Background

A bit of personal background of who I am, and what I'm trying to do. Some of this is written in retrospect, so excuse the artistic license to do so.

Have a decidedly geeky background (Ph.D. in physics, currently work in Information Technology with a very keen interest in Information Security), and like to inform myself to the extreme before attempting something. Just my personality.

So, when I caught the poker bug (as everyone seems to have nowadays), the first thing I did was read. A lot. Perhaps in a future post I will list all my books (and reviews) but suffice it to say I have well over a dozen. I also read many, many posts at 2+2 (see my links section), including almost everything ever posted about tournament poker written by Greg Raymer on the forum. The way he methodically thought his way through situations at the table really resonated with me, as I am analytical by nature.

My first experience with online poker was a free site - ESPN.com has their own poker room. At first, I mainly played the No Limit Holdem Single Table Tournaments (STTs) until I had built my "fake" bankroll to a point where I could start playing their "cash" no limit tables. I currently have a "bankroll" there of 2.7 million and play primarily the 500/1000 NL and 2500/5000 NL tables. I also found I had quite the knack for their 150 player MTTs, often finishing at the final table, and winning four of them (including two in two nights), and "cashing" at least 75% of the time.

My experience with live poker is a combination of NL tournament home games ($20 buy-in affairs), 3/6 limit holdem at a casino (have gotten killed at this), and a couple of NL MTTs at a casino (have placed 6th and 10th in both 60-player events I have played. Unfortunately, only top 5 pay.....)

Along with one of my friends / ex-coworkers (poker1eh, as listed in my links section) I decided to take the plunge into online poker for real money, based primarily on a promotion from Instant Bankroll whereby you get $75 free, and another $25 after playing 400 raked hands. My goal is to build this into as large a bankroll as possible without adding a single penny of my own money. This blog will be a narration of that journey. Given my personality, I'm sure there will be plenty of hand analysis, charts, bad beat stories, brags, etc.

Welcome, if you've had the patience to read this far. I'm sure we're all in for a ride.....