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tonight, i placed 4th in the friday special on party for $10,404. what follows is a brief account of my entire poker story, written minutes after my cash, as i smoke a blunt with two of my best friends. hopefully some of you will find it inspiring or learn something, but at the very least i think everyone will enjoy reading this. please, please read it, and leave feedback about what you thought, both negative and positive. before september of 2005, i knew nothing about poker, had no idea what position or pot odds were, just knew that moving all in (i.e. from the wsop) was the way to DO IT. however, my interest in the wsop on espn made me determined to learn the game and hopefully find myself at the world series some day. i really didn't know where to start, so i started playing my dorm hall game and deposited 50 bucks at party, which i lost at .25/.50 nl in two days (but not before doubling it and bragging to pretty much everyone i knew, lol). anyways, after that, i dropped poker out of my mind for a while, UNTIL: one day, one of my friends from one of my classes told me about this party and i went that night, and the guys that were hosting the party ended up being professional poker players. i gotta introduce names here guys, it'll make the story much easier. the three guys are ben (my best friend of the three and mentor), faraz (his bankroll partner, and my assistant mentor), and g (the figurative chill *** dude on the couch, for lack of better description/me being high). anyways, ben faraz and g lived in this house where they were having this party, and i went back there a few days later and kicked it with them, and ben lent me "Play Poker Like the Pros" and "Super System" and told me to read them, which i diligently did in about two weeks. after that, i returned them, started reading "Harrington on Hold em" and "Caro's Book of Tells" etc and talking with ben and faraz about poker as well as sweating them at their home game. so by now it's december 2005, and ben and faraz and g have changed from strangers to my best friends, and i decide to re-deposit on party. i start out playing $6 sngs with the help of ben and faraz, and quickly learn to be profitable at them. over winter break i started keeping an excel spreadsheet of my stats to better track my results and bought poker tracker/ace hud. i moved up to 11s, made my first grand on january 9th at which point i moved up to 22s, and constantly kept reading and watching and playing and thinking poker. also, when second semester started in january, i moved out of the dorms into ben faraz and g's house, where i live now, a veritable "pokerhouse" - we call ourselves the pokerhaus. anyways, i moved up to 33s in february and my bankroll was at about 5 grand at the end of february, when i moved up to 55s and cashed out a grand, leaving my bankroll at 4,000 on march 1. also, in february i started getting into mtts as well as the full contact forums (did lots of trollling, have recently started posting more) - i really felt the tournament strategy forum helped me develop a lot as a mtt player. again, throughout this time i was constantly thinking about poker - reading, watching, playing, thinking poker. before tonight, my two biggest mtt cashes were in $33 tournaments, 2nd for $1,600 and 3rd for $1,368. also, before tonight, i had never entered a mtt for more than $55, and i have never played a sng over $55, despite my bankroll being over $6,000 at the start of the night (plus additional cash outs). it has nothing to do with my skill level, i am profitable at the 55s and am quite sure i could be profitable much higher. maybe this isn't true for others, but i've always felt that my very slow approach to moving up in limits just for the purpose of gaining experience and perspective was very advantageous. i hope you all realize i am not listing these sums to brag - they are quite modest in comparison to a lot of other posters on this forum and really nothing to write home about just yet. i'm just doing it to be specific and give you an accurate picture of my history, please don't take it as me puffing my chest out. anyways, so the end of this little story is that tonight i entered the $215 friday special with one of my friends and cashed in 4th for $10,404. i was bankrolling it with him, so he's getting half of it, leaving me with a profit of just under $5,000. six months ago, i had absolutely no idea how to play poker properly. i was very lucky to find some amazing friends who have been rounding for years and were happy to teach me. however, i want to identify the other key aspects of my rise in the poker world to at least a decent mtt player. first, my thirst for the game, which i think a lot of people on this forum have, and which i tried to stress throughout this post. reading books, browsing AND interacting on forums, watching poker, playing poker, they were all very important to me at least. second, my tracking of results through poker tracker and my excel spreadsheet. i can tell you exactly how profitable i was at each sng level on party in terms of hourly rate or rate per sng played and exactly how well i played on each day, as well as the last hand from every sng i've ever lost (2nd-10th). again, not saying this to brag, but i think it was very important to track my results and challenge myself to increase my win rate or other stats. anyways i'm kinda windin down on this whole idea and don't really remember what i was lookin for when i started. a lot of you on this site think you don't have what it takes to have a big cash or be a very profitable player, but hopefully this story shows you that if you work hard and challenge yourself, those $10,000 cashes are not far off at all. also, sorry if there are lots of errors or sentences that don't make sense, this post is way too long for me to check until tomorrow, but i'll try to edit it tomorrow. finally, i hope i didn't come off as cocky or arrogant in this post, everyone please understand that if i did, i didn't mean to, i was just blazed and trying to tell a story :club: shoutout to my homies ben, faraz, and g - would never have been close to where i am without your guys' help. hope the cards run well, andy

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Definitely an interesting story, and doesn't come off as a brag post at all. I'd take one of these type of posts over the "why do my kings and aces always get cracked, I have terrible luck, God hates me" kind of posts any day. The "bragging to all your buddies when you first made money on Party and then losing it back the next day" definitely sounded familiar. All in all, your story is a good endorsement for the careful, conservative approach, and if I was learning how to play poker all over again, that's probably how I'd do everything.Personally, I didn't make any attempt to read about poker or study my game beyond reading CardPlayer articles until I'd been playing for about nine months and had finally figured out how to be profitable. Obviously, different levels of care are appropriate for different players, but I'm glad to see your hard work payed off, doing it the "right way". It means a lot more to see someone up-and-coming get the big cash, then someone that's already raping the tables and is just adding on. Nice work.

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NOT only did i increase my biggest cash by a factor of 6.5, but i also crossed the 100 post milestone!!! good times all around.thanks iggy, congrats on your cash tonight :club:

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This is a good story. It's nice you had people that were hands on helping you. I'm especially impressed with the bankroll management. It's not sexy, but it works. Since this may have put you over the hump, why not return the favor to another. There's this guy redpill, who I'm sure would jump at the chance to move out of him mom's basement and into the "pokerhaus". I'm sure he's great at parties too. I'm sure a smoke here or there would do him some good. Congrats on the cash. The final table was entertaining, watching you move up spots. Your post makes it even sweeter. Good luck in school, and at the tables. Of course you can't take me seriously because a friend in HS killed a cat with LSD, but you get a pat on the back nonetheless. TP/MM!!

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last year, i had a similar experience winning a foxwoods experience and what i found to be a good keepsake is detailing as many of the hands as possible and the ups and downs. it will help you relive the experience, if you so desire.also, dont forget to claim the taxes on this win. the law is the law. :club:

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Definitely an interesting story, and doesn't come off as a brag post at all. I'd take one of these type of posts over the "why do my kings and aces always get cracked
when I make a big cash, i post a story like this but for now you'll only get the stories of my rockets getting cracked and busting me out before I can make the top three or four.
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Yo. I'm happy to hear about your great finish. The one thing that I want to express though is to get your education. I'm speaking from firsthand knowledge as I am only 21 but have dropped out of college for a year and a half and then rejoined to get my degree. I dropped out in the first place because I was playing too much poker. Luckily, I was able to get back in and have since been playing sporadically and keeping a level head about it. I know that once I start playing again like I use to, I'll end up wasting a semester's tuition ($17,000. I go to the U. of Michigan. Out of state) and my parents won't be too happy.Once again, I don't want to take away from your win but know that you are in college to learn and make sure to get all your studying and homework out of the way before you play. Congratulations bro.

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lol that is a horrible bookunfortunately, i was not as wise once, and i did buy it :club:
I got it as a gift and did read some of it for fun........it is pretty comical..but I guess if you are a beginner..it MIGHT be of some use. The funniest parts are the Stud sections.....they are so lame.
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Defiantely wished i started out like this. i started playing with play money, then deposited $50 on stars, and started playing .50/1. Obviously this was way too high. my only exp was watching WSOP and WPT on challenge. Of course i saw it and thought, hey i can do that, and i thought i was the best palyer in the world.I have recently dposited again and, co-incidentally, I have just started to keep records and I am moving up slowly. Most of my 'poker friends' play limits unrealistic to their rolls, one in particular would play 5/10 blinds one day and the play $13 SNG the next.But definately a good story :club:

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I got it as a gift and did read some of it for fun........it is pretty comical..but I guess if you are a beginner..it MIGHT be of some use. The funniest parts are the Stud sections.....they are so lame.
i was unfortunate enough to buy the book off amazon for $10 about 2 years ago. worst...read...ever....the good news is one of my buddys just started playing so i gave it to him just to get it off of my book shelf. i guess i should feel bad for giving him such a shitty book, but i don't.
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hey, it's a great book to give a beginner: it preaches being overly tight, which realistically makes people play somewhat tight. i don't really remember anything about the book except how tight it advises playing, but if you just give a beginner super system and tell him to read the no limit section, he gets completely the wrong idea about how to play no limit.

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I got it as a gift and did read some of it for fun........it is pretty comical..but I guess if you are a beginner..it MIGHT be of some use. The funniest parts are the Stud sections.....they are so lame.
No i would have to say the funniest is teh NLHE section. It is so terrible there is basically there.And also im very impressed at the speed you learned the game. I wish I had a couple guys to teach me the game like you did. It took me a year until i think I became profitable. Im still not really sure. My bankroll would suggest I am but i really don't know.
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Nice work man.I am a firm believer that you can learn 95% of a solid game in a few months if you're willing to put the time in.I also am a firm believer that the 5% separates the men from the boys, but I digress.

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  • 7 months later...

In inspiration of Prtyp's royal hold'em thread. I want to bump this thread because it is one that everyone should read. I remember reading this topic so long ago but it didn't affect me much if at all. Reading it today it has impacted me greatly, I have decided a couple of days ago that in order for me to become a great player instead of above average, I am going to have to study a lot of poker and play and study and play and study, instead of just knowing the basics and play mostly on feel.BKiCe, it is pretty mind boggling how so many things change in so little time. For that past few months or so I've railed you in many tourneys and/or read a lot of posts by you. I really hope the rest of the FCP community does read this topic.PS: I love theredpill reference in this topic.

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HAHAHA good bump definitely the highlight of my day so far (my day so far has consisted of waking up at 5am, studying for an exam, taking such exam and prolly not doing too well, coming home, smoking, and getting on the poker forums)from this post 8 months ago to now being ranked #33 on pocketfives :] :] :]

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