[Myst]

Started playing as a senior in high school (January 2004)

Deposited $50. Played $50c/$1 limit at Party Poker. Turned that into $317.

The $317 I then took to the PL $50 tables. Then, for a short while, the PL $200 tables Won some more. Then, with my $1200 bankroll, I took my shot at the PL $200 tables. This was when the games were ALOT softer than they are today. So even with just HEFAP under my belt (which had nothing to do with PL), I was able to turn that $1200 to about $5500, from January-March. I experienced some hectic swings (lost a grand then won it all back in 6 hours) that made me feel like crap, so I slowed down and stopped playing for a while, intermittently playing the $50 PL.

I play a bit during the summer, not too much, and make about maybe $600-700 playing a combo of lower limit/NL Hold'em games. Oh, and this is when I first found out about Sngs. Didnt like them too much at first, because I would always win a little, then lose a little, and always seemed to break even.

At college, during the early parts of the semester, I didnt play at all, focusing instead on studies/socializing. But, during Thanksgiving break, the bug bit me again, and I convinced a friend to loan me $400 (we would split profits) to try my shot at Sngs, because I read on 2+2 that they had the lowest variance. Turned that $400 into $800 for my friend and gave him all the money I won (kept none for myself, partly because I didnt need the money, and partly because I felt sorry for my friend, b/c he has a lot of loans for school, and partly b/c the main reason I played was to see if I could still play. Lol, dont worry, he would return the favor)

So, with the little money I had left in my bank accounts from my previous foray into poker (about $600), I started playing again. Started at $20+2 sngs. Experienced some horrible swings, but I made about $1500 in Sngs and $900 from a 5th place cash in a $109 MTT (Lol, who needed bankroll back then) between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Then I had a bright idea... The Steps were just implemented, and I told my friend that I was going to take my shot at them. I bought 14 times at Step 1 ($12 a piece) and was able to get two freerolls into the 1k Step 5s.

The 1st time I played, I got 5th (BUBBLE), reraising all in to the aggro big stack with 33 (literally my first playble hand in 30 hands), and he busted me with AK.

The 2nd time however, I manage to suckout with K8 v AT, and got AK v AT to be able to finish 3rd and get a HUGE $3600 k cash.

My bankroll was now at about 6k. However, after my Alienware laptop broke, and various other expenses, that soon whittled down to about 2k. When I got back to school (January), I played on and off, and made about 2k playing $20+2 sngs. So my bankroll was now at 4 grand.

April 11th, 2005. The fateful day I decide to get "serious" with my 3-monitor set up and play these purely for profit purposes. Ive steadily moved up from the $20s to the $30s to now the $50s, making about $11.7k in profit for the last 9 weeks. Along the way, my friend loaned me 1.7k (hes a successful Sng pro as well now, thanks to me, ha!) to help me pay for expenses for my trip down Miami. Dont worry, Ill pay him back as soon as we get back to school.

So thats my story. Overall, made about, rough estimate, $23 to $24 thousand dollars. Not bad for an 18 year old still going to college full time, but I have plans to make it to the $215s by the end of this year. Then, Ill be making serious money.

Current Bankroll: $6523.07
Current Level: 8 tabling, soon 10 tabling $50+5 Sngs.