2009 Preview
I had intended 2009 to be a real make or break year on the poker front, in that I’d play in a number of EPT and WPT events as well as the WSOPE and WSOP Main Events. However, the fragile economy, crashing exchange rate and uncertainty surrounding my own job, combined with pretty ropey poker performance in the back end of 2008 have curtailed these lofty ambitions somewhat.
I also can’t help but notice that the more recreational players have understandably seen fit to reduce their poker outgoings in the current economic strife, leading to less “value” in tournament fields and cash games. Since this recession is a worldwide problem (although not dear leader Gordon Brown’s ludicrous stance of “all the Americans’ fault”), I imagine the card rooms of Vegas will be slightly less tourist laden in 2009, which again reduces expected returns.
The above gloomy outlook aside, I still have a fairly robust bankroll set aside for 2009. Of course all of this depends on my self discipline in not making other “investments”, but if I can stay away from self inflicted financial havoc, I should be able to make a decent fist on the poker front this coming year.
In a bid to curb my cash game excesses of recent months, I’ve decided to split my cash game and tournament bankrolls. I’ve set aside just fourteen buyins of £150 for the year for cash games, and once that is gone, it is gone. The only opportunity where there are budgeted reloads, will be during the trips to Ireland and Vegas. I hope this will stop my rather relaxed attitude to getting involved in £1k+ pots with marginal holdings, and cultivate a tighter more methodical game. We live in hope ;)
The London tournament roll is enough to play about 8/10 tournaments a month depending on buyin, and I aim to play at the International more often this year to get more exposure to bigger fields.
I’m foregoing online cash for the moment to focus on tournaments, as I feel a have a bigger edge in this area. I may change that later in the year depending on results. My current online roll is already in place, and this will allow regular midweek sessions, as well as a couple of shots at the big Sunday events. As always, motivating myself to play will be key in this area, and it has really been lacking recently.
And then there is the festival bankroll. Always the highlights of the year, my bankroll should stretch to trips to Ireland for the Irish Open, and Vegas for WSOP (although not the Main Event). There should be a lot of Canines (Loose Cannon regulars) making the trip to Vegas this year, so it should be better than ever. Hopefully one of us can scoop a really big result. I also should pop up at a few UKPT Main Events, as well as a Dusk Till Dawn Festival. In addition, closer to home, The International are hosting the London Masters in March, so I aim to play that one as well.
A couple of other goals for the year:
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Take a couple of NON-poker holidays. The last two years I have spent every available holiday out of the sun, in a cardroom in the bowels of a huge hotel, staring intently into another man’s eyes. I owe myself at least 2 weeks of non-poker relaxation this time. My poker performance will be fresher because of it.
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Cut out the ludicrous late nights. I can operate fine on 5 hours sleep. 1 hour is pushing it a bit though.
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Win enough to justify playing the WSOPE Main Event. For me this has now surpassed the WSOP Main Event as the premier tournament on the calender. Nowhere else will you face such a concentration of big name pros, and top internet players. The champion of this event, is the true world champion in my book, as the luck factor is so much less than the Vegas counterpart, due to the reduced field size.
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Stop smoking after Vegas. I’ll be 34 in March, and it really is time to give up or accept that I’ll be dead 15 years ahead of schedule. July should see a downtime in the poker schedule, and this will be the perfect time for me to stop.
So all in all, exciting times ahead. My backers have got 13.5% of all the action, and I’ll be stumping up the rest. Hopefully I can work hard and secure a 4th winning year on the bounce.
I’ll post tomorrow or Friday, once I’ve firmed up the schedule for the first 6 months of the year. After that, Monday will be the first fixture of 2009 - the £60 “Round of Each” at The International.
| PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008 FINAL | |
|---|---|
| LIVE HOLDEM TOURNAMENTS | 2,875 |
| LIVE HOLDEM CASH | 737 |
| LIVE OMAHA | (590) |
| LIVE “PROFESSIONAL” TOURNAMENTS | (7,436) |
| HOME GAMES | (1,314) |
| ONLINE HOLDEM TOURNAMENTS | 54,939 |
| ONLINE HOLDEM CASH | 16,552 |
| ONLINE OMAHA | (140) |
| SUNDRY | 1,210 |
| RAKE | (5,639) |
| Total | 59,913 |