In 2006, as in every poker year before it, a lot of money was won, lost, and raked. A lot of new faces emerged to gain poker stardom; hello, Jeff Madsen, Alex Jacob, Joe Pelton, Shannon Shorr, and anyone else I left out! Some, shall we say, interesting legislation got passed by a Congress that was promptly shown the door soon thereafter. And through it all, the games keep being dealt: in casinos, in people's homes, and online.
Last New Year's Day, in this magazine, I made a bunch of poker resolutions, and also evaluated the resolutions I made from the year before. I also said that poker players should take the time out, at least once a year, to celebrate something they've done well in this game - because everyone knows it's far too easy to get bogged down in what has gone badly. Here are some of my 2006 poker highlights:
1. Becoming comfortable in no-limit hold'em cash games. Earlier in my career, I played almost exclusively limit cash games and no-limit tournaments. I'm now confident playing either form of either game.
2. Entering my first non-hold'em
World Series of Poker event. I played the razz event at this year's
WSOP to start preparing myself to eventually play the huge buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event. I'm not there yet, but this year was a start.
3. Winning the no-limit hold'em event at the Foxwoods Annual Rec.Gambling Outing (FARGO). I've been attending and enjoying FARGO (www.fargopoker.com) since 2000. It was fun and satisfying to take down the main event there this year among my longtime friends.
My lowlight for the year was failing to make a big cash in a major tournament. I played 18 events with buy-ins of $2,000 or more and cashed in three of them, definitely a good cash rate. But anyone who plays tournaments knows you need a big cash to stay in the money for a year. If I had bought into all of them directly, I would've lost more than $80,000 playing just those 18 events, even with my three cashes. Of course, I won my way into some of those tournaments, but the bottom line still isn't pretty. And to think, I didn't play anywhere close to a full schedule, and I cashed more often than an average player would be expected to! I know I've said it a million times, but I'll say it a million more: Play tournaments to win, not to cash.
OK, let's look at my resolutions, old and new.
2006 resolution: I'd like to open with, and call raises with, even more hands.
Grade: A. I definitely opened up my game a lot this year, and in some ways I'm still in the experimental stage of turning on very loose play in just the right spots. For 2007, I'll make my corresponding resolution a little more narrow.
2007 resolution: I'd like to find a reliable method for determining exactly how tight or how loose I should play at a particular table at a particular time.
2006 resolution: I'd like to bluff the river even more.
Grade: C. I don't think I bluffed on the river all that more often this year than I did in past years. And I still think I'm missing bets on the end.
2007 resolution: Improve my read of my opponent's hand by the river, so I can bluff more often and more effectively.
2006 resolution: Keep up the value-betting on the river.
Grade: A-. This has always been one of my strengths. I make big value bets, and I get them called; and this trait has helped me enormously in my career.
2007 resolution: Keep up the value-betting on the river.
2006 resolution: Set aside and schedule time for poker study. Identify at least three typical poker situations in which my play is too exploitable.
Grade: D-. I have a printed schedule that includes study time. I'm looking at it right now on my bulletin board. The problem is, I never followed it - although once December rolled around, I at least tried to start following it. Let's revise this resolution for next year.
2007 resolution: Set aside and schedule time for poker study, and actually follow through on this studying at least once a month.
2006 resolution: To record time, date, hours, and location for every cash-game session I play. To record entrants, finishing position, buy-in amount, and net profit/loss for every tournament I play. To become more adept at using my data to analyze and find weaknesses in my game.
Grade: D+. I didn't think this was possible, but my record-keeping in 2006 was almost as bad as it was in 2005. Sure, I know how much money I won/lost, but I didn't record things in anywhere near the specificity required by my goal. This is especially disappointing, because this resolution should, in theory, be one of the easiest to keep. But I guess I'll have to scale back the resolution for next year.
2007 resolution: Record time, date, hours, and location for every cash-game session I play. Record entrants, finishing position, buy-in amount, and net profit/loss for every tournament I play.
2006 resolution: Schedule time to play poker, to ensure that I play enough hours over the course of the year to withstand the negative swings.
Grade: D. Again, I have a printed schedule. Again, I don't follow it. I didn't, however, give myself an F here, because I became involved in several non-poker projects this year that I couldn't have foreseen when the year started. It is somewhat difficult for me to give a corresponding resolution for next year, because I have no idea of how many hours I want or need to play in 2007. I may make a resolution for playing time in my journal (www.mattmatros.journal.htm) at some future point, but it's too early for me to make one in these pages.
2006 resolution: Convert some of my "reads" at the table into numbers, postmortem. Keep a record of how close my reads come to my opponents' actual holdings, as much as possible. Experiment with relying more on instinct than I normally would for a few tournaments. Experiment with relying less on instinct than I normally would for a few tournaments.
Grade: F. I didn't do this at all - partially because I didn't play all that many brick-and-mortar casino events, and partially because this analysis sounds like hard work, and I'm lazy. I'll try to rephrase this resolution into something more doable for next year.
2007 resolution: At the end of any day of brick-and-mortar casino poker, write down at least one read I had and, if possible, the accuracy of that read. Compile these observations into one database.
2006 resolution: I want to enter more major tournaments than I did in 2005.
Grade: C. I entered 19 tournaments with buy-ins of $2,000 or more in 2005, one more than I entered in 2006. Some might say I should give myself an F, because I failed to meet my resolution. But I got very close, and I had good reasons for cutting down my schedule toward the end of 2006, so I think I graded myself fairly here. Again, I don't know what my poker plans are for 2007, so I don't have a corresponding resolution for the new year.
2006 resolution: I want to think more seriously about folding on the river in limit hold'em.
Grade: A-. I definitely think I found some folds on the end in limit hold'em, where previously I had been paying off too often. I have a good, somewhat complementary resolution for the new year.
2007 resolution: Find more places to bluff on the river in limit hold'em.
2006 resolution: I want to make a greater effort to work with other poker players to battle potential collusion in tournaments, and to make sure poker players are treated fairly, especially during televised events.
Grade: C. I made some small progress on this, by joining the Poker Players Alliance (http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/) and running for a spot on the (disbanded?) WPTE Player Advisory Committee. But there is still a whole lot more I could and should be doing on this front.
2007 resolution: Make an even greater effort to work with other poker players to battle potential collusion in tournaments, and to make sure poker players are treated fairly, especially during televised events.
In summary, I think I did pretty well with the resolutions concerning game-specific tactics, but extremely poorly on those concerning broader issues, like analysis, study, and record-keeping. I think there are enough revised resolutions from things I screwed up in 2006 that I don't need any brand-new ones for this year. The resolutions above are more than enough for a sloth like me.
Best of luck to everyone playing poker in 2007!
Matt Matros is the author of The Making of a Poker Player, which is available online at http://www.CardPlayer.com.
