2012 Poker Goals

In 2010 I set 8 goals and only hit 1 of them. In 2011 I hit 3.5 out of 10 to read that blog click here: Poker Goals

I did cash for a million, actually doing that in the first week coming second in the $100k Super High Roller. As I write this, I'm once again at the final table of the same event with a good stack.

Another goal was to remain #1 on the all-time money list, and I'm taking credit for 1/2 a point here. Hendon Mob tracks 4 different lists with different criteria and I rank 1st in two of them, and 2nd in the other two.

I also exceeded 60,000 VPPs on PokerStars, in fact, I went all the way and became a SuperNova for the first time in my life, racking up a little over 100,000 points.

The last one I hit was wining $250,000 playing televised cash games in 2011. I actually booked a win in a very short session on High Stakes Poker, and also did OK on the PokerStars Big Game.


Here are my Poker Goals for 2012:

1. $1 million in tournament earnings in 2012 Including the massive $1 million buy in One Drop event at the WSOP this year, as well as going down to Aussie Millions for at least another $100k, I could spend as much as $2 million in buy ins this year! That's a crazy thought. I'm not planning on putting the whole million up for the One Drop event and am looking to sell probably $600,000 worth of pieces. I am considering doing it via twitter and Full Contact Poker, allowing people to buy a piece of me for as little as $120! If that happens, I'll obviously post details.

2. Regain the top spot on all four all-time money earners list in 2012 I have publicly stated that I don't the the $250,000 buy in sit n' go should qualify for these rankings, as it was clearly not a tournament, but a last minute sit n' go to appease three Asian businessmen in Australia.. Had this been a $1500 buy in event, I am certain it would not have counted. The event was not on the Aussie Millions list of events, and was thrown together in a few days and saw 20 runners play an event that lasted about 6 hours. That catapulted Seidel's totals, adding $2.5 million to his all-time total.
Having said that, it is what it is, and I'm now behind by about $2.2 million on one of the lists, so I'll be looking for a huge year to catch up.


3. Regain the #1 spot on the WPT all-time money list going into last year my goal was to retain that spot, but Carlos Mortensen forged ahead which means I have some work to do there. I'll be playing the WPT stops at Bay 101, WPT Commerce, and the WPT Championship for sure, but don't know exactly where else just yet. We'll see.

4. Win a WSOP Bracelet In the past I'd set this goal as TWO bracelets, but I haven't won one since 2008 so I'm making a more modest goal of just getting back in the winners circle with one.

5. One Major Tour Win outside the WSOP I'm going to play a few EPT's, WPT's and possibly some LAPT's and APPT's depending on my schedule. Any "major win" counts, and since I only really play major events, pretty much any win outside of a WSOP bracelet counts.

6. Move into 11th place on the WSOP All-Time Cash List I have 51 lifetime cashes at the WSOP which puts me in 13th place, one cash behind both Barry Greenstien and Miami John Cernutto. In 10th sits John Juanda with 57 and that seems like an unrealistic goal to pick up 6 cashes on a consistent player like John.

7. Move into 31st on the WSOP All-Time Money List I dropped to #34 with a poor year last year, but I hope to head back in the right direction this year and move up. It's hard to set a goal much higher than that, because the main event jumps lots of people up the list quickly, so I'm going modest once again. I need about $500,000 to pass Chris Ferguson who now sits in 31st and I'd be shocked if he or Howard Lederer show their faces at the WSOP after the scandal that they helped contribute to that's caused so many in the poker world to be out of pocket. Shame on you both, as well as your ring leader Ray Bitar!

8. Have a better year than Jason Mercier He is simply the standard today in terms of consistently, routinely cashing for over a million dollars year after year. He is a grinder, he is young, and he cares. There is no one in poker today that reminds me more of myself when I was 25 than Jason. He is a winner at poker and life. His consistent success has motivated me to get back on top of the game I love.

9. Crack the top 10 of both the Card Player of the Year and Bluff Player of the Year List It's been a while since I've been in contention for either, but I plan on adding in a few more events in 2012 in the hopes of putting together a competitive year reminiscent of the days when I was in the top 5 consistently.

10. Follow my personal tournament rules religiously That means no drinking or socializing the night before a tournament. I partied a bit too hard towards the end of the year and that's just not how I succeed. I gave a poor effort in Cannes due to fatigue and sloppiness. Not going to happen this year.


Time to do a late night interview then rest up for the final table tomorrow where I hope to get an early start on my 2012 goals!

Daniel Negreanu is the 2004 CardPlayer Magazine and World Poker Tour Player of the Year. He presents his poker strategies in one-on-one virtual training at pokervt.com and writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column.
Read all of Daniel Negreanu's poker blog and poker articles at Full Contact Poker.