Hello World! Weren’t those the words of Tiger Woods when he was introduced to the world as a spokesman for Nike?  I’ll steal them as Bret and I introduce the world to Mediocre Poker Radio!

So….what is the show about and who the hell are Eric Bickel and Bret Oliverio.  Let me give you a brief synopsis. Basically we’re poker geeks.  We love the game.  We talk the game.  We watch the game.  We study the game.  We aren’t experts.  We will never claim to be teachers or coaches or authorities.  But we DO have a passion for the game.  We also make our living in radio.  This website and radio show is an opportunity to combine our two passions- radio and poker.

Bret and I work together on The Junkies radio show in DC.  Blah blah blah.  You want more info check out the about us section on the site or go to Junkiesradio.com.  You can listen live on WJFK.com or download podcasts also.  It doesn’t suck.

As far as poker goes I am a grinder.  I’ve had some mediocre success grinding micro stakes poker.  I’m not a huge gambler by nature.  I’m a nit.  I’m super tight.  My boys make fun of my game.  But I play all the time and I love it .  And I’m determined to get better.  Bret has had some decent success playing sit n goes and the occasional online tournament score.  But he does have a better than mediocre credential when he won $50,000 on the Calvin Ayre Bodog Poker Challenge on Fox Sports Net.  I’ll let him describe the details.  But know this- he rode our coat tails as producer of the Junkies to weasel his way on to the show.  But I’ll give him credit.  He won his table and $50K and beat out Mike “the Grinder” Mizrachi along the way.  He ultimately played for a chance at half a million with Daniel Negreanu, David Williams, Josh Arieh amongst others.  Props to Bret.  I break his balls but he’s definitely got scoreboard on me.

I’m not sure how this blog will develop.  I plan on using it to discuss mostly my grind playing poker online.  That’s my focus right now.  For the last year or so I’ve been committed to grinding full ring cash games.  I downloaded $400 and have over 5k in my account now.  I’m proud of that, but it’s nothing to brag about.  A lot of that is rakeback and truthfully I don’t do anything special.  I’m a solid player with solid fundamentals.  My game is boring.  But I’m willing to bore you to death on the table if it enables me to move up.

My goals in poker are modest.  I don’t need to be the best in the world.  I know that aint happening.  But I would like to be a mid stakes grinder in my free time. I love the challenge and the discipline that’s involved in poker.  My strengths are my patience and ability to make correct decisions as often as possible.  I’m probably not going to bluff raise you on the river.  You can blow me off hands.  But I’ll still be there hand after hand nickel and diming my way up.

Ive had this argument with a buddy for years now.  I don’t play poker to get rich or make boatloads of money.  Frankly I’m not capable of it.  But I love the challenge.  And if I make a few bucks along the way, awesome.  Nothing like a cash reward to keep you motivated.  But I’m also very lucky.  I have a great family with a beautiful wife and the 2 cutest kids on earth.  My job is to goof around on the radio with some of my closest friends in the world.  Getting up at 4 am sucks, but if I told you what they paid us you’d puke.  I’m free rolling in life.  Poker is a bonus to me.  But I do take it seriously.

So, I hope you enjoy this blog, the show, the guests and more importantly I hope you help make me a better poker player.  Thanks for reading.  Peace, EB