and im not afraid to admit it.

Now, on to the journal.

A little about myself...I am a 20 year old college student...or was a college student, at Georgia State University in ATL. I am currently taking this semester off to work, relax, and have fun. And maybe even get laid once or twice...or a hundred and one times...Im just gonna see how it goes.

I started playing poker about a year and a half ago with play money at Pacific Poker. I dont remember why i started playing though...i must of saw it on TV or something...but i think the first thing i played was a few limit tourneys with a couple hundred people in it. Somehow i controlled myself and only played quality cards..or what i thought were quality cards at the time..and started doing well in those. I then started playing some NL SNGs because i loved going 'all in' with like 1000 chips. It gave me a rush.

I then started observing the micro limit NL cash games for real money and thought, "hey, im better than those idiots...maybe i can play the .05/.10 games and not have to have a real job''...so i deposited the minimum (25 bucks) and sat down. I made like 50 bucks i think and got bored so i started playing the SNGs and MTT's. Ended up losing my money...taking my frustration out on a neighbors cat...getting beat up by a 400 pound woman (who turned out to be the cats owner) ..i swear, i didnt know who the woman was when she attacked me ....and quiting that awful game known as poker.

Fast forward a couple months and for some reason i end up depositing 50 bucks into Royal Vegas Poker. I built up my BR to like 300 by playing 5 dollar heads-up and 5 dollar SNGs..i think. Then i win a 5 dollar MTT a couple weeks later for like a grand....then i come in second in a 100 dollar MTT for 4800...cash out 2 grand..buy some Hot-Pockets and Starbursts and think Im the best poker player who ever lived. I then end up losing my whole bankroll during the next couple months by playing way over my head...high limit SNGs..MTT's..cash games..u name it. At that time there werent any animals to take my frustration out on...so i..well...broke a few things...on 'accident'.

I then take a break from poker again....two hours later, i deposited a hundred more bucks into the same site. My BR goes up and down while im mostly playing SNGs and MTT's..i then decide to focus on NL cash games. I build my roll to about a thou in a couple months...Move up to the NL .5/1 tables (and yes, i know now that it was way to soon to move up in limits..so dont get on my ass for that.....bastids). At about that time i hear about this program that keeps track of all your stats and your opponents stats while u play...i was like ''yea, and theres this thing called 'Big Foot' too''. I end up googling 'poker stats' or 'poker program' or something and find Poker Tracker. It improves my game ALOT and i start raking in the dough, baby. But i soon get tired of the monotony of ring games so i start focusing on HU. I do well...then move my BR to Stars because of the volumn of players there.

After playing at stars for a couple weeks i started running out of time to play poker...just had to much shit going on. ..i came back in late Nov. or so and just played around in PL Omaha..7-card stud...2-4 limit...and some more...just to experiment. After finals in December i started playing NL Holdem full time again. 4-5 hours a day...mostly ring games and some SNG's. Grew tired of both and went back to playing heads up...thats where im at now.

I guess i am doing this (making a journal) to keep myself focused on my goal, which is to become one of the, if not THE best heads-up, NLHE player online...or at least on Stars- where i mostly play. Right now I am playing the 50+2.50 and 100+5 4 player HU tourneys...and also some 50 and 100 dollar 1 on 1 HU matches. I want to be able to make at least 1000 dollars a week in 3 months time. I might be crazy..but i think i can do it.

Sooooooooooooo....starting tomorrow, i shall use 'SNG Tracker' to give me an idea of what my ROI is..average tourney time...$/hour..etc.

As of right now....

ROI- 0
Tournies- 0
Total Entries- 0
Prizes- 0
$/Tourney- 0
Time/Tour.- 0
$/ hour- 0

1-24-06

I was very happy with my play on Tuesday...entered 7 4-man HU tourneys for 50 bucks and won 5 of them...had one 2nd and one 3rd. BTW..if your wondering, 1st place in these things get $200...2nd, 3rd, and 4th get nada.

Some of the players at PS are truly mentally challenged IMO...just idiots. You would never think we were playing for more than 5 or 10 dollars. I wanna enter 10-15 Tournies a day..but felt like playing some MTT's yesterday. And i cant do both at once.....because I dont have ADD like some of the posters on this board. 8 tabling?..are u kidding me?!

I also had a good run in a couple MTT's...both $5 rebuys. I placed in one for like 250$ or something...which barely covered the cost of all the rebuys i used.. And i came in 19th in a satellite for the 700K tourney on Sunday...too bad they only awarded the top 7 or 8 with free entries into the tourney.

My total HU record for Tuesday was 11-2. Totally sustainable IMHO..

I'll post an update on how i did today (Wednesday) later tonight. I havent even played a HU match yet today...

1-24-06's stats-

ROI- 172%...lol
# of tournies- 7
Total Entries- $367.50
Prizes- $1000
$/Tourney- $90.36
Time/Tourney- 29 mins
$/hour- $187.87

Great start. Imagine if you could have a day like Tuesday, everyday. WOW!!

Today pretty much sucked...I played 6 4-man HU tournies, only winning one. I came in second THREE F*CKING TIMES!....i hate coming in 2nd! ...also came in 3rd once and 4th once.

I played alright....better than my results indicate IMO. Had a couple bad beats in crucial situations and stuff like that.

I guess my HU record for today was 5-5..pretty sad. I also played a HU tourney for 20 bucks with 160 or so people....came one win shy of making it to the money. It was not meant to be. 'sigh'......I played in the $10 rebuy tourney for 45K too. Was in the top 20 right before the first break..but got greedy and tried to double up with AQ against 99 and lost. Didnt even bother buying back in since there was like 3 mins left in the rebuy period. If i would have won that coinflip i would of been in great position to make a run at the final table...argh....

Tommorrow im going to force myself to play at least 10 HU tourneys before i play a MTT...ive gotta find out how good at these i really am. Im also going to play 10-15 on Friday...and then i'll take a little break when i fly to NYC for the weekend. I'll start again refreshed on Monday or Tuesday of next week. Thats my plan.

Anyways......here are the numbers......

1-24-06 through 1-25-06

ROI- 76%
# of Tournies- 13
Total Enries- $682.5
Prizes- $1200
$/Tourney- $39.81
Time/Tourney- 35 mins
$/hour- $68.85

Worst hand I have played in 2 years of poker. Yes, even a player of my caliber can have brain cramps every now and then. Enjoy!

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (2 handed)

BB (t1350)
hard2tel (t1650)

Preflop: hard2tel is Button with , .
hard2tel raises to t90, BB calls t60.

Flop: (t180) , , (2 players)
BB bets t60, hard2tel calls t60.

Turn: (t300) (2 players)
BB checks, hard2tel bets t300, BB calls t300.

River: (t900) (2 players)
BB checks, hard2tel bets t570, BB raises to t900, hard2tel calls t330.

Final Pot: t2700

Results in white below:
BB has As 7d (two pair, aces and sevens).
hard2tel has 9c Td (one pair, tens).
Outcome: BB wins t2700.

01/27/05

I played just 'alright' today....again. I played 6 HU tournies..winning 3 of them. And coming in 2nd once and 3rd twice. My total record for today was 7 wins and 3 losses.

I also played in a couple tournaments...a couple rebuys and few regular ones, not having much success in those because of some bad breaks. Im not gonna get into them, but they werent pretty.

I cant wait to take a break from poker this weekend...i'll have my batteries recharged and be ready to focus on my game and make some serious cash next week.

Here are the numbers-

ROI- 80%
# of Tournies- 19
Total Entries- $997.5
Prizes- $1800
$/Tourney- $42.24
Time/Tourney- 34 mins
$/hour- $75.35

I am really starting to hate MTT's...especially rebuys. The villian is a total dumbass, i was just waiting for a big confrontation with him. Well..i got one.....


AVG chip stack is about 16k at this point.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (9 handed)

MP3 (t16948)
CO (t10910)
Button (t36355)
hard2tel (t20466)
BB (t14025)
UTG (t20943)
UTG+1 (t38040)
MP1 (t7000)
MP2 (t24193)

Preflop: hard2tel is SB with , .
4 folds, MP3 calls t400, 2 folds, hard2tel raises to t1600, 1 fold, MP3 raises to t16948, hard2tel calls t15323.

Flop: (t34046) , , (2 players)

Turn: (t34046) (2 players)

River: (t34046) (2 players)

Final Pot: t34046

Results in white below:
hard2tel has Qc Ac (high card, ace).
MP3 has 9d Jd (one pair, jacks).
Outcome: MP3 wins t34046.

holy mother of god.

Final table of a $10 double shootout...top 2 get seats in the 750k on Sunday.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (6 handed)

BB (t1765)
UTG (t640)
MP (t1290)
CO (t4055)
hard2tel (t1455)
SB (t2795)

Preflop: hard2tel is Button with , .
UTG calls t30, 1 fold, CO calls t30, hard2tel calls t30, 1 fold, BB checks.

Flop: (t135) , , (4 players)
BB bets t240, UTG calls t240, CO calls t240, hard2tel calls t240.

Turn: (t1095) (4 players)
BB checks, UTG bets t370 (All-In), CO calls t370, hard2tel raises to t1185, BB folds, CO calls t815.

River: (t3835) (3 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t3835

Results in white below:
UTG has 4c 8c (two pair, eights and fours).
CO has Kh 7h (flush, ace high).
hard2tel has 6d 7s (straight, nine high).
Outcome: CO wins t3835.

The last 3 days i've been struggling pretty badly. I still think im playing alright...just not well enough to overcome some bad breaks and a shortage of premium hands. I got back from NYC on Tuesday night and proceeded to hit the tables on Wednesday a little bit. The last 3 days i've played 11 4-man HU tournies...winning 3, coming in 2nd 3 times, 3rd- 4 times and 4th- 1 time.

On another note, I'm totally psyched about this new excel spreadsheet i found for SNG's. Its a tremendous upgrade over 'SNG tracker'. If you play alot of SNG's u should check it out. Linky- http://www.tournamentspecialist.com/t/spreadsheets/

Anyway, here are the numbers-

ROI- 52.4%
# of Tournies- 30
Total Entries- $1,575.00
Prizes- $2,400.00
$/Tourney- $27.50
# of Hours- 15.42
$/hour- $53.51

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...i finally figured out how to post a graph from excel!!!!! It only took about ten hours to figure out..but it was worth it!

Heres a screenshot of the new spreadsheet im using. Is this not the sweetest focking thing youve ever seen?

btw..That profit graph pisses me off every time i look at it.

I suck at poker.

That is all. ty.

ok..i might as well post my 'progress' for the last couple days.

I seem to be going in stretchs where i play extremely well for about 5 tourneys...then i play like Moneymaker on crack the next 4 or 5 tourneys. Its really starting to piss me off.

So..heres how ive been doing HU-wise since i posted that graph. Ive played 18 tourneys...winning 5 flipping ones....grrrrrrrrr.........I also came in 2nd 6 freaking times ...wtf is wrong with me? I have a record of 5 - 6 'when it counts'...not exceptable. I actually had a losing week last week....wow..just wow.

I did get a good start to my week yesterday though...maybe a sign of good things to come? I hope....

Ive also 2 or 3 MTT's...not having much luck. In fact...as i was writing this...I just tried to double up in a $30 tourney on Stars with KK..got called by JJ....straight on the riv for mr. JJ. What a wonderful beginning to my day.

Here are my updated numbers for HU play...

ROI- 34.5%...jesus...
# of Tournies- 51
Total Entries- $2,677.50
Prizes- $3,600
$/Tourney- $18.09....
# of hours- 27.52
$/hour- $33.53....

.....