Thanks for letting us ride this rollercoaster with you Ray!

See you in 2014!

UTG+1 bet $50 into the $250 pot on the flop with straight and flush draws out there? Looks like he was kind of asking to give that one away.

How much money have you won with the splashes? Do you think it's affected your win rate?

@hello7027 I appreciate the support. Ill catch up w u in 2014

@isteal I'm not sure. Mayb $500ish ahead on overall splashes.

Today: +$68 in 7hrs. - a $30 massage = +$38 profit. I think it was only my 3rd massage all year.

Ended up $34,004 overall. I wish I had logged more hrs. I ended up averaging 25hrs/ wk in cash, and 3hrs/wk in tournaments = 28 working hrs/wk. A couple hrs short of my goal to log 30hrs/wk.

Year end Cash Game data:

Year end Tourney data:

Year end Overall data:


Happy New Years to all!!

A final recap to the $40K challenge will be posted tomorrow. Thanks greatly for the support, encouragement, and feedback!
Rayz N Ray

bravo! Congrats on seeing it through! Happy New Year!

If I were you I would figure out how many more hours per week you needed to work to accomplish your goal. And then kick myself in the ass for not putting in the hours. Then I would spend some time looking at what my most/least profitable days/times were. Next year play more/less at the appropriate days and times. It really does make a difference.

I know you are a good enough player to accomplish your goals (30hrs/week, 40k/year) and I'm a lil disapointed you didnt get it. People are congratulating you for sticking it out. But coming up just a lil short would really be burning me up inside.

I hope you don't let this thread die. I really enjoyed it and it inspired me. You obviously have a little cult following as well. Keep it rolling into whatever goals lie ahead in 2014. Nice try, better luck next year.

WARNING!! IMA A 2+2 SLUT!! LAST DAY AT THIS!! LAST THREAD!!

The Goal was Simple - $40k in One Year (starting Jan.1st 2013) playing only $1-$2NLHE, and $1-$3 NLHE cash games.

It was a gd run. I felt I was a slight dog in the challenge, but setting the goal really pushed. Thanks for following my journey, the support has been so far beyond than I ever imagined. It’s mind boggling to see how this thread took off. I never thought it was going to get so much exposure, and feedback. My goal with this thread was pretty much self motivation, and to see what a realistic annual earning is grinding 1/2nlhe. The thread provided a lot of drive for me, and I believe my numbers/data are better because of it. I know now after grinding 1/2nlhe all year what to expect for an hourly.


What I noticed from this challenge…

-The 1/2 game is way less stressful, than the bigger games; which in turn leads a more zenful life. There is a whole opportunity cost to poker…play bigger w more stress/perhaps more $ Vs. play smaller w less stress/less $. I’m content w making enough cheddar to pay my bills, save a little, and have some weekend $. After completing this challenge, I think I can do that playing 1/2 @HSI. I really believe, if buying in for max$/day, $20/hr is quite obtainable, and $25+ wd be top scale. I thought I played exceptionally well all year, w limited mistakes, and hardly had any long runbad streaks. I feel my earnings of $26.7/hr is overachieving, and $25/hr might be more realistic long term. I started off the first couple quarters on fire w $30+/hr, and the 3rd and 4th qtrs I came back down to earth avg $24/hr.

-I also noticed from this challenge, it’s hard to have a losing month playing live 1/2, the swings aren’t that big and volume balances out the variance. The edge I feel I hv in live 1/2 never allowed me to hv a continuous run bad all year. And posting a 70.5% win percentage this year made it hard to have a losing month. Many recreation players play this game, and it’s pretty easy for a solid “A” grinder to obtain a 65%+ win % long term at this level. I know as I move up in stakes, the win % will drop, the games will get tougher, and swings will become more frequent, which may produce a losing month or 2/year.

-Also noticed this year, I am doing things others aren’t…which I like…I must have a Jedi mind.

-Know ur player, know ur player, know ur player…act accordingly.

-OEMR (Ole Early Morning Routine) undefeated in 2013. What is OEMR? It’s getting up early, take 5th grader to McDonald’s, drop her off a school, go work out, freshen up and head to poker room. I did this oemr routine more than a dozen times, and every time I booked a winning session. Sm thing like 12-0.

-SYM: save ur money


Shout outs:

-Thank you Jesus. Nothing is possible w/o You. Everything is possible w You. You make the impossible possible. Thank you.

-Earlier this year I lost my best poker buddy @emptinpockets from a boating accident. The two of us, often discussed hands, situations, and poker theory. I believe we both had mutual respect for one another’s game, and trusted each other’s poker wisdom. @emptinpockets was always smiling, and he was one great friend. I miss him dearly, and poker hasn’t been the same since he passed. Thanks for our friendship!

-I also want to thank my 9yr old neighbor, named Aiden. I gained a lot of inspiration, motivation, determination, and fight through Aiden. Aiden is the ultimate fighter, and has a very deep faith and understanding at such a young age. He has been fighting Leukemia on/off his whole childhood. After beating the disease once, he relapsed a couple years back. So now, he is in the process of beating it again. I talk to Aiden and his family often, and they lead such a positive life. With all that they are going through; they take it all in stride, maintain a positive outlook, pray continually, and leave it the Lord. I’m not sure if they know how much their family has impacted my life. Aiden and his family has been the catalyst for my deepened faith, and my renewed spiritual belief. So special thanks to them, and wishing my lil man a speedy recovery. My #soulread is the kid will grow up to do big things. And the kid is currently doing big things now w his Aiden Lego Legacy mission (Passing out Legos to kids w cancer). To get more connected, u can check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aiden...32033793643920 Thanks Aiden for teaching me perseverance, fight, and faith.

-More thanks go out to the people that allowed me to text/Fb message/phone/Tweet various poker topics/situations to them. From time to time, I got pretty anal with different hands that wd come up, and wavering over a line that wd b most +ev. So thanks to those who helped me out! Within the last couple of years, I started discussing poker w my friends. Before then, I didn’t feel it was necessary, or mayb didn’t want to cloud my own poker thoughts (not sure). Now I feel it’s beneficial to have a group of well respective players to discuss poker with. U don’t have to agree w their opinions, but it’s gd to see how other think to b able to crush at all angles.

-Shout out also goes out to @silverman2 for being my first!! #memories


2014 Preliminary Plans:

-Take $40k continue playing poker as supplement income grinding 1/2, 2/5, 5/10 cash. Play more tourneys with gd value. Head to Vegas in the summer to play 1 or 2 wsop events (1k-2k buyins), play deepstack at Venetian, and rest of my time in Vegas playing 5/10nl.

-Continue to rent out my properties, enhance my properties, and paydown my properties. The guaranteed income helps the poker life/ poker struggle. After this crappy December, I think it may be time to get another rental property. I cd use a little break from poker, and it feels gd to do smthing constructive and productive every now and then. So 2014 I will continue to stay active in the housing game. I’m gonna continue to look for GREAT deals on houses, buy them at a steal, fix them up a bit, and rent it them out or sale for nice profit. Buying as cheap as possible is more than half the housing game.

-Take sm of my life roll ($10k), and try to learn the stock game. I want to get an account on smthing like Scottrade/Etrade/etc.com, and dabble a bit. I hv very little knowledge of day trading, but I am most eager to learn. It’s smthing I wanted to do every since I started playing poker. I think both professions share similar mindsets. I’m curious to see how long it wd take to turn $10k into $15k. Then I wd b able to see if it’s worth my time to continue or invest other places (houses or poker).

-Be a great dad, family man.

-No plans to thread/post. It really took up a lot of time, and I noticed I was starting to become a recluse. The whole year it was poker, poker, poker, post, post, post. Although, I’m glad I did it, I was becoming more anti-social throughout the year.

Hardly know any of the people that posted on here, but if u see me around in the future feel free to say what’s up. It wd also b cool for me to thank you in person for the motivation you provided.

I can't say it enough, THANKS for the support!!!

You can also follow my poker journey through https://twitter.com/rayzrayl

bravo !

GL for 2014

Congrats on the thread and the year of poker!

Thanks for the entertainment to follow a challenge and the rail support you gave me in September. Keep in touch and if I don't see you in a tournament before June, I will see you out in Vegas!

Reveal: I chose the 28-34k option back when the thread started

Congrats, awesome year. Very well done.

GL in 2014.

GG

Very solid year, great work. If you come to LV I'd like to say what's up.

Well played

reading up on this thread has been inspirational! Enough so, that I will share and track my 2014 goals with the community instead of keeping them to myself (my only fear is spending too much time posting!)

Best of luck to you in 2014!

How do you think it would have effected your profits if you were playing in a $200 max buy in game?

SicEm55, I don't believe Rayzing Ray will be posting anymore.

Nice Run Rayz! I hope to see you again at Hammond sometime.

Don't know how I forgot about this thread. It's excellent. I'm on post #780 now. I played the main in Cincy and ended up taking 32nd? 33rd? for $5200 ish? My name here is obv my real name too. Wish I would have remembered to meet up with you guys! The tourney was ran excellently. I hear they're getting another tourney series in March......can't wait for that.

*I was 2nd or 3rd in chips with 40 or so to go and donked/bluffed them off to the eventual winner. We ate together at the dinner break. Real nice guy. Great player....and a local Cincy area guy. Good for him.

Guess who I saw playing the 10-20 no limit Holdem tonight?
Rayz
Please come back Rayz, and tell us how you did!
Nice job in 13'! I personally enjoyed following the thread!

Nice job Butterfly staying within the parameters of the challenge all year long. It is because of this discipline, that makes you a great player!
I would love to see another thread by you in the future.
Congrats, and gl this year.

Don't hold your breath . I have a feeling butterfly's not posting anytime in the near future.

Nice run. Would like to hear how 2014 is going. Any chance of coming back?

This is my favorite thread on here. His skills, ethics, realistic approach to the game, and occasional chip pRon images got me inspired.

Me too!

What you say Rayz, how about an encore?

lol requesting a Curtain Call.

Thank you for making all that noise! Appreciate it! Ur far too kind!
I guess I'm back like Jordan wearing the four five.
I feel u guys were there for me in 2013, so I'm returning the favor in 2014. If u want updates, I'll gv u updates.
2014 Updates coming soon. Thanks again.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DLlF2FMv968

Sweet!

Nice, looking forward to the update. I hope life is well!