One Year In....

It is Labor Day, 2008. Last year on Labor Day, September 3, I began this experiment. I bought in for $10 and that lasted until October 6. I went bust and bought back in a third time December 4. I basically went broke May 8 with only $0.10 and clawed my way back with FPP freerolls until I hit big June 27 in a freeroll finishing in 2nd place for $41.50. Since then I've been as high as $61.41 and as low as $30.36, but mostly in the $30's. Today my bankroll stands at $47.80. My first buy-in lasted 4 weeks, my second 9 weeks, and my third continues 9 months and running, freerolls notwithstanding. At one point about half way through, I mentioned that if I didn't have $100 at one year I'd have to seriously consider whether I could do this. I am still determined to make it to $10,000 but it is likely to take a lot longer than Chris Ferguson did it. He got to $10,000 in less than 2 years. My time frame is looking more like Seth's college career, which is scheduled will be four more years from now as UC has a 5 year Bachelor's program. I don't know what would make me more happy; me making it to $10,000 in that time, or Seth graduating college on time!
I have learned a lot during this experiment. One important thing I learned is that I spent too much time playing poker at the computer. I learned a lot more, too; maybe as much about how to approach this experiment as how to play poker. Nothing has helped my poker over the past year more than reading Harrington. In the Spring I read and completed the Tournament Workbook - very revealing about my play - and early summer I devoured his Cash Games books.
As Ferguson's bankroll rules imply, much of poker is discipline. In future posts I'll outline what I think I've learned about discipline and how I should approach this experiment - sort of a list of Do's and Don't's and other considerations regarding this pursuit. For now, I'm logging off while it is still a decent hour to spend time with Mai before bedtime. She convinced me to accept the challenge of a running Monopoly game, which we will start tonight and play a little at a time.