High Stakes Poker

Name: José Macedo
Alias: Girah
Born: 1992
Age: 18
Home: Portugal
The young man was born into a loving home with two incredible parents. When he was four, he lost his father and watched on as his mother struggled and strived to keep things positive for them both. He attended an international school, and with the lessons he learned by watching his mother, he worked hard and studied hard. He entered numerous writing and mathematical competitions, winning many of them and enjoying that feeling; he continued to press forward with that in mind. Every year he finished at the top of the class or better .
He found a love for football (soccer for Americans) and dreamt of becoming a professional player. Practicing obsessively, his skills improved despite the moments of missing his dad as he bettered his game. He became competitive enough to play with a youth team in Lisbon, and later the national team. He also enjoyed playing tennis, however when he turned 13, he had a bad injury that barred him from continuing in the sports arena. This was a major setback in his mind at the time.

When he was 16 he found his interests shifting. Dreaming big, he found a home in Hawaii that he wanted to purchase for he and his mom and his close friends. Around the same time, a friend told him about Tom Dwan, a college kid who started with nothing and worked hard to learn the intricacies of the game. This captivated José and he began his quest to read everything he could get his hands on about the game. Not having money available and not being able to tell people about the game, he would sneak into the bathroom with books and read them, cover to cover. He began to study any poker show he could find and watch. Asking the same questions someone trying to learn would, ‘Why make that choice? What would have been better? Why did or didn’t that work’ he continued to approached the game with scrutiny. Then he began to test his theories on play money tables. In time, as his theories became proven, he accumulated millions in play chips and money.
After he became confident enough in the efforts he was making, he pressed into the real money. Begging his mother for his initial deposit, he put 30 Euros on Betfair. Starting at the 1 and 2 cent tables for 6 to 10 hours a day, he focused his efforts on learning the game and improving his skill. Like a chess player does, he would review his hands and the tables after each game and analyze how the concepts he had been learning elsewhere applied to a given situation. Doing this continued to improve his game.
To the surprise of most, within a month, José Macedo turned 30 Euros into 2500 dollars. At this point in his game play, poker was still a secret to his family. Continuing his venture, he pushed forward into a heads up arena. Playing in a new format, he honed his skills for what was to come. In his first venture into the 200NL realm of play, he found this to be a heart racing experience. By the end of his first venture into the bigger game, he came out on top and found a revived competitive energy for poker.
After spending months competing and improving his game through hard work and study, he hit his first major bump. Running low on his success rate, he searched for a coach and found one via Two Plus Two. He searched the forum repeatedly and started to talk to many people about their game, quietly. He found himself talking across many venues and to many people who were at various levels of success, but his targets were the top of the poker world. José found himself finally understanding the aspects of the game he was barely grasping at before.

When he was confident enough, he ventured into the high stakes tables. José’s first major win was closely followed by a loss that erased the win. Ups and downs are normal for most poker players, but few poker players are dealing with the ups and downs while finishing high school. This did not deter him from purchasing a house in Hawaii. As things seemed to go well, he was scammed by someone close, learning a difficult lesson in the worst possible way. He’s grown from the experience and his competitive edge has proven to still be sharp.

Expect to see this impressive international student continue to make waves in the poker community. His goal is the top and his record and drive shows that this is possible to achieve.