Let's do a quick summary. I played the Main Event of the PCA Day 1a today and made it a meager 6 levels into the tournament before my short stack was busted when my KQ failed to improve against AJ. Two hands before dinner break, I flopped a straight with my 67 of clubs after calling a minimum raise of 800. After betting 2100 into 4 players, I was raised and subsequently called by AQ of spades after I put my pile of chips in the middle. With the board reading Ts 9s 8h, I stand as a slight 53%? favorite, so basically a coin flip for 35k in chips. The 2 of spades crippled my stack down to a paltry 6k from starting 30k.
Chips were not easy to accumulate today. The table was very tough relative to fields I've played in the past. I have a pretty good knack for being able to succeed in these tables in the past but today wasn't meant to be. I can pin two mistakes on myself, one where I just leveled myself into calling. This is when I begin to think he thinks I think he thinks I think he thinks when really he just has a hand better than mine. The other situation was typical of the table on a QQ4 board when I bet the button against two players and was check raised. I really needed to see through that, but I folded my TT here and another player paid the player $100 to see the hand. He showed 89.
That leaves 8 days in the Bahamas to figure out what I want to do with myself. I may enjoy the sun or go on water slides through shark tanks or whatever else people do on vacation. There are several mixed game side events that I would actually be excited to play, so I'll probably win one of those. I really want to get to the point where I have that killer instinct at a live poker table. Sometimes I begin to get chatty and see other players as humans and that affects my play. It's a leak and I'll get over it. All other players shall not be seen as friends while cards are being dealt. Poker is supposed to be a social game and what not, maybe it is. The problem with that idea though is that we are all chasing millions of dollars.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
2010 Accountability and Reflection
Putting the words in front of all 10 of my blog readers: I will update this blog more frequently this year. Sometimes I go on these kicks where I feel the need for privacy in life. In this entrepreneurial endeavor you are measured by your recent results and not by how you are playing. It becomes tough when people ask "how much are you making this year?" "how much is your biggest win?" Answering both of those questions answers nothing about how I've progressed as a professional poker player, a competitor, and as a person. The wins are excellent, but if I would have told you that I was one 70% - 30% hand from a life changing moment in poker, you could very easily respond with a Mike McD quote "you don't hear about the guys who took their shots and missed."
To summarize this year, it was a battle. I hopped out of the gate with a 5th place finish in $1 mill guarantee on Full Tilt for $50k. This provides a nice mental cushion for any player being backed on his own. If I learned anything in this business, mental cushions are only as strong as the mind behind them. Rough downswings can shake your bankroll and rattle your cage more than anything. Heading into the WSOP, I was exhausted physically and mentally. May was the toughest month of my poker career. Poker giveth and poker taketh away. Being the month before the biggest tournament in the world, if you would have told me that I was going to have my best financial year as a poker player, I would have laughed at you. That fact alone snapped me into a better mental state. Doing anything for the money in life is stupid, but it is a factor. I remember thinking this is a game I love, one that's supposed to be fun through all the challenges. If I'm not enjoying it, then why the hell am I doing it. Coupled with living in Las Vegas far away from friends and family and the relationships that mean the most to me, I just wasn't happy. June provided a great distraction in the WSOP. I was fortunate enough to put myself in an outstanding position to win my first bracelet. A rough KK vs AK loss for 3x the 2nd place player with 11-12 remaining sent me out of the tournament in the hands down most brutal beat of my poker career. With the flip of one river card my poker destiny was altered, a dagger 4 of clubs making my opponent the nut flush and the eventual champion of the tournament. I made another run in the Pot Limit Omaha $2500 tournament but ended in 14th place painfully short of a 2nd consecutive PLO WSOP final table. The main event gave me another shot at redemption. I made day 4 while never holding over 80,000 in chips until day 4. Just when I started chipping up, another brutal hand (AQ vs KQ river K) sent me to the short stack followed by my AQ losing to JJ shortly after to send me to the rail. While I did book a tiny winner in the overall series, it wasn't enough. When is it ever enough?
I gave a lot a thought about what I wanted to do in my future. Since then, I have moved out of Vegas. September was my second best month ever in poker overall. This also didn't come without mistakes as I believe I made one of my most regretted plays to bust 117th? in the $5k World Championship of Online Poker Main Event. With close to $2 million to first, it's a mistake that I haven't forgot. I focused on becoming a better NL tournament player this year. I believe that I have achieved that in short. I also believe I am a much stronger mixed game player.
I'll get more to results in the goals, but mentally, I've never felt better about poker and life. Many people are ready to fill you with doubts in this world. I learned to laugh and enjoy these doubts because they are that person's own fears about life. There is nothing in the world a competitive person would love to hear than someone else in the world doubting what they can do. Doubts are gasoline to a competitor's fire. I'm fortunate that in the year 2010, I was able to love what I do day in and day out. Balance has been semi-restored to my life. I've never been happier in poker and never have there been fewer FML's muttered out of my mouth.
Now on to the goals from last year.
1. Win a World Series of Poker Bracelet----if the deck cooperates, I would have had a very good chance, 12th and 14th
2. Cash in the main event of the WSOP--finished in top 15% for 3rd time in 4 years, but still have no cash in the main event
3. Win a live tournament--I played a very light live schedule this year, but still remains a goal
4. Win 10 NL Hold 'em tournaments--As it turns out, I won 8 NL Hold 'em tournaments outright. I also won 2 HORSE tournaments and smaller mixed game tourneys. I'm pretty satisfied here.
5. Final Table 100 tournaments--This is a really lofty goal in retrospect, but those tracked by Pocketfives, I'm at 54 for the year. I know there were more in the smaller field non-NL Hold 'em events.
6. Final Table 15 Sunday Majors--I believe this stands at 2.
7. Win a Sunday online major tournament (Tournaments that count on Pokerstars-Sunday Warmup, Sunday 100R at 2:00pm Est, Sunday Million, Sunday 500, Sunday Second Chance, and Sunday 200R, on Full Tilt--Sunday Brawl, Sunday 750k or 1 mill, and Sunday Mulligan---I made a very nice run at it in the Sunday Mulligan late in the year, but it wasn't my day. That was also the last time I've lost a mouse in the heat of battle. Losing 6 showdowns in a row isn't fun at a final table with over 50,000 on the line
8. Win a major series live or online (UBOC, FTOPS, WCOOP) tournament. I had a 4th in the WCOOP Stud and a 7th in the UBOC 100 Rebuy Turbo.
9. Final Table 5 major tournament series both live and online.--This will stand at 2 same as 8
If you look at them on the surface, I could say I missed a lot of goals, but it doesn't feel that way. I'm ready to go for 2011. These goals are all things that I still want. The most notable addition to my own poker goals will be updating this blog more regularly. Even better, I'm in the $10,000 Pokerstars Carribean Adventure Main Event beginning Jan 7th for a meager $350ish dollars. I get a shot at much of the glory right out of the gates. Cheers in 2011 and best of luck in whatever you do.
To summarize this year, it was a battle. I hopped out of the gate with a 5th place finish in $1 mill guarantee on Full Tilt for $50k. This provides a nice mental cushion for any player being backed on his own. If I learned anything in this business, mental cushions are only as strong as the mind behind them. Rough downswings can shake your bankroll and rattle your cage more than anything. Heading into the WSOP, I was exhausted physically and mentally. May was the toughest month of my poker career. Poker giveth and poker taketh away. Being the month before the biggest tournament in the world, if you would have told me that I was going to have my best financial year as a poker player, I would have laughed at you. That fact alone snapped me into a better mental state. Doing anything for the money in life is stupid, but it is a factor. I remember thinking this is a game I love, one that's supposed to be fun through all the challenges. If I'm not enjoying it, then why the hell am I doing it. Coupled with living in Las Vegas far away from friends and family and the relationships that mean the most to me, I just wasn't happy. June provided a great distraction in the WSOP. I was fortunate enough to put myself in an outstanding position to win my first bracelet. A rough KK vs AK loss for 3x the 2nd place player with 11-12 remaining sent me out of the tournament in the hands down most brutal beat of my poker career. With the flip of one river card my poker destiny was altered, a dagger 4 of clubs making my opponent the nut flush and the eventual champion of the tournament. I made another run in the Pot Limit Omaha $2500 tournament but ended in 14th place painfully short of a 2nd consecutive PLO WSOP final table. The main event gave me another shot at redemption. I made day 4 while never holding over 80,000 in chips until day 4. Just when I started chipping up, another brutal hand (AQ vs KQ river K) sent me to the short stack followed by my AQ losing to JJ shortly after to send me to the rail. While I did book a tiny winner in the overall series, it wasn't enough. When is it ever enough?
I gave a lot a thought about what I wanted to do in my future. Since then, I have moved out of Vegas. September was my second best month ever in poker overall. This also didn't come without mistakes as I believe I made one of my most regretted plays to bust 117th? in the $5k World Championship of Online Poker Main Event. With close to $2 million to first, it's a mistake that I haven't forgot. I focused on becoming a better NL tournament player this year. I believe that I have achieved that in short. I also believe I am a much stronger mixed game player.
I'll get more to results in the goals, but mentally, I've never felt better about poker and life. Many people are ready to fill you with doubts in this world. I learned to laugh and enjoy these doubts because they are that person's own fears about life. There is nothing in the world a competitive person would love to hear than someone else in the world doubting what they can do. Doubts are gasoline to a competitor's fire. I'm fortunate that in the year 2010, I was able to love what I do day in and day out. Balance has been semi-restored to my life. I've never been happier in poker and never have there been fewer FML's muttered out of my mouth.
Now on to the goals from last year.
1. Win a World Series of Poker Bracelet----if the deck cooperates, I would have had a very good chance, 12th and 14th
2. Cash in the main event of the WSOP--finished in top 15% for 3rd time in 4 years, but still have no cash in the main event
3. Win a live tournament--I played a very light live schedule this year, but still remains a goal
4. Win 10 NL Hold 'em tournaments--As it turns out, I won 8 NL Hold 'em tournaments outright. I also won 2 HORSE tournaments and smaller mixed game tourneys. I'm pretty satisfied here.
5. Final Table 100 tournaments--This is a really lofty goal in retrospect, but those tracked by Pocketfives, I'm at 54 for the year. I know there were more in the smaller field non-NL Hold 'em events.
6. Final Table 15 Sunday Majors--I believe this stands at 2.
7. Win a Sunday online major tournament (Tournaments that count on Pokerstars-Sunday Warmup, Sunday 100R at 2:00pm Est, Sunday Million, Sunday 500, Sunday Second Chance, and Sunday 200R, on Full Tilt--Sunday Brawl, Sunday 750k or 1 mill, and Sunday Mulligan---I made a very nice run at it in the Sunday Mulligan late in the year, but it wasn't my day. That was also the last time I've lost a mouse in the heat of battle. Losing 6 showdowns in a row isn't fun at a final table with over 50,000 on the line
8. Win a major series live or online (UBOC, FTOPS, WCOOP) tournament. I had a 4th in the WCOOP Stud and a 7th in the UBOC 100 Rebuy Turbo.
9. Final Table 5 major tournament series both live and online.--This will stand at 2 same as 8
If you look at them on the surface, I could say I missed a lot of goals, but it doesn't feel that way. I'm ready to go for 2011. These goals are all things that I still want. The most notable addition to my own poker goals will be updating this blog more regularly. Even better, I'm in the $10,000 Pokerstars Carribean Adventure Main Event beginning Jan 7th for a meager $350ish dollars. I get a shot at much of the glory right out of the gates. Cheers in 2011 and best of luck in whatever you do.
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