In September I carted around the casinos and poker rooms in Southern California and realized how much I hated commuting and sitting in traffic and how much I enjoyed working at home. I found online poker. In October I signed up for Full Tilt and in November I tried Pokerstars. I also found a bunch of poker magazines with articles on strategy, a number of poker learning books at the book store and online websites and forums that train you to become a better poker player. I decided after 3 months I was ready to try some big tournaments in different countries around the world.
So 2008 was about combining my enjoyment of travel with my new found passion of competitive poker. I travelled to Australia and played in a tournament in Adelaide in January coming 3rd, then I played in the Aussie Millions event #1 in Melbourne and came 33rd. It seemed to be a great start.
I went to Las Vegas in February and played in a bunch of regular casino tournaments. I then played in the LA Poker Classic at Commerce Casino in March and headed to England in April to play in the casinos over there. In May I went to Monte Carlo for the EPT grand final and played in one event and some live SitnGos. I was back in Las Vegas for June and July and played in one event in the WSOP. For all the experience I was gaining I did not yet feel good enough at poker to be out of training.
So I decided August was a study month. I decided as I had started the journey in September it was more reasonable to allow for a 12 month training period. I would start to play for real in September 2008 tracking my results and setting some goals.
So I did. I set a goal of earning an average $100 per day clear profit from online poker. It started well in September but then went downhill. My results:
September - win $2212
October - win $58
November - lose $477
December - win $114
I guess if I met the goal right away it would be too easy. I struggled in October, November and December to stop the rot. I reviewed all my training material - what was I doing so right in September that went wrong in these three months. Or was I just lucky in September and playing the same way now without getting lucky. Or was there an online conspiracy that I was victim to .
So here I am in January. Trying to review the past year I have enjoyed the time playing poker and travelling the world. I am in a very lucky situation that I can afford to continue playing poker during 2009. I want to meet my goal and then pass it.
The big question is am I good enough? Or can I become good enough? I guess the only way to find out is to play on during 2009 and continue to learn and adapt my game.
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