January 2009 Goals

January 2009 Goals:

• Play 60,000 hands
• Watch at least 4 videos
• Have a ptBB/100 of 3.00ptBB/100 or higher
• Steal more from HJ, CO, and Button (total steal percentage of 40%)
  

2008 Results; 2009 Goals

2008 Results:

Unfortunately, my old laptop died and I lost a big portion of my database so I don't have much in the way of specific stats. My goal was to make $12,000 in 2008. I didn't make it but I did make a fair amount from poker in 2008: +$8,398.34. Unfortunately, a large chunk of this was due to rakeback and bonuses. I made $4,395 in rakeback in 2008.

Here is my breakdown by month:
Jan: + 976.04
Feb: - 568.60
Mar: +570.99
Apr: + 1,322.81
May: +68.71
Jun: -1,307.59
Jul: +1,768.78
Aug: +1,073.47
Sep: +1,440.48
Oct: +495.14
Nov: +303.02
Dec: +2255.09

2009 Goals:
Its probably odd considering I failed meeting my goal of $12,000 for poker in 2008, but in 2009 my goal is to make $20,000 from poker. I think if I can get enough hands in, this goal is attainable.

More important than the monetary goals, I want to be at least a 3ptBB/100 and whatever I'm playing for a significant sample of hands.

December Results; Poker Coaching

December Results:

I played a total of 61,115 hands @1.84 ptBB/100. The majority of my hands were at NL100FR and NL50FR.

Overall, it was a really good month. In fact, it was my biggest month of my poker "career" and I broke $2,000 for the first time. My total profit for the month was +$2,255.09 with rakeback.

NL100FR:
Hands: 42,181
Profit/Loss: +1,500.40
ptBB/100: +1.78

NL50FR:
Hands: 13,893
Profit/Loss: +441.10
ptBB/100: +3.17

I took a shot at NL200FR and had a set over set which contributed to losing $282.10 in just 90 hands. After that, I withdrew money to keep me from being tempted from playing NL200FR.

Coaching:
After several (gulp) years playing between NL50 and NL100, I went and got me a coach. Splitsuit ("SS") (a poo-bah at twoplustwo.com) started doing some full ring coaching videos at stoxpoker. I thought he was really good so I checked out his website and learned he does coaching. After a few email exchanges, I decided to do his Leakfinder session where mpethybridge (twoplustwo mod and stats guru) analyzed my stats and then I had a coaching session with SS. Both sessions went very well and I plan on taking more coaching sessions with SS. I'm very excited that I'll get over the hump and start improving vs. playing my same ol' break-even poker.

In the 2000 hands since my first lesson, I'm running at +13.84 ptBB/100 (yes, way too small a sample size and a lot of its probably due to variance, but just the small things I'm doing as a result of coaching is helping).

New Poker Venture

My buddy Andy and I are starting a new online poker website that provides bonuses and rakeback programs for most of all the major online poker rooms. Our site will feature poker news, unique articles, and unique videos. Its still in a beta stage, but you can check it out at:

www.pokernewspage.com

November Results

And another month in which I struggled. I played about 3/4ths of it at 6M, and the last week or so I went back to fullring for a bit. Here are my results:

• 50NL 6Max: 26,601 hands, -$381.05, - 1.43 ptBB/100
• 100NL 6Max: 12,088 hands, -$242.00, -1.00 ptBB/100
• 50NL Fullring: 11,184 hands, +$356.34, +3.19 ptBB/100
• Various other levels
• Totals: 67,773 hands, -$322.46, -0.34 ptBB/100

With rakeback and tournies I played (mostly rakeback) I ended at +$303.02 for the month. That comes out to a whopping $1.42/hour. Woo-hoo!

For the year, I'm at +$6,143 with no chance of making my goal of $10,000 for 2008.

October Results; November Goals

Overall, October was a tough month. I had some huge downswings followed by huge upswings. It was just damn swingy. I got a new laptop and tried to make some videos playing the 6-max tables b/c there is more action. Turns out I was running really good there so I've decided to play some 6-max for awhile (I know, again!). But I was getting REALLY sick of the nitty full ring tables at 100NL, and playing 6-max will improve my pre-flop aggression and post-flop game anyway. So 6-max it is for the month of November (I'm going to try and not switch back to full ring even if I run/play bad - instead, I'll just go back down to NL50 6M).

So here are my results compared to my October goals:

October Goals/Results:

• Play 60,000 hands (at least 80% at NL100 and do not move up until I have at least a 3 bb/100 at NL100). Accomplished. I played 60,583 hands at NL100 Full Ring. I usually played 8-12 tables stacked. For the last week I played 6-max nearly exclusively.
  
• Over 6.0 BB/100. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. No. I was -.076 BB/100 (-.038 ptBB/100 for you PT users). However, I did play 5900 hands at NL50 6 Max and ran at 23 BB/100 (11.5 ptBB/100). I
  
• Hourly rate from cash NL cash games: $5.00. I know this isn't good for NL100, but making it $10/hour (10x what I did in September) seems way too lofty. Ha Ha Ha Ha. No. I actually don't know what it is with Rakeback, but at least it was positive.
  
• Watch at least 1 instructional video per week. Accomplished. I watched a number of videos from both Stoxpoker and Cardrunners.
• Spend 30 minutes reviewing hands. Accomplished (close enough anyway)

While I was a slightly down at NL100 FR, with my Rakeback and 6-max winnings, I finished up $495 for the month. I'm at +5,840 for the year, which is WAY behind my goal. I have to win $5,160 total for November/December to reach my goal of making $10,000 playing poker in 2008. I don't think I have a chance of that happening.

November Goals:

• Play 60,000 hands at NL100 6Max
• Keep an overall aggression number over 2.5.
  
• Have VPIP/PFR numbers for the button for what I have for UTG (encouraging positional awareness).
  
• Over 4.0 BB/100. I think this is reasonable and probably low for what a "good" player can make but I'm not a "good" player.
• Watch at least 1 coaching video per week.
• Review hands daily (no time commitment)
• Be rolled and ready for NL200 6M by December.
  

First Poker Video

Here is a link to my first poker video:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NE2AZIAS

It sucks and I probably played like a donk, but it was fun to make. I did 6M to get more action and I did. Unfortunately, my HEM is screwy and not all the hands showed up. I since fixed it and I ended up pretty good for the session.

Feel free to criticize any of the hands and tell me what an idiot player I am. Feedback is goot.