Results for January 2009.

Start of January 2009 BR = $2448.75
End of January 2009 BR = $2256.24

Overall $242.51 Loss
Bankroll decrease of 7.86%

Where did the money come from or in this case go?
Ring games = $14.48
SnG's = - $254.85
MTT's = - $2.14
Bonuses = $50.00

Well at least I know where I went wrong this month. I spent so much time looking over last years results, outcomes and graphs I’d automatically assumed I could make $xxx for the month without even trying, BOY WAS I WRONG. I still remember January 1st saying to myself, “all I need to do is profit ~$600 and I’m on track.” – 1st mistake!

I’d fallen back into a habit that was meant to stay broken which is not focusing on monetary values. I slipped up, but I’ve identified and rectified it. At the start of the year I raced probably harder than I’d raced before. I don’t have the exact numbers but I spent over $3000 on SnG buy-ins alone. I overplayed my games and I played for some ridiculous sessions 10-12-14 hours per day.

February brings 3 big changes for me.

1. Returning to full time work. This will obviously mean my playing time will be decreased substantially so I’ll probably get in around 2 hours per night.
2. A new and hopefully successful approach to MTT’s. Tried a new strategy last night, or dare I say this morning and had a very nice cash which means I’m $242 in the hole rather than $430 in the hole, couldn’t have come at a better time.
3. Finally starting to play cash games properly. Only step left is to get the HUD up and running and we’ll see what that brings.

Goals for February.

MTT. - I played 29 tournaments this month with 2 cashes, 1 being just ITM and the other 3rd place. I feel I really played poorly this month. The 10 spots of being ITM in the $55 really got me down. I can’t see myself playing as many due to time restrictions but I’m certainly going for some cashes and at least 1 final table.

SnG. – My biggest grinding area at the moment. I’ll continue to 4 table $10-15 games and try and build the SnG bankroll so I’m comfortably able to play the $20 games next month which if played solidly enough is very achievable.

Cash. – God, where o where do I start with this? The first and primary goal is to show a profit. I’ll be 4 tabling 2NL for 60-90 minutes per day with auto-rebuy feature enabled if dropping below 100BB. One of my biggest weaknesses with cash games is because my total BR is a little over 2K, it’s hard to treat the game properly. The reality is because I’ve chosen to run 3 independent bankrolls and the Ring bankroll is only over $100 this is what I must play. I also need to prove to myself as shocking as the play is I’ve been there and I’ve beaten it.

Overall I am disappointed with a negative month but it could be a hell of a lot worse. Last year I had 3 negative months with my biggest loss being 20.02%. Can’t make money every session and I blame my losses on an incorrect mentality which leads to an incorrect approach. I didn’t lose massive amounts in 1 day I just had a lot of bad days. In fact my biggest loss for 1 day was $111.71 or 4.88%.

Februarys key point for me will certainly be “quality over quantity” a complete 180 of what I did this month, let’s see how I go.

To wrap up, what would a post be without at least one picture? Here is this mornings result.