Poker Story:
Started playing right at the start of online poker in 2002ish, played low stakes full ring LHE until 2005.
Won very solidly right from the start as I came at the game strategically being an ex Magic player, but I was too risk averse to move up very aggressively so I mostly just spent the money I won and kept grinding lazily.
At the end of 2005 I decided enough was enough and my New Year's Resolution for 2006 was basically just to throw myself into poker as much as I could. For the first time I went about actively trying to increase my bankroll.
I started the year playing 5/10 LHE with $2000 online, by June I was playing 15/30 and taking shots at 30/60 with close to 100K.
Then I got bored and decided to try NLHE.
First month of NLHE I won 20Kish playing 1/2, and basically crushed from the outset.
By the end of 2006 I had around 200K bankroll and was comfortably playing 600NL.
2007 I started buddylisting fish and playing 10/20 when they were around, and that was the year I sort of became known for being one of the biggest winners at 400NL, and for still playing 2/4 with over 1000 buyins.
During the last couple of months of 07 I started playing solely 5/10 and higher, and solidly beat 5/10 and 10/20 as well as the softer 25/50 games I could find until February 08. In March 08 I went travelling around Europe.
I had won a satellite to a tournament in Vienna and the night before I was to play the main event, I decided to play some MTTs to get some practice.
I ended up winning the $65K gtd on Full Tilt that night for $20,000, and this combined with being able to play the major tourneys during reasonable hours for the first time pretty much got me hooked on tourneys while I was travelling around Europe.
By the time I got back to Australia I was seriously addicted to playing tournaments. I decided to go to WSOP, and to practice really heavily in the leadup.
I played nearly every day and sort of seemingly came from nowhere to become the #1 ranked Australian tourney player online, and top 100 in the world (I was pretty well known on 2+2, but not in the Australian scene or on P5).
WSOP went terribly though and I came home with my tail between my legs, having played 14 tournaments for no cashes, bringing my international total to 20 or so without a cash or day two.
After coming home I didn't have the drive anymore to try and beat high stakes, didn't value the money enough anymore to mass-table medium stakes, and after Vegas, playing tournaments felt like having a drug problem...
Sacrificing sleep, sanity, self-respect, all to chase some dragon that seemed out of reach.
I started losing the plot poker wise, and had no idea to what to do.
I went to stay with an ex-gf of mine who I considered to be particularly wise counsel.
She nursed and fed my bruised ego for a week, I didn't go near poker whatsoever, and I started to feel a lot better.
There happened to be a series of poker tournaments on in that city the week after I stayed with her, and I somehow managed to win the Main Event for $200K.
It was a pretty amazing turnaround seeing as a week or two earlier I had been losing all hope.
I came home, decided to quit while I was ahead and go back to cashgames now that I had been lucky enough to hit a big score.
But I just could never quite manage it, and despite winning 50K or so in NLHE cash in September it never felt right (to be fair I lost almost the same amount at PLO...), and at the start of October I let myself back into degen mode and started grinding tournaments again.
I ran hot right from the start, and wound up winning the worldwide monthly PLB, profiting around $150K.
I'm currently ranked 27th in the world on pocketfives, but still a tiny bit ashamed of myself for playing tournaments, though I do love them
SEABEAST In The Cage: 11/08/08
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