2009 results/reflections, and 2010 goals thread

[nickkaka]

2009 -

I was set for a big year after the last 4 months of 2008 I focussed on my MTT game (after swinging between cash/tourneys/sng's for like 3 yrs) and returned a 70% ROI for those months with like 20K profit for 800 games at an ABI of $35.

Whilst 2009 has been profitable soley on MTT's, I have this stupid ability to give some or most of it back playing cash - but in all honesty have endured 2 long downswings and only a few scores have got me in the black - thats what it is about I guess.

I had the following goals for 2009

2640 tourneys (Played about 1300)
50 Final Tables (Made 64 and counting)
30 4-figure scores (8 so far!!!)

Built a house this yr so used a chunk of my roll for 'life', along with cash losses (chasing stupid points races etc) which means i am still playing the same games i was 12 months ago - and that upsets me. I had wanted to be playing slightly bigger games by now...

Run a finance business and not going pro anytime soon - just enjoying the game for what it is -

Thanks to the following for helping me out immesely with hand analysis, psychology assistance and anything else that I have bugged you about - Jarred (flopnutsonyou). Benn (risk2dupside), Matthawker, Jason (jkcfc), Joel (Strong Play), Puzz.

2010

*Play 0 cash hands (unless its live) - or unless i get good at it (Seriously if anyone sees me at a cash table please remind me of this post
*2400 Tournaments (2 days a week min)
*A live cash (been too long and the 2 I have are worthless anyway)
* Get ABI over $45
* First 5 figure score
* 75 Final Tables

[sal fazzino]

Originally Posted by noggo

Dude, WTF are you thinking?????

Thats $240k guaranteed and your thinking about throwing it in????

just a few points.
-its actually 150k after tax.
-for that money i work a 4week on 1 week off roster in 45 degree heat
-i have a wife and 3 kids that hate me going away
-i made 110k profit in 8 weeks playing mtts
-can anyone think of anything cooler than playing poker for a living?

would love some thoughts/advice

[Al]

Originally Posted by sal fazzino

would love some thoughts/advice

go pro when you dont give this hand is driving me crazy a second thought.

[nawab]

Well this is a interesting thread…Umm my story goes likes this

Discovered poker in mid 07 at university accommodation…went to this poker night organised by a French guy…loved the game instantly and played first free roll at a bar near broadway shopping centre and came third….wow, talk about beginners luck…

Then tried some other pubs and finally settled at Jade….played there till early 08, pretty much everyday (was doing internship that time, so was working full day and playing poker every evening)….I was so hooked…I dint made much money but dint loose much either…it was more for fun and socialising…then stated playing APL and was living in burwood and there were free games almost everyday … anyway cutting the story short, it wasn’t until September this year I decided to make sincere effort to make some money out of poker and see how the results are…played MTT and tourneys at FT and won some games but eventually lost everything by playing cash games or MTT if higher buy-in’s …. Atm ROI is 6%

Then decided to play APPT and went to play the first event…talk about first table….grunter on my right and Joel and some other good players, dunno their name….I was a bit nervous initially and later was over it….I think I played ok but could have done better…I dint play my original game and hey it was my first major live tourney …I know my weaknesses and I will be working on them….Overall had a great learning experience…..

2010

• Build patience and discipline for the long hours of playing poker
• Build my bankroll into five figures
• Play AM and try to win a sat for WSOP ME
• Stick to bankroll management plan
• Make a profit of six figures by the end of 2010
• Find a mentor to discuss my game and take some pointers !!!



I am regular reader of the forum and it is great to see that there is so much active participation from established and up-coming players !!

Cheers


PS: Also, could I ask the mod to have a thread where they publish interviews of established players about their story and the journey they took to become pro/semi-pro…..how did they started, what were there fears, motivations, when did they decide to leave their job and play poker for living….what obstacles they faced and how did they overcome it….what lessons/advice they would give to up coming players….in short share their story….

[Strong Play]

Originally Posted by nawab

PS: Also, could I ask the mod to have a thread where they publish interviews of established players about their story and the journey they took to become pro/semi-pro…..how did they started, what were there fears, motivations, when did they decide to leave their job and play poker for living….what obstacles they faced and how did they overcome it….what lessons/advice they would give to up coming players….in short share their story….

Yeh we might do a "well" type thing in the new year...

[bazooka87]

Originally Posted by kennl

stop berating players who berate others at the tables

[thret]

Originally Posted by sal fazzino

just a few points.
-its actually 150k after tax.
-for that money i work a 4week on 1 week off roster in 45 degree heat
-i have a wife and 3 kids that hate me going away
-i made 110k profit in 8 weeks playing mtts
-can anyone think of anything cooler than playing poker for a living?

would love some thoughts/advice

If you were single I'd say go for it, you only regret the things you do not do. Failure is moot when you are young and single. Married with kids... Is your wife working? There are a few guys I know who play poker as the stay-at-home dad and that seems to work. But there are no guarantees in poker and a family is a lot to risk.

110k is a lot, 8 weeks is not. You have no idea (yet) what that will look like after 8 months or 8 years. I do have a friend who quit his job to play poker and he did not tell his partner (you know who you are dumbass). That's something I strenuously advise against.

[RAWKZ]

Originally Posted by sal fazzino

just a few points.

-i made 110k profit in 8 weeks playing mtts


would love some thoughts/advice

holy shit u should make 700k+ a year without fail

.. in all seriousness you could -EV ... 8 weeks is nothing.. but im sure you realise this.

[SEABEAST]

weird year i guess, started off by spending a month on tour in US so i didn't play at all til feb, then i got stuck in singapore airport for a week with an ear infection and won like 60k over those few days play before going away on holiday again

then i came back and played my first full monday for the year on march 1st and shipped the FT major :]

so i had a real hot start to the year despite being lazy and jaded and stuff, rest of the year online just went solidly well

live tourneys went fairly poorly, got 15th in the Monte Carlo 6-max and 9th in WSOP 6-max each of which had ~500k for first and insanely tough fields from around about 100 players left, so both super fun and satisfying to do well in but disappointing not to get any real money out of

i also chopped the 25k SNG at Vic Champs so I was only a small loser on the year in liveaments plus I won decent amount at live cash

i guess at the end of the year i achieved what i wanted to at the start, which was to completely quit donkaments and to start winning at PLO cash instead (kinda strange that i didn't play donkaments the first two or last two months of the year but played them a lot for the middle 8 months)

also got offered sponsorship deal which was something i thought i wanted for ages, but said no in the end

overall the year was good, happy with my winnings and where i'm at atm.

goals for next year - straight HDs at uni, and i guess $1/hand on the side would be nice?

[Duff85]

Originally Posted by SEABEAST

goals for next year - straight HDs at uni

Waste of marks imo. I've made an art form of scraping by.