Starting my studies

Greetings.

I'm a somewhat ordinary, average guy. I'm in my mid-30's, I work full time, I'm married with two young children, and my hobby is online poker. I don't aspire to be a professional poker player, nor do I have unrealistic aspirations to win the WSOP Main Event (though I would love to play in it some day). I simply enjoy the game and would like to get better at it. My goal is to eventually be able to rely on poker as a way to supplement my half-decent income with a little extra spending money. If you're in a similar boat, or maybe you do aspire to be a pro or semi-pro player but are just starting out playing online, then this blog might be of interest to you.

The purpose is to chronicle my journey to obtain my poker PhD. What do I mean by that? Many poker players like to set goals for themselves to help them develop their skills. I decided an interesting way to do this might be to imagine myself working my way through poker "school," all the way up from the early grades, through high school, university, and eventually to my "PhD." I will set goals for myself and grade myself on how well I achieve my goals, moving up grades when I feel I've accomplished my goals and I'm ready to move on to the next level.

First I need to establish my starting point. I have been playing online for a couple of years now, probably putting in an average of maybe 6-8 hours per week. So why am I starting this journey now? Well, I feel like I've been floundering. I've made some progress along the way - I've made a bit of profit, I've never had to reload, and I have moved beyond the penny tables. But not much beyond. So I thought this process might help me move forward. Along the way we'll discuss strategy, stats, different games, and various other topics.

I would probably put myself around Grade 1 to start. I'm not a newbie, and I do think I have some basic skills, so I'm not a kindergardener. But I don't want to give myself too much credit. So let's start the journey in Grade 1.

(To be continued...)