I grew up in a house of (responsible) gamers. A week didn’t go by that my parents didn’t have friends over for a few hands of poker and the annual vacation was to Vegas or Reno more often than not. You could call it the family trade, and that’s probably why I moved to Baker, Nevada, as soon as I turned 18, and I have been here for eight years now. I made the move not only to be closer to the action, but because I really fell in love with the southwestern landscape. My dad remains my most constant poker pal to this day.
Prior to starting CasinoBrian.com, I worked in various tech fields, sneaking in a game of online poker here and there on breaks, and I finally decided to make my passion my career.
I briefly thought of becoming a full-time poker pro, but eventually nixed that idea for fear that turning the game itself into a job would take some of the fun out of it for me, and to be perfectly honest, I’ve got a lot of obvious tells, which would make it pretty hard to play in person against the high-level gamers you see in the World Cup of Poker.
Eventually I tried tech support at a series of gaming sites, but helping people who have lost their passwords isn’t quite what I was looking for. One weekend, after wasting some money playing on a few very lame gaming sites for which I had read rave reviews (in retrospect, I suspect they were probably paid reviews), it hit me: The gaming world is missing a good, honest, insider’s look at their world, with news and reviews written by and for gamers. I envisioned a site driven by passion and supported by a real familiarity with the scene.
Skaters enjoy news on new boards and DVDs from fellow skaters; they learn tricks from fellow skaters. People who enjoy obscure films have more by-cinephiles-for-cinephiles content than you can shake a stick at. Don’t gamers deserve the same kind of reporting?
So that’s what CasinoBrian.com is all about. It’s gaming news by a gamer, for gamers. I want to deliver in-depth reviews and news reporting that could only come from a writer who knows the culture inside and out.
Above all, this site is driven by my own personal passion for gaming, so if you read something on this site, I wrote it. It’s a one-man show, but don’t worry about that meaning infrequent updates; I play a lot, and I’ve always got something to say.
And if you find yourself in Vegas, you might find me at the Palms. Their loose slots are a great ego-booster after losing a hand of blackjack.