Executive Summary:

 Hey guys: I also posted this on another forum but I figured I should post it here since I just re-joined TPE and I think that the forums here are probably a little more tight knit that some of the other ones. Hoping you will follow along and get in touch if you'd like to talk poker or whatever. I'm making TPE videos the focal-point of the more in-depth studying that I am committing to doing.

Currently employed attorney at decent job looking to lay the foundation for the opportunity to work for myself in 2-3 years. Would like to have ability to play poker seriously part-time, and finally committing to follow good bankroll management to build up substantial bankroll to be able to play worthwhile stakes live and online on a consistent basis. Starting with $1000 online bankroll and playing $10 SnGs and MTTs, and 25NL.

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Introduction:

Hey guys, welcome to my first PGC thread, hope you enjoy it. A somewhat quick background on myself, I am a 30-year-old attorney currently living in Connecticut. I have been playing poker somewhat seriously since 2010, and have been interested in the game sense the moneymaker boom. The purpose of this thread is for me to finally have some bankroll structure and hold myself accountable. These goals also tie into some life goals that I have that hopefully I can work towards and discuss in this thread. Long story short on those, I'd like to be in a position to practice on my own and supplement my income with poker two or three years from now. Currently, I have a pretty cool job that I love, but I think with a little more experience it would make a lot more sense to cut out the middleman and go out on my own with what I'm currently doing. My thought is with this thread I will either have a poker bankroll that will allow me to play part time and semi professionally, or if it doesn't work out poker can remain a hobby and I can be fully focused on my career. The last thing I will say is that I have been a decent winner the last few years, but poor bankroll management, mental game issues, and non-poker life constraints have prevented me from making it all work so far.

The plan was originally* to deposit $1000.00 on Bovada and start by following a fairly conservative bankroll plan: 100 buyins for sit-n-gos and MTTs and 30-40 buy-ins for cash games. This means that I will start by playing $10 MTTs and Sitngos, and $25NL. The ultimate goal is to beat the games and grind up a decent bankroll for both online and live poker in the next 2-3 years. I will piece together some shorter term goals as I go along but this is the big picture goal. Since I have a decent paying job I will allow myself to add to the bankroll as things progress but I intend to only add to the bankroll to supplement my winnings and move up faster, not to reload (I hope this makes sense). I do not plan on taking money out of the bankroll in the foreseeable future but I will take money off of Bovada to (1) contribute to a live bankroll, (2) allow me to deposit on other sites to play on Sundays and during major series, and (3) to protect myself from having too much money online (if we get to that problem).

If I go busto, I plan to forever forget about my dreams of playing poker as a serious part of my income. From then on, it will be just a hobby and I will focus on other things. That might sound a little extreme but as you will learn throughout this thread, I have spent a lot of time and energy with poker and I have only had modest success in the past. If it isn't meant to be, I have to move on at some point.

*The original plan was to deposit on Bovada at the end of January after I get through a trial that I have that starts next week. However, this past weekend I had the good fortune of receive a $10 casino coupon from Carbon that I was able to run-up into a nice little mini-bankroll. I now have $500 on Carbon and I will start this challenge today and deposit the other $500 on Bovada, most likely next weekend.

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State of the Game:

I have never had great bankroll management, I have mental game issues, and while I believe I have a good understanding of many of the intermediate and advanced poker concepts, I have not put in the work to really gain a deeper understanding of the nuts and bolts of the game.

My online results have been inconsistent over the years but I have been able to be a small winner over time. I have done well play live in both cash and MTTs but because I have never treated my poker like a business I have never been able to play anything but lower to mid stakes. I would like the opportunity to play more larger buy-in major MTT events on the east coast and elsewhere.

I play as AllDayMcCray on Carbon. I've also played on a number of other sites over the years. I would like to see those stats be so much more impressive for the time that I have spent playing. I guess that is what this thread is about.

Another note, I have been playing on a laptop for the last several years. Currently I am on a MacBook Air and it is almost impossible to multitable in any meaningful way on this thing. I will be purchasing a desktop set up in the next few weeks and would like any suggestions that people have to offer.

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Goals:

–Play only during scheduled sessions (3x weekly to start)

–Play without distractions

–Keep within bankroll plan

–Spend as much time studying as I spend playing (at least)

–Take the time to study poker concepts in depth as opposed to passively watching videos and reading threads/books.

–Focus on mental game issues (especially strategies for eliminating negative thinking)

–Stop rage chatting (lol).

–Identify and work on the most costly leaks in my game.

–Update this regularly.

–Work on life issues and incorporate these strategies into poker and vice versa.

There are many more in-depth topics that I would like to explore here but this is good for a general start.