2009 has been an incredibly crazy year. Personally it’s been an awesome 12 months. My wife and I were blessed to have our 3rd child in June. Our 2 older kids Stephen (9) and Megan (7) welcomed their new baby sister Kate with open arms. My mother had heart surgery in August and came through hopefully even stronger than before. My two younger brothers both recently announced that their wives were pregnant with their 3rd child each which is great. And my little sister is doing well and moving up in the professional world. So on the family front which is most important 2009 was amazing.
Professionally 2009 was more mixed but overall great. Our home station 106.7 WJFK, which was one of the heritage FM talk stations in the country and the one I listened to growing up, flipped formats to all sports. This was a real mixed bag for us because we (The Junkies) survived the flip and still get to anchor the station in the mornings but we lost some friends in the building that didn’t make the new format and overall felt a sadness to see the hot guy talk format disappear.
We were lucky enough to have worked at JFK almost 12 years including a period that I think had the greatest talk radio lineup in history. Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don and Mike, The Sports Junkies and Ron and Fez. That style of radio is going the way of the dodo bird though and we are just lucky enough that we can still thrive in the world of sports radio since sports has always been the centerpiece of our show. In fact we are doing extremely well in the ratings since the flip and hope to dominate in the male demographics in the mornings for many more years.
Mediocre Poker Radio has had a pretty strong year too. Bret and I were pleased with our first foray into video content with our “Day with the Dangs” piece that we produced this year. We can’t thank Hac and Di enough for being so cool and letting us all get a peek into their world. Thanks fellas!
We also did some live streaming of some of our interviews this year and had our little viewing party of the final table online on Livestream which was cool. We hope to do a lot more of that this year. But most impressive to me was just the list of the people that we got a chance to interview (and meet in some cases) in 2009. In no particular order: Cole South, Brian Townsend, Brian Hastings, Taylor Caby, Dusty Schmidt, The Dangs, Joe Cada, Brad Booth, Jeff Shulman, Joe Sebok, Steve Sung, Mike Matusow, Phil Helmuth, Andy Block, Colin Moshman, Dani Stern, Howard Lederer and on and on. Not bad for a couple of donks who have to date been paid $0 to do this show. Most of the props go to Bret for booking the vast majority of these guys. Nice work B.
Now where is the downside, you have to be asking? I said it was a crazy year and so far everything has been pretty good. Well as I hint in the title of this blog, 455,787 hands later I am still basically a break even/losing player online. It’s complicated though. I actually booked a small winrate in the NL50 game over 246,00 hands. Having felt like I was playing solid and bored at NL50 I played almost 160,00 hands of NL100 and gave back all my winnings at NL50 and then some. Yes I ran something like 20+ buyin’s below expectation in all in’s (ie I ran like shit). But even if I ran according to expectation in all in’s I still would have finished down 10 buyins or so. Not a lot of money but enough to discourage me over a decent sized sample.
In fact I was so discouraged that I recently tried to shake things up and play some limit poker and see how that would go. (Shocker it went poorly). Limit poker seems to fit my mindset a little better at first glance. One decision won’t ruin a whole session the way it can in NL holdem. I can’t tell you how many times in No Limit I’ve played 2000 hands or so pretty well only to then have a critical pot where I’m pretty deep and make a bad call and donk off 200BB’s. One hand can wipe out your entire day’s worth of solid play. The play is so standard today online that it feels like we are just waiting to cooler each other and hope to be on the right side of the variance. It’s not much fun.
So even though I failed to move up again and wiped out my NL50 winnings losing at NL100 I still had my best year in sheer profit thanks to rakeback, and various promotions. It turns out I’m a professional bonus whore. Thanks to Iron Man medals, rakeback, FTP points and other bonuses on Full Tilt I have worked my online account from $400 to almost $17k over the last 2 years. That is strictly the result of grinding every day all while juggling work and 3 kids. It’s not a terrible result. But it feels hollow. I want to WIN!
Maybe if I could dedicate 8 hours a day or more to poker things would be different but I’m not sure. The most frustrating part of it all is I set these goals for myself in poker and I can’t seem to accomplish them. I want to beat certain levels at a certain clip and keep moving up and I can’t seem to do it. How are people doing it today? What am I missing? I’ve interviewed the best players in the world. I’ve had some coaching. I watch videos and try and review my hands. But nothing changes. The line between winning and losing long term is so fine.
Is anybody else out there experiencing the same problems? Dusty Schmidt aka Leatherass swears if anybody puts the time in they can be a winning poker player. But if 2 to 3 hours a day isn’t enough I’m cooked. Not sure I can do more than that and still have a wife, 3 kids and a career.
Basically I’m at a crossroads in my poker life. I can’t just quit. I’m too damn competitive, I like the challenge and frankly I’m probably addicted to it anyway. I’ve tried Heads Up (way too swingy), SNG’s (pretty frustrating and I suck when I’m on the bubble), Limit (I must have too many leaks), Pot Limit Omaha (may as well just flip coins) and always end back up at full ring no limit. I may try some 6 max again but everybody plays 6 max. I’m guessing if there aren’t that many fish at full ring there are even less at 6 max.
I’ll probably try to get some more coaching in 2010. The thing is I’m so arrogant that I feel like I’ve heard of and studied most of the concepts that are critical to becoming a winning player. I understand position and 3 betting and occasionally 4 betting light etc. I know there isn’t a secret formula. Maybe nobody wins consistently year after year. The biggest names in poker other than Phil Ivey have downswings. Hell even Durrr seems to have lost a boatload online this year. Maybe it’s just the nature of the game. But then just when I say this I remember Matt Bolt and Leatherass both saying they’ve never had a losing month. How????? Damn I suck.
Thankfully because of rake back and everything else I can still make a few bucks playing a game, something which my nerdy video game friends and couch potato buddies probably cant say. Maybe I’ll figure it out. Maybe I won’t. But I’ll keep trying anyway.
Good luck everybody. Be safe over the holidays and have a great 2010.
12 Responses to “455,787 hands later”
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Hang in there EB – I’m a fellow grinder who plays 100NL 6max and 50NL Heads up on full tilt and I feel your pain. As somebody who has been through coaching with a few of the more well known coaches, I can tell you that a lot of times coaching can hurt your game more than help it. For me just studying and thinking about the game on my own seems to work better.
Don’t take it too seriously, play for fun when you’re bored. Start to work on your card counting skills, blackjack is coming to the area, and it can’t hurt to have more than one source of gambling income.
Great read, EB.
I know the show has made you a better player overall and look forward to 2010 being very successful for you.
EB,
Great post buddy. Honestly, thank for all the fun and insight both here and with the Junks. You da man and I can’t wait for 2010 to be an even better year.
EB, congrats to you and your family on the great year! In regards to poker, for someone who is working at is as hard as you do, I’m sure it will come eventually as long as you keep your eyes open for the right advice. Keep learning.
“something which my nerdy video game friends and couch potato buddies probably cant say”
I’m a gamer and even though you made a few sheckles it sure seems to me like its a complete waste of time considering HOW much time you put in to it. Think of it as a job. How much would your hourly wage have been?
Now if you’re legitimately having fun playing poker all the time, then thats different. Play away. But it doesn’t seem like that. It seems stressful and often times a grind. The small money, the spare tire around the waste, and the time spent alone is not worth it in my humble opinion.
Playing games on the other hand is ALWAYS fun. Its a way to relax. Plus its not nearly as much time in the seat as playing poker.
Hey EB,
Just wanted to wish you a happy New Year. I have been a Junkies listener since the evening show, and have met you a few times. I have played poker on and off somewhat-seriously over the last 6 years, and am about to start playing again. I love listening to you and Bret do the show, and appreciate you sharing your life with us. If you haven’t figure it out in the past 13 years of doing the Junkies, at the end of the day, you’re pretty much just like the rest of us in most respects. In poker, we’re all grinding, trying to get better, and most of us have a ceiling that’s significantly lower than that of the pros. The Leatherass interview was inspiring to me, but I’m like you–I just don’t have 8+ hours/day to devote.
Anyway, thanks again to you, Bret and Valdez. I look forward to listening in 2010.
Jerome
EB
Thanks for the site (and the post). The content of MPR has been great (and much appreciated, especially because its basically donated time). Hopefully someone will notice what you guys have going and take it to the next level.
I’m nowhere near as dedicated to the game as you (monthly neighborhood game, local tourneys and occasional NL50 6 Max or SNGs). That said, I always look forward to the interviews, text/video posts, hand analysis, etc. Having someone up ahead to point out the landmines is always a plus.
Maybe your resolution for 2010 can be for ESPN to show you sitting at the table with the big money at stake, rather than lurking behind some female comedian to see if she can pull one out on the river.
Keep it up! Looking forward to even more in ‘10 . . .
DG
EB, I tried my hand at daytrading stocks for 2 years. Spent about 8-10 hours a day studying the game…for 2 years straight. At the end, I came to the same crossroads as you. I spent so much time, making so very little and I asked myself the question: was it worth it for me to continue? Like you, trading was more of a challenge for me than a quest to become filthy rich from it. My drive to succeed was still there and I really didn’t want to let go, but I knew what I had to do. I was in denial for a few months, but eventually, I found a new challenge.
Looking back, I don’t consider my stint at daytrading a failure because I learned a lot about myself in those two years. I learned that daytrading wasn’t meant for me. I wasn’t built to be a daytrader. Some people like Phil Ivey, Brian Townsend, Tom Dwan, and most of the high stakes players have “something” in them that make them able to do what they do. I’m not certain if that “something” can be acquired through hard work or not. Same with great traders. They have something in them that I don’t have, nor will I ever get. You can’t just “will” your way to becoming a Ray Lewis. You either are, or you aren’t. I have accepted the fact that I wasn’t built to be a daytrader.
However, without giving it a go, I would never have known. For that reason, I don’t consider those two years, “wasted time”. I consider them an experience. An experience that has taken me to where I’m at today.
Happy New years. Thanks for the good reads on your poker journey.
Thanks for all the great interviews over the past year. I hope there are plenty more to come in 2010. These really are my favorite poker podcasts online.
Bickel, you understand the concept of statistically irrelevant sample sizes but you still don’t practice what you know. You don’t play enough at the other games to have significant enough sample sizes but dismiss them as not good for you. SNGs are beatable. PLO is beatable. LHE is beatable. You play a couple hundred hands and then declare that you don’t like it. It takes time to learn games. Maybe in 2010 you could give it a go at something else. You keep coming back to what you’re comfortable with. Start lower at other games and look for profitable spots. If you can learn, you’ll find them.
Hey EB nice post,
Obviously the numbers don’t lie, when you play 500k hands of poker and are a slight loser, you’re making mistakes. I disagree with leatherass a bit, while i agree that anyone can get good if they just play enough, they have to play and improve. If you are doing the same things over and over again, then you can put in as many hands as you want, but you’re still not going to be a winning player. Just by listening to your interviews i can kind of tell that you like poker, but you don’t REALLY get it. I feel like, you want a system for winning at poker, like you want to just do the same things over and over because they are +EV, instead of just thinking about which option is best against this particular player. I think you just need to re-evaluate your overall approach to poker, and probably cut down on your multitabling if you truly want to make money playing poker. I think you’re probably looking at all the big hands you win or lose and saying to yourself, “well thats just a cooler, or thats a bad beat”, what you have to understand is that most big hands are going to be break even situations in lowerstakes games, where you really carve out your winrate is in the smaller and medium sized pots. Look at how you’re playing a lot of the hands that you consider to be “standard” and really examine if you are “getting max value / losing the minimum.” I hope this advice helps you. 2009 was a rough year for me also, i hope 2010 turns out better for the both of us, gl at the tables.
Eb,
Been a listener of both your shows since moving in the area, of NOVA. Thanks for all the entertainment, Great work!
Obv, every noob comes on here and gives you advice, so I guess I will join the club.
First off, Your bankroll is huge and way above the stakes you feel comfortable at. Cash out buy something you normally wouldn’t. This feeling of holding the actual cash in your hand/ rubbing it on your titties will give you a sense of reward. If you only feel comfortable playing at 50nl, then why keep more then 3k online?
Secondly I would use it for coaching. Grant it is expensive, but you said it your self you started with 400 so if you take 10% of your profit which is a small number imo, to invest in your knowledge of the game. That should leave you about 1.7 k for coaching.
Finally, I know you get great players on with great advice, but nothing can substitute advice from a coach that is familiar w/ the stakes you are playing/ trying to beat. The games are changing currently and what worked a year ago even six months ago might not be working at those particular stakes anymore. Also what works at 1/2 might not work at 100nl, and so on. I would also make sure you get full ring coach not a six max coach these games play much differently.
I hope this makes sense and doesn’t sound like another random donk, spewing off unwarranted advice.
Not to spam your site but we have had a lot of full ring videos coming out over at leggo poker. You might want to check them out. Being that most training sites have a limited number of full ring nl videos, I think it would make sense to be a member a couple different training sites.
GL in the new year!