Past, Present, and Future
I've started this blog for numerous reasons. First and foremost, it will hopefully get me into practice of reviewing my sessions and analyzing key hands. I'll occassionally go over big hands after a losing session, but I should be doing it after almost every session, time permitting. I will also try and talk more about my goals and plans - poker and life - and add motivation to stick to them. This will also be a nice place to throw out the occassional rant about whatever is on my mind.
Past
I'll start off with a nice career graph...
I'm pretty sure around the 36k mark is where I switched from full ring to six max. There's also something like a 30k chunk of hands that are on my semi-broken laptop. I have no clue what that data shows.
Anyway, I've been a pretty consistent winner since I switched to six max. I just recently hit a 9 buy in downswing (the day before my birthday), but have recovered to ROBUSTO after refocusing and the deck jizzing in my face.
My poker "career" started a few years ago when my group of friends all independently saw the WSOP 2003. We were hooked. We started playing a very unorganized home game before figuring out that there's a reason for those forced bets next to the button. From there I started playing on-line, first at Party and then primarily at Pokerstars. As you can imagine, my $50 deposits went BUSTO pretty quick.
I started picking up some books (the first three I bought were Super/System, Caro's Book of Tells, and Play Poker like the Pros {which I still haven't read}). Around this time, I had my first exposure to the 2+2 website. I'm not sure what I did there, but I just casually browsed before pushing it aside.
Fast forward to October 2005. I had stopped playing for almost 10 months after I had moved from McHenry, IL (a distant Chicago suburb) to Bloomington, IN. I still loved poker, but I had no one to play with live. I also became involved in a pretty serious relationship. One night, I had an itch, so I deposited $50 on Stars and began playing the .01/.02 game. At this point, I began reading the 2+2 forums pretty seriously, bought PokerTracker, and saw very rapid improvements in my game. I quickly moved up through the micro limits before plateau-ing at the 100NL full ring games. After getting frustrated with the slow pace of the ring games, I took a leap to the 6max games and haven't looked back.
February 2006 became the foundation of playing for a living. I had just left my job delivering pizza (car trouble) and had been working an odd internet data job (e-mail/AIM {MikeyPatriot} for details). I played a $5r MTT one day and took a slightly disappointing 16th. I decided to play a $22 MTT the next day and ending up chopping heads up for $2000. This jumpstarted my bankroll and after many frustrations with the internet job, I began playing for a living.
Present
Currently, I'm playing the 100NL 5max games on Carnaval Poker (PokerRoom skin) while taking weak/tight shots at the 200NL games. I play on Carnaval because I have a swank rakeback deal I can live off of to allow my bankroll to blossom. In terms of the volume of play, I usually 4 table for at least 3 hours a day. I take days off if I don't feel like playing, and I usually do some sort of traveling once a month.
A month or so ago, I took down my second MTT, this time a $22 Deep Stack on Stars. It was the first time I've played in a tournament where I think I was on my A game the entire time. To be completely honest, after I took the chip lead with around 60 left, I was already figuring out what to do with the money...:) The MTT allowed me to pay off a majority of my credit card bills and I will also be making my first of-age visit to Vegas within the next 5 months.
Future
I currently have approximately 38 buyins at 100NL, and would like to start playing 200NL with a healthy bankroll within the next month or so. I've taken a few shots with 17 buyins, but they have not gone well. I'll probably try to move up when I'm above 20 buyins.
Now that my bankroll is at a very healthy state, I'm also considering taking $100 out to try sports betting. I've been a sports nut my whole life and I learn quick, so I'll be interested in seeing how I do.
I'd also like to take up a martial art, preferrably Brazillian Jiu Jitsu. The only BJJ classes in town are run through the University, and I'm waiting on an e-mail from the Martial Arts director to see what my options are as a non-student.
Finally...
Short Intoduction
Name: Michael Gregory Fagan
Location: Bloomington, IN
Height: 5'11"/6'0"
Weight: 150
Favorite Bands: The Beatles and Propagandhi
Favorite Movies: Star Wars trilogy, Bull Durham, any Wes Andersen film
Hobbies (besides poker): reading, bike riding, bowling, stencil art, photoshop, playing guitar
Past
I'll start off with a nice career graph...
I'm pretty sure around the 36k mark is where I switched from full ring to six max. There's also something like a 30k chunk of hands that are on my semi-broken laptop. I have no clue what that data shows.
Anyway, I've been a pretty consistent winner since I switched to six max. I just recently hit a 9 buy in downswing (the day before my birthday), but have recovered to ROBUSTO after refocusing and the deck jizzing in my face.
My poker "career" started a few years ago when my group of friends all independently saw the WSOP 2003. We were hooked. We started playing a very unorganized home game before figuring out that there's a reason for those forced bets next to the button. From there I started playing on-line, first at Party and then primarily at Pokerstars. As you can imagine, my $50 deposits went BUSTO pretty quick.
I started picking up some books (the first three I bought were Super/System, Caro's Book of Tells, and Play Poker like the Pros {which I still haven't read}). Around this time, I had my first exposure to the 2+2 website. I'm not sure what I did there, but I just casually browsed before pushing it aside.
Fast forward to October 2005. I had stopped playing for almost 10 months after I had moved from McHenry, IL (a distant Chicago suburb) to Bloomington, IN. I still loved poker, but I had no one to play with live. I also became involved in a pretty serious relationship. One night, I had an itch, so I deposited $50 on Stars and began playing the .01/.02 game. At this point, I began reading the 2+2 forums pretty seriously, bought PokerTracker, and saw very rapid improvements in my game. I quickly moved up through the micro limits before plateau-ing at the 100NL full ring games. After getting frustrated with the slow pace of the ring games, I took a leap to the 6max games and haven't looked back.
February 2006 became the foundation of playing for a living. I had just left my job delivering pizza (car trouble) and had been working an odd internet data job (e-mail/AIM {MikeyPatriot} for details). I played a $5r MTT one day and took a slightly disappointing 16th. I decided to play a $22 MTT the next day and ending up chopping heads up for $2000. This jumpstarted my bankroll and after many frustrations with the internet job, I began playing for a living.
Present
Currently, I'm playing the 100NL 5max games on Carnaval Poker (PokerRoom skin) while taking weak/tight shots at the 200NL games. I play on Carnaval because I have a swank rakeback deal I can live off of to allow my bankroll to blossom. In terms of the volume of play, I usually 4 table for at least 3 hours a day. I take days off if I don't feel like playing, and I usually do some sort of traveling once a month.
A month or so ago, I took down my second MTT, this time a $22 Deep Stack on Stars. It was the first time I've played in a tournament where I think I was on my A game the entire time. To be completely honest, after I took the chip lead with around 60 left, I was already figuring out what to do with the money...:) The MTT allowed me to pay off a majority of my credit card bills and I will also be making my first of-age visit to Vegas within the next 5 months.
Future
I currently have approximately 38 buyins at 100NL, and would like to start playing 200NL with a healthy bankroll within the next month or so. I've taken a few shots with 17 buyins, but they have not gone well. I'll probably try to move up when I'm above 20 buyins.
Now that my bankroll is at a very healthy state, I'm also considering taking $100 out to try sports betting. I've been a sports nut my whole life and I learn quick, so I'll be interested in seeing how I do.
I'd also like to take up a martial art, preferrably Brazillian Jiu Jitsu. The only BJJ classes in town are run through the University, and I'm waiting on an e-mail from the Martial Arts director to see what my options are as a non-student.
Finally...
Short Intoduction
Name: Michael Gregory Fagan
Location: Bloomington, IN
Height: 5'11"/6'0"
Weight: 150
Favorite Bands: The Beatles and Propagandhi
Favorite Movies: Star Wars trilogy, Bull Durham, any Wes Andersen film
Hobbies (besides poker): reading, bike riding, bowling, stencil art, photoshop, playing guitar
posted by Mike @ 10:02 AM
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