. So, I do know that I've got some kind of skill.

Around the middle of 2006, I'd started to really try to grind it out... mainly 4/8 limit HE. I'm pretty happy that I was able to make some money there. I was still really afraid of playing NL hold 'em, even as I'd begun to make a small bankroll of about $4k. I think maybe somewhere along the line of losing a small business along with 20K, you do tend to get afraid of losing even a few hundred dollars. I knew I had to get into that game, but if you're over protective of money, well I know you're just not gonna play well.

In December of 2006, the Venetian had this promotion of winning a free jacket after 40 hours of play. I decided that I was gonna earn that jacket and do so playing the 1/2 NL game. I remember taking a hit on the first night, but all in all, I won a good 75% of my sessions and averaged about $20/hour. It was really worth it to know that I was good enough to be beating that game... then the strangest thing happened a few days before the New Year.

I was playing the 1/2 NL game and this kid sat next to me on my table... looked like a raver type with sunglasses. (Yeah, I kicked his ass with a river boat crushing an ace high straight and another two pair caller on top of it... lol) We got to talking... he's a really cool guy, and he talked about how he was in town with a bunch of other poker players for the New Year's. I asked him where he was from, and he said he lives in Los Angeles now, but everyone else was from all over the US and the world. Now, I was a little suspect, 'cause well these guys have to be online players if they're from all over...so, I ask how they all know each other and he said "Two plus two." A lot of people in Las Vegas never heard of two plus two but I knew and well if they were all staying at the Venetian, then they have to be ballers! So, he tells me a little more about them (he goes by Mason55 at 2+2 btw), and he said he was doing well six tabling online. Mason was cool enough to introduce me to the rest of the other players...

the craziest part was when I asked Mason about this one quiet, red headed kid who just got back from the Bellagio... he tells me aside that this guy was rated the # 5 online cash game player. In my mind, I'm thinking "wow how do you even rate that?" So, I talk to the kid briefly and later in the night I watch the Venetian open up a 10/20 NL game so he can go heads up with another 2+2 poster from the trip. The kid kicks this Swedish guy's azz for $5k, loans him the chips back for another $5k, and kicks his teeth in again for another $5k. And, they agree, that he owes the kid $10K. (The story is a little askew, as Ben shoud not have played while he was that drunk.) It's kind of funny how this kid didn't even sweat the game at all.

Well, we go to Tao a little later and I talk to the kid a little more...turns out he just turned 22. He says he posts a bit at 2+2, and plays a lot at full tilt by the name "muckemsayahh"... and yeah his name is Cole. We party, and I go home later and read his profile at 2+2, then follow a link to his blog to this site. Holy $hit! These pokertracker stats are sick! I remember being in complete disbelief... seriously how did this kid do this? Amazing... it was all very surreal... you read about these online monsters and rarely do you see them or identify them. You just see the big big names like Ivey or Negreanu at the Bellagio behind a glass wall in Baldwin room. But, here in the flesh is the guy they write and talk about. (It's funny I just watched the FTP $10/20NL 4/27/07 video and it was funny to hear Taylor caution against playing Cole out of position as he just sat at the table.) Either way, I think some kind of fire burned inside a day or two later... well, if some punk azz twenty old something can do this, then I really have to take a shot... (sorry Cole if you're reading this... you're really nice, but you're still a punk kid lol... and i mean that in a good way.)

So, fast foward now to May, I finally feel mentally ready for the challenge... I've been building up to this point for the last four years. I don't want to deal cards for the rest of my life. Well, I don't mind doing it, and ultimately make $80k a year, but if I could earn $150k or even $300K playing cards... well at least I don't have to live in regret for the rest of my life for not trying. So, I'm sitting pretty about now... I have no kids, single, don't own a home, $100 in credit card debt, $600/month in rent, $1,000 total monthly nut, netting $2200/month dealing cards 40 hours a week, and $10K cash in the bank. I think the nice thing is that the spare $1000 a month I earn I can reinvest into the bankroll. It's a little tough to play as I'm tired after work, but I'll guess I'll have to get used to it. I'm hoping I don't take a hit at first, but I guess I have the bankroll to take a swing. I'd like to get back to multitabling online... seems like that's the way to go. I'd like to be able to take a sabbatcle from work for a month after this year's WSOP. We'll see how it all goes.... anyway, that's me.