Since winning the TLB Top 1000 Freeroll on 11th January, I have suffered the worst six months of negative variance in my poker career. Here are the stats:

Online Cash-Prize MTTs:

Played 439
ABI: $158
Lost: $24.1k
Lost: 152 ABIs
ROI: -30%

Live Tourneys, including online satellite wins/losses:

Lost: $27.6k

Total 2009 to date: Lost $52.3k

This compares to winning $250k in the 2005-2008 period and my lifetime stats:

Online Cash-Prize MTTs:

Played 3188
ABI: $174
Won: $229k
ROI: +41%

Live Tourneys, including online satellite wins/losses:

Lost: $20k

All of these live losses in the last 21 tourneys played out here in Vegas. Before that I was breakeven in live tourneys, which in itself was already the negative side of variance because I have a positive expectation in them over the long run.

My 2009 losses have wiped-out my Working BR and forced me to go back to working my space industry career after the summer. I'm still going to stick with poker as a part-time hobby that hopefully makes me some money, but unless variance hits a major upswing in the Main Event starting this Friday, I'm bowing out of being a poker pro for the time being.

It's been fun overall, but these last 6 months were misery. My wife says its a sign from God. I'm not religious, but I can see her point.

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