Seventeen Years in the Game: My Poker Story

Introduction

My name is Jan Nakladal, and online poker players might know me by the nickname Hownorez.
My poker journey started when I was 17. At first, I played only for play money on a Czech news portal that offered several games, one of them being poker. Even back then, I was extremely competitive.

Before poker, I was deeply involved in gaming, what we would today call esports. I played Warcraft 3, and in 2v2 formats my brother and I reached Top 3 on the European leaderboard. But once we discovered poker, everything changed. We stopped playing Warcraft and dedicated ourselves to learning this new card game. It was strategic, challenging, and unlike esports in 2006, it offered a real opportunity to make money. Back then, esports simply was not what it is today.

First Successes

When I turned 18, I created my first real money poker account and started grinding freerolls. Like many players from my generation, I truly started from zero. I was a student, had no money, and did not come from a wealthy family.
After a few weeks of daily grinding, I made my first cashout. It was only a few dollars, but it meant everything. A month later, I was consistently beating freerolls and moved to microstakes cash games, then sit and gos, and eventually MTTs.

My first real breakthrough came when I won a 1 dollar tournament for a little over 500 dollars. From there, I kept building my bankroll and slowly climbing the stakes.

Breakthroughs

The first major breakthrough came in 2012 when I made a three way deal in the Sunday Million. I moved to higher stakes and continued beating the games. Around 2012 or 2013, I founded a poker stable with my friend Viktor, where we staked and coached many players from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The second breakthrough came during my first trip to Las Vegas with my brother. Playing the World Series of Poker Main Event had always been our dream. We had watched WSOP and EPT streams for years, imagining that maybe one day we would sit there ourselves.

In 2013, it finally happened.

Looking back, traveling to Las Vegas with the bankroll we had was irresponsible and risky, as many of my early decisions were. But I got extremely lucky. I reached the final two tables of the WSOP Main Event and finished 18th.
It was a seven day marathon and an unbelievable experience. I was a random guy from a small village in a country many Americans still called Czechoslovakia, and suddenly ESPN wanted to interview me. It is something I will never forget.

Becoming a Pro

In 2015, I stood at a crossroads. I had graduated from university and become a lawyer. I had to decide whether to pursue a legal career or go full time in poker.

At that time, online poker was in its golden era. I was winning consistently and already earning more than most solicitors in my hometown. More importantly, I loved the freedom and being my own boss. I chose poker, knowing I could always return to law if things did not work out.

Staking Adventures in Las Vegas

I completely fell in love with poker summers in Las Vegas. Over the years, I have spent more than a full year of my life there. Most of my volume has always been online and I do not travel much for poker, but WSOP is the exception.

In 2015, I created a special staking stable focused on the Las Vegas summer. I found co investors and managed the entire project. It was demanding and not ideal for my own game, but it was successful. One of my horses finished second in a WSOP bracelet event.

In 2016, I expanded the stable to seven players. That summer was completely crazy. Two of my players reached the final table of the Colossus, which at the time was the second largest tournament ever by field size. It felt like winning the lottery.

The downside was stress and constant distraction, which affected my own performance. In later years, I reduced staking and focused more on myself. That decision paid off with another deep WSOP run, including a semifinal table in a bracelet deepstack event.

Recent Years and Upstakes

From 2015 to 2024, I mainly played online poker. I was fortunate enough to win multiple WCOOP and SCOOP events while still playing live during WSOP summers. In 2016, I moved to Vienna, Austria, mainly due to strict regulations that pushed online poker networks out of the Czech Republic.

In November 2024, I met Jan Hlavica through a mutual friend. He came with an idea for a scalable poker staking solution. Although he is a recreational player, he has a strong passion for poker and business. I loved the concept and joined the project. By the end of 2024, we launched the proof of concept.

Jan has already written about our joint venture, so I will not repeat it here. I will just say that I am genuinely excited about what we are building and cannot wait to see our ideas come to life.

What to Expect in This Blog

I am still shaping what this blog will become, but one thing is clear. I want to bring you value.

You can expect insights into professional poker, advice on how to improve including Upstakes Challenge tips, hand history reviews, strategy discussions, and posts about my personal journey. I hope you will not be bored. 

Thank you for reading this far.

Good luck at the tables, my friends.