Wow. I just had the biggest winning day in online poker history. Did this really happen? I'm still having a tough time believing it did (although not quite as tough a time as I'm having trying to study for finals right now). When everyone starts playing poker, the dream is that one day they will hit it big and make obscene amounts of money that one couldn't fathom working a 9-5 (well most 9-5s). But for most, this is just a pipe dream. For it to happen, one needs a combination of very large amounts of both skill and luck (well maybe not always the skill part for a few certain WSOP main event winners/high finishers, but they need an astronomical amount of luck). And here I am, winning a record $4.18 million in one day (well not exactly - no I didn't have 100% of my own action, and no I am not going into any further detail about this) playing online poker.

How did I get here? Well, Taylor provided a lot of the background info in his blog, but I want to rehash some parts of the story. I started out as a 16 year old high school junior in the spring of 2005. To this point, I had played some live poker homegames with friends, basically $5 buyin tourneys since none of us had any money nor knew what we were doing. I grew up in Hanover Township, PA and lived a pretty average middle class lifestyle, working part-time jobs including one at Little Caesar's Pizza where I sometimes dressed up as the mascot, kind of like this. Anyway, my math teacher at the time was playing online poker on Ultimate Bet, playing up to 5/10 NL. I was a very natural math student and got my work done much faster than most students, so when I finished we'd chat some about poker. I created an account on UB and started playing play money. After a couple weeks of tearing up the play money tables, I decided I was ready to play for real money, and I deposited $50 that I had made from my job by means of giving it to a friend who had created an account in his mom's name who then transferred the money to me. My career as an online poker player had begun. Although my teacher (who I'm not sure would want to be named) taught me that 10 buyins was sufficient bankroll management, he also taught me a lot about the basic concepts of poker. He played a very tight style playing full ring games but emphasized the importance of hand reading, which was revolutionary to me at the time since I was a complete donk who just played the strength of my hand. If not for him I would not be here today, so I thank him very much.

When I first started playing for money online I was a breakeven to slightly winning player immediately. Frankly the .05/.10 NL games on UB were very soft back in 2005, and anyone with a touch of patience and smarts could beat the games pretty soundly. For the first few months I treaded water for the most part, depositing $50 twice more and continuing to play low stakes NL cash, SNGs, and tourneys. That summer, after school let out, I really started dedicating myself to improving my game. Here's a hilarious Pocketfives post that I made in July that year:

My First Post
Stinger885 (United States)
07-06-2005 10:25 PM
Hello all. My name is Brian and I've been going on this site for several weeks now looking at some of the great stuff. Today I tripled my bankroll by winning the UB 1:00 $2500 guaranteed tourney and cashing for $912.60. I just want to say thanks to all whose posts I have read to improve my game and good luck at the tables!

When Cardrunners started up I was one of the original members of the site. I probably used a parent's credit card because I was too young to have one. At this point I was playing and beating midstakes NL and already well on the way, but CR definitely had a large impact on my game as well. I also have to say the same about the 2+2 forums as once I joined there (not sure when exactly) I spent hours upon hours reading and discussing strategy posts there. I kept progressing through the stakes pretty swiftly, hitting snags each time I'd move up but then adjusting and learning how to beat each new limit faster than most. For me, the exciting part of poker has always been the learning process. I think this is true for the majority of successful players, Phil Ivey possibly excluded. I am a very competitive person and for me, the thrill in poker has always been learning to master a new level, a new form of poker, or a new opponent. Moving up from $.25/.50 to $.50/1 excited me just about as much as moving up from $25/50 to $50/100.

When I felt like I had little more to learn in NLH, I started to learn PLO. I still played a lot of NLH for income purposes, but the challenge of learning a new game excited me much more. In retrospect I should have learned PLO at much lower stakes, but throwing myself into the fire vs tough players at 25/50 and above definitely accelerated my development. I had a lot of months that went like this: win 100k playing NLH, lose 60k playing PLO. This certainly did not maximize my immediate profit, but in the long run perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea. Not sure I'd recommend doing the same, though. Anyway, I did run pretty hot at pretty high stakes for a few months soon after learning PLO and I think gained some false confidence that hurt me for a while. In January 2008 I realized that I wasn't nearly as good as I thought and started really dedicating myself to the learning process again. By summer 2008 I think I went from a very mediocre/probably losing player at 25/50+ to in my opinion one of the top 5 regulars in the games. I beat up the 25/50 games especially bad to the tune of 8ptbb/100 or so that summer.

After I felt satisfied with my PLO game, I started learning the mixed games. I had dabbled in some high stakes mixed games in the past despite not really knowing how to play the stud games or O8, which was far and away the worst decision of my poker career, so I had extra motivation to win back some of the losses I had stupidly incurred. This year I have put tons of effort into learning how to play mixed games, both at and away from the table. I couldn't have done it alone though. This year Brian T., Cole, and myself have spent tons of time reviewing our own and each other's play, discussing hands, and analyzing our opponents. They are really an invaluable resource, without them I would probably still suck at mixed games, be less good at PLO, and I wouldn't have great friends who can console me after a tough loss and give good, constructive feedback that gives me the drive to come back strong the next day. Instead I think I am now a winning player against most lineups at the highest stakes mixed games as well as the PLO games. Thanks so much Cole and Brian, I wouldn't be here without you guys.

Aside from mixed games, the current exciting challenge in poker that I face is heads up matches against given players. With the recent splash onto the scene by Isildur1, who to my knowledge is a 20 year old Swede who has previously had lots of success on Euro sites, I saw a new challenge on the horizon. This guy was lighting up some damn good poker players, and I don't think this was a fluke - he's an excellent player in his own right. Brian, Cole, and I each played against him some, reviewed our play extensively, and studied his game as well. No, we didn't ghost each other, it was one player per hand, but we were always there to offer each other encouragement and provide good constructive criticism. It could just as easily be one of them sitting here writing this, but unfortunately for Brian he played a bunch the last 2 days and ran 2m under EV, while I ran 2.8m over EV. Amazingly Brian still only lost around 700k (I think) during these sessions. I was extremely impressed with his ability to avoid tilting and hang in there with a positive mindset.

Which brings me to my next point - I think preparation and emotional control are two of the most underrated skills in poker. Brian recently wrote a great blog regarding the former. I cannot stress enough how important preparation has been to my results this year. I feel like many players just try to log as much volume as possible and try to grind out a small winrate. While there's nothing wrong with this, in order to take your game to the next level it is important to spend a lot of time away from the table analyzing your play, as well as thinking while playing rather than autopiloting on 12 tables. Again, it depends on what you're trying to accomplish, but as far as being the best player you can be and giving yourself the biggest long term earning potential, this is the way to go. With regards to emotional control, all I need to say is to look at what happened yesterday. If Brian T. and Isildur's cards were reversed yesterday, I'm very confident that Isildur goes on raging tilt and Brian wins 3-4m off him. Brian's ability to keep his composure, take short breaks when necessary, and keep his head up and play song was THE difference between a -700k session and a -3m session. On the flip side, when I had a hot run of cards, Isildur quickly lost control, started playing far too aggressively to get unstuck, and the loss just snowballed and snowballed until I was up over 4m. I think emotional control is a very common hinderance to poker players, it really amazes me how often otherwise great players allow themselves to lose far more than they should because they have a desire to keep playing to get unstuck. I guess amazes isn't the right word, because I definitely was guilty of this some in my younger, less mature days, but it's just a really big deal and something that I feel isn't talked about or worked on nearly enough.

Although we are adults gambling with our money and know the risks, I do feel bad for Isildur to a point. Last year I had a 1.4m downswing at 500/1k taking 100% of my action (unbelievably stupid), so I've been there. He's a talented player and I hope he rebounds and I think he will. Maybe this blog entry will even help him. I hope it helps someone, because it's taken an awful long time to write and I'm supposed to be studying for finals right now...

I want to give a few additional thank yous. Thanks to Taylor Caby, who's been a role model of sorts in multiple ways. First by watching him crush the high stakes games on UB, he helped to inspire me to want to be good at poker. Then, after we became good friends, he inspired me to stick it out in college even though I was making boatloads of money at poker. Very few people would be qualified to give the advice that Taylor did, and I'm very grateful for it. I could not be happier with my decision to stay in school, and although motivation issues occur from time to time as it becomes decreasingly likely that I will put my impending degree to use, I'm finding that I enjoy the learning process here just as I do in poker. I've also had the great fortune of having the 'college experience' and making some great friends that will last a lifetime. Thanks to them too for always being there and making my time in college what it is.

Thanks to Bill Callahan, my would-be high school basketball coach who cut me from the team. I sucked at hoops anyway and I used the free time I gained to develop my poker game. Had I made the team maybe I wouldn't be here today. My sister just reminded me of this and I thought it was funny but true. So thanks Mr. Callahan, seriously.

Thanks to my wonderful family, with whom I wouldn't be where I am today in any facet of life. I'm very fortunate to have some great parents who, although initially a bit skeptical, have been very supportive of my poker career because they believe in me. Same goes for my sister, who has a very promising future in her own right. Thank you so much!

Ok I really have to study now. I have a few interviews coming up in the next few days, I'll post more on them when they become available. Good luck in the coming days everyone!

Brian