2011. Via a Weekly Blackjack Freeroll Tournament on All Slots, which was an MG Viper casino.
IIRC, MG Viper "network" casinos had daily freerolls (3 per day I think?) which had 3 rounds.
To get through the first round, you had to be in the top 50%.
To get through the second round, you had to be in the top 7.
Then the third round was basically a final table. Top 3 qualified for the Weekly Final.
I only ever managed to qualify for a Weekly Final once. But that one time I did it, I went on to finish 2nd.
The prize pool was £300 and the top 3 all winning £100 each.
With that £100, I played TS2 at MIN BET and built it up to over £700, before promptly spunking the lot of it.
Mainly because I was a naive, stupid and greedy C U Next Tuesday...
But now, over a decade later, I can proudly state that I have evolved.
I am still a stupid and greedy C U Next Tuesday. But I at least ditched the naivety.
What's that saying about a fool and his money parting company with ease? Yeah, that's me. With knobs on.
When I joined CM, I wanted to call myself mcnaivestupidgreedyc*ntgameboy.
But Bryan rather selfishly limited the number of characters in a CM username to 15, so I had to use the rather dull mcgameboy instead.
I still hold some resentment towards him for that.....