I've been playing Texas Hold 'em and other forms of poker since I was about 12.
I am most challenged by playing cash games against the world's top players. These games force me to think several moves in advance, like in a game of chess. And though I also find tournaments fun to play, they just don't provide the constant brain buzz that cash game players crave.
Experienced no-limit Texas Hold'em players understand the importance of reading flop texture.
I find the game fascinating and poker has unlocked parts of me emotionally. I'm enjoying the process but there are moments when I'm really down. It's a ton of travel, it's exhausting, physically and emotionally. It's lonely.
I've played with amateurs for a million years, and they just don't hit many flush shots.
I've been an idiot at the poker table for a long time.
The hope that people walk into poker halls with and the despair they leave with was something I researched by actually visiting these poker halls.
For five or six years, I didn't play in some of the good games leading up to the World Series of Poker, because with so many below-average players there, I reasoned it messed up my game.
I'm the first person in my family to play poker.
