As we near the end of 2013, I thought it was a good time to take stock of my poker play, look for trends, and develop some goals for next year. Also I will look at my goals from last year, and see how badly I failed at them.
For reference, here is my end of 2012 post.
For reference, here is my end of 2012 post.
2013 began with what is becoming my annual swoon in Vegas. I was down nearly 1K after my first 3 sessions. One of those sessions were 2/5 at Bellagio, where I felt that I played very well, but ran into one particularly difficult spot. That hand is detailed here.
I made a recovery in a big 5 hour session at Planet Hollywood on the last night of my trip to end the trip a slight loser, and a subsequent session at Northville Downs left me a very slight winner for the month of January. The session at Planet Hollywood was one where I played like a maniac, and ran over the table, and also made a few big hands vs 2nd best hands.
February saw me play 3 sessions, all winners, including my only 4 digit winner of the year. The details of that session are chronicled here.
March saw me play in the MSPT event that occurred at Firekeepers in Battle Creek. Overall I played poorly in the tournament, I guess my tournament game can get a little rusty after 3+ years of almost all cash play (save for like 4 tournaments). The brief details of that trip are here.
Following that came a 7 month dry spell, both in terms of quality of play, run bad, and amount of play. During those 7 months I played a total of 18 sessions, encompassing all of 59 hours. During that time I'm sure that I played sub-optimally, but I ran horribly. My cryptic notes from those sessions included these gems: Lost $400 pot with AA to QJ got 140 in on turn on Q632 board, Lost AA v KK got it in on JJ8xhh flop, Chopped KQ v QJ on Q62 board, Lost set over set on 1st hand. Running bad in the short term can be real frustrating at times like this, when you aren't getting in anywhere near the amount of volume to reach the long term.
During that stretch, most of my free time was blocked off by family obligations (coaching softball for 9 year old daughter, 8 month old daughter), and playing golf and on my softball team when possible.
I did manage to get in my 2nd ever trip to Foxwoods in July during a family vacation, this one culminating in a small winner in a 3 hour session.
Finally, in November and December, I was able to put together some more time at the tables, as the weather turned colder. It was a break even month until me and the wife took a vacation to Traverse City, and the first night I had nearly a 4 figure session at Turtle Creek. Disappointingly I followed that up by losing a couple of buy-ins the next night. The good news was that my wife managed to win $150ish playing both nights as well, so a good time was had by all.
In December I played 6 sessions, all at Northville Downs, and all winners, making in excess of $70/hr for that time. During that time I still suffered 2 ridiculous beats, but I also got AA what seemed like an inordinate amount of times, winning some big pots with it.
2013 results charts are shown below:
I made a recovery in a big 5 hour session at Planet Hollywood on the last night of my trip to end the trip a slight loser, and a subsequent session at Northville Downs left me a very slight winner for the month of January. The session at Planet Hollywood was one where I played like a maniac, and ran over the table, and also made a few big hands vs 2nd best hands.
February saw me play 3 sessions, all winners, including my only 4 digit winner of the year. The details of that session are chronicled here.
March saw me play in the MSPT event that occurred at Firekeepers in Battle Creek. Overall I played poorly in the tournament, I guess my tournament game can get a little rusty after 3+ years of almost all cash play (save for like 4 tournaments). The brief details of that trip are here.
Following that came a 7 month dry spell, both in terms of quality of play, run bad, and amount of play. During those 7 months I played a total of 18 sessions, encompassing all of 59 hours. During that time I'm sure that I played sub-optimally, but I ran horribly. My cryptic notes from those sessions included these gems: Lost $400 pot with AA to QJ got 140 in on turn on Q632 board, Lost AA v KK got it in on JJ8xhh flop, Chopped KQ v QJ on Q62 board, Lost set over set on 1st hand. Running bad in the short term can be real frustrating at times like this, when you aren't getting in anywhere near the amount of volume to reach the long term.
During that stretch, most of my free time was blocked off by family obligations (coaching softball for 9 year old daughter, 8 month old daughter), and playing golf and on my softball team when possible.
I did manage to get in my 2nd ever trip to Foxwoods in July during a family vacation, this one culminating in a small winner in a 3 hour session.
Finally, in November and December, I was able to put together some more time at the tables, as the weather turned colder. It was a break even month until me and the wife took a vacation to Traverse City, and the first night I had nearly a 4 figure session at Turtle Creek. Disappointingly I followed that up by losing a couple of buy-ins the next night. The good news was that my wife managed to win $150ish playing both nights as well, so a good time was had by all.
In December I played 6 sessions, all at Northville Downs, and all winners, making in excess of $70/hr for that time. During that time I still suffered 2 ridiculous beats, but I also got AA what seemed like an inordinate amount of times, winning some big pots with it.
2013 results charts are shown below:
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| Profit vs hours |
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| Profit vs date |
Also, below you can see the graph of hours played by month.
I've found when I analyze my play, it helps to parse my results by a lot of different categories.
Different limits:
The first thing to look at is my results at different limits. For the year I played mostly 1/2, and a smattering of 1/3 and 2/5. Below are the results.
1/2: $26/hr for the year. (In 2012 I was at $25/hr, in 2011 I was at $30/hr)
1/3: I played one 2 hour session where I got beat for a buy-in. Still not even worth looking at as I only have 19 hours in 3 years
2/5: -$87/hr (in 1 nearly 7 hours session, I never played again for the year)
Different rooms:
My play has been primarily spent at Northville Downs, with the rest of the hours being in a smattering of other rooms.
Northville Downs (53.4% of my play): $45/hr ($31/hr in 2012, $28/hr in 2011)
Docs (19.1% of my play): -$48/hr ($34/hr in 2012, $58.hr in 2011)
I played less than 10 hours for the year in all other rooms.
Session length:
This one doesn't mean a lot. The only thing I really take from it is that I only played 2 marathon (more than 8 hours) sessions all year.
Less than 2 hours (25.0% of sessions): -$1/hr
2-4 hrs (31.3%): $15/hr
4-6 hours (27.1%): $20/hr
6-8 hours (12.5%): $50/hr
8+ hours (4.1%): -$13/hr
2012 Goals (review):
Half of the goals will be evaluated subjectively, but unfortunately that is the nature of the beast when dealing with some of the goals that I put together.
Goal #1: Play 200 hours in 2013.: I need to average 17 hours per month, which is hopefully doable, as the baby gets older. The winter should allow me to get a head start as I don't have any responsibilities such as softball or coaching Abby's teams taking up my time, and I also don't have golf competing for my free time for the first few months of the year.
I fell just short of this goal, putting in 185 hours. This is mostly due to it being a very busy summer, and between April and October I averaged slightly more than 8 hours per MONTH.
I fell just short of this goal, putting in 185 hours. This is mostly due to it being a very busy summer, and between April and October I averaged slightly more than 8 hours per MONTH.
Goal #2: Play 40 hours of 2/5 or higher in 2013. This should be a doable, as long as I am smart about bankroll, don't run awful, and make sure to visit rooms that have this limit available.
I fell WAY short of this one. I only played 1 session, that was back in January, and I never went downtown to Motor City Casino, the only place in the area where 2/5 is consistently offered. A key contributor to this is that I went on a considerable downswing between April and August, which not only affected my bankroll, but my desire to play as well.
I fell WAY short of this one. I only played 1 session, that was back in January, and I never went downtown to Motor City Casino, the only place in the area where 2/5 is consistently offered. A key contributor to this is that I went on a considerable downswing between April and August, which not only affected my bankroll, but my desire to play as well.
Goal #3: Continue to find profitable spots to 3 bet. I wrote an article on it in 2+2 magazine, which was generally well received. Players tend to hate it, and don't properly combat it, and just generally allow themselves to be walked all over.
I still look for this every session, but most of the games I play in aren't conducive to 3 betting light, primarily due to the fact that people aren't playing deep stacked enough. It's definitely still an area I focus on.
Goal #4: Continue to find ways to exploit my position. This is kind of related to #3, in that I want to generally 3 bet in position. But I believe my goal should be to make the player or 2 directly to my right very uncomfortable. If I am not doing that, I am not doing my job well enough.
I really started doing this more at the end of the year, and plan on focusing more and more on it in the coming months. It's very tough to hit a flop, and I plan on playing back at more players, especially TAG's as the cards and situation dictate it.
I really started doing this more at the end of the year, and plan on focusing more and more on it in the coming months. It's very tough to hit a flop, and I plan on playing back at more players, especially TAG's as the cards and situation dictate it.
Goal #5: Once I get a big stack, aggressively target other big stacks. This is one where I feel I could definitely improve. I try to be keenly aware of all stack sizes at the table, and am especially aware of my potential exposure every time I play a hand. What I need to do though is to exploit players who are also aware of their exposure, especially ones who are fearful of playing deep.
Probably a fail, I don't think I was able to play enough deep stacked to really follow through on this one.
Goal #6: I had one article published in 2012 (Low Stakes Live Light 3 Betting) which was published by 2+2 internet magazine, and that I was compensated for. The article remains on the site for 6 months, and is no longer available there. I'm going to start small this year and set a modest goal of 2 articles for 2013.
Definitely a fail. I have started articles on 5 topics, but just never had the time, desire and patience to finish them up to my standards.
Probably a fail, I don't think I was able to play enough deep stacked to really follow through on this one.
Goal #6: I had one article published in 2012 (Low Stakes Live Light 3 Betting) which was published by 2+2 internet magazine, and that I was compensated for. The article remains on the site for 6 months, and is no longer available there. I'm going to start small this year and set a modest goal of 2 articles for 2013.
Definitely a fail. I have started articles on 5 topics, but just never had the time, desire and patience to finish them up to my standards.
2013 Goals:
Hopefully in 12 months time I will be able to re-examine this post to see how I did about attaining my goals.
Goal #1: Play 200 hours in 2014.: This is a repeat from 2013 that I am going to try to make. I do have my 3rd child on the way in July, which is going to make this goal even more difficult to attain, so the goal will be to get a lot of time in during the first 5-6 months of the year.
Goal #2: Play 25 hours of 2/5 or higher in 2013. Also a repeat goal, but reduced in hours from last years goal. Hopefully a hot start in the month of January can kickstart this one.
Goal #3: I feel like I do very well playing against LAG's, but I have identified playing TAG's as a potentially weak spot in my game, and am going to try to focus on attacking them. I just finished reading Playing the Player by Ed Miller, which is an excellent book, and one I would recommend any advanced player to pick up.
Goal #4: Similar to goal #6 last year, I would like to have at least 1 strategy article published in 2014.
Lifetime stats:
1/2: $28/hr (nearly 1000 hours)
1/3: -$22/hr (less than 20 hours)
2/5: -$53/hr (less than 40 hours)
Northville Downs: $35/hr (500 hrs)
Docs: $16/hr (100+ hrs)
Vegas casinos: -$20/hr (less than 100 hours)
Detroit casinos: -$4/hr (50 hours)
Other casinos: $45/hr (50 hours)
Hopefully in 12 months time I will be able to re-examine this post to see how I did about attaining my goals.
Goal #1: Play 200 hours in 2014.: This is a repeat from 2013 that I am going to try to make. I do have my 3rd child on the way in July, which is going to make this goal even more difficult to attain, so the goal will be to get a lot of time in during the first 5-6 months of the year.
Goal #2: Play 25 hours of 2/5 or higher in 2013. Also a repeat goal, but reduced in hours from last years goal. Hopefully a hot start in the month of January can kickstart this one.
Goal #3: I feel like I do very well playing against LAG's, but I have identified playing TAG's as a potentially weak spot in my game, and am going to try to focus on attacking them. I just finished reading Playing the Player by Ed Miller, which is an excellent book, and one I would recommend any advanced player to pick up.
Goal #4: Similar to goal #6 last year, I would like to have at least 1 strategy article published in 2014.
Lifetime stats:
1/2: $28/hr (nearly 1000 hours)
1/3: -$22/hr (less than 20 hours)
2/5: -$53/hr (less than 40 hours)
Northville Downs: $35/hr (500 hrs)
Docs: $16/hr (100+ hrs)
Vegas casinos: -$20/hr (less than 100 hours)
Detroit casinos: -$4/hr (50 hours)
Other casinos: $45/hr (50 hours)
