Initial Experiences

[Trinket]

Hey all.

I’ve been playing poker properly now for around 9 months, and I’m doing fairly well. As you know, I recently took a step into a new area of the ‘gaming industry’ when I went to the Empire Casino.

I told my friends about my interest in poker about 6 months ago (they previously thought I only played for fun, and thus at ‘play money’ tables), and I’ve of course been telling those that couldn’t come to the casino about the .

I’ve observed quite a change in my friend’s attitudes towards me and my ‘gambling habits’ as they call them over time, and I’m curious as to other people’s experiences in this area?

- When did you tell people about your interests in poker, or was it more of a slow integration?

- How did they react?

- How did your progression go?

Here’s my progression as best as I can remember it:

Disbelief – At first, when I said I was playing poker for money, people thought I was crazy. Keep in mind that these friends of mine are all students (as am I), and thus money is a large question mark () in some areas. My friends thought I was a little crazy, as stories often concluded with me losing money (Ah the early days ). Even my lecturers were a little wary of my new hobby, as they often overheard some of the conversations that took place with people. This phase lasted about a week I think.

Conversion – With the ‘apparent’ development of a pastime that was still sapping my student account, my friends took up a mission to try and pull me back from the ‘abyss’. This was the time in which I was reading as much literature as I could lay my hands on – we’re talking a real obsession about learning all I could. Of course, we all still learn something new every day, but this was something else compared to the time I have to play, let alone read and research. As I learnt, I eventually started getting better, and the losing stories eventually turned into ‘break-even’ and small ‘winning’ stories. Funny that this was after the time that I started posting here eh? This phase lasted around a month.

Aggression – Failing the attempt at stopping me from playing, people became quite hostile towards me, really trying to pull me away from the game. I didn’t take offence to it, as people were genuinely concerned. My friends now tell me that they were simply concerned that I may have an addiction and was losing more money than I could afford etc. This phase also lasted around a month – it was pretty tough.

Wonderment – Eventually, all my reading (books, blogs, this forum) began to pay off, and playing turned to slowly making a profit. I began to recoup my losses at a steady pace grinding out the micro-limits. I took down a couple of local tournaments at my pool club (which people thought was very cool), and my friends began to actually see that I was enjoying myself, and had enjoyed myself even through my losses. This was also a time where I could talk more about poker and people were more receptive. This phase lasted around 2 months.

Acceptance – Finally, people began to accept the fact that I had found a hobby that I was sticking to (I did have a history of wondering between interests), and not only that but also making a small profit from it.

Interest – Just before Christmas, with my poker interest overflowing into my degree with the creation of my film (Tilt), people have begun to see an appeal to the game. People ask me a lot of questions, which I do my best to answer. I also try to refer them to the forum, but I don’t think any of them have signed up . I suppose this then leads to:

Reverse Conversion – During my time playing poker, I have been fairly vocal about the game, but I’ve always told people that I play within my limits (occasionally taking shots) and that if people did play for money, that they should do the same (I actually tell them to follow Chris Ferguson’s’ bankroll management rules). With the recent boom in poker, especially here in the UK with new casinos popping up all over the place, naturally people have started to play for small stakes etc. I have to admit that it’s pretty cool having people to talk to about poker in person (there aren’t many, but it’s an increase from 9 months ago ), and I find it really ironic that things have changed around from about 6-7 months ago… Even my lecturers ask me how things are going. They're still as scared of poker as they were 6 months ago, but they can still see my interest nowadays .

Anyhow, that’s my experience with friends and family concerning my ‘development’ as a poker player. I just wondered whether people have had similar experiences or not?

[herschelw]

My parents weren't really thrilled when I turned professional. Then I made more money then both of them combined this year and they are pretty supportive at this point.

[JDMcNugent7]

i just pay my parents to shutup about it

[Reel Deal]

Fucking gold.

[Kurn]

"Money...money changes everything." - Cindy Lauper

[hackers238]

Mine is somewhat similar, but I'll be sure to post once I'm out of work / by tonight.

[hackers238]

I learned to play texas holdem on a community service trip to west virginia (ahhh moms) in 8th grade. They told us to bring $200 spending money, as we went out to eat, and did fun things on the side which cost us money. Some kid taught everyone (he was the only one who knew how to play), and soon we were playing with a chipset he had brought. The second night we were playing for quarters, and by the end of the trip we all still had $150. It seems they had grossly overestimated the amount of money we'd need. So I played one of the biggest games of my life ($1/$2) with about 10 kids, and the kid who taught us won ~$700. Go Figure.

Anyways I brought the game home and started playing with my friends for fun. We were all math geeks, and started keeping meticulous stats in a message board online which I set up. Check out this link to see our all time stats 2004-2006. I'm in fourth overall +$200 (go me!).

Our moms were wary at first, but after kids started hosting games and our parents saw how much fun we had, they let up. We explained how the most you could lose in one night was $5, and this was about the same cost of seeing a movie, so they were cool. We only played $5 SNGs at that time, I'm not sure if we knew ring games existed. Eventually my whole town got involved (as you can see our overall standings include 100+ people, and it was quite the social event.

Around my 17th birthday, I held WeSOP, or the Westminster Series of Poker (pronounced Wee-sop). We had 23 players and a lot of fun. On my 18th birthday I held WeSOP II, which gathered 46 players from my hometown. We rented tables, chairs, bought food, and ordered engraved trophies for first second and third place. We also filmed the final table. It was a $10 buy-in. This was also when I got $15 free online at Gaming Club Poker (remember the ridiculous deals poker sites used to have?) and turned it into $100 in a week. I cashed out $80 and busted out promptly. Then there was a phase where I turned $25 (which I recieved from making 200 posts on this forum) into $200 on stars, and sold it to my friends for 2:1. This was before we were 18, so no one could deposit. I would sell $5 in PStars money to anyone who would give me $10, and there were plenty of people willing to make this deal. Looks like I'm enough of an ass to be a business man.

In college no one played. It was very disapointing to go and meet people who didn't know how to play, or wouldn't wager more than a dollar. Over senior year and summer we used to play NL50 2-3 times a week 6-10 handed. Now I couldn't play at all and this drove me to deposit online for the first time in my life. I cleared bonuses before the US ban went into effect, and used the bonuswhores website to decide which sites to play on. I remember bonuswhores having a 50% bonus max of 100 which I cleared in about 10 hours tabling (2.5 hours quad tabling). I cleared a couple of other ridiculous bonuses as well, and made some quick money.

After that I relatively quit poker for my freshman year, and played again over the summer. Come sophomore fall I deposited $200 on stars, and lost about $50 prettly quickly at NL25. This was when I decided I really want to learn how to play well, and started posting and reading here.

I want to add that I did all of this (barring the last 2 months) without knowing how to play well. Basically I was a winning player on mostly luck. Weird how that works.

[Fildy]

in b4 "but how much did you lose?"

[Wes]

When I started making their yearly salaries every other week, my parents were no longer caring about if I turned pro.

And all my friends from high school thought it was awesome that I was making money from online poker. I guess bewilderment also set in when I told a few a rough estimate of how much I am making.

[Trinket]

How long did it take you to get to this point? What was the experience like?

[Wes]

I'm sure my career path is on here multiple times, so just search for Boobie Lover on here and you'll find it if you are interested. It took like 8 months to get to that point, although I was still making like $30/hour from bonus whoring before that so I was never hurting for cash after graduating high school literally broke.

[Trinket]

Ahhh Bonus whoring.... nice to see that I'm trying to go down the right path :P. I'll take a look - thanks!

[Zybomb]

Interesting discussion -- especially bc I am about in this phase right now given my current situation. Yes, the bottom line is the $$$ though. As my friend said "you have to show them the money... that's the only way they'll understand"

I'll update as things change

[Invigilator]

I started playing NLHE tournaments with my friends and relatives around December 2005. I started online tournaments in January 2006 and Ring games in March of 2007.

My Inlaws were great about it. I got my Mother-in-law playing for money online (Topaz3).

My Mom was worried because she stresses about me gambling away my home and family (for those who don't know I am the poster child for "know your limit, play within it")

When she saw that I had turned 50 into 500 playing for pennies she laid off. I have since given her basic lessons (her sitting with me while I play 25 max), so she could come play in my home game.

I don't mention it much around my friends that don't play, basically because they don't care, but I have shown myself to be responsible enough that no one really worries about me.

[sjay2k]

i don't tell anyone figures IRL