Fish on tilt - a beginner's NL blog

Hey all, I'm Matt, I'm 18, and I'm from South East England, near Cambridge. I first learnt 5 card draw in middle school when I was just 11 or 12, and at lunch time I'd play it with my friends, I was never very good, but I had a lot of fun. Obviously we never played for money at the time but it was all good fun.

A couple of years ago I was at college and we were all playing online poker for play money, I was no good since I was new to Texas Hold 'Em, but I quickly learned the ropes and soon became the best player in my class.

I played on Facebook poker (I know, I know haha.) for several months, practising with the intention of playing for money once I turned 18. I was dominating Facebook poker, 1st out of all my friends, with roughly 500x more money than most of them, I had a big ego, played like a maniac, and thought my play chip winnings made me a poker god.

I tilted and lost all my play chips, got bored of poker and quit for a long time. Around 2 months ago I had a little extra money, £8 or so (just over $10), sitting in my bank, and since I'd yet to play for real money since turning 18, I figured why not, and deposited it on another poker site.

Within just a week I'd won my way from $10 to $60, playing just 30 minutes a day, I was very happy and thought poker was my new job. I won up to $70, then withdrew $50, forgetting the important of BRM. I had $20 left and was playing 10NL, lost the $20 in a matter of minutes, next up I deposited the $50 back, and proceeded to tilt and lose all of that within a couple of days.

Just when I'd given up with poker for the second time my friend messaged me, and linked me to PokerStrategy, I'd seen it before but previously thought it was a scam, he told me friends of his had used it, so I gave it a try, and around 2 weeks ago I got my $50 free starting capital.

Now I've started playing NL2 FR, sticking to BRM and learning BSS. I've had hit and miss sessions, overall my play was very bad at first, but I'm rapidly improving. Unfortunately tilt is still a big problem, and so someone suggested a blog would help me manage tilt, as I'd have to post about it here.

-Stats-

Starting bankroll:
$50
Current bankroll:
$35.46
Platform:
4-6 tables - 2NL FR at William Hill
Hands played:
12,109
VPIP/PFR:
12/7

My graph is too shameful to post

-Goals-

Green = done

Short term:
- Play 25k hands
- Get $50 rake to keep initial starting capital
- Hit $100 and move to NL4
- Read "Ace on the River" by Barry Greenstein
- Read "The Poker Mindset" by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger
- Read "Small Stakes Hold 'Em" by Ed Miller, David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth
- Read all bronze BSS articles + watch accompanying videos

Mid term:
- Play 100k hands
- Keep moving up limits
- Read all silver BSS articles + watch accompanying videos
- Get to gold

Long term:
- Play professional poker as a career
- Play 100k+ hands per month
- Crack AA with 27o (from BB)

Wish me luck, or rather, wish me plenty of learning opportunities so I can improve my skill - and luck won't be necessary.

Thanks for reading, I'll try update regularly.