The Year is Over

2008 is almost over and it was definitely not a successful year for me pokerwise. I'd venture to guess that including home games, a couple of casino trips and some sporadic, low-stakes online play, I lost somewhere between $500 and $1k in 2008. Almost certainly my worst year of poker since I started really taking the game seriously. Then again, I guess I was never able to get over the hump and really take my game to the next level. I can still beat micro stakes games populated with really bad players, but I continually get knocked down when I try to get much about .5/1 online. I'm more or less break even at best in SnGs and MTTs right now and of course, as always, I suck at NLHE cash.

I got stoxtrader's Winning in Tough Hold'em Games for Christmas and I intend to go through that a couple of times in the next few months trying to really understand the concepts. I expect 2009 to actually be a pretty busy year for me with various Air Force training classes and possibly my first real assignment by the end of the year. Hence, I doubt I will have a lot of time to put in a lot of hands of poker or really improve much. My goals therefore are modest. To show at least a 10% ROI in SnGs and MTTs when I play them, to grind my ~$200 online roll up over $1000 and show a profit of at least 1BB/100 at 6max LHE. I'd like to be rolled for and playing 1/2 6max by the end of the year, but I don't know how attainable that is with the time that I will have to invest. I also hope to avoid leaks like playing NL cash online and or shorthanded HORSE. I do think that I have an advantage at full-ring HORSE if I play tight ABC poker, so I may play a bit of that for fun, but nothing too serious. Most importantly, I hope to continue to learn to control tilt and get good enough at 6max that I can play it regularly.