"I was born from Michigan, but I grew up in Chicago," said Andrew as he sat at an empty table at the Rio. "I was a big golfer growing up then got into guitar. Really, I get into big kicks, just dive into whatever I'm doing at the time."
In high school, his senior study hall introduced him to poker. "We played Euchre then spades, gambling for small stakes. Some of the guys played poker, so we started doing that. I was losing consistently, so I started studying and reading books about poker. I didn't really find any games in college, but when I was eighteen, I started playing on PartyPoker."
Andrew started in the $25-max NLH games then won $1,500 in a freeroll. "I didn't really understand bankroll management too much. I jumped into $5/10 NLH games, went down, then up. That's when I switched to UltimateBet and started playing their $5 and $10 SNG's. And that's where I met Taylor."
In the summer of 2005, Andrew and Taylor launched CardRunners, a website offering video training sessions showing online poker. "Taylor was working at the time, and I was doing it really to pad my resume. We launched in September, and it just took off. We've brought Brian Townsend on as well as other great trainers. We also have columns in CardPlayer and Bluff. I don't think there is a better place anywhere to learn about improving your play in online poker, especially understanding specific situations."
CardRunners is going through a growth spurt, moving into an office and rebuilding the website to improve functionality as well as the look and feel of the site. With so much work on CardRunners, Andrew's own play has decreased. "I work a lot and don't get to play as much as I did in the past. You have to remember that I've been playing online for four years. I just turned twenty-one last September, so this is my first World Series. I played Aruba and cashed there in 2005 because I could play live there."
"I had my first WSOP cash (54th for $9,130 in the $3k NLH), but I'm not too pleased with the structure here. I'll probably only play the Main Event and may play some cash games." With that, he headed to the $5/10 NLH tables at the Rio, to probably play with some players that he helped transform from fish to sharks.