The Start, Finally

Ok, mark you calendars. Today I begin my climb back up the poker ladder, and this time I'm doing it right. Even if it kills me.

I deposited $50 at Full Tilt and I will be starting with .01/.02 NLH. My actual starting balance is $55, apparently I had 5 bucks I didn't know about. So I'll need to make $45, 22.5 buy-ins, before I move up to .02/.05. Regardless I'm going to take my time moving up. I've set the minimum hands at this level at 25k, it'll probably take longer than that. I'm going to set a 50k hand minimum at .02/.05 and will continue raising the minimum hands per level. This should help keep any short term variance from letting me move up too fast.

I will only move up in levels when I have more then 20 buy-ins for the level I'm moving to, and if I fall below 15 buy-ins I'll move back down. I will play (to the best of my ability) solid, patient, disciplined poker. I will analyse my opponents, and my own game, and adjust as needed. I will pay attention to the task at hand and if for any reason I am not playing my best game (tilt, tired, drunk, whatever) I will stop playing. I will spend time each day studying the game. In other words, I will make a real and serious effort to do all the things a good poker player should do.

Just finished a short session. 2 tables .01/.02 NLH, 332 hands, saw 23% of flops, won 7% of hands pre-flop, +4.27 for the session, 1.29 per 100 hands. Nothing all that memorable except one hand where I played JJ like a total dumbass. I need to be more patient, that's the whole point of dropping all the way down to this level, to force me to be patient and concentrate on making the best possible decision. I may play some more after dinner if I'm not too tired.