JDMcNugent - the man, the myth, the formerly broke punk...
 

got me to thinking about how far JD has come since finding this site last July. I mean.... it's truly amazing. For anyone that doesn't remember or wasn't here at the time, he started out just like any other broke, punk kid. I don't know that he ever officially begged for money on here, but he was playing low, low, low limit stuff, if that. And honestly, I don't even think he was all that good. I just browsed through some of his older posts, just for kicks... it's stunning. How someone can improve this much in half a year astounds me. I mean, I can't even comprehend it.

His first hell of a lot of Railbird threads are gold. $1 tourneys, mostly... occasionally a big $3 buy in. And hardly anyone would reply in them or actually rail him. If they did (like Brian a few times), they would usually rip into his play. My, how things have changed.

JD - Do you even remember what the turning point was for you? I remember you being that broke kid, and then you won $4000 and cashed most of it out and then lost the rest and were the same broke kid again, and then I don't remember what happened for a while, and then those 180s were born on Stars and suddenly you were winning them one after another. That was the turning point, wasn't it? Your streak with those?

I mean, in September, you were still palying $1 tourneys!!!


September!

Ok, here it is.... the mother of all JDMcNugent posts. Please note the date on this as well:


Are you kidding me???????

Words can't express my awe. I'm truly, truly impressed with how far you've come, man. Hell - I'm proud of you.

I can't wait to see what this place looks like in another 6 months. Who will the next superstar be? HeWong? jmayo? Rook?

Shit.... in 6 months, the WSOP will be over. I might be a millionaire by then!

Edit: Please don't post in any of these super old threads that I have linked to. If anyone does, I'm just going to delete the posts - no need to resurrect dead threads.

While I'm singing JD's praises.... and reminiscing on the past... I couldn't help but to look up this thread:


That thread has been one of two regrets I've had in the entire time I've run this forum (the other was when I hastily deleted a link that Aeq posted to another forum, in the midst of tons of spam clean up, without putting any thought into it and realizing it was a completely stupid thing to do).

As for the $25 contest thread.... the reasoning behind my decision was fine, and we did take a vote on it, but I still don't like the way I handed it. I mean, it was 25 bucks for crying out loud. I should have just given it to JD and been done with it. So JD, please accept my much overdo apology on that one. Not to mention the "don't let the dorr hit you in the ass on the way out" comment I made after you said you were thinking about leaving the forum. LOL.

Holy crap.... Look what I just found (in the thread that JD thought should have won that July contest):

That should be an inspiration to every single person reading this post right now.

He is my hero.

I love the guy. hes the MAN. and hes got good eyesight and is a quick thinker, he knows what i mean!

Two words:
GOD DAMN!!!

I have a different name in mind :)

I'm sure that there are probably a bunch of players with similar stories to JD's but damn, it's definitely inspirational. It's really a shame that we don't know anyone that sat down, talked, and played poker with a guy that writes for one of the online poker websites while they were at Atlantis. If we did, maybe that guy could get in touch with said writer/actor and see if there's any interest in a 'feel-good' article there. :D (With JD's consent of course)

I also seem to remember a post by JD right before he went on his 180 run where he was really down about always getting his $ in with the best of it and being constantly out drawn. Then right after that, bang, he goes on his tear through the 180s and hasn't looked back. You remember that post JD?

TP-what are you trying to do to me? Do you want me to go broke? This morning I was in the shower when I figured out that the biggest problem with my game is that my expectations are too high. I was all worked up just to grind it out, got my mind around it (for the millionth time) when you go posting all this. I knew JD was good, but come on. Incredible.

Way to go JD. You are living the dream. It is truly amazing that you have come this far so fast. Putting the dates together, the last 3.5 months are just sick. I can’t imagine the run you are on. It is hard for me to let go of my old soccer superstitions, so if I were you I would be wearing the same underwear from when this run started. Hopefully you have avoided these kinds of neuroses. Keep on kicking ass.

lol. Wow there is some funny stuff in those threads - (Aeq really hated me) lol - we're cool now tho.

I was a total punk/idiot at first- or I at least came across that way. TP - ur apology about the whole $25 longest thread thing is appreciated - but not needed - u won, so i should be the one apologizing - and im sry for causing all that BS cuz of it - i just remember i really needed $ at the time and was countin on gettin that $25, even tho i didnt deserve it - so i was dumb and got pissed.

lol - i also love how in the story of how my poker life thread I say that "I just turned 19" lol - Im still not 19.

Funny stuff

Ya i remember this...
here it is - Titled $22, 180's SUCK! ->

lol. man i really did start off completely sucking at those - then i read HOH1 - helped a TON - and ya, i think starting to consistently win the 8 or 9 of those that I did helped improve my game and gave me more confidence as well. The run at TLB - getting 3rd place helped alot too.

haha.... well, that's extra funny then, isn't it? When I saw that, I thought I was mistaken in thinking that you were only 18. Yes, you were quite the little punk. But I still think I could have handled the contest thing better.

And yeah, some people sure did rip into you a lot back then (Aeq, Chip, junYUN). Maybe you should buy the companies they work for and make yourself their bosses or something. Unpaid overtime!!!

Holy crap - that post was two and a half month ago!!! I can't wait to see where you are in another two and a half months. I have to think you're going to level out soon here, and maybe even have a bit of a downswing. Hopefully you'll be readt for it when it happens and keep your cool though. And if it doesn't happen and you really are playing in the $25/$50 NL game with Matusow, well................ damn son!

I'm sorry, how much money were we talking about here?

And TP, he wasn't just a young broke punk, he was a young broke punk with a cute girlfriend :p .

lol, that is pretty crazy huh? 2 months ago barely had the roll to play in a $22 180, and now its just ridiculous.

I too, think i will level out soon. I hope to continue beating the 5/10 and 10/20 games, but I'm in absolutely no hurry to move up past that. 10/20 is the Highest freakin Limit on stars - i should be quite fine playing it and not moving up.

Also - I have been and am ready for a major downswing sometime soon - It can't keep going so good like this - and I think i'll handle the downswing fine - its inevitable and im ready for it. I'll be sure to let u all know when it happens :)

That's good to hear. Because surely some sort of downswing will happen, and it seems like it would be really easy to go crazy. If your bankroll can handle the swings, that's one thing, but it's another thing altogether to think about the fact that you've lost $10,000 in a night or something. So don't go crazy.

By the way, I don't expect that to happen. I've been away from the forum for a while (actually posted what I said was Part 1 of 2 of a Vegas trip report at the very beginning of January before going to California for the month and never posted the 2nd part) but now I'm back and extra-jealous and probably about to move BACK UP to 1/2 NL. Sounds pretty paltry now, huh? Well I'm working on it, and I seem to be making about $40/hr, which isn't a good way to measure winnings in NL, but it sounds better to other people when I talk about it.

When did this post become about me? Keep up the good work and remember all the little people at Talkingpoker when you take down a big one.

BTW, you planning on trying to win entry to any big WPT tournaments, etc? Aruba? Is it too late for Party Poker Million? Would your mom let you go out of the country for a tournament since you can't play one here?

Slight exaggeration with the buying of companies thing. But JD is doing very, very, very well. I won't repost his numbers, but they are here to be found if you do a little looking. The first thread linked to in this one has some of his gravy for the past two weeks, and he was doing awesome before that. Let's put it this way - JD is far beyond the caring about bonuses stage.

Lol. Not that you're insinuating anything, right?

The best part about this....... you don't have to worry about being tempted to move UP to "win it all back" like some people do.... you know, since there IS no up!

Nope. Just restating something I've stated before, including in person in a conversation with Geoff last summer.

While chasing bonuses and playing low limits can be great for starting a bankroll, and you can all but guarantee a small profit, it will only take you so far. If you want to even earn REAL money from poker, you have to move up eventually. And ocne you do and start making nice dough, you won't even care about the bonus offers any more. When an entire bonus amounts to a fraction of a single bet in the games you are playing in, it becomes completely insignificant.

I know I wouldn't mind being the next JD. Awesome, man. :D

Yes, yes, I remember the very conversation we had. However, I don't think it would be in my best interests to start multi-tabling and moving up in limits at the same time. O8 is extremely hard to multi-table as it stands, but if I were to move up and increase limits, could be trouble, especially if I were playing PL.

However, for the time being, I am very content making about 30BB/hour on Paradise (without the bonus) at $0.50/1. I do have about $400 in uncleared bonii at Poker Stars so I might start to experiment $2/4 PL there at some point in the next 2-3 months.

I also like the "money in the bank" so to speak. It is nearly impossible for me to lose money playing at these low limits (I have stated this before but let me reitterate, I haven't had a losing session in a VERY, VERY long time).
Mind you, I don't count losing $1 or $2 as a losing session, but lately some of winning sessions have been upwards of $100.

However, as stated in another post, I am planning on doing Vegas up at some point this summer, and I will be playing a whole bunch of $5/10 O8 limit when I go. Perhaps I will plan my trip around the WSOP and meet some of you guys in the flesh. I always did think you were cute, TP ;)

Awesome stuff. Truly amazing. Keep it up JD.

Awww, shucks. I do look back on our snuggle time fondly.

Anyhoo, I never meant to suggest that you and any one individual should move up in stakes. If anything, I'm usually the person telling people to slow down and make sure they play within their bankroll. My point is this: Once you are good enough to be consistently beating the game (whether it be HE, O8, whatever), you will reach a point where you will only be able to make so much money by playing the low limits and clearing bonii. Yes, you can have $100 winning session playing the low limits and you will rarely log a losing session, but you will never have a $1000 winning session (or a $10,000 winning session, for that matter). I understand that you also risk having bigger losing session if you move up, of course, but for a winning player, his "average session" (and that's really the important thing) will be higher at higher limits than it will be at the micro limits. And at that point, he will no longer care about $100 bonuses here and there. That's all I'm saying.

But no, it's certainly not for everyone.

Bonii, eh?

Yes, I believe a word Shabi made up, and I kind of took a liking to. Fantastic pluralistic form of bonus :D .