Goals for 2008

thebmorekid suggested that I write a blog on some goals for 2008. Seemed like a good idea, so here we go:

1. Up $2,000 on Poker Tracker. I was up $1,700 in 2007 on Ptrack, so I should be able to do this. I don't know if this will be enough to take down the bet with thebmorekid, but if I do it playing 25-50 cent NLHE, I should win the BB/100 portion of the bet. I'm up about $75 so far this year, but need to average $167 a month to meet my goal.

2. Up $2,000 in live cash games. This includes my weekly Tuesday game, Kori's game on Thursdays and any casino cash games I can squeeze in. I was up just under $1k in my game last year and didn't keep very good records about Kori's game, but figure that I was a break even player in that game last year. I expect to duplicate my results in my game (+$1,000), win another $500 at Kori's, and net another +$500 in casinos.

3. Have the online bankroll to play 1-2 NL comfortably. Using the 20 max buy-in rule I should have a roll of $4k to play at this level (20x$200=$4k).

4. Be a positive tourney player across the board. I don't have any specific financial goals for touranment play this year because one big cash can be such a big impact. I finished 6th at a Borgata Summer Open event last year and cashed for nearly $10k, so that kind of skews the results. I just want to be a winner in tournaments overall. Obviously I met this goal last year due to the big cash in the biggest buy-in event I played. I don't expect to duplicate that result again this year, but if I can cash consistently enough, I think I can get a positive bump from my tournament play.

5. Buy Mom x 2 some nice jewelry from my poker winnings. It's important to me that I do something nice for her each year with my poker winnings so that she continues to have a favorable impression of my poker playing. She's incredibly supportive and I need to return the favor. Last year it was the down payment on the minivan, and this year I'd like to get her some bling.

6. Enjoy the game more. I find I play my best when I'm loose and patient. Not loose in the way I play, but loose as in relaxed and comfortable. That feeling helps me be more patient. And when I'm patient, I am good. I don't force the action, make senseless bluffs, or do other stupid things that cost me money. And I'm loose and patient when I'm enjoying myself. So I need to continue to find ways to just relax and enjoy the camraderie that comes with sitting at the tables across from others who enjoy the game as much as I do.

7. Pay more attention at the tables (both online and live). I have a tendency to zone out from time to time, or not pay as much attention to the action as I should. As my play gets better, I need to do a better job of reading people so I can exploit their tendencies. Right now I know people on a general level, but the specifics sometimes elude me. I've started keeping track of some player's tendencies and the exercise of writing that down helps me pay better attention when I play.

I'm not going to extend this list to 10 just to make it a "top ten" list. I'll leave that to Letterman. But other, non-poker things that I want to do this year include: watch more movies that I "should have" already seen. As some of you know, I just recently watched Scarface for the first time, and finally saw Godfather II in it's entirety only a few weeks ago. To top it off, I saw The Matrix for the first time while on vacation last August. I love movies, there are just a bunch that I've never seen and I need to. I want to continue to spend as much time with the kids and Mom x 2 as I can.

Hope the flops are hitting you (unless you're playing against me)

-AltronIV