The beginning of the end?

Here is former BCC President Bryan Clark's most recent report on his poker career. It makes me wonder if his experiment is heading into the late innings.

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Six Years in Las Vegas

My sixth year in Las Vegas got considerably worse before it finally got better.

Just about 35 hours after posting Five Years in Las Vegas, I woke up on a Friday afternoon motivated to put in a long weekend at the poker tables. I had planned for June-August to be non-stop poker. I was determined to grind out whatever hours were necessary to reboot my bankroll and put myself in a healthy and stable financial situation.

But, after showering and making something to eat, I noticed I had a message from back home in Massachusetts. My father was in intensive care. I called home and talked to my mother to find out how serious the situation was. After a short talk, I was online buying airline tickets to be with my mother.

My Dad was a strong guy. During the Vietnam War, he was on a reconnaissance mission (he believes in Cambodia when we weren’t officially there). The unmarked helicopter delivering him came under fire and he jumped out, landed badly, and permanently messed up his knee. He survived injured in the jungle, in enemy territory, for a week before his scheduled pickup. Five years ago, he had a relatively mild heart attack and walked into the emergency room for treatment. But, that same strength also made him stubborn. He had gotten sick a week earlier but had continued working (armed security) and didn’t treat whatever he had too seriously. But, he was older and didn’t recover so well. By the time he eventually went to the hospital Thursday night (again walking into the emergency room), he was in very bad shape. Within hours, he was admitted to intensive care and barely conscious.

I first saw him in the hospital on Sunday morning. I thought he looked fairly good for somebody in intensive care. A nurse thought it was a good idea to essentially yell at him to wake him up and tell him I was there. I would have preferred she just let him rest and recover. But, he woke up and looked over at me and my mother. When the doctor came in, he said my father’s chances were 50/50. He was having lots of problems, including sepsis. I was optimistic. Before walking into his room, I had prepared myself for the worst. But, he didn’t look bad to me.

When I visited again on Monday morning, he looked terrible. I instantly thought “he’s not going to make it”. And, he didn’t. I never saw him conscious again. We were never able to talk again. Instead, I visited every day for the next couple weeks and watched him deteriorate. He had so many problems that one medication which was designed to raise his blood pressure would end up causing him to bleed internally. I’m stuck with an image in my head of walking into his room one day to see him bleeding out of his mouth (apparently just starting within the past minute) and having to immediately ask a nurse to come in and check on him.

For a couple weeks, doctors tried everything they could to save him. About halfway through this, my parents had their 40th wedding anniversary. My Mom and I went out for a dinner. But, eventually, there was no reason for the doctors or my mother to have any reasonable hope. He took a big turn for the worse on Father’s Day weekend and my mother decided to end what we both knew my father wouldn’t want to continue. He was taken off his respirator on the Monday after Father’s Day (my mother very specifically refused to do it on Father’s Day after she made her decision on Saturday). My mother had planned to be by his side when he died. She was speaking to his doctor in the hallway as the nurse made certain preparations. The doctor had said he wouldn’t last very long without his respirator but even he didn’t realize how bad my father apparently was. Within five seconds of being disconnected by the nurse, my father died. The nurse immediately went to the doctor and my mother to inform them.

Until that point, I had been lucky in not having to deal with loss. My grandparents had died. But, two died when I was so young that I can’t remember them. Losing the other two hurt. But, even as a child, it was not hard to understand older people dying. Nobody else very close to me had ever died.

I spent most of June in Massachusetts with my mother and other family. Obviously, it came with some expense. Also, my bills back in Las Vegas still needed to be paid. And, I wasn’t playing any poker since I didn’t have any money online or any good computer access. Foxwoods wasn’t an option because of the travel time required. A lot of money got spent and no money came in.


In the first 22 days of July, I played nearly 100 hours, regularly loss, and often loss big. One of the last hands I played resonates for me. An EP raised pre-flop and got called in several places including a tight-aggressive button player. I called in the big blind with 55. The flop came T,9,5. I checked to the EP who bet. After a few folds, the TAG button raised. I made the perfect read. The TAG had flopped a bigger set. Of course, I sent him all my chips anyway (checking and calling the whole way vs. his 99).

Even before that night, I was past the point of playing on a short bankroll. I was now playing with rent payments. When I got home, I added up all the money I had in various places. I calculated that if I didn’t play at all, I could pay my expenses up until, and including, my rent in October. Then, I would be broke. If I kept playing, that date could be earlier or later.

I had already taken certain steps to get a job such as contacting and interviewing with a headhunter. But, nothing had yet developed there. I can’t say I wanted anything to develop. But, I may have needed it to.

However, in July of 2006, problems at Two Plus Two Publishing created an opportunity I hadn’t expected. Ed Miller decided to end his association with 2+2 (except his book project with Matt Flynn and Sunny Mehta which was already started and should be published in July of this year). One of the duties he resigned from was his editorship of the Two Plus Two Internet Magazine. I contacted Mason Malmuth and expressed my interest in the job. I had to wait a few days before getting a definitive response. Apparently, Mason had already offered the job to David Fromm (who was also working on a 2+2 book with Ray Zee). However, David turned it down to focus on his book.

Mason contacted me to arrange a lunch with him and Mat Sklansky. I reviewed the three most recent issues of the Magazine and came well prepared to discuss what I thought of the issues and ideas I had for the future. But, the lunch was different than I had expected. I wasn’t actually being interviewed for the position. Mason started the conversation saying something like “I wanted to meet with you so we could talk in person about what you’re responsibilities will be.” I quickly realized I already had the job. It was quite a relief. I also got a good laugh when Mat said something like “I don’t even know why Mason wanted me here. I don’t deal with the Magazine at all”. It was a good sign of the type of security and autonomy I’d have in my new position.

The Magazine didn’t initially pay very well and I wasn’t getting my first full check until mid-September. With my finances otherwise running out just a couple weeks after that, I decided to take an overly-cautious approach for the next few months. I focused my attention on improving the quality of the Magazine with the intention of offering Mason a proposal to expand my duties with 2+2 for an increase in pay. In the meantime, I stopped playing with my insufficient bankroll to ensure not going bankrupt.

After publishing the September and October issues of the Magazine and getting very positive responses from the readers for taking a new approach and bringing in a new group of regular writers, I made a proposal to Mason. I offered to expand my role on the website, make a one-year commitment to the positions, and asked for an increase in pay which would be enough to cover my basic monthly expenses. Mason responded saying “While not everything you requested, I think you'll be happy with (our response).” He turned down my offer of expanded duties and firm commitment. However, he gave me the full raise I asked for. Oh, well. You can’t have everything.

Editing the Magazine is an ideal job. For a part-time position, it pays reasonably well. As long as I meet my monthly deadline, I can work anytime I want from the comfort of my own home. And, of course, that allows me to play at my leisure.

So, by the New Year, I was back in the game rebuilding a crippled bankroll while also working part time as a poker magazine editor. Since then, everything has been good. Through most of 2006, I was playing what could be called stressed-poker. I needed to win in order to pay the bills. Now, I’m playing stress-free poker. It’s the first time in a while that I’ve had that kind of comfort at the table.

I can’t say I’m properly bankrolled for the uncapped Vegas 2-5 no-limit games. My ideal buy-in for that game would be $1,000. For the past couple months, I’ve been forced to look for the better games and buy-in somewhat short. But, the bankroll is consistently growing again.

I’ve noticed an unfortunate trend in the Three, Four, and Five Years posts. They end with me being very optimistic about the short term and long term future. But, the best actual year-end results was a maintaining of the status quo. Yet, I remain optimistic anyway. Year Seven is going to be good.

originally posted 5/15/07 on 2+2 Forums by Bryan Clark

Related Posts: Bryan's Song - The Bryan Clark Poker Dynasty - Time for a repetoire change

Time for a repetoire change

We'll be checking in twice in coming posts on former Boylston Chess Club President Bryan Clark's career as a poker professional. This time it's "Five Years in Las Vegas" which he posted at the 2+2 forums in June of '06. Next time, we'll take a look at his recently posted "Six Years in Las Vegas."

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Five Years in Las Vegas

For some time, I have dreaded writing this post. One year ago, I wrote my four year update and ended it by saying I expected my fifth year to be my most productive yet. Instead, factors both poker related and non-poker related put my career in a crisis mode which I can’t say I’ve completely gotten out of yet.

Entering the summer of 2005, I was in a comfortable bankroll situation. I had been playing exclusively online and having steady success as an 8-table full ring game limit player (3-6 and 5-10 with the occasional 15-30). Today, I’m on a shorter bankroll, once again playing live, and have switched to no-limit. I’m obviously not happy about having a shorter bankroll. But, I am happy with my move back to live play and find that playing no-limit has invigorated me.

I don’t like to give out too much personal information which is not directly related to poker. But, during the summer, I was hit with multiple unexpected and large expenses which took a surprisingly large chunk out of my bankroll. I have always been remarkably conservative concerning my bankroll. I always have much more than I actually need to play the limits I’m at. So, the outside expenses were something I could absorb. But, I suddenly found myself with a much smaller cushion than I had previously.

Then, at exactly the wrong time, I had my very first-ever losing month (when playing significant hours) in July. It wasn’t a big loss– just over $500. But, the loss combined with the big expenses I had been hit with and my normal monthly expenses suddenly had me shaking my head at how my financial situation had so suddenly changed. I found myself thinking about rebuilding my bankroll rather than using it to move up as I had been planning.

August was actually my best month of the year and I felt everything was back to normal. But, it wasn’t. In September, I barely turned a profit for the month and didn’t cover my expenses. October was a complete disaster. I had a four digit loss for the month at the tables. (I’m too embarrassed to post the exact amount)

I was in complete shock. In less than half a year, I had gone from being perfectly content with my situation to realizing I was in a crisis.

In that dreadful October, I lost 70% of my sessions and usually lost quite a bit. As it was happening, I was reviewing my play. I was looking back at my hands and seeing where I lost my money. Though I don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses, I’m convinced I hit the outer edge of variance for a while. It seemed I was constantly in bad situations or receiving bad beats.

I was satisfied with my play. But, it didn’t matter anymore. The losses at the poker tables and from my outside life had simply crippled my bankroll. I found myself in a position where the only responsible thing to do was to consider getting the dreaded….J…O…B. After paying my rent in November, I began a job search including contacting Clarkmeister who just happened to be hiring an assistant (he, of course, knew better than to hire a poker degenerate). I wrote up a resume, sent it out to some people, and began seriously considering what my future plans were going to be. Was I going to re-enter the workforce and make poker a hobby? Was I going to use a job to provide a quick, safe boost to my bankroll and go back to the poker career afterwards? Or, was I going to find a way to make the poker career work? For now, I intended to keep playing at stakes which allowed me to hold the line while I weighed my options.


The month of November proved to be a key turning point when a couple of unrelated events led me down a different poker road. On 11/5, I went to the MGM Grand to participate in a 2+2 “MagooFest”. About 60 2+2ers showed up to play games like Crazy Fox, Triple Flop Hold ‘em, and other more bizarre games. As had been the case lately, I managed to drop a couple hundred dollars in a 2-4 game. That was par for the course. But, I enjoyed myself a lot. I went back to the MGM Grand six days later to play some no-limit (just 1-2) and had my best day in more than a month. It was the first time I played live since a vacation at Foxwoods in March.

The very next day, 11/12, I went to Ed Miller’s wedding reception. There were some people there most 2+2ers are familiar with including Alan Schoonmaker. At some point, we started discussing our play and I must have mentioned playing at the MGM Grand the day before. Alan made what in retrospect I probably knew but hadn’t given proper consideration. He said “All the new, bad players are playing no-limit”.

Alan’s statement was, of course, plainly obvious to anybody who thought about it. No-limit was taking over the Las Vegas card rooms because a significant majority of new players wanted to play what they were watching on TV. In November of 2002, you couldn’t find a single no-limit game on the Strip except at very high stakes. In November of 2003, the situation was just starting to change but limit poker still dominated every card room. By November of 2004, no-limit games were everywhere and by the time of my conversation with Alan, they had probably surpassed limit games.

I don’t expect this to be news to anybody. But, I realized as this part of the poker world was changing, I wasn’t. This applied to the online games as well. Those of you who play online know that the full ring games simply aren’t the same as they were two years ago. Not only have players been lost to no-limit but they’ve been lost to the six-max limit games as well. The games I was playing both live and online were getting worse and could only expect to continue getting worse.

It was time for me to change. Unfortunately, my bankroll situation didn’t give me lots of options. Playing multi-table short-handed was something I had done occasionally but I didn’t like it much. It was also a fairly high variance game and I didn’t need that. No-limit, however, was a lower variance game and had always interested me. So, like switching from 7-card stud to hold ‘em a few years ago, I decided to switch from limit to no-limit even if I was doing it a bit belatedly.

While my pseudo-job search was on, I simply put in hours at the 1-2 live no-limit games (eventually at Caesars Palace where they have a $500 buy-in) to make sure the monthly bills got paid and to get myself comfortable with no-limit. I was actually surprised how well things worked for me so quickly. It was a bit humbling playing 1-2 no-limit but pride was something I was going to have to sacrifice for a while.

I haven’t played online at all in 2006 with the exception of the 2+2 WSOP freeroll tournament (which I finished 3rd out of 72 players). All I’ve played is live no-limit. I’ve been playing 2-5 when the games are very good, especially on the weekends. When they’re not, I’m simply putting in 1-2 hours.

As of today, I’ve recovered a good portion of my bankroll losses and plan to put in some serious hours over the summer with the intention of a permanent move to 2-5 and, eventually, 5-10.

The past year can’t be described as good for me. But, it did have one very positive impact. I’ve been putting in more hours at the tables than ever before and I’m enjoying it. Poker is as much fun as it’s ever been.

So, I’m hopeful the big year I had anticipated in the past twelve months will unfold in the next year.

originally posted 6/01/06 on 2+2 Forums by Bryan Clark

Related Posts: Bryan's Song - The Bryan Clark Poker Dynasty

Of the utmost importance

This Monday is the start of a very unique event on the Boylston Chess Club calendar. The 8th Annual Paramount, an original brainchild of former BCC president Bryan Clark, is a 10-week double round robin at slow time controls. Players are formed into groups of six by rating and each competitor plays their five other opponents once as White and once as Black. The groups ensure that players get consistently competitive opponents throughout the course of the tournament (unlike some Swisses where a win against a player rated 400 points below you is often followed by a game against a player 400 points above).

Since your schedule is known for the tournament after the first round, pre-game preparation can take on added significance. What does your opponent play against your favorite opening and will he stick with it this time or try to change things up? Also, the time controls of 40/2, SD/50 are the longest on the current BCC schedule and provide the opportunity for adjournments. Rather than ruining a well played game by being forced to blitz through the endgame at the end of the night, you just might get the opportunity to study the position in depth at home and return later to realize the fruits of your effort.

Your usual monthly Swiss will always be there, so why not try out something different? Play the Paramount!

Monday, March 5 – May 7: 8th Annual Paramount 10 Rounds, 2RR, Players divided into six player sections by rating; 40/2, SD/50; Entry fee: $24, $17 to BCF members; Prizes: 50% EF Registration: 6:00 to 6:45 PM Rounds at 7PM.

The Boylston Chess & Poker Club

Former BCC president and current poker professional Bryan Clark sent me a link to this Two Plus Two Internet Magazine interview with former club Champion and current poker tournament superstar "Action" Dan Harrington. There isn't very much chess content, but Caissa does get a brief mention or two:

deacsoft: After attending Suffolk University you had a career as a bankruptcy lawyer. What lead you away from that career and into the poker world?

Dan Harrington: I just got sick of that and just drifted into it. I’d always played backgammon, poker, and chess. I’d noticed that I had a natural ability for games, and I just got lucky. I drifted into it....

deacsoft: Prior to your success in the poker world you were a champion backgammon and chess player. There seems to be a number of successful poker players who were accomplished backgammon and/or chess players first. Are there skills that can be learned in backgammon or chess that can help in a players’ development in poker?

Dan Harrington: Yes, definitely. I think there’s cross-pollination between games....

By the way, it turns out that Bryan is the current editor of Two Plus Two Internet Magazine -- some "legitimate", albeit part time work, to supplement his poker income.

The Bryan Clark Poker Dynasty

A couple of months ago I shared the story of former BCC President Bryan Clark's metamorphosis into a professional poker player. Here is his most recent update "Four Years in Las Vegas":

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The response to my Three Years in Las Vegas post has been a bit surprising over the past year. In addition to the nearly 15,000 views and 100+ replies (as I write this update), I have also received dozens of PMs and e-mails commenting on all parts of the story and often inquiring about more. Not all of the messages have been from 2+2ers. I've received several e-mails from people who were either linked the post or received it via e-mail from a friend. I've been contacted by people in Europe and Japan asking advice on potentially playing poker for a living and I've received e-mails from old friends who were stunned to see the career path I've traveled.

I can usually count on at least one person per month requesting an update. So, I thought I'd provide what the market is demanding.

The most interesting part about posting Three Years in Las Vegas is something I've never told anybody. When I started writing it, I was happy reflecting back on the effort and success I achieved in my poker career. But, when I was finished and rereading it, I recognized I had fallen into a typical malaise that I often allow myself to.

Bryan Clark (center)

Three Years in Las Vegas is sort of mistitled. If you reread it, you'll notice all the paragraphs but the final two are basically about my first year in Las Vegas. That's when all the interesting stuff happened. The second and third years are described like this:

Quote: For the past two years, I've been content in the 20-40 game. I've pretty much stayed there except when I thought the game was regularly bad for a stretch. I would move up to 30-60 if the Bellagio waiting lists weren't such a mess.

That's it. I was just being content in the 20-40 game. For a year, I worked extremely hard to get to a point where I could make a reasonably comfortable living playing 20-40. And, then I just stopped.

So, after writing Three Years in Las Vegas, I spent most of May of 2004, rethinking my career. I just wasn't satisfied with where I was. 20-40 is hardly the pinnacle of poker. There are far greater challenges out there and certainly more money to be made. I wasn't looking to go out and conquer to poker world. But, I did intend to take better advantage of my skills which were already far more than I needed to beat 20-40. I wasn't sure what the end goal was. But, I decided to start exploring options.

Obviously, moving up in limits was a quick option. 30-60 was available at the Bellagio and the 40-80 game was starting to run regularly at the Mirage. Higher limits could be played after that. I considered mixing in tournament play as well. However, there was one obvious avenue which need to be traveled first - the online one.

By the end of May, I had invested about $3,000 in a new computer and two of those ever popular Dell 2001FP monitors. I intended to jump into 8-tabling. First, I would do it at low-limits to get used to the mechanics of it. Then, I would move up when I thought I had the mechanics down pat.

In June and July of 2004, I played exclusively online except for a road trip I made to the Commerce with Clarkmeister and Ed Miller. It was just 3-6 on Party Poker (and skins). But, by 8-tabling, I was making more than $60/hour. Considering it was just 3-6, I had to be happy with the win rate. It was already more than I could reasonably expect to make in a live 20-40 game and it had considerably less variance.

Parts of online play were fun. Getting 10-12 times as many hands per hour ensured there weren't any dead periods. If I wasn't dealt a good hand at the moment, I only had to wait a few minutes before one would show up. On the other hand, there wasn't the social atmosphere of the live game. Online play was definitely going to be a part of my career repertoire. But, it was only going to be a part. I intended to mix in live games as well after sorting out what I wanted to do online.

However, something else was building up slowly. I think I first recognized it during that road trip at the Commerce at the end of June. Clarkmeister, Ed, and I were there for three days. I managed to play a total of 8 hours of poker. I can't even remember what it is that I was doing during the day while they were playing. What I do remember is that I didn't want to play. And, that was a feeling which was going to stick with me for quite a while.

The online hours I put in during June and July were forced hours. I bought the $3,000 computer so I told myself to go sit in front of it [and] pay for it (as well as the monthly bills). But, when August rolled around, that wasn't working any more. In August, I played just short of 15 hours. In September, I played 2 hours. In October, I played 1.5 hours. In November, I didn't play at all until the 10th of the month.

For three and a half months, my poker career basically stopped. I played just 18.33 hours in total. On the few occasions I did play, I left the table quickly. The desire to play just wasn't there.

So, while the bankroll was paying the bills, I immersed myself in non-poker stuff. It was 2004 so there was a big Presidential election on the horizon. I've always enjoyed politics so following the polls and trends of the Bush-Kerry race occupied a lot of my time. For those who don't venture into the Politics forum, you may enjoy look back on my bulls eye prediction of election.

Baseball also took up a lot of my time. During September and October, I enjoyed following every detail of the Red Sox as they won their first World Series in 86 years in one of the most improbable ways imaginable.

During those months, I would occasionally tell myself 'you gotta start playing again'. But, I didn't force anything. I knew I wasn't quitting poker. But, I also didn't want it to be a chore to play.

So, several months had gone by when I hosted a home game during Game 1 of the World Series. Clarkmeister, Ed Miller, Tommy Angelo, Gabe, and mike l. were all there. By that time, the desire to play was starting to come back and I planed to get back on a regular schedule after the election. The subject of my non-playing actually came up and Tommy Angelo actually seemed concerned about it. But, I had learned something about myself. Or, at least, something I knew had been reinforced.

Besides loving the game, there's also another reason I intend to make a living in poker for the indefinite future. I simply don't want to actually work for a living. I've made poker my 'job' because I don't want a job. The flexibility and freedom which comes from playing poker for a living is many times more important to me than the money I make in the game or money I could make in any other profession. Understanding that about myself is part of how I manage my career. I know I've got to occasionally give myself a break from the game, even an extremely long break if necessary.

By the time mid-November came, I was decided to get back into the game. I was also a bit annoyed at seeing steady red ink in my monthly income/expense statements. So, I restarted the path I set for myself five months earlier which meant 8-tabling 3-6 games online and begin moving up later.

There have been a couple bumps in the road since then - one planned and the other unplanned.

The unplanned one was a 300+ big bet losing streak. No matter how good a player you are and no matter how much you understand the theory and mathematics of the game, I don't think you can be prepared for your first mega-losing streak. Prior to this, the worst run I had was about -120 big bets in the Mirage 20-40 game. That was bad. This new streak was 2.5 times larger but felt many more times worse.

The good and bad news about the 300+ big bet losing streak is that it happened while multi-tabling 3-6 online. The good news was that it only cost me a couple thousand dollars. That was easy to absorb. If it had happened in the Mirage 20-40 game and cost me more than $12,000, I would have felt it a lot more.

The bad news was that I was getting my clock cleaned by players who simply played terribly. The competition at this level is abysmal. Getting beat over and over and over by such weak competition is a bit tough to deal with psychologically. One bad beat or bad situation is nothing. A night of bad beats and bad situations is annoying. But, the endless parade I endured during this stretch was more frustrating than anything I can remember. It was a helpless feeling. Of course, it ended eventually and my winning ways returned to normal.

The planned bump in the road was a three weak vacation in Massachusetts where I was visiting my parents. Other than a four day trip to Foxwoods, I wasn't able to play during this time. The vacation, the losing streak, and the 3+ months of not playing have sort of slowed down what were somewhat ambitious plans back in May of 2004. Before moving forward, I intended to 'recover my lost money' during that time.

Right now, I'd say I'm about in the same spot I was a year ago except now I'm motivated to move forward rather than looking to take a break from the game.

I think my fourth year in poker was essentially a long rest. I expect my fifth year to be my most productive yet.

originally posted 5/30/05 on 2+2 Forums by Bryan Clark

Bryan's Song

As I mentioned previously, it was quite a surprise to see Bryan Clark at the BCC this weekend. For those of you who don't know him, Bryan is a life-member and former president of the Boylston Chess Club. Several years ago he announced that he was giving up the 9 to 5 grind for life in Las Vegas as a professional poker player. I hadn't seen him since, though I knew he was still alive since he has made an occasional comment on this blog. On Saturday, Bryan shared with me the story of his adventures in the City of Sin and gave me permission to repost it here.

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Bryan Clark (center)

It has been three years since I embarked on my career as a professional poker player. On Thursday, May 10, 2001, I arrived in Las Vegas with two suitcases of clothing, a garment bag with four business suits which I've worn only once at most, a gym bag of miscellaneous items, and a cashier's check which was going to provide everything else I was going to need.

I've met many 2+2ers over the last few years and often the topic turns to my decision to play for a living. But, I don't think I've ever told the story on the forum and certainly haven't given out all the details.

The story probably starts a little more than a year earlier. In March of 2000, I was working as an accountant at Investors Bank & Trust in Boston. I had been an employee there for four and half years. It was the only job I held since graduation from college in 1995. But, after being very enthusiastic about my work for the first couple years, I became very disillusioned. Simply put, I couldn't find any joy in the 9-5 workforce.

One day, Human Resources asked all employees to sign some form which stated that after leaving IBT, no employee would try to recruit from IBT. It's a standard practice. However, there was something about being asked to sign the form which made me feel trapped in the job. It was as if signing the form meant I was going to be stuck there forever. So, I refused and my employment at IBT was abruptly over.

For more than a year, I considered different ways of making a living while using my savings to pay the bills. In the fall of 2000, I resigned myself to returning to accounting and had several job interviews the day after the Presidential election (after staying up to 4:00am watching the drama unfold). I had bought four new suits for the interviews and eventual job. I bought new shoes. I bought new shirts. I bought new everything. It probably cost me about $1,500-$2,000. I got a couple job offers and turned them down. I couldn't go back. The money was wasted.

The only source of income I had (and it was miniscule) was running chess tournaments. Chess, like so many games before it, was something which I could immerse myself in. I started playing actively in chess tournaments a few years earlier, about the same time I became disillusioned in my job. Strategy games have always been my favorite hobbies. Whether it was chess, rotisserie baseball, a dice-based wrestling game, I always got more joy out of strategy games than anything else.

On Easter weekend of 2001, more than a year after leaving my job, I went to Foxwoods to play in the 3rd Annual Foxwoods Chess Open. I had been there the previous two years and it had become my favorite chess tournament. It was a four-day tournament with two games per day on the final three days. That allowed some time during the day to play in the casino.

I thought gambling was rather stupid. I enjoyed walking through the casino and watching the games but I had no intentions of playing much. The first year I was there, 1999, I gave myself a budget of $20 and used it to spend some time playing quarter slot machines just for the hell of it. At some point, I hit a good-sized win on a Triple Triple Diamond machine and that become my favorite. I think I broke even on the machines that year. The second year, 2000, I lost the $20. The poker room also intrigued me but I couldn't muster up the courage to actually play.

When I went to Foxwoods in April of 2001 to play in the chess tournament, I decided I was going to give the poker room a try. On my first day, I noticed a practice table but it didn't have a dealer. I made a mental note to go back to that spot in between chess games and see if I could get some lessons. On the second day, a dealer was there and I sat down. There was a player who had busted out of his stud game but decided to stick around and play at the training table for a while. He gave me some basic advice on strategy for 1-3 stud: "Play pairs, three flushes, and three straights. Fold everything else." It made sense and I followed it. That stranger was the first influence on my poker career.

I have a vague memory of playing poker with my parents once when I was about 7 years old. That wasn't for money. In college, two friends and I played draw poker for quarters for a few hours. Other than those two occasions, I had no experience whatsoever. On the afternoon of Saturday, April 14, 2001, I played casino poker for the first time. I bought in for $60 in a 1-3, no ante, 7-card stud game. I booked a small win and was more anxious to play poker again than I was to finish the chess tournament.

While playing 1-3 stud, I remember thinking how big the 1-5 stud game looked. "Wow. That game is played with a $0.50 ante rather than no ante." Those stakes seemed intimidating.

In between chess games on Sunday, I played for two hours and lost my entire $60 buy-in. It was a little disheartening but I came back that night after my final chess game and played an all-night session. In total, I logged 19 hours at the 1-3 stud tables and won something like $80.

I returned home after the weekend chess/poker getaway. I had been looking for a new apartment because I had to leave the one I had while some kind of repairs were being done. Things came together.

There I was - unemployed, looking for a new home, disillusioned with the 9-5 workforce, and knowing the one thing I truly loved doing was playing games. So, I made probably the biggest leap of faith of my life to date. With experience of only 19 hours of 1-3 stud, I packed a few bags and flew to Las Vegas with the intention of making myself a professional poker play.

It's interesting to look back and see how little I knew about poker and the poker world. Here are a couple examples:

1. I had never heard the word "hold 'em". I had noticed that at some of the poker tables at Foxwoods, the players only got two cards. But, that hardly seemed like poker to me. After all, how can you play poker when you are only dealt two cards? It seemed silly. I didn't intend to get involved with that game at all. I thought 7-card stud was a real poker game where you got all your own cards

2. I had no appreciation of how many places you could play poker. I knew there were casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Connecticut. But, I had never heard that poker was legal in California. "Poker in casinos in California? How strange." I certainly didn't know anything about online play.

In the 25 days between leaving Foxwoods and arriving in Las Vegas, I arranged for an apartment. I took a taxi from the airport to my new unknown home and signed a lease without even looking at the apartment.

On my first day in Las Vegas, I had dinner at a nearby casino buffet, bought a few groceries at the supermarket, and then walked one mile to the west to get my first look at the famous Las Vegas Strip. It was impressive. My new backyard was an interesting place. I spent my first night sleeping on the floor of my completely empty apartment using a jacket as a blanket.

I managed to get my couch and some other furniture delivered by mid-afternoon the next day. Other furniture came in the next few days and so I decided to start my new career.

I had learned through scouting all the Strip casinos that my preferred 1-3 stud wasn't played in Las Vegas. So, I was immediately going to have to jump into the big 1-5 stud games. On Sunday, May 13, 2001, at 8:45 pm, I officially became a professional poker player. I bought into the Flamingo's 1-5 stud game and booked a $72.50 win in 4.25 hours of play. It was a good start.

Before I arrived in Las Vegas, I had purchased a copy of Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players. It was probably a very good sign that I recognized 7CSFAP wasn't the right strategy book for my games. Within a week of arriving in Vegas, I discovered the Gambler's Book Shop- an incredible store with books on any form of gambling you could want. I started my poker library with Roy West's 7 Card Stud Book and added more than a dozen more over the next half year.

I spent the summer of 2001 exclusively playing 1-5 stud. When I wasn't playing, I was reading my newly bought library. I also came to appreciate that 7-card stud was not the ideal way to make a living. I knew I was going to have to learn that strange two card poker game called hold 'em. So, I started by playing in play money no-limit tournaments on pokerpages.com. I enjoyed it a lot and even managed to finish first in one tournament which had about 200 entrants

As the summer ended, I decided to make my first jump in limits. On Friday, 8/31, I played 4-8 stud at the Bellagio. On the following Saturday and Sunday, I played 5-10 stud at the Mirage. The following Tuesday, I played 4-8 hold 'em for the first time at the Monte Carlo. I won $40.50 in five hours of play. I was on my way up.

In late August, I discovered the twoplustwo.com forums. My first posts weren't much different than everybody else's. In the stud forum, I asked a question along the lines of "What do you do when somebody always raises with an Ace doorcard?" In the small stakes hold 'em forum, I asked, "How do you play when you make a small flush with 76s?" Right from the start, I was a prolific and opinionated poster and that got the attention of a couple Vegas locals who had been terrorizing the Mirage 6-12 hold 'em game for a while.

I got an e-mail from Dave Clark who you all know as Clarkmeister. He and his friend, Derek Andrew, wanted to meet up. I had been planning to make another trip to the Gambler's Book Store so I decided I'd meet these guys before heading there.

On Tuesday, October 23, 2001, Dynasty and Clarkmeister met face-to-face for the first time. Has the world been the same since? Dave and Derek left their 6-12 game and we chatted for a bit in the Mirage Sports Bar. I'm sure Dave was his usual chatty self and I sat there mostly quiet, occasionally making a comment or two.

Dave learned a few things about me that day. I mentioned that I was planning to go to the Gambler's Book Store - to walk there. Dave seemed appalled at the idea of making the four-or-so mile walk; especially knowing I'd be walking back too. But, he and Derek decided to go with me. Of course, we were taking his car. I bought "Inside the Poker Mind" which Dave recommended highly and we returned to the Mirage.

Dave then got a taste of my poker discipline when I simply refused to sit down in a hold 'em game. I had played six days in a row and that day was supposed to be a day off. Also, the Mirage was my stud room. I hadn't played a single hand of hold 'em there. The Monte Carlo and Mandalay Bay had become my hold 'em homes. However, I couldn't be outright rude. So, I said I'd play some 1-5 stud with them for an hour or two so we could play and chat.

Before Dave and Derek even got into the stud game, we all had the same idea. We decided to play a $15 satellite for the evening hold 'em tournament. I had never played in a real tournament and was intrigued by it. Dave was the first player eliminated. He got a free play in his big blind with something like 87o and the flop came 9,6,5 two-tone. He and another opponent went all-in on the flop. Unfortunately for Dave, the other guy had 87s for the same flopped straight and a flush draw to go with it. The flush came and Dave was out early. Maybe that's why he doesn't like tournaments. I finished in 4th place. Derek finished in 2nd.

Dave and I would occasionally see each other over the next few months when I would go to the Mirage to play 5-10 stud. In December, I moved up in stakes again and played in the Mirage 6-12 and Bellagio 8-16 hold 'em games so we bumped into each other a lot more and even played in the same games a few times. But, I'm not sure if we were actually friends. We were certainly friendly. If I saw him in the Mirage, I would always say hello and talk for a bit if we had the time. But, we never did anything else together.

Dave is an extremely extroverted and social person. Any 2+2er who has met him would surely say the same. I'm close to the exact opposite. I'm very introverted and a bit of a loner. I'm particularly quiet and distant when first meeting most people. So, if it were not for our common love of poker, it seems unlikely that anything else would have made us friends.

If there were a moment when our acquaintance became a true friendship, it would be our first poker road trip together to the Commerce. Dave, Derek, and I took the four-hour drive from Las Vegas to California and spent four days in the largest poker room in the country. Long drives and sharing a room sort of forced me to start talking and everything flowed easily after that.

When playing hold 'em at the Commerce I stayed mostly in the 6-12 games while Dave braved the 9-18 on the important-looking raised platform. I annoyed Derek a bit by getting a $229 share of the bad beat jackpot just hours after arriving.

On the third day of our trip, I made the next jump in stakes and played 10-20 stud on a whim and had good results. During the rest of the winter, I spent most of my time playing 10-20 stud at the Mirage and 15-30 stud at the Bellagio. When I played hold 'em, it was mostly 4-8.

In late March of 2002, I returned to Massachusetts for a week to visit my family and other things. I had been a professional poker player for 10 months but most of my time was spent playing small stakes. During this week off, I realized that I was simply going to have to make another leap of faith. If I wanted to make it as a player, I needed to have the confidence in myself and move up in limits. So, I resolved myself to move up see what happened. In April, I started playing the Mirage 10-20 and Bellagio 15-30 hold 'em games.

On April 5th, I had a big day. I even made a post about it. For the first time, I made $1,000 in a single day, thus paying my rent, and then some, with a single day's work. I played the 10-20 stud game in the afternoon and won $456. In the evening, I played the Bellagio 15-30 hold 'em game for the very first time. I booked a $596 win. $1,052 in one day! I was hopeful that it would always be so easy.

By June, I was a regular in the Mirage 20-40 hold 'em game despite actually having bad results in the 10-20 hold 'em game. Of course, having thirteen consecutive winning sessions in the 20-40 game and a winrate of 3.7 big bets/hour for the month of June meant I didn't give a damn what my 10-20 results were. I was crushing the 20-40 game.

For the past two years, I've been content in the 20-40 game. I've pretty much stayed there except when I thought the game was regularly bad for a stretch. I would move up to 30-60 if the Bellagio waiting lists weren't such a mess. I'll probably do it this summer anyway when I'm playing the graveyard shift.

Somewhere in one of Mason's books, he discusses that a lot of players who try to make a living at poker start off quickly but then burn out. He said that it should take three years before you should know whether you can make a living at this profession. My three years are up.

originally posted 5/10/04 on 2+2 Forums by Bryan Clark