Out with 2009, In with 2010

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

Your humble blogger made it a full year and survived to see yet another New Year’s Eve mostly intact and relatively sane. This was my first full year living on income derived strictly from poker. Everyone knows I’m a below average poker player so we know it didn’t come from any major score or 365 days of successful cash game grinding so it must be my other projects keeping me afloat.

I did however finish the year in the black which apparently is more than most players can say in my range. I started the year with the Chris Ferguson Challenge and the bankroll is steadily climbing north although I get some occasional action above the recommended levels. It’s the bloggers, if there is a game going I need to be involved purely for entertainment sake. The first half of the year I spent grinding away at tiniest of the micro-level cash games and ended the year with the 6-max SnG’s courtesy of the Sit n Go Madness promotion. Those tournaments are not for the faint of heart or those with severe tilty tendencies.

It’s not uncommon for folks to meet the new year with resolutions for improving their life, family, etc, etc. I find them all silly. Why must a date change from December 31st to January 1st be a reason to change something which should have done before? Quit smoking, quit drinking, quit bluffing into the mortal nuts, quit acting like a ‘roid raging Hellmuth at the tables for no good reason. They all seem reasonable and it shouldn’t take a year change to get them done.

While I will not be making any such resolutions this year, I will be setting myself a few new poker goals for the coming year. Poker gods willing I will reach them before my head explodes. These micro-limit games are really as frustrating as you’ve heard. Without further ado, here’s what I have in mind for the first year of a new decade after the jump:

- Bankroll management: As mentioned before, I have a hard time staying away when my blogger brothers and sisters sit down to any sort of cash game. I have the money to play in the game but it is -EV for the roll but +EV for enjoyment. I have dumped a bunch of mindless pennies down the drain to kick back with my friends but I will try to keep it a little more sane in 2010. That also goes for the occasional blogger tournament but no promises here.

I will begin the new year getting myself back into the steady grind of the teeny tiny cash games and attempt to show some restraint. I’ve removed all my hand histories to an archive folder and will begin anew tracking my progress. Most likely starting at midnight on New Year’s Eve since I avoid being in public on this most unholy of amateur drinking nights. I’ll mix things up with a combination of limit and no-limit plus continue with the sick 6-max SnG’s which contain players with an apparent alergy to keeping their money.

This will certainly be the first resolution I break and probably quickly.

- Ironman Challenge: It won’t be easy at the levels I am forced to grind, but I’m going to give it my best effort to reach at least the smallest level of Ironman status starting in January. With my schedule, this resolution is not a given. My last two weeks of this month will be stacked full of live tournament reporting, blogging, and playing. The rest of my winter/spring will include travel plans stretching from Philadelphia to Florida with stops across the country. It will take some dedication to hit the tables on a regular basis to make this happen.

- Live poker: It’s sad that I don’t play more live poker than I do. My home base is just a short drive down the AC Expressway to the Borgata and I spent over two months in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. Yet I barely played a live hand that didn’t involve joining my friends for insane push-monkey poker for fun instead of profit. I had one decent score this December playing in the WPBT blogger tournament (a sitll disappointing 2nd place finish) and a few of those donkey cash games saw me pull off a decent amount but this needs to improve.

With my schedule taking me to the Borgata Winter Open in a few short weeks, I plan to take a nice chunk of bankroll and spend my “off work” time grinding away at the juicy Limit Omaha/8 “pink” game or the other games chock full of Jersey fools. I will also get in some of those crazy cash games running at the Rio during the 2010 World Series of Poker. It was brutal watching the steady stream of players blasting away their bankrolls at limits beyond repair and not get a single piece of the action. Promising games seemed to be the 5/10 or 10/20 LO8 or the head turning 2/5 PLO in the casino poker room.

This will be an easy resolution to keep. I love playing live and just need to remind myself to hit the poker room instead of the B-Bar/Shutter Bar/video poker.

- Daily Dollar Challenge: Something I’ve been kicking around over the last few months and I’m about to roll out. It will help me get my blogger poker fix but keep me well within the Chris Ferguson Challenge parameters. Myself and a handful of bloggers, players, and friends are going to start playing the Daily Dollar tournament on a regular basis and compare results. There is sure to be some sort of reward at the end as well as many prop bets which will probably involve tattoo ink, strange attire, and/or mass quantities of alcohol.

Anyone is welcome when I kick this thing off, feel free to leave a comment if you are interested.

- 2010 World Series of Poker: This summer was my first year covering the WSOP for “The Man” and I think we can realistically give my results a solid C-, maybe a C if grading on a curve. When I find myself out there again this summer I will have a clearer idea of what to expect and always looking for suggestions on how to improve the information I am bringing to the masses. Better photos, better stories, better access to everything you want to read about. I’m even going to try and put together a video or two.

I will need as much reader assistance to help me keep this resolution.

There you have it. Nothing too spectacular (or terribly entertaining but it’s an off week for me) but those are a few goals which are easily reachable if I keep my wits about me. If you have any poker goals or resolutions feel free to drop them in the comments. I may even make an unofficial resolution to keep the blog up to date with my other resolutions. Unless that’s a paradox and then I won’t.

Happy New Year to all my chip slinging, donkey felting, button mashing, lemur slaying readers and players and friends. I will see you on the other side of 2010 and will try to make it a great one.

Cheers.

Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail