Back from Pakistan! Poker results for 2006!
So I’m back from Pakistan. Can you believe that I traveled for two weeks through a region at risk for tuberculosis, hepatitis, and food poisoning, but that I was done in by a cold I caught in California upon my return?
The trip was amazing, and I have both video and photos to share with you, but it will take time. I shot all my photos in RAW mode, and so I need to do a decent amount of post-processing on them. I also need to edit some of the video footage, which I will do and upload to YouTube. But none of that is going to happen fast. Work is very very busy right now.
In fact I’m dodging my duties at the moment to clean up my desk and speak with all of the senior managers of my company while simultaneously taking care of my wife, who’s puking, my son, who has it coming out of the other end, and my dog, who had a seizure of some sort this weekend. Compared to them, this cold I’ve got is pretty wussy stuff.
I did want to weigh in on my poker cash game results for 2006. I’ve stopped really playing tournaments in any volume or focus, so I’ve not bothered to include those. But I’ve played hours and hours of cash games this year, and really worked hard on my no limit skills. While I’m still a novice, and will be learning this game my whole life, I’m much better than I was in 2005 when I lost over $2,000, I think.
My net total for 2006 is -$56. Here’s how it breaks down: I win money playing cards live, and I lose it online.
- $1,508 won in live poker (all variants) (217 hours played)
- $1,564 lost online poker (all variants) (214 hours played)
Now that I look at it, it’s like I ran some kind of freakish comparison experiment, playing equal amounts live and online. I didn’t plan it that way, it just worked out that way.
More specific breakdowns by game:
Limit Hold’em: -$2,127 over 136 hours (-$15.64 per hour)
- Lost $1,571 online (56 hours)
- Lost $556 live (80 hours)
No Limit Hold’em: +$2,424 over 159 hours (+$15.25 per hour)
- Won $180 online (52 hours)
- Won $2,244 live (107 hours)
Omaha, O/8: -$356 over 55 hours (-$6.47 per hour)
- Lost $93 live (6 hours)
- Lost $263 online (49 hours)
Stud, Stud H/L: +$67 over 71 hours (+$0.94 per hour)
- Won $91 online (58 hours)
- Lost $24 live (13 hours)
I don’t really think I have enough playtime to make lots of conclusions about my O8 and Stud talents, but I think the message is clear with regards to Hold’em: I’m a much better player live than online, and my limit game really needs some work, both live and online. Online, in particular, I can account for almost $1,200 of my limit hold’em loss due to playing the $5/$10 game, which I’m obvious not good enough to play.
But that implies that I’m actually making money at the lower limits of Limit Hold’em, which I’m not. Online I think I’m going to stick to $1/$2 through $3/$6 and live I’ll stay at $6/$12 through $10/$20.
In No Limit Hold’em, I’m comfortable playing $1/$2 live and will start taking some shots at the $2/$5 games when I feel good about it. Online I think I’ll still play $0.10/$0.25 through $0.50/$1.
If you’re curious, I tracked all my live results this year using PokerCharts and all my online play using PokerTracker Hold’Em, Omaha, and Stud. I highly recommend you pick up these programs if you’re going to play poker this year at all, or something similar. Nothing will get you through a run of bad cards or bad play like a historical tool that lets you examine where you’re playing your best game. While the odds are good that there are at least a few people in this world that can use their own memory to give them both history and perspective on their play for the last year, the odds are even better that you’re not one of them.
I’m going to enthusiastically play lots of cards this year, give the notable improvement in my game over the last 12 months. I hope to see you at the tables.