Hello and welcome!

My hope is that you'll find this blog of some interest and that I will also. I know I have a voice and know I have some things to say. I started this blog because it gives me an opportunity to do that. I hope that I'm able to convey them in a way that reflects what I actually think, and that you will find it interesting.

I'm a professional poker player, a fly-fisherman (former guide), and, as my wife says, a “critic“. I’d like to think I'm more of a social commentator. I tend to look at things and see how they can (should?) be different (better?) than they are, and I'm able to articulate that. Movies, customer service, poker hand play, whatever. Just about anything. Perhaps that's a good quality, perhaps it's not. But it certainly gives me a point of view that I’m enthusiastic about…

A little bit about my poker life: I began playing Texas Hold-em in 2000. I had played lots of the typical home game poker we used to play (spit in the ocean, baseball, etc.) before the poker boom, but never Texas Hold-em. The electronics company I was employed with (Arrow Electronics) put together a gambling trip to Black Hawk, Colorado as an employee morale booster. My wife and I went, and I played some Blackjack, took a break, and walked by the poker area in the casino. I stopped for a few minutes to watch and, although I didn’t quite understand it, it was obvious there was much more skill involved then Blackjack. I thought I could play it, came back to the casino a few days later, and lost $200 in about 2 hours…at a game where the maximum bet or raise was $5!!! At that point I was interested enough that I decided that I had to be able to play this game better than that, and put some time and effort into finding places online to learn: Poker School On-Line, 2+2, etc.

In 2001, a couple of months before 9/11, I was laid off from my mid-level manager electronics job. Bad timing. Nobody hiring mid level managers, due to the internet bubble bursting. And after 9/11 nobody hiring anybody, period. So, I decided to take a year off from job hunting, finish my basement, and learn how to play poker. I found a home game tournament in Denver, won it, and have been profitable since. Finally took a job at FedEx in 2003 as a Driver. Met “Adam” there and he hired me to be a fly-fishing guide for his Guiding Service on weekends. Was fired from FedEx in 2006 because, frankly, I wasn't very good at being a FedEx truck driver. Something about “hitting things with trucks“. Didn’t really like the job anyway...

At that point I decided to try guiding and poker full time for a living. On-line and home games. In 2008 Colorado finally raised its ridiculously low $5 max bet rule to $100, making live play at a Colorado casinos financially worth the time. I stopped guiding, and now divide my time between my family, outdoors, and poker. On-line, Colorado casinos, and traveling to play smaller buy-in tournament series. I’ve had some success, and been making my living from it since.

I'll use this blog for deeper thoughts and ruminations about whatever things that I want to expand/pontificate about, and my Twitter account (@BrunoWolfe) for updating how I'm doing in poker tournaments, quick quip social commentaries and whatever trout I just caught fly-fishing. I hope you find it interesting and fun. I’ll keep doing it as long as I do and you keep reading it.

Ciao