Goals for 2008

Just as I finished writing my last post I remembered, I wanted to put together my goals for the year. Now, I'm not going to lie.. AltronIV and thebmorekid's blogs have inspired me to do this. So here's my 10 Poker Goals for 2008, in no particular order:


1. Finish the year with over $2000 in profits from Live games.
In 2007, I was able to come away $1,044 in profits. I played a total of 101 games (cash/tourney) and 36 of my 72cash games were $40 or $50 buy-in .25/.50 games. I believe this is a very attainable goal, now that I've found some biggest cash games like Kori's. (Check the bottom of this post for my full 2007 stats).

2. Finish the year with over $1000 in profits from Online play.
I should be able to do this as well, but it will be a grind considering 90% of games are Limit. I made the agreement with Josh and George to start with $300 on Jan 1 and see how far we go by the end of the year. $1000 really isn't a tough goal to achieve, but I want to stay there once I get there. Now, my bankroll stands at $310 right now, but it's actually $210 in profit. Before we officially began the Limit challenge, I put $100 on Full Tilt to mess around with, to get back in the flow of online play (I was away for about a year). Well, one good run transformed that hundred into my $300 bankroll by Jan 1.

3. Join the Card Player Database
There's nothing I want more than to cash in a WSOP or WPT event. I plan on playing more WPT events though, since I much prefer the structures. Problem is, I need to save some money and paid off all of my bills before I start throwing around a lot of $300 buyins to these events. Fact is, I can't afford to play all of them. So, I'll play as many as is affordable.

4. Make a Big Cash
This goal kind of goes hand-in-hand with number 3 but not really. Frankly, If I cash for $2,000 in a MTT at the Taj, it's not going to count toward Card Player. I really felt that I should have cashed in the Showboat tourney back in December, but it's hard to do that when everyone hits the river card against you. Honestly, I have yet to make a big cash. My two biggest cashes of my life are only $200. Kinda sad, I know... but I've only played maybe five or six tournaments in AC and online I play for much smaller stakes.

5. Develop better Discipline and Patience
This goal is going to be hard to really quantify, but it's something I really want to do. Coming into year three of my poker development, it's time for me to really begin to refine the weak spots in my game, as I've already found my confidence and style. I need to be content with waiting for good spots and pouncing when I find them. The more I've tried to make my own action, the more violent swings my game takes. I win some and loss more. It's just not worth it.

6. Win the Online Challenge with Josh and George
Now, understand this... this one is just for me. Josh and George don't really know about it yet. We never meant for it to be a competition, but hell.. it's just the way I am. I want to be the best, who doesn't? And if you don't, you shouldn't be on the felt.

7. Finish in the Top Five of the Bmore Brawl Events
OK... I flat out stole this from thebmorekid, but why shouldn't I? I want to finish top five in knockouts and cashes, pure and simple. I agree with bmore, it will be tough due to the competition.. but it's something to strive for.

8. Keep up with this Poker Blog
I have a tendency to start these things but not keep up with them as much as I intended to. I want to continue to share my thoughts and experiences with other online players and try to learn as much as possible from them.

9. Log 2,000 posts on 2+2 Forums
This goal is kind of pointless, but the reason for it is to make sure I'm interacting with other online grinders like myself and hopefully be able to plug my leaks quicker. The number of posts is really irrelevant, but I think logging two thousand would certainly drive home the point.

10. Learn to Control my Ego
This is again, something that's hard to quantify.. but I feel like it's more essential to my long-term success than anything else on here. I tend to grow frustrated at bad players (internally) and it makes me go after them at times when I shouldn't. If I can learn to drop my ego out of the way and instead focus on playing sound poker.. I will make more money.


Well that's that. So for any of you who are interested, here's my live poker stats from 2007.

Total Cash/Tourney Count: 101
Won/Lost: $1,044
Wins: 57
Losses: 44

Cash Game Count: 72
Won/Lost: $1,039
Total Hours: 270, 40 minutes
Average/Hr: $3.84
Wins: 43
Losses: 29

.25/.50 NL: 36 games (21-15)
Hours: 133
Avg/Hr: $2.45

1/2 NL: 16 games (10-6)
Hours: 67
Avg/Hr: $6.24

Tourney Game Count: 29
Total Buyins: $1,150
Total Payouts: $1,155
Largest Buyin: $300+40 Dec 8, WSOP Circuit Event 1 at Harrahs AC.
Largest Cash: $200 (twice)
- Aug 5, Stars n Bars Regional, First Place/ 71 players
- Dec 22, Mike Yassa's Farewell Game, First Place/ 8 players