Here is a recap of my poker results for 2012. While this is not entirely in keeping with the theme of this blog, which is predominantly about bad plays, here it is anyway, followed by a more detailed breakout of different games and levels:
Live poker
Casino trips
Cash games ($ 633.25)
Tournaments 82.26
Private / home games
Cash games 428.95
Tournaments 345.00
Net win / (loss) $ 222.96
Online poker (entirely on Bovada)
Cash games $ 8,634.26
Tournaments (281.27)
Bonuses 645.00
Net win / (loss) $ 8,997.99
GRAND TOTAL $ 9,220.95
Not bad, if I do say so myself!
Let’s break this down a bit:
Casino cash games:
7 card stud, spread $1.00 – 5.00 ($ 21.00)
Omaha Hi-Lo $3/6 limit 17.00
Omaha Hi-Lo $4/8 limit 103.00
Hold’em $2/4 limit 138.00
Hold’em $3/6 limit (257.25)
Hold’em $1/2 and $1/3 no limit 24.00
Hold’em $2/5 no limit (637.00)
Total win / (loss) ($ 633.25)
The non-Hold’em games were from a very small sample size. I cannot explain why I consistently won at $2/4 limit Hold’em and consistently lost at $3/6 limit as there was not a discernible difference in the quality of play, although I only played two sessions at $3/6 and seemed to catch bad breaks both times. I did play a decent number of hours this year at $1/2 and $1/3 no limit tables (est. 20-25 hours) and covered the rake and tips but that’s about all. At the $2/5 no limit level, the play is definitely tougher, and it didn’t help that I lost $500 on one hand when a dude posted a blind straddle only to discover he had pocket Aces.
Private / home cash games:
Low limit mixed games $ 75.70
Hold’em limit ($1/2 or lower) 151.50
Hold’em NL ($0.50/1.00 or lower) 218.50
Net win / (loss) $ 428.95
Yes, I like playing with my buddies. Casual, relaxed, loose, fishy. My kind of poker.
Private / home tournaments: $ 335.00
My best payday was a private tournament in conjunction with a business conference that I attended. One of the vendors had a private reception & dinner at a local country club, followed by a No Limit Hold’em tournament for their guests with a $50 buy-in. Many of the participants were just terrible, and I finished 2nd out of 30 players for a $250 profit. Otherwise some small cashes but nothing worthy of note (other than the bad beat story that was the initial post and motivation for starting this blog).
Casino tournaments:
Showboat – Atlantic City $65 ($ 65.00)
Showboat – Atlantic City $65 380.00
Showboat – Atlantic City $65 77.26
Mardi Gras – Charleston WV $75 ( 75.00)
Mardi Gras – Charleston WV $235 ( 235.00)
Net win / (loss) $ 82.26
Only five tournaments here. At the Showboat, I made the final 5 out of 49 players and we agreed to chop the prize money, then on the following day finished 6th out of 60. I played very well on the Atlantic City trip, but never felt in my element on the Mardi Gras trips in tournament play. My best results seem to come when I play uber-tight and patient. When I try to loosen up, the aggressive play seems to backfire, particularly in shorter tournaments where a single move backfiring is hard to recover from.
Online cash games:
7 card stud (various low limits) ($ 71.54)
Omaha Hi-Lo (low limits) (33.27)
Omaha Hi-Lo (medium limits) 20.87
Omaha Hi (medium pot limit) (194.20)
Hold’em (limit up to $0.10/0.25) 18.17
Hold’em (limit $0.25/0.50) 46.66
Hold’em (limit $0.50/1.00) 31.99
Hold’em (limit $1.00/2.00) (41.58)
Hold’em (limit $2.00/4.00) (151.50)
Hold’em (NL up to $0.05/0.10) 133.70
Hold’em (NL $0.10/0.25) 158.55
Hold’em (NL $0.25/0.50) (123.70)
Hold’em (NL $0.50/1.00) 298.84
Hold’em (NL $1.00/2.00) 8,674.77
Hold’em (NL $2.00/4.00) (272.50)
Hold’em (NL $3.00/6.00) 139.00
Net win / (loss) $ 8,634.26
I opened the account in January with $100, and started out playing Limit Hold’em, Limit Omaha Hi-Lo and Limit Stud. The first half of the year, both at casino trips and online, I just felt more comfortable playing limit poker, in large part for the perceived lower variance.
After a couple of frustrating months, I switched almost exclusively to No Limit Hold’em, playing a minimum buy-in, short stack strategy for awhile. My balance went up, then back down, and in mid-June I switched to a deep stack strategy and started always buying in at the table maximum. Although under-bankrolled, I had a couple of very good initial sessions at the $1/2 level and eventually worked my way into a comfortable bankroll for this level and fairly consistent positive results (blog posts notwithstanding!). Looking back at these results, I’m really surprised not to see greater loss at the $2/4 no limit level, because I suffered numerous memorable bad beats there.
Online tournaments:
Omaha (2 small events) ($ 1.00)
Hold’em (NL $11.00 & under) (10.97)
Hold’em (NL $12 – 44) 224.70
Hold’em (NL 45-60) (170.00)
Hold’em (NL $162 major) (324.00)
Total win / (loss) ($ 281.27)
Only one really good tournament, where I won $369 in a $44 buy-in event. I don’t recall the specifics but think I made the final table in a pretty good sized field. I took 2 shots at Bovada’s Sunday Major, a $100K guaranteed event with a buy-in of $162, with no success there. After May, I played very few tournaments, concentrating on the cash games once I began winning somewhat consistently and especially at the $1/2 NL level.
Final 2012 online year-to-date results: + $ 8,997.99
Final 2012 live play year-to-date results: + $ 222.96
They Always Have It 