Originally posted on 06/17/2012:

Niko <-------

30y/o. Full time sports bettor/Full time poker player.
At 5-6 years old I was learning Basic math skills from my Grandma teaching me Blackjack. I would spend a lot of time with my grandparents because my dad was a poker dealer at one of the local casinos so a lot of nights were spent bored,..playing cards with grandma... hahaha..
About the same time my Dad and Grandpa were taking me to the Dog and Horse track pretty much every other day.. At least 3-4 times a week. Yes,..they still had dog tracks in MOST states..back then... HAHAHAHAA..
On Sunday mornings while my dad would sleep in I would go over to my grandparents house and my Grandma would have a Gin Rummy tourny for a bunch of oldies..
First sports betting memory I have is sitting with my Dad and one of his buddies at a coffee shop one morning going over some baseball games for the day. After years of little league and always collecting baseball cards, I remember my dad looking at the paper that day and then looked up and me... Looked at me dead in my eyes and asked me,.."Who I liked in the Giants/Dodgers game that day"? I saw my dad call into his bookie and place a $100 dollar wager on the side of the game I chose... We won that game and well..My love of sports betting started with that moment.....
Started playing poker around freshman/jr year in high school. During my high school years my dad was a manager for a small time card room. Spent a lot of weekends and after school helping my dad clean up the poker room and get everything ready for that nights games.. I wasn't allowed to stay once players showed up or once the placed was open for business but I would still sneak in and find ways to play.. Eventually by senior year nobody even blinked when I walked in and sat at a table..
A lot has happen since high school but to sum it up... Im pretty much a bumb now days.. Grinder playing poker most days..Sports daily....during the week I try to stay active with various projects, helping friends..etc...No kids yet, So life is pretty simple..
Just planning my next move in life I guess.

For the time being though.. "I'm sittin' on the flop here, waitin' to see fourth street."