During May of 2006 there was an MTT competition on 2+2. It was based on the TLB formula on PokerStars. At the time I had mostly posted in the SNG forum and wasn't too well known in the MTT community. I basically decided I was going to take the competition very seriously, and that by the end of the month, everyone would know who I was.

I ended up having multiple 1-3k scores while playing $5 to $50 MTT's. I was very involved in the competition and by the end of the month I had made a lot of new friends. I got to know some friends on the forums including Exitonly, gobbo, Rizen, and more.

I was (still) on crutches as my High School years winded down, recovering from my amputation fix. I missed all of the notable HS events, like Senior Banquet, Prom, even missed graduation. Come to think of it, I still don't physically possess my diploma. *shrug* I ended up going to Turning Stone during the last week of class. It was my first poker trip, I roomed with Exitonly (Ray Coburn), and met a lot of new friends that I'd met online. I had a great time, despite not cashing in any of the tournaments.

After High School ended most of my friends either moved or were too busy with class/working to hang out or play poker. I decided not to attend college based on several factors:

- I was still recovering from my recent leg amputation
- I had zero motivation to attend school
- I was denied the funding for school that was seemingly a lock-in (considering my condition)
- Poker

At this point it was Fall and was the first time in my life I wasn't going to school. Instead I was busy discussing poker theory and really focusing on my game. Part of me thought I'd end up attending college in the winter, once I was fully recovered, but I really thought I could make it as a poker player. Either way, I really needed time off from school and wasn't motivated to get into a career after interning at Alltel.

In October/November I flew to Ray's house in New Jersey. It was the first time I had been on a plane since I was adopted as a child. Heh, I don't think I expected to be around airports as much as I have been then. I flew to NJ to meet up with Ray, because he won an EPT Dublin Package. At that point I didn't have the resources to play in the event, so I just went to have fun. It was my first time in Europe, and I had a good time. I met ActionJeff, Kush, Carl Olson and more talented players. I remember discussing poker and life with Jeff and Carl, and they really changed the way I thought about the game. I flew back to NJ with Ray, equipped with new poker knowledge and a hell of a lot of motivation.

I only stayed in NJ for a few more days, but not before I took care of some business. I was very motivated after talking poker with my new friends in Dublin. The last Sunday before I flew home to Ohio I had my first 5-figure cash, taking 4th in the PokerStars 2nd Chance for around $13.5k. It was a huge confidence boost, as well as a nice pad to my bankroll.

It's hard to believe that my first 5 figure cash was about a year ago at the time of this writing. So much has happened since.

Later in December I went back to Turning Stone for another tournament series. I ended up making my first decent sized live final table, chopping a $200 event, 4-handed for $7,500 each. I was starting to feel more and more comfortable at the table and was beginning to get more respect. While at TS I met Aaron Been, Shaun Deeb, mlagoo, and many more new friends. Jeff and Ray were also there, it was a great trip.

At that point in time I intended on playing the PCA in January, but after talking with Aaron Been, who had won a seat to the Aussie Millions, both gobboboy and I decided to join him. I had a travel agent look into flights from Cleveland to Nassau to Melbourne, back home. I ended up spending around $2.5k on that flight....and to think it was only a month ago that I was on my first plane ride since I came to America.

To end the year I took 6th in the FTP Monthly $535 for $23k. It was a very devastating experience for me, as I felt in control most of the tournament and entered the final table as the chipleader. It really felt like a loss. When I look back at that tournament I view it as a major learning experience. It was the first time I was close to a six figure cash, and I knew it would not be my last. As corny as it sounds, I "wasn't ready" for a 100k+ score at that point in my career.


Next up would be my first major events. The WPT PCA and Aussie Millions in January of 2007.


Hope you guys are enjoying this,

-Adam Junglen

I guess I'll continue where I left off when I started writing about how I first got into poker.

After I won the tournament at AJ's I went to Border's Books to find some reading material on my newest hobby. I started playing homegames every weekend with friends and had a decent amount of success. It was a lot of fun, every weekend we'd play a tournament or two, usually 2 tables with a buy-in between $10-$15. I ended up making a lot of great friends, and actually quit my job at Gametrader partly due to the money I was making at homegame tournaments. It really wasn't too difficult to make more in those games than $5.50/hr at Gametrader.

Eventually I took my game online. I would have my friend transfer me $50 or $100 at a time on Party. I was underage at the time, so I couldn't deposit myself. For quite awhile I just broke even or lost at the $5 and $10 SNG levels. Poker wasn't my #1 priority at the time, I was interning at Alltel Data Center, and worked for my HS helping teachers with computers, and maintaining the network infrastructure.

Eventually I decided that the computer world just wasn't for me. I didn't like working with the people I was around, and the idea of maintaining computers as a career was very unappealing. Meanwhile I was getting better at SNG's after reading some guides on 2+2. I moved to PokerStars and moved up from the $6.50's to $105+9's during my Junior-Senior year, when I was 18.

Eventually I got bored of SNG's and decided to take on MTT's.


And that's where this entry ends. More to come soon.


-Adam

This entry will have two distinct subjects. My newest business project, and then I’m going to respond to some user feedback and answer how I got into poker. First, the newest project I’ll be apart of.

About a month ago I was contacted by my agent, (who also works with Negreanu). He told me about Daniel’s new project, a poker instructional site called PokerVT (Poker Virtual Training). Negreanu picked out a few pro’s (so far others signed include Paul Wasicka, Boosted J, JC Alverado, with ActionJeff and Annette_15 pending) and he asked me to join. After about a month of reviewing the contract, consideration, negotiation, and phone calls with Daniel I decided to accept his proposal and join the team.

The site’s target release is in February next year, and it really sounds like a great training site, as well as a great opportunity. I’m very confident that Daniel will do a great job and that the PokerVT will be one of the premier training sites out there. Daniel’s assembled some of the best poker players in the world - both online and live, and it’s a massive compliment for him to ask me to be a part of it. I'm sure you'll hear more from me as I begin working on the project and as the launch date approaches.

————–

Next up, I’ll go ahead and respond to some of the feedback I’ve been getting. One specific question I’ve gotten for the last few months is, “Adam, how did you get into poker.”

I could sit here and type it all out, but it’d take a few hours and be a very long read. Instead I’ll just split it up into a series. I have no clue how long this’ll take, but since I’m not doing much traveling anytime soon this’ll give me something to write about. I’m also unsure of how much detail I’ll go into, but I guess we’ll just see as it progresses.

I played my very first No-Limit Hold’em tournament when I was 15, a sophomore at Stow-Munroe Fals High School. When I was 13-14 I had played a lot of Magic: The Gathering at Gametrader in Cuyahoga Falls. I took the game fairly seriously, but I never went on the Pro Tour or anything. I’m guessing I managed to profit a few thousand, which is obviously a lot of money to a young teenager.

I quit playing when I was around 15 and started working at the game store - my first job. Looking back, I’d have to say it was one of the better jobs someone my age could’ve had. The customers were my friends, and my bosses were flexible and let me watch movies during downtime. The only bad part was the pay - $5.50/hr.

Anyways, back then I was also pretty good with computers. My friend AJ had me over to install a drive in his PC. Afterwards, he had some friends over to play poker, and instead of leaving I stayed and decided I’d play. Poker was growing in our school and I heard people talk about games a lot, so I wanted to see what it was all about. After quitting Magic I was getting bored of working on computers all day, and was anxious to find another hobby to take up seriously.

I somehow managed to win the tournament at AJ’s. It was just a single table tournament and about 8-9 people played. I knew the rank of hands, but that’s about it. I really don’t remember anything specific about it, except I played really tight. I forget if it was a $5 or $10 buy-in, but I ended up winning around $40 and was immediately hooked.


That's it for now. In the future the segments will be longer, but I took up a lot of time talking about the PokerVT.

Thanks for reading,


-Adam

I honestly don't remember the last time I made a post regarding online poker results. As most of you know by now, I only play online when I'm in the mood and feeling good. Well, I guess I was just in the mood to play some poker.

I didn't enter too many, just the Bodog 100k (I had the exact buyin in my account, so I figured I'd blow through it and never play there again because the software is so bad), PS Million, PS 2nd Chance, UB 200k, and FTP 750k.

I was promptly coolered with 22 < 88 on the 842 flop in the FTP major, and out of the money'd the UB 200k, but managed to go fairly deep and make the money in the rest of the tournaments.

It's always exciting to make the money in the Sunday Million, but unfortunately I didn't make it that far. Took 624th of 6398 for about $400. I did go fairly deep in the Bodog 100k, and Sunday 2nd Chance, but it simply wasn't my night. I built up a huge stack in the PS 2nd Chance, then proceeded to lose 2 huge races and then a 40/60 to go from a top stack to busto in 36th for $800. The Bodog tournament was slightly less frustrating, simply because the tournament isn't as big as the other Sunday tournaments, but it still sucked to lose AT < Q9 for a decent stack with 38 left.


Soooo, that's pretty much it. It had been so long since I'd played a round of Sunday's I forgot how incredibly frustrating they are. Oh well.

By the way, I just started editing my previous posts in order to fill in the category information, and keywords. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it'd mess up the chronological order in which they're posted on my home page (http://www.tworags.com/home/A_Junglen). Fortunately, my complete blog link (http://www.tworags.com/blog/A_Junglen) maintains all of the entries in chronological order. And of course, as always, my latest updates will continue to be posted on the tworags homepage.

(Edit: I just realized they're still in chronological order for visitors, just not my homepage. You can basically ignore this entire paragraph)

I'm proud to say that this community has grown on me, and I'm more than happy to cross-post my blog here.

I really appreciate the feedback, thanks guys.

I've only been home for a few days now, but as usual I've been pretty busy.

About 3 days ago my agent called me about a poker radio show that wanted me to guest star. Although I'll have to wake up pretty early, I'm still gonna do it. It's called the Poker Power Hour, I'm told it airs in St Louis, and you'll also be able to download it online.

Besides that, I bought all the DVD sets of "The Office" and have been enjoying them. I'm starting an apartment search around the area, still busy with various business things, have a new bed to setup, some doctor appointments...yup, keepin busy.