POKER, POKER, POKAH!!

Oh, how I loves me some poker. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm pretty hard-core about it. I just LOVE the game. Luckily, I've always been pretty responsible about playing and have never lost a lot of money. I've always had the restraint to stop when I started to lose money or to not play for a while if I had a run of bad luck. Therefore, even though I've never been a tremendous player I've always come out a little ahead. Poker has almost always provided me with a little extra pocket money.

I started out playing about 5 years ago when I was living with my friend Scott. He played full-time (yes, as his JOB!) and taught me the game. The two of us used to host a weekly game and played with a group of guys who were great about teaching me the game. I never won against them because they were all kick-ass players. I always considered it my donation to hang with them and have a good time.



Well, for the past few years I've played a lot online and have hosted my own very casual bi-monthly home game. Only recently, I started going back to play with the big boys. First, I left with my own money from their game - which was tremendous because I almost always lost my dough to them. Then came last night....

I went to their game and the stakes were a bit higher than I usually play: $2/$4 blinds. That means every hand, the first three cards at $2 to play and the last two are $4 a card - and that's before anyone raises. Obviously, the cards can get very expensive to play. I bought-into the game for $60 (which is a very low buy-in for those stakes) and left with $131!!! I beat the big boys and doubled my money, which rocked steady!

I got home feeling pretty confident, so I went to my online poker site and decided to buy-in for a tournament. That means you buy-in for a set amount($20) and then everyone gets the same amount of chips and you play until one person is left with all the chips. The top three spots pay in a tournament. I won FIRST PLACE and won $100.

So overall last night, I invested $80 and won $151. I played from 8-midnight. At four hours, I made $37.75 an hour. Not too shabby, eh?

NOW I'm feeling much more confident about my most recent endeavor. After having a lot of people ask me how to teach them to play, AND knowing that most people won't jump into a real money game to learn, I decided to start teaching some poker classes. I figured it was a great way to earn a little extra cash and feel confident that I can teach basic poker strategy and play. I built a website and have started publicizing the classes to pretty good response. The website is DivaPokerSchool.com. Be a pal and pass the link on!

I decided that I'd run classes once or twice a month from my house and put a social spin on it. People can also hire me to come to their house to host their own poker party and I'll teach them and their guests the game and then act as the dealer for the rest of the night. I even got a super-cheesy dealer vest and visor! People can play for fun, money, or even raise money for charity.

So you see, I do love me some poker. It's fun, a great way to meet new people, and for me a great way to earn some extra cash! Winnah winnah, lobstah dinnah!
- posted by Taunia @ 7:22 AM