Hello everyone. This has been on my mind for awhile and I haven't played poker in years since it closed in the U.S back in 2011, but wanted to share this with you all.
2006, was 18 and living on my own. Dropped out of high school senior year because mom and I were always getting into arguments. She said I wasn't worth shyt so she kicked me out. Ended up sleeping at friends houses for awhile until was able to get my GED. Looked to enroll in army, but they didn't accept dropouts, so ended up getting a job at a fast food joint and saving my money trying to figure out what my next move was. Was paying rent at friends place, but there were a couple of times where I'd degen my checks betting on sports and buying weed and didn't have money for rent at times, so i ended up getting kicked out and convincing another friend to let me pay rent there.
Back then, poker was all the rage and was amazed at how people were winning millions of dollars on tv playing a card game. Didn't know how to play, so taught myself how to on free party poker tables after I got off work. When I finally thought I'd got the hang of it, I deposited portions of my check and got my ass handed to me and ended up losing quick. One thing would lead to another and I ended up gambling my rent money away and got kicked out in the process.
Had no where else to go and the few family I had lived on the other side of the country. So after work, I'd sleep in my busted up piece of shit honda in quiet areas like travelers rest stops and would go to sleep reading books on how to become a poker pro. I'm close to 19 at this point and still living a nomads life. One day at work a female coworker asked where I lived and I flat out told her I live in my car. She laughed and didn't think I was serious until I showed her dirty ass clothes in the trunk. We got the talking and told me she knew a place where I could stay where rent was cheap. Ended up paying only $250 a month at this old ladies house. Her place always smelled bad, but it was WAY better than sleeping in the car and she was always cooking meals free of charge!
Ended up buying a laptop from a pawnshop and started playing on pokerstars and once again started degening my checks, but rent was so low that I would pay her before I started fccking up. About a 5-6 months later, her grandson shows up and wants me out. We got into a fight that he started and she ended up taking his side over mines. Well once again I'm homeless, but still have my laptop. The time I was there, I had built a bankroll of $2,000 from a $100 deposit, so I was thinking about cashing out. I used a local wifi spot to login and said fcck it, "I need more money than this, so instead of cashing out, I took the entire roll and played at very high limits thinking I could double it up and cash it out. Instead I ended up losing it all and man was I depressed. Sitting in my car in the dark by some building with a busted bankroll.
I didn't even feel like going into work the next day, so I ended up getting fired because the manager was extremely busy and I never called to say I couldn't make it in. So now I'm broke, jobless and homeless.
I parked my car in a safe area and took the bus so I wouldn't have to pay for gas and went looking for another job. Couldn't find anything, so I took my laptop and went to a wifi spot to put in some applications online. For some reason, I ended up logging into my pokerstars account and it showed $0. I noticed I had a lot of FPPS, but didn't know what they were used for. After reading up on it, I found out they could be used to play in tournaments. I had just enough to play in a sit and go and ended up winning $150. Took the money and played in a heads up match for close to the amount I won and ended up beating him. So now I was close to $300. I thought to myself that I should cashout and use the money for gas and food, but I saw the Sunday Million was about to start in about an hour, so I started going back and forth with myself on just cashing out or playing in it. I have never played in the Sunday Million before, so this was completely new to me. As the tourney got closer, I decided to play in it and I knew I had to play my ass off as my life was on the line. Lasted for hours and I was zoned in the entire time.
Hours had passed and I was starting to think I actually had a chance to make some serious cash, so I started looking at the payout structure. A couple more hours had passed and I was still in it. I was running like God winning hands I had no business winning and ended up making it all the way to the final table and finished in 5th place for just a little over $40,000 and ended up cashing it ALL OUT. I have never been able to replicate that run in the Sunday Million.
I truly believe someone was watching over me that day, because after 10 years, i still can't believe it actually happened. Took the money and made it work for me. Have a wonderful wife and a 2 kids.
I'm not a great poker player by any means, but I was great for that one tournament and I'm glad it was that tournament to be great in.
Thanks to everywhere who took the time to read my story.
