Poker from the Beginning

I've been playing poker, in some form, since I was about 13. Clearly I remember getting together with the same bunch of guys (we could never get girls to come) and playing for very small stakes. We had all kinds of crazy games that we played for money (at that time, it was daddy's money, so who cared?) There was Gut, Three Legged Memphis, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Double Draw, Between the Sheets (an especially brutal game which usually cost someone lots of money), Omaha, and, one of my friend's fathers introduced us to Texas Hold'em (which at the time, we thought was a stupid game with too little action.)

I've been playing since then. Not so much in college...we were too busy dong other things (like beer and girls). But After college, in graduate school, in the first part of my professional life, and since. I've always been able to find a group of people to play with. Some of those groups include people that I don't really know or like. Some of the groups I've been invited into by one person who then never shows up again (leaving me playing with people I don't really know.) But WHO you play with doesn't matter much at all. Playing is what matters.

Then came the invent of online poker. "Really!" "I can play poker for money on the computer??" "Is it safe? Is my money safe?" "Is it legal (the answer to which is, of course, 'no')?" I've had many casino experiences, but online poker is the ting for me. I'm not a social person. I mean, I like people ad all. I get along with just about everyone, but the pace and anonymity of online poker is the greatest.

This blog is my tribute to the greatest game of all. Some people call it a sport now (mostly because it's shown on ESPN), but whatever you call it, it's fun to watch, it's fun to talk about, and most of all, it's fun to get in there and mix it up. Whatever your stakes, come back and read often as I lay out my many tales of a lifetime of poker, my road to becoming a good (maybe great someday) poker player. Good luck to all, donkeys and sharks alike.