The movie Rounders came out in 1998.
Like it did for Chris Moneymaker, it got me into the game of poker. I
started out playing limit hold'em single table satellites on the
internet turning $50 into $5,000 in about six months. Eventually
poker became such a part of my life that I became a real life Mike
McDermott quitting law school after two years to play poker full
time. For the next 10+ years, I played poker, taught poker, wrote
about poker, dreamt about poker, hated poker, loved poker, breathed
and lived poker. I went through relationships, cars, friends, lost
close ones, but the one constant I had throughout was poker. It was
cliché as it sounds... there for me.
I got into poker at the perfect time.
Rounders and the hole cam coupled with Moneymaker led to a boom of
unrivaled proportions. There wasn't a time of the day where you
couldn't find poker on television. Anyone remember Celebrity Poker
Showdown? I do. And yes... I watched it... along with pretty much any
other poker that aired on television. I was never a big time winner
at the tables. I never had a big losing year but I never had such a
massive score that anyone would know who I was. The one thing I was
able to do was articulate how to play the game, both in writing and
via teaching others. I taught people to play poker for a major online
poker site and made good money doing so. I would write for various
publications, both print and online, and made good money doing so.
Even if I had a losing year, I would have been fine because of the
money I made through these endeavors.
For three years, I was able to cover
the World Series of Poker from start to finish. Where other members
of the media would grow tired of the Rio and poker and be ready to
run home at the end of the six week poker marathon... I wanted it to
never end. I would often be one of the first ones there and the last
ones to leave. I wanted to be around the poker action. I wanted to
see what was going on. Poker fascinated me in multiple ways. The
intellectual challenges it presented. The mental drain and physical
exhaustion that came from a long day at the tables. The interactions
between players, both good and bad. The drama that often existed in
the poker world. It was like a microcosm of society all wrapped up in
one big tournament room.
And then there was Black Friday. I had
seen the writing on the wall a few months before that fateful day
hit. One of the magazines I wrote for shut down, taking a significant
source of my writing income with it. The number of writing requests
from other sites was also starting to decrease and the number of
students I was mentoring was going down. I decided it was time to
move on to other opportunities and took a job working for an internet
startup game.
Fast forward three years, still
working for the startup and life is good. Great girl. Great home.
Great job. But something is missing. I know what it is but I'm not
sure what I can do about it. I still follow poker, and know that
slowly but surely legalization of online poker is happening in a
state-by-state basis. It's a slow process though and I know it's
going to be a while, if ever, that we see the boom of the early to
mid 2000's. It doesn't matter though – I know I need poker in my
life. I reach out to some of my old contacts and see if there is any
opportunities out there for me. A good friend from my days
covering the WSOP says he might have something for me. At the last
minute, I get a gig covering the Beau Rivage Gold Coast Poker Championship tournament series with another one lined up at the Borgata. The hours are
long. The pay marginal. But that's not why I'm doing this. I'm doing
this because I love poker and being here reminds me just how much I do love it.
I love the laughter at the table when someone tells a funny story. I love the expletives in the air when someone loses to a one outer on the river. I love a glare or stare given by one player to another when their bet has been raised or the laid back "I know I have you beat" grin that comes over a player's face as they put their arms behind their head, amused at their opponent's attempts to read their soul. And despite being tired as hell from staying up until 7 am, 5 am, and 5 am on consecutive days, I love the long hours. I try and think what I hate about poker and really there's only one thing - disrespect. Disrespecting other players, dealers, tournament staff. That's it. And there's not enough of that around to make me hate the game.
I've heard people say that poker is dead. Yes, it's not like it was after Moneymaker won the WSOP and it probably never will be but as long as there is life on this planet, poker will never be dead. As for me, I'll be a part of this game until I am. Dead that is.