Wrap-Up

I'm back home - still a little tired and down from my cold but it gets better and better.

Time for a little wrap-up:
In general (despite of the cold) it was a great trip. I enjoyed it, had fun and it was how I wanted to celebrate the first year of poker.
O.K. no exactly ... I wished I won more than I lost. But that's part of the game. You can't win everytime.

The hard numbers look like this:

Tournament Entries: $1.610 @ 7 tournaments (avg. $230 / tournament)
Winnings: $815 @ one tournament
Total loss of: $795

Travel cost: $300 for a total net-loss of $1.095

I was close on at least one of the satellite tournaments to another win and I was even closer at the first second chance tournament (one place off the money). With one of these wins it would have been just the travel expenses. With both it would have been a net win too. I don't consider myself unlucky. That wouldn't be fair. But I just realise that I wasn't that far away from making it a winning trip.

Lessons learned:
I was amazed about the number of SnG satellites they offer. Starting from $65 buy-in for a $500 chip up to $230 for four $500 chips. Anything is possible. And if you don't get the number of chips you need (or have too much) you can find easy ways to cash them for the full amount. So if my time allows I will definitely attend another circuit event. I'm thinking about either Rincon (San Diego), Lake Tahoe or Caesars, Las Vegas. But my game plan will be different. I will arrive early enough trying to win my entries through the satellites and attend the $200 second chances.

And yes, I decided for going "tournament only" for the future. I might pick up cash games again later but for now it will be only tournaments. They fit my style of play much more, they are more fun and even I can play them on the internet. I will make a plan to split my bankroll in a part that will be used for internet tournaments (including satellites, SnG's and regular tournaments) and another part for B&M tournaments. This includes Bregenz some other places with regular tournaments (maybe like Vienna etc.) and of course as mentioned some of the "bigger" tournaments.
As tournament play results in bigger but more unfrequent wins I will give myself one year again. After one year my tournament activities must show a profit to be considered successfull.

Side note: Daniel Negreanu won the WSOPC main event in Tunica. I'm really happy for him as he had a hard time in 2005 (after a great 2004).