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November 07, 2004
A Brief History
So I've decided to be a good little poker blogger (although I still maintain this is not entirely a poker blog!) and will upload my stats and track them here. Partly because I haven't really been, I just consider it a good thing to end the night up, bad if I'm down. But not really knowing how much I'm down...well...that's just called denial. I do know that I am in a deep hole at UB, and am working my way out of that. It makes me sick when I think of how my bankroll was twice the size it is now...ugh.
Anyway...a brief history of my foray into online poker. Poker in general I supose.
In June 2004 I went to Colorado Springs for a week to visit my best friend Jana, who was due to have her first child, any day. While she was at work, this left her husband and I to hang around the house, running errands and goofing off. One day, Fred suggested that we take a trip to Cripple Creek to hit the casinos. Fred's intent was to play poker, he figured I would play slots or something. Well...I'm not that kind of girl. I knew how to play poker. Granted, it had been years since I had really played, but we had played a game of Hold'Em after a Super Bowl party that year and I was certainly interested in picking it up again. Slots? Whateva.
So we hit the casino. Lucky for us, there is an empty poker table, and an extremely friendly dealer who is more than happy to deal out a few training hands, to refresh me on the concepts on blinds, etc. plus the whole casino aspect on things. And on those training hands...I win every damn one. Then we get enough people to actually play hands, and I buy in with $40. The maximum bet in Colorado is $5...I forget what the blinds were. All I remember is...I won a few hands at the beginning. (Beginner's luck, since I had no clue at all about hand selection, how to read a board, etc.). We ended up staying an hour, and my $40 lasted me that...I think I had a few dollars left, techincally enough to call the blinds for a more hands, looking back I could have just gone all-in with something, but again...what did I know?? I ended up giving it to the dealer as a tip because she was so awesome to me the whole time...what a fishy I was!! 
Of course later, Fred gives me pointers on hand selection. And then introduces me to poker on TV. And then we play at home. Every night. As Jana said shortly after I arrived back in Austin, "I think you created a monster Fred".
Shortly after I got back from my trip I was fired from my job (or...my resignation was accepted early...if the f-word offends you). That left me with a lot of free time. 
So...to PokerStars I came. Hours a day, grinding away at play chip tables. Enjoying the game, again, not really knowing much in the way of theory, still only having those basic principles from Fred in my mind. One of the great things about Stars I think is the atmosphere. I have yet to find another poker site that is more like, as John put it when he first found our little gang, "a chat room with cards". So yes...I have quite the buddy list on Stars, and it's not for fish purposes. Playing became a very social experience as well...but also a learning one, because in our little group we would share our knowledge and advice with other. But it was clear that one person was the best...and I still don't fully know what I did to deserve getting him all to myself, but I am so glad that I did. (And here is where April's nature to question things that are most likely totally random/fate/whatever to death, looking for meaning in them needs to stop - or I could just chalk it up to my charm and killer wit...I mean really, who wouldn't want to chat with me? 
) My game is so far improved because of John's feedback and advice, discussions with him, etc. I would not be the player I am today without his mentoring. I still have a ways to go certainly...but for someone like me to who tends to go through spells where I become my own worst enemy, it is helpful to have that older brother persona to fall back on. Like when I get pocket 2s and I am so tempted to call...I can just think "John would shoot me" and then be a good girl and fold. And when the flop comes A K Q...feel better.
Let's see, I took a minor story detor here - sorry. I get bored easily, and decided to check out Ultimate Bet one day. Slick graphics, I like those. John signed up there, which got me bonus dollars...and well, the rest is history.
So...the money honey.
Well, to convert those bonus dollars at UB to real dollars, you have to make a deposit of your own. So I did. $25. On 9/7. Proceeded to play with John at a .50/1 table which was waaayy to high for that bankroll, so (not surprisingly) - lost it all that night.
However, that did convert like $2 of the bonus dollars, so I then hit the .01/.02 tables and began grinding it out there. And I did well there. But that's enough for me!! Come on!! So not surprisingly, on 9/16, I deposited $50 to play higher levels. Not sure which, but I'm thinking it was .10/.25. And I have no idea what happened, I wasn't keeping notes then, but I do know that I deposited another $50 on 9/17. 
So I'm thinking it was a crappy night.
That however was my last deposit. On 9/27 I won $50 in the UB Player Appreciation giveaways (I think that is the first time in my life I have ever won in a random drawing anything). BUT - the cold hard truth is this...if you add up all the money in - the deposits from my bank ($125) plus the UB bonuses ($150) - that gives a total of $275. And my UB account now sits at.....$60.58. Excuse me while I go cry in a corner. I'm down $214.42 at UB. Ouch. I knew it was bad....but damn. I think I know why I've been putting this little mental exercise off.
OK...one more. This will help a little. Stars. I had no money at Stars, but could not pass up the Blogger Tourney. So I made my $50 deposit, paid my $22 tourney entry, and made my dismal performance.
But after that, I hit the cash tables and cleaned up! And since then I haven't done much with it, except for play one SnG, transfer two dollars to my little protege, and then play with him last night at the .01/.02 tables, where I think I lost like 70 cents or something. So....money into Stars - $50 - balance now - $109.75. Difference - $59.75. (what's sad is I used a calculator for that before I got the answer, and then thought - duh. dumbass)
So overall bankroll, I'm down $154.67. Still ouch. I had a horrible week a couple weeks back where I lost nearly $100. That's the hit I'm rebuilding from at UB. I think UB will always look a little weaker, or at least look weaker for a while, due to the fact that it was the first cash account I opened. Plus that's where John and I play heads-up SnGs, and he frequently kicks my ass I usually let him win.
I will be good and add a little section over to the left or right to reflect all this now that I've done the hard part, to keep everyone updated on my progress. But right now I have to go get ready for the Texans/Broncos game viewing party, and don't wanna hassle with the html.
And I guess this wasn't that brief after all. But thanks for sticking with me. If you did.
Posted by April at November 7, 2004 12:32 PM
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