Jim Reid is a longtime lover of poker, a member of the PokerOrg Player Advisory Board, and host of the popular RecPoker podcast.
Hey, gang, and happy new year! On the podcast this week we talked with Rob Perelman about our favorite poker moments from the last year, and while 2024 was a rollercoaster for me personally, it produced some poker highlights that I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.
In January, I joined the OGs of RecPoker back where it all began at Running Aces in Minnesota! We usually get together once or twice a year on the ‘home turf’ and we’ll be going back later this month too. When I joined RecPoker in 2019 most of the leadership group was based around the twin cities, and it actually took several years for me to meet a lot of those amazing folks in person. I can honestly say that a few years later many of these characters have become some of my best friends!
In March Mrs. BLUFFSTORINI and I travelled to Dublin - mostly for our wedding anniversary but also for the Irish Poker Open! While there, not only did I have the time of my life and make some wonderful new friends, I also made my first final table in an international series when I took 6th place in the 6-max tournament in the first few days of events. Those winnings propelled me onto the ‘Firaldo Leaderboard’ for a fun competition Niall Farrell was running, which I think it’s safe to say I thoroughly enjoyed.
A deep run in the Big One
In June I flew down to Vegas to play a few lower-buy-in WSOP bracelet tournaments leading up to the Main Event, but never planned to play in the main. I bricked four out of five tournaments that week, and then on Day 1A woke up with FOMO and posted on X that if I could sell half my action, I would play the main. About 36 hours later I had sold over 2/3 of myself and was registering to play!
I went on to finish around the top 2% for my biggest cash ever, which after sharing with my friends and backers was enough to buy my wife and I a sweet used car to replace our long-suffering 2006 SUV that had just broken down for good earlier that month.
Later that summer the amazing people at 100K Studios led by Rob Gardner decided to join up with RecPoker and bring their coaches and members into the RecPoker Community! This has been a fantastic pairing, and both groups have gotten a lot out of working together to help make the recreational poker world a better place.
A whole new year - with no mistakes in it (yet)
In September Mrs. BLUFFSTORINI and I took a road trip to Halifax where we started dating 20 years ago to the day. While there I got to meet up with my poker buddy Ben Enslow at the Halifax casino and throw some cards around, which was super fun! Ben and I had also managed to meet up in Montreal in the spring for Ben’s first ever poker trip. We played in the WPT series at Playground, and had a great time together.
Last December, I met Matt Affleck in person at the WPT player’s party in Vegas and we immediately hit it off. Over the course of 2024 he’s joined the RECing Crew at RecPoker and has been coaching me up since the summer as part of a lead-up to the recent WPT series at the Wynn, which was a lot of fun and extremely well-run.
Unfortunately I didn’t go deep and show off his amazing coaching skills for all to see, but I’m a much better player for working with Matt and I’m excited to see what he can do as part of the RECing Crew to elevate the play of our RecPoker members in 2025 and beyond. I definitely wouldn’t have played the WPT World Championship without his urging, and that means I played two poker tournaments this year for at least $10,000 folks - that is crazy to me and I am still pinching myself!
2024 was also the year I started writing for PokerOrg, starting with my article on how a recreational player can prepare for the WSOP. I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing my poker journey here, and hope to continue into the future. Thanks for coming along with me, gang!
I hope you had a fun and fruitful year in 2024 yourself, and if you didn't, don't worry: 2025 is a whole new year with no mistakes in it yet. Have fun with it.
You can follow Jim here at PokerOrg, on BlueSky and on X.
Additional image courtesy of the Irish Poker Open
