Saturday, May 26, 2007

My First Post

My name is Patrick Green, some might know me as "the machine" around the poker community. I'm a semi pro poker player since I only use poker as a secondary source of income for the time being. Hopefully this will be changing soon and I will be playing for a living.

I grew up in a small town in Connecticut called Portland. I still live in Portland and I am ready to move on. Plans to move have been postponed so many times because none of my friends, and myself included, can find any jobs where we've looked into moving (Atlantic City/Vegas).

I graduated from Western Connecticut State University in May of 2005 with a B.S. in Mathematics. I also did graduate work at Central Connecticut State University for my M.B.A. but the school decided to drop the program 3 semesters into my work there. I will have to go back to school to finish up my second degree because the job search hasn't been the easiest time for me. I'm looking to get into accounting/finance and all the places I've looked require degrees in one of the 2 fields. So for the time being I wait tables and bartend at a restaurant in the town next to me.

When I'm not working my time is mostly spent playing poker. I currently play small stakes no limit hold 'em. I play online at Full Tilt Poker at the .5-1 NL level. I also play live 1-2 NL ring games as well at Foxwoods.

I feel my mathematical background gave me an advantage when I started playing poker. I would not consider myself a complete mathematically based player though. When playing no limit hold 'em you really need to be able to play creatively and not always make the total mathematically sound moves. No limit poker is an art form.

When I'm not playing I study poker. I think about hands constantly, read books, watch videos, and review sessions. I probably study poker about 4 times as much as I play, which I feel is one of the biggest keys in becoming a successful poker player. I post on the 2+2 poker forums and read hands others have played out to try and figure out optimal lines and strategies to maximize what is called EV or expected value.

I'll be posting a lot about poker; interesting hands, big wins/losses, ideas about the game, and my journey up through the different limits. Also I'll be posting a lot of pictures/stories from my travels, since other then poker i love to go to new places and party.

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