So here I am 9 months after signing up for TPE for the first time.  After having been signed up for a

 month I started grinding(somewhat) the $1 OD rush tourneys on …..p://FTP.  I had some fairly

decent success making over 20 FT's and winning 4-5 tourneys out of 200ish games.  Obv this is just

$1 sit-n-gos essentially but I was loving Rush Poker and felt I truelly found my spot.  So in 24 days

I went from being a losing microstakes player to being a winning player.  Yes 200 games isn't

enough to judge your play but I doubt someone could get 20 fts and 4-5 wins on luck alone.  I

studied for hundreds of hours…litterally.  Watched every video on this site. Absorbed the info and

went with it.  Then Black Friday hits…Now I'm not going to complain as I dont feel I have a right to…

I was just getting started and I didn't lose much…($300) obv people lost tens of thousands.  So here

 I was in my lil cabin in the middle of winter in Alaska going WTF…  Then I saw an add for carbon

poker and was like wth…it can't hurt.  So I dl'd carbon, deposited $50 played like 30 micro games

until I had $17.  It was l8 and I saw a $10 2r1a was a bout to start and I just had a feeling and

compulsion to play it.  I was getting paid the next day and was just like **** it..If I lose I will just

deposit another $50.  So I reg'd even though it was stupid.  I played one of my better MTTs   up do

 that date, got lucky a couple times such as  AK>AA I flopped the str8.  And ended up binking 5th

 place for a woaping $250.  So I started playing regularly.  I didn't multi table as I was playing

$10-$20 games with $3 and $5r's I figured I was still learning the game and single tabling higher

buyins was better then multi tabling small buy ins (it worked out but now I obv know that was stupid

)  So I played 300 games over a 6 mo period.  About 80% of that was May-June.  I didn't play much during summer as I live in Alaska and its so hard to be indoors in Alaska during the summer as snow is on the ground here 6-8 mos a year.  Out

 of those 300 games I won 2, got 1 second, 1 third, and 13 4-10ths.  Built my roll up to $1,400, with

drew $800 and slowly donked the rest off.  Either way I stopped playing regularly and so lost the

edge I had and kinda just coasted along.  I was playing $10 games with $200 and so I was playing

scared which is the WORST thing to do. 

So here I am.  I am going to dedicate my self this winter to really applying my self to this game and

am going to crush.  I believe very strongly that I can do very well in this game with some practice. 

 I have just been lazy about poker…ive talked like I know what im doing and have the credentials to

do so…I'm tired of feeling like I'm just talking shit.  I am going to prove to my self that I CAN do

this..and then will decide weither or not grinding poker is something I WANT to do.  I have a perfect

 job for poker.  I work about 50 hours Fri-Sun and have Mon-Thurs off.  I have about 10 hours broke

n throughout that Fri-Sun period that I can dedicate to study and vids.  So thats what imma do.  

Imma work/study Fri-Sun and grind Mon-Thurs.  I will take a 1/2 day off here or there, expecially if 

Dallas is playing on Monday/Thurs night.   My min goal is 50 tourneys a week.  I believe I can def

pull this off expecially when i build my roll enough to start throwing some $10 games in there. 

As of right now I got $259 in my account.  I deposited $250 and after 60 games I got  2 10ths

(although 1 of those the entire state of AK had an internet black out for about 2 hrs and blinded to

10th in a $5 FO SS Turbo.)  and a second.   I am playing most of the micro stuff $1-$5 stuff. 

I know $250 isnt technically enough for $5 but w/o them I just couldn't put in the volume. 

Also, if I get unlucky and hit a bad string of variance im fine redepositing.  I am not playing scared

 in the $5 games so that is whats important to me.  Once I get to $500 total roll I will start throwing

 $10 games in there.   I am also multi tabling.  I have been 4 tabling and after 3 days of that im getting pretty comfortable.   I believe after another few days I will be comfortable enough to throw in 4 more and will prolly cap at that.  Although until I can play $10 games I dont think I could even 8 table if I wanted to.

My Goals-

-Play very aggressive and play to win 100% of time

-Play within my bankroll(NEVER play scared)

-Study atleast 10 hrs a week( Vids, posting hands, and HH reviews)

-Play a minimum of 50 mtts a week

-Become more active in forums, chat, and post hands for review(This is def a weak spot so far for me I NEED to post more hands)

-Stay confident and positive

-Post in this Blog/Journal atleast 1x a week with a progress report.

-Listen to and accept any and all feedback given (a strong point for me I love to learn and WANT feedback.  I got a tough skin)

-Strive to be greater each and every day (NEVER get complacent or content)

-CRUSH Merge

So ya, this is my Blog/Journal.  I am posting this now because summer is over, i'm moved into my

new apartment, work has steadied its self so should have my 4 days off w/o being called in from now on.    I am posting this because I believe I can do this.  I will do this.  I don't see merge going anywhere soon…If there was a risk of them being shut down I doubt they would still be allowing us players.  Lock has US pros so it seems they got it figured out.  I will follow through on

this and I truelly believe that come may I will be playing the higher stakes stuff on merge (granted

there isn't another big us site by then)    I belive that another poker boom is on its way.  One that

will be MUCH bigger then 06-07.  There is to much money to be made and if theres one thing the

US is gr8 at is capatilizing on money making oppertunities.  I believe there will be sites twice as big

as Poker stars and Full tilt were in there prime.  Bold statement? well its what I Feel so we will see.

Either way for those of you who read through all of this (I don't blame you if you just skim through it lol)  Thank you and I hope yall comment and give advice whenever yall deem it necessary.  

So I have given yall a breakdown of the last 8 months of poker for me and SAID what im GOING to

 do.  Now I am going to SHOW you what im going to do =)

Pce fellaz and god bless

Mike

Full Tilt UN= Phoenix390

Carbon Poker UN= CRUSHEQUITY

Lock Poker UN= XCRUSHEQULTYX  (Gay mistake on L instead of I…bah)