Making plans

I have rarely had goals in any sphere of my life. When I was a kid, I had a vague ambition to be a slacker, which I have fulfilled. I sort of wanted a kid, and I have three. I wanted to live in London; I did. I wanted to travel; I did that a bit. Nothing very stunning. But reading this in 2+2 about having a plan, it struck me that I am more ambitious about poker than I have been in many areas. My VOST is clear.

My vision is to become a semipro, making as much in an hour playing poker as I can editing, so that I can not edit for ten hours a week. It doesn't sound like much but it is a fairly high target. I'd need to be able to two or three-table $5-$10 games, or beat higher-level games. That isn't easy.

I also have a dream, as many players do. I'd like to play in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and make the final table. It's a different thing from my vision, because the vision is attainable and I'm focused on it. The dream is just a dream. (Not that it's impossible. I think I would need to place in the top three in three tournaments to get to the WSOP and then survive until the final table when I get there. If I'm good enough to do the first part, I have a shot at the second.)

My objective is simple enough: increase my bankroll to $200 within six months, make $1000 within a year and $2000 within 18 months. I will just about be able to play at the level I'm aiming for if I achieve that. And I will be a good enough player not to have my arse kicked. I have corresponding objectives for live play too: be the player the others fear in my fortnightly game within six months, be a player others fear in Brisbane within a year, be the player others fear in SE Queensland within 18 months. That sounds more ambitious but I think that becoming a winning player at $5-$10 would equip me sufficiently to achieve it.

My strategy is simple enough. Focus on learning. Work hard on understanding the concepts behind the plays, instead of just learning the plays and doing them mechanically. Study the game. Study my own mistakes. I'll be focusing on limit, because it suits me more than no-limit. I prefer the structured risk of limit to the open-ended risk of no-limit, so I plan to restrict the latter to social games. I need to learn to eradicate tilt, because I'm prone to it.

Tactics are harder. I will focus more on studying than playing for now because I can't play much in the evenings. In time, I will play more because there's no substitute for experience. When I do play, I need to select tables carefully because I need to be able to win as well as learn. Learning from my mistakes means studying the hands I have played, getting others' advice on them and working out whether what they suggest fits my understanding of the concepts involved. Avoiding tilt means giving up even a good table if I take a bad beat if I don't feel I can shrug it off. I am finding that it works for me to set a limit to how many hands or how long I will play at a stretch. I don't get tempted that way to keep playing when I'm winning or, worse, much worse, to try to win back losses if I'm not playing well.

I enjoy poker. If I don't succeed, I'll have fun trying. And I will only ever have invested $20. That was what I began with. If I go bust, I will consider that I can't make it and call it a day. But I don't expect to. I expect to win.

posted by Dr Zen @ 11:24 am