2007: My year in review

2007 was without a doubt my best poker year ever. The transition that I made this year alone is something I never thought possible. I'd like to wrap it up by summing up each month of the year with a few sentences.

Rewind to the beginning of the year. At this point I am an SNG grinder, playing $109 -$320 SNGs for a living.

January '07: I make my very first trip to Vegas with Sutti and Olli, staying at the Excalibur for 3 weeks. I had an amazing time, but ran supercold at the tables. All in all I lost something like $1k playing NL $2/5, so the experience wasn't ridiculously expensive. I wrote my review about it here.

February '07: A month of SNG grinding (why did I do this to myself for so long?) with some various heaters.

March '07: Another successful trip to CCC for the Spring Poker Festival, where I first met Ragen, Swapshop and Benjo. Random cash game success inspire me to explore a change from SNGs to cash games. This was the smartest decision I have ever made. It is my biggest regret that I did not make the switch sooner. Because I had a decent roll from SNGs, I begin at the NL400/NL600 level. I quickly pick up the basics of loosening up and get off to a nice start.

April '07: I move up to NL$1000 but can not play very much due to moving into a new apartment with no internet. When I finally do get to play, I have a record day that digs me out of a 7 buy-in hole. The karma in the new apartment is phenomenal.

May '07: Highlight of the month is certainly my 2nd place finish in the EverestPoker $100k Guaranteed for $12k.

June '07: We arrive in Vegas on June 21st and the very next day I register for WSOP Event #49. A total of 3,151 players showed up and after 3 days of play I took 6th place for $96k. An amazing experience for sure that prompted me to extend my Vegas stay to include vacation time and play the Main Event.

July '07: My run in the Main Event only lasts until Day 2. I spend a lot of time just chilling and gambling around the house. Here's a picture blog of my stay. Klaus Hausmann takes this picture, which I still smile about each time I see it. Great memories:


August '07: I win the $100k Guaranteed at CelebPoker for $24.5k and then proceed to cash at EPT Barcelona, making me one of very few people to cash in their first WSOP and first EPT tourneys. Perhaps a good omen for my first WPT tourney sometime in the future?

September '07: I travel all over the place, first to Bremen, then to Hamburg and make both final tables of the Herbstblatt tourneys. I make a very early exit at EPT London, lasting only 1 hour in the tournament. Luckily, Flo Langmann took 2nd and secured me a nice little share after me winning a huge coinflip against Seb.

October '07: I flew straight to Vienna from London and celebrated my birthday there. I didnt get anything going for me in Vienna and then headed straight to Baden for the EPT, where I busted early yet again. At the end of October, I start a challenge against Heiko aka Swapshop, was there really ever any doubt I would win? :)

November '07: I visit Olli in Boston and we go to Foxwoods for an extended weekend. Things run pretty well for me. Unfortunately, I then go on a sizeable downswing to close out the month.

December '07: EPT Prague doesn't run that well for me, but I have a great time hanging out in Prague. I decide to finish the year by just relaxing in Berlin, grinding out cash games with uninteresting results thusfar.

I myself have not set any particular goals for 2008, but continuing to move up the ranks in cash games is something I will certainly be striving to do. Also, I plan on taking some nice trips again this year, starting with Australia.

As a whole, 2007 is a year I will certainly never forget. I want to thank my blog readers for constantly coming back and dropping comments, I appreciate it a lot. I wish all of you the best of luck for 2008!

I can only repeat what I have said so often before: Life is good!