The Year That Was 2013

As the year wraps up, it's time to revisit how 2013 panned out on the poker front for this Bug. As long-time readers of this blog know, I usually post a list of New Year's poker resolutions on or around the first of a new year, and then near the end of that year I look back and grade myself on how things went. This year ain't no different. Here's the list I posted way back on New Year's Eve, along my with my self-assessment 12 months later:

1. "Use my pregame checklists before any cash or tournament session." I'm constantly adding and subtracting from my master checklists, but I'm only reviewing it about 50-75% of the time prior to playing. Score: B  
2. "Perform a weekly end-of-week post-mortem review of key losing poker hands." Did just OK on this front, doing post-mortems only about once a month, not weekly. (BTW, the most prevalent leaks in my game continue to be a) impatience; and b) bankroll management.) Score: C+
3. "Read and vote in every Hand of the Day during the week." Started really strong on this one, but some time in May I started to peter out on answering them. That said, I do look at the Hand of the Day pretty much every morning. Score: C+
4. "Perform at least one detailed Hand Analysis per week." Meh. Again, I started strong, but then faded sometime in the Spring. I did however answer a lot of individual reader emails about specific hands they played, which kinda counts toward this goal. Right? Score: B-
5. "Post at least 2-3 times per week on this blog." Averaged 2.4 posts per week, including a lot of detailed, rambling, long-winded treatises on poker strategy. Some of these even were halfway good. :-p Score: A+
6. "Read and take notes on at least one complete poker book per month." Read an even dozen books, but only took a full set of notes on two of them. Score: C
7. "Watch and take notes on at least one poker video per month." Watched 40+ videos, but did a bad job notating them. Score: B-
8. "Listen to at least one podcast per week." Hit this one out of the park, with an average of 2.8 podcasts per week. Score: A+
9. "Get myself into fighting shape by at least one month before the WSOP." Good lord, did I do poorly on this front. I'm a full pound heavier today than I was 365 days ago when I posted this list. Ugh. I did manage to walk pretty much every day, however, plus do some strength exercise at least twice a week, but overall I'm very not-happy with my health improvement. Definitely needs improvement. Score: D
10. "Figure out damage control strategies for business trips." Another poor, poor result. In fact, I blame most of the reason I gave myself a D in the previous resolution is due to being on the road 1.5 weeks on average per month... and eating poorly and not exercising while on said trips. I'm getting better, but I have a long, long way to go. Score: D
11. "Continue REDi'ing my way to poker success." I pretty much play this way automatically now, and my results are a testament to how well it works (at least for me). I could probably do a slightly better job Implementing better (i.e., bet sizing), but overall I'm a very happy REDi camper. Score: A
12. "Adjust to opponents more proactively." Again, I think I'm doing a pretty good job overall playing a solid Level-2 to Level-3 brand of poker, with a lot of adjustments and adapting to individual villains. Score: B+
13. "Don't Tilt." I'm pretty much a tilt-free player these days. No, seriously! I can shrug off most losing sessions and individual bad beats, especially if I feel I played well. Sure, some big suck outs still hurt (i.e., I'm still learning to master this at Omaha), but overall I'm pretty pleased with my emotional control during and after most sessions. Score: A-
14. "Continue to build the bankroll." Quite pleased overall on this front, too. I had eleven out of twelve months in the black, plus had a pretty decent score at the WSOP, coming back with enough dough to fully finance the next year's series. Sure, I could have done better, but poker is the only hobby I've ever had that actually makes me money, and I'm pulling a nice little egg out of the golden goose every 6-8 weeks or so. Can't complain at all. Score: A-
15. "Play at least one online MTT per week." I've averaged only 2 online MTTs per month, not four, so I'm not too proud of this one. Score: C+
16. "Play at least one non-turbo STSnG per week." Per my records, I played 45 STSnGs this past year, so I think I basically met this goal. Well, close enough. Score: A-
17. "Play at least one live MTT per month." Played seven local tourneys, two Talking Stick games, and three Vegas tourneys in 2013, which averages in at exactly one per month. Score: A
18. "Reinvigorate/Reorganize weekly poker strategy discussion." Total fail. Didn't even try. I suck. Score: F
19. "Target the fish." This (and REDi) continue to be the reason I make a solid hourly at this silly game. Sure, I could do better, but I'm pretty good at this skill. Score: B+
20. "Have more fun." Winning is fun, and playing solidly is even more fun. I also really continue to enjoy reading and writing about the game, especially herein this blog. And going to the WSOP was a true bucket list trip (and set the hook for future WSOP trips). And finally, I continue to meet new and interesting poker playing friends via the blogosphere, which I truly enjoy. Bottom line: Poker is still mucho fun. Period. Score: A+

Tallying the grades, it looks like my 2013 GPA was a meager 2.85, which ain't great. Numbers 9, 10, and 18 killed any hope of an above 3.0 average, but honestly I'm not complaining. The year of 2013 was a good poker year for this Bug. Let's hope 2014 is equally as good.

I'll post my 2014 resolutions within the next week or so. Stay tuned.

All-in for now...

-Bug