i play poker for recreation. it's one of my favorite hobbies. i love to test my skills and compete against others in a structured format. i used to play chess competitively when i was younger, too.
i also have found additional benefits from playing poker. namely, it has helped me maintain my focus, concentration and self-control abilities. i call poker my 'mental yoga'.
i learned and started playing about a year ago. at the time, i just went thru some trying times in a short time period (deaths in the family, taking over a family business, etc). one afternoon, as i was brooding, i started reading the rules of texas holdem on the pokerstars website.
hence, i started with, and stayed on, pokerstars. i checked out many other sites in-between, but found that all i need, and like most, poker-wise is on stars. i only play NLHE tourneys, mostly pvt events, buck tourneys (SNG and scheduled) and sats to major events. the latter because one can dream, right?
come and say hi to me around the tables anytime...