So, without further ado....

The Goal
To build my current $1000 bankroll into $150,000 by December 31st, 2012. Yes, it really is that simple.

The Method
Playing (at least) 1000 6-man turbo sit n go (SNG) tournaments a month for the next 24 months, starting at the $12+1 level, and eventually moving up to $25 (Jan 2011), $39 (Mar 2011), $60 (May 2011), $119 (Sept 2011), $235 (Jan 2012) and finally $565 (August 2012). Earning a conservative return on investment for each given level. Simultaneously raking back enough to move up the ranks at Pokerstars in both VIP status and playing level. Gaining Supernova level by June 2011. Gaining Supernova Elite level by September 2012.

The Perks
The implications of SNE are approximately $100,000-$200,000 worth of free stuff, indicated in detailed form at http://www.fpppro.com

The Other Goal
Ultimately...

Becoming a professional tournament poker player by January 1st, 2013.
Oh, and also to keep performing and writing with my two bands (Gentlemen of Obscurity and Roxy Swain) and to continue to move up the ranks in my Martial Arts discipline.

Ok that's all good. How the heck are you gonna do this?
I mean, the Main Goal, smartass.

Great question. I don't even know if it's possible, to be honest. The good news is that I have some data that suggests that I'm a winning MTT (Multi Table Tournaments, where the field is large and unrestricted, but the tournament goes off at a set time) and SNG (Sit and Go, where a set number of players play whenever the maximum number sits down at a single table) poker player. The bad news is that I don't have enough data yet to know for sure.

Some background: I started playing poker (more seriously) in about 2002 at Paradise Poker. After taking a lot of lumps, I read a lot of literature, and ultimately developed into a winning tournament player in 2005. I switched to Stars. I subsequently had a great run of success in 2006, culminating in a 1st place finish in a $320 tournament worth a $20,000 payout.

However, as it is with many poker players, my successes did not necessarily indicate that I had an airtight lock on the fundamentals of the game. As I continued to play, at a more dedicated level, I experienced some humbling results. To be honest, much of it was the brutal swings that comprise MTT variance, but some of it was my own inability to grow as a player at that time.

After my initial success, I was not in a great mindset to learn more about the game. Narcissitically, I decided that my small run totally justified my long-term ability. I crassly (and quite embarrassingly) spoke out on online forums against proven pros, who were attempting to school me in finer points that I decided instead to boneheadedly overlook.

To borrow a phrase from Adam Yauch, on this particular point, I was the dictionary definition of the word spastic.

I pressed. I ran bad. I pressed some more. I ran worse. As good as February of 2006 was for me, you'd be hard pressed to find a worse MTT month in anyone's log than my March of 2006.

Unsurprisingly, over the course of the next 5 months, I lost about 1/3rd of my live bankroll back, and decided to stop playing altogether in late July of 2006, after an unremarkable appearance at a World Series event (no, not the main - and I did play well but got cold-decked). Ultimately, the swings of the game were beginning to severely affect my overall well-being by that time. I was an emotional wasteland, and not all of it was due to poker. I was also going through a difficult separation process that ultimately ended in divorce.

I drifted for a couple of months that summer, but landed squarely on my feet, unexpectedly dedicating myself to the study of the martial art Mu Yae Do. I'm happy to say that in September of 2009, after 3.5 years of dedication, I was awarded a 1st Dan Black Belt in that discipline. As we speak, I've progressed even further, and expect to be a 2nd Dan Black Belt in September of 2011. I digress.

The point is, I have a background in poker, albeit with a 3.5 year hiatus.

In Sept of 2010, I started playing poker again quite unexpectedly. I had not played the game seriously in years, and had no real live bankroll to speak of. However, I happened to be on a Mediterranean cruise, and for reasons stemming mostly from boredom, I found myself in the casino some. Suddenly I was playing a lot of poker, and suddenly I was also discovering something I had completely forgotten. I was actually a pretty damned good player, and an excellent tournament player. Despite a bad structure, I took first in the cruise tourney and won a brisk $1100.

After I returned home, I reviewed my meticulous spreadsheets from 2006. I started getting excited. I could see this working. I am in a better place mentally. I am more mature. I'm willing to plug the leaks. After initially discovering that my cash game STILL needs a little more work in the Poker Hospital, I decided to do a lot of research about what kind of living I could make playing SNGs, something that I had a pretty good success rate at in 2006, albeit with a relatively small sample. After doing the math, I figured out that with the perks of rakeback, and with a dedicated mindset, I might actually be able to achieve making a living doing this quite easily.

So, to make an extremely long story short, I'm gonna do it like this:

So far, I've played 690 6-man turbo SNGs at various levels. My average buyin is $5.43. My average return on investment thus far is 8.04%. I won't get into all the complicated math at this point, but trust me on this...2500 tourneys is considered an iffy range to build a confidence interval of an expected ROI.

Essentially, I won't know if I'm making money for real until January, when I will have played a total of 3000ish tourneys.

However, my hunch is that I'm beating the game pretty well, though. I'm playing better poker than I have in a long time, possibly ever before. I'm analyzing my play - and I'm studying outside of playing. Even in the short time that I've been back, my game has already improved.

Over the next two months, I'm hopefully going to build $1000 to $2200. Playing 2000 more $12 +1 sit and gos, with a ROI of 5% (very conservative for that limit), I should be able to do this. I also earn two $50 bonuses from Pokerstars, as well as FPPs, which can be traded for cash, which can be emergency bankroll supplements if I need them. I'm ultimately hoping to save those FPPs, as I will detail later.

Once I jump to $25s (by january 1st, hopefully more like mid december), maintaining Platinum Star status should be easy, which increases my rakeback status. Once I hit Supernova in mid 2011, my rakeback blows up, and obviously SNE is a whole 'nother universe. In my math (which I will detail in my next post) I dropped my ROI down to 0% once I hit $119s - that's right, I'm not expecting to do anything more than break even. Rakeback pays my entire salary. I turn $2200 in $32000 by December 2011, and $32000 in $150000 by December 2012.

So that's the plan. Now back to 6-tabling...