A new year with a new plan

I'm writing this blog for one simple reason: to keep myself accountable. It's not because I expect anyone will actually read it (keeping up with the ups and downs of a low stakes NLHE player isn't exactly People Magazine material). I just need a place to be honest with myself, to be able to reflect on what I've done well, and what I've done wrong. Somehow, its therapeutic to put my thoughts down on paper, where I can take an honest look at my life, and proceed from there.

I dont exactly know how to begin this, but I guess I'll start with an introduction.

My name is Mike. Im 19 and I am a sophomore at the University of Rochester, in upstate NY. I started playing poker in high school with some friends, just $5 or $10 games, but eventually the action ran dry. My friend Alex and I were "too good" for the game (i.e. we had read a poker book, and could site facts like 22 > AK all in preflop), and a bunch of our friends got tired of losing, so they quit playing after about a year. Around that time, my friend found a promotion running through the GamingClub which offered $20 free to sign up, no deposit required. We each signed up, and played $5 buyin games online. I lost my $20 within a week, but while I was over at Alex's house one day, he was playing a freeroll and I railed him for hours until finally he ended up taking 2nd, for $300. Now to us that was a ton of money, being two high school kids who hadn't had their first job yet, and whose sole form of income was an allowance. After that, he cashed out his winnings, since it seemed risky to keep that much money online, and I had no way to deposit online, so I forgot about poker for a while...

When I went to college, I found that I had a lot more free time than I had had in high school. I used to play computer games (actually my freshman year of high school is mostly a blur since I was SO absorbed in a computer game - Anarchy Online, a MMORPG which I logged MONTHS of playtime into), so I decided to take up WoW (World of Warcraft) for a while. But it just didnt stick this time. Anyway, I dont remember exactly what triggered it, but I rediscovered online poker, and deposited $50 on PokerRoom. After quickly discovering that $50 was not a sufficient bankroll for $25 NL, I switched to $5 SNG's. (eh, maybe not so quickly I made 4 deposits of $50 each, and promised my girlfriend that if things did not go well this time, I was done throwing my money away).


----->(Skip to here if you were bored with my introduction :-p)

Anyway, over a year of serious play, I have progressed through the ranks of online poker to 1/2 NL. I have been at this level since May 2006, and each time I try to step up to 2/4 NL I crash and burn. My plan for the year is simply to keep a disciplined attitude toward poker, and grind out a good profit, eventually transitioning to 2/4 NL, but only after I really feel ready to make the jump. I will be starting with a bankroll of $10,000.00, exactly 50 buyins at 1/2, and my goal is to make $100,000 in 2007. If I play a disciplined game of 1/2 NL for 6 months, shorthanded and HU, I think I can make 6-8K a month. If by then I can transition to 2/4 NL and make 8-12K a month, I would easily hit my goal, although my first month of transition may be rough. Its an ambitious goal, but I intend to play a lot more poker this year, including making it my "summer job," and to eliminate any lack of professionalism from my game (tilt, hunches, etc). If I do all of that, and still fall short by a bit, I wont be upset at all.

I intend to update this blog fairly regularly - with poker and non-poker related topics, regarding my progress toward my goal, other important events in my life, and the occasional political rant about Rush Limbaugh and other disgusting creatures.