Poker goals
In the spirit of the good Doctor's "Humble Pie" post, and upon reaching a milestone in my bankroll (from $60 to $600 in 6 months), I thought I would put the posters here to a rather amorphous question...What are your goals in the game of poker?
After playing at UB exclusively for the past 2-3 months, I deposited at Party to take advantage of a $100 bonus opportunity. At .50/1.00, the play at Party was so atrociously bad compared even to the same level at UB (which is not spectacular) that I was astonished. After reading the various "Humble Pie" posts, I began to consider what my goals for the next six months should be, and what my priorities ought to be? Stay at Party and go fishing some more? Move to Stars and and up in level to play against better competition?
I came up with the following, in order of priority...
1. To continue to improve my game. Kind of soft and fuzzy, but I think we all want to do this. But what's the best way? I'm contemplating adding Stars to my site list (which is now just UB and Party), because I think it would be a better "learning" ground. Plus, I could play in the 2+2 SnG [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]! I will continue to read and play as well. I also need to get a better grounding in the mathematics of the game. I have a basic grasp of things, but as a former math teacher, I'd love to be able to spout off the exact odds that I have to make my hand. I'm amazed by players like Bozeman in this regard.
2. Increase my bankroll. Maybe this should be 1a. To what amount, I haven't decided. I am limited in my estimations here because I cannot bank on having a certain amount of time to play. Between work, my family, and various other interests, I manage to squeeze between 5 and 10 hours of poker in per week on average. Should I do some serious bonus whoring (Of the $600, around half has been through bonuses) or get a better guage on my play by strictly increasing (or decreasing) through table winnings (or losings)?
3. Better record keeping. I suck at this. And I think this would really help my game because one of my strengths is learning from my mistakes. Thus, a particularly horrific play by me is liable to have an impact, but the small, subtle mistakes that I make regularly might be escaping my notice. I need PokerTracker!
4. Move up in level. This is sort of a foregone conclusion for me at this point. 99% of my play has been at .50/1.00 and below in rings, and $10 and below in SnGs. In my next session, I am planning to move up to $1/$2, and (once I finish my 100 $11 SnG recordkeeping exercise) I am planning to move up to $20 or $30 SnGs.
5. Work on my poker psyche. I am good about not berating other players, but I definitely go on tilt once in a while, and I tend to react to a perceived bad beat quickly without analyzing what I might have done to contribute to it. I'm thinking of picking up one of the "Zen and Poker" books or something similar. Recommendations appreciated.
6. Venture into other formats and games. I'd like to play more multis. Two-table SnGs. I'd like to try stud and Omaha. I think I may put off trying other games seriously, though, other than to change things up a bit when I get tired of Hold 'Em, because I really enjoy Hold 'Em.
Anyhow, this is getting a bit long. But I am curious as the goals that folks set for themselves. For pros, is everything else secondary to putting food on the table? For the amateurs, I imagine there are lots of other motivations besides the ones I have listed...like, having fun, for instance [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].
Thanks as always.
CCC
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