A Brief History of My Short Poker Career

[Cena]

Back in January, when I started with PAS, I knew very little about poker. In retrospect, it's probably fair to say I knew nothing. I didn't know which was higher, a straight or a flush. I'd never played online. However, I was initially hired to beta-test the then-upcoming V3, so this wasn't particularly important.

I did try to get into the spirit of things, and got a few free bankrolls I messed around with. Then things started getting really busy around here, and I kind of drifted away.

A few weeks ago I remembered I had accounts at places like Cake, UB, and AP. I only had a few bucks at Cake and AP, but I had almost $50 at UB! My fledgling poker career was reborn.

I quickly blew through those accounts, and finally bit the bullet and deposited some actual real money at PokerStars. A whole $10! That money lasted about a week. In fact, I got down to 4 cents. However, I discovered a 2 cent tourney (I think it was a 990-man) and finished at 44th. I won .10! Although I was tempted to try a .12 -> 12K challenge, the enormity of that quickly overcame my ambition. At that point, I signed up at Full Tilt and deposited $20. Rush and some tourneys that I didn't cash from quickly left me with about $9 remaining.

I'm a terrible player, get too emotionally attached to hands, get annoyed when I feel I'm being bullied and then TAKE THE BAIT. I know I'm doing it and yet find it difficult to stop. MUST STOP. I was getting fed up with poker, people going all-in on every hand, and Dan Harrington and his damn books. But...one more, I thought, and paid my $1.00+.10, and settled in to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack, as usual.

However, on this fateful evening, the stars aligned, the heavenly choirs sang, and the angels smiled upon me. I made it to the final table. I wasn't getting drawn into to stupid pots. And then:

Full Tilt Poker $1 + $0.10 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t200/t400 Blinds - 8 players - View hand 866601
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (MP2): t12710 31.77 BBs
CO: t7550 18.88 BBs
BTN: t6360 15.90 BBs
SB: t6660 16.65 BBs
BB: t7173 17.93 BBs
UTG: t2700 6.75 BBs
UTG+1: t11700 29.25 BBs
MP1: t12647 31.62 BBs

Pre Flop: (t600) Hero is MP2 with T T
2 folds, MP1 raises to t1400, Hero raises to t2400, 4 folds, MP1 calls t1000

Flop: (t5400) T T 6 (2 players)
MP1 bets t10247 all in, Hero calls t10247

Turn: (t25894) 4 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (t25894) K (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t25894
Hero shows T T (four of a kind, Tens)
MP1 shows J J (two pair, Jacks and Tens)
Hero wins t25894

And I was born anew, and went on to place 1st. That was the sweetest $17.10 I've ever made.

See you at the tables!

[kushmoney]

Nice story and what a hand. Got to love flops like that.

[Rakeback Safe]

Great story and congrats on winnig your first tournament

Good to see that you try to play and learn something about poker when working at PAS, then you also learn to know/understand more about what we and our players are rambling about. lol

[GonzoPAS]

Go Cena!

Maybe you could do what Chris Ferguson did: Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker - All Promotions: Chris Ferguson Challenge

$0.04 to $10,000!