Intro

[zook]

Been posting for a few months here, just noticed Warpe ask a new guy to post an intro in community and realized I never did. So here goes...

I'm a grad student at UW in Seattle, trying to get my PhD in Neurobiology. Might sound impressive, but actually, most of the time it's a lot like arts and crafts from summer camp. Seriously. After almost five years I'm kind of sick of it, really hoping to finish up in the next year or so.

Only started playing NLHE last fall when some friends got a home game together. I really enjoyed it, so I started lurking here at FTR, trying to improve my game. Finally made the online plunge in Feb. and got an account here so I could post hands and learn. I started with $11 SNGs since they were closest to my home game, and despite playing pretty horribly at first, I made good money over my first 100. Then I played my first MTT, a $33er at Party with 430 players and chopped 1st/2nd. Looking back at the hand history I realize I got pretty lucky, I sucked out once big time and got some good cards. But without the help of HOH1 & 2, plus the regular posters in the SNG forum (vqc, Scuba, fjuanl, staresy, etc.) I never would have done it.

With the huge bankroll increase I started playing $22ers, but didn't do as well at those. I dabbled in ring, and liked it even more than SNGs, so I've stuck with it since then. I did well at 25NL over a very small number of hands and since I already had the bankroll for 50NL, I moved up. I'm running pretty well at this level too but still don't have enough hands to judge. I can only play poker about 10 hours/week, but my goal is to log ~15,00o hands at 50NL before deciding whether to move up to 100. I 3- or 4-table right now, so I feel like if I can sustain 7-8BB/100 playing 100NL that will be a significant side income, while at 50NL it isn't. I also want to throw in a MTT once in awhile, but finding a 4-6 hour block in my life is pretty tough right now.

I hope this wasn't too much about poker... some things I like besides poker... live music, soccer, beer, wine, whiskey... AA meetings. To wrap up, I want to say that FTR is awesome! I've learned so much here and continue to everyday. Everyone's welcoming and almost never rude, even when I post noob questions or give bad advice. Thanks for that!

[vqc]

do u want to give me a job when i graduate?
move down to UCSD and let me follow u around?

[zook]

Ha. I don't think I'll be in a position to give anyone jobs for awhile after I graduate, but we'll see. I do know a few people doing science at UCSD though. None really in a position to give you a job either. Or at least a good job What are you studying?

[vqc]

biochem, molecular bio

[zook]

Cool, that's what I was in undergrad. (The majors were combined, no way I could have done a double). Don't know what you're thinking about after, but I recommend industry. I'm down on academia for a lot of reasons. And if you're primarily interested in money, you should consider law school, or industry for a couple of years and then business school. Lots of jobs out there for people with solid science backgrounds and either JDs or MBAs. Just a little advice from a jaded Phd student

[ttanaka]

Hey zook, welcome and thanks for the introduction.