So. Why poker? Why now?

I suppose the timing was right and the signs were there, leading me. Most of my friends live a good 30mins drive, or so, away, and with the roads plastered with snow, ice and that brown mushy stuff, I was going nowhere in a hurry. I’d also exhausted the usual, er, distractions for a single man trapped at home. And reading Vicky Coren’s For Richer, For Poorer just made me all enthusiastic about it. It all made sense that this was the time to start playing poker online… for real money.

To be fair, I wasn’t exactly new to poker. I had the good, or bad, fortune to work in a casino for a couple of years and was exposed to the excitement of the card room. Some of the staff used to play on brakes for pennies. So… I knew how to play a little. I was also a massive fan of Late Night Poker. From the first series, I was hooked. I’ve played with my friends from time to time over the last few years, but only really for shits and giggles. But I think it was inevitable that I would end up here, doing this.

So, I signed up with PokerStars.com made a $20 deposit and that was it. Played for a while on a big stake cash table with betting increments of *gasp* $0.02, making a massive $2.07 profit. Now, cash games are alright, and everything, but the tournaments… that’s where the prestige is. I chose the Sunday 1/4 Million because the PokerStars website says ‘If you’re looking for your first taste of big money action then this is the tournament for you’. I progressed to the Sunday 1/4 Million tournament through the $2.00+$0.20 satellite and, if you’ve read my first post, you know how that went. But, its early days for me. I’m still learning the game, about bankroll management, fixing leaks, pot odds and so on.

Where am I going with this? What is my great ambition? To start playing well and winning some decent money is the first step. Even if the decent money is $8.50 from a $0.10 sit n go. I would really love to make it to a big, major live tournament, be it EPT, WPT, WSOP, etc. and win. Definitely not ready for that, but maybe in a year or 18 months… who knows. One ambition I don’t have is to become a professional poker player. If it becomes your job, it ceases to be something you do for fun. I mean, if it happens as a matter of course, fair enough, but I’ll never force it.

Its early days for me and I may get bored after a couple of months, we just don’t know. But keep watching, cos you never know.