Last month I took part in my year-end Weatherford Tournament Series of Poker event. Following my 2016 play I qualified with 4,150 points, needing 3,000 to get a seat in the tournament, and this was good enough to be 12 out of 18 players. This year my point value (which is also your chip value) increased to 6,800 and I was starting third in chips out fo 22 players.
Despite starting with below the average chip count last year, I was able to make the final table and finished ninth. This year wasn't much better despite the higher starting chip stack. I ended up in 8th place.
Ramping up toward this tournament I had been eager to learn new strategies and implement more aggressive tendencies in recent games, but I told myself to play my normal game as it usually gets me deep into tournaments. Although, the downside to my normal style of play is that I am struggling with a short stack near the end and am hardly ever one of the chip leaders. I had hoped with the third-highest starting stack in the tournament that defect would be overcome, but unfortunately it didn't help very much.
I have noticed that it seems the more I try new tactics, the more uncertain I get in specific situations. I think I am overloading myself with new strategies and need to focus on only one or two new tips to master before taking on another.
Things have started well for me so far this year in poker. I have built my bankroll up to more than $1,000 in the first two months, which is an hourly rate that I will not be able to sustain. I am hoping by the end of the year to have played approximately 150 hours and logged an hourly rate of $17. Those amounts should equate to an annual earning of $2,550 in poker. Although not everything I make from poker stays in the bankroll, I do hope to have approximately $1,500 in a poker-only account.
