Okay, here's what has been up with me. I basically realized that on my first deposit I wasn't playing for the right reasons. Rather than playing to improve my game, studying and learning from mistakes, I instead was too wrapped up on making a profit. As a result of this I continually made stupid decisions, was on tilt a lot (somewhat) and just never felt comfortable at the table.

I took a few days off after withdrawing my money, I had convinced myself it wasn't the time for poker but I then got thinking about my play. I realized exactly as I previously stated, that I was playing for the wrong reasons. I decided to redeposit and take it more seriously, with the intent of learning and improving rather than turning my $50 into something special.

I started with the same $48 at PokerStars and immediately began playing in the same stupid fashion as before, dropping me down to $35 after the first day or two. I'd basically thrown away numerous tournament entries on stupid decisions, one being a terrible all-in call when I was two spots from the money. I then basically bitched myself out, said to myself that if I wasn't going to take this seriously and think about what I'm doing, I may as well throw that money away. This time it finally sunk in.

Previously I'd thrown away $5.50 on an SnG that I barely put effort into. My first goal was to get that money back. I did so, playing well while getting No hands (something I like to see) and finishing in 3rd, moving me up to about $39. Following that, yesterday, I got back into cash games and limited myself to one table, forcing myself to play properly and make reads rather than multi hoping for monsters. It worked as, again on dead cards, I moved myself up over $42 in a few short sessions.

Today I finally pleased myself, I played great poker for an entire tournament and couldn't be happier with the result. Early on I patiently waited a good starting hand and doubled up off of a guy who badly misplayed AA, eventually calling my boat All-in w/ two pair. From there I cruised to the final table, coming in with the most chips. I played well at the final table but then ran into some tough cards. Here are the hands that knocked me down, eventually putting me out.

1) 4-handed, a short-stack preflop All-in, I call w/ QQ and lost to QJs and his straight.
2) After my preflop raise I flop TPTK, he's short-stacked and eventually pushes on the river showing me trip 3s, which I couldn't put him on.
3) 3-handed, after doubling up with QQ, I take a small hit when I flop a straight but get rivered by a flush.
4) Finally, I'm at around 15k chips, CL is at 42k and Villian is at 18k. I'm in SB and go All-in w/ TT and run into AA. I'm out.

Anyway, 3rd place there finally put me back up to $49 and I'm where I started. That's not fun but I'm very pleased with my play over the last two days. I've used my head a lot more, stopped overthinking, paid full attention to the game/table, made good reads, etc. and it's paying off. Hopefully it can all move forward from here. On a side note, I did not see AA, KK, JJ, AKs or AKo that entire tournament so I was even more pleased with my play.

Alright, that was a long post and I know most of you probably don't care about these micro stakes games but that's all I can do now to improve. My immediate goal is to get a BR to play $5 SnGs so I'm stuck working on the lesser stuff now, but I've finally come to the realization that little else matters in this game if you're not improving as a player. Thankfully, after numerous moments of stupidity, I can confidently say I am moving forward.

Stay Tuned...

P.S. - If you were wondering, I did get my forum name changed from th3pac to mooseontheloose. My PS name is sootedmoose so it's a nice match and th3pac was random, something I never use lol. Take care.

Nice to see you're taking a turn for the best, mate. The worst mistake you could make would of been to not re-deposit!

Thanks, glad to have some support :) Hated the idea of taking that money out so quickly without putting a long-term effort in, glad I'm back into it. See you at the tables man.