History (part 1)

First contact

My first contact with Hold'em No Limit Poker started online.
Someone on MSN asked me to join in an play money poker game on ESPN.com

I read the rules, only half understood the rules, and started played for a few hours and was intrigued.

But I didn't take it to seriously, just a fun game to wrap my mind about.

I did however wanted to beat my MSN friend with the game, or at least be a decent opponent :)


Pokerschool

This was back somewhere in 2007 that I googled a bit and stumbled on www.pokerroomschool.com

I made an account there, read everything on the site and for the first time I started thinking about poker tactics and strategies.

There is also a pokerquiz, kinda like an poker-exam :). If you win the quiz you get an no-deposit $50 signup bonus on CD-poker. (That was a big reason why I made an account there in the first place)

I guess it was no surprise to hear that I succeeded in passing that quiz (after 2 failed attempts)


My first pokerdollars

The no deposit bonus meant that I could make an account on CDpoker and without depositing a penny I got $50 on my pokeraccount there to play for real money on the pokerroom.

The downside is that you are not allowed to withdraw the $50 from the pokerroom, unless you play an totally unrealistic amount of poker there :)

It gave me a free way to gain some experience with poker without risking real money myself.


Beginners confidence

I thought I was a decent player.

I did decent on the play money tables on ESPN, and with the added pointers on pokerroomschool I though I was ready to tear up the real money pokertables.


Real money games

I started with Full ring Sit 'n Go's
I felt like that was the safest form of playing poker for real money:

1 - I never lost more then the buyin (which was I think around $1 per game)
2 - The games could be played anytime I wanted and didn't last to long (max around 30 min - 45 min per game)

I played those games a lot... and after my first weeks of playing I learned a lot, but I also was losing.

My initial $50 first went up, and then went down till the point I had less then $30 left after a few weeks.

Shattered pride: Final stand

So I thought I was a crappy player now.
I couldn't even beat the $1 Sit 'n Go's.
I was losing money.

In a mood of disappointment in myself and poker I decided to at least try and go for a big score once with the pokerdollars I still had left.

I signed up for the most expensive online poker tournament I could find and still afford with my remaining dollars.

There were hundreds of players playing in my first online Multi table tournament. Thousands of dollars were going to be divided...

It was a weekend, and I was roaring with excitement and anticipation.
Thought I was probably going to lose anyway, but I felt like I had nothing to lose.

In hindsight I think that was the perfect mindset. I was taking it very seriously, but I was ready to roll the dice if I got pushed around by gamblers.

I was ready to give up poker after I lost, but that didn't happen.

Played my best poker that I was able to at that time, and what I lacked in skills I made up with heaps of luck.

I had beaten hundreds of other poker players that day for the nr1 prize!
I had won around $1000!

I was ecstatic, I was in pokerheaven. I remembering shouting it out in my own room, behind my computer. I think the neighbors must have heard me, but I didn't care.

On top of the world, on a huge adrenaline rush I felt so good about myself. That day all thoughts about giving up poker vanished.

But the next day I started worrying... How am I ever going to get my money from the pokersite?