Hi,
First, I just want to say how fortunate CR has a member like you who is willing to give back what was first given to you. These opportunities that you are offering is rare and of course a starting player like myself would jump to the opportunity at first glance. I'm sure many many MANY others will also. It's going to be extremely difficult to stand out from the thousands of other members from CRs. All I can do is offer the facts and let you be the judge.
I have been keeping track of your 101k challenge for quite some time now. It's amazing how well you were doing since the beginning. And no doubt in my mind that you'll succeed in the rest of your challenge. Whether or not you choose me, I just want to say good luck for your challenge.
About myself, I don't know how much of my life story you might be interested with. I guess I'll give some general relevant information. I current reside in the Boston, MA area. I am 24 years old working on my BS in Computer Science. Prior to studying for this major, I was studying in a school for Computer Animation(3D type production: games; movies like Cars, Nemo, etc..). It was a great experience. I am Chinese, born in Hong Kong and moved to the US since I was age of 10. I feel I'm pretty knowledgeable about computer things, I was pretty into computer gaming for many many years. I competed with many of the best players on the games I played. I am very similar to all the LiquidPoker guys where they switched from gaming to poker. These days, I don't play any games at all and just focus into poker.
About my poker experience, I consider myself a baby. Though I did come a long way, it seems every time I learn something new, there are always something more fascinating about this game. Sometimes I feel like I know all the "in"s and "out"s but in reality, there are much to learn.
I started playing seriously only for a little over 6 months. I started as a total beginner jumping into Pokerstars and trying to dominate the 25nl using very poor BR management. My original goal with poker was to make it big. In some ways, I admit I was looking for an "easy" route(trust me, I think poker is far from "easy" now) to make some side money. I thought that since I am a pretty smart guy, I could make some easy money playing the game. Little did I know that it is much tougher than I ever imagined.
I first deposited a small amount of ~200 to try to work off the PS bonus. I did pretty poorly, I was still learning a lot of basics of the game so I naturally made a lot of mistakes. I had huge swings and I was definitely losing then. But somehow I survived for a while until I "tilted" BAD for the first time(and hopefully for the last time). I felt at the time that this game is unbeatable and this is a waste of time. So I dumped the last of my roll(~80) on the first hand on a high limit game. Of course I went busto. I probably stepped away from the game for a couple days. Then I realize that I actually already learned so much from the game since from the beginning, and I thought I could beat it. I needed patience and some endurance.
So I deposited another ~350 and never looked back. I had many swings since that deposit where I actually went down to less than 100 and rebuild from 10nl up. But I think it was necessary to learn the game. I started going to 2+2 and met some players grinding like I was. Those things helped my game a lot and at the time I read almost every poker book I could savage. From the beginning to even now, I eat and drink poker. I am always looking for new ideas and something to help my game. This is a gradual process, years down the line I'll look back and the player that I am now will be so inferior than the player I will become. So again, this opportunity you are offering, I will learn a lot.
My strongest point imo is always trying to improve and always open to new ideas. I am a very logical player. If math will help me with my game, I study math. If psychology will help me, I study psychology. Also, even though I made one huge tilt in my poker career(though the amount is little), I feel I am a really good at tilt management. My personality is very timid and humble, I don't get angry at all. I make logical decisions and try not to let emotions get in the way. I will always remember that time I tilted my whole roll, and it's still in my PT stats. It reminds me who I was, and the danger of tilt, it keeps me strong.
Currently, I am still grinding away at 50nl. I took a stab recently(a week ago) in 100nl where I really couldn't find my spot there. I did well at the beginning, consistently winning but then I just dropped. I probably made about 8BIs before I dropped 13 in a week. This is not due to tilt, I honestly don't know exactly what it was yet. I think I was playing in a style that was too exploitable, and I had some bad timing, cards, or whatever. So like I said, I'm grinding 50nl. 50nl is pretty easy for me, I practice good table selection, I pick my spots and fish. Variance is very limited. I am trying to achieve 40BIs in 100nl before taking a stab into it.
As far as my regular game stats. I can play really nit TAG to super LAG. It depends on the game environment and what they allow me to do. I would have to admit playing 25/22 ish stats is harder than playing just ABC TAG. I only play that loose when the table is extremely tight(I probably change tables anyways), and they let me get away with it. For my TAG game, I probably could play down to 10/10 if the table so loose and even on the button I will get 2 callers every time. My usual avg is ~19/17/3, that's what it is in PT. But I adjust to the tables.
As far as CR, I learned a lot from there. I joined it while I was grinding out 25nl. I try my best to post my ideas and what would be best in the low limits forum. I know I am not perfect, but a lot of the players are definitely still learning the fundamentals of the game. I try to help as much as I do. Honestly, it helps me think about those situations and it helps my own game by replying. I might not always be right, actually I'm wrong a lot but I feel some players can learn a lot from my experience. I love the CR community, it's so much more constructively than 2+2(90% trash replies). I am really looking forward to help the CR community as I become a much stronger player.
Anyways, I think I talked maybe a little too much. I could probably go on another 10 pages. I'm sure you have many many other applications to read. This amount is definitely a good snippet of myself. I don't know how much attention I will get, and I do wish I would be chosen. But I'm a pretty realistic person, as much as I think I am a good candidate, I am in reality just another apple in the barrel. If you need any further information or details, please feel free to ask/reply to this email address. I hope you will find the best candidate. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I appreciate it. If you want to look at my past(or current) poker progress, check out my blog (pretty private, I say anything in my mind there) at " http://sirnebsblog.blogspot.com/ ".
Frankie("SirNeb" in CR)
It's not over yet. At the time, I really really wanted the spot. I'm not afraid to admit certain strategies I used to get to my goal. No, I didn't lie about any of the contents. But I spend a considerable amounts of time trying to figure out if there is anything I could do to help my chances. I read Brian's blog, I watched his CR video many times. It's almost like having a crush on someone.. :) It's pretty embarrassing actually. But maybe 2 weeks after I submitted the above, I decided to write him another email. The timing of it was kind of planned. I knew that the submission process probably will slow down in the middle of the month. And my desire for the spot did not die down. For Taylor's protege program, Brian actually exercised a similar strategy according to his blog. He did not like what he first sent to Taylor so he wrote another one. So I thought Brian would think it's acceptable for someone to send in 2 submissions! I thought that maybe I could show how passionate I was and perhaps it will help my chances. Here's the second email:
I know I already wrote a lot in the last email but I really want to add something that you might possibly be looking for in your student. Also, it's mostly to satisfy myself so I don't regret that I gave my best effort on something that I value and perhaps a once in a lifetime type of opportunity.I feel a little dirty but definitely wasn't "cheating" by any means. And every word said is how I felt at the time. One thing I hate is lying, that is something I won't do to get to my goal. I mean you still have to play by the rules of the game. Anyways, I thought maybe someone would find this blog post interesting/informative and maybe find out a little bit about me(some stuff is pretty personal but nothing too private).
I mainly want to add the goals in the game and what I like to get from this opportunity. I mentioned my goal was to make some side money and I believe I said "to make it big". This is true and I really want to expand on that because I feel it's important to this application.
My expectations starting from the beginning is very different than how I see things now. In the past, my arrogant self thought poker would be easy and I can outsmart everyone. It's naive and the path is difficult. Other than mastering the game, you have to master yourself. I learned so much about this game, such as the value in making the best decision ALWAYS. In a game of poker, you make one or two mistakes, you might possibly be down that session. In life, it's similar, you miss out in opportunity, you regret your decision. Poker in some ways is life and it has taught me a lot about life.
I am a pretty competitive person at heart. Ya, poker is good for the money but I have no doubt I'll make it to decent money with the game. But even if I do very good money, I am not going to be just satisfied with just the money, I want to be the best(or at least one of the best). I want to play the highest stake possible. might sound arrogant, but that's the goal. I know I am far from that, perhaps one day some people might think I am the best player ever, I know I probably will never consider myself being the best. This "long term" goal of mine will probably never be achieved, but makeItit pushes me to always look for new edges and improve my game in any way possible. I don't want to be a lazy player.
On the other hand, I want to be clear that I have very little passion for poker to become my long term profession. Due to reasons such as my culture, religion, ethics, or perhaps just my own selfishness, I want more in life. Achieving goals in poker is just part of the journey. I think it's similar to how Taylor thinks about the game, I don't want to "put all my eggs in one basket". I want poker to help me get to where I eventually want to be and I want to do the best that I can with anything that I try in. I don't want to depend on one thing if it doesn't work out, but I really want to do well in this "investment". Yes, I only invested seriously for a little more than 6 months, but I don't want my initial investment to be wasted. And realistically at my current stage, my goal is to eventually rid a lot of financial problems in the future. Maybe this is a lot to grasp and understand, but that's how I feel deep down.
Honestly, I really want to challenge myself to succeed in something I deeply put my mind into. I want to cease any opportunity given at any given time. This is why I joined CR, this is why I am applying for this. I want to prove to myself that I can do "it", whatever "it" may be. I can achieve anything I put my mind into and that I won't fail.
I possibly sound a little over serious there. But that's just how I feel about things that I care about. I put my heart and soul into things I want. I might not get what I want all the time, but I will damn well try my best to get it. I just want to show how committed I am to this, and how much I want this opportunity. I feel a little embarrassed saying all the things I did either in this email or the last one, because I really needed to swallow my pride and practically "beg" for this opportunity. But as I said, I'm not going to let this pass by without a fight.
Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read this. Whether I am chosen or not, I know I made my best effort to show you the person that I am. Maybe you are not looking for my type, that is fine. I learned not to be result oriented from this game. I will continue this road and cease other opportunities. Again, thanks for everything. I sincerely, truly hope you will find the best two candidates.
Frankie ("SirNeb")
