I had a really weird 2009. I made 4 fts to big mtts for me during the first 3 months and ran really bad at them getting 2 4ths and 2 8ths. However I did manage to increase my roll by almost 65%. Then I went on a sick downswing from after my last of the 4 fts until around August where I lost almost half my bankroll. From August until the end of year I made just under 7k. I missed my goal of making 10k which seemed like a lock early on and managed to make 5.7k for the year which is really disappointing considering I made 3.5k in the first 3 months.

I told myself I would greatly reduce the amount of time I spend playing/studying poker if I didn't make 10k. At this point it seems really stupid to quit as I feel I've grown a ton as a mtt player. Although I ran bad for most of the year I'm sure if I was as good as I am now 7 months ago I might have binked something biggish during that big downswing. What turned around my year besides improving was game selection. I've become more conservative with my bank roll and unlike the first 6 months my bigger buy ins are in smaller mtts with 600 or less runners which means playing a ton of UB 44s and 66s, I've binked 2 of these in the last few months.

Something that I noticed looking at my results is when I was on my crazy swing shift schedule (working 3 different shifts in a week) I was down roughly 6k and in the 4.5 months I was on a set schedule I was up around 12k. My thinking is playing on a fucked up schedule = a terrible idea.

For the year my 4 figure cashes were:

FTP $26 4th for 2.3k - Jan
FTP $26 4th for 2.3k - Mar
FTP $11 1st for 1.4k - Jul
FTP $11 1st for 1.4k - Sep
Stars $5q 1st for 2.3k - Sep
UB $44 1st for 2.3k - Oct
UB $66 1st for 3.7k - Dec.

October I'm really not sure how I did somehow I misplaced 1k of my bankroll due to some math errors after adjusting for an extra 1k I made right around 1.9k. After my first 2 sessions where I played 34 mtts and managed only a $86 cash I won a UB $44 mtt for $2.3k I also took down a stars $8/6 max after making a deal I won $600.

After my crushing downswing I decided to change up my game selection. I think a big part of my downswing besides variance was my biggest buy in mtts (nightly $55s) also had some of the biggest fields. I cut the $55s out and lowered my abi a bit and added 2 mtts that are $44-75 so long as they have smaller fields. It seems to work and negates a bit of varaiance where instead of busting 300th in a $55 and being out the entire $55 the smaller field mtts I have a better shot of at least mincashing much less fting.

I also changed my attitude. With my roll just under 10k I see no problem playing some smaller stuff to build it safely instead of going for the big score (5 figures for me) over and over and seeing me not cash in 25-30% of my total session buy ins.

August was terrible I finished the month playing 122 mtts and lost $1.5k. September was very much the opposite I only played 72 mtts but finished the month up 3.3k. After my first 2 sessions where all I managed was a mincash. In my 3rd session I finished 5th in a stars $5 quad for $750 and took down an ftp $11 KO for $1.4k. In my 4th session I shipped a $5 quad for $2.3k. That's all for now I have some thoughts but I'll get to them in another blog.

In July I managed 160 mtts with an average buy in of around $20-$25. Coming in to the last session of the month I was stuck for $735, but I managed to hit 5 cashes and take down a FTP $11KO for $1390 which is my fifth biggest cash. After the session I ended up $540 for the month. So all in all a kind've meh month.

At the beginning of the month I decided I was going to try and put in more volume. I now have dual 28" monitors and play as many as 12 at a time so that I can put in a minimum of 14 mtts per session if I want to. That along with plugging some leaks leaves me wanting to play more and more and working just seems like a drag. With volume you see more and more situations, which in turn allows you to improve at a faster pace.

Variance is also lessened the more you play and helps my state of mind. Busting the first 4 mtts really sucks when you only plan on playing 8 mtts but if you can 12 table you can just say fuck it and load up some more. I'm really really excited to see what happens in the near future as I think it's a matter of time before I hit some big big scores, despite the fact I'm break even for the year(sigh).

June was another month to forget. I managed 103 mtts with a profit of -$1369. Last month was just a continuation of running terrible. I managed 807 hands of 50nl fr for a loss of $24.60. I thought I was going to put more cash game hands in then I did but I've been really busy in the times I was going to play cash and quite frankly my main focus is mtts. Since I ran bad I moved down a bit in stakes from a ~$35 abi to a ~$25 abi which means I pretty much eliminate $75 freeze outs and $11 rebuys.

I decided after running kinda bad this month to change things up by being more selective of who and when I steal and resteal especially in buy ins $20+. It seemed to work in my last 2 sessions where I managed to build big stacks yet again but obv lose w/KK everytime. I'm very optimistic that I sort of tweaked my game for the better and really want to get more mtts in. Which leads me into my attempt to shoot for 14 mtts instead of 8 mtts minimum in a session. I'd like to get my volume to around 150 mtts/month.

I was hoping I would get laid off at my job so that I could put in some serious volume. How sweet would it be to get paid for up to a year all living expenses + a little extra money to sit at home and play poker? Well it looks like business is picking up and that's not going to happen. So I'm stuck with playing 150 mtts/month.

At the end of August I'm going to the Majestic Star Deep Stack Poker Challenge in Gary, Indian that runs from from the 26-30. I plan on being there Friday night the 28th through Sunday. From what I hear the structure isn't the greatest and there aren't tons of runners but it sure beats playing at my local casino where they have a hyper turbo structure plus I get to go out of town for a bit and take a break from work.