My poker story (long)

My first time being exposed to No Limit Hold’em was around 2005 when the World Series of Poker was constantly playing on TV. I watched them play and I was amazed by the way they were playing. People were constantly going all in, bluffing out the best hands. Of course, at that time I didn’t realize that the only correct play to do was to go all-in due to their stack sizes relative to the blinds.


My first experience playing the game was at my friend’s house. We were playing with 5 dollar buy-ins, and I had no idea what I was doing. I was just betting my hands aggressively because it was what the “pros” did on TV. We were playing poker almost every single week on the weekends for a year or more. I was probably a marginal winner amongst my group of friends.


In the winter of 2005, I was browsing through a forum, and it had mentioned something about bonus whoring on poker sites. Because I had no job at the time, I thought it was an awesome way to make some money. Even if I was a break-even player, I would be making money. I thought it was such a great deal. Because I was such a keener, I read some strategies online, and read the book Winning Low Limit Hold’em by Lee Jones. I had also read that having bankroll management was crucial for success, and 300BB (big bets) is sufficient for playing Limit Hold’em. After reading a couple of more books from the library, and a few articles, I deposited $300 to The Gaming Club (now changed to Poker Time) with 100% deposit bonus and I started playing .50/$1 LHE.

After about 3 to 4 weeks of playing, my bankroll did not grow at all. I was only breaking even because of the bonus that I was receiving from the site. One night I lost my entire bankroll due to tilt, and playing above my roll. A couple weeks later, I would deposit another $200 to give it another shot. I ran my bankroll up to about $500, and I was super happy. The next day I decided to deposit $150 to PartyPoker because of their $50 bonus. I think their smallest game at the time was $1/$2 and lost everything in about a day (everybody was playing like a maniac). Within a month, I would lose my entire online roll. I promised myself that I would not deposit ever again.

On March 18, 2007, PartyPoker sent me $20 to my account for my birthday. I didn’t want to go back and play cash games, because I thought it was pretty stupid, and I would lose it all for sure. I was looking through the site, and saw some Sit n’Go tournaments running (similar to the games that I have been playing with my friends) and registered for two $5 Sit n Go tables. I got first place on both, and thought this was the easiest game ever. I ran my bankroll to about $800 playing for four months, grinding Sit n Go’s and then went back to playing Limit Hold’em in September. This was when I had discovered Cardrunners, and bought a few Limit Hold’em videos by Schneids. I started gaining confidence and played above my bankroll. I ran pretty hot and ran my roll up to about $4000. Then in December, I hit a huge downswing and lost $2k. I was devastated and very angry at myself for having no self-control.


This was when I decided to take poker very seriously. I wanted to be one of the best poker players in the world. In addition to constantly lurking poker forums, I was also thinking of how I can improve my game. I found out that I was losing a lot of money from the rake from PartyPoker (they don’t have rakeback), so I withdrew the last of my poker bankroll into my bank account.

In the end of December, I subscribed to Cardrunners, and wanted to start from the ground up. Since I wanted to take poker seriously, I should start investing my time wisely and smarten up. My plan was to use $500 to deposit onto a site with rakeback and just grind my way to the top ( I decided to go with No Limit Hold’em because it has less variance than Sit n Go’s and Limit Hold’em IMO). In January of 2008, I made a resolution that if I lost the last of my bankroll, I would quit playing poker and stop trying once and for all.


With strict bankroll management and a minimum requirement of 30 buy-ins before moving up to the next level, I started playing $25NoLimit. I moved up to 50NL in February, then 100NL in March, then 200NL in April. This was all during my last semester of University, so playing poker for a living after I graduate was definitely on my mind. I had a lot of options to choose from, as I was also taking a Fashion Marketing program on the side. My major in University was political science, and I already knew I didn’t want to do anything in regards to politics. I had also been volunteering for a policing community center because I wanted to go into law enforcement. Others were also telling me about the Canadian Border Service Agency that was recruiting. After my graduation ceremony, my parents were asking me what I wanted to do. Of course I told them that I wanted to play poker. I wanted to take a shot at poker in the summer, and if I did well, I wanted to do it for a few years. I love the way that poker gives you so much free time, and the sky is the limit if you put the time and effort into it. Needless to say, they didn’t want me playing poker at all. So the only way for them to let me was to make a deal with them. If I was able to win $5k in May, they would let me play for the summer. Or else, I would have to find a job. They instantly agreed, since 5k in a month is a lot of money for a recent grad like me, and I would not be able to make that much at any job that I can find.


The month of May was my most intensive month of poker. Despite breaking even at 200NL, I had won $3k at 100NL, $1k at my shot at 400NL, and $1k in rakeback. That was the month I played my most hands (30k+). From the starting of June, I had an 11k bankroll and was playing 400NL. I was mostly playing 400NL and some 100NL throughout the summer. I didn’t play 200NL because I was a break-even player at that limit, plus I run so bad at 200NL. From that time on, I just wanted to keep moving up in limits and play my hardest.


After every upswing there is the dreaded downswing, and this hit me pretty hard because I’m not used to long break-even stretches. From September to the end of October, I was only up 4k. This was a very depressing time for me. I took a shot at 600NL, was losing, then hopped onto a 1000NL, and ran like crap. I managed to have a break-even month in September and was grinding my way back up at 400NL. After my bad run at the higher stakes, I promised to stay at 400NL until I have a large enough bankroll to take huge swings at the higher limits.