As the title says, your poker break it or make it story.
Where you either made its or Yeah broke it.

Mine goes as follows.
In 2016 I started taking poker seriously, which led to me having a great Valentines day of 2016.

I chopped the Hotter $33 for $10k, and then went to the cinema with my then girlfriend.
After that I came home and fired a $109 turbo, where I managed to actually win for $5.9k.
On top of that I chopped the Hotter $8.8, for ~$2.4k, the same day.

A great day, and honestly until I get kids the best day of my life.

I keep on grinding and basicly break even, but I am having the time of my life playing a card game for a living - I am loving every single moment.

Fast forward two months I find out about live PLO, and I am instantly hooked. The stakes are $2/$2 usually with a $4 straddle. Sometimes I even play $5/$5 with a $10 straddle.

Everything I win online I bleed away on the live felts.
And in a brutal fashion, flopped straights sets and flushes either get out drawn or coolered.
Come July, I am basicly broke.

I loan some money from a friend and fire up an online grind.
I fire a €27 sattelite to a €215 qualifier to EPT Barcelona. I win a ticket from the first satty and I am in the €215.
And then I manage to WIN a SEAT to the €5200 EPT Barcelona Main Event.

Man I am so ELATED, like I cant describe in words.
I get goosebumps writing about it.
Like I was watching ALL every single one of these PokerStars EPT videos on youtube and never in my life would I have imagined I would play one.

I subscribe to every single tournament poker video site there is and study my ass off.

I come in to the EPT with nerves of steel, this will probably not be a TLR to you guys because I have probably caught your attention so here comes the rest of the story.
I play solidly for some hours and about 1.5x my stack.
I have the luckiest hand of my life.
Utg Scandi reg opens and he throws in 3 chips.
I 3bet and also make it 3 chips, but of a higher denomination obviously.

Italian guy in small blind thinks its a call and throws in the chips, dealer declares I have raised.
Italian guy is fuming and demands floor to be called.
Oh and by the way, I have pocket aces.

I sit there calmly, stoicly. Never been as calm.
Floor eventually rules it a call.
Utg Scandi Reg calls.

I try to lure in the Italian guy with a deliberate tank before I jam, but he folds.
Scandi Reg has AK, I stand up on my feet.
Guy next me wonders why, and I am like I have seen every thing online - please not this time.
Cleanest flop ever, and full clean board.
BABY JESUS CHRIST, I HAVE A STACK IN THE EPT MAIN EVENT!!!

With these chips I steamroll my table and make it to day 2 as one of the bigger stacks in the tournament with 110BB for day two.

Man that night of sleep day 2 I slept like a baby, even though I was excited beyond words.

Day 2 comes, I walk proudly to Casino Barcelona.

The key hand, one of the unluckiest hands of my life.

I open JTcc utg, everyone except BTN folds.
Flop is AKQ with two hearts, BINGO.
I bet 70% pot since I unblock all hands that call and want to charge a FD more than his equity.
Villain calls.
Turn is the 5h, - I decide to check.
Villain bets 40% pot, I decide to call.
River is an ace, I check and villain bets 1/3 pot.

I rule out Aces Kings and Queens, he would 3b these pre and otherwise if he in some unlikely way had those then he would raise my flop bet. The board is now paired, and he should be afraid I am trapping him with a boat that filled up on the river.
I dont make very much sense of the Villains line, and I have looked upp my full table draw on the internet and Villain was unknown.

I decide to call, Villain shows A5 suited.
I cant believe my eyes, he rivered a backdoor FH.

I play some small pots, where I have legitimate hands and dont win any of the pots.

My bustout hand haunts me to this day.
I open ATo in the CO, Villain 3b me.
I have an aggressive image, I have been playing a lot of pots. I have 35bb, I decide to 4b jam. Villain snaps.
AKo.
To this day if there ever was a time to suck out, this was the time day and moment. Flop is Ace high.
I would have probably gone broke even if I flatted.
I never hit a ten, and I am out.

Within 2 hours I have busted.
From 110bb and so much hope that can possibly contain in a human body, I am now at the abyss.

I decide to fire a €1850 side event, which I promptly bust

I continued to play for 3 years after this, but I never really recovered.
The guarantees got lowered, I broke up with my girlfriend, I started partying and doing dumb stuff and the games got tougher.
When I started playing again in the summer of 2023, the chances of making it so big like I once did seemed slim.

I still grind to this day, and have had some decent scores but nothing life changing - yet.
This was my make it or break it moment, and it broke big time.

I hope you all guys got epic stories that you can share, looking forwards to read all of them.
If you read this far I hope you had a great read and I wish you the best of luck on and off the felts.

Kthxbai!