First and foremost, let me thank all of you guys for being great members of the forum. You guys are insightful and real patient with newbies (like myself). I'm really glad I joined the forum.

Well, let me start off by introducing myself. The name's AJ and I'm from Long Island, NY. I'm only 22, but have been playing poker for about 4 years. I solely played live poker at casinos and at cash games around here. I would deposit $300 on FTP to play at the 200NL. Talk about severe underrolling. I understood the 20BI rule, but I refused to use it. Hey, if I don't need that much for live poker, why would I need that much for online poker? Online poker is so much easier! Damn, I was wrong. I would have my money taken from me by a bad beat or by simply getting rolled over. And my whole bankroll would be gone.

This is the year I've chosen to do it right. I chose to work my way up the rankings using correct bankroll management. This was the first step in the right direction and I'm glad I did it. It's the same game I love...without playing with scared money. Therefore, I am playing better than I ever have (live or online).

I chose to play on Pokerstars (BooG690) due to it's low rake at the nano/microstakes. I love FTP and their rewards, but I can't be losing all my money to rake. I am currently on my free trial of Pokertracker and will be trying out HEM afterwards. I will be making my decision when those trials are over.

I am not practicing optimal bankroll management. At these small stakes, I am definitely on the aggressive side of it. I sit down at the 5NL tables with $10 (which leaves me with only 13 buy-ins). I am doing this since I believe I have a great feel for these stakes. On the other hand, I will not be moving up to 10NL until I have 22-25BI's for that level. I plan on increasing my bankroll requirements as I go up in levels (this is speculation and is subject to change):

10 BI's for $5NL
22-25BI's for $10NL
28-30BI's for $25NL

My bankroll is currently at $130 from a deposit of $50 on January 28th, 2009. It hasn't been easy though. I started my online poker career by losing $36 and being down to my last $14. I had a nasty session on February 13, 2009 where I had to get off and regroup. I was donking my chips away and not taking it seriously at all. I thought I could bluff all these 2NL guys away and I wasn't playing my game.



It was hard for me to adapt to playing for pennies, but I had to...so I did. I began to take it more seriously and played the game of poker I've learned to play. I clamped down and really got going. Since the day after my big down session (that would be on February 14th, 2009), I've been on a complete tear. I'm playing at 28.87BB/100 and have won $118.46 in 9,469 hands. I understand it may be a heater for now...but I'm also playing good poker.



That is not to say I still don't have a lot to learn...because I do. I'm actually still pretty clueless and I will admit that. And like anything else, I will remain clueless throughout my entire career. There will always be something about poker for me to learn and master...and I like it that way.

I am working on having a wider range in position and not overvaluing my hands (I do this a lot in the blind). I become very aggressive with just OK hands. These are some of the weaknesses that I must fix.



I would love to get up to 25NL and take everything from there. Of course, in the long run, I'd love to end up winning the WSOP...but one step at a time. So I will start my operations thread here...on my route to 25NL.