So how has it gone?

I guess six months is long a long enough time playing poker for a living to see how its gone. Reading Rob Sherwood's review on his blog made me think about doing a review.

I'm not going to count Monte Carlo as i still had a couple more days to work after that and it kind of distorts how i've done.

Tournaments

It hasn't gone great to be honest. I had a decent result coming third in the Gutshot main event scooping about £10000 and couple of money finishes on my last trip to Barcelona, but other than that its been a bit of a famine. Doing some calculations i've spent £19800 on tournaments and recouped £11700. Not great but not awful either. I have been out of form of late. Its not entirely the cards fault, i have made some mistakes as well. I've been very close in a couple of festival main events only to go crashing out just outside the money. Most frustrating moment was the $10000 Omaha in the World Series in Vegas. The cards were just horrible for hours and although i knew it was going to be a tough event, i'd back myself on any Pot Limit Omaha table.

Overall -£8100

Live Cash

I think i have fallen out of love with playing live cash. I still generally do well when i play but i find it slightly boring as i'm so used to constant action online. I won a bit in the cash games in Vegas but that cancelled out losses in Barcelona and the London festivals. If there was a really juicy Dealers Choice or PL Omaha at the Vic i would play more.... but there isn't.

Overall +£2400

Online Cash

Despite some severe swings the last six months have been good online. Getting my head round the size of some of the pots i now often play in has taken some doing. In $10000+ pots i have played in i have been extremely unlucky. I have lost over 3/4 of them despite being a favourite in 90% plus of them when the money went in. In four hands worth a combined total of $70000 i had over 75% chance in each and lost all four. Online PL Omaha will hopefully continue to be my main source of income.

Overall +£41000

Other stuff

Getting sponsored by Betfair and being asked to write a poker column for the Telegraph were both highlights of the last six months. Hopefully they will both continue.

Its been a great six months to be honest. If it doesn't last forever and i go back to work it won't be the end of the world. I have a couple of other things in the pipeline as well that should give me a more constant stream of income i hope.

A few targets for the next six months

- To win a ranking event.
- To play in a WPT event.
- To continue to play 10/20 PL Omaha. If i am still playing at that level in six months time it will be good news as it will have meant i haven't dropped down to save the banrkoll.
- To win enough to buy a top quality car.
- To choose another cash game online and win consistently at it. Trying to decide between NL Holdem and Triple Draw.
- Play in big online multi table tournaments more often. Starting tonight with the $500 NL Holdem WCOOP on Pokerstars.
- Double my bankroll. I'll settle for that even if all the other targets fail :-)

Its almost a year since i started up this poker blog as well. How time flies. I do love reading other people's blogs, although i don't comment that much. Its one of the first things i do when i go online. If anyone knows any really good ones that i haven't linked let me know. I've just linked Ben and Tom to my list.