Poker Story

My first experience with online poker was in July of 2006. My best friend at the time had intoduced me to MTTs. He hooked me up with a couple of books and websites, and I soaked in as much information as I could. I first started playing on a site called BetZip. For $20 a month, you could play in as many MTTs as possible, but with little reward, obviously. In August I expanded to Party and Paradise. I was one tabling SNGs and MTTs. I won about $1k in total from SNGs and a late night cash game binge on PP which netted me $600. I used Neteller to disperse some funds across other sites such as Stars and FTP. I continued my focus on MTTs.

After Christmas of 2006, I joined CR and PXF. I'm a visual learner, so I really benefitted from these sites, especially CR. Within a month, I took down the $10r on Stars for $13k. I had marginal success with MTTs and SNGs for the next few months. Up until March of 2007, poker was a hobby. However, that all changed when doctors told me that my wrestling career was over. My mother always told me that when one door closes, another door opens. Poker was my new D1 sport.

In July I decided it was time for a change upon discovering a post on CR's low limit forum titled, "Low Limit Grinders Community." The community improved my game by leaps and bounds. In August I was invited by Peten2toms to join UF2B. The group has padded my win rate from NL100 to NL600.

In late August I applied for Verneer's coaching. He claimed that he was accepting one student. I felt that I didnt really have a chance but the worst that could happen was a simple denial. I also thought that I didnt really need coaching because of my group, but at the same time, I figured it couldnt hurt. Verneer helped me battle through a month and a half long break even period at NL100. He reassured me that I would be fine and helped maintain my confidence. Eventually, I was adequately rolled for NL200 and never looked back. I blew through the limit fairly quickly and found myself playing NL400.

I received some very good coaching at the mid-stakes and I quickly moved my roll to the $30k mark. Everything was going well for me but I figured the inevitable downswing was lurking nearby. The new year brought what I was anitcipating. A sharp 11 BI downswing. These are very standard, but it has been my first experience with one. My month and a half long breakeven stint at NL100 helped prepare me for this. The only reason I was break even was because of all the terrible players that donk around at that stake.

Ive taken some time of from the game to regroup and I am ready log a good sample now that I an settled in at school. Running bad sucks, but its a nice change of pace bc it humbles you and causes you to reanalyze your game.