January - goals

December:
1) play at least 15000 hands
1a) play at least 5000 hands at 1/2, 1-2 tabling
1b) play remaining 10000 hands at lower limits, up to 4 tabling

Failed! Only 9.5k hands instead of 15k. I just can't play. I have the time but I always find something else to do instead of playing poker. I'll have to work on that.

2) work on further improvement of mental control and avoiding tilt
3) work on postflop game
4) watch StoxPoker videos
5) clear a few kickback bonuses

Success!

6) make at least 1 video each week playing $1/$2
7) review each $1/$2 session

Partial success!

January goals
1) play at least 12000 hands
2) crush $0.5/$1 flhu and move up to $1/$2 by the end of January
2a) increase my win rate to at least +3 BB/100 without rakeback
3) $1000 profit
4) work on my game, watch videos, study,...
5) make a video or two

Monthly update

1/2:
95h, +$21, +11.18 BB/100
0.5/1:
3195h, +$100, +3.12 BB/100
0.25/0.5:
526h, -$4, -1.49 BB/100
Total hands:
3816h

1/2 HU:
132h, -$57, -21.50 BB/100
0.5/1 HU:
5702h, +$135, +2.37 BB/100
Total hands HU:
5834h

I had a few bad sessions last couple of days and my win rate was cut in half. I could blame the cold deck, but I'm sure I haven't played my best game. In a HU game, I need to adapt to my opponents and exploit their weaknesses but I obviously failed. They were aggressive, they were sucking out on me every other hand while capping turn as a 19:1 underdogs but I still think I could have played much better. Im now at +2.37 BB/100, with rakeback and bonus +7.03 BB/100, which is still good considering the huge rake but I'm sure I can and should do better at these stakes.

Total: +$195
Bonus: $164
Rakeback: $172
Kickback: $220

Current bankroll: $2973 (+$751)

2009

Happy New Year everyone.

Last year was a good year for me, at least when it comes to poker. On a scale from 1-10 I'd say it deserves a 6. What's most important in poker is profit and I've made more in 2008 than in 2006 and 2007 together so I'm happy with that fact. Especially since I play the same stakes as I did last 2 years and I've spent ~10% less time playing poker than in 2007 and ~20% less time than a year before.

I'm not happy with the fact I'm still playing only $0.5/$1 and only occasionally $1/$2. This is very frustrating since I was a successful $1/$2 player 3y ago when I started but now, whenever I move up, I'm running so cold it forces me to move back to $0.5/$1. Moving up will be my number one priority in new year, at least in poker.

Other than poker, it was a lousy year, I'd give it a 4. I'm a sports fanatic and spending first 6 months last year rehabilitating from ACL injury was a nightmare. Not because it was difficult, but because I wasn't able to play for my team and we were fighting for a promotion (which we achieved, but thanks to league reorganization).

Here are my poker goals for 2009:

1) succeed at FLHU and move up to $10/$20 before 31.12.2009.
2) achieve a win rate of >3 BB/100 at each level (without rakeback and/or bonuses)
3) play at least 150 000 hands
4) eliminate tilt from my game

5k hands sample

My first 5k hands sample played on iPoker $0.5/$1 fixed limit heads up tables. It sure looks nice :)

Heads up limit

1/2:
95h, +$21, +11.18 BB/100
0.5/1:
2760h, +$99, +3.59 BB/100
0.25/0.5:
526h, -$4, -1.49 BB/100
Total hands:
3381h

1/2 HU:
132h, -$57, -21.50 BB/100
0.5/1 HU:
2910h, +$178, +6.13 BB/100
Total hands HU:
3042h

I've made a switch to heads up limit last week. I've been thinking about this ever since a friend of mine made that switch a couple of months ago and never looked back. His win rate skyrocketed, he plays less than ever and earns more money than ever playing 10/20 flhu. Of course, its not easy to beat these games but he's a good player and is constantly working on improving his game.

I deposited $300 from my bankroll to one iPoker skin and started at 0.5/1. I've already played there 2 months ago with great results but the sample was very small, less than 2k hands. The rake was huge, ~8 BB/100 which is a very high rake even if you do a very good table selection and never play anyone who isn't completely clueless. The one good thing about such high rake is the fact that a good player will never play in these games without some sort of cashback. Thats why I needed a good cashback deal. I finally found one, thanks to my friend and I was ready to make my first step into heads up limit world.

So far so good. I'm doing great but I don't know if I'm running good or I have a really huge edge over my opponents. Over 4.6k hands I have +5.8 BB/100 but I won't draw conclusions until I play at least 20k hands.

Total: +$240
Bonus: $144
Rakeback: $91
Kickback: $220

Current bankroll: $2917 (+$695)

Weekly update 2

1/2:
95h, +$21, +11.18 BB/100
0.5/1:
2760h, +$99, +3.59 BB/100
0.25/0.5:
526h, -$4, -1.49 BB/100
Total hands:
3381h

I've completed one of the remaining kickback bonuses I still haven't cleared and was done in 3 days. I made a $23 profit plus a $120 in kickback bonus and another $64 in signup bonus. Not bad for a 3 day play in micro stakes games. It took me roughly 1.5k hands but those hands were not imported in my PT3 database so I won't count them for my monthly goals.

Total: +$118
Bonus: $124
Rakeback: $38
Kickback: $220

Current bankroll: $2722 (+$500)

Weekly update 1

1/2:
95h, +$21, +11.18 BB/100
0.5/1:
2546h, +$94, +3.69 BB/100
0.25/0.5:
329h, -$1, -0.32 BB/100
Total hands:
2980h

Total: +$94
Bonus: $50
Rakeback: $38
Kickback: $100

Current bankroll: $2504 (+$282)