2010

I began last year on a quest to reach Supernova Elite and have my best poker year ever. I failed at that. I made it more than halfway there and made a good living along the way, but I came up short. I could blame it on the fact that I wrote two books and recorded a hundred videos, but I won't. The fact is, I just didn't play enough poker to reach that one goal. But that doesn't mean the year was a failure.

The truth of the matter is that Supernova Elite just didn't matter enough to me. It didn't matter enough to forgo an awesome opportunity to write Don't Listen To Phil Hellmuth with Dusty Schmidt, and learn No Limit Holdem in the process. It didn't matter enough to stop me from playing in the main event of the World Series of Poker for the first time. It certainly didn't matter enough to keep me from writing my first book, Way of the Poker Warrior, and getting it published.

In retrospect, going for Supernova Elite was not a great idea in the first place. It was an effective motivator early in the year. It got me to put in my two biggest months ever. But ultimately, I wound up focusing too heavily on volume. It got me to focus on quantity over quality. I think it's a great program and a great opportunity for those who want to grind out a million hands of break even poker. But that's not for me. I won some at the tables in 2010, but not half as much as I wanted to - probably not a tenth as much as I could if I focused on that, instead.

So 2011 will be different. I don't have any arbitrary goals. I have some lofty ambitions for sure, but more than anything, I'm looking for greater consistency out of myself. All that will have to wait, though, since I'm heading to the Bahamas today to play in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure! Fun in the sun (as much as a city boy like me can stand) and a free poker tournament.

Looking back, 2010 was pretty good to me. Like every year, it had its ups and downs, but I can't be unhappy with what I achieved and what luck brought to me. New friends, new opportunities, and a comfortable enough life. Here's to all of your 2011s. Let's live like 2012 really is the end of the world because, hey, who knows?