[kamjah]

So ive been playing at party (and skins until the split) for about a year and a half now. Im not gunna lie, i started off playing some horrible poker. I lost about a grand without even realizing it (which is huge when ur working a parttime job at starbucks). Thats when somebody introduced me to 2+2, which helped me make my comeback. From that point i tightened up, posted some hands, and improved my game immensely. By multitabling 50 and 100NL ring games I made back the grand i lost plus another 3500 on top. Being the 19 year old that i was, i went out and spent the money on my car.

Now once school started, i quit my job at starbucks, and was left with about 500 bucks in my bank account. And ive been playing since school started in the fall on and off. I guess you could say i hit some type of wall, because in the past few months my bankroll has been doing nothing but fluctuating up and down (mainly down). And i havent been able to gain that same momentum that i had last year. It seems to me that there has been a significant decrease in the donks:good players ratio, so i feel that i need to adjust accordingly.

I guess what im looking for, is a way to improve my game. As of now, i have about 500 dollars to my name, and im thinking of how to go about taking it to the next level. Ive allways wanted to buy poker tracker, but 55 dollars for software allways seemed like too much for me. I was also thinking of picking up Theory of Poker, which seems to be THE book to read. I guess what im asking is, should i just keep grinding it out, and keep gaining experience, or will making the investment on these two products be the better choice. And what other things helped people make the transition from noob to good/semi-pro poker players.

-kamjah