Hi all,

Intro
I have been playing poker since approximately summer 2011, and taking it seriously since the beginning of 2012.

I graduated from college in May 2012, and I am currently in graduate school, which I will be finishing at the end of this semester (December 2013). I have a job lined up starting in June 2014. I am only taking two classes this semester, and I have nothing required of me from January to May, so there should be adequate time to play lots of poker.

Poker
I play poker for a mix of recreation & profit. I am far from a professional; I play because I enjoy it. However, a reasonable portion of my enjoyment comes from the profitability.

My winrates are pretty mediocre. My biggest leak, by far, is tilt. I believe I have a pretty good grasp on the game theoretically, but I have trouble applying this due to tilt and difficulty adjusting to my opponents.

Since January 1, 2012, I have played 509.77 hours of live poker. Over this time, I have made $6,127 for a winrate of $12.02. The majority of this play has been at $1/$2 NLHE.

Garphs:
[IMG]http://s24.************/w1e120mpx/09262013_200_NL_Graph.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://s22.************/6xvkvxs9t/09262013_500_NL_Graph.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://s23.************/di2hwowrf/09262013_All_Stakes_Graph.png[/IMG]

Online
I also play some nanosteaks on Carbon Poker. I am currently an overall loser at $4 NL, although I have been beating it recently.

However, I live in New Jersey, so I will hopefully have the ability to play online for real steaks soon.

I will probably post some online hands in this thread, since I like to donk around online when I don't have time to play live.

Goals
For the rest of this semester, I would like to play ~15-20 hours per week live, but I will probably end up playing less. I am free on Wednesdays and alternate weekends.

[ ] Work on tilt issues
[ ] Put in decent volume
[ ] Read The Mental Game of Poker

BR / BR Management / Motivation
My bankroll currently stands at $8,146. I am currently playing $2/$5 NL live, and I have no plans to move down to $1/$2 unless by bankroll falls below $5,000.

Next June, I am moving to the New York City area for my job. This will severely curtail my ability to play live unless I get comfortable going to underground games, which is somewhat unlikely.

The money in my bankroll is money that I can afford to lose, and I would like to experience playing higher stakes. Therefore, I am planning to be quite aggressive in my shot-taking at higher stakes. I will take a 2 buy-in shot at $5/$10 or $10/$10 when my bankroll reaches $10,000.

I count all travel expenses (the full cost of mileage, which I am calculating at $0.655 per mile), and food expenses (most are comped) out of the bankroll. I will also withdraw 25% of any new profit made from my bankroll to compensate for the tendency to spend slightly more when winning at poker. Once my bankroll reaches $10,000, this proportion will increase to 50%.

If online poker becomes a viable money-making option in New Jersey, I may reduce the aggressiveness of my bankroll management in the interest of more sustainable play.

Personal
I am blessed to have a wonderful girlfriend who I've been with for >5.5 years. She knows about and is completely supportive of my playing poker, and I have no problem telling her the exact results of my sessions without any fear of a negative reaction.

Two Recent Live Hands (Borgata $2/$5 NL)

Hand 1/2
Borgata, $2.00/$5.00 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 10 Players

Hero (UTG): ~$900
CO: ~$500

Villain is fairly agressive TAG.

Preflop: Hero is UTG with TT
Hero raises to $20, folds, CO calls $20, folds

Flop: ($47) 6 6 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $30, CO calls $30

Turn: ($106) K (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $80, Hero calls $80

River: ($266) A (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $250, Hero calls $250



Here I thought this guy was good enough that I had kind of turned my hand face up by check/calling the turn. 6x and AK could be in his range, but I really look like I have the kind of hand I have, so betting so big for value wouldn't really make sense unless he was trying to level me or something, and I wasn't ready to give him credit for that.

Hand 2/2
Borgata, $2/$5 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 10 Players

BTN: ~$400
Hero (BB): ~$500

BTN is a somewhat erratic middle-aged man. He had previously open-shoved a $90 stack on the flop with a bare flush draw, and was definitely willing to both bet and call with marginal hands. However, he was not aggressive pre, and, as my friend pointed out, had not been previously seen to raise post-flop.

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q Q
Folds, BTN raises to $20, fold, Hero raises to $65, BTN calls $45

Flop: ($131) J 6 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $80, BTN calls $80

Turn: ($291) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $140, BTN raises to $300 and is all-in, Hero calls $160

River: ($891) A (2 players, 1 is all-in)



Note: I'm not really sure about these sizings.. they seem a bit off. They may have been a bit different, but I can't remember. I put KJ/AJ in his range on turn. I don't know if this is correct. If he's just JJ+ and other sets, then it's definitely a fold.

Well, I've certainly done badly at updating this since I made it. However, I'm going to make sure I keep it up.

I've played three sessions at $2/$5 since I made this thread.

Session 1 (09/28/2013): -$889
Session 2 (10/02/2013): -$42
Session 3 (10/04/2013): +$687

Travel Costs: -$143

Session 1 I definitely struggled with some tilt. However, I was proud of myself for not tilting during session 2 as I was down a buy-in on a cooler and had just come off a losing session.

Current BR: $7,759

I'm currently at Borgata. I played two sessions earlier this week at parx.

Monday (10/07/2013): -$244 / 2.4 hrs
Wednesday (10/09/2013): +$608 / 8.2 hrs

I got to Borgata today and started playing about 5:45pm.

Some hands:

#1
$2/$5 NLHE

Hero has JJ in MP. Eff stacks like $400.

One limp, hero raises to $25, SB calls, limper calls.

Flop ($80): K 4 2
Check, Hero bets $50, fold, V calls $50.

Turn ($180): K
V checks, Hero checks.

River ($180): Q
V checks, Hero bets $120, V folds.

Hero wins $180.


#2 (Pretty sure turn is a fold in this hand)

Hero has AK on the BTN. $570 effective.

Preflop ($7): CO limps, Hero raises to $20, SB calls $18, BB folds, CO calls.

The SB is a fishy player playing close to any two cards.

Flop ($65): J 9 7
SB checks, CO checks, Hero bets $40, SB raises to $120, CO folds, Hero calls $80.

Turn ($305): 7x
SB bets $200, Hero calls $200.

SB bets all-in in the dark.

River: Tx
Hero folds.

#3 (also possibly butchered)
Stacks $240 effective

Hero has A7 in the lojack.

Folds to hero, Hero raises to $20, HJ (same fish from last hand) calls $20, BB calls $20.

Flop ($60): TT2
BB checks, Hero bets $40, HJ calls, BB folds

Turn ($140): K
Hero bets $70, HJ calls $70.

River ($280): Kx
Hero checks, HJ checks.

Hero shows A7 and wins $280.

#4
HJ is old man with stack of $77. Hero has like $450. BTN covers.

Hero has JT in CO.

Limp, HJ limps, Hero raises to $30, BTN calls $30, blinds fold, 1st limper folds, HJ calls $25.

Flop ($100): J 8 7 with one
HJ checks, Hero bets $50, BTN folds, HJ calls $47 all-in. HJ has TT and we win.

Hero wins $194.

Today's Session Results:
Time Played: 6.6 hours
Result: -$8.

CURRENT BR: $8,048