I used to play a lot of poker when I was in high school, mostly 7 card stud hi/lo.  I was never that good, but since I was playing mostly people my own level, I more or less broke even.  At least, that’s what I think I remember.

I played poker after graduating from college in 84, but again it was 7 card stud hi/lo.  And the games were like those in high school, nothing too serious.

About a year ago, I picked up poker once again, playing poker online at Partypoker.com.  I lost $50 playing 7 card stud hi/lo, after initially being up $75, and thought that I should permanently retire from the game.  Although I really enjoyed playing poker online, I realized that my poker skills were not there, and worried about online cheating.

In an attempt to lure me back, Partypoker has occasionally given me some free money, which I quickly lose.  I have been tempted to invest my own money to recoup losses, and perhaps pride, but so far haven’t given into temptation.  When I was playing online I played Hold’em a few times for real money, and actually won the few games I played.  But I’m sure my success was totally due to luck, since I never played the game before in my life.  I didn’t even the difference between a big blind and a small blind.  Pathetic.

This past weekend I was in Vegas (Caesars) with a bunch of college friends, one of which was my friend Seth, who used to be in my high school poker games and in the 90s played quite a bit of Hold’em, and told me that he got to the level where he was winning on average about $500 a week (the guy doesn’t lie).  He sat down with me at a $4/8 limit game and I experienced my first taste of real live Hold’em. I started with $100 and lost $57 in about two hours.  Seth said that I didn’t make any stupid mistakes.

The next night I played Hold’em with my friends.  We each put in $45 and when the game stopped I was one of three remaining players, although I ended up losing $19.  So my cummulative poker losses for Vegas were $76.  Fortunately, I won a $20 bet on the Cavliers, getting 5 1/2 points at home.  How could I lose?

I really enjoyed my experience playing Hold’em.  The small amount of money I lost was well worth it in terms of what I learned.  As Bob Dylan says, ‘there is no success like failure”.  There’s no way I cannot improve at the game.  My current plan is to read Lee Jones’ “Winning Low-Limit Hold’em” and play a little online poker (Low-Limit Hold’em) at Titan Poker.  Henceforth I shall chronicle my poker experiences and the lessons I learn along the way.