Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Who is James A. D.?
I read Chris Moneymaker's autobiography recently, and in it he tells of finishing a long day of playing poker exhausted in the wee hours of the morning. This was when he was nearing the final table of the WSOP championship event that he won. He said the event directors wanted a short autobiography from each player still in the tournament by early the next morning. A lot of the veteran players had their's written already and turned them in and went to bed. He had to stay up and try to come up with something. So, I wrote this article to get a little practice of telling about myself.
As a little boy, James A. D. liked going to the county fair for many reasons, but two of the top reasons were the carnival rides and the bingo games - the micro seconds of free fall and the gambling. The bingo games were 5 or 10 cents a game for prizes like stuffed animals or toys. Seed corn was used to mark the numbers on your card as they were called. I had an incredible desire to be lucky and win.
As a young man, I enjoyed studying science and mathematics in college. I was especially interested in probability theory and logic. But I was also interested in the languages and symbol systems that allow humans to pass meaning from one to another, for instance body language or gestures.
I became fascinated by the human condition and as I realized how little we know I wondered how we could be sure of what we did know. I had become a philosopher long before I realized it. I thought I was a scientific thinker, logical, etc. Then I learned that Logic is a branch of philosophy. I wanted to know the Truth about the world and being human. How can we know? Egad! I was an epistemologist (Epistemology is another of the 5 branches of philosophy - it is the study of knowledge and knowing.) But there seemed to be so much to know. How could I learn the most of all that can be known in the short time of my life? This became a personal challenge. How fast could I learn something; something difficult and complex? Organization and efficiency were my bywords.
As a not so young man, I wanted ways to test and measure the success of my "quick study" methods. I had a fascination with computers and computer languages. A friend I reported to at work, Tom, gave me the opportunity to write a database program with software I was not familiar with. What a challenge that was, and what a personal growth experience. My prior knowledge of logic and symbol systems helped me learn the software and structure the database in a short time. I seemed to be on to something. My "quick study" methods worked!
I have played card games, including poker, since I was a young boy. After I moved to Houston as a young adult, I played in a regular "nickle, dime, quarter" Saturday night poker game with a group of friends for years. We played mostly 5-card and 7-card stud, chicago, draw, sweat, etc. Oh, how I enjoyed the competiveness in the games. I got to where I could win regularly. I had never heard of hold'em in that period. I saw hold'em being played in poker rooms in casinos when I began to gamble and play poker in casinos, but I was never interested. I played 7-card stud.
Then came Texas Hold'em on TV. You couldn't miss it on TV. It was a little less than two years ago, September of 2004. I thought, OK, that seems interesting. I can learn to play that game. I watched it on TV. I got a book. I got a computer game on disk and played against the computer. I learned it was simple. And then I learned it wasn't so simple after all. I ultimately began playing hold'em live. I got some more books. I began to play online. All told, I have less than 2 years experience playing hold'em. Not much experience compared to the decades of experience some of the players in the WSOP main event will have. There is just so much you need to know. And then there is this thrill-seeking self I have to control.
See where all this is leading? I am now 55 years old. I have realized many of my dreams. I have experienced freefall. I have been skydiving several times. I have been swimming with sharks (real ones). I like to test the limits of what I can do. I have the ability to focus until I know what I need to know to do what I need to do to accomplish what I have to accomplish. That's my claim and it's about to be severely tested in the arena of no-limit hold'em poker. I am making more and more final tables in (small) tournaments I play in lately. My recent results are measureably better - I am making a little money playing hold'em. I think I know a little about hold'em now. I know I have a big imagination. I imagine I can win.
There is a convergence of a lot of my interests in hold'em. That's who James A. D. is right now: a thrill-seeking gambler, a mathematician, a people studier, a philosopher, an epistomologist and just a regular competitive guy who has been playing hold'em for a little less than 2 years and who is lucky enough to be playing in the WSOP main event in Las Vegas this year. There is still much I can learn, but I am ready for this. I have no delusions about being the best no-limit Texas hold'em player in the world, but I just might not have to be to win this championship. This is going to take a LOT of LUCK for anyone to win and I AM A LUCKY GUY. So, I am ready for this huge event. I have been preparing for this opportunity for a lifetime. Fate has brought James A. D. to this point in history. I am going to play to win. I am James A. D. I've got a really good feeling about this.
As a little boy, James A. D. liked going to the county fair for many reasons, but two of the top reasons were the carnival rides and the bingo games - the micro seconds of free fall and the gambling. The bingo games were 5 or 10 cents a game for prizes like stuffed animals or toys. Seed corn was used to mark the numbers on your card as they were called. I had an incredible desire to be lucky and win.
As a young man, I enjoyed studying science and mathematics in college. I was especially interested in probability theory and logic. But I was also interested in the languages and symbol systems that allow humans to pass meaning from one to another, for instance body language or gestures.
I became fascinated by the human condition and as I realized how little we know I wondered how we could be sure of what we did know. I had become a philosopher long before I realized it. I thought I was a scientific thinker, logical, etc. Then I learned that Logic is a branch of philosophy. I wanted to know the Truth about the world and being human. How can we know? Egad! I was an epistemologist (Epistemology is another of the 5 branches of philosophy - it is the study of knowledge and knowing.) But there seemed to be so much to know. How could I learn the most of all that can be known in the short time of my life? This became a personal challenge. How fast could I learn something; something difficult and complex? Organization and efficiency were my bywords.
As a not so young man, I wanted ways to test and measure the success of my "quick study" methods. I had a fascination with computers and computer languages. A friend I reported to at work, Tom, gave me the opportunity to write a database program with software I was not familiar with. What a challenge that was, and what a personal growth experience. My prior knowledge of logic and symbol systems helped me learn the software and structure the database in a short time. I seemed to be on to something. My "quick study" methods worked!
I have played card games, including poker, since I was a young boy. After I moved to Houston as a young adult, I played in a regular "nickle, dime, quarter" Saturday night poker game with a group of friends for years. We played mostly 5-card and 7-card stud, chicago, draw, sweat, etc. Oh, how I enjoyed the competiveness in the games. I got to where I could win regularly. I had never heard of hold'em in that period. I saw hold'em being played in poker rooms in casinos when I began to gamble and play poker in casinos, but I was never interested. I played 7-card stud.
Then came Texas Hold'em on TV. You couldn't miss it on TV. It was a little less than two years ago, September of 2004. I thought, OK, that seems interesting. I can learn to play that game. I watched it on TV. I got a book. I got a computer game on disk and played against the computer. I learned it was simple. And then I learned it wasn't so simple after all. I ultimately began playing hold'em live. I got some more books. I began to play online. All told, I have less than 2 years experience playing hold'em. Not much experience compared to the decades of experience some of the players in the WSOP main event will have. There is just so much you need to know. And then there is this thrill-seeking self I have to control.
See where all this is leading? I am now 55 years old. I have realized many of my dreams. I have experienced freefall. I have been skydiving several times. I have been swimming with sharks (real ones). I like to test the limits of what I can do. I have the ability to focus until I know what I need to know to do what I need to do to accomplish what I have to accomplish. That's my claim and it's about to be severely tested in the arena of no-limit hold'em poker. I am making more and more final tables in (small) tournaments I play in lately. My recent results are measureably better - I am making a little money playing hold'em. I think I know a little about hold'em now. I know I have a big imagination. I imagine I can win.
There is a convergence of a lot of my interests in hold'em. That's who James A. D. is right now: a thrill-seeking gambler, a mathematician, a people studier, a philosopher, an epistomologist and just a regular competitive guy who has been playing hold'em for a little less than 2 years and who is lucky enough to be playing in the WSOP main event in Las Vegas this year. There is still much I can learn, but I am ready for this. I have no delusions about being the best no-limit Texas hold'em player in the world, but I just might not have to be to win this championship. This is going to take a LOT of LUCK for anyone to win and I AM A LUCKY GUY. So, I am ready for this huge event. I have been preparing for this opportunity for a lifetime. Fate has brought James A. D. to this point in history. I am going to play to win. I am James A. D. I've got a really good feeling about this.
