One Year Past....

I arrived in Santiago, Chile one year ago today after a long plane flight from Atlanta.

When my flight landed, my main game was $25 buyin no limit on Ultimate Bet. My bankroll was $2,200, which shrunk to $2,000 by the end of the year and $800 by the end of January. Other than that, all I had was my dwindling savings and my small pay from The Santiago Times.

I wonder what would have happened if I had not recovered from that bankroll downswing in January. What if I had gone bust then?

I would never have gotten good at limit. My total profits would not now exceed $12,500. Perhaps I would still be in Chile. Maybe I would have returned to the States sooner.

Poker has shaped my life over the last eight months. Without poker money, I would have had to have found another job in Chile. Maybe I would have liked my new job. Maybe I would have liked that job enough to stay in South America. Perhaps my Spanish would have improved more. Perhaps I would have fallen in love.

Or maybe I would have run out of money and been forced to come crawling home. I could have ended up broke. I certainly would have needed a new job by now -- I wouldn't have had the luxury of taking my time looking for jobs while making regular vacations.

The one inescapable conclusion is that poker has given me more opportunities than I would have had otherwise. Whether that's for the best or not is debatable.

But I do know this: Poker has guaranteed me a secondary income for the rest of my life, barring an enormous economic depression that would drive all the fish away. I am good enough at the game to consistently win, even if the games get rocky.

I will never be poor. I will never be hungry. I will always have poker to pay for my basic needs, if not more.

For that, I am grateful.

Up next: the card rooms of Tampa, Florida!