It's What I Do....

I get asked a variety of questions repeatedly when I am on the road covering a poker tournament: “Can I get a copy of that picture?” “Can you get me Verified on Twitter?” “How did you get your nickname?” “Can you charge my phone?”

However, one gets asked considerably more than any other, “How did you get into poker tournament reporting?”

So, here it is….

After attending the U.S. Naval Academy and Purdue University, I worked in mortgages for about ten years.  Cubicles, dress codes, working on commission and the whole nine to five gig.  I then took a job with Monster.com in their Indianapolis office.  Great company and work environment but still a commission based job in an office.  I was also doing some online work for the poker industry that included starting up and managing the CardPlayer forums.  So, I wasn’t a total virgin to the poker industry.

At the same time, I had been dabbling in online poker, playing on Paradise and UB back in the day, eventually adding PokerStars and a few other sites.  Things were going well and I decided that it was time to give poker a shot (keep in mind this was years before it was “cool” to say that you were a professional poker player).

Things were going well and I had transitioned primarily to PokerStars.  It was going so well that I decided to try and satellite into the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.  At that time it was a World Poker Tour event and the dream was to play in one of those.

So, on October 7th, 2005, I entered the very first satellite they were running, a $30+$3 with Rebuys Qualifier with one seat guaranteed.  It only got 202 players, which meant only one $12,000 package would be given away.  Well, five hours later, the final leaderboard looked like this….

So, I won the first satellite they ran and was off to my first big live event.  As you can imagine, I was like a kid in a candy store when I arrived at Atlantis.  Funny thinking about it now because most of the people I was being a total fanboy over I am now good friends with.  I even went up to Daniel Negreanu while he was in line to check in so that I could introduce myself.

Day 1A starts and find myself sitting directly on the left of Isabelle Mercier.  Great, nice start.  I had been hoping for a table full of satellite qualifiers and got the exact opposite.  Nerves had kicked in and I didn’t really get involved in a pot for a while because I didn’t feel ready.  Finally, I settled in and started playing my game.

I slowly chipped up and was playing well.  Called a river bet for almost half my stack with ace-king high, knowing it was good, and it was.  Continued to build and was fortunate enough to double up one of the final hands of the day to end up with a top ten chip stack.

After Day 1A, it was a surreal feeling.  I knew B.J. Nemeth, Scott Huff and the CardPlayers guys from my work on the forums. B.J. had me in the player list with updates and Scott Huff even interviewed me at the end of play that day.  It was like I was an established player in the poker community when, in reality, I was just soaking up every minute of it.

Friends were following me at home and I even had a few people come up and introduce themselves to me.  It was incredible.  I had the good fortune of meeting Brad Willis for the first time as well.  Brad was in charge of the PokerStars Blog and even got a small piece up about me.  To this day, Brad is still one of the best in the business and I am fortunate to have since become his friend.

When Day 2 got underway, the final numbers were in: 724 total players with top 130 spots cashing and first taking home almost $1.4 million.

Wow….

I took my seat on Day 2 and one of the weirdest things happened, Isabelle was directly to my right AGAIN.  Today though, it was a good thing.  Isabelle and I had talked quite a bit so I was very comfortable with her at my table.  It made my draw seem not quite as bad.

A few hours in, our table broke and I took my seat at my new table.  I immediately recognized the reigning WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem as well as internet wiz kid Ozzy Sheikh.

However, the first big pot I played was against somebody else.  I knew I recognized him from somewhere but I couldn’t put my finger on it.  I picked up queens and took a really odd line with them on purpose.  It paid off as I was able to get him all-in and my hand held up to eliminate the good looking, quiet player.  Only later did I find out that his name was none other than Patrik Antonius….

Just moments later I picked up queens again and called the all-in of Hachem, who held pocket nines.  However, Hachem spiked a nine on the turn to double up.

Finally, I was moved to a new table with a maniac on my left, literally raising every hand.  He raised under the gun and I looked down at pocket kings as we approached the money bubble.  Long story short, we got it all-in and he woke up with aces.

So, that was it.... 

I finished about ten spots short of the money in a pot that would have given me a top ten chip stack on the bubble.

I look back at that hand a lot and think about what my life would be like now if I had won that pot.  The $10,700 min-cash would have been life changing for me, let alone if I would have went deeper.  But, I was very happy with my play and my experience.

Later, I would attend the PokerStars party and mingle with the poker elite.  Joe Hachem and I had a Kalik and talked about the day.  Joe would go on to cash in the event after I doubled him up and I am proud to say that we have become good friends since that day.

Brad Willis and B.J. Nemeth were both there and I had a great time really getting to know them for the first time.  We would even play a sit-and-go later where B.J. and I invented the “Poker Caddy” (this is where one person, who is more than likely drunk, makes decisions but their “Caddy” then handles their chips for them since they are in no shape to count them out).

Among those in our sit-and-go were Wil Wheaton, Gavin Smith, Isabelle Mercier and Paul Hannum (far left in the picture of B.J.'s aces).  Paul was the cameraman for the WPT and one of the nicest people in the business.   Paul tragically lost his life later that year while his wife was pregnant.

During the trip, B.J. and I had an interesting conversation.  He was leaving his duties as tournament reporter for CardPlayer and wondered if I would be interested in the position.

Um, yeah….

That was it.  I took over the role of tournament reporter at CardPlayer and the rest, as they say, is history.

Oddly enough, my career choice has left me little time to actually play much poker.  Every once in a great while I get to play some.  I won a small event in the Bahamas in 2008 and last year, I even won an event at the L.A. Poker Open.   I often think about where I would be if I would have just continued playing as opposed to working in the poker world.

I want to get back into playing more.  But, I do like to think that I have brought something to the poker community in my time here.  Whether it be updates, photos, interviews or assistance with Twitter, hopefully you guys have enjoyed what I have done and continue to do out on the road.

That is my story of how I got into this crazy business.  It is now my livelihood and career.

It’s what I do….