As some of you know, I returned to online poker early this summer after a (for various reasons, none being financial) little more than a year (maybe even two years, I forget) away from it. I decided to start from scratch, with a $100 deposit, and work my way up from there. I had done alright for myself previously while playing online, and I had been playing with friends for many years. But I wanted to start over anyway - start over and work myself through the literature.

My journey began at the very modest $0.10/$0.20 limit hold’em tables on PokerStars. Some first impressions on my return included, “wow, lotsa players here.” Another thing I noticed was how it seemed that the quality of play (yes, even at $0.10/$0.20) had gone up since I left off. Although it wasn’t by much - and in fairness, I could add that it might have been a fluke - I still felt that even when playing for pennies, people were tighter. Not everyone called the flop anymore. I wondered why, but quickly discovered that there was now a wealth of webpages and forums that instructed correct play. There were also books that came highly recommended that I had never heard of.

All this made me decide to work harder on my game, and made me even more determined to fight my way up from the micro limits, instead of making a larger deposit and starting at $3/$6. I felt I had a lot to learn, and a lot to re-learn. I was right.

One of the first things I did was to make good use of the - to me - new sources of information on the internet, and look up tips and pointers. How were the poker rooms nowadays? Etc. I had never kept strict control over my bankroll before either, and I was looking for help regarding that, too - which is how I stumbled upon CardsChat.com and its article section, by the way. I noted that the standard recommendation was 300BB, that everyone apparently used something called NETeller. Alright, fair enough. I quickly figured out that at $0.10/$0.20 I needed $60. Once I reached $150, I would move up to $0.25/$0.50, etc.

So now, about 6 months later, I’ve played $1/$2 for a few months, and I’m doing very well. Starting at $1/$2, I’ve cashed out 50% of my earnings, in increments of $100. I decided to do this for two reasons:

1. I believe it’s psychologically important that I see a real result of my efforts, not just in values in a spreadsheet (that I could theoretically lose at any time). I will (hopefully) never redeposit, so the money I cash out is just that: Earnings. It feels good.
2. I want the added experience. Moving up at half the speed I could means that I’m playing twice as many hands before I reach the next level, which has the added benefit (besides the learning experience) that I’m smoothing out statistical fluctuations. If (when!) I reach $2/$4, it’s much less likely that I just had a couple of really lucky sessions.

So this is all good. I’m making progress, churning out my 3.5BB/100 at limit hold’em, slowly working my way up to the next level. But it’s a slow process, and I felt I wanted sub-goals, and I decided that I want to have a plan for what I’ll spend my earnings on. Strangely - to some, at least - I quickly settled for the idea that I’d pay off my student loans with my poker wins. I suppose the irony of it struck a chord in me. The student loan payments are about $1300 per year, meaning that that’s how much I need to win this year to make the payments, the first of which is at the end of February. And, as of yesterday, the money that I will need to make that first payment had gone through from NETeller to my bank account.

I’m very excited about this (I get excited over silly things), and I’m very pleased to see that my poker progression is right on - or even over - the target I set out for myself.

Here’s to a successful 2006.

/Fredrik

Tip of the day: Make a plan for your bankroll, your cashouts and what limits you will play. Having goals will keep you focused, and achieving goals will improve your confidence. Both of these will help you win more.