Hello all.
I've been meaning to start one of these for a little while now. This forum has helped me out quite a bit, so I thought I'd try to contribute some content of my own.

Some personal background: I have been playing poker on and off for a few years now, but have recently been really trying to improve my game. I mostly stick to small stakes NL cash games and SnG's, and have never really had a bankroll over 1k (usually just cash out a few hundred every now and again). I am focusing on letting my bankroll grow and eventually moving up in stakes.

On March 2nd, I deposited $125 on Pokerstars with plans to grind $5 SnG's (9 handed) and $4, 180 man MTT's. I generally play 3 or 4 tables at a time.

Today, I was 5 tabling for a while and realized how much less I could keep track of the games. Was running on 2 hours of sleep or so and making poor decisions. Long story short, I burnt roughtly $100 which should really never happen at this level.
After a nap I got back on and started up a couple 180 man SnG's. In the first tourny, I ended up taking 6th after my AQ lost to QJ. Got it in preflop so no complaints.
In the second tourny, I was accumulating chips very rapidly and became chip leader with about 40 or so left. I thought I was playing well, but I also caught the sickest run of cards I've ever seen. When we hit the money, I had 2x the stack of 2nd place. I never lost the lead and took down 1st place for $216. A nice boost to the bankroll, and put me ahead for the day.

Here is the final hand:

PokerStars Game #8925593387: Tournament #45380091, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XII (800/1600) - 2007/03/16 - 02:46:50 (ET)
Table '45380091 17' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: MATTHB (74245 in chips)
Seat 7: 13mclean (195755 in chips)
MATTHB: posts the ante 75
13mclean: posts the ante 75
13mclean: posts small blind 800
MATTHB: posts big blind 1600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to 13mclean [As 9s]
13mclean: calls 800
MATTHB: raises 3200 to 4800
13mclean: calls 3200
*** FLOP *** [9d 8h Ac]
MATTHB: bets 6400
13mclean: raises 8000 to 14400
MATTHB: raises 15600 to 30000
13mclean: raises 160880 to 190880 and is all-in
MATTHB said, "i'm tired"
MATTHB: calls 39370 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [9d 8h Ac] [Jc]
MATTHB said, "gg"
*** RIVER *** [9d 8h Ac Jc] [2d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MATTHB: shows [5h Ad] (a pair of Aces)
13mclean: shows [As 9s] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
13mclean said, "good game"
13mclean collected 148490 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 148490 | Rake 0
Board [9d 8h Ac Jc 2d]
Seat 2: MATTHB (big blind) showed [5h Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 7: 13mclean (button) (small blind) showed [As 9s] and won (148490) with two pair, Aces and Nines


I usually raise this PF, but he had been raising out of position quite a bit so I thought I'd take a flop with a decent hand on the button. Also, stacks were quite large compared to blinds, so no need to go balls out preflop here. I'm still not sure how I feel about my raise on the flop. It may have been a little too strong as he folds non-ace hands, but thought I might stack him if he has any A. Worked out this time anyways.

I am starting to get a better feel on how to aquire chips in MTT's without hurting my table image. Postflop is where its at.

Ok, thats all for tonight.

Starting Bankroll (March 2nd): $125.00
Current Bankroll (March 16th): $600.25

2 final tables including a win in a day is pretty sick, I haven't final tabled a $4.40 after about 15 attempts.



Keep up the blog, it's looking good :D