One year ago today, I...

[GrekeHaus]

One year ago today, I...

1. Played on a 17" LCD two-tabling and didn't think it was possible to effectively play more than 4 tables.

2. Played without rakeback

3. Had only ever met 1 2p2er. (Yugo)

4. Had an account on 2p2, but rarely posted.

5. Had a bankroll that I had gotten mostly from 2 big MTT wins.

6. Played almost exclusively limit.

7. Thought I wanted to study computer science.

8. Thought I was smart.

9. Had financial aid.

10. Had never been to Vegas.

11. Had never made a calcutta/betting website for real money.

Since then, I have...

1. Purchased a 2001 and a Samsung 213T with poker winnings and 10-table Party.

2. Made more money in rakeback than I made playing poker in 2004.

3. Met a bunch of 2p2ers and hated all of them.

4. Rarely post on 2p2, but only because I'm busy as [censored].

5. Have a fatter bankroll mostly built off of SNGs.

6. Play almost exclusively SNGs.

7. Think I want to study math.

8. Am pissed off because I'm way smarter than most people, but there are still people in the world way smarter than me.

9. Had my financial aid cut off because Masters students aren't supported.

10. Have been to Vegas twice and got to spoon with Yugo.

11. Made a sweet Calcutta/Betting site and lost money because of it (but got a free t-shirt).

[Shakespeare]

One year ago today, I...

1. 2-3 tabled the 3/6 full ring on a win 98 19inch crt.
2. Thought rakeback was a viscous rumour started by the blackjack community.
3. Thought Viagra would help my limping.
4. had never met any 2+2ers in RL due to belief that you are all very strange.
5. had never bought directly in a tournament with a buyin over 100.
6. Made 1k for the whole of December, breaking the 1k barrier for the first time.

In 2005,

1. purchased Poker computer with 20inch lcd.
2. Flushed my Viagra but still limp with 55 (No raising)
3. Still never met any 2+2ers, but now think I have caught “strange” from the community.
4. Bought directly into a $215, placed ~40 after a stupid push.
5. played 6 tables max successfully.
6. Made $2.4k in one day, breaking the 1k in a day barrier for the first time.
7. Made it two the $55 and stayed.


2006 …..

1. Need a new machine.
2. Will meet at least 1 2+2er
3. Go to Vegas.
4. Break 10k for the month.
5. play a live tourney.
6. make a final table of a >$200 > 1000 person tourney.
7. Take family on well deserved holiday.
8. Get rakeback once again.

[wuwei]

One year ago about this time:

I was a 5 months into my online poker hobby, playing 2 tables without rakeback on a 19 inch CRT.

I had one early MTT cash on Prima for $1200 that helped me get started and proved I was a star in the making. My formula for success here included picking up AA on the first hand of a rebuy and stacking two people, playing tighter than a thing that is tight, being the short stack with 25 left (20 paid), winning 7 all ins in a row, luckboxing my way to 3rd place.

Deposited $100 into Party, because that was the place to be. Couldn't decide what kind of poker to play, so I split my time between .5/1 ring games and $11 SNGs.

Set a goal to play 100 $11s, because that was what I needed to determine if I was a winning player. ROI of something like 15%, so of course I'm a winning player but...

I ran better at ring games. Built roll up to $1200, enough to start playing 2/4 last December. Clearly this what where I should be.

At this point, I had not met any 2+2ers, nor had I really contributed anything of value to the forums. I sucked at posting interesting hands.

So... since then:

Ran well early in the year at 2/4, confirming that I was a winning player. Limit poker was my calling.

Hit my first patch of Variance in February, breaking even at 2/4 over 10,000 hands!!!!!

Thought limit poker sucked.

Played a $22 SNG one night in February to break up the monotony. Took 1st. Nice, that makes up for some lost BBs at 2/4

Played 1 $22 SNG each night for the next 5 nights. Took 1st each time. On the 7th night, instead of resting I played one more $22 - took second. Started having serious second thoughts about limit ring as my calling...

Got back into reading the STT forum. Stopped playing ring games and started to focus on SNGs. Played 100 $22s, and riding the wave of my initial heater I finished with a ROI of something like 55%. Cleary, I was a winning player and should be playing SNGs full time.

Continued playing the $22s. Tasted variance yet again, but still ran well.

Managed to score my second free lunch from a 2+2er, Scuba Chuck. Took [censored] from my wife about meeting strange men on the internet and letting them buy me lunch. Had a good time, Scuba is a very thoughtful guy.

Lunch conversation helped me formulate some plans. Decided to pursue coaching, but of course my desired coach was already retired [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

At some point around here, I picked up rakeback and made a very small amount of money compared to most others around here. Also picked up a 2001fp. Started 4 tabling SNGS.

My wife and I had a son in April. Life changed. A lot. Seriously.

Continued on, moving up and down between the $22s, $33s, and $55s for the next few months during my "limited" play time.

Attended the STTFHUC, with the goal of not making a fool of myself. I think I succeeded. Learned that Lacky is the man. Was a bit suprised that the ratio of cool, quality people:moerans was as high as it was. Had a very good time.

Developed my skills in a variety of games. I believe now I can somewhat competently play LHE, PLHE, NLHE, Stud high, and Stud/8.

Managed a little time to work on MTT game. Added multiple >$1k cashes in $20-50 buyin tournaments.

Post a lot more now than I did a year ago on the forums. I'm not positive, but I think occassionally I even say something people might find useful. Still suck at posting interesting hands.

And as the year winds down, I find myself completely comfortable 4-tabling the $55s. I'm here to stay for a while, taking shots at the $109s when running well. Knowing me, I'll stay at the $55s longer than I should.

Playing poker this year, I've made roughly 40% of my annual salary from my real job. Not bad for a hobby.

As for the coming year...

It will be interesting, I'm sure. I'm about to lose my real job. Very possibly in January, maybe February. May end up living the life of a poker pro for a while, we'll see. I would prefer to keep it as a secondary income stream, but I may not have a choice in the matter.

At some point I plan to learn Omaha and Omaha/8.

Would like to get back into MTT play when my son starts sleeping through the night.

Should probably score rakeback again.

Pick up another monitor shortly, start playing more tables.

Contribute more to these fine forums.

Ship it.

[kamrann]

One year ago today, I...

1. Had already been a 2+2 member for over 2 years, and had amassed about 3 posts, due to being lazy.

2. Was in the middle of a 2 month Vegas trip
that started with me playing $50 comps at the Orleans and ended with me having entered somewhere in the region of $60,000 worth of tournaments. And breaking even overall after expenses, thanks to deciding to buyin to the $15k 5 Diamond main event, getting the rub down from Hellmuth when he busted me on the river.

3. Didn't have a job.

4. Had a lot of cash online but didn't consider it a bankroll.

Now I...

1. Have been a 2+2 member for over three years and have rocketed to over 100 posts.

2. Am not in Vegas.

3. Still don't have a job, but did have one for two weeks a while ago.

4. Don't have much money online, but it is now my living and playing bankroll. I'm playing $22's with itat the moment.


So yeah, basically, the moral is don't play huge tournaments way above your bankroll if you're going to be gutted when you find you don't have any money left. See you at the World Series then. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[jgunnip]

A year ago...
-I had deposited about 100 dollars in a PP account and was fooling around at the 5+1 SNGs
-lurked on 2+2 but didn't read any threads that had "long" responses in them
-Never truly thought I could make a lot of money at this, although I did think it'd be a cool thing to do
-hated school

today I...
-Since May have turned a $1000 (so far) investment (roughly 500 in online accounts, 300 in books, and 200 in software stuff) into nearly 10K.
-Spent and entire summer working 30 hrs/wk at a $7.25/hr job to pay rent and spent the remainder of my time focusing on improving my play in tournaments, mostly SNGs but also played in some low-buyin mtt.
-Have become very fustrated with the seemingly lack of progress on a couple of occasions but only to realize that when you keep working/thinking/improving your game it will eventually come around.
-Read a ton of 2+2 and tried to soak in as much as possible while posting responses on the rare occasions I thought I could offer something to a thread
-Learned what bankroll management is about
-Won a MTT for $1350 for my first ever big cash that allowed me to comfortably start four tabling the 22s
-Just started playing the 55s two weeks ago.
-Have paid for one semester's tuition, bought too much booze, and 2001fp with poker money.
-still hate school but am happy that I don't have to actually "work" anymore to pay for school.
-Have realized how many of the lessons poker has to offer are also applicable in the game of life and that I'm a better person for it.

oh yeah, I've also met two 2p2ers (non SNGers) in real life and have had AIM conversations with many others. You guys are a cool bunch! Except that skipper guy, he scares me. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[skipperbob]

[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

One year ago I

• Was really thrilled to receive my first stress-star from PokerStars. It had taken me about 3 months of playing to get one.
• Thought I was doing everything right when I won.
• Thought I was doing everything wrong when I lost.
• Had about $200 in my account and figured that was more than enough to play $11's.
• Figured I was pretty cool for playing 2-3 tables.

Today I:

• Own PokerStars merchendise worth about 60 stress-stars (even though I dont play there and havent for about 3 months), and think I'm being a pretty cool customer for doing so.
• Have made around $8k in total profits.
• Have gotten a pretty good grasp of SNG play.
• Figure I'm not half as cool as half of you playing a mere 9 tables in sets.
• Is finally enjoying seeing my bankroll grow and knowing why it does.

[littlebu]

one year ago I decided to play full ring limit games and work my way up from the micro limits to get the experience I felt was key. I started with $50 and played .05/.10. I worked my way to having a sufficient roll for 1/2 playing part time. I played a few sitngo's and mtt's along the way. 3 weeks ago I decided that limit ring is absolutey boring and don't really want to play it anymore as I enjoyed the sitngo's much more. In the last 3 weeks I have played nothing but $5 sitngo's. For the next year I plan to focus specifically on sitngo's and mtt's. I just find them much more enjoyable to play. I'm gonna start at the $5's to get experience and pad the roll and work my way up just as I did with limit. O and this is my first post in the single table tourny section. I should be making many more but I still have a million threads to sift through before I start making any posts.

[bluesbassman]

One year ago today, I...

1. Started "seriously" studying SnG strategy by reading this forum and books.

2. Played $11 and $22 SnGs with about a $500 bankroll on Party and Stars, with occasional low buy-in MTTs for fun.

3. Had just been dumped by my girlfriend for the drummer in my band at the time. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

Since then, I have...

1. Have lost about $1000 playing SnGs, and continue to lose. Luckily I can fund my bankroll with gig money.

2. Have come to the realization that I'm far too dumb to be a winning player.

3. Will continue to play because I enjoy it, and it's a less -EV hobby than getting drunk in bars every night in a futile attempt to pick-up women, since I'm even uglier than I am dumb.

4. My band has a new (and married) drummer. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[xLukex]

One year ago today, I...

Was saying "Wow poker is neato. I think I'd like to play that game!"

Since then, I have...

Started saying "SHIP IT BATCHES HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA"

Oh, yeah, started playing online in March. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]