Greetings, fellow poker enthusiasts!
Having enjoyed my stay in the forums after my initial delurking a couple of weeks ago, I decided to start my own blog to document my misadventures in the wonderful world of online poker. First of all, you might be wondering about the name.
The name goes back to an old Brazilian phrase, "a cobra vai fumar" ("the snake will smoke"). It originally used to describe an event that is extremely unlikely to happen, similar to "when pigs fly", and it was famously used to illustrate the unlikelihood of Brazil entering World War II. When Brazilian troops, after a turn of events, eventually did end up fighting in the war, the meaning of the phrase was pretty much reversed and is now used to describe an event that is guaranteed to happen, in a furious and aggressive way. The Brazilian Expeditionary Force was even nicknamed "Cobras Fumantes" (the smoking snakes) in reference to this, and used an image of a snake puffing a pipe as their new insignia.
So what the heck does this have to do with my blog, or poker in general?
In the last few years, I usually had quite a bit of disdain for blogging in general. I actually dropped out of an university course three years ago when I learned that I was supposed to write three blog articles; the mere thought of it disgusted me.
Fast forward to 2014, and once again, things have changed, and here I am writing my first blog post. But if anyone had asked me three years ago whether I'll ever start writing a blog, I could have said "I'll start blogging when snakes will smoke", assuming I would have been familiar with the original saying.
It can also be seen as a metaphor for my past and future development as a poker player. Thinking back to my first few days playing online, even playing semi-decently at the level I do now seemed as likely as snakes starting to smoke a pipe. And the same could be said about the idea of me playing and winning at the limits I want to reach eventually. It seems inconceivable right now, but who knows... maybe this snake will start smoking again...
I guess it would make just as much sense to call this blog "pigs will fly", but a smoking snake makes a much cooler mascot than a flying pig, doesn't it? 
Plus, according to the Chinese zodiac calendar, we're actually living in the year of the snake right now (not for long, it'll end in like 2-3 weeks, but still...)
My goals for this blog:
I mainly intend to use this blog as some sort of personal diary for my (hopefully successful!) poker career. In the past months, I noticed that I still have quite a few leaks in my mental game – I feel unstoppable when things are going well, I beat myself up when things are going downhill. In this blog, I plan to document what went right and wrong in each session, and look at it from a more rational and analytic perspective than I used to do. I'll also probably talk about what else is going on in my life from time to time, since I felt like I've had troubles finding a good balance between life and poker.
Discussion is highly encouraged; I know a lot of you guys have been there, done that, and will be able to offer loads of valuable advice. 
About me:
I am a 25 year old university student living in a small town in the middle of Germany. The degree I'm studying is called BA Anglophone Studies (it's about the English language, literature, linguistics, etc.), so unlike most of you guys, I don't have a mathematical background – maybe that explains why I suck at poker :f_wink:. My studies are almost done, the only thing left for me to do is to complete an internship, so I decided to move back to my parents' home for the time being. That also means that I should currently have enough time to get a good amount of grinding done. ♠_cool:
When I first started playing poker at 888 in 2012, I had very little knowledge of poker, and even after improving, I still followed some seriously maniacal bankroll management (DoN for rollz!! ). Sometimes the risk paid of, but I eventually came to realize that this is not the way to go. Later that year, after squandering the sorry remains of my bankroll at a blackjack table, I deposited $50, won an extra $10 by betting on Obama's re-election, and finally began some disciplined grinding, forcing myself to always stick to correct BRM. It was a bumpy road, but by the middle of 2013, I managed to turn that $50 into $350, almost exclusively playing SnG's.
After hearing good things about PokerStars, I decided to cash out and move over there; unfortunately not before losing $100 on my last day at 888 by accidentally registering for a high-rollers MTT when I wanted to play in one last $0.40 tourney... 
Anyway, I deposited $200, bagging my initial investment of $50, and continued to grind micro stakes SnG's. Failing to make a good breakthrough, I eventually grew tired of SnG's and moved on to cash games - prefering Zoom tables over traditional ones - which is what I still play today. Things were looking nicely in last November, when my bankroll went up to $550 at one point, but after heavy swings and my aforementioned mental game leaks, only around $365 is left as of today...
Stay tuned for my next post, where I will cut the crap and actually talk about my game and my goals for this month.
And don't worry, I do not plan to write a freakin' novel every time. 
.When I returned a couple of months later (looking for new material), I clicked on forums by accident, seen something that interested me and became a lurker.
Get my bankroll back to over $400
Get rid of some of my more obvious mistakes
Go out jogging at least three times a week. Gotta get back in shape.
What can I say? My work attitude is pretty "Caribbean", to put it nicely. I do plan to set it up on this very day, though.
)