Although I love this event I have to back-off from this for 2012. It breaks my heart but sometimes there is only one choice and you can only do one thing or the other.

As I said in a former post - if you want to be successfull you have to devote enough time into it. In this case Poker has lost the race and I decided that something else (more about that in a future post) became more important to me at this time.

Going to Dublin would have meant to have fun at Poker …. but giving away that important time would have been a thing for me to regret in the near future.

Beside my absence I still reccommend this event to everybody who has an interest in good poker tournaments. This is by far one of the best structured events. Organisation is great and Dublin is wonderful place at every time of the year.

If you go there “enjoy your time” and say hello to my good friends Michael Lacey, Brian Lannon and Hanns-Peter Jacobi.

Even knowing that I made the right decision …  I will for sure shed a tear in early February realizing that I miss a great time!

This was definately one of my best years in poker ever. It all started somewere early this year in Kufstein. After a long, long time not achieving much in tournaments I finally cashed and final tabled several tournaments at the Poker Royale in a row. Shotly after, a visit in Rozvadov brought another cash and another final table.

That money was used to enter the D4 Deepstack at the Montesino in Vienna. I hadn’t cashed at any D4 event before but was close once - missing the bubble by 5 spots. This time I hit it and it was enough pocket money for the tournaments I wanted to play at the Venetian in Las Vegas this summer.

The Venetian Deepstacks - another great tournament series were I never had cashed before. Until this year!

Reaching a 14th place out of over 600 players I would definatley call this one of my greatest successes in poker so far. Not only did the win pay for the rest of our vacation but it was still enough to play some more nice events through the fall and still be sure to not going red for tournament results in 2011.

Unfortunately my run was almost over after Vegas. I had another minor cash in Coventry but that was it for this years tournament success.

In my last one - the 6max at the Montesino - I could have played somewhat better but I was also a bit unlucky too. Same was valid in my last side-event there. A bad beat on a 4-outer hit me heavily. Instead of going from chipleader to super-chipleader (and almost sure in the money) I was crippled and out somewhat later.

But that’s part of the game and it would be dishonest not to admit that I had my fair share of luck in those tournaments were I cashed!

Pokerwise it was a great year that ended in the black. Beside the result itself there were so many other things that I just loved. Making those Vegas videoblogs was fun, meeting Annie Duke and Phil Gordon in person was very enjoyable, meeting some new and old friends is good anyway and so much more.

But all this won’t change what I wrote in my last post. Poker will definately not have that much space in my life in 2012 than in the past. It’s a hobby … an enjoyable hobby that (despite other hobbies) can make you some money if you do it right but nothing more than that (at least fo me).

I leave the “becoming rich and famous” stories to those like Pius Heinz who like to devote the needed time to this game. Those are the players that really deserve it. As with every hobby/sport you can only become top of the pack if you do it at least 110% … if not, than you better be aware that your success will be limited.

Fortunately there’s still so much happening in my life that I won’tbe bored anyway. So stay tuned for 2012 … :-)