My name is Daniel. I am 27 years young and come from Hamburg. I would like to tell you about my experiences with poker. I will be honest and mention both positive and negative aspects and how poker became a part of my life. Already since approximately 2001 I play Poker regularly. First with friends in a small round around smallest amounts. Now I play online at Pokerstars for more than a few cents and can look back on almost 15 years of poker experience.

The poker fever has packed me as a teenager. On television I watched numerous broadcasts of the biggest poker tournaments and cash games with legendary players like Dolye Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Gus Hansen. My friends at school were also watching poker regularly at the time, so we started playing poker at school during breaks. Sometimes the winner won a cheese roll, sometimes a cocoa. Nothing wild and the fun of the game was absolutely in the foreground. After some time we bought together a poker suitcase with higher quality cards and game chips. A little bit feeling like the professionals and playing for smaller Euro amounts was a lot of fun. The round became bigger and bigger and even a small tournament with cup was organized in the circle of friends. My passion for poker grew and I quickly realized that I had a knack for this game. I was very patient and didn’t play every hand. Many of my friends didn’t play that seriously and so I won more often. In my circle of friends and acquaintances I quickly had the image of the best poker player, who with his poker face is almost impossible to see through.

Shortly after my 18th birthday I registered with Pokerstars. The site was known to me from television and was by far the largest poker site. With a Paysafecard from the gas station I paid 25 Euro and started to play smaller tournaments. At first the high speed was very unusual for me. While playing with friends I shuffled by hand in between, which of course takes much longer than with online poker. After some time and a few small wins and losses I got used to the tempo and one table got too boring and I started playing at several tables at the same time. In the cash game, however, I could never play more than three or four tables at the same time, otherwise I lost track too quickly.
A really indescribably great feeling when you see the card you hoped for on the river and an even more devastating feeling when your opponent gets his card. Often I played for several hours at a time and poker began to become more and more an integral part of my life. Payouts at Pokerstars were always transferred to my bank account quickly and without any problems. Often, however, the amount won was also quickly paid back to continue playing. Bankroll management wasn’t really my strong point and afterwards I would have preferred to get something nice out of the winnings.

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In the year 2010 I had then a really full profit for my conditions. In a $11 buy-in tournament, I took first place and won just over $1500. I invested $215 of that as a buy-in to Pokerstars’ biggest weekly tournament, the Sunday Million Tournament. But I couldn’t get into the money there. Nevertheless, I had about 800 Euro paid out and took a little vacation in Holland. A really great feeling to treat yourself to some of your winnings. Even though I had decided not to play so much poker any more, I always felt the urge to play again. Fortunately, I can honestly say that I never got into a real addiction and always only used what I had left. This is generally the most important tip for any player: deposited money should always be money that is dispensable. Once the money is in the poker account, you should expect not to see it again. Anything else would be presumptuous, because even the best poker player in the world is not prepared for a losing streak and at the end of the day poker is still a game of chance in my eyes.
When I finished my training and earned a little more money, the stakes at Pokerstars also increased. Only 50 and 100 Paysafe cards were bought at the gas station and tournament buy-ins ranged from $22-54. It’s really an incredible adrenaline rush to start a bluff in a tournament that’s expensive by my standards and just hope your opponent fits his hand. I also played poker in the casino from time to time. Live poker and online poker are actually two completely different worlds. In live poker, you have to watch out for so many things that can expose a bluff and keep an eye on the body language of your opponents. With attentive observation one could recognize quite some patterns in the behavior and use these purposefully. With Pokerstars one can beg the PC that the opponent calls or folds now please, without this drawing an advantage from it.
The feeling of victory in poker is of course – as with any other game – the most beautiful. The moment the pot is pushed in my direction is a moment of triumph. If you have a good phase, everything just seems to work. Opponents fold in bluffs and call when you have a very good hand. However, there is also the opposite case and you have to struggle with fate and possibly blame the software for your failure.

In summary, I can say that I have experienced many beautiful moments through poker. The game is a great mixture of tactics, skill, skill and luck. However, the high risk of addiction should not go unmentioned and I can only stress again that it is important that you never deposit more than you can afford. Then you can have a lot of fun with the game over the years and with a little luck you can win a lot of money every now and then.

 

Experience report written by Daniel B., 27 years, from Hamburg.