Hello all i am Matt i go by the name Mario64 on Borgata Poker in NJ. First i would like to talk a little bit about my accomplishments over the past year, growth as a poker player, and a little back ground. So i started 2013 bouncing back from a bad swing of playing 1/2 starting at 50nl with a bank roll at about $2,500. Around late may i started coaching with a great poker coach named Keysar. Unfortunately Keysar was in a car accident and is recovering from a coma but he was one of the best out there and his knowledge on the game jumped my game to new levels. It wasn't until last month that i was able to figure out some finalized concepts of the game and really start to crush the small/mid stakes. I ended the year with a bank roll of about $18,000 and now play 10-12 tables ranging between 100nl and 400nl depending on volume of the site as its a smaller player pool.

In my personal time i still go to school as a computer scientist(Which is hard considering my weekly hour requirements toward grinding) and i have a part time job performing Quality Assurance for a software development company(Luckily from home) during the day time hours. Its def a rough schedule but hopefully its a small sacrifice until i am able to complete my degree and have a decent enough income. A task i hope to accomplish this year.

So i want to be upfront and clear one of my goals is not to get my goal to $125,000 it is just my projected amount based on planned rakeback and average bb/100. Also $125k is the number i plan withdrawing $25,000 and giving it to my father for his start up business. He has fallen on tough times as a whole sale fish seafood provider and needs an added boost. I really wish to see his dreams come true in a realistic time frame before he gets to old.

Volume is critical on Borgata poker with my planned volume i can get up to $36k in RB/bonuses from promos. This is not alot to me as the same volume on stars would be double that in RB but the games are softer so who is complaining. I am hoping to get 1.5m hands in total and want about 40 hours per week minimum to achieve this goal.

It is my opinion the number one reason that decent regs lose long term is bank roll management and tilt issues. I like most players have struggled with the mental aspect of poker this year and have made great strides in researching and applying fixes to such issues. My 2nd goal is to build on this mental foundation and push my self to play closest to my A game everyday constantly evolving within the inch worm hierarchy and building my mental game this year.

This year i have taken on other variants outside of NLHE taking up PLO and beating those games for several thousand. I want to expand upon my Omaha research and get better at the game as the games are super juicy and hold a lot of money in it.

Online poker is great in terms of mental exercise but one of its major detriments is in the physical realm. Staying sedentary for 8-12 hours of the active day is horrible for your body, diet, and ultimately your game. With being so busy i have neglected my body in a negative way and want to start the new year off right even if that means getting an assistant to help me with dietary and cooking needs. I have signed up for a real nice gym where im paying about $75 a month(Hopefully more motivating) that has personal trainers that are very active in your progress(Another plus). I am realistic about weight loss so i will set the goal at a realistic bar. I hope to lose about 30-40 pounds this year in a healthy way. On top of this i want to start eating a balanced diet with 3 square meals a day and two or three small snacks and or meals. This will help with metabolism. Building a good metabolism is key to keeping the weight off.

For US players paying taxes are very important so keeping accurate records are critical. Hold em manager is a great resource for this but it doesn't collect the full story. Sometimes my RB and Bonuses are just estimations or i lose track of reloads etc. Also sometimes my site or HM crashes and misses hundreds of dollars is lost hands. So to fix this i am moving my records to a win session loss session excel sheet and making it session based to total my winning and losing session totals to make it easier on me in terms of record keeping.

One of the cool goals i have set forth for myself is to start up my own Youtube channel. I will probably post Video blogs on it to run along side my updates. Another cool thing is i will be doing video reviews of micro players throughout the year. I think giving back to poker is a big thing as i have gained so much from other players generosity on skype groups etc.

My 2nd to last goal is to find a decent high stakes coach that i respect and take out some money and continue my education of the game. Imo its important to always have a better player in the game who you can go to for advice and guidance regardless of stakes or ego. Also obviously one of my constant goals is to always study my game and other material to advance my self as well.

I think my last goal is something Dusty Schmidt and Jared Tendler both talk about is not looking at your cashier during play. This sucks so bad i am constantly looking and it is just a distraction or a mental game changer when seeing hundreds of dollars switch in either direction. I also notice that i am more in the game when i don't look. Unfortunately if i want to keep track of the session for tax purposes i will have to look prior to and after the session which i don't mind. My mental game has evolved and i am so overolled for my limits that it doesn't shift me one way or the other but i think it will improve my game if i don't look during the session. I think this will be the hardest goal by far as its something i habitually do.

So currently my bankroll is at $14,600 i had to withdraw $2k for school and $2k for a brand new laptop. In Febuary and March i will have to withdraw a total of $4,000 so essentially i am starting the year with $10,000. Another benefit of breaking $100k this year will be to prove to myself that i am capable of having a yearly income that is sustainable outside of my job. This does not mean not achieving this goal means i can't as variance is real and we have to live with our low and high projections. Mainly the goals i will strive hardest to achieve is the volume goals as that is the most important. I will also be posting this on 2+2 so others can follow along. I look forward to sharing this experience with everyone and good luck in 2015!!!! :)