Certainly an above average year in tournaments, with an FTOPS win, a WCOOP final table, a SCOOP final table bubble, and a top 100 finish in the WSOP Main Event. No room to complain about anything here. My true ROI is probably in the neighborhood of 100%, so I ran well above expectation. The high average buy-in and field size indicate that I focused my play on big buy-in events and special huge-field events like the WCOOP, FTOPS, and Sunday tournaments, which was the goal.

ROI: 395.8%

ITM: 17.5%

Average Buy-In: $546

Average Field Size: 2,204

Average Finish: 38.7%

Win Rate: .73 Buy-Ins/Hour

Biggest Win: $2000 FTOPS 2-Day NLHE

Cash Game Statistics

These numbers aren’t as bad as they look. Basically I got creamed in some high stakes heads up games, and those dragged down my overall win rates. Excluding heads up games, I’m up across the board, even in high-stakes games (2.5 BB/100 win rate). Basically I just need to either get better at heads up, stop playing it, or at least practice better game selection.

I’m also a little unhappy with the number of hands played. Because of my nomadic lifestyle, I was on my laptop for most of the year, with just one monitor. Thus I often played just 4 tables at once. It’s been nice getting back on two monitors, and I’m looking forward to getting a lot more hands in for 2011.

Hands Played: 254,356

Win Rates (in BB/100)

Overall: 1.65
6-Max: 2.11
Full Ring: 5.07
Heads Up: -7.7
Mid-Stakes: 3.01
High Stakes: -2.52

Best Game

10/20 Pot Limit Hold ‘Em. Played 3 hands and won $270, for a win rate of 450 BB/100.

If you want a serious answer, it’s $2/4 Rush NLHE Full Ring, where I played 75K hands with a 6.55 BB/100 win rate.

Worst Game

1/2 Rush NLHE 6-Max. Played one hand and lost $2, so -100 BB/100. Somewhat more devestating was my -31.44 BB/100 over 2700 hands of 25/50 Heads Up NLHE.

Biggest Pot Won, in BBs

434.19 BB’s

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($638.50)
Hero (MP) ($2983.35)
CO ($1403.05)
Button ($4023.40)
SB ($2525.35)
BB ($1822.90)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 10, 10
1 fold, Hero bets $24, 1 fold, Button raises to $72, SB raises to $192, 1 fold, Hero raises to $444, 1 fold, SB calls $252

Flop: ($966) 10, 2, 6 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($966) 5 (2 players)
SB bets $625, Hero calls $625

River: ($2216) 8 (2 players)
SB bets $1455.15 (All-In), Hero calls $1455.15

Total pot: $5126.30 | Rake: $3

Results:
SB had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Hero had 10, 10 (three of a kind, tens).
Outcome: Hero won $5130.50

Biggest Pot Won, $

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $80.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($10690)
Hero (SB) ($14549)
BB ($25279)
UTG ($12963.50)
MP ($53395.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K
UTG bets $240, 2 folds, Hero raises to $960, 1 fold, UTG raises to $2400, Hero raises to $14549 (All-In), UTG calls $10563.50 (All-In)

Flop: ($26007) K, 4, 8 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($26007) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($26007) 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $26007 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had K, K (three of a kind, Kings).
UTG had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $26004

Biggest Pot Lost, in BBs

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($566.40)
MP ($3683.60)
Button ($1845.30)
Hero (SB) ($2330.80)
BB ($2075.40)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, K
2 folds, Button bets $18, Hero raises to $77, 1 fold, Button calls $59

Flop: ($160) A, K, 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $122, Button calls $122

Turn: ($404) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $333, Button calls $333

River: ($1070) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $777, Button raises to $1312.10 (All-In), Hero calls $535.10

Total pot: $3694.20 | Rake: $2

Results:
Button had Q, J (royal flush).
Hero had A, K (two pair, Aces and Kings).
Outcome: Button won $3698.20

Biggest Pot Lost, in $

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($17121)
BB ($13686.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 4
Hero bets $100, BB raises to $350, Hero raises to $950, BB calls $600

Flop: ($1900) A, 8, 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $999, BB raises to $3175, Hero raises to $5351, BB raises to $12736.50 (All-In), Hero calls $7385.50

Turn: ($27373) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($27373) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $27373 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had A, 4 (two pair, Aces and fours).
BB had 4, 4 (full house, fours over twos).
Outcome: BB won $27372.50

How did 2010 treat you?

10. Sharron Angle- Thanks for being so goddamn crazy that you couldn’t even get elected as a Republican in Nevada during the 2010 midterms. If anyone remotely competent had gotten your party’s nomination, poker players would be without our friend Harry Reid in the Senate.

9. The 2+2 Pokercast- Fantastic free entertainment! They have consistently great guests and keep me in the loop about both important developments in the poker world and the best photoshop threads in BBV4L. The Pokercast is a regular companion when I’m grinding the Sunday Majors.

8. Barney Frank- If we see fully legalized and regulated online poker in the US anytime soon, it will be because of Barney Frank. So here’s to you, you beautiful curmudgeonly bastard!

7. Rush Poker- I buy the hype; this is a major development that will change the face of online poker. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’s bringing in new recreational players. Now let’s see some heads up Rush in 2011!

6. My $25,000 Suckout- It was the single biggest pot of my career, and I needed a miracle to win it.

5. Five of Clubs- A lot of cards would have done it, but this river won me a huge flip against David Baker on Day 6 of the WSOP and kept me alive for several hours’ worth of pay jumps. And I got some solid TV time out of it!

4. FTOPS Jersey- Obviously it took a lot of luck to win this, including QQ > AK on the final table bubble and AA > KK at the final table to win a huge pot from Bakes. People named David Baker did not have a good year vs. me.

3. Chris Moneymaker- For making it all happen in the first place. He was the right guy, with the right name, to win the WSOP at exactly the right time. Seven years later, we’re still profiting from the boom he jump-started.

2. 2+2 Forums- The content of the strategy forums has gone downhill in recent years, but even so they continue to serve an incredibly valuable role as a community forum where the industry is kept at least a little bit in check. Keeping sites, and players, honest is difficult work, and these forums are the single best tool that we as a community have to combat cheating.

1. You- I’m sure I would have given blogging long ago if weren’t for all of you frequent readers and commenters. Thanks for keeping it fun and interesting!

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds 3 Ante (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t6043)
UTG+1 (t6006)
MP1 (t6253)
MP2 (t5929)
MP3 (t5889)
CO (t5949)
Button (t5949)
SB (t6133)
Hero (BB) (t5849)

Hero’s M: 102.61

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5, 6
1 fold, UTG+1 bets t50, 6 folds, Hero calls t30

Flop: (t137) 2, 3, 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets t80, Hero raises to t299, UTG+1 raises to t660, Hero raises to t1442, UTG+1 calls t782

Turn: (t3021) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets t1444, UTG+1 raises to t4511 (All-In), Hero calls t2910 (All-In)

River: (t11729) 6 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t11729

Results:
Hero had 5, 6 (straight flush, six high).
UTG+1 had A, J (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: Hero won t11729

The next few hours were brutal, and I never got much about 13K. I was getting 3- and 4-bet mercilessly, but no action when I had hands. Then finally I got some action when I had QQ, and, well, you can guess how that ended.

It’s actually an interesting hand. Villain is 24/20 and an aggressive tournament regular who probably views me in much the same way. I’d open folded to him once from my SB, then there was this:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 80/160 Blinds 20 Ante (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t5553)
BB (t14497)
UTG (t8860)
UTG+1 (t14413)
MP1 (t3645)
MP2 (t31129)
MP3 (t2679)
CO (t5511)
Button (t15529)

Hero’s M: 13.22

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, Q
7 folds, Hero bets t480, BB calls t320

Flop: (t1140) 7, K, 8 (2 players)
Hero bets t777, BB calls t777

Turn: (t2694) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets t4276 (All-In), BB calls t4276

River: (t11246) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t11246

Results:
Hero had Q, Q (one pair, Queens).
BB had J, 9 (straight, Jack high).
Outcome: BB won t11246

Villain’s range for getting to the turn is clearly quite wide, and with the Qd in my hand, I think folding is out of the question. I could check to induce a bluff, but I think that enables him to check behind all the hands against which I have the biggest edge (76, A8, etc.). He’ll sometimes bet-fold, but when he bet-calls, I think I can expect to be behind. I chose instead to rep a big draw myself, giving him the opportunity to hero-call me with 6d7 or A8. Even after he drills the gutterball, I’ve still got 15-20% equity.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP (t3970)
CO (t6725)
Button (t5075)
SB (t2240)
Hero (BB) (t6789)
UTG (t10726)

Hero’s M: 75.43

Preflop: Hero is BB with 2, 2
UTG bets t180, 4 folds, Hero calls t120

Flop: (t390) 7, 6, 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks

Turn: (t390) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets t246, UTG raises to t645, Hero calls t399

River: (t1680) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks

Total pot: t1680

Results:
Hero had 2, 2 (two pair, sevens and twos).
UTG had Q, A (one pair, sevens).
Outcome: Hero won t1680

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t9676)
SB (t1885)
BB (t5429)
UTG (t9245)
MP (t2815)
CO (t8180)

Hero’s M: 107.51

Preflop: Hero is Button with J, 9
UTG bets t150, 2 folds, Hero calls t150, 2 folds

Flop: (t390) 2, 10, 4 (2 players)
UTG bets t210, Hero raises to t526, UTG raises to t1035, Hero calls t509

Turn: (t2460) 9 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets t999, 1 fold

Total pot: t2460

Results:
Hero didn’t show J, 9.
Outcome: Hero won t2460

Villain was tight and extremely aggressive when involved in a hand. Nevertheless, I don’t think there’s a single value hand he 3-bets on this flop. I was betting any turn and expecting him to fold, but I don’t think that’s a reason to check a 9, as I don’t feel I can call a bet on most any river.