Relocated American Professional Poker Player, INTRO... AMA!

A Little About Myself
My name is David O'neill, my Pokerstars screen name is "I GRIND THIS" I'm 27 years old from Mansfield, Texas(usa) and I'm primarily a 180 man player. Before that my hobbies were primarily MMO(massive multiplayer online) video games, and doing degenerate **** like selling pot and skipping my 1 college class.

The video games were more of a passion than a hobby, and still are to this day(to a fault). I began by chasing world first boss kills with a group of people in a game called everquest when i was about 12-14 years old. I'd play 10-15 hours a day with school every single day for a few years including holidays. I was really shut off from everything except my obligations(baseball, school, family, friends), and it really made me focus on my goals as they came at me rather than plan ahead since that video game world was so competitive and information was everchanging. I really thrived in that environment and in turn gave me the confidence I needed to counteract being so shut off from the world.

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVe6kDM33f95wcdZEUwD28k4J1HtxMXWMMTCkC1KMA2qT/image.png)

My later teenage years were going to baseball practices and continuing my ridiculous obsession with games. I was friends with everybody at my high school, the nerds, the jocks, the cool kids, the black kids, the asians, the goths/freaks... u name it i kicked it with them. That really resonates to this day, I am very adaptable to awkward environments while being a super awkward person myself.. and I really wouldn't have it any other way, thats me. Goofy, aloof, loveable. I always liked when a new girl came to school, or some new kid and u could tell he really wasnt sure where he'd fit in.. but within a couple of days he was cliqued up. That really speaks to the human condition, and I love it. Man I miss those days, the closest you get now is the airport and seeing how the different families are simply using the space around them and reacting to the people sitting near them. For example a rich white family going out of their way so they dont have to sit next to the nascar enthusiasts, while some people sit right next to you even if there are 25 seats available. This is how my mind works.

My 20's til present was alot of dissapointment. I really blew off college, made friends before school even started and developed a ridiculous drinking/smoking habit asap. Don't get me wrong, in high school I was the life of the party whenever I could spare 1 night from gaming. I'd be bonging the milk in the fridge after all the beer was gone and just making the home-owners life a living hell. Hell, I loved those days.. But I really stepped it up a notch in college. We showed up to campus 2 weeks before classes at Texas State University at San Marcos, formerly known as Southwest Texas State. The girl to guy ratio at the time of my "studies" was 5-1 because of the education and arts departments. So lets just say I was out every night trying out for the team. I pledged every single fraternity with my buddy guillermo, and we partied all the way through pledge week then dropped it. We ended up pissing some people off, but also making good friends with some really awesome fraternities TKE was one of them... and guys... THEY THREW THE SICKEST MOST ILLEGAL PARTIES and probably still do. Willy Nelson was a TKE, Terry Bradshaw, and a bunch of other ridiculous people i'm not going to name. Everything from wine coolers to crack cocaine was available and the girls were hotter than the ****ing maxim magazines i was beating it to all through high school. I was in heaven. On an off-night from partying, i was kind of sick and took some hydro-tussin and a friend had gave me some xanax... by about midnight I was good to go in this zombie type manner. So i proceeded to drink a few beers, and by 1am I was being rushed to the hospital after I had passed out in my mashed potatoes at our usual hang out spot outside of our dorms. I woke up in my dorm room with the sticky hospital sensors still on my chest and an empty 30pack with cans and all just sitting on the floor with another 3-4 or so hospital stickies. My mom had gotten a call during all of this and that morning she woke me up and told me she was already on the way. 30 minutes after waking up from that mistake of a night it was all over and she was there to take me back home. Probably the most dissapointing day of my entire life, and my parents are still paying for it. I'm really sorry for that mom. If you end up reading this.

I really didnt have much after getting kicked out of college by my own mother, just some friends i had left behind to go to college. Mind you I did all that glorious partying all in 1 semester, and returned to reality very quickly. I began selling pot and smoking more and more of it. It's not really a problem now, but back then it really was. I smoke more now than I did sure, but the things I would have to do was borderline insane. Like borrowing micro amounts of money from my parents just to skim a little off the top for weed money. It was a very shameful way to live, and really never got a meaningful job or took one very seriously. I worked as a pizza boy, a street sweeper, a data entry guy for a high volume tv guide publishing firm, a barista, a baseball umpire, a worker in a glass factory, and most importantly a duffle bag boy. I wanna say all of the bull**** I put myself through, and all the little failures i've endured have made me a better person.. i really do.

But who am I to judge myself? Thats why I really enjoy 180mans, if i'm doing something bad I will have bad statistics. It's really as simple as that to me. I got into 180mans by hitting up bfizz11 via a tip from my weed dealer, stayed at his house, and ever since i've been in love with 180mans and turbo poker.
I moved to mexico after a couple of years of playing every day and taking a break to pursue my live poker hoop dreams, but we all know i'm designed to sit in front of a computer and chase an imaginary #1 spot so i'm here to stay for a bit.

Poker Credentials

This includes a 1st place for 180man turbo tournamentsin 2012, and many other leaderboard finishes from the past 2-3 years.

Poker Goals
Become better postflop
Meet more cool people
Live abroad in a different location
Focus on the games I'm good at
Watch better players than I play sessions
Play solid from here on out with reason behind each button click
Play less tables, and make more per game

Really kind of rushed this, but wanted to get something out.. I'm a hasty person.

BONUS: picture from my 1st WSOP where I knock out Sammy Farha! with the hand history