April recap and May goals

April was, as you may have guessed by looking at my graph, a pretty rough month.

I did not play much and whatever poker I did play did not go too well. I've started reviewing some sessions, something I definitely don't do nearly enough of. The downswing I'm on seems to be the results of a bit of variance (like for example I seem to hit sets less often than I should, and they don't seem to hold much), and a whole lot of bad play.

This whole thing left me apprehensive and I found myself hesitant to play. That showed in my play volume. That said, I had a good session recently and it was enough to give me back the urge to play.

The good news is that bad play can be corrected. Already since the beginning of May I've posted a few sessions where I felt a lot less "spewy". I will most likely pay myself a coaching session pretty soon to help me spot some stuff that I do that are costly.

Now, what are the goals for May?
- Play at least 15,000 hands of online poker.
- Post a winning month
- Get a coaching session
- Start reviewing my play more
- Start participating on the 2+2 forums again.
- Update this blog more frequently

2008 recap : falling short

Well 2008 has come and passed, it had it's big ups and down both in poker and in life and now is the time to take a good hard look at the year and think about the future.

At the beginning of 2008 I set a few goals for myself.

Move to NL25 before this summer and to NL50 before the end of 2008

Well I did manage to move up to NL25 around May, but as the clock hit midnight and 2008 was a thing of the past, I am still an NL20/NL25 player, my bankroll being a few buy ins short of moving up. Part of me is telling me that I should cut myself some slack. My father's sickness, moving to a new condo and having my laptop stolen sure took their toll on my playing time and who knows if I would have made it if not for these events.

I still managed to take a few shots at NL50, and bonus whoring combined with the renewed motivation I have should put me back there pretty soon.

Play live games on a more regular basis

That one I just let go. Went to the casino a few times and quickly grew tired of the electronic tables the Montreal and Gatineau casino spread (yeah, I know, the Gatineau casino is now spreading real tables and the Montreal one should be doing so soon too). I frequented a few poker rooms in Montreal and had fun, but it's my feeling that "poker rooms" attract poker players, while casinos attract, well, anybody. Hence I don't feel that playing in poker room is as +EV as playing at the casino.

So with all this I just decided to let that one go.

Develop a game studying routine

Did I manage to do that? Yes and no. For quite a while I was participating in frequent session reviews, posting hands on forums, reviewing my own play and the play of the regulars I meet often. Then I just stopped. Right now I'm trying to get back into it all but I have to list that one as a fail.

Put more serious time in another game than NL Hold'Em

Again that's a mixed one. I spent some time on the Pot Limit Omaha tables and read a great book on that game. I still love that game and I'm pretty sure I'll keep going back to it from time to time. That said, if I want to be honest with myself, I did not play as much as I intended when I stated that goal. I guess that's one of the good things about setting goals, with hindsight it helps reassess your priorities and where you're really at.

So, what to make of all that? 2008 was mostly a good year for me poker-wise. Reading back my archives I see how far I've come (and how far I still have to go!). Sure I fell short a bit, but one year ago I was barely playing NL10, now I'm on the verge of playing NL50 and that is despite everything that life threw at me.

I am proud of what I've achieved, thrilled about what's to come and ready to face the challenges of 2009.

A quick overdue update

Since the start of December I've been focused on playing as much as possible and that has taken a toll on how often that blog is updated. So since I wouldn't want to let you down so close to Christmas, here I am!

Other than the last few days, I've been playing with the same routine since the start of December. Log on in the morning and play for about an hour before going to work, then play a few more hours in the evening when I get back home. The results have been less than stelar as I'm currently down about 2 buy ins, but I've been putting up a lot of hands which was one of my goals.

After not playing for so long, I felt that getting back into it was important and I felt that playing a lot (for me anyway... pretty sure some readers play my monthly amount of hands every day!) would help me shake the rust faster and get my mind back to think about poker a lot.

The good thing about shaking the rust off now is that bonus clearing is keeping me in the green. I most likely won't reach my goal of playing NL50 before the end of the year, but I should end up relatively close. Especially if I can start winning friggin coinflips!

I'm back!

At last! Got my new laptop last friday so what do you guys think I did this week end?
To use SplitSuit's expression, this week end it was back to grindcore!

Played quite a bit and managed to fight through a day filled with coolers AND a major leak I have right now (just due to me not playing much in so long... easily fixable) and still managed to stay about breakeven.

So, how does that forced hiatus influences my yearly goals and expectations? Well, it doesn't. Sure, it will be harder to reach all the goals I had set to myself, but it is still possible. And as long as it's possible, I will push hard to reach these goals.

So here they are, my goals for December :
- Play 15K hands of online NLHE
- Get my BR to a point where I can take another shot at NL50

That's it. Only 2 goals for December.

No computer, no recap, no goals...

Normally this would be the time where I reflect on last month's goals and set new goals for myself for the coming month. Well still being without a computer at home, no goals for me right now other than try to squeeze as much poker as I can.

In the last month I've started clearing a bonus on CD poker and took my first shot at NL50. Things went OK at NL50 and as soon as I get a computer at home this is where I will still try to play. I lost a bit of money but nothing worth panicking yet. I think the little I played at NL50, I played pretty well. Hopefully as soon as I can start playing again things will settle. Worst case I'll step back down for a while at NL20.

In the meantime I might go take a look at Montreal's various poker rooms and maybe even go back to the casino... We'll see I guess...