Hello everyone! I played poker in college before black Friday for beer money. The only "studying" I did back then was watching Cardrunners videos as entertainment, but it was enough to get me winning at 50NL and maybe a slight winner at 100NL. Now i'm almost 40, with a good job as an civil engineer and a 18 month old crazy kid.

I played a bit of poker about a year ago, but quickly moved on. For some reason about a month ago I wanted to play again, so i started up some 10NL and haven't been able to shake it from my head. I was able to start winning quite quickly at 10NL, but lost 4 buyins fast at 25NL. I think that there are a number of reasons for this, but ultimately I don't think these games should be hard for me to beat.

For studying, I purchased FTGU and the Poker Foundations Book through RIO. I've been enjoying both and been learning a lot. I've been making way through the content slowly and taking lots of notes. I'm also enjoying Peter Clark's Youtube content. I don't currently have a RIO subscription, but believe there is enough free stuff out there for me to become a winner at 25NL at least. In general I learn best when I have to struggle and experiment with a concept, so having less spoon feeding may be better for me. I don't know. I have also purchased Application of No Limit Holdem and The Mathematics of Poker.

Ultimately my goal with poker is to be able to make enough to justify going to 80% or 70% at my current job, or maybe leave my job and take my son out of daycare. My wife and I have a good amount of savings and are getting pretty close to early retirement, so I could probably do this somewhere around 100NL, but haven't ran any numbers yet. We'll see if I can stick with poker first. For now I'm simply enjoying trying to beat the game.

Another thing that will be holding me back, in addition to being a father, and husband, is house maintenance/ work. I grew up doing construction with my father and quite enjoy the work. We have an older house that I will have to be working on this summer. To make everything work, I might have to stop or severely limit my attention to the game. If I can make it through the summer with at least keeping one eye on poker, I should be good to go in the fall/winter.

I plan to use this journal as a method to keep me motivated and consistent, and a place to memorialize my journey through poker and life. I believe the only think holding be back from beating 100NL is consistent work.