Professional Poker Player and Crypto Trader looking to add to Steemit Community! Come say Hi :D

Hello Everyone! The TLDR; of this post will be as follows:

I am new to the community, invested in Steem and excited to finally begin to participate. I want to know what you want from me and/or what I can add as an 8 year poker professional and new crypto enthusiast and trader. Also open to an AMA once I have a better idea/am better established if there's demand for it. Read further for more on my story.

I will begin with a brief history of how I got here. I was born in Boston, MA and raised in central Connecticut (NewYorkAchussets) and was very competitive both in school and sports. I loved trying to be good at any and everything, and while my successes were greater in some areas than others I was able to become proficient in most and made a very eclectic group of friends along the way. I was always kind of a jack of all trades, king of none type. I was able to fit in in many circles - and have lifelong friends from drastically different walks of life - but my true passions at the time were math, science, sports and socializing.

Gradeschool went by in a flash, and soon my days trying to win sports championships and ace tests faded and I found myself disgruntled with college and fighting the influence in the United States to immediately pursue higher education and later a 'normal' job without a clue why I was doing it or what I wanted to do. I also felt a great void left from my hockey career and other sports coming to an end, and was desperate to fuel my competitive nature.

Poker had always been a hobby since middle school. I had watched it on TV, played it with friends, and at one point was accused of selling drugs by my parents because I had won upwards of $600 playing with friends in high school and was hiding it to pay for booze, while they continued to give me money to buy food and snacks :D At UCONN I was making more money playing poker in my spare time than at the job I had gotten for the semester, so I decided to quit and play more. When I did go to class, I was grinding on PokerStars during lectures. When I didn't go to class, I was either sleeping form playing all night or just playing and partying. Upon deciding to take a hiatus from school to pursue a different university and different major, I just couldn't knock the bug and the freedom I had in front of me. I cashed out $1500 to advance my father five months rent, and asked him to leave me alone for that period of time about school so I could just see if it would work, fully expecting to be going to school after this term.

Instead, I had success. I bought my first car, moved into my friend's apartment at UCONN (without re-enrolling) and lived there while him and I grinded poker 7 days a week seemingly. As with many pro gamblers, I had my fare share of luck starting out. After we had a few breakthroughs winning 4 and 5 figure amounts in a couple months, I turned 21 and my friend convinced me we should go halves on the Foxwoods Poker Classic Main Event. After selling 10% to a well known player who played with me in a prelim (he had to teach me what selling action was) and swapping 5% with a kid who I recognized from winning a tournament in NY that year, there I was playing my first live main event. Naturally, I was barely under 100BBs until four handed play, running over the field in a fashion only a green and cocky 21 year old could manage, I chopped for 108k and we were (read: felt) riiiiiich! While my friend was wise beyond his years with money management and was more risk averse than I was, I had a lot yet to learn.

I traveled to Florida with a poker player I had known for a week (but am still amicably in contact with today) and we played some big games down there and I lost 10k. Undeterred, I booked a room in a mansion in Vegas last minute with some very well established poker professionals (all of whom I had never met) and packed up for 2 months of WSOP mayhem. Many of these stories will be saved for later posts, but after those two months I'm still unsure how I was able to pay for my return ticket, I probably lost like 5-10k playing poker and came home fairly broke :| Good times were had and hard lessons were learned. I bubbled the Main Event in my first try, I made a lot of great friends, and did a lot of stupid (some fun) things and came home with my tail between my legs and little money. My work ethic and insane drive to not fail combined with some good friends on my side helped me get back, and I decided eventually a year or two later that it was time to be in or out.

After a few years of traveling to tournaments and eventually losing online poker to the US gov't, I packed up to try and go play in Canada, got denied at the border for trying to establish residency without a visa, and turned to Vegas instead of returning home. Since then I have held residency there for five plus years, moved a bunch, spent time living in Mexico and San Deigo, and visited many states and even some other countries (Peru <3). I have paid my way by playing and 'coaching' poker, playing daily fantasy sports for a short stint, doing some sports gambling, and now also investing in cryptoassets.

Alas, here I am on Steemit. I love the idea of this community and would like to know where your interests lie and what I may be able to contribute. I am open to an AMA, I am open to sharing stories, answering questions, or providing an avenue to chat and learn about poker, vegas lifestyle, gambling, or crypto. Just let me know! Leave a comment if you have any input, or contact me privately. I am on twitter under the handle @wivawat04 and look forward to participating in the Steemit community.

~EasyPeasey