A Year In Review

In brief... Life is Great. Poker is stagnant. That's the right way round.

I've just been re-reading my New Year's post from the beginning of this year.

I listed 5 cool things that were due to happen in 2005:

1. Getting Married. Check. Yes, that was pretty awesome

2. Graduating and getting the hell out of shitty-Oxford. Check. Although strickly speaking I haven't actually graduated, but that's more of a technicallity: another one of Oxford's niceities is that there isn't an anual graduation ceremony for everybody finishing. Instead you have to book a place at one of the many ceremonies they have scattered through the year. Guess what, I haven't got round to it yet! The important point is that I did finish my degree (albeit with a 2:2) and we did get the hell out of Shitty-Oxford. Hurrah.

3. Moving to London. Check. London rocks. Nuff said.

4. A whole year to improve my poker. Hmmm. My limit game has got worse; my tournament game has got worse; my NL cash game has got a bit better.

I also set myself a number of poker related targets for 2005:

1. Always play at a level that matches both my bankroll and my ability. Check. It certainly didn't happen immediately, but at some point I had an epiphany and realised that I wasn't going to be the next Doyle over-night, or ever for that matter and since then I've pretty much been content to play within my means. To an extent this realisation may have limited by ability to improve, but I'm now much better disciplined in my choice of stakes.

2. Better record keeping and self analysis. Failed. I've got worse, and this is certainly the biggest reason that I've failed to improve this year. I've been without Poker Tracker for half the year for one reason or another and I've stopped spending several hours a week on forums and such. This has to change.

3. Biuld my bankroll and ability so that I'd be comfortable playing at Party $15/30. Failed. I've probably played only 5,000 hands at $15/30 (at the end of 2004), but I'm a looser over those hands. My limit game was never really good enough to play $15/30 and I've not had the bankroll to even contemplate it this year. Even though I haven't been keeping records this year, I know I've been making money, but I've been uable to build the bankroll due to the necessity for frequent cashouts. Hopefully a better paid job is on the horizon so I can concentrate on swelling the coffers.

4. Qualify for a big tournament. Yeah, right.

So, 3 out of 4 life goals have been achieved (Marriage, Graduation, and Moving to London, versus Improving at Poker), which explains why life is so good, especailly since the three that were achieve have a far higher weighting in the happiness equation.

Only 1 out of 4 poker goals have been achieved. Ah, that would explain why I still suck!

Overall, a damn fine year. Bring on 2006.