Hi everybody,

This will be the first blog entry I have ever made.

As an introduction to who I am, I'm 27 years old and my name is Ben. Like most of you, I am a very very average kind of guy that happened to be at the right place at the right time, and happened to be good at whatever it was that was put in front of me (or rather, relatively good). I guess what I did quite well, in retrospect, was to take advantage of it.

There will be a couple of you that know me under the name Boywonder on twoplustwo. Throughout the last couple of years I have posted a couple of brags which led me to get in touch with a few of the training sites which led me to get in touch with the guys at Leggo.

After 3,5 years of grinding, I have finally decided to join. For a person that has been such an introverted learner with basically no pokerfriends and having watched not more than maybe a handful or so training videos and has never posted in an online strat forum in his entire career, it´s a pretty big step. I'm curious to see what you guys think about it, but also what I'm gonna think about it. I think I´ll like it, in which case I´ll be here for quite some time if the guys will have me, but I might hate it in which case I won't. Might as well start the blog off with some honesty

I provide for myself and my family playing primarily 6-max No Limit. These days I play 5-10 and 10-20. For any of you guys that are familiar with me from twoplustwo, there are a couple of things that I adress over and over again. First off, I really believe that anybody reading this, with reasonable intelligence, could make 250 k or so a year playing poker. Secondly, I believe that what differentiates a 1-2 NL grinder from a 10-20 grinder is mainly the ability to focus, emotional control, selfinsight, and the other "soft" values of poker. I believe that these soft values can be taught.

As for the hard or technical aspects of poker, they can be taught as well, and I guess that's what you guys are here spending your hard earned dollars to learn. So the results of the people you pay to teach you are very relevant. And poker is fresh produce. If I have been a big winner up to this point but find myself a losing or breakeven player in 2010, I will quit. That forfeits my right to put my name out there and charge money for my services, even though I may still be a great player or a great teacher. That's just my opinion, and I know many don't agree. I think you guys should hold me to these standards.

I started playing poker in sept. of 06. I started playing cash games in January of 07, and went fulltime pro in March 08. So far I have made 7 figues playing poker winning at almost 5 ptbb lifetime (most importantly, winning at that rate now, this year). But my proudest poker achievement is that my biggest downswing doing this has been 22 buy-ins, or 22 k. Some may call me risk averse. Some may say that this has come at an opportunity cost. I may even agree with them. But poker never owed me anything, nor was it ever there for me to boost my ego or drive around in a Lamborghini (coincidentally, nothing wrong with either). For me, it was there to provide a steady income and a better life for myself and my family.

Here are the most recent graphs I posted on twoplustwo:





I want to end with you guys asking yourselves what you saw or see when thinking about success in poker (if any, some may think that poker encompasses many things or only think abstractly around it). think about the motivators. As I said, for me, especially in the beginning, there was quite a clear vision of a steady income, college funds, a house with a garden, my fiancée and family being comfortable. These became my motivators. I think for some, there was a vision of playing the nosebleeds and climbing to the top of the mountain, that would in turn take care of the life stuff by itself (a vision that I never had.) Whatever your answer it's the right one for you, and should dictate how you prepare, play and plan you career.

See you guys around,

Ben