What a January

I had an awesome month. I have been playing well and running well. An awesome combo. I cashed in a several bigger buy in tournaments and really played well throughout. I have a few thoughts for my poker game for 2012.

I am going to stop getting so upset at the horrible suckouts that occur where you have your opponent owned and they get lucky. Really. I am. Honest. Ok. I am going to try. It is my number 1 goal for the rest of the year. I am allowed to get upset for one second, drop an f-bomb or two, but I WILL NOT BERATE ANOTHER PLAYER OR ACT LIKE AN IDIOT. I hope. If you see me act like an idiot or berate someone, PLEASE CALL ME AN ASS AND TELL ME TO STOP. Pretty please. I do not want to be one of those people.

I am also going to play more big buy in tournaments. It is going to hurt the bankroll, but I really think that I am going to bink one of these tournaments for a big score. In an effort to save the bankroll, I am going to play a few more of the 40-60 buy in tourneys and try and play them well. For the last 5 months or so I have only cashed in 6 out of 20 tournaments that have a buy in of under $50. While that is not horrid, it is not great. Many of the tournaments that I did not cash in are because I played HORRIBLE. I cannot seem to stay focused and I play like a donkey. I am better than that. I am going to refocus and play those tournaments like first place is $1,000. Maybe that will help me play better. I have a HUGE leak in my game in that I cannot play well when the stakes are low. I will fix this leak. If I do not fix this leak, I can never say I am getting better at this game.

I am going to try and talk strategy more with players. Julie and I used to talk strategy a lot and we barely do it anymore. I want to correct that. So, be ready Diver. I think it is very important to discuss hands and how they were played and why we played them that way.

I have the debate with myself a lot about whether I should stick to cash games or tournaments or keep playing both. I have determined that I like playing cash a lot better than tourneys, but I am a much better tournament player than cash. HMMMM. What to do about that? Knowing me I will do nothing about it and keep making money at tournaments to support my cash game addiction. Since I started keeping track of my stats back in July of 2007, I have played 269 cash games. I have 135 winning sessions, 133 losing sessions and i broke dead even one time. My hourly rate is a WHOPPING..$2.55. WEEEEEEE. LOL. That makes me chuckle. I have had fun during my HOURS of playing poker for peanuts. Good thing I do not try and do this for a living. New goal for 2012....increase my hourly rate to minimum wage. I can do it.

Does anyone know what a good ROI is for tourneys? What is a good % to cash in? I am trying to analyze my stats and cannot tell if the numbers are good, great, horrid or mediocre.