Giveaway 2000th Post Giveaway (2 Viewers)

[chippitydoodah]

I don't pay much attention to post counts but did notice I was at 1999 so what better way to post #2000 than with a giveaway? Giveaways are awesome. I considered an auction but you might have noticed I have a pretty bad track record with those. A Mystery Auction to possibly add another cliff hanger was considered. In the end, I love the random number generator (probably "RNG" but you know how I feel about abbreviations). More than the RNG (I can adapt) is the Poker Hand. Choosing 10 players using the RNG to play a showdown hand of Hold Em would be the most fun. Using the honor system, please enter ONCE by explaining why you hate Josh Kifer. Just kidding. Enter by telling how old you were (or as close as you can remember) when you first played cards for real money with your own money in the reply section below.

Example:
The earliest I remember was playing poker using my nickles, dimes & quarters (I may have also used some money from my mother or grandmother's change purse) when I was 15 years old. Pretty sure we only played 5 card draw but we kept what we won.

For the winner I will ship free of charge WORLDWIDE these 3 chips from my favorite poker set.

The $1 & $5 are "live" chips worth face value. The $4 drop chip was removed and cannot be redeemed but that's a good thing

I hate to put an exact end date on this so lets say after I see it's lost traction I'll give a "Last Call Bump" of 24 hours.

Good luck to everyone and thanks for being such a great group.

Kevin

 

[Szczesnk]

16, after the 'Moneymaker' boom. $5 sit and go's with dice chips, pretending like we knew what we were doing. Not much has changed...

 

[ktran]

I can't exactly remember if I played cards for money as a kid. If I did, it was friendly for fun. I did play online on Full Tilt, but that was for play money fortunately.

The first time I would say would be in college second year I believe. So around 19 years old. It was a small group tournament with one good table bully. I finally learned to call with ace high and it felt good! Small ball poker tips from Dnegs help too.

 

[Bacon Dad]

I was a freshman in high school. I had 3 of my dearest friends overnight and my dad taught us how to play stud and draw and other circus games. We played nickel- dime stuff. It was a blast!!!!

 

[PokerDogDoc]

I was 8 and my dad taught me how to play 5 Card Draw and 7 Card Stud for pennies. Whenever I was about to go broke, “somehow” (wink-wink) I’d win a pot and re-stake myself! As I got better, I’d hold my own and stack him for real (and sometimes he’d wipe me out which taught me the lesson of how to lose with grace).

He also taught me how to do a riffle shuffle and bridge.

Find memories for sure!

 

[TheOffalo]

I’m sure I played for pennies or whatever as kids but the first time I played poker for real was with friends and strangers at a family holiday gathering maybe 15 years ago. I was very nervous but did okay for my first go.

 

[Bluegrass Poker]

Sitting in a little with my dad and uncles when I was about 8 or 9. They played nickels and dimes, literally.

 

[drdr]

I was 24. After seeing a TV show where Greenstein consistently dominated hand after hand I had a realisation that perhaps poker isn't completely gambling. Signed up online and hit the play money tables. A year later up $2 mil in play money and crushing the highest limit tables I thought what the hell is the point? Told the online casino I wanted to try real money but was difficult to deposit from Australia. Casino put $10 in my account for free and I hit the micro tables. Took me a while but I grinded up a bankroll eventually.

 

[Bacon Dad]

Thanks for doing this giveaway. Awful kind of you.

 

[dpeks13]

It's funny, I have no idea how I started playing poker. I can tell you how I learned blackjack from my uncle, who still laughs at the story to this day since he's never been a gambler.

I started playing with friends in small home tourneys as a teenager, I'm assuming my dad taught me, but I don't remember it at all. Weird....now I'm going to have a complex trying to figure it out.

 

[Sparkynutz]

I was 20 when a coworker invited me to play cash games for quarters. Had no clue how to play but plenty of disposable income at the time. I regularly lost a few hundred but still had fun learning the hard way. I still play with the guy that got me started over 20 years ago. I don't lose as much as I used to and actually came out +$83 last time.

 

[Tony_M]

Not sure exactly but I'd say somewhere around age 10.

Growing up, after every holiday feast, fruit and nuts would usually be served while coffee was brewing and desserts were being prepared. That was the cue for the cards to come out and my dad and all my aunts and uncles would play dealer's choice for pennies. Mostly draw and stud with "no peak follow the queen" thrown in once in awhile. My dad's favorite was "7-card stud, deuces wild, 5-7-9 pays a nickel" (anyone dealt a face up 5, 7 or 9 had to add an extra nickel to the pot).

Started out with maybe 1 or 3¢ antes or something and I remember my Aunt El crying in mock indignation if someone raised to a nickel or heaven forbid "TEN CENTS!!!???" and cursing in Italian before calling or raising and scooping the pot with a full house or something, laughing her ass off. When I was too young to play I'd sit next to my dad and watch him and he'd tell me how much to put in the pot. Eventually I got old enough to play and would save all my change in a jar waiting for the next holiday to roll around. Was more excited to play poker than to see what gifts I'd be getting under the tree.... well, maybe that's an exaggeration but not by much.

Sadly nearly all of those people are gone now. Very fond memories though! Thanks for spurring the trip down memory lane.

 

[LeLe]

I am 19 when I first played with my Army platoon mates and since gambling with money is not allowed in camp, we used coloured matchsticks & matchsticks boxes to substitute as chips/cash when playing.

Red matchstick = 5c
Blue matchstick = 25c
Boxes (internal layer and outer layer) = $5

So a starting stack is $10 a Matchbox with 10 red matchsticks 18 blue matchsticks in it.

We are playing at 5c/10c stake at that time

 

[pluto]

15 in High school. We played a $5 or $10 buy in cash game with .25/.50 blinds and played for 5-8 hours somehow lol

 

[jamesjkim]

16 years young and played a .25/.50 game with $10 buy ins. It was the most fun I had playing poker. It was all down hill from there.

 

[MrBoosh]

I probably first played poker as a kid with my grandparents. Whenever the family would get together, we played cards. Every single time. Which was awesome. Most of the time we would play other card games besides poker but sometimes we would play some version of poker for pennies and nickels.

In college was the Moneymaker boom. I had some dice chips and an octagon table topper that we used to play with. We would hang out at the local Mexican restaurant for dinner drink some margs and then get a pitcher to go and go down the block to my cousins house and play holdem until late in the night. Good memories indeed!

 

[4SUMERZ]

I played stud poker showdowns after my parents and their neighbor friends were finishing up 45's on their Saturday night games $.25 each.
I was about 11 or 12 at that time. On holidays when all the family gathered, we played chase the Ace for 3 quarters. Once you lost your quarters uou were out...winner take all.....decent pot for my 4 sisters, Mom and Dad and some of the boyfriends.
Played "In between and guts in college. I remember writing a check to cover the pot for In between. Luckily I caught the in between card to get my buy in back.

Thanks for the giveaway.
Happy New Year

 

[andrebttx]

The first time I ever played with cash on the line was sometime in middle school, with my older cousin’s baseball team. What a disorganized game! I remember even then that everyone throwing money into the pot out of turn meant it would be easy for a cheater.

But the first time I played Actual Grown Up Poker was 1/2 at the Luxor when I was 22. Pretty much my entire life growing up, my parents knew a Vegas trip when I turned 21 was gonna be necessary. Well the life timing didn’t quite work out, but we did eventually go. Learned all about chopping the blinds, dealer making change, all sorts of etiquette. Proceeded to bust very quickly on my $100 buyin with 2 Pair and that was that!

 

[BigJackJones]

I was somewhere between 8 and 10, probably '79/'80ish. My Dad was a preacher, so my only way to learn any of the cool vices was with the neighbor kids. I'd been saving my allowance for something stupid. We all spent the night at the same house (where I later drank my first 4 shots of Jack Daniels). Jeremy was the ALWAYS the ringleader when it came to the dark arts. He talked everyone into buying in for $10, and I will never forget the look on his face when he said, "We play 5 card stud here. It's a man's game."

I had no idea what he meant, but I left with $11.

Thanks for doing the giveaway. #youmade2000yourbitch

 

[DZPoker]

I was 18 or 19 (can’t remember the month)

College freshman. Drunk. Usually played for clothes. Finally played for clothes and money.

Left naked and broke

 

[David O]

I was 12 years old when I first played for real money with real nickels and dimes, and I hate @Josh Kifer because, well just because doesn't everyone?

 

[Postoakpoker]

19 or so. Moneymaker had just won the WSOP & everyone was playing poker. I miss the good old days of playing with friends in the garage for $20.

 

[ChipEnvy]

I was in high school. So probably 16ish. We would play dumb games like ‘between the sheets’ and ‘guts’ for quarters.

 

[Hunt247]

Learn how to play poker at the Crystal Casino in the early 90s in Billings, Montana. The card room was managed by old man Shelly, and we played a 1-2 & 3-6 Texas Holdom game. Annie Duke would be there many nights playing with us. At about 10 pm, when the Cowboys got a boozed-up, the fleecing commenced. Congrats on the 2000 post partner.

 

[JDPoker]

11 or 12, playing for pennies and nickels on the floor of my garage. My mom used to come down and bring us snacks. I also remember my first time in a real poker room in AC (I was probably in my early 20s) playing stud with the old men...that was truly an experience. Poker rooms were so different back then (early 1990's).

 

[DMack]

I can’t remember the exact age, but we were kids…my brothers and our friends. That’s what led to this horrible chipping problem!!

 

[5aces]

The earliest I remember was playing poker using my plaques fro the Xmas wishlist was, when I was 9 years old. Pretty sure we knew (and still know) nothing about poker while watching Terrence Hill and Bud Spencer movies.

 

[GreekRedEye]

I started much older than most everyone here. I grew up in a household and culture where gambling was very taboo. I was 33 first time I played for money on a cruise ship. Buy in was $100.

And I don't actually hate @Josh Kifer, I just pretend to because I want to fit in!

 

[Pinkdan]

I was 16 and my friend’s older brothers were having a $20 home game. I sat down and played in an unorthodox manner and won. Haven’t lost the itch since

 

[Franzister]

First time with my own money was in highschool at WOJO's cardroom. They never carded us so my buddy and I would buy-in to the $.25 game playing 1,2,3,4 quarter limit dealers choice. The deal would literally move with the button and that's where I learned how to play holdem, Omaha, Tahoe, pineapple, Cantrell and a few other games. It was almost always high-low. There was no rake but the house guy would come around every 15min and take the house's "time" from each player. They also had a blackjack game where a 3 deck shoe would pass around the table and you'd take turns being the dealer hoping you didn't bust out before the shoe got to you . Those were the days