Pub poker. Instead of just getting drunk at the pub we thought we might as well play cards and win bar tabs too

Was a Blackjack Bonus hunter and all the deals dried up so I gave poker a shot

I was playing online chess and backgammon and was crushing games but there was no $$$ in it so turned to the richer cousin of poker

i started for the women and drugs myself and i think most others did as well imo.

I started playing draw with my buddies in high school.

I'm embarrassed to admit it wasn't Rounders, but Casino Royale that got me interested in trying out Hold em.

Started out playing with friends at school for pocket change one day. It was 5c-25c spread-limit hold'em, except none of us knew what we were doing so we played with antes instead of blinds and didn't have a rotating dealer. I ran hotter than the sun and won $60 or something ridiculous, 5c at a time. It was awesome.

My first serious experience with poker was through video poker. I trained myself to play perfect deuces wild vp which gave me a 100.762% return plus comps. Problem was this wasn't available in my hometown so I wasn't able to put in the requisite hands to handle the variance. It really taught me the value of hands and actually helped me calculate out in other games.

LOL. It's great that 2+2 books are printed in "Portugeses". We get all these fish from Brazil to try the game.

.........says the guy from Singapore

Wat? I don't know if you are aware of this but we Asians are far superior intellectually to the brown people in Latin America. IMHO, of course. And I have nothing against brown people of Latin America. Actually some of my best friends are brown people from Latin America.

i used to play the CCG Magic the Gathering with my friends from middle school through high school and a couple of them started playing poker in the back room of a local pool house. we were like 19-20. the game was $.25/.50 NLH with a max $10 (lol) buyin and to play you had to "buy" a $3 pack of playing cards. something to do with the house not taking a cut, but that was their way around the local laws. anyway, once you bought in for $3 you were good to go. my other friends made moderate money, like $50 a night. but i started to CRUSH the game. the players were TEEERRRIBLE. all you had to do was slow-play big hands and they paid you off every time. i never bluffed in those games, mainly because everyone else was. i just played A-B-C poker and was clearing an average of $150/night, 5 nights a week. much better than the **** $8 an hour job i had at the time. so i quit working and started playing as my job. me and a buddy played every weeknight. well, after about a year the game started drying up and it was harder and harder to get it together, mainly cause there was a huge crackdown by local law enforcement to break up the local games. mind you, this was in the midst of the 04-05 poker boom. i had a plan to join the air force anyway, since i couldnt play .25/.50 poker for the rest of my life.

after i got out of basic training and started my AF job, i got back into poker. im currently in Northern California and have been making a good profit on the local 4-8 limit and 3-5NL games over the past 3 years. im about to get out in a couple months and am planning on playing for a living for a while before i jump right into my career.

Oh no, you didn't.

I heard 18 to 24 year olds were making craploads of money playing online, and I had visions of sitting in my bedroom making millions really easily.

I started by buying Phil Hellmuth's book at a used book store for $5, and by getting a $100 bankroll on Party Poker from PSO and playing $.05/$.10 limit.

I continue to play because it keeps my mind sharp, and I have always been attracted to puzzle and strategy games. I also still have the vision of one day making poker a serious income stream. I enjoy the challenge, and I enjoy thinking about the game and analyzing different plays. I enjoy teaching and explaining what little knowledge I have learned.

Are you far superios intellectually than the brown people in Asia?

AlsoI didn't read many posts above, but I can be sure that I 'ALSO' started to play poker for money

Nice stories guys! And nice flames so far, lol.

Oh, lope323 said he played MTG. I've played competitive MTG way before playing poker for good (around 1995 - 1999), being quite successful. Also, I've played competitive videogaming, but not that sucessful. Additionally, when googling MTG x Poker, I found that some pro players (mainly the online ones) played competitive Magic The Gathering as well. But I bet they quit also because of the money, as well many backgammon, chess, -you name it- players.

On the bad side of things on this post:

Actually is Portuguese, or Português, and as far as I know, not a single Poker book have been translated to Portuguese, even so, I would prefer reading these in english. Oh, and fishes from Brazil? Maybe I'm still a fish, after all I've started to play for good some months ago, but no problem, I'll keep improving and studying hard. Also, Poker is kinda new here, because of our stupid laws, but we're already exporting some good pros, like Andre Akkari from team PokerStars, Igor Federal and many others.

One more thing, brown people in Latin America? LOL, you must think we ride in elephants here... Latin America is multi-ethnic for it's most part, with the vast majority from Brazil. For example, I'm 1/4 Dutch, 1/4 Brazilian (indian) and 1/2 Italian. My race/color? Brazilian White! But there's also Brazilian Brown, Brazilian Black, Brazilian Yellow... But why does it Matter? Superior intellect? I don't buy it... This sounds quite Hitler-ish for me... If there's something I really hate is hate...

If I recall correctly I think 2+2 makes books in Portuguese.

had never played poker beyond college penny-ante games, and had never played hold 'em before...during a trip to Vegas with my girlfriend, I picked up "Positively Fifth Street," and was enchanted by the poker action.

When I went home to L.A. I ventured into Hollywood Park and started playing 2/4 limit...

right around that time, Moneymaker wins the WSOP and I become completely hooked.

Flash-forward a few years and now I live in Vegas making my living playing the game.

If so, It must be Portuguese from Portugal, which is a little bit different than Brazilian Portuguese. The main difference between them is that in Brazilian Portuguese we admit foreign words, whereas in Portuguese from Portugal they don't, which in turn the translations come out in a very stupid way (for us), and almost inteligible way. But even in Brazilian Portuguese sometimes the translation sucks, and that's why I prefer reading Technical books in English. I have read HoH 1, in english, and I can't imagine reading it in Portuguese, my guess It will be much like the same crap as reading computing books in Portuguese, because the dudes that translate these books deserves some kind of award on inventing words that simply don't have translation to our language and is better to keep it in technical english.

Damn, can't wait to go to Vegas, maybe WSOP 2020, lol...

But in meantime I'd be happy if my work sends me to attend DefCon, NAB, or some kind of "work trip" like those.

<------ Gets Cinncinnati Kid reference.

I blame Moneymaker for my cursed hobby, television, and then this place, even though I lurk more often than post.

Started playing Party Poker (sigh) with $300...withdrew some...but I've running bad with live poker so I've lost some (the rake doesn't help either).

Good news is that I'm still on other people's money and haven't had to contribute anything more. Started in 2004.

That's it.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Couldn't find the UNO cards.

I started with WPT on PS2

Ive played poker since i was about 13 but when i saw moneymaker on TV, it really got my attention. Now i constantly read 2+2, play on pokerstars, watch poker on TV, and play regularly in my friends basement every week