Poker Goals and Dreams for 2013

Collin and I have a New Year’s tradition of sitting down at a restaurant to recap on how meeting our goals last year went and look at what we hope to accomplish in the year to come. I went a bit crazy with my list, to the point that Collin joked it was too bad we weren’t doing this in school because my extensive list would have made me the teacher’s pet!

Leading up to this year’s list, I did some research on accomplishing goals. It seems the most effective way to go about it is to take a broader goal and break it down into smaller, measurable steps. In terms of poker, this means not listing goals that are actually dreams where luck comes more into play—such as winning a WSOP event or getting sponsored. While these are two dreams I obviously very much hope to happen one day, I think focusing on setting myself up to get there is the real goal that I can control.

2013 will be the first year of my life where I spend the extreme majority of my time in a foreign country. In a few weeks, instead of spending around half my time in Mexico, I’ll be living there full-time. The decision is very bittersweet (and really the subject for an entire post by itself) but it suffices to say that most of poker goals wouldn’t be possible without taking this step.

So, over a plate of charcuterie in an empty French bistro, I disclosed my 2013 poker goals to Collin:

-Play over 15,000 tournaments (MTTs and MTTSNGs) with an ROI of at least 30%

This is a pretty achievable number of games, and I if I were going to be in Mexico for the entire year, I would likely have made it a goal of 20,000. In trying to be realistic though, I kept in mind that I have a cross-country move with 3 pets to deal with during the first couple months, that I’ll be in Vegas for at least some of the WSOP, and that I hope to go on a vacation at some point.

If I play just 450 games a week 34 weeks of the year, then I’ll hit that number of games (playing a bit over 40 hours per week). The ROI is something I can’t totally control, but it will be helped by:

-Having a weekly study session, and looking at my games with Collin at least twice a month

This is something that I already do, and articulating my thought process to others in my monthly DragTheBar and PokerStrategy videos also helps me to think as lucidly as possible about poker. When Collin and I study together, we’ll often debate hands that result in me thinking more creatively in the future.

-Play at least 5 WSOP tournaments and the Main

In 2012, I played a jam-packed summer of WSOP and Venetian Deep Stack events. Considering that I’ll be staying in a hotel and have way more expenses than when I lived in Vegas, playing almost every NLHE WSOP is something I’ll have to forgo. It’s unfortunate, but also the tables online will likely be softer!

-Leaderboards

Though these are also something I have less control over, I view them as further motivation to study and always seek to improve my poker. I’d like to be on the PokerStars yearly table leaderboard, and win SharkScope’s 4-6 tables total profit leaderboard (since I have gotten so into grinding 45-mans). I’d also like to win the PokerStars women leaderboard (if they decide to have it this year), and move up on the Women’s GPI list into the top ten, (though without grinding a lot of live tournaments this is a rather lofty goal).

-Poker Writing

In the three years that I’ve maintained a poker blog I’ve found that blogging about once a month strikes a good balance for me (and hopefully for those of you kind enough to read my blog). Another goal is to have at least one article a month published, whether for Card Player, PokerStars, or TwoPlusTwo.

-Maintain Balance in Mexico

The last time I was in Mexico, I played about 75 hours a week, which was a lot considering that I work on a plateful of other things every week too. I want to keep in mind while I’m there that while taking an afternoon to go to the beach with Collin, or an evening off to learn to cook Mole is not something that will immediately make me a better poker player, it will be +EV for the meta-game that is my life!

While I have many long-term dreams in poker, I hope that the best way to actually see them come true is focusing on things I know I can do. I have some ideas about small ways to make the poker community a nicer place in the coming year. I also have many non-poker goals for 2013, including writing a YA book, which, lucky for me, starts with “research”: rereading Harry Potter.

GL to everyone in 2013!