Continued from part 2.

Bankroll was of no importance to me. If I had a buy in for the game I had enough to play. To me I just didn't care if I got broke because I could just go and roll it up again, no problem.

I sat into a $25/$50 blind game ready to play heads up against a player called 'spirit rock'. Later I found out that this was the alias for poker pro Prahlad Friedman*, who has a WSOP bracelet. I bought in for the table max of $5000 and was ready to go.

I don't recall how long the game lasted, but I remember my opponent was by far the most aggressive player I had ever played. He would raise and reraise before the flop and continuation bet almost every hand on the flop and the turn. A couple times I tried playing back with marginal hands, but he would just shove over the top of me and it's hard to call off that much money on a pair of 7s.

After I figured his style out a bit, I reloaded the $2000 I was down and was ready to trap him. Even though I adjusted and was clearly playing more selectively, he didn't slow down one bit. I think he assumed I was a nobody and was going to run me over until I give him a reason not to.

One big pot arose where I saw the flop of QQ8 with Q8 in my hand. I check/called the flop then check/raised the turn. He and I had made a pot of roughly $9000. I eagerly awaited and he showed Q4 which made him drawing completely dead to me!

Well, not completely dead. An 8 would split the pot and that's exactly what the river brought. I continued to get run over until my nest egg was down to a lousy $3500.

Finally we got all in on the flop where I had top pair, kings if I remember correctly, and I called his reraise. He tabled an open ender, 56 or something like that. It filled right away and I was down to nothing but felt.

I remember instantly feeling incredibly sick to my stomache. It took less than 5 seconds for the reality of what I'd just done to set in. I tried to shake it off, but I knew I would never be able to make a run like that again.

I played some more internet poker over the years, but I was never able to fully get back into it after that incident until recently.

In 2007 I moved out to Reno, Nevada with hopes of becoming a poker dealer since I could no longer deal in Oregon due to a change in the law. With $2000 in my pocket I made the drive.

When I arrived in town I couldn't wait to get settled and had to play a session and get it out of my system. I promised myself I wouldn't lose more than $200 until I had secured a job and a place to live. I know I would have stuck with that because I was very serious about the promise when I made it. Especially since what had happened to me online.

I didn't find a place to live for 2 weeks because I was busy crushing the 1/2 NL cash games. I turned my bankroll into $6000 in 2 months playing at that limit and decided there was no point in getting a job until I had to.

I didn't spend much time studying my game away from the tables that year, but I still learned quite a bit, especially about reading players based on their mannerisms and betting patterns. I honestly believe today that I can pick up more information than %99.9 of other players based simply on looking someone over after they make a large bet.

I thumbed through my older books from time to time, but none of the information seemed of any use. I had made the single most fatal error I've ever made in poker. I believed that there wasn't anything else I could learn from the game. I honestly thought I was as good at that time as I would ever get.

After that I quickly grew bored of the game because it was no longer a challenge for me. My boredom lead to poor play and in turn I was broke again before I knew it.

I then made a decision to hop back into my car and return to Oregon and the life I'd left behind. I had reached the peak of my poker career and it wasn't good enough. It was time to give up the game.

Another year had passed in Oregon and I went on driving Knish's truck unable to get the thought of 'How in the world did I screw it up so badly?' out of my head. I was working the worst jobs of my life for people who paid and treated their employees like trash. All I could think about was how easily I could make $15 an hour playing poker if I just gave up on trying to be the best player in the world.

For once I had finally taken the necessary steps. I set goals and guidlines for my play. I got in touch with some other strong players that I had met in Oregon, and we still meet regularly to discuss advanced poker theory. I joined pocketfives and started blogging and keeping myself up to date with the lastest poker knowledge. Most importantly I hold myself accountable for my actions, I can't afford to screw it up again.

After all I've been through, I am ready to play professional level poker for my forseeable future.

I now play both on my own dollar, as a staked player, and I stake other winners as well. I also started doing some coaching to help out novices who are struggling with taking that big step into being a winning player. There are also some plans in the works for instructional videos, but nothing yet.

Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables, CB.

*http://www.pokerlistings.com/spirit-...0-heater-36085

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