It's now very different from before. It was very cold, snowy, and rainy, and there was a big earthquake in Seattle. But even though there was ugly weather and disaster, the beautiful spring coolly steps forward, opening her heart for us for the days ahead. It is true that with tomorrow comes bright hope.

It is the first year of the new millennium, and it is already the 12th year since I came to America. Everybody has his/her own lifestyle, and for me, it is unbelievable that I made such a huge transformation, as different as heaven and earth, in my lifestyle in America.

I came to America with my husband, but we divorced in 1995. Whoever comes to a country as great as the United States comes with the great American dream. Of course, I came to America with a great American dream, and really wanted to lead my life very peacefully. For the first two or three years, I had a hard time because of the language. Fortunately, it was possible to open a small business with my husband, and it did pretty well.

Before much time passed, my husband started to struggle with severe depression about his circumstances. In about 1991, he started to gamble. My life then went through a big transformation, but first I'll start at the beginning.

We moved to the United States in 1989, and lived in the suburbs of Los Angeles for three years. In 1992, we moved to Phoenix and opened a new business - a liquor store. We moved to Phoenix because we thought there were no places to gamble there. My husband was a compulsive gambler, and when we lived in L.A., I strongly told him that if he gambled again, I would leave him. So, we moved to Arizona. Because he loved me so much, he really wanted to become cured of his gambling sickness.

My husband had some family members who lived in the suburbs of L.A. I didn't have any relatives in the United States, so it didn't matter to me whether we lived in L.A. or Phoenix. I just wanted him to settle down.

But all of our efforts in moving were for nothing. In less than two months, we found out that it took only 15 minutes to get to the Indian reservation, which has a very big casino. He gambled every day, and we eventually lost the balance of our marriage when things got as bad as they could get - we lost all of our property, around $1 million, within four and a half years. Finally, we filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. To comfort me, he took me to a casino. At that time (1994), I learned from him what a spade and an ace are. Almost all Americans naturally learn how to play cards from family or friends at a young age. My case was much different.

In 1995 when I divorced my husband, I had only $250 to my name. Before that, we had two cars, but one of them was returned to the dealer because we couldn't make the payments. After the divorce, I didn't know how I was going to survive. My depression was so severe that I tried to commit suicide twice.

Anyway, after going through all of this, I met a Korean woman who worked as a dealer at a casino. She asked me if I wanted to become a card dealer. After divorcing my husband because of his gambling habits, my life was not as fancy as it had been. Before marriage, I had graduated from college, worked as a report writer for a television station, and enjoyed music and poetry. Now, the fact that I had failed in marriage, was broke, and had to work as a card dealer was a reality that I could not accept. Why me? Even at that time I thought that a casino was a bad place - where people with bad habits gathered. I feared becoming a dealer.

There is a Korean saying that goes, "Every job is respectable," but I could not erase the feeling that I was rolling to what I thought was the bottom.

At that time I had no other means, and no choice. I had to survive, and to survive, I needed money. So, I worked for two or three months at Fort McDowell Casino as a dealer, and began to have more interest in playing than dealing. At the time that I divorced my husband, I could feel my potential in poker. My husband was an insensitive person and had no patience, so he always ended up losing money. As a result of that, I believed that I had to quietly calm my heart and not become excited when playing poker. Anyway, after beginning to play poker, I hit a jackpot six times. So, everyone called me "Lucky Spring" or "Lucky Woman." My good fortune began as soon as I started to play poker. When I won my first jackpot, I didn't even know what it was.

I had pocket jacks. One of the players had A-10, another had fives, and another had nines. So, there was four-way action. The flop came A-A-2. The turn was a 4. The river was an ace. It was A-A-2-4-A after all of the action was finished. One guy yelled, "Wow! I hit the jackpot!" He showed his nines. "Guess what," I said, "me too!" I then opened up my jacks. The man then disgustedly said, "What do you mean, 'Me too'? You hit it! You win the jackpot. Do you understand?" Wow! That was me.

The prize was $9,000. During that time, money was so huge to me, and I realized that I had to be cautious not to go totally broke in these cash games.

Although I never played long hours at a time, sometimes I won a lot and sometimes I lost a lot. I could not save as much money as I expected. No matter how well I was playing, luck had to follow. More importantly, I felt that I had to have a large bankroll in order to play without being intimidated, and I needed to be relaxed. I didn't have any family or friends, and I had no capacity, emotionally and financially, to invest in becoming a master of poker. At about this time, someone suggested that I start playing in small poker tournaments. The funny thing was that when I did, I was almost always at the final table. Soon, I began to go on tournament trips. When Casino San Pablo in Northern California opened, I moved to the Bay Area with a few friends. There, I met an American professional poker player named Howard Andrew ("Tahoe"). Through Tahoe, I had the good fortune of stepping into the poker community. He introduced many poker players to me, Vince Burgio being the first. I had never read any books on poker, and had never even read Card Player. I had no idea who was who, and how famous certain poker players were.

During the first four or five years, I learned so many things and began to understand what poker was all about.

I won jackpots many times as soon as I began playing, and I won as soon as I started playing tournaments. I never had to ask anyone how to play, but one time I asked Tahoe how to play well, and all he said was, "Play good!"

From 1997 through 2000, I won many tournaments and players asked me, "How do you play so well? What is your secret? Which book did you read? How did you learn?" They asked many questions, but all I thought was that I am a person whom good fortune follows. Now, I ask myself whether I should seriously research poker.

Others may laugh when they read this, but I try to cooperate and understand, and purposely try not to close others' hearts when I'm playing poker. Isn't that what life is all about?

I believe that my life experiences prove that anything is possible in this world, but no matter what it is, it cannot always be perfect and eternal.