Introduction

My name is Drew. After graduating from college last spring and moving to the city of Chicago last fall, I have struggled to support myself in the harsh economic climate of a city with 11% unemployment. Though I managed to secure part-time employment as a barista in November, my first two months of rent were paid out of my poker bankroll, thanks both to a summers worth of home games and to a few fortuitous cashes in online tournaments. As time has passed my online poker profit has continued to play a role in my financial survival, paying the rent again this month, and for the first time has surpassed my relatively meager earnings at my part-time, minimum-wage job at the coffee shop. This blog is intended to serve as a personal journal of my now-only-semi-recreational poker play, its role in my life, and the ways in which I can improve.

A few words about the development of my poker hobby [LC]*... My interest in the game first began to grow in December of 2008, as my friends and I found poker to be a fun and inexpensive way to spend an evening together. After my brother, himself a player, gave me Winning Low Limit Hold 'Em for Christmas, the obsession was born. I first deposited money on Pokerstars in January of '09, playing mostly micro-stakes full ring games and being lucky to break even. My first taste of success was playing .50/$1 LHE, but poor bankroll management busted me before long. I deposited $50 on Cake Poker, running it up and back down throughout the summer playing full ring NLHE micros, until my September move to Chicago. At this point I began to take my play a bit more seriously, and was able to grind out a very slight and relatively financially insignificant sum playing NL20. However, after a few final table finishes in low-stakes tournaments gave me a taste of financial success in the game, I gradually began to give more consideration to how I could "find my niche" as a steadily profitable player. Through these months my play has shifted focus from full ring to 6-max micro-stakes games, from cash games to tournaments, and in early January finally settled upon a poker format that I have found most profitable: heads-up sit 'n goes. I decided to give these a casual try after reading the Heads-Up section of Harrington on Hold 'Em Vol. II, and to my surprise found myself to be fairly competent playing one-on-one. After discovering that Sharkscope.com could allow me to game select and avoid the real sharks, my profitability became more and more steady. My next post will include my most recent results from the months of January and February as a jumping off point.