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 … :-)

My poker year 2011 is close to come to an end. The last big event in 2011 will be the D4 Events 6-max at the Montesino in Vienna. 6-max is always a fun event and I am really looking forward to December 2nd.

Was delighted that the Oceans Card Casino in Haibach (near Passau) had offered a “cheap trainings session” last Saturday ;-) Unfortunately it wasn’t a good day for me and my tournament wasn’t only short handed but also short lived.

First I ran a Full House into a bigger Full House (very unfortunate in general but even more in 6-max) and then my last chips went in with 77 vs. AJo … of course my opponent caught a 4-spade flush on the river. Shit happens!

But regardless of last weeks dissapointment and the the result in Vienna I already know that 2011 is a year with black numbers for me. One of my best poker years at all. I think only 2008 had topped this so far. Therefore there’s no reason not to enjoy the last event of the year. Of course I let you know here and on Facebook/Twitter how I am running.

Not sure how much time I can/will devote for Poker next year. Have another project running which will be fun too (although it has nothing to do with Poker at all) that will consume a lot time. But I definately plan to attend the D4 Deepstack in Dublin in February again.

Beside that I hope I will make it to Kufstein more often, too. Really hate that I wasn’t able to come there on a regular base this year! 

Poker friends … here we are! After all that stuff about social media, Apple and Facebook here’s again something about one of my favorite hobbies.

I hadn’t posted anything about playing poker recently as there wasn’t too much happening since I came back from Vegas and the USA in July.

There was only one event worth to mention (the GUKPT Goliath in Coventry) were I cashed light. But this was basically also the reason why I stopped blogging at Wordpress and finally moved to the more lightweight Tumblr-Blog. I just couldn’t handle the time anymore devoted to the long blogposts. Hope I get more flexible that way now.

So now it’s time to give you a small update here at my new home about my next plans:

• Warm-Up in Kufstein: Although I originally considered going to the Pokertour event in Bregenz I now decided to play the 6th Day Bigstack at the Poker Royale Kufstein this weekend. It’s “only” a €66+6 Buy-In but a nice warm up to get back into tournament poker.
• On the weekend 21th - 23rd of October I will travel to Dublin for the International Poker Open (IPO). Looking forward to this as I had to miss it last year.
• With two dance competitions in November to wrap up the season I don’t expect much Poker in that month.
• But for Dec. 1st - 4th the trip to the Austrian Short-Handed Deepstack at the Montesino (organised by D4 Events) is already booked. Great way to end the year with one of my favorite tournament types.
• Some smaller events to come on short notice
• Outlook: Back to Dublin in early February 2012 for the European Deepstack Poker Championships