Blue-footed Milestone (with a HUGE "thank you" for all) - a bit long

bluefeet · #1 07-31-2005, 10:12 PM

2+2 STT Family,

Certainly not original, but with the coinciding of my ‘Old Hand’ status and my first 750 SnGs after finding this forum, I wanted to extend my deepest gratitude to all of you.

My name is Dave. I’m a single father of two amazing daughters (20 & 14). I’ve been flying solo for 11 years now. I make my living as a mainframe computer programmer – contracted with GM.

With my oldest starting her second year of college, and my youngest getting more expensive by the day (just say “no” to competitive gymnastics!), the economy and the effects on my industry have resulted in some pretty uncertain times. I spend most of my time now training what will inevitably be my India/China/Brazil replacement. We’ve gone from 150 strong, down to the last 30 or so. It’s kind of a ‘last one here, turn out the lights’ situation. Throw in not having received a pay raise in 5 years, a 50 mile commute (earning a lot of Speedy Reward Points at the gas station – free hotdogs!!), and you can imagine things have gotten pretty tight.

I won’t bore you with the history of my poker career. I’ll just say that I’ve been on-line for 2 years now. All but the past 5 months, being quite pointless. I played just a handful a month on first UB, then PP. It was purely a recreational activity. I had neither the time or money to make much more of it. Everything changed this past January.

A good friend/co-worker won a small-stakes MTT on PS, and transferred to me $50 to try the sight. With a whopping 4 buy-ins, I lucked into an unexplainable run on the 6-seaters. It became apparent to me, that if I became a student of the game, I might actually be able to make a much needed couple of bucks. And a student, I became.

I spent the next month digesting every poker book in our 5 public libraries. Soon I developed a insatiable appetite for the game. Running out of material, I performed a simple Google search on “poker forum” this past February. The first 4 ‘hits’ wouldn’t pass my work’s firewall. The 5th did – 2+2. Fate maybe [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

I made my first post within 5 minutes of finding STT. Some ridiculously embarrassing noobie post without having read a single post. Low and behold, who was there to set me straight? Citanul!! Oh boy. As you’ll notice by my ‘reged’ date, it took me a little while to make my 2nd (under a new alias of course).

Anyway…I spent those 8-10 weeks digesting EVERYTHING on this forum. My new-found dedication to the game, coupled with YOUR ADVICE on this forum, made me a winning player. My modest goal was to make a couple hundred bucks, playing 150 so a month. I have far exceed those expectations.

The specific details aren’t the purpose of this post, but for the purpose of patting YOURSELVES on the back, I can proudly report the following:

750 tourneys
The first half $13 & $38 6-seaters, the second half $27 turbos (a few $60’s thrown in)
43.4 ITM
22.9 ROI

I’ve cashed out exactly $4k from SnGs over the past 5 months. If you throw in my $2.5k in a MTT last night, then you can appreciate how profoundly grateful I am to the ‘keepers’ of this site and all of its posters, old and new.

For you parents out there, you can appreciate the personal satisfaction one gets, being able to ‘do more’ for your kids. And that is exactly what this ‘20% pay-raise’ I’ve given myself, has enabled me to do.

As much as the monetary gain, has been the social/psychological benefits that come with ‘belonging’ to a group, sharing a common goal. I look forward to hitting the forum each day/night, much like one looks forward to hitting their favorite watering hole after a long day (insert “Cheers” theme song here). I’m not exactly sure how to express this particular phenomenon, but I suspect many of you appreciate that our gathering is more than “should I push KTo?” – it is to me anyway.

So…anyway. With my recent MTT cash, I’m looking to start 4-tabling. I plan to move down to the $16 turbos to get started (watch out Durrron!). If things go well after a month or so, I’ll try to take it back up to the $27’s.

Thanks to you guys, I am confident in my game. While at the same time, EXTREMELY excited – knowing that I have SO much more to learn. I look forward to taking that journey with all of you.

Next update: 1,500 tourneys and “Pooh-bah” status by years end [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

(Citanul – just busting your chops. I think you do an amazing job here. Your personal sacrifice of time, and your unselfish giving to this forum is second to none.)

starvs · #2 07-31-2005, 10:27 PM

congrats on your success and thank you for your advice given on the forums.

microbet · #3 07-31-2005, 10:42 PM

Congrats and good luck.

It may be far off topic, but feel free to mix in any insight about raising two daughters. I need all the help I can get. Mine are 5 and 3.

gildwulf · #4 07-31-2005, 10:46 PM

Those damn (insert citizens of X country here) are takin our jooooooooorbs!

Nice post and good luck with your next 750. I lost my stats for my first 1000 SNGs when I reinstalled Hood SNG tracker so no updates from me