About Me
Gary Styczynski
Gary Styczynski – Professional Poker Player
How it all started
As a young boy, while most were playing computer games and tag, I was completely engulfed in sports and playing poker. It may sound strange that a young boy of 10 or 12 loved the game of poker, but my good friends, Danny, Robbie (God Bless), Greg and Jimmy played any game that was ever invented under the sun in the Poker world. As the deck rounded the table, it was dealer’s choice game, with some too embarrassing even to mention (5 card draw with all picture cards wild). I tried to explain that it’s not real fun to have two or three people split the pot with five aces, but at least we were (mostly) staying out of trouble.
The Teen Poker Years:
As I got older, there was much “back room” action in many underground poker halls. The games were structured and the competition was a lot tougher as I was one of a handful of teenagers that was allowed to play in these games. I’ve heard it said before, that you can always learn something from all of your experiences, and I even did in those back room games. Many of the older players tried to use their much larger cash flow to bully me around the table. That made it almost impossible to win against these types of players. They know that whenever I the hand strong, I had the “nuts”. Whenever I played a hand weaker, they knew they could take a hand with a large raise. This almost resulted in losses every weekend I played. LESSON #1 don’t let anyone, and I mean ANYONE, bully you at the table! Stand your ground and play aggressively. That is WINNING POKER.