The PPA Wants to Know How This Impacts You -- Post Your Story in This Thread!

[YungUN]

I am An 18 Year Old Poker Player Who is now Crushed by the online poker controversy. I recently dropped out of high school to get a career playing poker and eventually turning pro. As we all know its not easy for an 18 year old kid to find a table anywhere in Massachusetts. I am just trying a way to make a living doing something i love.

Online poker was work

I would basically work the 9-5 everyday on full tilt

But now no more

[JohnWilkes]

I slipped and fell 4/13/11. My leg was broken in two places. I was operated on same day, release from hospital 4/15/11.

I am confined to my home for six weeks without my favorite pasttime.

[adama]

Originally Posted by PPAdc

Players --
Starting today, the PPA would like to begin cataloging the stories of poker players who are affected by the DoJ prosecution. We are asking 2+2 forum members to post their stories in this thread. The media is already clamoring to learn about how this impacts Americans. We want to direct them to this thread and to other places so they can get a flavor of the good and honest Americans who have been trampled on by our government. Please post your story here.

The PPA should strongly consider taking a selected subset of these stories and placing them on their website, and then directing people to that link instead of directing people to this thread itself. Because there are definitely some posts here that would make people who are on the fence about the legalization of internet poker think that it is a bad idea.

For example:

Originally Posted by YungUN

I am An 18 Year Old Poker Player Who is now Crushed by the online poker controversy. I recently dropped out of high school to get a career playing poker and eventually turning pro. As we all know its not easy for an 18 year old kid to find a table anywhere in Massachusetts. I am just trying a way to make a living doing something i love.

Online poker was work

I would basically work the 9-5 everyday on full tilt

But now no more

[cozzyorlando]

I'm 27 years old and I am from Minnesota. I finished college with a degree in business administration, but I decided to give poker a try. About six months ago, I still loved to play, but I didn't see myself doing it 40-50 hours per week for the rest of my life, so I planned on going back to school to become a high school teacher. The cool thing about this plan, was that I could pay for school with money I earn from online poker, and even if teachers have to take a pay cut or a cut in benefits, I would be okay because I could probably make 20-30k playing poker part time on top of my teacher's salary. But, now I don't know what to do. I don't want to go into debt to pay for school to train for a job that probably won't pay well (at least at first). This puts a big monkey wrench into my plan. Now I don't know what to do with myself. If I want to stay in this country, I have to go into debt to go to school, so I might be leaving for a while.

I voted for Obama for a few reasons not having to do with online poker, but after this attack on American freedom, I will be voting for an alternative party candidate. Which Obama should care about since I live in a swing state.

[TWO44]

I'm 72 years old and have been playing cards for 63 yrs. When I graduated high school, my teacher gave me a mini deck of cards.
I have had three very successful and rewarding careers,Law enforcement, retired
NYC Detective commander, Stock Broker and owned my own insurance agency.

All during this time I found on the weekends or on vacation time to play poker.

I became ill about 7 years ago and retired for good.
Since that time it has become hard for me to get out of the house to visit the card clubs, so I started plying online. For the past 7 yrs I have spent 8 to 10 hrs
a day playing online poker, my long long time hobby.

Although unlike some of these young hot shot poker players, I am not making
a living at this game, but I have enjoyed the latter years of my life eminency
and my wife and grand kids always know where to find me.

NOW WHAT (never did I think I would live to see the day MY government the
UNTIED STATES OF AMERICA government, come into my home and tell how to live in my house). I WAS WRONG
george F

[TxOTeddy]

My husband & I are retired CPAs (ages 63/55) living in a Texas retirement community. We are recreational micro to mid stakes tournament players. We also belong to the Poker Club in our community – where many other retirees play online poker in addition to live poker. We find that online poker keeps our brains active and young, at a very modest cost.

My husband began playing online in 2007, encouraging my interest in 2008. He got my full attention by talking poker theory and starting hand requirements. Until then I had no idea of the complex strategies used in poker games. Poker players aren’t kidding when they say poker takes a minute to learn, but a lifetime to master. We are proud of our poker achievements – framing our online tournament wins and hanging them in our home office.

The Texas legislature passed House Concurrent Resolution #109 in May 2007, which was signed by our Governor in June 2007. It proudly declared Robstown, TX as the birthplace of Tx Hold’em. The resolution noted online poker as a factor in the popularity of the game and the high level skill needed to win.

As avid hobbyists, we buy poker books, magazine subscriptions, and online training site subscriptions, all written/run by Americans. Our favorite TV shows are the poker shows run on American networks. We make special trips to many states to play in casino poker tournaments. This recreational spending helps support an entire industry with many many American jobs, and is driven by our ability to play, practice and learn via the online sites in the privacy of our home.

We are embarrassed and upset by this very invasive, and unneeded action taken by our federal government. Was it wise to waste so many resources to prevent card players from playing with each other on the internet? We don’t think so.

Our country hosts the largest and most famous poker get together in the world, the World Series of Poker, starting next month. ALOT of foreign players travel to America to participate. We wonder how they feel about traveling here now – right after an anti poker government shutdown.

TxOTeddy & BarnCatBut

[2stacks]

Originally Posted by burningyen

And what has the DOJ's action meant to me? Very little financially, but it's deprived me of one of my favorite pastimes. It's made those spare moments alone more TV-filled and a little less fun. And it's taught me a lesson I'll never forget in how warped prosecutorial discretion can be.

+1

50+ year old rec player. Just a shy better than breakeven. My husband is a nutcase workaholic... I am not..... but it does mean we don't get out much. I am doubly homebound because we have small children that I care for.

Online poker provided hours of entertainment. I dread going back to the boob tube.

[TheEngineer]

Originally Posted by McNitterson

I'd recommend mods get control of this thread and delete posts, hand out bans liberally or you aren't going to get all the stories you want.

+1

This isn't a debate thread. This is a thread on personal stories. Anyone who wants to post their feelings concerning the merits of playing online poker for a living or of beliefs that online poker is somehow rigged needs to take those comments elsewhere.

[maddog_manny]

My story is not typical of the other threads and as such I might make a better spokesperson to the media.

I'm a 51-yr old who learned how to play HoldEm just 3 years ago. I had observed my son, first as a teenager and then as a college student, avidly watching Poker after Dark, WSOP and other televised events. I couldn't understand why someone would want to watch a bunch of guys (and the odd girl) shuffling chips around a table. He then joined FullTilt and freerolled into about $100 earnings, dropping them back to $0 soon thereafter. But he continued to enjoy the play money games. One night in our kitchen, he taught me the game and I was subsequently hooked. We turned it into a fun thing to do with family and friends.

In my career as a software product manager, I often travel and find myself with time to burn at airports. How great was my thrill, logging into FullTilt for the first time and getting on a $10/$20 play money table! That's right, play money! It's hard for me to believe getting excited over a play money game today but that was the right way to get into the game.

Fast forward to this day...over the past year I've become a much more serious player (although far from a pro), reading numerous strategy books and applying newly acquired knowledge and methods successfully at low-stakes cash tables and tournaments - hoping to build up a decent bankroll that will some day allow me to parlay it into a real income stream.

I also have a very small amount at FullTilt (which I take will be returned), and have been forced - even prior to the recent Federal takedown - to switch my real money activity to the Indian Casinos in my home state of Washington. This is because the corrupt state legislature had locked us out of the online websites five months ago.

One point I'd like to make is about the game's educational value. If our leaders really cared about improving the mathematical and life skills of our youngsters, the study of Poker rules and strategy would be offered at the high school and college levels. For the serious player, there is so much mathematical calculation (mostly on the spot, quick-thinking) and psychological character building involved, that I cannot think of a better educational platform for math, game theory studies while having fun. It is not an accident that academics, writers and highly educated individuals like Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Jon Vorhaus and others are at the forefront of the modern poker revolution. And it is also not an accident that many of the best players in the world today are young college grads.

[PPABryan]

I just want to thank you all so much for these stories. It has been at times heartwrenching and at other times filled me with a resolve to continue fighting on the behalf of many of you. I have reached out to many of you about your personal stories to follow up. I hope to hear from you, and for anyone else who hasn't posted their story, I encourage you to share it. We are not going away and we will not give up as a community. Thank you all so very much.

Bryan Spadaro
PPA

[jsweet]

I am (was) a 24 year old poker pro that quit a good job in finance about 9 months ago as I made more money playing and obviously loved it. Fortunately for me, poker was the difference between a good life and a great life, but that shouldn't matter. I spent most of my life actually believing that my country was the best place to facilitate individual human success, only to find out that this is true only if it is the kind of success dictated by bureaucrats - these same people will tell you I got lucky on my 25,000+ sample size and that evolution is a myth, just who I want making my life decisions.

Over the past few months I was proud to call myself a poker pro, industrious enough to make an income in the top decile of our country with nothing but a few monitors and an internet connection. I didnt need to work for one of the banks that made its money sitting across the table from someone who had no clue what they were getting themselves in to. I stepped into the ring with a knowing and willing participant, and was able to best them. I will be able to pay my expenses, but the course of my life has been dictated by my government, something that I never thought I would say as a law abiding, tax paying American.


The uphill battle that we were fighting since 2006 has now become a vertical cliff as our profession, once though to be shady, has taken on a criminal connotation. I believe the rhetoric surrounding poker has reached the point of no return, and the damage being done will prove largely irreparable in the future.

The sad truth is that while our voices are loud and passionate, we simply dont matter enough to the people empowered to create change. How many other industries are shut down overnight putting many tens of thousands out of work, with only a passing mention in the major media outlets? (1 year ago gov injunctions sought to stop the moratorium against deep sea oil drilling bc thousands would be out of work, despite the fact that this posed an imminent danger to our country). Power in government is concentrated in the lobbies and as important as we all think we are, we were like the ninth story on the nightly news that night.

My life will go on. My cars wont be as nice, I wont be eating sushi five nights a week, and I will likely go on to better and more societally productive things, but I should do so on my own accord, and not because I am being told so in the land of the free.

[verticle5]

I am a 31-yr old that has been playing poker and paying taxes for many years. Right after college, I played online, and over the course of 2 years lost something like $400. After which I promised myself I would never deposit again until I had paid off all of my credit cards and bad business debts. This is a promise I kept. I worked at a minimum wage job, and spent a couple of hours every night playing in freerolls and studying the game. Every now and then I'd win a few cents, but it was never really enough to get started. One day (sometime in 2003-2004) a new online casino came out, offered $10.00 free. After rolling it over 20 times, you could transfer the money to their new poker room. I finally made it to the 20x cutoff with $3.76, and transferred it to poker.
It wasn't easy. I simply had the goal to make back the money I had previously lost, and I spent over a year in the penny rooms, bankroll managing to a fault. Anyway, with about 1.5 years of hard work on this hobby (all the while having a job)
I made back my $400. I was even, and I had developed quite a skill in the process. This was about the time when I got married. My wife was unfamiliar with online poker and had expressed some concern about me gambling and not wanting me to waste all our money online. I told her about penny rooms (which live casinos don't have), and promised that I would never deposit/lose more than $50.00 a year. This re-assured her, and was another promise that I kept.


There are many misconceptions about poker players and so here is a part of my story to counter that.

1. Poker players are not lazy- I always take a break every couple of hours to go jogging, walking, or whatever.
The flexibility to do this is what I have enjoyed the most over my previous 8-5 jobs.

2. Poker players are not degenerate gamblers- When I go to the live casino to play. I always take a book to read while waiting for a poker table to open because I don't like to 'gamble'. Sometimes if the wait is super long, I will put $1.00 in the penny slots just to see how long I can make it last for entertainment value. Other than that, no blackjack, roullette, or slots, or video poker for me.

3. Poker players are not irresponsible or reckless. I have made roughly $350K in poker. The vast majority of this has gone to:

-Taxes
-paying off wife's college loans
-paying off credit cards from an ebay business that went bad
-putting myself through grad school
-putting my wife through grad school
-buying 2 used cars ($9k and $5.5k)
-putting a down payment on a house.
-Donating roughly 10% post tax to charity (Church, Katrina relief, Tsunami relief, Christian Children's fund,etc.)

In looking forward, we planned on having kids soon and thought it would be great because I could be home and be a bigger part of their lives than if I was at a 60-hr a week MBA job, and second, that she could get out of the house for some adult interaction and work/volunteer a few hrs a week without having to hire someone else to watch our kids. Now, the flexibility and balance that we had looked forward to so much has been shattered.

[V0dkanockers]

I am a 40 year old fairly successful professional (architect not poker player). I started playing online in 2007 after several shoulder surgeries that I could not enjoy my hobbies of playing hockey or golf. I play poker for the competition/enjoyment, not for the money. The money I win is the way I keep score. The amount I play for is very small in relation to my income but then again I play for the mental stimulation and the enjoyment of playing poker. My first hobbies were taken away by my injuries and now this hobby has been unjustly taken away the US DOJ. I am very disappointed by their actions.

[arkyten]

Originally Posted by TWO44

I'm 72 years old and have been playing cards for 63 yrs. When I graduated high school, my teacher gave me a mini deck of cards.
I have had three very successful and rewarding careers,Law enforcement, retired
NYC Detective commander, Stock Broker and owned my own insurance agency.

All during this time I found on the weekends or on vacation time to play poker.

I became ill about 7 years ago and retired for good.
Since that time it has become hard for me to get out of the house to visit the card clubs, so I started plying online. For the past 7 yrs I have spent 8 to 10 hrs
a day playing online poker, my long long time hobby.

Although unlike some of these young hot shot poker players, I am not making
a living at this game, but I have enjoyed the latter years of my life eminency
and my wife and grand kids always know where to find me.

NOW WHAT (never did I think I would live to see the day MY government the
UNTIED STATES OF AMERICA government, come into my home and tell how to live in my house). I WAS WRONG
george F

I think this was a spelling error, but will be my new favorite line: The "Untied" States of America.

[Scooba]

I am a 44 year old father and husband - I am not an especially profitable poker player but poker has helped me lose weight and get fit. Really. I have built a stand so that i can use my laptop while on my exercise bike so that I can happily pedal away for an hour or so while playing micro stakes HORSE sit n gos. I enjoy the mental challenge of real money play - albeit for tiny stakes.

I honestly don't see why the government feels the need to get between me and my hobby, especially since they turned down the opportunity to get this industry regulated - and taxed. In addition to the obvious infringement of my liberty to pursue my hobby with my money in my time as I choose, I'm ticked off that the DoJ has taken a guilty until proven innocent stance towards the businesses involved. The poker businesses in question should have their day in court before assets are frozen.