Another year goes by

So im back home and after an enjoyable xmas period am sat on my ass a little heavier pondering the year gone bye. December has been pretty decent, up $14k in online cash games in 16k hands and up £2.5k in live cash which i played after i busted the monte carlo event midway through day 2. Finished about 50th of 250 or so, had chips omst of the event until around 70 left where i lost AQ to QT AIPF for a 200k pot, which would have given me a 300k stack (easily top 3 at the time) and a chance for a deep run. I played really well so can't complain and its just a matter of keeping the faith. Ive also managed to bink an EPT seat to Deauville which starts on 25th January after putting in a sunday MTT grind. My 1st online MTT grind in forever and although it started appaulingly i managed to bink this seat and go deep in a $22 cubed on stars and a $75 on tilt. As a result one of my goals will be to grind at least 20 sunday MTT sessions as i think i may finally have the patience and willpower to play online MTT's.

This year pokerwise has certainly been a game of two halves. Pre vegas and Post Vegas.

Pre Vegas i'd had a bad year breaking even in midstakes cash games, winning nicely in live cash games, and bricking live mtt's (although this was a common theme throughout the year). The highlight was winning a $33r 6max mtt for around $5k and in April winning the $215 HU tournament for around $16k.

Vegas itself was a blast, i did well in cash games at 2/5-5/10 (made $5k+) but bricked 3 tournaments i played inc ME where i bought 1/2 my action so i certainly ended the trip down after expenses.

2010 Monthly Breakdown.

January- $9k profit online in 45k hands (approx $2k RB), + £630 live cash 1/3 session

February- -$5416 online in 47k hands (approx $2k RB), + £922 live cash in 6hr 2/5 session. Approx £800 down in UKIPT MTT's

March- $11.5k profit in 40k hands (approx $2k RB), +£1k from live cash games. -€2.2k from IPT Nova Gorica MTT, +$5k from online $33R 6max MTT.

April- B/e + $2k RB, + $15.5k MTT score, -£2.8k in live cash

May/June/July- Hmm failure to blog so no records, but IIRC i made no more than $5k from online cash games and made approximately $8k from live cash games inc Vegas. was probably down in the region of $8k from Vegas mtt's and Nottingham UKIPT.

August- +$5k in 22k hands (approx +$500 in RB) Switched to HU here, +£3k at 2/5 cash, -£300 from DTD Deepstack MTT.

September- +6.5k profit in 15k hands (approx +$350 in RB), -€2.5k in Live mtt's in Ireland across UKIPT and side events.

October- +15k in 19k hands (approx +$400 in RB), +£4k in a few live cash sessions. -£1.5k in HU EPT mtt.

November- +$18.2k in 18.5k hands (approx +$400 in RB) + £500 in live cash, -1.5k for World HU mtt.

December- +$14k in 17k hands (approx +350 in RB), - £2.5k in live cash, - £750 for DTD monte carlo event.


So very roughly my figures are:

Online cash games- + $78,784. Pretty dissappointing but given how the last 6months have gone im reasonably happy with things going into 2011

Rakeback- Very rough estimate of $12k. Alot lower than last year naturally as from August onwards ive played solely HU cash.

Online MTT's- +$13k net profit + EPT deauville package. played less than 200 MTT's this year managed 2 wins (1st 5 figure score) so a fairly pleasing effort.

Live cash games- +$15,331. First year playing live cash semi regularly went well apart from a couple of £5/10 sessions towards the end of the year.

Live MTT's (aka my kryptonite)- -$21,690. This figure is likely worse since ive ran bad at staking and the expenses gathered on getting to these events.


Overall it works out to be a Net profit of $97,437 which is way short of my original goals, variance hasn't been kind at Live mtt's. Having said that ive done remarkably well post Vegas and with an EPT package in the bag im hoping to get off to a flyer in 2011 and will be looking to outline my 2011 goals early in the New year. Have fun everyone!

Uncertainity in the online poker world!

Over the past few days i've found myself pre-occupied with the uncertainty around the future of online poker. Those of you aware will have heard that Senator Reid is intending on attaching a bill to regulate online poker to a greater bill, which will see Americans free to play online poker again.

However, all is not as it seems. A 15month "blackout period" will insue meaning US players won't be allowed to play for this period so that online poker sites have a level playing field (Seems the big casino players MGM and Harrah's are throwing substantial amounts of money at this having seen the success of stars/FTP). On a purely selfish note this is likely to have a huge effect on the games with traffic been more than halfed. Granted im not a huge grinder but it is a worry and i feel sorry for those big grinders like Nanonoko and Gregy in the US who really will have big decisions to make if this passes through.

Another bone of contention is the lack of clarity after the 15month blackout period. Rumours are circulating that stars/FTP will be frozen out of the American market for a further two years (almost as punishment for accepting US players whilst poker wasn't regulated in the US). At A-level i studied abit of American Politics and i remember all the beaucracy, back scratching and corruption that is a result of a proportional representation electoral system. Throw in an industry where money is like confetti and those with the deepest pockets (Harrah's/MGM) and there perogatives will prevail.

Enough of the depressing stuff anyway. November was great made about $20k online in 18k hands. Live didnt go well, i dropped about £5k in two sessions. Running a huge bluff in a 3bet pot which wasn't great for £5k pot and losing set under turned set in another session for a £5.5k pot. Can't complain things are going well. December has followed in the same vein up around $7.5k in 5k hands, so hopefully i can churn out a decent month before the sky falls.

Next week im going to DTD. Still debating whether to play the Monte Carlo MTT or just play live cash. I'll make a decision nearer the time hoping i don't downswing to hard between now and then.

Looking towards next year, i may have to play live alot. I currently intend to play IPT Lugano (15th Jan) EPT Deauxvile (25th Jan) and Stars Estrella Madrid (2nd Feb) assuming i can sat into 1 or 2 of them. I'll almost certainly play all 3 if the blackout period is in place by then.

Got friends visiting this weekend for Sunderland vs Fulham match. Probably won't be a classic but looking forward to seeing m8's i aint seen since before Vegas (Aint been home since June :S). After DTD i'll head str8 up north for Xmas celebrations and hopefully a good few boozy nights in Newcastle/Durham.

Lets hope we have good news in the coming days.

JP