Poker Story

Hey everyone,
It's been a wild ride getting back into poker after what feels like a lifetime away. Name's Alex (or "RiverRat87" here on the forums), and I've been lurking on 2+2 for years, soaking up the wisdom without ever diving in myself. Finally decided it's time to change that starting today, I'm chronicling my return to the felt, one hand at a time. Buckle up; this might get bumpy, but I'm here for the long haul.
A bit of backstory: Back in my early 20s, I was hooked on online poker hard. Deposited my first $50 on Stars, turned it into a few hundred in micro MTTs, and thought I was destined for the big leagues. Fast-forward through a decade of life job changes, a move across the country, and yeah, some bad beats in the form of real-world curveballs and poker faded into the background. I'd fire up a session every few months, chase that rush, but it never stuck. Until now.
What flipped the switch? Honestly, it was rereading The Mental Game of Poker last month. Hit me like a ton of bricks: all that talk about process over results, tilting less, and building sustainable edges. Paired with my job stabilizing (solid remote gig in tech, nothing flashy), I realized I had the bandwidth to treat this seriously. No more "one last time" sessions that end in regret this is about consistency, study, and turning variance into variance I can handle.