Hey everyone! This is my first blog and I decided to try it out. I joined Pocketfives back in March and love to read all the poker discussions about hands and the blogs posted by very good players. Well, my name is Joey and I have been playing poker for six years now. I grew up in Northern California (Manteca, CA), which is about an hour East of San Francisco. A year before I got into poker, I was living with my mom in Indianapolis and before that Portland,OR, where she worked at the Nike Headquarters in Beaverton,OR. Boy did I love that! 50% off of everything! Playing soccer all my life, I had all the goodies! Sorry, I am getting off track. Well, when I was 18 I moved back to Oregon and then California where I moved into my best friend's house. A 19 year old friend already owning a house?? Yes, very scary and FUN!! It was there where I really got into poker because we would stay up late nights watching T.V. and such. Well, there is a point to me saying that because one night, as I was enjoying my Jack in a Box burger, YUM!, I happened to change the channel to the travel channel. It was there I saw these people duke it out for a big cash prize. I thought to myself, how easy is that!! Looking at two cards and trying to make the best hand. I knew how to play 5 card draw, but not this new game I just stumbled across. I figured it out and understood how to play NLHE as I watched more and more.

A couple months later, June 2003, I decided to move to Charleston,SC to live with my brother. He had just graduated from Clemson University where he had introduced me to the college seen while I was still in high school. Oh man! Was that fun. The fun part was partying with all the people in the stands at the football games. Clemson were playing their rival South Carolina and Clemson had won in dramatic fashion. Everyone rushed the field, including my brother and I and tore the field goal post down. As I was in fear for my life, I had to hold on to the field goal post so I did not get trampled and eventually let go. Best time of my life! There I go again, getting off topic. Ok, so, when I moved in with my brother, he was excited! I mean, here I am, a 19 year old living with my 24 year old brother, PARTY!! I was very excited too. After awhile, I mentioned if he liked playing NLHE and he said of course! What?? You knew about this game and didn't even tell me? Jerk, jk Jimmy! After that, we watched poker when it was on tv, as well as, sporting events (NBA, NHL, EPL (English Priemier League Soccer), GOLF, MLB, and especially College Football!); you know the usual stuff. We would also play heads up against eachother with bottle caps, we had plenty with all the beer we drank.

That is how I really got into poker. I can admit, I didn't play it as much after awhile since I was always busy working and playing Tiger Woods Golf on my PS2. Well, in 2004, I met a girl who was from Denver, CO and we started dating. She would come to my soccer games and I would go to her hockey games, yes, she played hockey. I didn't start too many fights with here since she was missing three teeth from fighting in her league. Totally Joking :-). If you have every met anyone from Colorado, they are very passionate about their State and their Sports (Broncos, Aves, Nuggets, Rockies). She said that I should move to Denver because she knew I could make the college soccer team for sure. I was only working at this time and was looking to go back to school, so I decided to go with it. I made the team and was very excited to be playing soccer and going to school. This all happened in 2005. Well, come to find out, Denver was really into poker and had a tour.

The Denver Poker Tour is free to play and various bars around Denver and the surrounding counties. If you make it to the monthly finals, there is $2500 of cash in prizes. Pretty cool huh? I think so. So on and off, I would join here and there since I had to work all of the time. Let me tell you, I was freakin terrible. I had so many tells and didn't realize the flush, straight draws etc. Pretty funny when I think about it today. I thought that all those times playing against my brother was good practice, not so much. I then realized that this game took lots of practice and I would have to dedicate myself to learning more about it. In 2006, I opened my first Pokerstars account. I only played in play chips! I thought it was entertaining but got bored with it very quickly and tried to figure out how I can play for real money and be successful. I then saved up enough money to make my first deposit and let me tell you, that money was gone so fast, I was so upset. How the heck did I lose $100 in 10 minutes???? Cash games are brutal online I came to find out. In 2007, I started playing 4 player Heads-Up SNG for $50. I was very successful, but then wanted to join every tournament that was going on and eventually went broke. In late 2007, is when I finally felt comfortable playing and had the confindence to win. I read a couple of books and learned a few things to consider while playing.

The very first time I played live for money was in Reno, NV in December 2007. My dad loves to play Keno, as well as, my stepmom. It was a family trip and we usually do it every year. My brother that I lived with in Charleston, SC was also there. So, this was going to be the first time we would play live poker together. We both played $1-$2 NLHE and I busted out like an hour into playing. My brother did very well as he made about $200 dollars from a min buy in for $60. I know I know, that isn't much compared to all you big winners, but I thought it was pretty cool. The next night, I told my brother, come on , we gotta play tonight we gotta play, he said ok. I was out having a drink with my dad and my brother was off playing poker without me knowing. Jerk, but then he came back and said that he lost his profit. He explained to me that it was tough and players had big stacks that pushed him around making it difficult to even see a flop for a cheap amount. I didn't care, I still wanted to play. So we both headed over to the Poker Room and the guy said, "Hey Jimmy, you are back! You are gonna need at least $200 to start with to keep up with this group at the $1-$2 tables." My brother turned to me and said, "See Joey, I wasn't lying." I thought for a second and thought, I got $60 and I have nothing to lose. This is my second time playing for cash and I just want to play, I LOVE THIS GAME! He said, "ok, im outta here." Cool brother to keep my hanging by myself.

So, I sat down with my measly $60 and started playing. I lost about $10 in the first few hands and then came a decent hand to start firing with. I looked at my hand and it was QQ. I raise and the guy next to me says, "Hey, you see that guy over there in the BB?? Don't push him around, he is tough and always has something." I said ok, thanks for the tip. So, it folds around to him and he fires back at me for half my stack. Hmmm, ok, i'll play. I don't know exactly remember what two of the cards where on the flop but I remember one of them was a J. Awesome, I have an overpair! This could be trouble because if he had KK, AA, a set or even two pair, I could be in trouble because I thought for sure I had the best hand. He acts first and checks, I decide to go all in! He calls of course with a smirk on his face and big stack behind him. I turn over my QQ and he turns over AJ. WHooooooooo! I am in the lead, next two cards didn't help him and I double up! Yes, now I can actually compete with these guys. This all started at 11:00pm and I end up staying there until 6:00am and ended up with $460! Wow, my first big profit and boy was I excited. This is why QQ is my favorite hand because it was the first big winning hand for me.

I have been to Vegas plenty of times, never for gambling but for soccer tournaments. For some reason, I really wanted to go for my 25th birthday, which was April 2nd of this year (2009). My girlfriend and her twin sister said they wanted to go for sure and my brother jimmy said he couldn't go, even though it was his idea since our birthdays are five days apart. So anyways, my mom, stepdad, little brother, my girlfriend and her twin sister all went to vegas for my birthday. All i was focused on was playing poker for the first time in vegas. I know it has the reputation for a tough place to play and filled with great players, but I didn't care, I wanted to test the dangerous waters. I stayed at the Excalibur and they only had video poker, no thanks. I couldn't afford big games, like ceasars, bellagio, venetian, encore, MGM but I could afford The Luxor right next door to Excalibur at the $1-$2 table. I couldn't play during the day because that was time to spend with family and the girlfriend. When they would go to bed, then I would play poker through the night. I usually started between midnight-1:00am. The first night I played, I came in with $150 and and walked out with $120. I sat down down at a table with five other people and one guy had around $1000 sitting in front of him. I think he was on cruise control because he wasn't playing too many hands since he had done pretty well for himself earlier in the night. About five hands into it, I pick up J8 in the small blind and go heads up with a player who called UTG. The flop came JJx, I bet and he called. I don't remember what the turn card was but the river was another J. WOW, my first time getting quads! There wasn't very much money in the pot, so it wasn't a huge win, but it was still exciting. Not a very good night because I was up and down and actually didn't make any profit at all. I spent most of the time playing a three handed game because most had left to go to bed or busted out. The two other guys were very friendly and we all just played a friendly game. At least I made two friends out!

I promise, this is the last part of this blog!

Since I was leaving on Sunday, the 5th of April, I really wanted to put my skill to the test and be aggresive when I needed to be. I know it it was only a $1-$2 table, but there was a lot of on the Friday night when I made $2,000 from $120! Yes, I made $2,000 at a $1-$2 table in about 10 hours. I know $2,000 isn't anything to most of the members on this website, but I was VERY excited to make that much.
Here is how it went down:

After my girlfriend went to bed, I decided to go play at the Luxor $1-$2 table. When I got there, there were three $1-$2 tables going on. There was one paticular gentleman who had about $1,000 sitting in front of him. He seemed a little intoxicated and was really aggresive. Always putting the straddle on and acting out of turn most of the time. Hard liquor was his choice, but he wasn't stupid. Anyways, I won my first big hand with KK. I got one customer who seemed to be a very loose player. I flopped a set and it held up against his AA, now up to around $250. After observing the intoxicated player and seeing how he played, he would flat call A LOT and end up winning because no one believed he had anything. After that, I ended up going heads up with him. I was dealt A 10 and I floped two A's! Awesome, especially against this player, but I would proceed with caution. For some reason, I had a gut feeling he might of had a better kicker, but that wasn't the case. He had A9 and hit on the river! It's ok though because I ended up flopping a flush on him and doubled up. After sucking out on someone and getting great hands, I ended up moving to another table with around $1,100 because our table had broken up with too few people. All the action was at another table, but I didn't being where I was at. The dealer at our table was talking very highly of some other guy who had about $2,500 hundred. After awhile, guess who shows up at my table??? You got it, the $2,500 guy from Arizona. He sat down and after awhile, stacked his chips since he had so many. This guy was very cocky and talked about himself a lot and told us a story about hand that happened at his previous table. He was very aggresive and I kinda didn't want to get involved in a hand with him yet, but of course I did! Why not?!?
He put the straddle on for this hand to $4 and I call with K10cc. Everyone folds down to him and he raises again to $20. I call with about $1,000 behind me. The flop comes 4710r. Awesome, I got top pair with a great kicker and he is first to act. He bets $100 and I decide to just call. The turn card is a K and I am trying not to move to give any information away. He bets $200 and again, I just decide to call. Ya, I really wanted to come over the top and re-raise but maybe he was slow rolling his set. The river was an 8 and he stared me down and asked how much I had left. Great! I hate that question, ughhh! Anyways, I said I had around $700 and he bet half of my stack. Oh man! I sat there for about 5 minutes and was apologizing to everyone for taking too much time. Thankfully, they said, "Hey, its your money. I would do the same thing." I make the call and he flips of pocket 9's. PHEW!!! He was livid and asked why it took me so long to call with top two pair. I told him "Well, with all your stories and your luck, I thought maybe you flopped a set." He was like, whatever. He ended up leaving about 10 minutes later and said that he should have just walked away since he had a tournament at the Venetian a few hours later. After Winning the high hand of the Hour with Quad K's, I earned another $100. I ended the day with $2,000 and felt so great. My first big cash and I felt really well about how I played in those 10 hours.

I plan to take a trip out to vegas at least once a month now since I will be working at the airport and getting free flights. If anyone would be kind enough to share their experience on how to build a successful bankroll, I am more than willing to listen. Right now, that is my main goal, to build a bankroll high enough and enter into descent tournaments in vegas. Please Please, if anyone has advice, I would love to hear it.

Later everyone, and I hope you enjoyed this.
Joey :-)