2014 Started with a bang but ended with a fizzle.

Total: $6,531.42
Year ---> Month ---> Cashout
2014 ---> 1 ---> $518.59
2014 ---> 2 ---> $2,053.53
2014 ---> 3 ---> $2,637.87
2014 ---> 4 ---> $1,896.78
2014 ---> 5 ---> $2,425.73
2014 ---> 6 ---> $-1,352.08
2014 ---> 7 ---> $265.64
2014 ---> 8 ---> $1.51
2014 ---> 9 ---> $577.13
2014 ---> 10 ---> $0.00
2014 ---> 11 ---> $223.09
2014 ---> 12 ---> $-2,716.37

Unfortunately, some serious real life issues got in the way of poker most of the second half of the year when my wife and I agreed to adopt a little girl whose mother (my wife's good friend) was dying plus my grandmother, who was an avid poker player, died a bit unexpectedly, too. Twice, I got my yearly profit above $10,000 - once in June and then again in November, but I had a nasty downswing and December was my worst month of poker ever in terms of just money won or lost.

I spent a lot of time looking at my game to try to figure out what might have contributed to such a bad December and came to several conclusions:

1) I was playing too many tables > 9 at times
2) I wasn't taking good enough notes
3) I wasn't paying good enough attention to hands - especially hands I had folded
4) I am losing too much money on tables where the total players is between 2 and 6
5) I haven't been studying as much as I need to
6) Bovada sucks - too slow, bad software, can't get reads on opponents, etc.

So, I've recently been making these adjustments:
1) Keeping max # of tables played at one time to 9
2) Take better notes and take them more often
3) Pay better attention to hands even if I'm not in the hand
4) I'm generally going to limit my heads-up to shorthanded play UNLESS the number of fish is greater or equal to the number of regs
5) I renewed my DC membership, started using LeakBuster, and have been studying more often
6) Stopped playing on Bovada

It's early going, but 7 of my last 8 sessions online have been winning ones, so hopefully I can keep the ball moving in the right direction.

And, not to throw a pity party, but I have been running pretty poorly, too. At $200NL, with around 70k hands played, I'm currently down half a buyin but the all-in EV says I should be up 15 buyins ($3,000). $200NL has been so swingy. At one point I've been up 10 buyins, I've been down 8 buyins, but my allin EV line has been consistently way ahead of actual results. Then, add in the coolers. 88 flops 899 and loses to quad 9's. JJ flops AJA and loses to AJ, AA versus reg KK get it allin preflop and have to split it because a 5 card straight hits the board. There's been others but those are a few recent ones that jump to mind. Ah well, that's poker. Maybe I can hit $10k this year.

2015 is off to a rousing start. The first 3 online sessions have all been big winners and I started back my biweekly home game and I had my biggest cashout ever @ that game @ $400 (2nd largest ever cashout profit of anyone from my game) which is pretty decent for a $1 big blind game. My wife had her 2nd biggest cashout on the same night. Of course, the month has just started so there is plenty of time for everything to go South.

I've realized it's kind of hard for me to set poker goals because of the poker landscape always changing plus real life can get in the way. However, I would like to try to manage my time better this year and be able to consistently play every month if possible. Even if some months are better than others volume wise, I want to make sure I don't go a month and not even play a hand like I did last year. It would also be nice to break $10k total profits (and keep it) and achieve an hourly rate of $20 or more. We shall see ...

If real life doesn't get too much in the way, I'll try to at least do quarterly updates if not other random updates when appropriate.