POKERadical

Jason's Poker Blog

2008-02-07 07:45:39

2008 Poker Goals - January Reflection and Grades

My 2008 Poker Goals. I'm going to grade myself on each goal.
Bankroll - B
Establish a bankroll and stick to it.
I did not set up a live game bank roll, but I have been playing on Full Tilt, treating my original deposit as a bank roll. I've been using strict rules - I can only buy in for a maximum of one twentieth of my bankroll for cash games and one fortieth or less for a tournament.
Most casual players don't have a bankroll, much less play within it, so this is a good start. I need to establish a live game bankroll, especially considering I'm off to Vegas in March.
Online - B
Sign up for an online account with rakeback and play/track at least 20 hours a month.
I finally signed up for Full Tilt in January - I had paid my friend to transfer funds to me in October! I only played 10 hours, but I increased my bankroll by slightly over 10% in this time. I spent 9 of those hours playing cash games, seeing an average of 240 hands per hour playing 4-6 tables.
I accrued as rakeback equal to ~4% of my bankroll, so overall I increased my account balance by just under 16%. That seems pretty good to me.
I need to play more! I haven't logged any hours for February yet :/
Big Tourney - F
Attend one 100+ player tournament per month.
The closest I got was a 34-player tournament. That was the last league tournament before we got busted.
I need to pick a Sunday to play at Lucky Chances and put it on my calendar or this just isn't going to happen. Does anybody know of any other relatively big tournaments around here with good blind structures and no crazy rebuy/addon stuff?
Think Tank - C
Regularly meet with like-minded people and discuss goals, strategy, etc.
I regularly talk strategy with people, but the spirit of this goal was not fulfilled. I need to help schedule meetings for the strategy group I participate in.
Books - B
Read and take notes on a book a month.
I finished "Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume One" and "Ultimate Guide to Poker Tells" and have started "The Psychology of Poker", but have not taken any notes. I also purchased "Kill Phil" and "Kill Everyone".
I need to take notes.
Fun - A
Continue playing enough hours of fun poker.
Our Meetup group got busted, but I managed to find some new games and play with some old friends. It has been a terrible situation, but I hope we have grown stronger from it. I also managed to play a couple games after hours at work, which we haven't done for far too long.
Summary
Grades: B, B, F, C, B, A
I'll call it a B-. I've made good progress - better than I would have if I didn't set up these goals in the first place. I hope I can do better next month.

Posted by Jason M at 2008-02-07 07:45:39

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Comments on “2008 Poker Goals - January Reflection and Grades”

- Posted by Jason M g 2008-02-11 06:31:54
- I rather not be financially motivated - that might induce me to take bigger risks in order to meet those goals. The dollars should come naturally if I do all the other goals correctly. Perhaps once I spend more than 5 hours a week playing poker I can actually worry about making some revenue goals.
  I did manage to win some money in a $100 buy-in tournament on yesterday. It was the worst paying position ($200), but I'll take it. I lost two big hands in a row - once with trips against a flush draw and the next with top pair top kicker on the flop and the nut flush on the turn against a straight flush :p
- Posted by Champ (unverified) g 2008-02-10 18:43:56
- Dude, how about winning some dough?
- Posted by Anonymous g 2008-02-07 11:47:22
- minus the F, that looks awfully familiar :(