February 25, 2008
- If you play online poker, there's a good chance you are a
twenty-something male. If not, then good for you. Oh, and I
wish you the best. Certainly, the professional poker circuit
is largely populate by middle aged men. Okay, you could call
many of them young, but the top of the pack is certainly not
dominated by all twenty-something's. Online, however, you
are the minority if you're not a male in your twenties or
early thirties.
Why do you think so many poker rooms throw these
bling-bling promotions and constantly shower the Web with
pictures of scantily clad women and super model spokeswomen?
Yes indeed. The online poker world is for the young,
ambitious and naive. But wait, is that necessarily
true...err, the last part about the young being naive and
ambitious? Ambitious yes. But naive? Not necessarily so.
Take for instance, Allen "Reverse" Goldstein. If you saw
this kid sitting at his laptop, there's a good chance you
might be inclined to not take him seriously. That is, if you
like to judge on appearances. You would probably be more
inclined to put him off as a video gamer and Xtreme
sportster. Well, maybe he is, maybe he isn't. Either way, if
you took the time to talk to this "kid", you would learn
that he has some serious chops for the game of poker.
Reading a CardPlayer.com interview with Allen Goldstein,
who recently nabbed the main event of the Full Tilt Online
Poker Series VII, I learned that Goldstein has been playing
online poker since the age of eighteen. Now at twenty-five
and with seven years of hard earned experience under his
belt, Goldstein has become one of the top ranking internet
poker players.
What I was most impressed about Goldstein was his desire
for knowledge and steadfast commitment to improving his
game. He, by no means, started out successfully. Only after
he mastered $3-$6 limit Hold'em, did he move up to the
$6-$12 tables, then the $20-$40 tables and finally to
$60-$120.
He credits much of his early learning to gambling books,
more specifically a poker book called Winning Low-Limit
Hold'em by Lee Jones. Goldstein also recommends reading
T.J. Cloutier's Championship No-Limit and Pot-Limit
Hold'em.
So for all you online poker champ wanna-be's out there,
no matter your age, take some advice from Allen "Reverse"
Goldstein: Start small and never stop learning.
Originally published:
February,
2008 | Categories:
Online Poker |
Gambling
