After running for about a month much below what I considered to be "expected" success, my luck has turned around in a big way, and I had two very successful sessions at the end of last week ($200 and $380, respectively, both in under 5 hour sessions). Remarkably, I can't think of a lot of "giant" hands I had. I hit the occasional draw (I don't think I was running much ahead of expected frequency of hitting), my top pair and two pair hands held up a little better than before, and I cut a few items out of my repertoire that I think were costing me money before.

I'm now almost at a point where I can consider quitting my job a good financial decision. From my calculations, I need to make about $19-$20/hour to compensate for the same pay/benefits I was receiving at work, and I'm nearly there (and actually, I don't necessarily need that much as long as I can continue moving up to expect more later, plus my happiness and lack of stress are big extrinsic benefits from a utility perspective). A few more weeks at a normal pace (even running slightly worse than I am now), and I may be ready to move up stakes live, which means getting into the $3/$5 NL and $9/$18 Limit games when I can, which can be slightly more difficult to play reliably than my current games.

I've had a few days off, but tomorrow I'll be hitting the tables again. This week, I may try and make another small deposit online and play a couple tournaments, but I will need to make sure that I set some pretty strict limits on myself and my playing hours. One of these days, I might just make a final table, thus justifying my hours of frustration and venture capitalist attitude.

Basically, life is good. I'm confirmed to start grad school in the Fall, I have enough money to survive for at least eight months, and I'm steadily building a bankroll determined to do it the right way this time. Over my next few blogs, I've been thinking about telling the story of my Gambling/Poker history from beginning to present. I apologize if it puts anyone to sleep, but it might be a good reflection opportunity for me.

Since the beginning of March:
About EVEN in tournaments.
-$200 in online cash games.
+$1860 in live $1/$3 NL
+$689 in live $4/$8 Limit