TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER

The game caught my interest. Not only did I begin to watch it more often, but I also started telling friends about it. After a few weeks of watching the show, which airs year-round on ESPN, my friends and I learned the game.

And we started playing.

We started out playing for change, with maximum 25-cent bets. The only time we could play was between classes at our high school. Although our games included just four or five people, other games were being played throughout the cafeteria.

Once I graduated from Archbishop Ryan High School, we had no place to continue our games. We then played together with play money on Pokerstars.com until we finally began making a weekly game at one of my friend's houses in Northampton for a buy-in of $3.

The money isn't the reason we play. The fun is. Playing with play money didn't suit me because it changes the way people play - they don't take it seriously. So we upped the stakes and began playing for real money on Pokerstars.

Once I turned 18, I used my credit card to put the minimum deposit of $50 onto the site. I'd play many tournaments on the site, mostly freerolls, because of how well I was finishing. I'd almost always finish in the top 250 out of the usual 6,000 entrants.

After about five weeks and a loss of $30, I entered a $3 buy-in Texas Holdem Internet tourney in October. The tournament started at 11:30 p.m. with 1,714 entrants. I just hoped I'd do well. After the first hour break, there were only about 1,000 people left. I still just wanted to do well, not necessarily win money. I would have been happy just getting my money back, at about 200th place.

A couple of hours later, I was still winning. At about 4 a.m., I was in first and made it in the money. I couldn't believe it. My friend Bill was watching the game on his home computer because I was doing so well. He also coached me through each step. I began thinking that he was more excited than I was until my nerves caused me to shake. We kept setting goals on where I would want to finish. I kept passing them. Finally, I reached the final table at about 6 a.m. A ninth-place finish would have netted me just $30, so I aimed higher.

As I chatted online with the other players, I realized that everyone else was at least 30 years old. It was exciting knowing that I was playing as well as they were. I got a couple of lucky breaks and ended up with more than a million chips when I was heads-up against the final opponent. In only the second hand, I raised with pocket aces. My opponent went all-in and I called. I won, pocket aces over ace-king suited!

With the win, I received a $1,131.25 check. The second-place winner won about $600.

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't celebrate for long, though. I had work in two hours and had to attempt to sleep. No luck. I was too excited. It was an amazing feeling.