On The Grind
Due to the lack of followers, and readers for that matter. I think I'm just going to keep writing anyway.
A little bit about me, I was diagnosed with Beckers Muscular Dystrophy at the age of 13; and given till the age of 25 to live. I am now 31, still walking, fucking,fighting, and playing poker. So regardless what people thought was going to happen to me, it hasn't, I'm still here. Bottom line doctors are fatalists, and me I'm a gambler.
So with my diagnosis it has hindered me from living a normal 9-5 life style. Most jobs that I have applied for after them hearing that I have Muscular Dystrophy, they decided that I wasn't right for the position that I was applying for. To them I would like to say thank you. Thank you for not thinking that I was mentally competent to flip burgers; and thank you for assuming that sitting at a desk all day typing other peoples thoughts, would be to physically straining on my body. Even though they were wrong, it opened my eyes to the understanding that if I want anything out of this life beside a small check from SSI, that I was going to have to go and claim it myself.
When I started playing, I played in the backroom of a bowling alley in Tacoma, WA.. The game was 25 cent H/L Omaha, no dealers, no floor manager, just a smokey backroom with a two tables, and a retired war vet. as the cashier. I had no idea how to play Omaha, seeming that the only card game that I knew was gin. I was 18 living in a one room shack of an apartment, with barely enough money to eat, let alone play poker. And in those first few weeks of learning, and understanding the concept of the game, lets just say I lost a few pounds, and didn't have much of a social life. It didn't matter to me, I was fascinated with the game. And eager to learn to play as good as all the old timers in there that was taking my money. So when I wasn't playing I was reading, not just Super System, but I was reading psychology books, how to read expressions books, and anything else I could get my spongy hands on. Not saying that all those books helped my game, but they did help me understand people. Instead of only looking, and trying to read the person, I focused on how much they were betting in certain spots. Watching what they were doing when they had pressure put on them. Because no matter what, people come to the poker table, with almost all the same traits that they handle everyday life with. Its just a different setting, and so MOST people don't sway from what they truly are. Anyway, I grinded, and grinded that room for 2yrs. and finally got to the point that I was paying my rent from the winnings, from a 25 cent game.
But as in everything else in life, I wanted more. So I started playing 2-5, and 3-6, and switched the game from omaha, to Texas hold'em. Texas hold'em is a roller coaster plain and simple, and if you cant handle the ups and downs, your going to loose more than just your lunch. And where I was playing, was filled with some of the sickest bad beats I've seen still to this day.
I played in Aberdeen WA. and I really cant separate this poker room from any where else I have played, seeing that it was only 2-5, and most people if they got a piece of the flop, will chase you to the river. But I held my own, and compensated for any loses by playing in the tourney's.
But like every other real poker player, my eyes were on Vegas baby! So I packed up the family, and my embarrassing bankroll, and moved to the city of sin. And as it stands now, I'm not rich from what I do, but I enjoy the lifestyle. I play nothing but no-limit now, because its so close to tourney play I seem to make the most amount of money from it. And tourney's here are every hour on the hour, and I am a tourney player. If I had a choice, all I would play is tourneys, but if I did I wouldn't have much of bankroll if I was running bad. So I may never be a poker pro, taking 5 minutes of air time to make an easy call/fold. But I am happy that I realized that I was headed for nothing, and decided to strive for something, not to many people can say that. Maybe one day a person in better financial status than myself, may stake me, and something might come out of this life I choose; but if not, I'll be at the tables in Vegas grinding, making something out of nothing.
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