The story so far
In 6 weeks time I’m going to be celebrating my 37th birthday. That’s not unusual. Most people celebrate their birthday. Most people will celebrate birthdays but I’ve not really felt like celebrating them in the last few years. My first marriage wasn’t particularly happy towards the end so I didn’t celebrate. Two years ago I was working in a job I hated, for a boss that if I found him on fire in the car park I wouldn’t waste the piss on, working with people I didn’t like on the wrong end of a long commute.
On January 4th 2011, I walked into work, handed in my resignation and walked back out the door, never to return. 
5 hours later, I had found another job. It had worse pay, nicer people, better benefits, was a temporary contract and a better commute. I started to drag myself out of my depression and refused to give anyone not worthy the control over my happiness ever again.
6 months later, I was offered another job. A 75% pay rise was nice. The team I work in are great, the commute is short. However, it’s not what I want any more. I don’t want to be tied to an office. I want to work to my own hours and have the control over my life that is given up when you sign a contract for work.
I’m a cost accountant, a father of two young sons and happily married to my second wife. She’s awesome and is actively encouraging and supporting me seeking the joy in life. I’m happier than I’ve ever been and enthused about our plans for a life less ordinary.
Discovering poker
I’d played Zynga poker on Facebook and discovered PS. I put my $50 into Full Tilt and played occasionally until FT became a black hole and my $52 (see, I was a winning player!) disappeared over the event horizon. Fortunately PS offered me another $50 At Party. Well, it would be rude to say no!
Sadly, my lack of talent and cockiness got the better of me and I managed to turn it into $35. I’d also been busy with a wedding (some people never learn. [insert appropriate smiley here] ), moving house and then renovating it. I then discovered that the $50 bonus timed out so I was left with $5. With that I tilted and spewed it all over the NL2 tables like a well shaken bottle of Dr Pepper.
So, third time lucky. A rival site offered me $25 on Poker770 with another $25 if I get 500 points. This time I was prepared. I’ve brushed up on the BSS, starting hand charts, articles and videos. I’ve started the Beginners course and started posting hands in the analysis forums.
I’ve started multi tabling and I’m playing 4 tables at the moment (and find it easier to restrain myself from being too loose with more going on). I’m trying to play 4 times per week in the evenings and I’ve managed the massive total of 1,600 hands so far this month. With 4 tables, I’m now pulling in 200 to 250 hands per hour so I’m aiming to get to 2,500 this month and keep on increasing the volume from there.
I’m playing very aggressive bankroll strategy at the moment. I was planning to deposit when I got the offer from Poker770 so I’m happy to pump more cash in if needed. I’ve been playing on $0.02/$0.04 from when I had $26. I’m currently at $50 bankroll and buying in with the maximum of $5 per table. When I clear my bonus, I’ll look at moving to a site that is tracked by PS.
Poker aims
This blog is called 1,000 days to pro as my aim is to jack my job in and play full time before I turn 40. It’s currently 1,139 days to go but “a thousand days to pro” sounds better. 
So, I suppose some targets are called for:
For the remainder of April
[ ]Play 2,500 hands
[ ]Complete part 3 of the beginners course
[ ]Post interesting hands for analysis from each session.
TL : DR - I’m an old fart who wants to play poker for a living.
J
T
and lost (-$5.25 net)
I was $27 down in July and I'm $16 down this month. The bankroll is sat at $152 so I'm still inside my bankroll management limits. I've made some big improvements in my play at the tail end of July and August wasn't looking too bad until I tilted last night and lost $15 in a session. 
