This seems almost comical in retrospect. I played far more NLHE in the first half of the year - by October I had moved almost exclusively to PLO - and I guess I just don't remember sucking so bad at the start of the year. But I'm certainly happy that I managed a comeback, arriving at breakeven just in time to shift my focus.
And it's hard to argue, results-wise, with my decision to switch over:
Final Tallies:
PLO: +$516.11
NLHE (online): -$7.40
NLHE (live): +$1002
Rackback (all games): +$788.80
O divine rakeback! How you deceive us into thinking that you are some sort of magical bonus, some nuggety treat delivered out of the goodness of Full Tilt's soul.
But before we all start writing poetry and odes to glory of rakeback, I'll post one more number, representing the amount of money I payed Full Tilt for the right to play online this past year. This is my total rake paid (rakeback already subtracted out) - $2132.68.
I pulled my list of 2009 goals up the other day, having pretty much forgotten about them. I think I forgot about them early in the year when I was going through my NLHE downswing - around that time, I had resolved to accomplishing none of my goals, and I had no interest in punishing myself by referring back to them. So I hardly expected to look back at the end of the year and see that I had actually done a pretty good job of reaching my goals. Here's the breakdown:
Quantifiable Goals:
1. Don't go broke (based on my online BR as of Jan 1).
Success, although I believe I was down within my last $100 somewhere in the March timeframe. But I dropped down to 25NL and managed to climb slowly upwards.
2. Play at least 2500 hands each month.
Success. I didn't ever really have a problem with this goal. Although I had some busy stretches during the year, it turned out that my obsession was strong enough to keep me playing even when free time was hard to come by.
3. Finish each month + in profits.
Failure. I underestimated the variance in the game (both NLHE and PLO) and overestimated my ability to play enough hands to climb back up from downswings within a month timeframe. I'm not sure I would set this kind of goal again - a better goal would be to try to limit the number of unprofitable months to just 1 or 2.
4. Withdraw 30% of my profits for each $500 in profit earned (assuming I earn it!).
Success. Although I didn't get a chance to make a withdrawal until September when I won $1k in a PLO MTT. And since then, I've won enough to make another withdrawal but haven't done it yet. So I need to make one more withdrawal to be true to this goal carrying over into 2010.
5. Get my online bankroll up to $2500 and move up to 100NL by the end of the year.
Part success, part failure. Since I shifted over to PLO, I have no intention of playing 100NL in the rusty NLHE shape that I'm in. But after tallying all of my 2009 winnings, I'm pretty close to that $2500 number. So let's mark it down as halfway accomplished - bankroll mark reached, but stake transition declined.
6. Keep accurate records of live play.
Success. Or partial success, since I didn't start keeping record of my live poker results until March. But I have everything since then, and I'm pleased to know that live NLHE is a lucrative venture for me.
Vague Goals:
1. Reduce frequency of crying calls.
Overall, I improved in this regard. If anything, I fold too much now and am susceptible to bluffs.
2. Quit when tilting.
I guess I did okay here - I'm aided by the relatively short sessions I tend to play, which prevent me from chasing losses for a long time after going on tilt.
3. Make at least one biggish score in an MTT. Big meaning maybe $300+?? Hard to set MTT goals since they are hard to work into my schedule.
Success! Unexpected too, since I played very few MTTs. But I had a great run in a PLO tourney back in September, and won well more than the $300 goal that I set.
4. Put together another SNG challenge.
This didn't happen, but we had the Nold WSOP Challenge, which was a blast and which I plan to host again this year.
So there you go, a solid poker year for me, and a good number of goals reached. I'll be back later this week with some modifed goals for 2010.
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