Jim is coming! (An introduction)

Von nzvr4poker, 06.01.2009, 5355 Aufrufe, 59 Kommentare | Kommentar hinzufügen

Hey folks I’m James. I will be blogging in English. I look forward to some creative writing for the Intellipoker site. I suppose I should shed some background light onto who I am first.

I am 24 years old from New Zealand and I am an aspiring poker player. In the past two years I have travelled to four continents outside of my home continent to play this great game. Some of us play for fun, some play to go to places they haven’t been to, some play to make friends and other of us play to make a living or a combination of the above aforementioned things. At different stages of my journey all of these things have been what have drawn me to this addictive, yet frustrating game.

And what a journey it has been. It all started in December of 2006 when I was a narrow-minded 22 year old University student and after qualifying online for a tournament, I travelled from New Zealand all the way to Barcelona, Spain to compete with 44 other players for the Ongame Classic title and over $400,000 USD. I finished a very commendable fifth place worth about $85,000 USD and the ball was rolling. I had a taste for the action and I wanted more. However, after a very disappointing Aussie Millions 2007 where I played most of the NLHE tournaments I was sent back to Earth with a crushing thud.

2007 ended up being a remarkable year for me filled with lots of travel and experiences. As I had finished my University papers and just had a thesis paper left to complete my degree I took time away from the education system to live the dream of being a poker player. After qualifying for EPT (European Poker Tour) Poland I again traversed the planet only to be eliminated early on without making an impact. I spent some time relaxing in England and then returned for the New Zealand Poker Champs in May where I had some success in side events. In the middle of the year I followed the hordes of poker players to the Mecca of poker which is of course Las Vegas. I played in a couple of WSOP bracelet events as well as the crown jewel Main Event with no success. Las Vegas is a very tough hunting ground for a rookie poker player. My best result from all of those tournaments was narrowly missing the money in the record-breaking non Main Event field where over 3,000 players antied up $1000 in a NLHE bracelet event.

The last half of 2007 saw better times for me. After venturing to the Philippines for the inaugural APPT (Asia Pacific Poker Tour) event, I won the Manila Cup which was the first side event staged there. I followed that up with a final table appearance in the APPT Seoul Main Event in South Korea where I pocketed approximately $28,000 US. I also added to my resume by achieving some good results in tournaments in Australia. I was a regular participant on the APPT circuit seeing some new parts of the world in the process.

The beginning of the New Year took me to a familiar place – Melbourne’s Crown Casino for the 2008 Aussie Millions Poker Championship. I had an epic run through the huge Main Event field but ultimately finished up just short of the money where a shocking series of events left me finishing 86th out of 780. I bounced back quickly however, securing a seat to the EPT online. So off I was back to Europe where I had mixed success cashing in the Irish Open and a side event in Monte Carlo while just missing out on cashing in the EPT Poland Main Event and Swedish Masters Main Event. I really enjoyed my two month long expedition to Europe where I met lots of good people whom I have stayed in contact with and I look forward to seeing again in the future.

In the second half of 2008 I took my first trip to South America to Argentina where I stayed with a friend and experienced the sights and sounds of Buenos Aires en route to Uruguay for the LAPT (Latina American Poker Tour) event there. Another day two appearance but I could not capitalise on my good position and finished outside the money. I have then played the APPT events which have been very unkind to me in season two. I have however enjoyed being closer to home and hanging out with various poker luminaries such as Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer and also my poker friends.

To give everyone an idea of what I play online, I consistently maintain Silver Star status on Pokerstars as well as playing on some of the other sites out there. I play mainly sit n gos between $15 and $50 and tournaments ranging from around $5 up to $1000. High volumes of the MTT’s I play are satellites to bigger events including live events such as the APPT, EPT and LAPT events. I do play small stakes cash games – either $100 NL or $200 NL buyins. I will be frequently updating the blog with tales from my online poker adventures.

So here I am now, having taken a full circle and am now looking at some further University education and blogging my poker experiences to you guys. I look forward to sharing the sick suckouts, the bad beats and the highs and lows as I venture to the cardrooms of Australasia and spend time playing online.