That's a wrap for 2009

Tis the season for end of year reflections, first a quick recap of my two goals for the year:

One is to buy a new number plate for my car, cost about £1k.

FAIL. Simple fact was I never quite made enough money to warrant buying the thing.

Second is to try and get out to Vegas for a $1500 PLO or O8 event in the WSOP.

FAIL. This time with a but, for the second year running, I started off badly, even worse than 2008 in fact. However, I have now banked $2k and with BA flying direct to Vegas I have enough air miles to get a flight for the $1500 PLO starting on 10th June. If anyone wants a prop bet for me to play in an Elvis cat suit.... :)

Anyway, summary for the year.

Played bad from January to March, ended up nearly $700 down. Turned it all round in April with my first ever $1k month. As with 2008, the longer the year went on, the better my results looked, apart from December. This is still profitable month, but I played in 3 Mini FTOPs (one of which I forgot I had registered for) and one night I managed to bubble in a $22 sat for the $15k O8 on Full Tilt.

Over the various sites:
- Betfair - down $150, stopped playing there completely since June as have no reason to play there and dislike their customer relationship model
- Blue Square - down $210, hardly played anything since August
- Sun - down $250, really dislike the skin and even with 30% rakeback I can't bring myself to learn to deposit on a site I don't get on with very well
- PokerStars - up $7, deposited and have been playing a few of the $16 18-man O8 SNGs, with mixed results
- Everest - up $32, again almost not played there since August
- Full Tilt - up $3,180 - including about $350 rakeback

Highlights from Full Tilt:
- 25% ROI on 278 9 seat 300 chip super turbo PLO SNGs
- 20% ROI on 123 $22 O8 SNGs
- 33% ROI on 133 rebuy MTTs, incuding 3 wins

Lows:
- Cash, again, though this year I have stayed away from it pretty much and latterly, playing low stakes I have finished some sessions in profit

Interestingly, last year I thought I was OK pre-flop and better post-flop. Having thought about it, especially in light of the results from the 300 chip SNGs, I wonder if it really is the reverse. I am much better than average at assessing hands pre, but not that great post. Maybe in 2010 I will find some time to watch some training videos, or maybe not since I still cleared $2.5k from a hobby.

Might post some goals early in January, but really the main one is to stay in profit... good luck at the tables.

Lastly, here's my lifetime Sharkscope results for Full Tilt, which I think is quite respectable.

You don't see a Royal flush for ages...

...then two come along in the space of about 10 minutes.

First this, I flopped the flush and turned the Royal, but managed to keep my oppo in calling down for his lo draw that did not come in.

Full Tilt Poker Game #16695306682: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (124090100), Table 1 - 25/50 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 17:47:20 ET - 2009/12/10
Seat 1: TJ Ungar (911)
Seat 2: citybrewedmind (1,315)
Seat 3: RNI66 (2,280)
Seat 4: fifty_pesos (389)
Seat 5: First Count 3 (1,135)
Seat 6: XHEAD HUNTERX (1,460)
Seat 7: misshaj (1,110)
Seat 8: Tribuconi (1,500)
Seat 9: electric chair (3,400)
XHEAD HUNTERX posts the small blind of 25
misshaj posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to electric chair [9h Kc Jc 8c]
Tribuconi folds
electric chair calls 50
TJ Ungar calls 50
citybrewedmind folds
RNI66 folds
fifty_pesos calls 50
First Count 3 folds
XHEAD HUNTERX folds
misshaj checks
*** FLOP *** [2c Ac Tc]
misshaj checks
electric chair has 15 seconds left to act
electric chair bets 112
TJ Ungar folds
fifty_pesos calls 112
misshaj folds
*** TURN *** [2c Ac Tc] [Qc]
electric chair bets 224
fifty_pesos calls 224
*** RIVER *** [2c Ac Tc Qc] [9s]
electric chair bets 50
fifty_pesos calls 3, and is all in
Uncalled bet of 47 returned to electric chair
*** SHOW DOWN ***
electric chair shows [9h Kc Jc 8c] a Royal Flush, for high
fifty_pesos mucks
electric chair wins the pot (903) with a Royal Flush
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 903 | Rake 0
Board: [2c Ac Tc Qc 9s]
Seat 4: fifty_pesos mucked [3h 4d 7h Ad] - HI: a pair of Aces

And then this, where I walked into it and I know I could have got away from it on the turn, but had been slightly tilted by $15 plo super turbo when I went out first hand to 2236 all in preflop.

Full Tilt Poker Game #16695563352: Table Rio Canyon (6 max, ante, deep) - $0.10/$0.25 Ante $0.05 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 17:58:05 ET - 2009/12/10
Seat 1: mgg888 ($28.65)
Seat 2: semper_fi76 ($20.36)
Seat 3: iceball12 ($40.10)
Seat 5: jwc529 ($51.71)
Seat 6: electric chair ($42.95)
iceball12 antes $0.05
electric chair antes $0.05
semper_fi76 antes $0.05
jwc529 antes $0.05
mgg888 antes $0.05
iceball12 posts the small blind of $0.10
jwc529 posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to electric chair [Jh 7d Kc Kh]
electric chair has 15 seconds left to act
electric chair raises to $1.10
mgg888 folds
semper_fi76 raises to $3.90
iceball12 folds
jwc529 folds
electric chair calls $2.80
*** FLOP *** [Jd Qd Kd]
electric chair has 15 seconds left to act
electric chair bets $4.20
semper_fi76 has 15 seconds left to act
semper_fi76 calls $4.20
*** TURN *** [Jd Qd Kd] [4s]
lowskipper sits down
electric chair bets $16.80
semper_fi76 calls $12.21, and is all in
electric chair shows [Jh 7d Kc Kh]
semper_fi76 shows [Td 8s 9s Ad]
lowskipper adds $50
Uncalled bet of $4.59 returned to electric chair
*** RIVER *** [Jd Qd Kd 4s] [Qh]
electric chair shows a full house, Kings full of Queens
semper_fi76 shows a Royal Flush
semper_fi76 wins the pot ($39.16) with a Royal Flush
semper_fi76: lol
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $41.22 | Rake $2.06
Board: [Jd Qd Kd 4s Qh]
Seat 1: mgg888 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: semper_fi76 (button) showed [Td 8s 9s Ad] and won ($39.16) with a Royal Flush

End of November was an absolute heater, total up for the month over $850, first third of December has been very up and down, with a $30 loss to show for it so far.