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I sign a sponsorship deal with T6 Poker, a site that has no full ring games at all (the games that used to be my bread and butter) but just shorthanded games. Because of this deal, I am secured of playing all the EPT’s, and I get a large budget for the WSOP as well. In return, I agree to log in many hours on the site. After a rather slow start, I find my rhythm using a big-stack approach in the 6-max. PLO and NLH games, and I become one of the most consistent winners at the site in both cash games and tournaments. (This despite the fact that I don’t feel comfortable enough yet to play the really big games.) I cash at two EPT’s and have my biggest cash of the year by taking 3rd place in a €1,000 side event at the EPT Grand Final in Monaco. In addition, I cash no less than seven times at the WSOP, including my second consecutive in-the-money finish at the $10,000 Main Event.

Having had such a big tournament cash last year and such a good year in general, I still decide not to change anything to my life, and simply continue with all of my writing / blogging / TV jobs. But when I play the World Series for the first time ever, and again do well, I know there is probably no turning back. Having cashed four times in 19 events, including the Main Event, I have shown that also at the biggest stage I can be a threat. So, in September I decide that it’s time to quit almost all of my outside activities in order to become a full-time live tournament pro. I have my biggest result in Vienna at the Poker Royale Masters, where I am runner up in no less than two tournaments, including the €1,000 Main Event where I bust out Marcel Lüske in a very lucky manner and then finish second to Andreas Krause after a spectacular heads up match (where Andreas manages to win six all-ins at the heads up stage to stay alive). All in all, I even make slightly more money on the live tournament trail than in the highly successful last year, even though I don’t win a single tournament – and also, the total amount of the buy-ins is a lot higher than in 2006 of course.

My full-ring online PLO games seem to be drying up, not in the last place because of the release of my highly successful Secrets of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha book that creates a whole new breed of Rolf-like shortstackers. I also release my first-ever Dutch book Pokerface, a collection of columns that I used to write for a daily Dutch newspaper, and participate in a poker reality roadshow called Vegas Voyage, where I play the role of poker expert.

I prolong my tournament success from last year. Again I qualify for the final of the Dutch Championships, and in fact I am well on my way to prolonging my title. But getting a bit unlucky in a crucial (massive) pot, I get eliminated – the recipient of my chips taking over from me as Dutch Champion. Perhaps more importantly, I have what can be considered my international breakthrough at the first-ever major tournament that I play. Mad as I am that I am rejected as the TV commentator for the Master Classics of Poker, I decide that I am going to give the TV people exactly the person that they don’t want to see: me. I play the €5,000 Main Event in an absolutely maniacal manner, and bully my way to the chiplead at the final table. My run of good fortune ends in fifth place after a classic hand against the only guy who has me covered (and who beats my A♦K♣ with the A♠K♦, all-in before the flop), but with €86,950 plus a ticket for the 10,000 Main Event at the World Series, I have the biggest payday of my career.

In addition, I crush the $10-20 games at Party through my infamous ultra-tight shortstack approach, and even make a successful transition into the $25-50 games at PokerStars. Because I continue to work for PokerPages as their European tournament reporter and stay active as Bureau Chief for CardPlayer Europe, I don’t get to play any more live cash games. Despite all this, and despite the fact that I am pretty certain I will not become the Main Man in Holland when it comes to TV reporting (which had always been my goal), the year 2006 is nothing short of the best year in my career thus far.

A breakthrough year in more than one way. For the first year out of my career, I play more hands and log in more hours online than I do live. I quit my regular game in the Holland Casino Amsterdam, and slowly but surely start working my way up to the biggest online PLO games. I also start out playing no-limit hold’em ring games, again online. In the last couple of months of the year, I play as many hands of poker as in the entire years 2003 & 2004. After a slow start, my results become excellent, and because of multitabling I now make much more than I used to make in my former bread and butter game. The Holland Casino continues to be a good hunting ground for me though. I become the first (semi-official) Dutch Champion by winning the only tournament I have played this year, the Holland Casino Poker Championships. As a result, I get my first ever cover for a poker magazine, in the high-quality CardPlayer Europe.

Which brings me to the developments outside of the green felt. The magazine that I mentioned, CardPlayer Europe, assigns me as their European Bureau Chief, meaning I have now become their editor and am responsible for the content, the columnists and all. I stay responsible for the cover stories, and create a special 14-part series on limit & no-limit hold’em. I become the official commentator for the EPT broadcasts on Eurosport that have very high ratings not just in my home country The Netherlands, but all around Europe. I (co-) write my first book, “Hold’em On The Come”, and I record four DVD’s under the title “Expert Hold’em: Rolf Slotboom’s Winning Plays”. Both products are released early 2006.

The games in Amsterdam are slowly but surely getting worse. Instead of 5 days a week, the pot-limit Omaha action is running only three days a week now, and in addition to that the action is also much tougher than before. Fortunately (and surprisingly) I am able to keep my results at the same level as in 2003, despite the fact that I spend significantly less hours at the table than I used to. From a long-term perspective I am a little worried regarding the games in my two favorite places (Amsterdam and Vienna), and I am planning to expand my horizon by looking for new ventures, and by starting to play seriously on the Internet. Outside of the poker table, on the writing front, 2004 was a massive step forward. I have accepted many new offers to start writing for sites and magazines, while holding on to the ones I already had.

Even though the games in Vienna and especially Amsterdam have gotten much tougher than in previous years, things are still going very well. Even though my writing career is taking a lot of time (in addition to my writing for Card Player, I have increased my involvements with Poker School Online, I have become the official tournament reporter for the annual Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam and also for the World Heads Up Championship in Vienna, and I have started my first non-poker column for the Dutch magazine Favorites), I am still able to keep my results at the same level as my record year 2002. However, this is for a large part because I play for even higher stakes than before: in addition to my regular € 500 buy-in PLO game, we sometimes play in € 1000 and even € 2000 buy-in games now. For the near future, I am planning to focus some more on Internet play, as I have more or less neglected this area of poker. Also, I am working hard on improving my Omaha / 8 play, both limit and pot-limit. With so many things going on both at and around the tables, I have opted to play cash games only, and have left tournament play aside. Because Elvira has gotten yet another offer to move abroad, we may decide to do some more traveling soon; if we do, I will try to shift my focus to tournament play again at least for some time.

The Poker Digest demise comes at a very bad time for me. I loved writing for Mr. and Mrs. Field, and in addition to my Ace Speaks strategy column, I had also started up a brand new series called Pocket Aces, where I interviewed some of the world's best and / or most influential poker players and casino executives. When Jeff Shulman offers me to start writing for his Card Player magazine, I am pleased and happy to do so. I also become a teacher for Poker School Online and get chosen for Holland's national poker team, the Dutch Poker Police, sponsored by Holland Casinos. My results don't suffer from all this. Despite, or maybe thanks to, the introduction of the Euro, I crack my regular pot-limit Omaha game for a goodly sum, and double my (already excellent) results from the years 2000 and 2001.

At the end of the year 2000 Elvira and I move back to Vienna, as Elvira has accepted the offer to start working there as a dealer again. My results keep getting better and better now I have worked my way up to the biggest games. I have experienced the biggest winning streak out of my career (17 wins in a row at pot-limit) and my hourly rate as well as my win rate have all reached new heights. I have started writing a regular column for Poker Digest and have taken it upon me to promote the beautiful game of (pot-limit) poker in Europe and around the world. I have launched a few new ideas, such as creating a 'new' poker game and a rating system for poker casinos around the world. I've had my first good tournament year ever by winning a few small tournaments in Vienna in the beginning of 2001. I have worked hard on improving my 'other' games (Omaha/8, Stud/8, crazy pineapple, courchevel, regular stud) and have started experimenting with different betting structures than the ones I'm accustomed to (no-limit poker for example, also my 'own' game Potnopine Hold'em which combines limit, pot-limit and no-limit into one game) and with playing poker on the Internet.

After having cracked my regular $10-20 / 20-40 hold'em game during the first couple of months of 2000, I decided to pick up the beautiful game of pot-limit Omaha that was gaining popularity in Holland, France and Austria at the time. By once again starting out playing rock-solid and ultra-tight I was able to make up for my lack of experience; by also being a little bit fortunate I was able to beat the PLO games for a goodly sum. Since the games in Europe were so good, I skipped my original plans to come over to LA to start playing there permanently. My results were better than I had ever imagined possible and even though I had a very bad tournament year (playing 15 tournaments, only one final table and not a single win) the year 2000 was written in gold.

While trying to improve my play by making it less one-dimensional and adding some more creativity to my game, I experienced my first (and, so far, last) losing streak of my career. I had a few foreign trips (U.S.A, France, Russia, Austria) that weren't very successful and even in my regular game in Amsterdam (the $5-10 or $10-20 limit hold'em) I was faced with a little adversity. Still, I was able to keep my results at about the same level as in year # 1, so it seemed likely the Ace would be "there to stay".

My poker career started out with a bang. I played mostly $5-10 hold'em (some stud as well) and was fortunate enough to have a very good first year, even though my knowledge and experience were still rather limited. My main edge: playing rock-solid and ultra-disciplined, while still being able to get paid off on my good hands.