Insights
The $1,100 that changed everything
Three months earlier, I couldn't get out of bed.
Leo Judkins, Founder, The iGaming LeaderIt's 3am. My girlfriend asleep on the sofa.
I haven't moved in hours.
I'm deep in a $22 MTT. A random tournament with a guarantee that caught my eye. I'm playing it with a $50 free bankroll from some iPoker skin. The kind of start that usually goes nowhere. I had no idea about bankroll management.
At 3am, I take it down.
$1,100.
It was my first ever poker win.
I didn't wake her. I didn't call anyone. I didn't even move.
I just sat there in the dark knowing something had changed.
Three months earlier, I couldn't get out of bed.
I was a university dropout, in a dead-end job, living in a village that nobody ever escapes. I'd seen a GP. Worked through three psychologists. Recovering from my second burnout in my early 20s.
That $1,100 win changed something. It ignited a flame. It opened a door. It showed me a future again.
I signed up to PokerStrategy. Learned everything I could about poker. Starting hands, streets, odds, equity, outs. Watched every coaching video. Read every article. It consumed me.
As I got better, I started helping out. In the community, translating articles, creating videos, running coaching sessions.
The $1,100 wasn't just some money I won. It was a way out of a life I thought I couldn't escape.
Three months later, I left the country. Never looked back.