“I just don’t understand how you pay the rent,” says the neo-con Kiwi. Neither do I, so how did all this start?
I left my job as a financial reporter/editor (Eurobonds and Medium Term Notes, if you’re interested in that sort of thing) in August 2005. Things weren't working out and poker seemed like a good way to spend my limited savings before looking for a better position.
Until that time I’d been playing a couple of evenings each week. I was a low-limit breakeven player who hadn’t the inclination or motivation to put in the time and energy to properly understand the game. I dont have any natural skill at cards. I have no previous experience of betting. I struggle with probabilistic concepts. I’m a thin-skinned stress-monkey. Exactly the type of player who shouldnt be going pro. The chances were I’d be pissing away my savings in a likely-futile attempt to get rich.
I learnt about variance - by going on a big downswing. I learnt the value of a bankroll - by messing with limits too high. I learnt the importance of bonuses and rakeback - by playing on sites that didn’t offer them. I learnt about emotional discipline - by going on tilt.
But I also learnt how the game should be played. Through experience, through books, and through the small stakes board at the 2+2 forums. It took - and is still taking - a lot longer than it should have done as I remain fundamentally lazy when it comes to intellectual challenges that are difficult. (There are some intellectual challenges that are easy, odd though that may seem.) Little by little, though, I’m improving. Nearly 200,000 hands played in the last year and a positive, and growing, winrate makes that an objective assessment. The fact that the winrate is still abysmally low makes me confident that things will improve.
I’ve also been fortunate recently, supplementing what I make playing with being able to pick up the odd cheque writing about the game for The Sportsman (may it come out of administration soon). I hope that you, that’s you, reading this now, will also help by signing up at poker rooms advertised here, or buying some of the books I review.
What else? I’m 31 years old, mis-educated by the London Borough of Barnet and St John’s College, Cambridge, and I live in Marylebone with the Huggable One.
Nick Jacob
July 2006
Email nick at sheplayspoker dot com
