"Son, time to go mow the grass!"

I used to despise the actual work of mowing the grass because I lived on a relatively large property. It would take me a few hours, and I would always wear me out completely. This, however, was my gateway into the poker world. From the age of 15, I'd get my $25 weekly allowance from my dad on PokerStars, and I've been hooked ever since.

Fast forward to one week ago, and my situation was not enviable: Although doing decent financially from poker, I am 21 years old, with little job or college experience. I had basically gotten by from 19-21 years old grinding out a good enough income for me to live at home with my parents and avoided getting a job or going back to school - much to my parents chagrin. Not only that, but I had friends and family questioning where was my life headed. To be honest, I had no clue. "I'm just waiting for an opportunity to come, and I know it will" was what I would tell them. I half believed it, and half just wanted an excuse to avoid further questioning. Little did I know, this opportunity was about to smack me in the face.

My dad is self employed, but has someone that funds his job in return for commission. A staking deal basically. His new partner was coming to stay at my house for three days, to meet our family and to get my Dad on his feet. From what I heard the guy was friendly/outgoing, and very successful. Cool, sounds like a person I'd be around, I thought to myself. So, my dad goes and picks him up from airport, brings him home, and I come downstairs to greet him. First thing he says, before I even reach out my hand to say hello and shake his hand, is "You must be the poker player!", in a kind of voice befitting of someone meeting a celebrity for the first time. Taken slightly aback by his enthusiasm (turns out this is just how he approaches all situations, he's an awesome dude), I shake his hand and he immediately tells me his most recent bad beat story. Every poker player knows how this situation goes, so I'll spare the details. About 15 minutes later, as we continue to talk, he tells me about this show he just started getting into.

Him -"Guy is a chemistry teacher, starts making meth, has cancer..."

Me - "NO WAY! You like Breaking Bad??"

Him -"YES! I'm obsessed with that show! There's another show that I just can't get enough of"

Me - "If you name my second favorite show (thinking of Dexter) I might just run out of the room"

Him -"Dexter"

I jump up out of my seat and do some wierd celebration that was very awkward when I think about it, and give the dude a high five.

Him -"Wow man, it's like we're soulmates. How crazy is it that we like the same 2 shows?"

Why am I telling you about this, is probably what you're asking. Turns out, this back and forth would set in motion a potentially life changing series of events over the next 2 days.



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We continue talking for the next hour, mostly about me and my poker background. I told him how I play online, and I took him upstairs to show him my setup and I played about 10 hands at a 100nl table while he watched, making about ten bucks. As I'm playing, I tell him about a trip I was taking in about a week to Chicago to play in a series of tournaments (Chicago Poker Classic). Then, he hints at staking me. I tell him I am already staked online, but have never been staked to play live before.

"I've got a good feeling about you" he says.

I tell him I'd love the opportunity to be staked, and he kind of leaves it at that, as he heads to bed.

The next day, I don't see him until about 9pm. I am on my computer, and didn't even hear him come home. I see him start walking up to my computer, and he immediately wanted to start talking about poker and staking. We end it after about 15 minutes, as he is tired and wants to go to bed. "We'll talk about it some more tomorrow" he says, and off he goes into the bedroom.

Fifteen minutes later, he emerges from the bedroom and walks over to show me something on his IPad.

"Here is my plan for you. First $100k profit, we split 50/50. When you reach $500k profit, we split 60/40, your favor. Next..."

"Hold on, I've never come anywhere close to $100k profit in my lifetime." I said in a humorous tone.

"I know that" he says, "but if we do this, we aren't playing for crumbs" or something very close to that. "I want to put you in WPT's and the WSOP, where all the big money is. I'll fly you out to Vegas, California, wherever you want to go, and I'll pay for all expenses."

I sit there staring at him in complete disbelief. Here I am, playing 50nl and 100nl online and making a relatively meager profit, and he's talking about putting me into events that cost several thousand dollars per tournament, while at the same time he's paying for every expense. I don't think I've ever smiled so big.



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I immediately want him to know the risk he is taking, and I tell him the risks that come with poker staking. He listens, but the man is intent on doing this.

"Print out that tournament schedule and let's go over it tomorrow"

Next night, we go over the tournament schedule. There was really only one big buyin tournament on the schedule, a $3125 MTT. "Alright, let's put you in that one, and any others you want to play. This schedule will be a good test to see how this will work out long term. I'll send you a check when I get home, and you can open up a new checking account with both our names on it and we'll go from there. Best of luck."

That was the confirmation this was real.



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So, I leave for Chicago in about 30 hours. I hope there is enough interest in this thread/journey that people will want to follow it, because I'd love to talk with the poker community along the way. Future posts will focus on how I'm doing and revolve heavily around poker. Hopefully, I'll still be in this situation a year from now, but my mind is completely focused on doing well in Chicago. I'll be there for 12 days and staying with friends.

Twitter will be actively updated and I'll be checking this thread frequently. It's gonna be a wild ride guys!

first. glgl buddy

Idk i would not have accepted it since i would feel awful if my results would not match his expectations, which is whats probably going to happen..

I fought the same dilemma. I actually brought this up to him directly, in fact I wrote it out in an email to him:

I wanted to give you as much information as I could about poker backing before we start, because I want to paint as accurate a picture as possible so you know what to expect from me. Tournament poker is completely different animal than cash game poker. In tournaments, it is quite possible to go through a very long drought of not making money. The top tournament poker professionals in the world can sometimes go through 100 tournaments where they overall lose money, followed by one tournament where they win a very large amount of money that would give them an overall return somewhere in the 30-50% range of their overall investment. That 30-50% number is an accurate number that you could safely assume I would make over a large sample of tournaments, before expenses. This definitely has to be viewed through a prism of a long term investment, because the short term for any given period is going to be extremely volatile and not an accurate picture of a rate of winning I would ultimately achieve.


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Also, I will be playing cash games on the stake to somewhat stabilize the risk. From his own mouth, his funds he's staking me with are coming directly from his 'gambling fund' that he already expects to lose anyways. He told me he knows there's a chance I'll lose it all, and he accepts it.

keep here updated.

In before staker rapes you for losing his money

Yeah thats great, didn't mean to be rude or anything. Also forgot to wish u guys good luck!

IF u can beat 100nl you probably +EV and landed into a good staking deal

Thanks man! Didnt take your post negatively at all, it's a valid point.

gl, pretty sick story indeed

Gl man

What an amazing opportunity. Keep us updated, and gl gl!

Most homoerotic story ever.

I lold

Man this is hella awesome for you man, I thought i mighta struck it big after meeting de la hoya's cousin last week, but i dont think it'll go through :-(, but this is suuuuuuper sick best of luck