Introduction

[beyazkus]

Dear 2+2 members,

This is my first post. I thought it would be best to give a brief overview of my history with the game of poker. I was introduced to texas holdem about 16 months ago when a friend taught me and several of my friends the rules to play, up until then I had only played draw poker several times. After playing 30 or 40 hands which were generally in the line of card pairing competitions with everyone seeing the flop and going until the showdown [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] I thought the game was interesting, but I left it at that...

about 8 months ago, I remembered that there existed a game of holdem and I wondered whether I could play the game online. and thats where it all started...

I am a former diplomat, I took a few years of my work to give myself some much needed resting time and obtain a masters degree on the way. so as I had a lot of free time in my hands I embarked upon what I coined "project poker". I decided to improve my game and perhaps make some extra money off it, if it was at all possible. I took an academic approach to the game my preparing myself a schedule of reading, playing and reviewing...

I bought myself some books, then some more books and some more books... and then I bought myself some more books...

What I have read until today:
- winning low limit hold'em / lee jones
- small stakes hold'em / ed miller et la
- professional poker / mark blade
- the psychology of poker / alan schoonmaker
- zen and the art of poker / larry phillips
- the evolution of a poker player / steven james
- inside the poker mind / john feeney
- weighing the odds in holdem poker / king yao
- hold'em poker / david sklansky
- real poker II / roy cooke
- your worst enemy / alan schoonmaker
- super system I / doyle brunson
- getting the best of it / david sklansky

I studied the books, reread and reread several of them to get the ideas sink in... I have about 25 / 30 more books on my reading list, basically every single book that is worth reading with regard to general poker topics, advanced limit holdem and shorthanded play. I truly believe that I haven't left a single book that is worth purchasing, not one...

Though certainly not exceptionally talented, I consider myself a good student of the game. I have been playing exclusively on Full Tilt, mostly on the .25/.50 Full Ring Limit Holdem. I have taken a few shots at the .50/1 and 1/2 Full Ring Limit Holdem games but eventually stepped down to the lowest limit again to protect my bankroll after several losses. I use poker tracker and PAHUD to facilitate my game and analyze my play. I mostly two table, sometimes 3, and play 500 hands or so on the days that I play. I have a rakeback deal that helps me maintain my bankroll, which is right now 280$.

My progress so far has been slow (to put it mildly) in terms of results, which I take seriously and try to analyze objectively. I have played 40.000 hands on .25/.50 Full Ring Limit Holdem for a winrate of 0.2 BB/100 hands which basically says I am a break even player at the moment.

My ultimate vision of “project poker” is beating the 1/2 full handed limit game, switching to 6-max limit and go as high as my talents and capabilities permit, hopefully to 5/10 6-max limit holdem or possibly higher. I have assigned the next 2.5 years for this project, and as I have had difficulties in reaching my objectives on my own I decided to join the 2+2 community to seek help from your pool of experts.

Thank you for bearing with me along this long introduction,

beyazkus