My Story

Kaizer221 · #1 06-01-2005, 11:17 PM

I first found out about Texas Hold’em roughly two years ago playing Hoyle’s Casino. I thought it was a fun game so I introduced it to a small group of my friends. In result, we stuck with the game and played once or twice a week. Our goal was to become advanced players before we introduced the game to others.

This led to my purchase of my first poker books, “Winner’s Guide to Texas Hold’em” by Ed Miller and “Poker for Dummies”. I was a little disappointed with these books but they did help me a little in my playing (even though I play NL).

My texas hold’em addiction did not get better when my brother came home from college for January. It turns out that the poker craze had swept through his college as well. My brother had been playing with skilled players and was a winner at Canterbury. I watched over his shoulder as he won $1000 that month on Truepoker playing $.5/1 NL.

I had an urge to play for these “high stakes” so I would scrounge up a buy-in ($50) and play in his name. I was outplayed but learned a lot. My first gambling problem occurred when I was going to buy-in once in my brother’s name without him watching. He was gone for the night. I lost my buy-in but felt I could win if I kept playing. Not surprisingly, I lost about $100-$150. This happened twice.

Luckily, at the end of January I won a tournament and only ended up down $300-$400.
Over the next couple months I purchased some more books such as “Super Systems”, “Tournament Poker”, “Psychology of Poker”. I came across 2+2 for the first time and visited every week or so. I became a better player but was still too young to play online poker.

Over that summer I found Fulltilt before it had introduced real money. I placed well in a freeroll and scored $2!!!!! As soon as Fulltilt introduced real money I cashed in and won. I started to build a bankroll. Unfortunately I still did not know about bankroll management so it took devastating swings. At any given time my bankroll could range from $5 to $300. The summer ended and I win on a big upswing and my bankroll reached $900. Then my worst poker experience ever….. I lost 7/8 of it in 30 minutes. I bought in for $200 at 2/4 NL and lost to the same guy to 4-outers on the river (the money went in on the turn). This was unbelievable and it seemed my poker career was over.

At school, rumor spread about me losing a thousand dollars in less than an hour. No one paid attention to how I made it, just how I lost it. It was embarrassing.
J-term came again for my brother and he let me do one final $10 tourney on Truepoker. I ended up placing first for $179. My brother and I decided we would transfer the money onto a new site so I could play in my own name. I then got started on a popular site.

I used lessons learned from my previous mistakes to help me on this new site. My poker library consisted of 8+ books and I started reading 2+2 daily.
In the month of January and I placed in 3 final tables in $10 tournies racking in about $4000. I reported to my dad about these winnings. He was first mad that I had been gambling for real money but then pleased that I had won so much. He made me withdraw $3000 from the site.

4-tabling NL, my online bankroll rose to $8000. My dad asked me how much money I had on my account and I lied and said I had $4000 (and I said I won it in another tourney) fearing he would make withdraw most of it. His final judgment was for me to withdraw $3000 more.

Then I turned my $5000 bankroll into $15,000 4-tabling 2/4 NL. My loudmouth brother then said something in front of my dad about the money and my dad questioned me on it. I showed everything I had to him. This led to the discussion of how I made the money (What stakes etc.). His conclusion is for me to withdraw $14,500 and only play $10 tournies. No ring games at all.

I had played 500-1k hands a day since January 1st and won $20,000. Now summer is coming and I am not going to able to play. Any comments or suggestions?

P.S. Sorry, didn’t feel like editing and I suck at writing.
P.S.S. I am also a poster in the mid/high NL section of the forum

Anders · #2 06-01-2005, 11:32 PM

Kick your dad in the balls and redeposit your bankroll and play the stakes you want.

einbert · #3 06-01-2005, 11:48 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Kick your dad in the balls and redeposit your bankroll and play the stakes you want.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's your money, not his. If it were me I would absolutely refuse to let him control my assets.

What ultimatums has he pulled on you so far?

Kaizer221 · #4 06-01-2005, 11:54 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Kick your dad in the balls and redeposit your bankroll and play the stakes you want.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's your money, not his. If it were me I would absolutely refuse to let him control my assets.

What ultimatums has he pulled on you so far?

[/ QUOTE ]

He's actually someone I'd rather not pick a fight with. He has a lot of leverage.

So far, I have until tomorrow morning to withdraw.

einbert · #5 06-01-2005, 11:56 PM

[ QUOTE ]
He's actually someone I'd rather not pick a fight with. He has a lot of leverage.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seems to me as though you've already made your mind up as to what to do.

Nigel · #6 06-02-2005, 12:13 AM

If you withdraw it all, ask him to stake you with his money and cut him in on the profits, that way he is happy knowing your savings are safe and he can support you in something that you enjoy and are clearly good at.

Otherwise, make a deal in which you withdraw a certain amount of every dollar you earn, that way he sees that you are being responsible, but you also get to move up in limits.

If that fails, try getting him to allow you to leave a certain amount in which he lets you parlay it as high as you want to go.

If you are over 18 and living at home, that's another story. I don't know, just some suggestions.

Good luck,

Nigel

the_joker · #7 06-02-2005, 12:15 AM

Either you stay at home and live by someone else's rules or move out. I know what I'd do... If you really want to stay, you could try a bluff. Tell him you're going to play poker whether he likes it or not and see what happens. If he kicks you out you can say you changed you mind and decided to give up poker after all.

P.S. I assume you're 18.

Seether · #8 06-02-2005, 12:15 AM

Stop being a pussy and move out already.

jman220 · #9 06-02-2005, 12:19 AM

Listen to your Dad. You're too young to be playing those stakes. You're probably too young to be playing at all, what's the harm in waiting till you turn 18?

Richie Rich · #10 06-02-2005, 12:37 AM

Hi Kaizer,

7/10. Interesting read.

Your father only means well, and doesn't want you to develop a gambling problem that may affect you in the future. Nevertheless I'm sure he's a bit jealous that you're making decent money at poker, too.

What to do this summer? Easy. (1) Withdraw some of your profits and buy your own laptop computer. (2) Open a new account at your favorite poker site (so your brother can't tell if/when you're playing).

If you happen to be doing well when you're "of age", then move out and earn your money playing poker with a job on the side, or visa versa. But I doubt it'll get to that point.

Good luck.

RR