I started playing poker back in 04/05 with friends in high school and thought I was GREAT because I was the best in our home game. At the time, I thought Phil Hellmuth's style of play was a great way to play poker (and at the time it worked), and I thought people who played >15% of hands played too loose! I played disciplined ABC poker online and homegames with almost no improvement for two/three years.
My first deposit was $100 into PartyPoker my Junior year of high school which was probably like a third of my bank account - thinking I am too good to lose! The lowest games at the time were 25NL, so I only had 4 buy-ins. I remember the first day I got down $17 in NLFR and was devastated, so I needed to make the $$$ up as fast as I could so stiched to Omaha Hi and won it back that night.
I started playing 25nl consistantly, and was cashing out $50 at a time into my bank account (this was back when you can do it directly with your bank and the site instantly). Eventually, I started play 50NL and I was a winner at that stakes and increased my occasional cash outs to $100. I remember my older brother was playing online poker and I noticed he was playing $100NL. I did not want to accept the fact that he could play higher stakes than me, so I decided to start playing $100NL too! Surprisingly, I was probably a breakeven player/slight winner! I probably played 100NL for 2-3 months before randomly taking a shot at 200NL! This comes to one of the most memorable hands in my poker career!
It was a 200NLFR, and UTG raised to $6, all fold to me in the BB, and I called with 99. The flop was 9 10 Q rainbow. I do not remember the action on the flop and the turn, but I think I check/called them both. The turn and river were both blanks. I remember check/min-raising the river only to have him min-raise me back. I just called and was shown KJ. I was so furious, and was thinking what donk opens with KJs UTG!!!! He typed in the chat bot: shouldn't get so greedy! I tilted and left the game.....
I started college in 2006 as an engineer undergraduate and playing on the tennis team at my school. It was at the time that legislation passed making transaction with banks not possible anymore...so I did not play for almost a year, until I left the tennis team. Eventually, I found out that you can deposit using a 3rd party, so I did.
For the next 3 years, I deposited $75 like 10 different times only to go bust each time. I felt like I was just getting screwed over and over and over again. I kept trying to play that solild ABC poker game, which means I probably did run bad as I rarely would put money in bad (3 buy-ins is pretty high variance though).
In the beginning of 2010, I played a $3 rebuy in FTP, and managed to get 3rd for $1,060! I lost my AQ to KQ all-in preflop that would have had me tied for chip lead :( I played for like 3 months thinking I was sooooooo good, but barely broke even at 25NL, still playing that ABC game. I always tried to put people on exact hands rather than ranges, I didn't even know what EV was or "value bet" meant. I had no poker terminology, and thought you didn't need to know any of those things to be good..........I played for almost a year with that roll and hovered at that amount the entire time. I eventually cashed out in beginning of 2011 - before black friday! I actually got all my $$$ out in time!
I started to miss poker, and I recently checked cardplayer.com. They had links to training videos with Coaching Kristy being one of them. I watched that episode and was SHOCKED at how much I did not know! I instantly got a subscription to DC, and started watching that series. It wasn't long after black friday, that I decided I will risk some $$$ and deposit on Merge and Cake.
My first 3 months on Cake I went form 20NL (winner) to 50NL (slight winner) to 100NL (ran bad, haha). I have had problems with good BR managment, as I felt my skill set was good enough to move on, but I never have a proper roll to stay established at the new levels. I noticed there were weak players at all levels I played and saw some playing 100NL, so I played tables that had at least 2 weak players (not full buy-ins). In 3.5k hands I lost like 10 BI, which is a HUGE amount of my roll as I was previously at 20NL/50NL. I busted that account shortly thereafter, and took a break from poker.
In mid-december, I started playing on Merge. I told myself I was going to have better BR management. I deposited $150, and I was not going to play 25NL until I got to $400 and if I felt comfortable with my edge. By mid January, I started taking shots at 25nl and am playing there now. I am a slight winning player now, and will not take shots at 50NL until I have at least $1000 in the BR and if I feel comfortable. I am a couple buy-ins below all-in EV, but am a couple buy-ins up overall but not over a significant sample size. I should not be so results oriented though, especially since it's not a large sample size. I work full time as an environmental engineer at a consulting firm, and have recently got married. Needless to say, I do not have a lot of time to play poker.
I watch videos during my lunch break, and play every morning for about an hour to get my mind going before work. Since joining DC, I have learned sooooooooooooooo much and can see myself constantly evolving as a player. My ego has gotten much smaller (although it still gets in the way) and I have been way more excepting of other points of view. This is honestly why I have improved - not doing the same thing, but really thinking of what other people suggest. I recently decided actively learn during videos, so I have started taking detailed notes as laid out in The Haj School. I am currently going through Mathematics of NL Hold'em to get a solid foundation of NLH math. I think making sure the basics of my learning process is set along with the mathematics of decisions. I hope to one day reach 200NL as that is the highest game I have ever played, but it will mean WAY more now than ever! Sometimes I laugh at how bad I used to be, and how I play now would absolutely crush how I played a year ago.
I plan on giving updates on my progression through the limits. Hopefully 50NL in the next couple of months!
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