About James

My name is James, and I’m a professional poker player.  The first thing people usually tell me if I inform them of this lifestyle choice is that I’m crazy/stupid/delusional and that I’ll never be able to succeed.  That’s fine, I have enough confidence in myself that I really don’t need any verbal pampering from anyone else.  I know me, and I don’t generally accept failing.

I didn’t always think that poker was the life for me.  I used to have a “real job.”  In fact, I used to have a real good job, a career if you will.  I was making about 60K plus perks and benefits right out of college, bought a nice car, went out for sushi almost every night, life was good.  Or was it?  Life seemed good, all the time that I didn’t have to work, or worry about work, or worry about having to get up for work, as long as it was like, my 2 days off a week, life was good.

And why were those 2 days a week good?  Because I had freedom.  Since I worked my ass off, I could afford to do things like go out to eat, take a carload of my friends to 6 flags, or just generally do whatever seemed like the best way to enjoy life at any particular moment.   I worked 5 days a week (about 50+ hours in total, often doing some work on my days off too) but for the most part I got to be have freedom on the evenings and on my days off.

Funny thing is, living life in your time off isn’t living it all.  I wouldn’t say I hated my job, it was ok, but it was just a means to an end.  A way to get to freedom.  There’s no way I would ever have done it for fun.  Poker is fun.  Poker is a job with no conference calls, and no planograms.  Poker is wonderful.

Now, the title of this page is Rags to Bracelets, and hopefully one day I’ll have a bracelet so the story will be semi-complete.  As much as I talked up that I used to have a good job, don’t get me wrong, I am coming from rags.  When the economy tanked  I got let go.  I had just signed a lease to an expensive apartment, I have a $500 a month car payment, school loans, credit card debt, and obviously no savings (22 year old professionals don’t exactly save money, oops!)  Since I am now without a job, I also have to pay for health insurance.  In spite of all this, I would still say that losing my job was the best thing that has ever happened to me.

When I lost my job I was about 3 months away from getting the promotion to District Manager that would have brought my salary up to approaching 100K,  taken another 20 hours out of my life a week, and firmly cemented me on the earn-consume treadmill for the rest of my adult life.  When I lost my job, I had to go back to living within my means, and it really wasn’t all that bad.  The only thing I really miss is the sushi :(  I would rather have to watch my funds and live simply than give up time out of the only life I have so that I can spend money like a jackass.

For me, poker isn’t about money.  It’s about freedom.  I love that I can get up whenever I please, roll over to the computer in my Abercrombie sweats and an oversized hoodie, crack open a RedBull and go to town.  I love that if something is going on that I want to be a part of, then I will be.  No requesting time off from work.  I do have to earn my online poker points to secure my bonus a certain number of days out of the month, and I don’t want to make it seem like it’s easy.  I work very hard, but I can plan my schedule so that I never have to miss out on anything.  How many people with “careers” can honestly say that?

For me, it basically came down to this.  When I lost my job, I remembered what it felt like to just live, and get by, and have time to chill by the pool in the summer, or read a book, or hang with friends.  I realized that it’s how you spend your time, not how you spend your money, that’s really important.  I realized that my life was not what I wanted it to be, and I set out to change that.

I’ve always been a good card player, ever since I was a kid.  As embarrassing as it is to reflect on now, I was once ranked 9th in the world for children 14 and under in Magic the Gathering (the game that fueled David Williams’ rise to poker.)  During my earlier years of college, I used to make some decent side money playing online. My biggest single cash was $860 for 6th place in a $30+$3 multi-table tournament, and I made a bit in live games.

My problem was that I didn’t really know anything, but I sure thought I did.  I had good basic strategy and intelligence, but I really didn’t understand the game the way I do now.   I  used to spend exorbitant amounts of time playing, and hardly any time  reading and studying the game.  Eventually, in one all night losing stretch, I went seriously on tilt for the first time in my life.  I was betting at everything, and blew through my entire bankroll in a single evening.  That was the first of several times I quit playing online poker before ever clearing my deposit bonus…

In spite of that, I was pretty decent at poker.  I just didn’t have a clue about bankroll management, and I didn’t understand key concepts like ICM, ROI, and EV.  Basically, I was a know-it-all who really didn’t know it all.  Luckily, I’ve grown a little more humble, and now that I’m a few years removed from college I am really focusing on poker, learning, and improving.  It would be nice to have a bracelet one day, it would be nice to have lots of money, but most important of all, it would be nice to have freedom.

I have decided to rededicate myself to poker, and I’m putting all my eggs in one basket  I’m really going for it.  I’m going to use this blog to study the game, reflect, and look to the future. I hope that my story will be interesting for you to read, and I hope that you will take the time to leave your comments and discuss with me this great game that we love.

~James

P.S. You can also find me on 2+2 using the handle OMGBarackObama