The Beginning

It all started about around the beginning of 2005. I had been hosting my home game and playing poker online and got a gig dealing for some charity poker tournaments around town. My first one was a bit scary as I had to try out in front of the tournament director and deal to several other dealers. He critiqued my dealing but overall gave me a passing grade and some very positive comments. My first tournament was 20 tables and I dealt until there were 4 tables left, and I got a nice check for my troubles, and I was hooked. I loved the feel of the cards, the control of the table, the game, the people. everything... I would have done it for free and they were PAYING me.

I got a few more gigs after that, one a month at least... money was ok, and I loved the work. So I started researching dealing in Las Vegas. I took 4 trips to Vegas in 2005 and spent some time each trip talking to the room managers, dealers, floor, etc and finding out what I needed to know how I needed to do it, etc. Around July I decided I was going to do it very soon. I was burning out on IT, burning out on Atlanta, and burning my social life up by being an online computer junkie (Poker, World ofWarcraft, Civ IV, etc). So I made the decision that at the start of 2006 I was off to Vegas. I told my boss, gave my 3 months notice, helped hire a replacement, train the replacement, and on February 24th, 2006 at 2:32 PM the odyssey began!