In November 2003 I was a thirtysomething Editor of a horseracing publication and had never played a hand of poker in my life. Then, late one night I stumbled across a tv show called the World Poker Tour in which a young danish guy called Gus Hansen bet and bluffed his opponents away to take the title and a million dollars. As someone already immersed in gambling and statistics I was immediately gripped by this 'new' game and when I received a mailshot from my local casino a few days later plugging 'texas hold 'em' tournaments my fate was sealed. After watching every poker show I could find over the next couple of weeks and reading a couple of basic hold 'em books I ventured down to the Brighton Rendezvous Casino and entered their weekly £10 re-buy tournament. I can honestly say I have never been so petrefied in my life as I was when I was dealt my first hand which I gleefully flung into the muck. I played like a 'rock' and did not progress very far, but the adrenaline rush & atmosphere surrounding the card room was intoxicating and I already knew I was in for the long haul. A few days later I started playing some small stakes cash games on the internet and on my second trip to the Rendezvous I amazingly finished 2nd, for £770! I again played like a 'rock', just looking for AA/KK/QQ/AK and pairs, I didn't bluff once and had no clue what my opponents could have. However, I was like a human cardrack and powered my way to a heads-up situation. My opponent asked if I wanted to chop up the remaining prizemoney but I sensed he was worried and I fancied I could win it outright so said no. What a mistake that was, as I was quickly overpowered by my rival who just kept betting and winning every pot as I waited for a big hand - I had no appreciation that you must play many more hands shorthanded and make plenty of bluffs. To my eternal amusement, I was later told that my heads-up rival was a professional who is the best player at the casino and had won 33 tournaments already that year!! At that time I had no real bankroll to speak of as I had just moved house but by playing 'tight' I was going deep in plenty of multi-table tournaments and making money on the single tables. To improve to the next level I realised I had to 'loosen' up my game, try and accumulate chips more quickly, bluff more and put people on hands. I started to read as many books on poker as I could, learned the maths, studied all the tv shows and watched how the best players at my casino played. My game quickly progressed and I was building my bankroll slowly but surely in small stakes tournaments both 'live' and on the net. Then in July 2004 I qualified via a satellite for my first big competition. It was the £500 main event at a festival at my local casino. From 120 runners I progressed through to the final day and finished an agonising 10th, one off the final table. This was a breakthrough though as I knew I could play as well as, if not better than, many of the players in the tournament. The next few months saw my game continue to evolve and I had become a very aggressive player, with the gears that are essential to win tournaments. I could sense people did not really want to play pots with me and my confidence grew. In December I won an internet satellite to play in the Caribbean Poker Classic in St Maarten. That was a great trip and although I had no luck in the main event I won a smaller contest for about $4500. At that time I was seriously considering playing full-time as I was not getting much sleep, wanted more time to improve my game and knew I could beat several games on the internet. My bankroll was still fairly modest however so I decided to wait until I had a big win. That big win came in March 2005 when I won a trip (another on-line satellite) to the European Poker Tour Event in Vienna. Again I had no luck in the main event but a couple of days earlier I stormed through 170 runners to take the 1000 Euro event and scoop around E44,000!!! There were some top-class international players at the final table and with a nice chip lead I was pushing them around like Gus Hansen. What a fantastic buzz and most importantly it gave me the confidence and assurance that I belonged in top company. The next few months I made other final tables at various festivals and in April won an internet satellite through Virgin into a live televised British Poker Open heat against Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliot and none other than Gus Hansen!! What an experience, but unfortunately I tried to steamroll a move through with K2 suited only for our Danish friend to wake up with AK! In May I twice qualified for entry into the $10,000 Main Event at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, the most prestigious tournament of the year. That was to be held in mid-July but before then I decided to attend the first week of the series and play in a couple of the smaller events. My confidence was high but these are the highest class fields anywhere in the world and with most events attracting 700-1000+ players it is not easy to go deep. However, in the 2nd event, the $1500 Pot Limit tournament, I survived the first day. Going into day 2 I was in about 35th place out of 45, from an original entry of 1071! Needless to say I got little sleep that night but felt confident when we started and soon started to accumulate chips. I didn't have time to think about the $370,000 first prize until I made the final table in which I was 2nd in chips behind the brilliant Layne Flack (5 World Series Bracelets). In the break before the final table the enormity of the situation finally dawned on me and I felt uncomfortable. I am usually very aggressive at the final table if I have chips but I played too cautiously to ensure a big payday and eventually finished 4th for $103,000. That was easily the highlight of my poker career but I am determined to play all-out to win next time. Two days later I finished 18th out of 548 in the short-handed no-limit tournament for another cash which ended a quite incredible week. I finally began playing full-time in the first week of September 2005 and within 2 days I had finished second in the £1000 Star City Casino Celeb Grand Prix in Birmingham for a very nice sum. I should have retired the next day! At present I play cash, single tables and multi's on-line. I still enjoy the small stakes re-buy tournaments at my local casino and also hope to play many of the leading 'live' events over the coming months. I still have plenty to learn and am always looking at areas of my game which can be improved. I am determined to land a World Series Bracelet or World Poker Tour title one day but for now I hope to continue to enjoy playing this most fascinating and challenging game. Good Luck.