Way back then...

I started playing online poker in September of 2000 on Paradise Poker. I played a lot and had a lot of fun with it. Over the next few years I fell into a cycle of building up winnings over an extended amount of time, and then losing them all very quickly taking a shot at a bigger game. This happened over and over from the lowest limits on Paradise, to a particularly memorable drunken incident with the $25/50 shorthanded game on PokerRoom.

In June of 2004, I found myself in the biggest hole I had ever been in: down $1,000 for my online poker career. I decided it was time for some serious self-evaluation. I had quit online poker forever several times before, but I always came back. So I didn't think quitting was really an option. What I needed was a real strategy.

So I decided to swallow my pride and play exclusively $1/2 hold'em until I proved to myself that I was a winner at that level, and then slowly move up. Much to my surprise, I didn't find myself getting bored by the low stakes. Quite the opposite, I was energized to have a specific challenge, a long-term goal I was working towards. As I grew more comfortable with each game, I'd add more tables, and then eventually move up.

From June until the end of 2004, I won about $10,000. Here are some highlights from my Poker Tracker (www.pokertracker.com) stats.

Overall
Total Hands: 34,564
VP$IP: 23.48% (which includes shorthanded play)
W$WSF: 35%
W$ at SD: 55.3%
BB/100 hands: 4.46

In 13,601 hands of full table $3/6 hold'em, I averaged a preposterous 6.29 BB/100 hands. Assuming I got 60 hands/hr at each table and played 4 tables at a time, I was averaging about $90/hour playing $3/6. Unreal!

I had been very successful so far in my brief ventures into $5/10:

$5/10 full tables - 2,295 hands ; 3.98 BB/100 hands
$5/10 6max - 3,088 hands ; 3.1 BB / 100 hands

In November I won over $3,000 in 36 hours of play.
In December I won $2,900 in 40 hours of play.

I was completely dominating every game I sat in, like some kind of low-limit poker deity. I started doing some projections. If I maintained my $3/6 win rate and played 30 hours/week I could make more than at my job. If I kept even half that win rate at $15/30 I could easily make $150,000 a year, maybe more. I seriously entertained the idea of quitting my job and playing online poker full time for a while.

And then there was January...

to be continued