Yeah so the thread title is gheyaments, but I could not think of anything else to go with my SN. Whatever...

The Past
Alright so it's blogging time.. First a little background. I'm a 20 year old college junior majoring in criminal justice. I was first introduced to poker at the age of 16, when I would donk around in my dad's home games ($10 buyin). I took a liking to the game, and began to hold my own home games till the time I graduated. During that time I began playing around with online poker. Generally it was just for play money, but every once in a while my dad would let me log onto his account and play some low buyin SNGs. Well at 18, I moved off to college and damn near forgot about poker for the time being.

It wasn't until last December, while bored one night I decided to play a few freerolls on UltimateBet for the hell of it. So I did. And won nothing. So I decided to play a few more over the next week or so, and finally hit the jackpot. After 5hours or so of play, I cashed in 2nd place for a whole $7. My bankroll had begun. From December '07 to April '08, I nursed that $7 into ~$400 playing SNGs on UltimateBet (buyins ranging from $1-$11).

At this point, I made a decision. I realized that poker was an investment, and that I had been giving the opportunity to turn that $7 into a way of making money in the future, and began to play/study accordingly. I decided I was through with UB, and made the move to Pokerstars, depositing only $50 of the $400 (ldo bad mistake), to get my feet wet in cash games. That didn't work well, so I reverted back to sngs and got the roll to $340 as of June 4th '08 (following a 4th place in the FTR800). I decided I would give cash a go, and haven't changed back yet.

I started 10nl June 4th with a $340 roll. July 3rd I made the jump to 25nl with a $700 roll, after two failed attempts to move up. I spent a little less than a month at 25nl before making the jump to 50nl with a $1500 roll. From August till September that is where I was grindin'. At the tail end of August, I hit the $3k BR benchmark I had set, so I took my stab at 100nl on Stars. And that's where I can be found as of now. A very low stakes donk just looking to improve and make some money in the process.

The Present
As stated, right now I'm grinding 100nl on Stars. My BR right now is ~$5600, after coming off my best month last month after starting this little journey ($3k). Although I have moved through all previous stakes in approximately a month, things will be different with 100nl. I obviously realize my roll needs to be padded a little more. That coupled with the fact that I am unemployed, and will hopefully withdraw $1k per month to live on, has determined that my stay at 100nl will be a little more prolonged. This is perfectly fine with me. As a college student $1k per month is more than enough to get by on (kinda sad isnt it?). And I know at this present time I am nowhere close to possessing the skill set I need before moving to 200nl.

The Future
I've set forth a few goals for myself this month in an attempt to become more accountable. Here's the list I have as of now:

60k or more hands (I am seriously lacking in amount of hands played. Best month so far is only 40k)
$3k profits (meh.. I realize there is a possibility of downswings etc, and that it might not be best to set a monetary goal. However, it doesn't hurt to shoot for something, and I figure matching my best month to date isn't a terrible place to start)
Re-read NLHET&P, and at least one new poker book (PNL?)
Prepare for 200nl


So that's what we have to work with for now. That's my entire poker story. Where I've been, where I'm at, and where I hope to go. I'll try to keep up to date with a day-by-day summary of how many hands played, money won/lost, and all the other basic bullshit everyone does. So if you are still with me here, then enjoy. And please offer any advice, comments, critiques, criticisms, flames, and anything else you want. It will keep me in line and on the right track. Peace for now.