A look back.

It's been a while since I've combined my databases and looked at my results for the last months. In November I was simply running too well to care, and in December I was running too bad to dare. I hope things have settled down now, and I am in the mood to get down to business. To properly focus on the present and future, I need to get the past out of the way, so here is a brief overview of the damage.

I had to end November early when I put up a $12k session around the 22nd. That gave me a great monthly total, and allowed me to focus on more important stuff, namely the computer game Company of Heroes. That came back to bite me though, as I burned most of my November profit in December, struck by a bad case of Nemesis.

January has not been exceptional in any way, but I am making a quiet profit, which is infinitely preferable to the blood sucking, life draining grind that was December.



Of course the harsh jumps around December 1st can be attributed to my forray into the world of 2000NL. My total 2000NL results are unexceptional, it was just a wierd fluke that I happened to have all the good luck bunched up in my first session there. Overall, since November 1st I have been making a little over $100/hr despite a terrible month which I hope not to repeat in the near future. If I include my entire database stretching back to the beginning of September (220k hands), I am up about $185/hr, so I have no reason to be unhappy with my luck. I'll just repeat that for my own sake. I have no reason to be unhappy with my luck.


My all-in luck graph which I mentioned in my whine post in December is just slightly negative since November 1st. Like I have said before, all-in luck is just a small part of the fluctuations that you experience as a poker player. The most interesting thing about my all-in luck is how extraordinary November was. Like any other poker player I didn't consider for a second how lucky I was back then (OK, maybe I did, honestly), but as you can see at one point I was up over $15k compared to my expected all-in winnings. December took care of that statistic quickly, and January has been semi bad as well in that respect. Remember that all-in winnings are not net results, I lose money on all the hands were I am not involved in an all-in situation (because I fold a lot in those hands)

Looking forward I hope to continue producing solid results, as well as continuing developing as a player. While I am happy with my income, I am not entirely happy with the fact that I am at the same buy-in level I was 10 months ago. I hope to focus more on mental and poker skill development in the upcoming months.

Post is getting long so I will finish up with two spectacular plans for the immidiate future: On Friday I am going to Africa. If I survive Nairobi, Kenya, I will cruise Tanzania for a one week Safari, and then spend a week beaching in Zanzibar. Also, I bought a ticket for the European Poker Tour Main Event in Copenhagen in late February, so when I get home from vacation I will have to spend some time playing MTT tournaments again. Later!

I am back again.

It has now been a whole month since my last entry, and a lot of water has run under the bridge since then. I don't know why I even bother to write anymore, since the number of visitors is actually UP since I left the blog. Weird, but thank you all for stopping by once in a while.

I think I owe you a short recap of what's been going on in my poker life during that month. Shortly after my last post, I kind of gave up on poker for December. I actually haven't had the courage to run the numbers, but I certainly ended up over $20k in the red. A horrible result, especially considering that I have never had a losing month before, and that I had gotten used to a monthly profit of 20k-30k.

This is the second time in my poker career that I experience a challenge like that. Last time was in the fall of 2006, when I played Sit'n'Goes for a living and broke about even for 3 long months. It may not sound horrible, you have to experience it to understand how tough that is to go through. Back then my response was switching to cash games which I certainly have never regretted. This time the experience was shorter, but unfortunately more costly. I have no plans to make a radical change such as switching games, but in January I have begun to change a few things that I hope will help me going forward.

One realization that I made during December was that I very often did not want to play poker at all. I had to force myself to sit down and play to get through the downswing. Getting into the habbit of losing had the unfortunate effect of instilling some fear of losing in me. Instead of thinking 100% of how to optimize my play, I spent some of my energy wondering when the next bad beat was going to show up. I honestly don't think it had a huge effect on my game, but every little bit counts. Playing good poker is a delicate balancing act, and while an experienced player will have an easier time playing reasonably well when mentally distraught than a newbie, there is no doubt that optimal poker requires peace of mind.

To achieve this, I have decided to mix up my short handed game with a bit of heads up poker, and perhaps some pot limit omaha as well. This should help me to always have a game available that I can approach with some excitement and energy. When I am running good in the 6-max cash game, I wont need to jump around in other types of games where my edge is smaller, but when I need a break or just get sick of playing the same thing day in and day out, I should be able to change it up. Perhaps it will even help me become a better poker player.

The second change that I have implemented is improved table selection. I don't think that my table selection even now is particularly good compared to some of the guys that I know, but I hope that it is at least passable now. A side effect is that I am playing slightly fewer tables than I did in November and December. I now don't HAVE to play 8 tables if there aren't any fish at 3 of them, whereas before it was almost a matter of principle to fill both screens with tables.

Even so, my January results have not been up to the standards that I was used to before my personal doom switch was turned on December 1st. I am not running super well, but at least I am showing a profit. Until tonight, when I actually did run super well and doubled my result for the month in 4.5 hours. A great session that I have been sorely needing. Yay me! I think I am up about $10k for the month now, so I am well on my way out of the hole. Hopefully the result will be more frequent posting here, to reward my loyal costumers.

Good luck to you all, until next time!