Hi everyone,

I started writing this blog, because I want to share some of my poker accomplishments and also because I would like to share my experience with other players who are just startingt to play. I feel that by writing here on a weekly or even a daily basis, I can see my poker skills develop and keep track of my progress.

I will give you a little background on me and also on how I started playing. I was born in Brazil, and came to the US, 13 years ago. I went to high school here and some college. Due to some personal issues, I didn't finish school. I work at a very successful technology firm in Manhattan and I am doing well for myself. I have a 6 year old son who is just starting first grade. I am very proud of him.

As the description of the blog suggests, I started playing just about 13 months ago. I really had no idea what I was doing, but my interest for poker was immediate. I have not been able to spend more than a week without playing poker. I improved my game mostly by talking to other players, reading poker foruns and playing a lot. Reading books really helped me understand the game, and some books helped me understand most of the other aspects involved in playing the game that don't concern the cards.

I believe I put in at least 15 hours a week, either by playing tourneys or by playing the ring games. I have played both live and online; but I have stuck to playing online since it's cheaper maintenance. I have shown a profit overall, but only recently (4 months) that I have seen a profit in my ring games. My final table finishes certainly cover any loss that I have head in the past. I have made 6 final tables of tourneys ranging from $20-$30 and over 500 players. Won 2, came in second 2x, fourth and 8th. I don't like to use these as a direct measure of my success. Although 3 of these final tables came during the weekend of Labor day and 2 happened in the same day. It was pretty cool and impressive.

I started playing in party poker, but have been trying to make the move to poker stars. I am trying to build a roll there. I started with $100 and I am up to $400 after playing a few multi table tourneys and $2/4 limit hold'em. During this period I made the $600 deposit to get the bonus and I am in the process of clearing that. This $600, is from my party poker roll so as soon as I finish this bonus, I will move it back there. My roll in party poker allows me to play $3/6 and some big tourneys ranging from $10 - $30.

This is just an introduction post, and I hope to share some hands, achievements, some newbie stuff, and talk about some of the traps that I have encountered in my past year.