Beyond the Basics

Phase I: Grind my way to $600 - COMPLETE!
Flawed hand analysis and purty graphs
salsa4ever disses my graphs and agitates my dots
I donk off my FPPs and switch to an Absolute skin
I start pwning 6-max
Poker is easy, just wait for Royals
AA vs. KK philosophy
Phase I complete

Phase II: Get over the hump and onto 50NL ($1500) - COMPLETE!
Progress Report
The Game Plan
I finally realize that I'm over rolled
Absolute is ZOMG RIGGED, time to retreat
I manipulate an opponent and get a huge boner
I learn about 3-bet ranges and make hilarious puns
Time to man up and take shots at 50NL
I continue to pwn 6-max
kmind observes as my heater takes a lunch break
I decide to tighten up and stop c-betting so much
spenda gets snarky, kmind challenges him to a dance-off
I finally learn what a downswing feels like (no lube)
I want my Rak3back and B0nus! biondino and spoonitnow convince me to finally deposit at Full T1lt
Top pair is killing me. Variance or leak?
It was a leak; I recover from the "downswing"
Phase II complete

Phase III: Double or Nothing! - in progress
Progress Report
The Game Plan
I chicken out and quit for 4 months
Back in the saddle. I get my feet wet at 25nl
I rack disciprine; use AoK's technique to plug the leak.

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Hello and thanks for reading. Here I will chronicle my journey through the microstakes as well as my development as a poker player. I'm sure my story will be similar to many others, and I don't expect a ton of feedback, so this will probably serve mainly as a personal motivator.

On the 4th of September I deposited $100 into my Stars account. I played SnGs somewhat infrequently for about a week before becoming dissatisfied with my inability to multitable shorthanded among other things. So I switched to full ring 5NL and have since moved up to 10NL.

After 3 weeks and 15,000 hands I have made $190 net profit. The trouble is, I'm not a very good player. More specifically, I'm not a thinking player. I just play very tight, wait for monsters, and get paid off. This is profitable at microstakes, but I know that as I move up I will encounter observant opponents and this will no longer be a practical way to approach the game.

My overall goal is to learn the correct thought processes behind winning poker so that I can profit at mid-stakes. This is not applicable to my current stakes, so for now my goal will be strictly monetary. The plan is to build the bankroll up to $600 and move it to Full Tilt to take advantage of their 100% sign up bonus. I estimate this will take about 60,000 hands to clear at $25NL, probably fewer depending on how soon I can move up to $50NL.

At some point I would like to switch to 6-max. I'm not comfortable doing so now because I am still wired like a robot and apparently incapable of opening up my game. As I nut peddle at FR I will spend a good deal of time reading about 6-max strategy and make the occasional venture to micro SH tables.

Here are my PT stats thus far:









I should be clearing the Stars $50 bonus very soon, and I'm going to cheat a little bit and deposit another $100 to speed up the transition to $25NL. I generally 4 table and occasionally 6-7 table on the weekend if I feel that I haven't played enough hands during the week. I am a college student and my studies are top priority, so I sometimes fall behind on my goals for hands played. I have a 2nd monitor in storage and would like to 8-table eventually. I'm not sure if this will require buying a PC or getting some sort of adapter for my laptop. My laptop has a monitor port, which I use for my 20" LCD. Perhaps I could get some sort of splitter.

That's all for now. I have a tendency to ramble sometimes. My apologies if anyone actually read all that, lol.

Bankroll: $290.55