January Review - Being Better (Ship Ship)

I entered 2010 with the desire to improve my work habits with respect to poker, in addition to implementing a few tweaks in my general approach to beating SSFR. After being indecisive with respect to whether or not I would pursue SNE status again this year, I still have not committed one way or another. Positively, I put in 75k VPPs worth of volume this month despite an 8 day vacation to the Bahamas for the PCA (using one of my SNE tournament packages) so while I am a little behind pace I would certainly still be in very good shape should I decide to commit to the chase.

My PCA experience was very positive. I had a great time and played what I believe to be very well in the event. The Cove Suite room upgrade at the Atlantis was wonderful, as was the waterpark, food, and sea lion experience at Dolphin Cay. I only wish the weather had been better.

I'm extremely pleased with my poker results during January. I opened the month on an extremely sexy heater, and while I did eventually cool off substantially I still most definitely ran above average. After running so poorly in much of 2009, this was a refreshing change. Another important factor is that I ran exceptionally well at 200NL, while fairly mediocre (perhaps even below average) at 100NL. It's always better to run good in the bigger games, though it would have been nice to have avoided a couple bad beats at 600NL that if dodged could have helped towards a monster month. I'm also certain that my efforts to have a better focus level and the adjustments I made to my game had a positive impact. The result of these factors is I had a personal best month in both straight table winnings and total profit!



The Bottom Line:
$15,221.90 table winnings (personal best!)
$6003.28 FPP value (75,041 VPPs x 5FPP/VPP SNE modifier! x 1.6c/FPP)
$800 stellar bonuses (new for 2010)
$140 additional FPP value through special January VIP store sale of $1.5k bonus
$150 deposit bonus
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$22,315.18 USD total profit (a new record month!). At current exchange rate this is ~$23,866 CDN.

Also of note, I played ~19% of my volume above 100NL this month. I believe this is a record for me and a positive sign. I'm certain I can still bumhunt quite a bit more aggressively at 400NL and especially 600NL, but at the very least this month was a good start in getting comfortable doing so. The extreme run good at 200NL definitely boosts the confidence, perhaps moreso than it should.

Hopefully I can carry some momentum into February. I need to focus heavily on maintaining an efficient and healthy schedule, as I've already started to slip some in this regard and I believe it was a big factor in my January success.