2006

Short summary of my poker in 2006:

Party Poker

I was crushing the Party NL games to the tune of something like 12BB per table-hour for an extended time, but that shut down when Party closed to US accounts. (I assume. I withdrew all my funds, but I don’t know for a fact that I can’t actually play there anymore...) I really jump-started my Party play when I did the “cash game challenges” on CT, and proceeded to run $200 to nearly $3000. For me, nothing inspires good play like a challenge and setting goals.

After Party shut down, I kept playing NL cash games on FullTilt and Stars. My results there are much less impressive than on Party. I’ve analyzed my play, and I’ve concluded that the competition is much tougher than on Party. Where did all the fish go? As much as I’d like to believe that each avatar on the screen is the same faceless little ATM machine, there are real players at the mouse and some of them are as good as me, or better. Damn it.

SNGs

I took what amounted to an extended break from SNGs while playing Party NL cash games. After the Party ended, I added SNGs back into my online poker diet. I played a mix of $33, $55 and $75 SNGs. Summary of 2006 results

In the money: about 45%
ROI: about 22%
Total SNGs: 275
Total winnings: about $2500

Yeah, 2+2 posters would jump on this – “Small sample size!” I only play at night, and this is a lot of play for me. I’m happy with the results, and I’ve played enough to be confident that this is not just a lucky stretch. And the trend is continuing in 2007.

From what I read on 2+2, this is a wonderful ROI at the middle levels. My longest stretch without a cash was 5 SNGs, and during some stretches I was cashing 8 out of 10. I usually play only 2 at a time -- anything more and I am completely unable to get a read on anyone at any table, and I rely heavily on my reads.

In December, I learned about “Sharkscope,” and discovered that I have the little “shark” icon on FT and PS. Wheeee. Sharkscope is actually somewhat useful in certain situations, especially in heads-up play. I am absolutely amazed at the SNG losses of some players. Some of them have negative ROI and their losses are into the thousands from $50 SNGs! How the hell do they keep playing?

I really like heads-up SNGs, because they don’t take much time and they really the competitive blood to a boil. I played 65 HU SNGs, and my ROI was around 10%. My specialty seems to be limit hold ‘em heads-up SNGs (yes, limit) – I really like these, and nearly everyone seems to overplay one or two key big hands each game. But 9-seat SNGs is where to really make the money.

Weekly CT Tournaments

My CT weekly tournament performance has dropped. The play there is much better overall, and the regulars are getting better. Its pretty much a crap-shoot each week, because everyone plays solid pre-flop poker and you need to get good cards to go anywhere. There are less players to pick on, and some the players that I used to bully have become better at sniffing out my bluffs. Its still good practice, and I still enjoy looking forward to Thursday night play. The side bets and team play has kept things interesting and competitive.

On-Line tournaments

On-line tournaments require significant luck and extended concentration, and I really don’t have the time to devote to large field tournaments. I’d like to tackle more mid-level buy-in medium sized on-line tournaments (300-600 entrants), but I can’t stay up until 2am or later to finish these. I wish I had time to play more of these, but SNGs are ideal for the time that I can devote. Despite this, my ROI for tournaments was over 150% for the year, due to 2 big on-line tournament scores early in the year for $2000+.

“Taking a Shot” in the Bigger Cash Games

The majority of my on-line cash game losses came from three separate sessions where I “took a shot” in higher stakes games and had very bad nights. On two occasions, I lost tons to horrible suckouts, and on one occasion I just played bad. I would consider the suckouts to be just normal variance at my regular stakes, but the impact is amplified when playing way above your bankroll. If I could erase the losses from these three nights, I would have about $3000 more in my accounts. These expeditions into the higher limits has reinforced basic bankroll management points for me:
(1) play within your bankroll,
(2) beats can happen at any time, even when you’re playing your very best poker, and
(3) if you do take a shot at higher limits, you have to live with the fact that you might erase 6 months worth of winnings in a single session.

2007

So, where do I go from here? Goals for 2007 --

Cash games:
(1) I need to find games as good as Party used to be. Do they exist?
(2) Build the bankroll back to its previous heights. I want $3000 in each on-line account.
(3) Keep playing live cash games at the biggest levels offered locally.
(4) In Vegas, take a shot at a bigger NL game, like $10/20 blinds -- I’m ready for that challenge.

SNGs:
(1) Play more SNGs than cash games on-line. Taking all of 2006 into account, I’ve had better success at SNGs than cash games.
(2) Keep ROI above 20%.
(3) Play 300+ SNGs at the mid levels.

Tournaments:
(1) Keep playing the CT weekly, improve overall results. Primary goal is make final tables.
(2) Occasionally play the weekly Ameristar tournament.
(3) Play in the Wynn Classic $500 event in February.
(4) Play in a WSOP event, around $2000 buy-in.
(5) Play in as many Vegas daily tournaments as I can cram in when I’m there.
(6) Play MORE aggressive in tournaments. I’m starting to firmly believe the strategy of “build up a big stack with LAG play.” It saves time in the long run because I build up a stack to be the bully and last longer (and have more fun), or I bail out early and move on to more lucrative tables.

Other games and other stuff:
(1) Get better at Omaha high.
(2) Get better at 7-stud high-low. I played this occasionally, cash games and SNGs, I like it. Oddly, it doesn’t confuse me like Omaha-8 does.
(3) Find out if there’s another game out there that is like the early days of on-line NLHE, where you can make gobs of easy money.
(4) I purchased a 20” plat-panel LCD TV from the poker bankroll in 2006 (which I now watch while playing on-line – is that a good thing?). I’m aiming to pay for a Dell laptop and wireless connection from the poker bankroll in 2007, in addition to the Vegas trips.
(5) Including money withdrawn for rewards and trips, get lifetime poker winnings to $25,000+ in 2007.