2009 in Review

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jan 5, 2010 in recap | 2 comments

We can finally turn the page on 2009 and what a year it was for poker.  In terms of the industry some pretty big things happened, with some scandals and some huge stakes games played online.  The legal atmosphere didn't change a bit for us here in the United States as it's still murky and gray as we await for something to be passed to let us play free and clear once and for all.  We saw Full Tilt Poker grow and grow and become a serious threat to PokerStars as I predicted in June.  The big sites grew more and a few smaller sites are gone.  We're heading toward a critical mass in online poker with a potential 4-5 huge networks/sites dominating the industry.

For me, 2009 was really a roller coaster in emotion, as the great times were great and the low times were low.  As you all know I love my bullet points ...

POSITIVES

• For all the whining and bitching I did in 2009, I actually ran above EV for the year.  So, in terms of that, I ran well.
• Played more hands in 2009 than I did in 2008.
• I made more money in 2009 than I did in 2008.
• I am a better poker player at the end of 2009 than I was in 2008.
• I have a cool blog and picked up a few sweet writing deals that have paid me wonderfully which I am *very* thankful for.
• I was able to stay at 100nl for he entire year and show a marginal win-rate at about 2.5BB/100 over 100k+ hands.

NEGATIVES

• Grossly allowed my emotions and tilt to get in the way of my progress as a player.  This means that it woefully reduced my volume and ability to learn more in the game.
• Failed shot at 200nl really hurt my confidence which swung greatly during the year.
• Failed to initiate any discipline in my game and put a serious plan together for the year or even month-to-month.
• Got too caught up in poker forum drama and too caught up in threads which basically revolved around running bad.

I didn't spend a lot of time putting those bullet points together because I'm in a rush to update the blog because it's 4 days late.  I think there's a lot to be positive about here but I leave feeling really disappointed.  Am I disappointed at the results or the volume or something else? Not really.  I'm actually just disappointed in myself for getting so caught up in the emotional swings of the game and allowing it to reduce me the way it did.  I really think of 2009 as a lost opportunity for me to grow as a player and develop a game worthy of hanging at 200nl.  I really could have been there.  Instead, I'd monkey tilt and be so emotionally frustrated I'd just "quit the game of poker" for what lasted a day instead of take a deep breath and move on and use the opportunity to learn.  So that's what I'll leave 2009 as unfortunately, but I think it's fair to be a bit cynical about it all now that I've spent some personal time reflecting.  I am really happy I won and showed a profit and stuck with it in a holistic sense, so there's a lot to focus on from the positive side of things as well.

What does this mean for 2010 then?  Well, that's for the next post