YEAR: 1998 Age: 20
I started playing poker in college. This is right before poker became mainstream, before every other college kid's dream was to "drop out and play full time." My poker beginnings were drastically different than the college/poker pros today. I was working as a bartender at TFGIF's in Rockefeller Centre, NYC and attending school full time at New York University. At the time, I started dating a rather shady character named Adam (nickname: Snake), a guy much like Worm from Rounders...Ed Norton's character in Rounders was a notch more dysfunctional. In any case, one night, he came out to LI and we went to dinner. Afterwards, we went to a bar called Oasis in Baldwin. Recently, I drove past this bar, and I only have one memory from there. It is that night with Snake, where we sat at a small hi top bar table, sipping our drinks. All of a sudden, he said "Do you want to learn 7 card stud? I looked at him puzzled, and said, "Is that like rummy?" He laughed and said no, it is a form of poker. I'll show you. For two hours, he dealt out mock hands of 7 card stud and he taught me the hand rankings. I had a blast (even though I had no interest in Snake, he was just a filler between boyfriends, lol). A month later, in January 1999, I turned 21. Me, Snake, Ruthann (my roomate and good friend at the time), and her man, (Snake's best friend, coincidentally) piled into my little red Mitsubishi Eclipse and drove to Atlantic City. We got there at 3 a.m. Ruthann and I played blackjack. Over breakfast the next morning, Adam whipped out the deck of cards and said, you are going to play 7 card stud in the poker room. I got a tingly feeling- you know, that nervous feeling of anticipation right before you open a present, combined with the feeling I had right before a big exam- super anxiety. We practiced for 1/2 hour and then I sat at 1 to 3 stud with $50. That was a lot of money for me in college. I played for 1 hr, folded mostly. In one hand, i had queens rolled up and called bets all the way down. I did not understand raising, or strategy or anything. I knew 3 queens were very good, in a vacuum. I had no concept. My poker mind was a blank slate during that session, with only a grasp of the hand rankings and that's it. After that, I was hooked.
Years 1999-2000
Ruthann and I had a blast. We were roomates. I started law school and I hated it. I was working 40 hours a week in Queens and going to school 20 hours per week. My life was hell. I was miserable. My only bit of fun was poker. It rescued me when I couldn't handle school. Often times, on Thursday night or Friday night, Ruthann and I would be sitting on the couch. We would look at each other and say what should we do? We can't go to foxwoods again, can we? And then we would take off. We would laugh uncontrollably as we scrounged up money to go play 1 to 5 stud at foxwoods, knowing we were most likely going to lose what we brought with us, but have a great time in the interim. We would leave at 10p.m. and play all night. Then I would drive home, deliriously tired, praying I would get home in time (no cell phones then) to call in sick to work, but before my boss got there so I could leave a message on her voicemail. Then we would sleep all day and order sandwhiches from the local deli that delivered, relaxing after a fun night. One particular time, we were driving home from Foxwoods and stopped at the Dunkin Donuts on Route 2. We pulled up to drive thru, I ordered the coffees, and said to Ruthie, you want anything else? She goes, why don't we get 10 munchkins. Without even thinking I said, we might as well get 50. She looked at me and burst out laughing. It wasn't particularly funny, but after being up all night and losing, it seemed like the funniest thing in the world. I couldn't even order because I was crying from laughing so hard. The ghetto guy working the window kept asking me, when I pulled up to pay, where he can get the same type of weed we were smoking. That resulted in us laughing even harder.
During these years, I only played 7 card stud, 1 to 5 and sometimes, 5 -10 stud.
Year 2001-2003
During this time, I started playing on Ultimatebet, hold em and 7 card stud cash games. I played $5 and $10nl hold em sngs. I played all this time just for fun. I played play chips and low limit cash games. I deposited often and never made withdrawals. It was just fun, although I wanted to win. I thought over and over, what an awesome life it would be if poker could be my job. Remember, this was before I was educated about players. I did not know that people actually played poker professionally, I did not know money could be made at this game consistently. I was ignorant and having fun.
In 2002 and 2003, I played the Limit $50 tournaments they had at Foxwoods and the $40 Stud tournaments on Saturdays. My dad and I would go up for the day, or I would go by myself. I was still in lawschool, but graduating soon, so I didn't care as much. It was at Foxwoods I cashed in my first tournaments. I came in 5th, and 7th and 4th. Three tournaments, for a few hundred dollars. I was happy. Ecstatic. I proved to people that I am good at this game, or so I thought then. I was just unbelievably tight and I thought bluffing was a myth, lol. I was so gullible. I always believed my opponents had the nuts or the best hand. I got very lucky to cash in those tournaments.
In October 2003, I asked my father to stake me in a $300 Limit Hold Em World Poker Finals at Foxwoods. This was my second or third $300 buy in. I had not cashed in any other tournaments other than the weeklys. My father agreed to give me $150 toward the buy in and I put up $150 and he would get 1/2 of what I made. I remember it was Halloween. I was with my friend Brigid, and we were driving to Boston to meet our friends for a weekend of fun. I told Brigid that the tournament might take hours and hours, and I might bust, but if I made it to the money, we weren't getting to Boston until 11pm or later. She was cool with it. I played so hard that day. I was tight and made great folds, and chipped up. In all honesty, there was no skill in my game. It was ABC poker. It was about my hand, my cards, not my opponent. There were no pot odds, priced in calls, none of that. It was pure, unadulterated ABC I have the best hand at showdown poker. I came in 6th for $6300.00. I felt like a millionaire. My dad only took $2500, and I bought dinner for my friends in Boston. I was so happy. Men the Master came in first for $55k in this tourney. He was drunk and playing bad, but getting sooo sooo lucky. It was a great final table. I was very happy. My first cardplayer cash.
**What's funny now, is that my dad has started playing tournaments seriously in the last year. He always played poker for fun, and he is realziing that he could make some real money at it. In March, Jon and I had the opportunity to return the favor my dad did for me years before, and staked him in a $600 buy in for 50%. He cashed 60th for $1100, but the best thing is it was his first card player cash!!! Just like the tournament he staked me in was my first card player cash....another sign of how things in life come full circle.***
Years 2004- Present
I played poker at a cash game in Westbury with a group of guys from LI. It was weird bc I was the only girl, and young compared to the guys playing. But I learned. I learned Omaha and Stud Hi Lo and how to lose and deal with it. I was still bad.. And then, on Ultimatebet I played a $13 sng for a $100 entry. I won the $100 entry. That was to play for a WPT Package to go to Paris worth $14,000. I came in first out of 78 and went to Paris. In Paris, I played tight and then I got really aggressive- I just got into a zone. I noticed that players were folding so often when I raised, so during the second day of the tournament, i went from short stacked to third in chips. I ended up busting on day 3, 24th for $12,600. I was thrilled. This is where I met David Levi, the professional poker player. He was extremely nice to me. I was with a really inconsiderate boyfriend on the trip, who left me at the club in Paris, a 15 minute walk from our hotel, with no way of getting back at 3 am. David was nice enough to walk me to my hotel. On the walk, he told me how he lived in Vegas and played full time. He played Hi Limit Cash Games, 400 800 limit and mixed games. I was so impressed. Even to this day, I believe he had a big influence on the decisions I have made regarding poker.
Since then, as you all know, I have studied the game. I am fortunate to have people like Jon in my life, and Dragon, and our roomates in New Jersey and many online friends, to talk about poker and study the game-analyzing hands, and discuss new strategies, speaking of different/unique ways of playing hands. I am super lucky to wake up every morning, with the knowledge that the next poker cash is just around the corner. My confidence level has increased drastically in the last year, and that only came from the revenue I realized from my game, combined with constant improvement/skill. I am so excited for our poker future. We get to travel and play and exploit our freedoms to the fullest. Not many can say this, and I appreciate it every second of my life.
I will post hands soon. Lastly, Jon came in 3rd in 30k a few days ago, along with my friend Timburt who got 6th in that tournament as well! Good job guys.
Good money and peace,
Lucky C and Ace.
