Shipped you off a PM High Wired.

I haven't been able to play much at all through the Holiday. As Xaston is doing, I'm going to make some long and reflective goals for 2008 soon. I'm looking forward to getting back to Vegas and putting some hours in, as well as starting my poker coaching. Only a few more days!

Hope everyone had a great holiday.

2007 in Review

2007 was an interesting year in my poker career. In my overall plan from a year ago, a major disappointment. I was hoping to be overrolled for 5/10 and 10/20, have better bankroll management, and more focus and more hours. I failed at all these tasks. Still, I took a tough year and fought back hard to be in good position for a run at the higher limits.




As you can see from the graph, I was hovering at about even after 50 sessions. This is when I moved to Vegas and finally started to win. I was playing the 2/5NL live and making about 5k a month. Amazingly, 5k a month was not enough to afford my bills, taxes, and build my bankroll all at the same time. Session 105-to-128 was my live downswing where I lost about 5k from around the June and July time. It was excruciating.

My bankroll was diminishing as quickly as my game. I started to play poorly, a rock with no creativity. After every losing session (sometimes even after a losing hand) I would get blood pressure headaches. I only had 7k left in my bankroll. After a month of taking this abuse and becoming scared to play, I realized I had to change something, or I would certainly go broke.

I knew that even if I went on winning at the 2/5 I would eventually not make it. Another bad month or two and I was done. I couldn’t make enough money there to sustain my lifestyle while building my bankroll. I decided I would make another go of it online. It was my last chance. I would play the 1/2NL again and multitable. I thought it was my best shot to break out of this rut and fix my now losing play.

I went back to studying the game. I read 3 poker books in a week, I watched Cardrunner videos, I had good players examine my hands constantly. After all my hard work and decent hours multitabling, I had an 11k month playing the 1/2. I only had 2 losing sessions in the entire month. It was the clear sight of land after sailing in a vast, violent, turbulent ocean for so long.

Sessions 157 and beyond were gold. Since I didn’t have to worry as much about my roll I was able to breathe easy. My game improved tremendously over that time. I’ve been winning at a higher clip live too. I believe I’m a better player now than I ever was before, even when I was a regular at the 5/10 and 10/20.

My bankroll was soaring towards 40k in December when I hit the snag of sending a check to Uncle Sam. I had to send 11k this quarter since I made so much over the last few months, compared to the rest of the year. So now I’m around 23k, playing the 2/4 and 3/6 games online, still playing the 2/5 live but will be playing the 5/10 live capped game soon when I hit 30k again.

2008 and Beyond:

I think 2008 will be my year. I’ve struggled and toiled so much over 2007. Finally I see rays of daylight breaking through, shooting all over this dark path.

Goals:

1. 940 Hours for the Year

This includes live and online play. It’s a challenge for me, especially since I’ll be playing far more online, but I believe it’s achievable too.

2. Study

I’ve been slipping again with my study. Poker is a game of small edges and any knowledge I have that my opponent does not is more equity for me.

3. Coaching

I will begin coaching this year. I realize I can’t play as many hours as a normal job would entail, so I’d like to make that up by coaching during slow poker days.




That’s it. I don’t want to make any proclamations of how much money I will have/make over the new year. All I care about is putting the hours in and playing well. My bankroll will build from that. I don’t know what limits I will end up playing for 2009, or how much my roll will be, but I have high hopes.