The Poker Life - A Double Edged Sword Part I

I had some time this weekend to sit back and actually think about what effect my poker playing is having on my life. A life that is blessed with a devoted wife and a beautiful teenage daughter. I felt it was appropriate to express the resulting feelings here. This post will expose my personal history of gambling. The next post will expound on this history with its effect on my current life and future.

History

I have been playing games for monetary stakes since early in my life. I started playing quarters and other little games of chance in middle school. By high school, there was a standing group of football players that played poker at least twice a month. This group remained together around the poker table through college. I cannot say that I was a huge winner or loser in the high school game, but it did expose me to the game and its challenges and thrills.

In college, I ran the game at the fraternity house every Sunday night. This is one period where I can say that I made a lot of money, relative to my net worth. Most of the players were drunk and did not play well regardless of their soberness, or lack thereof. We would play until dawn and go catch breakfast. Unfortunately, as the game wound down in the spring semester around finals I would also be the one holding the tabs from everyone that was stuck deep in the game. More than one fraternity brother stiffed me from that game and I would gladly forgive the debt just to retain the friendship that the debt has subsequently robbed from me.

It was during this period that I had my largest loss related to my net worth. I was home for the holidays in 1987 and we had a big game on new years eve. I remember having a successful fall working for my father's company and from the fraternity game. I went home from this game around 3:00 am down $4000 and really pissed at myself. Silly match the pot games and either unreal luck or uncanny catching by the others in the game caused the greatest of the losses.

This night, and the subsequent marriage to my girlfriend (still my wife - eloped to Las Vegas in January 1988), turned me away from the game for several months. However, the crew started back up again and began playing regularly on Friday nights in the fall of 1988 and I began winning again. I did not get serious about the game of poker following graduation from college in 1990. Our Friday night game got bigger and we would invite in others, who would go broke, and we would move on to the next group of new players. The game died around 1991 or so.

After I graduated from college my father and I started a new company with my father that immediately became profitable. I started playing blackjack and high stakes golf, but turned away from poker as it was not readily available nor did I have as big a +EV as I did with golf or work. My daughter's birth in 1992 and an ever-increasing time requirement at work continually restricted my poker playing options. However, a casino opened up about 30 minutes from our house and my blackjack playing began to increase exponitially. I lost significant amounts at blackjack like most mortal humans do and that frustrated me to no end. I went looking for a new game.

Then in 1995 on a trip to Las Vegas I discovered hold 'em, both in cash games and tournaments. I fell in love with the suttle nuances and strategy found in the game. I had found a home. Following that trip to Las Vegas, I regularly took trips to Tunica to play 20-40 hold em and the occasional tournament they hosted (very rare in the mid-1990s). This is the time frame when I played in my first NL tournament in Tunica, a 20-person satellite into a WSOP event. I finished third getting it all in at the end with A8 v. little Bill's A9. Oh well, I had a great time. I was a winner in the 20-40 and that continues to this day.

After some market set backs and other forces, my family divested itself of a large portion of the family business in 1997. I sold the remaining portion I owned to my father and then-brother in law and moved to Memphis to attend law school. People thought I was nuts for going to law school, but I loved the challenge and did very well during my tenure, graduating in the top ten of my class.

During my first semester in law school, I would take off after class on Thursday (10:00 am) and be down at the Horseshoe for the start up of the 20-40 around 11:00 am. I booked more wins than losses and it gave me stress relief from school and provided needed financial support for the family. Unfortunately, my gambling vein caused me to venture into a game that I had no business playing.

One Thursday night I was late getting away from school and the 20-40 game was full and the list was long so I sat down at a 1-2 PLY game. I bought in for $500, made quads on about the fifth hand against a nut full house and I was hooked. I actually cashed out even that night and drove back to Memphis determined to learn how to play that silly game of PLO. Within a month, my Thursday night game changed to Sunday night so I could play in the 2-5 PLO game at the Grand. Looking back on that time, it was ludicrous to play anything other than that 20-40 and the consistent wins, but the lure of the big hit drew me in like a moth to a flame.

In the first month of playing the PLO game, I booked a $10,000 win and a $8,000 loss. My inexperience and the deep stacks at the table caused a large variance in my results, more bad than good. I also was guilty of buying nice things for my wife and daughter when the Sunday game went right. Bad idea and not good for the bankroll management, which as mentioned before, needs significant work.

I did not understand game selection and realize now that some nights I should have played in the game as it was very soft and other nights I should have run like a dog away from the game. My biggest loss ever in one hand (still stands for me) was in this game. One Sunday night I get down to the Grand and the game is five handed, including a couple that I did not know (Tom McElvoy and Kathy Liebert). I buy in for $1,000 and build it up to $5,100 when it happened. I am in the SB dealt A67Q with the Ace suited in hearts. I call one preflop raise to $20 following Kathy's call from LP. Only one player has me covered. We see the flop comes 69Q four handed, with one heart I bet out the pot and all players call the bet. There is now $400 in the pot. The turn is the 7h, and I check. The BB, who is short stacked goes all in for $400, the gentleman that has me covered makes it $1000 and Kathy then goes all in for $1800. I count my potential outs, 9 hearts, two queens, two sixes and two sevens. Fifteen outs. I am getting a great price, so I call. Unfortunately the gentleman that has me covered then goes all in over the top of my call. My inexperience got the best of me, but after putting in $1800 I could not fold to his reraise and I call. The river is an A giving me four pair and I lose a monster pot. I end up "only" down $3300 for the night, but hate the way I played that hand from start to finish. And it is a good example of my stellar game selection at the time.

Four weeks later, the semester ends and I play alot of sessions during the Christmas break. By the first week of February I am now down a total of $40,000 in the PLO game. I stop playing for fourteen months. My next venture was into the first annual WPO in 2000. I stayed away from the big ticket cash games and concentrated on tournaments and 20-40 HE. I did relatively well in 2000 winning my seat into the two tournaments I played in and winning in the 20-40. I have been back to every WPO except 2004, up more than down, and happy with my game.

In mid-2001, I met a gynocologist in Paducah, my old stomping grounds, that was playing profitably in a 10-20 game. I started going home more often than before and was really winning big in that game. I then found a 15-30 Omaha game in Nashville in 2002 and starting winning consistently in it immediately.

In December 2002 I hosted my first tournament in Nashville, a $20 entry fee that ended up having 20 players. This expanded to five table tournaments with $100 entry fees during 2003 and 2004. The last tournament I hosted was a $1000 event in December 2004 where the winner took home $10,000. We capped the entries in that $1,000 event at 22 players and ended up having a list of players wanting into the tournament. I have successfully played in local tournaments since 2002, booking several wins and cashes of over $30,000 total in these local tournaments.

In October of 2003, I help start a 10-20 game using my tables and contacts. That game ran for well over a year (I was not involved after the first few months) and was a big success up until outside forces caused it to close.

Summing all this history up with one quick thought: I cannot say that I am a lifetime winner at poker. Its possible, more likely probable, but it would be close, probably within $10,000 either way. I do not have accurate records going back to college. I am now a consistent winner in all games that I chose to play, including finally on line games. Which leads me to my focus point for the next post, what effect does winning poker playing have on my family? That and other tidbits in the next post. Until then....

Good Luck and See You at the Felt