One year ago today, I...

[bluef0x]

Well the combination of reading the 'I want to go pro in a year' and reading another post made me blatantly copy it.. but here we go. (By "we" I mean hopefully other people post their own lists)

One year ago today, I...
1) wasn't playing poker, so for me I'm altering.

6 months ago today, I....

1) Thought I was a great poker player
2) Played poker on my 19" CRT previously for gaming
3) Lost $100 as my "Mom" before I was 18
4) Deposited $300 when I was 18
5) Thought AQ was the best hand and equal to KJ,KQ,AJ
6) Never read a poker book or discussed a single hand
7) Found poker fun to play
8) Had an awful job making $6.75/hour
9) Never finished ITM in a MTT

Since then, I have...

1) Know I'm a horrible poker player
2) Purchased a 21" LCD with winnings to play poker
3) No longer have a horrible slave job
4) Have made more $ in these 6 months than I did working a year
5) Folded AQ a million times more than I've played it
6) Have read 4 books
7) Discussed a few hands
8) Found poker to be boring
9) Have had great success (I run g00t) in MTT's

For the new year, I'm going to...

1) Get better
2) Make more $ in 3 months than I did the last 6
3) Read 2-3 more books (Gotta put them in my xmas list)
4) Discuss A LOT more hands
5) Hopefully have fun playing poker
6) Probably play 0 MTT's



Give it a shot guys, look back at what a fool you were just 1 year ago (or 6 months) Everyone has the ability to improve... The greatest poker moment for me has to be my 2nd live MTT. The first one I busted in the middle of the field... I found some posts explaining MTT strategy and even Howard Lederer's horrible DVD online. I read the posts and watched the DVD- I understood how to be TIGHT and AGGRESSIVE. I played few pots until I built up a stack, and I showed down only 3-5 times the whole tournament- usually with the nuts or strong hands. I ended up finishing 3rd after bad luck and taking home $900... but that wasn't even what made this the greatest.

It was afterwards when I was talking to my friend who played the tournaments with me, and he asked me what'd I do to finish so great.
I said "Man, I just played few hands- I folded AJ 3 times when I was first to act"
He was like- "Whaaaaaaaaat? You folded Ace-Jack?!?!"
Me: "Yup, you shouldn't play it in early position"
Him: "Wow, I'm folding ace jack all day long to make $900"

It was an epiphany for me, it was like looking at myself just a week ago.
That and I kept the envelope saying "3rd- $900" on the kitchen counter where my Mom could read it in the morning and coming back to "Congrats- but still a bad habit!"

[Soup_dog]

Good post & good luck!

[bluef0x]

Eh... you were supposed to continue it with your own "One year ago, I" list.

[wEbMaStEr]

Ok let's see.....

A year ago i ...

1: Had been playing poker for a year
2: Thought i was pretty good at it.
3: Had won 1 mtt and finished 2nd in 1 also
4: Had read 1.5 poker books (Cloutier & McEvoy & .5 of Sklansky)
5: Thought i could satellite my way into EPT & WSOP No problem
6: Was up a little overall on poker winnings.
7: Thought it wouldn't be long til i was a pro

Now i....

1: Have been playing 2 years
2: Think i have really learned a lot and hope to learn even more
3: Have had 11 MTT final tables (3? wins)
4: haven't read a word on poker except here
5: Realise that satellites are a drain on my roll and i should make the buy in in other ways (except for the obvious wsop entries)
6: Am up about $12,000 this year
7: Realise i have some way to go before i'm a pro.

In a year from now i.....

1: Will have been playing for 3 years
2: Will hopefully have continued my poker education and put what i have learned into practice!
3: Will be one of THE top players on the internet.
4: probably not have read another book unless i'm on a long haul flight
5: Won't need to play satellites
6: Will have earnings in excess of $100k for the year
7: Be a pro :D

[Soup_dog]

Eh... you were supposed to continue it with your own "One year ago, I" list.

Hmmm... A one year post for me about my poker life would be one of pain and misery.

It's been an ongoing journey of winning money in a freeroll... parlaying it into a significant bankroll... and then giving it all back. That's about it.

I have a great family and I refuse to get into the habit of making a deposit because family money is for the family.

I have been playing poker for about 3 years and consider myself a middling player. I seem to be much better at SNG's & tournies then I am at ring games. I have read a number of books and know what it takes to be an expert but lack the discipline or time.

For example, I don't take notes on other players. I understand pot odds and adhere to the basic ideas behind them, but I don't spend time calculating them.

Anyways, thats about it.

[JackStripey]

1 Year ago today I was...


1) Living in Toronto and freezing my ass off.
2) A fourth year electicians apprentice.
3) Had a really bad poker face.
4) Fat
5) In a relationship.
6) Not watching hockey cuz it was in a lockout.

Today I am...

1) Living in Long Beach
2) A full fledge electrician with my own business.
3) working on my poker face.
4) Not Fat
5) Single.
6) Watching hockey again cuz it's back on woohoo!

It's crazy what you can accomplish in a year!

[UrAteUp]

1 year ago today...

1) I only played poker at home games.
2) Never heard of poker forums.
3) Was celebrating my 2nd wedding anniversary of my 2nd marage.
4) Was festivly plump.

Today I...

1) Now play poker online, in casinos and home games.
2) Am an avid contributor and poster to a poker forum.
3) Have met some wonderful online friends and poker players.
4) I'm festivly plump...lol.
5) Celebrating my 3rd anniversary of my 2nd marage.



One year from now I...

1) Will be skinnier.
2) A better poker player, possibly pro.
3) Celebrating 4 yrs. of marage.
4) Meeting some of these new friends in person.
5) Will be contemplating a run for the Us presidency.

[HalfSugar]

A year ago:

1) I had been playing poker for 4 years
2) My best MTT finish was 3/81 at UB in 2003
3) I had never played limit or any ring games
4) I had never read a poker book
5) I spent about 4hrs a week at online poker


Today:

1) I have been playing poker for 5 years
2) My best MTT finish still strictly speaking 3rd but I have made at least 2 final tables a month for the last 8 months or so.
3) I got into live poker where possible including 5th in the UK's second largest poker game ever held outlasting 25 pro players in a field of 244 and walking away with a big chunk of cash and an even bigger smile
4) I've made 2 trips to Vegas winning at NL tourneys the first time and owning limit the second time because...........
5) I have read one poker book - Winning Low Limit Holdem by Lee Jones (it helped quite a lot, but so did the fishy competition)
6) I now spend more like 10hrs a week at online poker


Am I better playing now than in December 2004? Well my longevity in MTTs is WAY up and I know have the ability to successfully play limit games so I would say yes. I now don't place as much emphasis on reading my opponents and focus a whole lot more on my cards which I think has helped me a lot and avoids early MTT exits. I guess I grudgingly have to thank ScanX for that since that is how he said he plays a year ago and I took it on board since he is a winning player. I still hate you you Flemish bastard by the way, don't get all mushy.


Where do I want to be in a year?

1) I'd like to be in Vegas and play at least a 'small' WSOP event in July 2006 even if it's not the main event
2) I'd like to learn Stud & Omaha to a playable level
3) I'd like to play more limit games and save my NL purely for MTTs
4) I want to to win a f*cking MTT and stop hitting 3rd-10th!!

[BMiller1980]

One year ago I...

Had been playing poker for 5 months.

Had been playing lots of poker and had a streak of 3 week where I finished with a MTT 2nd, two 3rd place finish and 2 other final tables.

Made over 2K in about a month.

Thought I was well on my way.





Now...


Just started back trying to play seriously.

Reread some of my old notes to get back to my old style of play.

Have started to regain confidence in my game.

Am rededicating myself to earn some extra $$$ playing poker.


1 year from now...

Will be several thousand dollars richer through my sound play

Will be married to a Super-hot, Super-sweet girl, that happens to be a great cook, and a tremendous athlete....(might as well set my goals high, right?)

[zinn0]

pretty cool thread.

1 year ago I...
1) thought poker was boring

6 months ago I...
1) had been playing poker for about 5 months
2) had never played for real money online
3) just returned from my first vegas trip +$895 thanks to 1/2 nl at the mgm grand
4) finally talked myself into depositing money to play online, which I proceeded to lose in 3 days, due to playing WAAAY above my bankroll.
5) had read two poker books (SS1 and Sklansky's Hold Em Poker)

Today I...
1) have been playing poker for 11 months
2) am playing for real money online
3) am finally seeing my online bankroll steadily climb after 2 failures
4) have read about 10 poker books

1 year from now I...
1) will have been playing poker for almost 2 years
2) will still be playing for real money online
3) will be making a nice supplement to my to my income from playing online
4) will have taken my 2nd trip to vegas using only poker winnings to travel and play on

[zinn0]

Will be married to a Super-hot, Super-sweet girl, that happens to be a great cook, and a tremendous athlete....(might as well set my goals high, right?)

unless you plan on having more than one wife, this is theoretically impossible.

[BMiller1980]

Will be married to a Super-hot, Super-sweet girl, that happens to be a great cook, and a tremendous athlete....(might as well set my goals high, right?)

unless you plan on having more than one wife, this is theoretically impossible.

Good point...well if i must compromise... Super-hot, Super-sweet girl, that likes to eat out, and will watch football with me on sunday.

[Skribbles]

Will be married to a Super-hot, Super-sweet girl, that happens to be a great cook, and a tremendous athlete....(might as well set my goals high, right?)

unless you plan on having more than one wife, this is theoretically impossible.

Good point...well if i must compromise... Super-hot, Super-sweet girl, that likes to eat out, and will watch football with me on sunday.

Was it a year ago today you started smoking crack?

You my get a Super-Sweet, 600lbs woman who likes football and can't afford to eat out.

[snoogins47]

I'm going to extend mine a bit.

Two years ago today, I...

1)Was starting college.

2)Had worked at a $8 an hour motel maintenance gig before that. Had no idea what I wanted to do in College, but I was playing homegames three-four times a week. I also played internet freerolls/ultimatepoints tourneys nightly, because I couldn't sleep. Grab a few beers, go through a pack of smokes, play some cheap poker all night... sounds like a winner

3) My brother had online poker experience, and was the strongest player at our homegames, even though he really wasn't that good. I had read a handful of poker books, but had never played higher than a $25 NL homegame, until I 'took a shot' playing $1-3 spread limit at a charity casino with $80 in the hopes that I could run well and parlay it into enough money to get a nice christmas gift for the woman. It failed.
4)I was starting the descent into hell, AKA, falling deeper and deeper in love with a girl who was going to school 2500 miles away.
5)I was also getting absolutely plastered almost every night, blacking out, walking the streets, almost getting into big street-fights with frat-guys on coke, waking up next to exchange students... you know.
6)My 'career' poker earnings were probably in the neighborhood of $40 or something. I was never 'good' back in the day, but through the high school nickle dime quarter games and so forth, I generally made a little bit. A few things of note though: I lost a $40ish pot, at a $5 buy in NL game against a girl, she was 'trying to bluff' the whole way, to my top pair, and she had backdoored a flush, and didn't notice. I felt bad on that one, and gave it to her.

In a huge pot of In Between, I think the cards were a Q and a 4. I was debating betting the pot, which was like, $50. I thought about it, thought about it, and the dealer, for no reason, dealt the middle card. I would have won. But I didn't get to act. They wouldn't let me take another card, or win the whole pot, but I got them to give me a few bucks out of the pot and to keep going. I ended up losing like $40 that night.

Crazy Bad-Beats started to become a recurring theme about this time, and they would continue, because poker is rigged.


One year and a half ago today, I
1)Was playing as much poker as I ever have in my life. Except online, it was all free money. I would have 15+ tables of playmoney games up: tournaments, heads up lowball, etc. I went nuts. I finally cashed in a freeroll and won $1.50. I also spent about two weeks running from homegame to homegame, Rounder's style, except they were all nl$20 and lower. I went on a nice rush and pulled about $200 out of that stretch. After building my 1.50 internet stake up to $300, I combined the two and deposited into partypoker. THis was the beginning of the end.

One year ago today, I
1)Had just had an awful month, losing 20% of my bankroll, and ending up the month with my bankroll at $1674.39 after losing $358 over November.
2)Was trying desperately to break through to nl$100 online, and failing every time I took a shot. For the following few months I played at a clip which hadn't been met until a month or two ago: I'm painfully lazy.

2)I had quit my super 8 Desk Job for $8 an hour. It's not for the reasons you would expect though. I just couldn't stand it. Me, go pro, at poker? Psshhh.

3)Loved poker more than is healthy. I've still got a folder of all the random shit I had done about poker while working at the super 8. It really was sort of how I cut my teeth: do poker theory scribblings for 8 hours, then go home and play.

4)Kept strong with that damned female.

6 months ago today, I....

1) Finally got a second monitor to help multitable
2) Finally had to be called a "pro"
3) Played with less and less frequency

Since:

1) I continue to get better, especially at grasping just how good (or bad) I am.
2) Continued to not play nearly as much as I should, but I get by
3) No longer have a horrible slave job
4) Managed to lose an amount in 3 hours that is equal to 2.5 months at my super 8 job.
5) Raised 68o a million more times than I've folded it
6) Have read whatever books I can find
7) Discussed too many hands
8) Still find poker to be entertaining
9) Have had medium success, and near the end I've gotten back to enjoying poker a good amount, and playing it somewhat regularly.


For the new year, I'm going to...

1) Get better
2) Make more $ than Bill Fillmaff dreams of
3) Read 2-3 more books (I want to read Barry's book actually)
4) Discuss A LOT more hands
5) Have fun playing poker
6) Probably play a lot more MTTs than I have in the past year or two.

the more interesting ones
7) Play in my first ever WSOP events, since I'm turning 21.
8) Probably *gasp* end up getting married
9) Maybe end up back in this 'school' stuff, but who knows.


As a player I've come a reeaal long way the past year, but I won't bore you with details.

[zinn0]

3) Read 2-3 more books (I want to read Barry's book actually)

Are you talking about Count Dracula Barry Greenstein? Save your money, unless of course, you want to buy my copy at a rock bottom price.