I started playing poker about three years ago and started winning at the micro level($1 to $2 range). Yes, I cashed two checks up to $200 that first year. The second year, I played more(thousands of games) and went on big losing and winning streaks. I was having fun, but I finished that year $75 in the hole (Not bad for a full year of playing). This year, I tried again to learn everything I could about poker, but in two months, I've dropped my initial stake which wasn't small.

It wasn't a case of playing poor hands or limping in on crap.

The badbeats started to add up over the last month. Flushes beating straights, better fullhouses beating my fullhouses, higher pairs beating my pairs, and higher two pairs beating my two pairs. It was either better initial hands or being outdrawn by my opponents. This was happening over and over again in $2.00 games.

Normally, one loses quite a bit when starting out with a new game until the basic strategies and tactics are learned. This wasn't my experience with Hold'Em. As I got better, I started to lose money quickly. It was if some higher power was trying to pull me out of this game, because it took up so much of my time.

Poker can be obessive and addictive, so I'm now going through "cold turkey" with online Hold'Em games.

Recently, I've started playing backgammon (not for money) where I have a 60% win percentage. If you know this game, you definitely can win more than you lose.