IT's been a rollercoaster...
I first deposited $30 on FTP in May 09, Thinking that knowing the rules of poker and the hand strengths was enough to compete... how wrong was I? I soon lost my 1st $30, despite having a couple of ITM finishes in a couple of small SnG's. Added to the fact that at one point I spent around $15 trying to ($0.75) satellite into a mini-FTOPS Tourney that only had a $10 buy-in!!! Dumb, I know!
I re-deposited another $30 and repeated the story above. I know this doesn't count as free money, but I'm getting to the point.
Personal finances and family commitments prevented me from depositing more, and i was reduce to playing the
freerolls. 27th July 09, I won the UK freeroll for $15... Lost that playing micro stakes after scooping and extra $10 from one hand and then thinking that I could do it again. Over confident.
August 09, won the Carbon Poker short-handed freeroll, another $15 won, another $15 lost... again at the cash tables.
Sept 09, having re-deposited $30 with FTP, I entered their 'Take 2' promo and ground my way through the month at the Micro stakes tables and scooped the $50 bonus, although it took me $15 in losses to do so, BR now stood at $65. Thought I'd step up a bit to the 2/4c micro tables and lost that lot too.
Realised that game selection, not playing above my ability's and improper bet sizing are the key issues to address, Oh yes, and PROPER BANKROLL MANAGEMENT!!! (I can't stress that enough to all the newbs out there.)
Finally decided that just playing 1000's of hands of poker was not enough and that to truly master this game I not only had to play poker, but become a student of the game. Traded in some loyalty points on a store card for Phil Gordon's Little Green Book and Phil Helmuth's Texas Hold'em.
Christmas 09 and my mother-in-law (who is convinced that she'll see me on Late night Poker one day, no pressure!!) gives me John Vorhaus' Killer Poker & Killer
poker online. And I also aquire Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book. Suddenly everything clicks into place....
14th March ... Finished 5th in the CC $400 Freeroll for $24, which restarts my FTP bankroll and at the moment, I'm sitting on that like a hen who's afraid the fox will steal her eggs!!!
I've also managed to work up another BR on a beta test site to $25 from $0, playing the MTT freerolls on offer there. Only wins that range from $0.25 - $3, but in the last week or so have managed an ITM finish at least once or twice a day. I have now decided that cash games are not for me and I'm a better tourney player.
Yesterday, I finished 198th out of 10,000 in the Round 1 Freeroll, and I'm now hoping to increase my BR in the $1000 FR this Sunday.
So now I have a BR of around $50 on two or three sites, the question I am asking myself now is, how to invest it in games that I can turn a profit on? Should I even start to invest it yet, or get some more experience in the freerolls and a bigger BR before stepping up a notch? Tips greatly appreciated...