First of, I am NOT a poker pro. I am just like the 99% others out there a recreational player and poker enthusiast. My mission is to become the best player I can be and I want to share my journey, my passion and my knowledge with you.
I started playing poker back at 2004 shortly after the time Chris Moneymaker, an amateur poker player who qualified online and eventually won the World Series of Poker 2003 Main Event! There was this sudden growth in interest in poker after the 2003 WSOP which was also referred to as the "Chris Moneymaker effect". At the time my friends and I also got interested in this card game we barely knew the rules or that it's actually called "Texas Hold'em" but started playing for €5 games. Oh yes, poker have to be played with cash no matter how small or big the amount, it just brings that extra dimension and becomes more interesting and exciting. And so it soon became a weekly event to play some games and it was just so much fun. Some games I came home as a big winner other games I lost it all but never more then what you would spent on a nights out in the pub or at the movies so things didn't go too crazy. What matters most is we always had a good time because we truly loved to play with friends for a fun, social and pleasant experience. Later some of us tried to play online because that way we could play at any time we want and they had freerolls tournaments (a tournament with no entry fee). It was a great time to be playing as it was "the era of the poker boom" and everybody was playing poker back then. For about 3 years it was the best time with action filled tables everywhere poker was more popular then ever. Poker was for most people new at the time and although I wasn't very good, so was everybody else so I still managed to win some decent amount of games. It was an amazing time!
Sadly it didn't last too long before bad things happened. In case you have missed it or are to young to know what happened back then, it all started with what people in the poker community remember as "Black Friday". Click the link if you want to read more about it but long story short it where mainly the American poker players who got affected by this and even until today I haven't been able to play versus an American player online anymore since that day. So it certainly changed the poker landscape in many ways and I only wanted to mention this as it's an important event in poker history that shouldn't be forgotten. It's not all bad things that came from it, but the worst part is that many people, including myself, decided to stay away from it. And thus poker lost popularity and I wasn't going to play for years to come. Life happened and other interests came up and I honestly was never really as good as I wished to be. But I never lost complete interest in the game and one day I started reading the poker book "Threat your poker as a business" from Dusty Schmidt. It is an inspiring story to turning a hobby into an empire. I didn't believe it was realistic trying to follow in his footsteps but it did make me remember that just like Chris Moneymaker did in 2003 anybody can grow rich who wants to. It is one of the great attractions that got peoples attention. Also televised poker started to become more available on video platforms such as Youtube and I still love watching High Stakes Poker which is probably the best poker TV show ever made.
I started playing poker back at 2004 shortly after the time Chris Moneymaker, an amateur poker player who qualified online and eventually won the World Series of Poker 2003 Main Event! There was this sudden growth in interest in poker after the 2003 WSOP which was also referred to as the "Chris Moneymaker effect". At the time my friends and I also got interested in this card game we barely knew the rules or that it's actually called "Texas Hold'em" but started playing for €5 games. Oh yes, poker have to be played with cash no matter how small or big the amount, it just brings that extra dimension and becomes more interesting and exciting. And so it soon became a weekly event to play some games and it was just so much fun. Some games I came home as a big winner other games I lost it all but never more then what you would spent on a nights out in the pub or at the movies so things didn't go too crazy. What matters most is we always had a good time because we truly loved to play with friends for a fun, social and pleasant experience. Later some of us tried to play online because that way we could play at any time we want and they had freerolls tournaments (a tournament with no entry fee). It was a great time to be playing as it was "the era of the poker boom" and everybody was playing poker back then. For about 3 years it was the best time with action filled tables everywhere poker was more popular then ever. Poker was for most people new at the time and although I wasn't very good, so was everybody else so I still managed to win some decent amount of games. It was an amazing time!
Sadly it didn't last too long before bad things happened. In case you have missed it or are to young to know what happened back then, it all started with what people in the poker community remember as "Black Friday". Click the link if you want to read more about it but long story short it where mainly the American poker players who got affected by this and even until today I haven't been able to play versus an American player online anymore since that day. So it certainly changed the poker landscape in many ways and I only wanted to mention this as it's an important event in poker history that shouldn't be forgotten. It's not all bad things that came from it, but the worst part is that many people, including myself, decided to stay away from it. And thus poker lost popularity and I wasn't going to play for years to come. Life happened and other interests came up and I honestly was never really as good as I wished to be. But I never lost complete interest in the game and one day I started reading the poker book "Threat your poker as a business" from Dusty Schmidt. It is an inspiring story to turning a hobby into an empire. I didn't believe it was realistic trying to follow in his footsteps but it did make me remember that just like Chris Moneymaker did in 2003 anybody can grow rich who wants to. It is one of the great attractions that got peoples attention. Also televised poker started to become more available on video platforms such as Youtube and I still love watching High Stakes Poker which is probably the best poker TV show ever made.
Someone recommended to me this great site where you can watch episodes from High Stakes Poker for free at https://bstsrs.one/show/high-stakes-poker
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