I've been looking forward this milestone for some time, it always seemed so far away. On the 10th January 2009 I took a big step forward in both my professional and personal life by moving to London having accepted an offer to work for PokerStars.
Up until this point my life had always been fairly contained within the small boundaries of Stoke-on-Trent, it had everything I thought I needed at that point. I had all my family & friends there, I had easy access to plenty of live Poker both locally and a stone's throw away and I was within easy access of most places worth visiting in the country.
I thought life was good but I was deeply lacking satisfaction, particularly in my profession. From the period of early 2005-2009 I worked for bet365, a highly successful online gaming company and tried my hand at lots of roles there. Unfortunately nothing clicked for me there, I didn't really fit into the culture, I largely disliked most days I worked there and felt I could never reach my goals there. After all, I started working there as a bi-product of my then new found interest in Poker, but bet365 weren't a Poker company, in fact they were far from it. They are a world-class sportsbook with limited Casino/Poker success and the fact that they lean on a Network means they'll never be more.
I knew I couldn't find a niche for myself in a Poker capacity, so I made plans to move on. At the time I hadn't necessarily expected it to be PokerStars, but I was very fortunate that the ideal role based on my experience and skill-set emerged just as I needed it. The move was on...
Moving to London was frightening. I had to find accommodation fast and as a result had little opportunity to view properties or find a flat-mate. I ended living in a beautiful part of North-West London in a lovely but highly expensive flat but with an absolutely maniacal female. It was a tough 1st 6 months.. at times I wondered if I could stick it out. I'd made few friends in London, both at work and in my personal life and I often trudged around London looking for things to do on a limited budget.
Poker was unsuccessful as I had such limited funds and I basically spent 6 months going to the cinema each Friday night and wondered if I'd done the right thing by moving. Luckily for me, a life-line was at hand. My boss at the time (and now good friend) Chris Straghalis made me aware of a departmental re-shuffle that required me to relocate to the Isle of Man to be with the rest of my team.
Initially I was skeptical, I'd visited the Island a few times and found it to be very pleasant but was much different from anywhere I'd previously lived. That said the opportunity to live closer to work on a much more budget friendly arrangement was too good to turn down. I initially told Chris I didn't want to go but he twisted my arm and I glad he did. I soon started to look forward to a new move and found myself a delightful apartment just 5 mins walk from the office (I'm still there now) and never looked back.
It was nice to get back into my own digs, I started looking forward going to work each day and really enjoyed the environment I was in when I got home. I'm very lucky to have made some truly great friends on the island and in a few months time I look forward to hopefully making a successful application for Manx residency, having completed 5 years here.
It's very much home now... I do miss Stoke and I hope i'll return there in some capacity eventually but I don't pine for short term trips back anymore, my home is on the island and it has all I need. I work for the best company in the world and to this day I'm very grateful for the opportunities afforded to me by PokerStars and to Chris for helping facilitate such a massive difference in my life, I'll always be very grateful to him for that.
Moving forward... I've just received a lovely Mulberry leather wallet as a milestone gift for my 5 years service and the company has very generously given me a £750 travel voucher (Vegas, yo!) to accompany the wallet. I don't know what the future holds.. there is still a piece of me that itches to play more Poker, to get back online and somewhat pick up the game that I left behind years ago and go more serious.
When you join PokerStars you are somewhat leaving the serious online game behind, you won't be an online Poker Pro, but you will be a 'Poker Professional'. Whatever happens, I'm grateful for what I've experienced so far with the company and I'm sure that won't change whenever the time comes to part. It's not happening anytime soon, I'm sure.
Here's to another big adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment