A lot of my friends know I'm a big poker player. The first question someone asks almost without fail is: Are you up or down? In the beginning I would admit down, but as I improved and made some more money, I always answered this as up, and never really thought more of it, although I never bothered to find out the exact figure. The other day I happened to read that Pokerstars could you provide you with every real money hand you have ever played.

So I decided to email them and request exactly this. I never bought a poker tracker type of software, because having subscribed to cardrunners already, I didn't want to spend even more money on poker related items. I downloaded Hold Em Manger, which I am currently considering purchasing, and I plugged in a year's worth of hand histories, to find out how much I am up. At first, it said I was up $200 or something along those lines, and I just kind of laughed, thinking I put in that much work and got so little back.

Then, as more hands started coming in, that number started to drop pretty rapidly. At one point I was down $2000 (and this was playing at the microstakes by the way). At the end of it, it turns out I am down about $800 over a little less than a year of playing on pokerstars. I was a huge loser in 25NL, and I started to review some hands. As I was looking at pots I lost, I was disgusted with how poorly I played them. Hand after hand or where I went for very thin value on the river, calling an all-ins with only top pair when the villain obviously has a set or straight, making hero calls, trying to bluff calling stations, the list goes on and on. After reviewing these hands I have decided I will not play on Pokerstars until I go over and critique all of my big losing hands, and decide how to better approach such scenarios in the future. I considered myself a good player, and I now realize that I can't even turn a profit.

I'm really glad I saw this, its time to plug my leaks. Wish me the best guys, I won't play again until I know I've improved.

-Pablo G.

I've decided to start a blog so as I can start to document my poker trials and tribulations. I am a 21 year old UC Irvine senior majoring in business economics. I would like to get involved in finance as a career, but I am most likely going to spend a few years working in accounting. I started playing poker about 1 year ago, and while I realize that I have improved, I am frustrated that I'm still stuck in the microstakes.

I cashed out for the majority of my bankroll around the beginning of January, and left myself with $150. Since then I have been having some pretty significant highs and lows, considering I am playing at low stakes. My highest point was about $450, and my lowest point was about $50. At this moment I am at $300, but I am irritated that I have been putting in 20+ hours per week since the beginning of the month and my bankroll is still small. Regardless, I play the $6.50 turbos on stars, and 25NL when I do decide to play cash games.

Keep an eye on me, I'm gonna do big things.