blonde poker forum

This year is coming to an end and what better to some up our own year of poker.

My own personal year has been pretty poor. I haven't recorded most things, but see a small loss of around £1k, after not cashing much in the local games & perhaps not playing much either. In the local games we've seen a handful of £1k-£2k cashes, whilst a small one at DTD.

Even though we have made a small loss over the year, we have been able to play some bigger events out of my own pocket, those being the £150, £336, £560 deepstacks at DTD and thoroughly enjoyed. I also played the Nottingham leg of the UKIPT & also the Sheffield Leg of the GPS.

The year as a whole pokerwise has been OK, as it has been the first time I have played bigger stuff.

I don't play online & can't remember any numbers playing cash. Looking foward to 2013.

Least amount I've ever l played this year due to having a baby and unsurprisingly least ive ever won.

Very small winner online.
Breakeven live

3 FTs/12 live comps, out early in all of them

2012 ain't over yet though, live comp lucky number 13 next week. Legooooooooo

First year in poker without a big score(>8k) (albeit I haven't played a great deal)

Played live for the first time this year. Set myself a target at the start of the year to satellite in to live games and played about 8 that i have got in to plus 2 local small buy ins. Cashed twice (13th both times) but played way too many tournies online and not kept an eye on my bankroll.

Had a good last 4 weeks online final tabling 5 times in small buy ins.

Really enjoyed all but one live game (some right knobs on my table) and being a recreational player I am we'll pleased to have played the 8 live satellited games where I am in profit.

Next years aims for me

Enjoy the game
Be very strict on online play
Play less online
Satellite in to 8 or more live tournies
Final table a live game then win one.

Sounds simple enough :cheers:


Oh and a few things I have learnt this year

Far too many people take themselves too serious
There are more gentlemen/women in poker than arseholes
Replying "easy-I just dropped my chips over the line" tends to upset the person who asked "how the hell can you call with that?"

2012 went OK for me.

Sufered the biggest equity beat of my life in November, but had a ball getting to be in position to lose it and was in a great place to get over it.

2013 goals in formulation but one has to be a Herbieflag at a venue that isn't DTD.

Followed the same pattern that I have for a few years now.
Played less this year than last year, so made less profit.
Posted less frequently on forums this year.

Only broke even in Vegas this year, worst result for a while, ran bad though.

Have to say at the micros I play, and especially in Vegas, the standard of play seems worse than it's been for years

Best year ever online on Sky, both tournies and cash and actual volume.
Got the job with Sky which is going well so far and I'm really enjoying so hopefully that continues in 2013
Small winner on .fr but a small loser on .com
Staking has been about breakeven, with Mr Brammer saving the day.
Live I had a very good summer in Vegas, followed by a very very bad Oct/Nov trip.  Still up tho in Vegas this year by a nice amount.
Live tournies in the UK it has been awful.  Down massively.
Live cash have booked a decent win for the hours I've put in but nothing major.  Just solid.

Really, really looking forward to 2013 and unlike a lot of poker 'pros' think that there is still so much money to be made from the game and I really hope that I can bink a nice score on the live scene.  Also can't wait for Vegas 2013!

Equity beats are the new black.

Mostly stuck to cash this year at DTD. Nice profit in the 1/2 and .50/1, but only a very small profit in the 1/1 for some reason, probably due to a handful of disastrous sessions and a smaller sample size.

Played very few comps this year, and when I have won a satellite in to a deepstack I've run very much the opposite of an American sprinter playing sevens.  Hopefully, I can play a few more deepstacks next year and be on the happy side of variance.

Might even play a bit more online in 2013...

Went to Vegas 3 times, never had a chance.

Hardly played in 2012, going to change that for 2013.   Will try and get to my local club once a week at least (Sovereign in North Camp) and will try and qualify for some larger tournaments with Sky, DTD and maybe one or two others.

Had my biggest single cash this year but ultimately it was a bit meh overall.

Hopefully a transition into a more fruitful 2013.

Didn't play much live poker this year due to finding it about as interesting as sticking pins in myself, but came 3rd in the APAT in Glasgow for about £1400 to be in profit of about £1K, played only 3 sessions of live poker cash game winning about £250 overall.

Won $1000 in online tournaments this year, most of which came from from the APAT league, in which I won 3 rounds, and the 180 manners on Pokerstars (the non turbo version).

was about $700 up at $10 and $25nl six max this year but manged to give most of the online cash profit back playing the silly shortstacked HU games on Pokerstars, down about $700 on them. Also down about $500 playing PLO zoom.

NOt too bad overall. Targets for next year are:-

1) Finish 2013 in profit
2) Win an APAT event
3) Play a DTD Deepstack
4) PLay a more disciplined game online and stop playing games I know are -EV for me

you cashed  twice in st kitts does that not count or do you consider that as still  dtd ?

I like this thread... not a bad year for moi,.... 2/3 500 ft's, holiday, 3 live wins inside a week, 2 s50 wins, all from running 'reasonably'. Sensible cash play means slightly up there too. Next year I hope to run v.good, cash deep in a big non dtd torn and take the lot....  rotflmfao

I did didn't I?  :)

Still says DTD on the Hendon Mob Page though. Good to have a niche flag, but the fact remains that all of my results have been with DTD chips and on tables with DTD on them.

put your name down for apat  blonde forum team you could have that one ticked off in january

Luton? That's miles away!

Choice Terminology   :)

You would like Luton.

Get your name on the list sir.

Had a 6 figure score, still managed to do absolute chunks. Losing the 3 biggest pots i've ever played in the same 2 days in Jan didn't set me up too well....

Survived it without troubling the scorers unduly, but this time next year...

Playing less and less online as the year progressed and gradually improved on the number of live games as my health got better. A £20k score towards the end of the year, a few small ones plus blinking a St Kitts trip made it a non too shabby year but tbh health first- poker second at the mo

Hmm Playing poker - those were the days!!!!

a decent year financially with wins in january & december; march through october was pretty bleak though & it's sobering to think that with a sample size of just ninety or so live comps a different turn card or two could totally alter the bottom line.
have been struggling with my appetite for the game for a while now & really hope i can find a way to get the hunger back, it's such a crucial part of being a winning player; i see & recognise it in the mitch/alex gang & used to have bucket loads of it myself, just need to figure out where i left it  ;carlocitrone;
initial goals for 2013 are to be fitter & happier with a more professional work ethic on & off the tables.

Done absolute chunks on line; worst downswing ever - went from 99.8% plus OPR to one of the biggest fish on earth and worst 15% of players in world on stars. Five figures. A small profit on micro gaming under the joekinnear run good alias.

Covered most of it off live with two decent finals and some low stakes donkament wins and staking thanks to Shallow and Brammer, for a break even year.

Did some work as well which was meant to be positive EV

Just plain shit. Spent all fkn year working cos it's hard to get time off and the one juicy event I played I got a lovely stack and played a hand like a dick!

Spent the last 5 days listening to test match special and am now ready for 2013! WPT Dublin here we come. If England can win in India anything can happen.

I really enjoyed reading Blonde this year though. So thank you all.

Al

2012 - Live tournies shit, although probably only played donked a dozen or so. No online to mention. Live PLO played 7 times won 5 times, broke even 1 and lost 1. Still in profit for the year thankfully.
2013 - Keep donking the monthly deepstacks where poss. Play more live PLO where I've been a consistant winner for the last 8 years.

First ever non profit year and also never been up at any stage in the year :(

Only down 6k total and only played 40 comps with an abi of about £200 though so can't complain too much.

Bring on 2013!!!!!

2012  donked 5 fig br again :(
Prob lost online
Won live
Super down roulette

2013
No more roulette :)
Win every tourney in Manchester at least three times
Hopefully get a trophy
And play more within br

Is that you Ali Mallu?

Live cash very good.
Live tournaments pretty good though no big score.
Online tournaments awful.
Staking breakeven probs.
Taking pieces in ppl small 4fig loser
Housegames/0ev flops awful.

Overall almost exactly same as last year strangely enough.

Yes

Played a lot more than normal this year, started back on line up 1% over 1000+ tournies, but tempered by horrendous bankroll managagement.  Could have grinded $1-$10 MTT's all year with good volume but chose large Sunday shots during the upwswing which meant no playing capital following the downswing, I would say lesson learned but we will see.

Live has been a decent enough year, positive results in local comps and cash, though again marginal.  Managed to play a couple of bigger games, aim for 2013 is to play a Deedstack, UKIPT Edinburgh and GPS Edinburgh at the very least.  Hopefully more.

Biggest disappointment was not getting to Vegas this year....SIGH.

Up to April this year i was doing really well for myself both live and online, then seemed to hit a brick wall and encounter a horrible spell (funnily enough this started around the same time i started seeing my current GF - coincidence?!?!) and up until October / Early November had literally 0 confidence when it came to poker. From Mid November onwards confidence has returned and now am playing better then ever, although am still not running too well.

Goals for 2013:
- Become more / maintain confidence
- 5 Figure score (Has eluded me by ~$500)
- Supernova on stars
- $50K+ profits on stars (have a brilliant work ethic now, especially when compared to previous therefore this should easily be achievable unless i hit a monster downswing).
- Improve (Currently receiving online MTT coaching sessions twice a week so hopefully will work out).
- Build my own bankroll (am currently staked and have a v small roll in relation to what games i feel i should be playing)

Made £27.5k by the end of March.
Lost £25k of it by a couple of weeks ago.
Bought two books to improve my game.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mental-Game-Poker-Jared-Tendler/dp/0615436137/
and
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1904468942/
Won £17.5k in 3 days.
.
.
.
.
Then started reading the books. 

Had my best recorded year live with my first 5 figure score.

Didnt play online much at all  *note to self need to rectify this in 2013

More Herbertmob entries than the last year so that must mean I am getting better!

Won pkg on stars to ukipt Nottingham cashed for 2£k ,quite pleased with that
Won fk all on line since
Bubbled wsop pkg at dtd very disappointed with that
Went to Vegas played least amount of poker ever , had a good time with mark 147 drinking n hoing
Read an article on here by Keith Hawkins stating that the average rec fish has no chance ,deceided I'm a rec fish ,only play with other rec fish now in a private game n enjoy it and winning a bit now n then !!
Went to eureka main Prague realised I'm deffo a rec fish/ donk ,donked off came home
Going back to my first love now ??? Drinking

finalled my first ever ept, but was 2/7 and finished 7th after trying an "ill-timed" bluff on the CL.
13th in the irish open when 600k euros ftw wasnt fun either. Went vegas for the first time and had a semi deep run in the main.
Played some live cash when the games have been good and its generally gone well.
Online mtt's have gone ok, although its actually been My worst year online since i been pro though with summit like +$200k in mtt's over all sites.
Also reached number 1 in the UK on p5 rankings for the first time ever, and gona finish the year 3rd behind nigdawg and moor,(who are both superior players).
Im currently 4th in the yearly TLB on stars and have about 2 weeks to try and get a little higher ($50k, $40k, $30k, $25k, $20k)

Im looking forward to playing a little more live stuff in 2013, but also still putting in big volume online and improving my game.

happy christmas evry1

Decent year but disappointing at the same time. Worst downswing I've had at the moment online(high 5 figs), so hopefully turn it around soon. Ending the year down online but had a good WSOP with a 3rd place in a $3k so finished up for the year, even after expenses. Really bad online volume too.

Lot's of traveling at the start of 2013, so hopefully win something to fund it. PCA - Aussie Mills - Chinese new year should be draining. Plan to play more online at the same time and keep supernova, which I should make in the next few days. Also need to post more on blonde!

Merry xmas all.

Dissappointing year for me really...

Up about $30K online for the year though I have more than that in makeup at the minute
Mostly avoided playing live but played a few donkaments and managed 1 cash out of 3 or 4 played
Made Supernova for first time
Didn't study enough :(

Pretty awful year. Played ok in a few games, often pretty dreadful in the past couple of months. Taking a break as baby on the way any time over the next few wks, pretty great timing really to be away from the game. Hopefully will come back a better player, whenever that is. Never really been a great player but feel that lots of leaks have infested my game and despite in previous years of studying, I've become a little lazy.

I dont know you Tony but admire your honesty .....  Food for Thought for Everybody

 Cant win on stars : (
 Just under 10k$ up on .fr
 Had a nice touch on last race royal ascot . backed @ 170 laid @ 8 in running : )
 But overall not a great year , lost count how many times i thought it was gonna be an amazing year ( deep runs online me , mega deep runs the boy obv )

 Cant wait for Cheltenham Festival now  !

Good luck 2013 everyone

Won my first ever live event, took me long enough but I got there in the end  ;cupcake;

won lots of money at mid stakes online
lost lots of money at high stakes online
won lots of money playing high(ish) stakes live
lost lots of money player really high stakes live
won quite a bit staking
lost quite a bit playing tournaments

recently went out and bought things on my debit card and alll the transactions went through so i'm still in the gammmmmme!

was close to having my first ever £100k month but it alluded me by a few pounds

didnt lose much sports betting either this year, wiii
unfortunatley I lost an absolute forrrttttttttttttuuunnnnnnnnnnnne playing blackjack. fucking idiot.

This. Won a decent amount at live cash, not completely sure online but pretty sure I'm close to b/e and up chunks in tournaments under 109s, done my brains in mil/ftops over the year, pretty gay.

Profitable year for me on the live tournament circuit but also very frustrating.

No one likes bad beat stories so I'll just say that a different river card in 4 critical pots very deep in 4 different events would ensured a much much more profitable year.

Only good to come from them is that I take the normal bad beats in my stride now.

Still love the game and still addicted to it so optimistice for 2013.

well 2012 was a strange year for me

online won plenty seats for large touniments at dtd
lost lots of money online while playing sat for dtd

had a slow start with live tounies cashing in about 4 supeer £50 tounies early in the year

had couple of cashers in the  £100 at dtd

then in oct had a good run for few week whitch my my best to date coming 3rd in £500 deepstack for £9100 with some realy good and bad poker from me..<<3 handed me on button  with  Ahrt Kc i make a big raise  pete wiggesworth in sb with  Aspades  Ad goes all in anbig blind also gets  Ad Kc and goes all in i fold I NEVEER NORMALLY FOLD HEAR i had a poker fairy in my ear telling me at best its going to chop  i was right 

 followed by 2 big cashers in the £150 deepstack  around £18k in oct

roulete i played 4 times in 2012 and up 5k so thats good but i keep away from roulete as much as poss

staking other people  i staked £500 and had a great return of £5.5k ((THANKS TO HE KNOWS WHO))

also with my 10% buddy we are about eaqul giving each other around £3k

i played and traveled alot more this year including the ukipt bristol where i played my worst ever.

and last but not least was the ccp packages for dtd where i realy wanted to go was going to buy a package but my better half said to play sats to try get one half price well this dident work i did over £2.5 k in this and bubbled it 4 times playing live and online
MORAL OF THIS IS  I WILL NOT BE CHASSING IT LIKE THAT AGAIN

OVERALL 2012  was a good year for me i have learnt some more do s and donts of poker and will be coming back even stronger after new year no more poker for me untill next year
happy xmass and new year all
garry

Hey JCBG I was just wondering do you possibly do any coaching, I'm really interested in improving and I've been following this for quite a while and I think you are so impressive!
Maybe you could possibly let me know what your rates would be?
I could travel also and could pay you upfront for a few sessions??
Thanks :-)

Lessons from 2012.
1) Live cash is a lot to do with a) table selection.
                                                       b) position.
                                                       c) starting hands.
                                                        d) avoiding Mitch.
2) Live comps are all about. a) being patient
                                                    b) balanced aggression.
                                                    c) treading on necks.
                                                    d) position
                                                     e) getting lucky and winning any races.

4) it's important when playing live not to let your ego make decisions( keep the chimp in the cage a term borrowed from the GB cycling team very relevant).

5) You never win if you are tired,stressed,distracted or tilted.You need to find a kind of zen like heightened concentration/awareness of what is really happening around you.

6) The emotional states of the players and their stack sizes seem far more important in live comps than I previously realised.

7) your toughest opponent is usually yourself.


So,there are my lessons from the past year.Hope you have a brilliant 2013. It's not all about the maths.

1. fyp

b) Where is number 3? Is this your secret ingredient you are unwilling to share lest we all catch up with your incred tekkers?

(iii) Just as well re: the bolded


Quite enjoying a little light-hearted Christmas Eve trolling of the Father :)

Yes where is number three? That will be the lessons learned from the commentary box.Keep them to myself.

Lesson 3 be observant. Ian obviously testing us here ;) Great points though. Very best of luck in 2013.

4-7 are really great points... People should read those and really take it in. Great post Ian

My 2012 was pretty good, firstly joined Blonde. I haven't posted all that much but am an avid reader.

I managed to win a Vegas package on skypoker which meant I thought I should get a live game in before I went to Vegas having only played online before. I played a deepstack at DtD and it was a very useful and enjoyable experience albeit I didn't make day 2. I had read about Rastafish on blonde (and to be honest didn't really understand what everyone was going on about) but being on an adjacent table meant I really understood what the fish was about. Guy is a legend!

Vegas was an amazing experience. Made day 2 in the main but the experience it gave me made me know I can do a lot better than that. I managed to chop a couple of smaller tournaments at the rio and get a couple of other cashes so won a bit which I was pleased about given my lack of live experience. A great thing for me was meeting a load of great people who I keep in touch with and will hopefully see more of in 2013 when I play more live poker. I need some more of these flag things everyone talks of!!!!

Online I had another profitable year however still no 5 figure score which I want to rectify in 2013.

Best of luck to all in 2013

Matt

1 - My concentration levels online have been utter garbage
2 - There is money to be made at micro Omaha cash
3 - I need to play more live, just playing our home game STT every week is NOT going to help me rediscover my MTT form!!

+£2k to +£45k in a month

What stakes did you play to do this?

Really enjoyed playing this year, getting better as I work harder at the game
Live cash, played a lot more and a few £k up
Live tourneys, played lots local and with decent scores, 10k up by end
Not played on line as much, only really sat into bigger events, so showing small loss
Not managed a single cash in a tourney at DTD, lots of huge stacks ending with some disasters!
Managed a min cash in St Kitts, but should have been so much more!  Played like a girl when on the bubble
Even on a 10% split with my mate!

Aims for 2013
Cash at DTD!
Play monthly at the £300 or £500 event
Work harder at my game!
Learn to hold on to a big stack once built it!
Double profit for 2013 and get a decent large score

I think the story is mostly encapsulated in this thread......


http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=59867.0

2.5 years without depositing on Stars, would like to do another.

Will need some early run good though, on fumes.

2012

Joined blonde
Created a diary of all my exploits, poker and life - http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=56559.0
Started the online grind - binkmepls
Got a new grind PC and sick chair
Pleno offered staking, still going, currently in mu, but not a lot
Been between 25 and 10nl all year, now beating 10nl really well and should be moving up shortly
Not been very diligent with records however I 'think':
        Won decent in live comps
        Lost little online mtt's
        Lost little online cash
        Won a little live cash
        Improved un-measurably through online 6max cash grind
        Studied a lot, analyzed a little

Won at my job
Lost at relationship - might be a longterm win, sample size is too small
BE at family life, need to put more effort in next year
Lost with Car
Won at nights out
Lost at keeping fit

2013

Get through 25nl, 50nl, and have a 100k graph of winning at over 1bb/100 at 100nl in 6max cash games online.
Play 1 million hands of poker in 2013 alone.
Played over 100 online tournaments, improve my theory in mtt's.
Take annual leave and go to at least two live events for the duration - UKIPT/ Genting/ EMOP etc... preferably one in Ireland.
Make 5figs in live cash, have a dedicated £1/2 roll and be moving up/ taking shots at 2/5, even bumhunting live 5/10 (heard of a soft game somewhere).
Keep up with the diary and crush the opposition.. most importantly keep the honesty and the openness of it.  It's a strength imo.

Keep crushing work, potentially go for promotion - more stress means less poker... :(
Be under 90kg in weight (ideally 85kg) and regularly playing both tennis and the lets go to the gym games.
Have cooked real meals for myself more times than I can count on my appendages.
Vegas trip (have enough miles) and come back in the +ve $$.
Beat Alex 'irunsobad' Goulder in the 3some challenge - rules and referees to be decided.
Help my friends to survive 2013, potentially pull some of them away from degen-ing away....

It is probably less than half the story.  

Obviously ran super good this month barring the hand tikay linked to.  Was 2nd in the big $162 on stars, won a big 50 euro tournament, won a handful of others including a French high roller last night.  

I have made some changes to my game, tournament selection and software.

But a lot comes down to run good. In November I felt I was playing well, but got a load of 7ths, 9ths and 12ths, and ended up 3 or 4k down.

Edit.  Not answered the question.  I play MTTs online.  Average buy in is just shy of £100 and max is usually $200/$50 rebuy.  Though I do play one bigger tournament daily, and the odd addition on a Sunday. 

Thanks.

Surprised to see you attribute reading "Expert Heads Up No Limit Hold'em" to helping you with this success.  Has it really helped you with tournament play?

Played so little in 2012 that it's pretty easy to recall.

I've managed to accumulate the grand total of 792.37 VPPs on Stars this year. #kingofthegrind
Played the inaugural Chipleader at DTD from a short-stack and really enjoyed the format.  Made day 2, but no cash.
Had a sweat of another WSOP ME seat, for very little investment.  Didn't strike gold this time around though.
Did a Vegas trip in April, won the first tournament I played, which let me freeroll the rest of the trip.  Also managed to earn room comps for the first time!
Went to the blonde Bash, didn't trouble the scorers.
Managed to miss all news of APAT events in time to play any of them.  For whatever reason, their marketing is bypassing me completely, and I'm not proactive enough to go looking in time.

Highlight was the Vegas trip and being able to log in to Full Tilt and see my $52 balance again.

Negligible volume, small profit overall thanks to the Vegas HORSE comp.

I don't think I did really.  I am about half way through the book currently.  I bought it because it focuses on game theory in heads up play.  You clearly can't just lift that and apply it to 9 handed MTTs. 

But, the book is really good, and goes through some game theory concepts, which you can adapt and bring in to your game.  More importantly, it has got me thinking about the game from a fresh perspective, which is always good.  I am not sure I'd learn much from most MTT/STT strategy books.

So I would suggest it has definitely played a part, just not sure how much.  I had a long heads up battle last night, and can safely say I was using some concepts directly from the book.

If you have a solid game and have a decent maths background, and are prepared to think, it is a good and useful book.  If you aren't all these things, then it may just baffle you.  Harrington would be a much better book for people who are just starting or want to learn the basics of MTT strategy.

Been so long since i've posted here but have been lurking honestly.

2012 has been the year i've gradually got back into poker.

Live
Played UKIPT Galway and Nottingham after winning packages on stars cashed nothing but did win a chipset and signed snooker queue for winning a freeroll on the dinner break and busting liv boeree
Lost a million chip flip in the only other live event I played with two tables left in GPS Edinburgh for a mincash (17th)

Online
Found a backer and have been grinding euro sites.. started late August and already up ~$2.5k looking forward to going forward with them in 2013
No real big scores at all but came close a few times.. most recently deep runs in the storm (47th) and the bigger $11 (9th)


Totalled about $23k of cashes - about $4-5k profit, by no means ground breaking but have been happy re-finding the game that i love again

pretty ridic year

had biggest tourny score of life (50k+)
had best winning months of my life (multiple 20k+)
lost by far the biggest 2 pots of my life with very high equity in live games (xxk+ :P)
lost aa v 66 on a66 in a wpt
kk v ak in gsop
aj v a10 for big pot close to money in ept
came 10th in one of the biggest sunday millions of the year with top set when i was 2/10 vs 1/10

think i improved as a player to a ridiculous level and so many opportunities to have a "break through", can't be sad, but has made me a little demoralised moving to 2013.

Probably biggest rollercoaster year I will ever have :D

And busto.

Nm, had a good run.

2012 got my biggest score with 39th in the Nottingham UKIPT for 2700 quid

Start of 2013 won 85$ entry game at Caesars Palace on my wedding trip for 800 dollars

Will prob play a GPS this year but otherwise it will be 20-50 quid local games and the Sky Poker Tour

GL to all in 2013 endevours