It’s been my custom in recent years to start every year with an article reviewing the previous year and I see no reason to break with tradition this time around. So here goes, a totally personal account of my year that was.
Live
Every year I say I’ll do less of this, and end up doing more. Results this year were mixed: I cashed more live tournaments and made more live final tables this year than any other calendar year of my career, but the really big scores eluded me. Hope springs eternal though, and going into 2024 I feel a lot more positive that the big one can come.
I proved my ability to build stacks early on in big live tournaments
One thing that particularly heartens me is this year I proved my ability to build stacks early on in big live tournaments. My inability to do so is something I identified as the biggest flaw in my game two years ago, and much of my own study these past two years has been directed at addressing that deficiency. So it’s heartening that all year I have built stacks in almost all the slow structured soft big runner live fields I’ve played, rather than simply hanging tight hoping to be on the right side of coolers. If I can keep that up, there’s a decent chance that one tournament where I run well enough the whole way to take it down will come.
Online
In the first half of my career, almost all my income and most of my time came from and went to playing online. It was incredibly lucrative and enjoyable. Over the second half of my career, I’ve played less and less online every year. There’s a number of reasons for this. The banishment of HUDs from most sites means I’ve had to scale down the number of tables I play. The gradual growth of my coaching and content creation has also reduced the amount of time I can devote to online. The financial incentives are not the same: in addition to more of my income coming from other sources, the hourly achievable playing online has dropped considerably, and I’m in a much more financially stable position than I’ve ever been. The objective from day one was to reach a point where I could retire comfortably whenever I wanted. That point has now been reached, so it’s just a matter of making sure I don’t jeopardise that by suddenly deciding I need to play 100ks.
I also think I just can’t grind 100 hours a week like I did at the start of my career. I can do it in bursts for online series but when I tried to go back to doing it full time at the start of the pandemic, I quickly found myself burning out.
My focus with online has switched. Rather than my primary source of income, online is now something I do primarily to keep my game sharp.
All that said, I had a better 2023 than 2022, and was solidly profitable without any major downswing across the year.
Sponsorship
I’m very happy and proud to continue my role as ambassador for Unibet, and with the Irish Poker Tour as their strategy expert, writing an ongoing series aimed at teaching beginners and improvers the most important foundational concepts.
Chip Race and other content
The Chip Race and its YouTube sister show the Lock In continued to flourish in 2023. It’s a real pleasure working with David, who is both passionate and tireless when it comes to the show.
I wrote a considerable number of strategy articles for various sites too, including this one, where I also write opinion pieces and trip reports. I also produced videos for Barry Carter’s YouTube channel, and webinars on target satellites and mystery bounties.
Coaching
2023 was my busiest year ever on the coaching front, and the most successful for my students on the felt. My coaching approach has changed a bit down the years. Initially, I thought my only job was to teach people how to run the sims but I’ve come to the realization that most people don’t have the time or inclination to spend hundreds of hours doing that. So these days I largely just take relevant solver output and explain it conceptually (the why) so students can implement it. I also have analysis software that can be used to identify leaks you might not even be aware of. I use Zoom to record the sessions so students can watch them back afterwards.
I only take on those I think I can help enough for it to be worth both our whiles
Like all the other things I do, I enjoy coaching. But there’s a happy balance as far as how much of it I do. It’s not something I could do full time eight hours a day, or even four hours, so I’m forced to limit the number of students I can take on (I only take on those I think I can help enough for it to be worth both our whiles).
Training
In 2022, I joined Faraz Jaka’s training site, initially as a guest coach to deliver webinars on satellites and ICM, but I have continued and expanded my involvement throughout 2023. Faraz and I share a common philosophy when it comes to training. In addition to exclusive webinars on specific topics, I do live play and explain sessions where I play online and explain my thought process in real time to students every few months. This is as close as you’ll ever likely get to me Twitching.
Study
Studying is an ever increasingly important part of the routine of any poker pro who wants to stay profitable online. In recent years, my own study has mostly revolved around specific topics for content I’m making, the books or webinars, and work with students, but I definitely want to put more time into my own independent study and training in 2024. I have lined up a new study buddy, Norwegian crusher and charmer Monica Vaka, to ensure I am accountable and stick to a routine.
One thing I put more focus on this year is mindset and mental game. I’ve tended not to think much about it on the basis of “I’m grand,” but talking to Andy Black a lot this year and hanging out with him in Vegas has made me see that no matter how strong you are in the mental stuff, you can always strive to be better. Andy is someone who I have massive respect for on this stuff, no one in Ireland has more experience of struggling with the mental vicissitudes of this game, and nobody has managed to stay on top for as long as he has.
For training, I still predominantly use DTO, and for study GTOWizard has replaced PIO as my main tool.
Commentary
In 2023, I joined my Chip Race cohost David Lappin to do commentary on a couple of Merit events in Cyprus, and flew solo on a few events in Bratislava, as well as guest slots at Unibet events like the IPO and Bucharest. Several of my students also shone in the commentary box.
Books
May saw the release of my fifth collaboration with Barry Carter, Mystery Bounty Strategy. Barry and I had no illusions that this was our most niche book to date, and would be our smallest seller, but we are very happy with the reception to the book, and the fact it became our fifth #1 on Amazon. We also produced a webinar on the format.
we released an ebook and webinar on Target Stack or Milestone satellites
Late in the year, we released an ebook and webinar on Target Stack or Milestone satellites, a new format that debuted literally the day we released “Poker Satellite Strategy.” The ebook has now added to that book to make it a complete guide to satellites currently, and the ebook will be taken off the market soon when we believe that everyone who wants to buy it separately has done so.
Early next year will see the release of our sixth full book, “Beyond GTO: Poker Exploits Simplified.” This is perhaps our most general and least niche book yet and there seems to be a lot of excitement in the run up to its release. The advance readers all think it’s great, one of whom liked it so much he wrote an amazing Foreword we will be including in the finished version – Andy Black, no less!
Barry and I both greatly appreciate anyone who takes the time to write a review for us. As self publishers we don’t have a big publishing company to push our books for us so we rely almost entirely on word of mouth and reviews.
Onwards and upwards
Finally, I’d like to thank everyone for their continued support snd interest, and wish you all a happy new year. Hope to see you all at some point at a live table in 2024!