First Post, The journey begins!

So, here I am. After playing poker for a few years, having a lot of ups and downs, and going bust more than once, I am finally going to document my progress online, and try to not go bust anymore, and make this a decent source of income.

I fancy myself a pretty good player, profitable, but able to tilt way too easily, which is one of the reasons I created this blog; embarrassment. If I show how stupid I act sometimes when I tilt, then I'll feel absolutely ridiculous, and therefore this should help me.

I've deposited money, and I'm finally going to start tracking my earnings better than I used to, so let's see how I did my first day.

My bankroll here on day #1: $361.90

I started with some PLO, coming 2nd in my 6-max SNG for a bit of profit, which was a good mental boost, then proceeded to play another SNG where someone lost 1/2 their stack by getting sucked out on with AJvA9, then next hand open shoved for 980 with blinds 15/30. Called with AQ because it was obvious he was tilting, he caught a 3, short stacked me, shoved next hand with 420 left with AQ again, got called with K9c and they hit a flush. Great start to NLHE. Went back to Omaha again, ran terrible in the next SNG(JJ9T v JQKK with a flop of J102 and he runner runners a flush).

Went back to NLHE, moving up to the $12+1 6-max SNGs, doing well in those, played very well which kept me going.

Decided to do a $4+.40 180 SNG after that. I got short right off the go with a bad bluff, but started playing well, and stayed in the top 25 or so til we were down to about 55 players, where 2 bluffs in a row dropped me to 3305 chips with the average stack at 5294 and blinds at 100/200. Played position after that for the most part because my table seemed pretty soft and picked up a few pots here and there to keep me afloat, until I lost half my stack in a hand where I had middle pair v. top pair. Got down to 2305 with avg. at 6136 and blinds at 125/250/25. Then I got this hand:

PokerStars Game #22749720445: Tournament #125796880, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (125/250) - 2008/12/08 21:58:35 ET
Table '125796880 17' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: BamesJond87 (2230 in chips)
Seat 2: rjmunro (9650 in chips)
Seat 3: tsatsaras (9255 in chips)
Seat 4: EZ-BIDY (3730 in chips)
Seat 6: Uypobrecito (12566 in chips)
Seat 7: Lorr1968 (9816 in chips)
Seat 9: fathead2045 (10561 in chips)
BamesJond87: posts the ante 25
rjmunro: posts the ante 25
tsatsaras: posts the ante 25
EZ-BIDY: posts the ante 25
Uypobrecito: posts the ante 25
Lorr1968: posts the ante 25
fathead2045: posts the ante 25
fathead2045: posts small blind 125
BamesJond87: posts big blind 250
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BamesJond87 [4d Ah]
rjmunro: folds
tsatsaras: folds
EZ-BIDY: folds
Uypobrecito: raises 250 to 500
Lorr1968: folds
fathead2045: folds
saggai is connected
BamesJond87: raises 1705 to 2205 and is all-in
Uypobrecito: calls 1705
*** FLOP *** [7h Kc 6d]
*** TURN *** [7h Kc 6d] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [7h Kc 6d 4s] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BamesJond87: shows [4d Ah] (two pair, Aces and Fours)
Uypobrecito: shows [Jc As] (a pair of Aces)
BamesJond87 collected 4710 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4710 | Rake 0
Board [7h Kc 6d 4s Ad]
Seat 1: BamesJond87 (big blind) showed [4d Ah] and won (4710) with two pair, Aces and Fours
Seat 2: rjmunro folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: tsatsaras folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: EZ-BIDY folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Uypobrecito showed [Jc As] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 7: Lorr1968 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: fathead2045 (small blind) folded before Flop

Nice suckout on my part, but hey, it happens. My chipstack kept going up and down after that, playing mostly position to try and win pots which was working out rather well. Started pushing people around a little bit more when we got down to about 35, with top 18 getting paid. Sometimes though, it's smart to fold, and other times you just get a bad read:

PokerStars Game #22750043988: Tournament #125796880, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (150/300) - 2008/12/08 22:11:38 ET
Table '125796880 17' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: BamesJond87 (6610 in chips)
Seat 2: rjmunro (8350 in chips)
Seat 3: tsatsaras (7580 in chips)
Seat 4: OneMannGang (5252 in chips)
Seat 6: Uypobrecito (10886 in chips)
Seat 7: Lorr1968 (10941 in chips)
Seat 8: saggai (2155 in chips)
Seat 9: fathead2045 (10586 in chips)
BamesJond87: posts the ante 25
rjmunro: posts the ante 25
tsatsaras: posts the ante 25
OneMannGang: posts the ante 25
Uypobrecito: posts the ante 25
Lorr1968: posts the ante 25
saggai: posts the ante 25
fathead2045: posts the ante 25
BamesJond87: posts small blind 150
rjmunro: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BamesJond87 [Js Kh]
tsatsaras: folds
OneMannGang: raises 699 to 999
Uypobrecito: folds
Lorr1968: folds
saggai: calls 999
fathead2045: folds
BamesJond87: calls 849
rjmunro: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kc Ah 3h]
BamesJond87: checks
OneMannGang: bets 1200
saggai: calls 1131 and is all-in
BamesJond87: folds
Uncalled bet (69) returned to OneMannGang
*** TURN *** [Kc Ah 3h] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [Kc Ah 3h 2d] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
OneMannGang: shows [Th Jh] (high card Ace)
saggai: shows [Ts Td] (a pair of Tens)
saggai collected 5759 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5759 | Rake 0
Board [Kc Ah 3h 2d 7s]
Seat 1: BamesJond87 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: rjmunro (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: tsatsaras folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: OneMannGang showed [Th Jh] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 6: Uypobrecito folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Lorr1968 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: saggai showed [Ts Td] and won (5759) with a pair of Tens
Seat 9: fathead2045 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

A little while later I picked up this hand with 26 players left:

PokerStars Game #22750314443: Tournament #125796880, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (150/300) - 2008/12/08 22:22:51 ET
Table '125796880 17' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: BamesJond87 (4161 in chips)
Seat 2: rjmunro (8450 in chips)
Seat 3: CCFlyer (7257 in chips)
Seat 4: OneMannGang (1897 in chips)
Seat 5: radmanjeff (8735 in chips)
Seat 6: Uypobrecito (6211 in chips)
Seat 7: Lorr1968 (13341 in chips)
Seat 8: saggai (6159 in chips)
Seat 9: fathead2045 (15311 in chips)
BamesJond87: posts the ante 25
rjmunro: posts the ante 25
CCFlyer: posts the ante 25
OneMannGang: posts the ante 25
radmanjeff: posts the ante 25
Uypobrecito: posts the ante 25
Lorr1968: posts the ante 25
saggai: posts the ante 25
fathead2045: posts the ante 25
Lorr1968: posts small blind 150
saggai: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BamesJond87 [As Qs]
fathead2045: raises 600 to 900
BamesJond87: raises 3236 to 4136 and is all-in
rjmunro: folds
CCFlyer: folds
OneMannGang: folds
radmanjeff: folds
Uypobrecito: folds
Lorr1968: folds
saggai: folds
fathead2045: calls 3236
*** FLOP *** [7c 4s 7d]
*** TURN *** [7c 4s 7d] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [7c 4s 7d 9s] [Qd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
fathead2045: shows [Ts Kc] (a pair of Sevens)
BamesJond87: shows [As Qs] (two pair, Queens and Sevens)
fathead2045 said, "nh"
BamesJond87 collected 8947 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8947 | Rake 0
Board [7c 4s 7d 9s Qd]
Seat 1: BamesJond87 showed [As Qs] and won (8947) with two pair, Queens and Sevens
Seat 2: rjmunro folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: CCFlyer folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: OneMannGang folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: radmanjeff folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Uypobrecito (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Lorr1968 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: saggai (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: fathead2045 showed [Ts Kc] and lost with a pair of Sevens

It was just the kind of double up I was looking for. The bubble took forever, but I had the honor of popping it when I picked up AA v 66. Went into the final 18 with just about the chip avg of 15k, and proceeded to donk off about 8500 of it. With 6344 left and blinds at 300/600/50 someone shoved and I made a terrible call with KJ when they had AK and busted in 17th. Waste of time for just $4 profit.

So at the end of day 1 I made $18.50 profit, putting my bankroll at $380.04.

Edit: Didn't feel like sleeping, played a $1.75 PLO 18person tourney. Came in 3rd for $5.40, making today's profit $23.90 to put my bankroll at $383.69