2011 is the year that is going to make or break me as a poker player. This is the year that I’m going to make a real go at building a bankroll into something that matters. I’ve been grinding sideways (as my brother puts it) for years now and my results in 2011 will decide whether I am going to pursue poker as a revenue stream or just continue to be a recreational player.
About Me: I am a highly experienced amateur player. I have played some form of poker since I was 5 years old (I’m 40 now). I have had online poker accounts since around 2004 with my first forays into real money play in 2005 (I think). I have enjoyed some successes and failures but have maintained a small bankroll of no particular consequence for many years. I am small time to the point that I have had many meals in my life that cost more than my entire poker bankroll.
My Goals: In 2011 I plan to post a profitable year and improve as a poker player. I think I am going to leave it rather vague as I don’t want to draw a line that says I need to have 10k (or whatever) in my account by the end of the year or I quit. That’s not the purpose of what I am doing. My main purpose is to get disciplined, fix my leaks, and learn how to continously improve my skills while posting a profit. If I have only made a few hundred dollars by the end of the year, but feel like I’ve solidified my game, I will take that as a win. If you look at my Sharkscope, I’m a losing player. I was looking at that not to long ago and feeling a little bummed by it. I soon turned to rationalizing it. I was thinking that what I have lost is a fraction of the rake I have paid over the years, so I’m beating the games, just not the rake. I hope you spot the BS in that way of thinking. The rake is part of the game, too. If you can’t beat it all, you are still losing money and it doesn’t matter who is getting it. I’m pretty sure that SharkScope is missing some wins and since they didnt keep track of MTTs until fairly recently, I have lost less than what they say. I’m not precisely sure how much, because I haven’t kept good records, but I haven’t deposited that much money online, so the discrepancy is in the hundreds of dollars.
My Game Plan: I currently have just slightly under $200 in my FullTilt account. My wife agreed to let me invest a few hundred more dollars into online poker so I think I’m going to put up another $600. Originally I had planned to spread $200 each into PokerStars, UB and Doyle’s Room, but I’m starting to question the wisdom of that. I get rakeback on Doyle’s Room and the games are soft, but you have to play whatever is available there since it doesn’t have the same traffic as FullTilt or PokerStars. I’m going to have to ponder on this awhile.
I’m going to focus on SNGs and MTTs mostly with some micro stakes cash games thrown in just to learn. I currently suck at cash games and it is definitely a growth area for me.
I want to learn to use the different stats trackers (I have Poker Tracker 3) to analyze my game and look for improvement. I have all kinds of information available and use next to none of it. Huge leak in my game there.
I’m going to use CardPlayer.com as a resource for my development this year. I will input my play and use it to track how I’m doing, plus use the blogs as a sounding board for my ideas. It should also help me order my thoughts and keep the focus on my primary goals.
That’s enough for now, I hope to see you at the tables.