Since I’m new to 95% of people who read this blog, I thought I would write this and slip it in before I do anything else with the site. A short Introduction post if you will.

Firstly, My name is Daniel Reilly and I am far from an online pro, great, player or someone even remotely notable, Since you are reading this then you must have some sort of interest in what I have to say so here I go.

Guess I should start with my humble beginnings and go from there. Like many others my poker journey started off with the Moneymaker Main Event win, though not directly. I was sitting in a pub discussing with some of my dad’s friends a walk we were going to do the following week and planning out our routes. I was 13 at the time (I know, what the hell was I doing in a pub at 14? I had a “sheltered” upbringing) putting the walking chat aside a new subject arose, Poker. They suggested playing once a week on a Monday night for fun and making it a lad’s night. Everyone agreed to the idea and a rule book emerged for Texas Hold’em, Everyone listened intently while we all (5 or 6 of us) learned the rules of the game. At first everyone was against me coming down and playing with them. That lasted around 2 months, those two months I spent looking up starting hands, odds charts, everything I could to make me “good” at the game. They let me come down and watch for a month or two but I had to leave early. In that time, I started to pick up playing habits, reads, Aggression factor and I really started to get a feel for the game. It was at that point where I found Pacific Poker and Poker.com (now the Merge Network) where I started to frantically play freerolls after school and on weekends to get better at the game. I started cashing in these and posting in forums and slowly became more respected and for the first time in my life I felt as if my opinion mattered in something. Then came my first game on a Monday night, by the time I came down, I was absolutely crushing everyone at the table and was easily the best player there. I’ll never forget that first tournament I won when I turned quad aces to win a total of $0. Still the rush was immense and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Another 5 years of doing that exact same thing and here I am. I have learned many lessons in my time, posted on many forums, flopped many flushes and logged around 1,000,000 hands. I have also made so, so many interesting and great friends. The latest of which is Gary Wise, the person who gave me this opportunity in the first place. All that work has really paid off and things can only get better. Poker really has been good to me. Now here I am, trying to share my learning experience with an audience. Who would have thought? I am hoping that this blog will be as beneficial for many a player, not just myself. Maybe once in a while I might say something entertaining, or educational. Not likely though!

I plan on writing about everything from online play to live amateur events to the WSOPE if I actually make it there this year, so stay tuned. You never know what could be in store when I post a blog. Most of the time neither do I, I just open a word document and write whatever is on my mind

D