Blogger Bios
“Amarillo Shawnee” is a 28 year old poker player and artist who grew up in Amarillo, Texas. She currently lives with her husband in Chicago where she received her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She was the teaching assistant for Jim McManus’ Literature of Poker class during both years of her graduate program. In 2006, Shawnee finished second in the WSOP Ladies event.
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My name is Chris and I am a 32 year old truck driver from southeast Missouri. I have been married to my wire Molly for nine years and we have a four year old son. I am on the road about five days a week so when I am home most of my time is spent with them. I still find about 10 hours a week to play poker, which isn’t much, but it will have to do for now. I have been playing online for a little over two years now. I enjoy all forms of poker, but my favorites are Stud8 and short handed pot-limit Omaha. I have decided to make an effort to move from a small time winner to a serious player.
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I am a 35 year old happily single male who spends time both in New York, and Las Vegas. I ahve been playing poker since 1999, when an injury ended my competitive racquetball days. I am self-employed, and work mostly from home in a couple small business endeavors. I have always been interested in Zen, and how westerners cna use some of the Eastern Buddhist philosophies to enhance our lives. I find many of the concepts can be applied to bettering our poker results and enjoyment. I wish to share/open up some of that discussion with others in this blog.
I normally play about 30 hours of poker a week. While I have played a lot of live poker in the past, I now play mostly online. I enjoy all the HORSE games, No-Limit, Pot-Limit, and Limit, tournament, and cash. Most recently I’ve been playing mostly Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low, and No-Limit Hold ‘em.
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Poker Kat
My name is Sandy. I’m a female poker player in my late 20s and I like cats. I grew up just outside of Atlantic City. I am competitive by nature and I’ve been playing card games since I was a kid. After graduating from Syracuse University with a degree in textile and surface pattern design, I moved to NYC to begin my design career. I lived and worked in the city for 5 years before deciding the bus to AC wasn’t going to cut it if I was going to get serious about poker. I moved to St Pete, FL, for a short time, and frequented the local card rooms. I now live, work and play poker in LA. My game is NL HE. I prefer live, rather than online, because I love to read people and get inside my opponent’s head. I am currently focusing on improving in tournaments. My PPSN profile is also Poker Kat and you can view my personal poker blog with my journal entries.
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My name is Reilly Forbes. I am a 22 year old film student who spends his summers treeplanting, from Saskatoon Saskatchewan. I love movies and music more that pretty much anything else, except maybe poker. I have played for 3 years but have really only started taking it seriously within the last 12 months. I have played in a couple of CPT events at the emerald in s’toon but log most of my hours in online sit-n-gos. The focus for this blog is to create a critical and in some cases philosophical discussion surounding both televised poker and the depiction of poker in movies. I hope that somehow people reading the blog will be able to participate in the discussion and share their thoughts on what I’ve posted. I feel like the influence of televised/movie poker is only being discussed in terms of the growth that it has helped create, but it’s also worth discussing it’s influence with regards to the way the game is played. My blog will be an outlet for that discussion. I hope to also talk about the cinematic techniques and tricks at play during televised poker that some people might miss. Lastly, I want to discuss my experiences at the game of poker focusing on onine, NLHE, play.
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I am 20 years old and have been playing poker for about four years. For the last six months I have been playing exclusively micro-limits on Full Tilt trying to build up a bankroll while simultaneously juggling school and work. I attend the University of Oregon in Eugene. My viewpoint is that of a college student who is passionate about poker, and is trying to learn as much about the game as possible while still succeeding in school.
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Short-Stacked Shamus
The name’s Shamus, A.K.A. “Short-Stacked Shamus.” I play poker mostly online. Primarily ring games (LHE & PLO), and the occasional tourney. Won’t be quitting the day job. Started Hard-Boiled Poker in the spring of ‘06, a couple of years after taking up the game. Once in awhile an idea’ll pulse through. None of that dizzy “poker-is-like-life-because” applesauce. (Nothing is “like” life, by the way — either it’s living or it ain’t.) There I discuss hands and happenings at the table (”On the Street”), poker in the media (”The Rumble”), theory (”Shots in the Dark”), the pros (”High Society”), and various reading matter (”By the Book”). Have written for a few other poker pubs/sites. Non-poker interests include film, hard-boiled fiction, music, and existentialism.
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Stewman
I am in my late 20’s. Been playing poker my whole life but seriously playing for almost 5 years. I play both cash and tournaments both live and online. My viewpoint will be honest and come from a person outside the industry who has a extreme passion for poker, and one day hopes to break into the industry. Either as a player, or working for a poker outlet.
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Verstehen
I played my first poker game when I was 28, at a freeroll in the student union basement where I’m getting my PhD. I knew absolutely nothing except that three of a kind beat two pair and that aces were the high card. I was pretty instantly hooked and soon scoured the public libraries for Sklansky, Harrington, Malmuth and Cloutier. After grinding out very small profits at low-stakes limit games, I’m making the switch to shorthanded micro no-limit. I’m especially interested in poker books, and how information technology like simulations, equity calculators and PokerTracker are changing the game. I cashed out of Absolute Poker when the scandal hit and I’ve been keeping my eyes on the various scandals of the online poker world pretty closely. When I’m not playing on full tilt, I’m finishing my dissertation on the growth of casinos and gambling over the past 30 years.
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I am in the process of finishing up my PhD (physics) thesis here in the Bay Area. I will be starting my postdoc position in Pasadena (watch out, Commerce). I am female *gasp*, married and have one child, barely under 30 ;-). Being in the Bay Area, I play mostly mid limit Hold’em. The card club that is only 5 minutes away spreads 6/12 - 10/20 (depending on the time of day) as their highest game, so I take that if I don’t have that much time. About once or twice a month I venture down to San Jose to Bay 101 mostly to play 20/40. Boy, that game is so beautiful. I also like playing live O8, where you never ever have to take into consideration the “quarter” aspect, because there are so many people to the flop, that you never loose money if you get quartered. So live, I only play about once or twice a week. It has gone down dramatically since my daughter was born and since I’m finishing up the thesis, but I still play and the floor still recognizes me.
Online, I guess I was the big fish until recently. Bonuses and Rakeback kept me afloat, so I was only losing very slowly. If it weren’t for the rake, I would be a winner, but I enjoyed playing. It is also how I started with poker. 2004 .5/1 Party tables, Lee Jones’ WLLHE, and the rest is history. But in August of this year, I had sort of an epiphany. I started taking online poker very seriously. Reviewing more than playing, adhering to strict bankroll requirements and voila, the micros earned me 2000$ in that time. I also started posting a lot on the limit forums of 2+2 (bellatrix) and I can say that very few people have berated me. Some are quite admiring even, he he he.
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My name in Kevin I am 27 years old and live in Kansas City. I have been playing cards for about 4 years, which is the same amount of time I have lived in Kansas City. I am originally from Washington DC. Anything else you need to know will be coved in a future post when it becomes funny or relevant. I keep up with poker news, poker forums, and poker podcasts, and I will soon be doing the news for an upcoming Kansas City podcast. I am also part owner of a company that makes poker t-shirts: Zombiejacks.com. What’s that? You haven’t heard of us?!?!?! That’s not surprising. It’s a small company based in Kansas City. We took a big risk and went to the Gaming Life Expo in July and to say the least I am pissed off. We are also good friends with the guys from Life’s a Bluff. For those of you that don’t know, Life’s a bluff is a poker themed online comic. Friend of mine used to do some of their art work. The company (Zombie Jacks) has been through enough ups and downs over the last few years to make the Middle East look stable. One day I am shaking hands with Mike Matasow and Annie Duke and feeling like I am on top of the world, the next day I find out that I have been cheated out of 2.5 million dollars of business. (As a side note, I have a day job that pays me about $14 an hour, so 2.5 million is a pretty big deal.)
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I’ve been addicted to poker for about 2 years now. Mostly On line MTT’s, SNG’s and occasionally a friendly cash game. I represent the frustrated, die hard, read every book, play MTT low level loser in the world. The truth is I am getting pretty good and my results are about to soar. Think Annette_15 but 200 lbs heavier and about 30 years. My goal this year is to make some money and turn in some strong performances cashing in after some mediocre tournament play. An avid student of the game - I’ve collected and read (more collecting then reading) most major poker books. Just turned in my first “live” cash game at the Soaring Eagle in Michigan, where the adrenalin rush has me all juiced to keep playing live…and be a winner.
Follow me on a one year mission to crush the on line world and rule the MTT’s.
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traction
I am 35 and have been playing poker for about 8 years the last 2 being full time. I play both live and online, cash games and MTTs. I was in the corporate world for 5 years after college and had my own business for 3 years. My traveling range is usually Vegas, LA, and of course I play any tourney that comes here to Reno. I am married with no kids and 2 dogs. My POV will be from a serious poker player that has outside interests and a good background in business. I also travel quite a bit as we have a house down in Brazil. I spend quite a bit of time online playing and have decent results.
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With the launch of the WPT in 2003 I quickly caught the poker bug and found my way to online poker. As my love of the game grew so did my thirst for knowledge. Poker blogs became the learning tools of choice and in April of 2004 I launched my own. As a 39 year old husband and father of 3, free time is hard to come by. Life often gets in the way but I still find time to play almost every day. The stakes aren’t high but the rewards are great. I’ve been fortunate enough to win a Card Player cruise through a freeroll, A 52″ HDTV, and plenty of other toys. Like the saying goes… Poker has been very very good to me.
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Azn_Cutie is not from Arizona, nor is she cute, nor is she even a she, although he runs all of these bluffs online. He is Asian, though, and a pretty big deal in the online world. He recently finished 5th in his first ever multi-table tournament for a huge score of $180 and a sick ROI of 1800%. Staking, anyone?
Along with being a losing online player, he has been playing medium-stakes limit and small-stakes no limit hold’em as a semipro for the past four years, recording two losing months in the past 48. He is also a tournament reporter and has interviewed some of the biggest names in poker. Follow his journey as he continues to increase hours and stakes in the live casinos throughout the country.
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I fell into poker by accident, my family and I had been transferred to Rolla, MO. from California, this is not as bad as I may appear; I was born and raised in St. Louis, MO about 100 miles away. My wife and 2 small children went to bed very early, one night I was playing monopoly on line (you read that correct) and a Poker Room add popped up. I had never heard of poker online, and I loved to play poker, although I had not had an opportunity to play very often. I downloaded it and played free poker, I lost a lot of pretend money for a long time. I slowly learned to play and became successful playing free money. We moved back to California and I discovered Poker Stars, I played free and won millions of chips, I played free rolls and slowly built a real money bankroll. I have played in over 2000 sit n go tournaments since buying in, with an average profit of $1 per game. I play micro-limit games; I can count on one hand the number of times I have bought into a tourney or SNG for $20 or more.
Shortly after the 2006 WSOP I was railing Greg Raymer on Stars and some of the players and other railbirds were talking about Jamie Gold and the interview he did on a podcast. I asked Greg how to get the show and he typed into bigpoker.ca. I went to the site and listened to that show and loved it. Through bigpoker I discovered iTunes poker podcasts and I have
listened to several show’s regularly. (Always Rounder’s first).
After our third child was born we have moved back to the Midwest and play occasionally live but almost every night I can be found playing online. I started blogging a few months ago and found it very enjoyable, I have an avenue to discuss the game and work out my own personal poker theories. My coworkers and family are grateful too they no longer have to listen to me and pretend to care.
Click here to view posts by donkulate.
I started playing poker seriously in the mid-90s, cutting my baby teeth at NYC’s Mayfair Club and the Diamond Club, so I’m something of an old-timer. I would classify myself as a “semi-pro”–I’m a winning player, but I don’t truly rely on my poker winnings to meet my monthly nut; I have other business interests, so poker is just one more way for me to “diversify my portfolio”. I don’t play many tournaments, although I have played the ME at the WSOP every year for the past four years, a few other Series events each year, and occasional WPT events here and there.
I enjoy all forms of the game. Lately, my game of choice is 10-20 NLHE. I take extended trips to Vegas and LA several times a year, usually oriented around the WSOP and WPT calendars. However, I spend most of my time playing the cash games rather than the tournaments–as we all know, there is a far more regular rate of return and lower volatility associated with ring games. I play online also, and I do ok, although not as well as I do in the B&M casinos. For me, game selection is a key component of my overall approach; it’s far easier to select games in a B&M situation, where I can see who’s been drinking, find the table where players are just out to have a good time and therefore don’t mind “donating”, etc.
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I play small stakes poker online, and before my son was born I went to Foxwoods and played Omaha 8 just about every weekend. I probably spend more time thinking about poker than playing. I am a clinical hypnotherapist and I work with people on performance, business/sales performance, children and academic performance as well as sports performance. I specifically focus on belief change vs. behavioral change because belief is a precursor to behavior. I have a wife and 2 kids, dog, all that good stuff.
