Poker: How was 2008 ?

My year started out with the best of intentions and had the motivation of trying to make this a breakthrough year (this was my main hope from my previous end of year reflections)

I did manage to stick to my basic bankroll formula and playing on one site (mainly, just a couple of temporary switches here and there) and also didn’t get distracted by trying to satellite into a big tourney….. however still managed to finish the year down $1155 !

Up to the end of march I was $40 up, but April was a definite downswing for me.  I was playing some games like Omaha and Horse (and also started 8 game) which was a bit of a drain on my resources, but really just had a few games at the $33 level which I didn’t cash in on to give a big dent to my funds.    July was a disastrous month for me, as it started with a big win at $22 level so I foolishly decided to try playing a couple of games at $100 level.   I did win the first game, but lost a couple on the trot to give me only a small profit for the month.  Although I did them drop back down to less giddy stakes, I didn’t cash in on the key games and ended up $100 own on the month, whereas I should easily have set myself up for a sizeable profit… oh well lesson learned :-)

October was the worse month, although in fairness I had decided to allocate some specific (extra) funds to risk in order to try and double up to fund a specific purchase I was keen to make.  Unfortunately my gamble didn’t pay off and so my figures are around $250 more than they would otherwise have been…. although still would have been another bad month!

Nov and Dec I am quite happy with my performance and do seem to have had more consistency for these two months.    For the two months combined I do make a small profit and of the 25 days where I played, 12 were profitable days

Overall, I feel I am playing OK but do need to be a bit more careful about sticking to my Bankroll strategy and my game selection.

In 2009 my aims are to firstly stick to the game level I can bankroll and focus on STT.  My MTT will be very restricted so will try to only play one a week.      I will doubtless play some cash games as well, but only low limit NL Holdem.      The games will primarily be Holdem, but do enjoy the HORSE and 8 Game, so will also continue with these but only for low stakes.     I will probably keep an eye open for the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise as am tempted to go for it again in 2009…..