I'm restarting my journey into online poker again today.  I know most people probably won't have much interest in my personal experiences, so this is just as much about me staying accountable to myself and providing a roadmap to myself as well the ones who choose to follow.

A little bit about me, I grew up playing serious high level tennis.  When I was 18 I was top 10 in the US and then earned an athletic scholarship to play at a big well known University in the US.  I now coach at a college and coach national junior tennis players.  I, like most people here, am highly competitive and I expect a lot out of myself.  I do have a very difficult time controlling my emotions when I don't play well and/or lose.  I had a difficult time with this early in my tennis career and finally matured to where I don't have any anger issues at all in tennis.  My poker "career" is still in that early stage and I have not matured enough to not have it affect my poker game.

I've kinda played semi-"serious" on and off for the past 3 years.  I've struggled with tilt issues and tilt-demolished my built up bankroll many times to therefore feel guilt, embarrassment, and lose tons of playing experience b/c I did not have a bankroll to continue playing and improving.  I've done everything from playing much longer when losing to jumping way up in stakes when I'm stuck.  I feel that my tilt is induced by my competitiveness and I now think it is subconscious anger towards the fact that I have not put in enough work on my game to be good enough to be a winning player.  I'm a fairly "big-winner" playing live and I think that has to do with the slower pace, fear of judgement from others if I do tilt, and the inability to have access to my whole bankroll at just a click of the mouse.

I know I'm capable of being a winner at this game and I think I'm smart enough and strategically savvy enough to do well at poker.  Of course I've day dreamed about making millions and playing poker professionally, but right now I really just want to get better at poker, be a better student of the game/my game, and become a solid consistent winning player.  So, with my recent time off from poker I've come up with a  game plan to achieve these goals.

I'm splitting my $700 bankroll between 2 sites (so I can table select better and reduce my fear of losing my bankroll if one of the sites gets shut down).  I'm starting out at 25NL.  My bankroll management will be

$550 Move down to 10NL
$1000 Move down to 25NL from 50NL
$1250 Take 5 BI shot at 50NL
$2000 Move down to 50NL from 100NL
$2500 Take 5 BI shot at 100NL
$5000 Move down to 100NL from 200NL
$6000 Take 5 BI shot at 200NL

I'm also going to implement a warm-up and post/pre game pt4 evaluation.  I had HM2 and felt like it was almost like reading chinese, so I really never used it except for the HUD.  I just got PT4 and I love how user friendly the interface is.  I'm starting with 4 tables and want to gradually move my way up to at least 6 tables. I'm limiting my sessions to strictly 45 min at first and work my way up to 60 min.  I feel like over this time is when I can get tilted easier and start playing bad.  I think eventually playing up to 75 min+ but I think that will be awhile until i get comfortable with less.

So, thank you all if you read this.  I hope to gain your support/advice and I will try my best to return the favor. I will try to post updates every week to keep accountability with myself and from you guys.  I'm excited about this plan and please give insight if you think any of it is bad or if you have better suggestions.  Best of luck at the tables!