I had a basic knowledge for
poker hands and game play long before On-line Poker became an every day thing because I had played Stud and 5 Card Draw since the 1970s. I only started to play Texas Holdem after watching the Pros on T.V. and found I could play for Free On-line.
Starting with
pokerstars I played with Play Money chips and yes I went broke several times, but their policy was the Play Money chips were free and if you went broke they would re-stake you with another 1,000 chips.
I soon managed to build up my Play Money chips to over 600,000 along with around $30 from freeroll's before I started to buy-in to 10 cent and 25 cent MTTs. Slowly I built my
bankroll to around $200 playing 25 cent and 50 cent games, I then decided On-line was O.K. but I wanted to see if I could use what I had learned in a real Casino environment
So I found a Pub that played a weekly League game and the first season I played, I qualified for the Regional final that was played in a real Casino in Manchester U.K. I went to several Regional Finals and eventually started winning real cash from these and I actually Qualified for the Nationals once.
I have not really lost real cash, Playing Poker, because these Casino games were all funded by the Pub, so I was in effect still Playing Freeroll's, But playing these led to me playing into bigger games and winning at Cash Games,
Sure the weekly games buy-ins were within the Law being no more than £5 but I finished in the money more times than I busted out, and if I did. I went to the cash tables and won there.
It has been a long journey to where I am now, and I may never play in a
wsop event, but I have had a lot of fun along the way and met some really nice and good players. Poker is what you want it to be, and for me it is an enjoyable and fun experience, I may never be rich Financially, but have had a rich experience from it.
When the fun Stops, STOP!