Good will (hopefully come) to all men.....

To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three people, two of whom are absent. -Robert Copeland

The lead up to, and the actual dates of Christmas and New Years Eve are now firmly in the past, along with the worrying amounts of eating drinking and general indulgence that they usually entail. I enjoyed both, though gladly not to excess, and after a welcome 5 day break after NYE am now back at work. Over Christmas I got a great book of quotes called Advanced Banter from my mum, and thought I would include open each post with a choice excerpt from this day forth. The one above is not only witty, but rings very true for poker players who obviously tend to rely on only themselves to achieve.

January is the final month of my first year as a professional poker player. Early February I will publish my results for the year for those who are interested, and thereafter I think I will keep my results to myself. Unless of course I suckout to win a 10k pot, in which case you can expect a brag post with the results big and bold!

Last month (which was only 3 weeks long work-wise) I did pretty well, making just over $10k in 50 hours(obviously a great improvement on the previous months paltry $500! ) and securing my end of year bonus of $450 at FTP. I now need to earn 9000 points at that site to release it, so there's still work to do but it's better than nothing, which is what UB offered as their end of year bonus. Unless I have an insane run over the next 3 weeks, I fear I will not reach my yearly goal of $100k by a wide margin, but we'll wait and see. Either way, I feel I've come a long way this year, and am pretty pleased with my results overall.

The other thing I've been pleased with is the respectable sum of cash I've been offered over the year to post links on my blog, and hopefully this will prompt me to post more regularly in the hopes of expanding this source of income. I still enjoy writing, and hope to do more blogging with the creation of a timetable for my working week which should see me not only put in more hours at the tables but also more sessions of learning French and watching poker videos. I know it seems a bit like being back at school with lesson timetables, but as a good friend of mine once said: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

So, with 3 more weeks, I'm setting a few short term goals:

• Try not to have any losing weeks!
• Get enough points to get my full bonus from FTP
• Continue to play without making it personal (i.e. chasing donkeys - let them come to me)

Other than that, it will be business as normal.
Finally, if you have time I'd really appreciate some feedback on a few hands:

Hand #1
Table HILLRIDGE DR ($2/4 Real Money Deep)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: Villain ( $1573.42 USD )
Seat 3: Player1( $520.90 USD )
Seat 4: Player2 ( $738.00 USD )
Seat 5: Player3 ( $1131.90 USD )
Seat 6: Hero ( $841.50 USD )
Player1 posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
Player2 posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ As Kc ]
Player3 folds
Hero raises [$14.00 USD]
Villain calls [$14.00 USD]
Player1 folds
Player2 folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qs, Qc, Js ]
Hero checks
Villain bets [$22.00 USD]
Hero raises [$52.00 USD]
Villain calls [$30.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Th ]
Hero bets [$96.00 USD]
Villain raises [$320.00 USD]
Hero calls [$224.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Qd ]
Hero checks
Villain bets [$778.00 USD]
Hero folds
Villain wins $778.00 USD from main pot

Can't work out if I completely butchered this on the turn or if I got really unlucky on the river when the 3rd Q fell. Reckon the former is more likely, but keen to hear your thoughts.

Hand #2

Table Bryant ($2/4 Real Money Deep 6max)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: Feeling83 ( $871.70 USD )
Seat 2: Subzero_666 ( $1333.20 USD )
Seat 3: malumprohibitum ( $521.10 USD )
Seat 4: Xenomystus ( $432.00 USD )
Seat 5: brutalbet ( $496.60 USD )
Seat 6: ParaDogs ( $424.40 USD )
Feeling83 posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
Subzero_666 posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Subzero_666 [ Ac Jc ]
malumprohibitum raises [$14.00 USD]
Xenomystus folds
brutalbet calls [$14.00 USD]
ParaDogs folds
Feeling83 folds
Subzero_666 calls [$10.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qs, Kd, Th ]
Subzero_666 bets [$28.00 USD]
malumprohibitum calls [$28.00 USD]
brutalbet calls [$28.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qh ]
Subzero_666 checks
malumprohibitum bets [$85.00 USD]
brutalbet folds
Subzero_666 calls [$85.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 8d ]
Subzero_666 checks
malumprohibitum bets [$235.00 USD]
Subzero_666 folds
malumprohibitum wins $295.00 USD from main pot

Again, think I butchered this one on the turn. His flop call in between 2 players strongly suggested set, but I wasn't able to let go until the river. The only other hands I thought possible were JJ or a KJ QJ JT hand, but figured he wouldn't bet so big on the river if he didn't have it. Thoughts?

My day's profits seem to have been ruined by an extra Queen showing up uninvited. Bitch.