Poker for 2009

Its the beginning of a new year, so it seems like a good time to set some goals that I will ignore for the rest of the year.

Before I go there though, lets take a look back at last year.

On second thought, lets not. I played very very little poker last year, and when I did it was bad. I don't think I played with any regularity until the end of the year, and then I didn't play very well.

So what are my goals for this year? I'll start with a very generic, play more poker. I don't know why I stopped playing. I've been somewhat busy, but not so much that I couldn't have made time for a sit'n go every now and then. I still enjoy playing so I don't why I don't do it.

Playing more poker is a pretty lame goal. Its hard to measure except that its any amount is more than last year.

Move up in stakes. I've been playing some $20 SNG's during the past month or so, but I've had a hard time focusing, and that has lead to some pretty poor play. I'll start a tournament and then start watching TV and surfing the web at the same time, so I never get a good read on my opponents, or the flow of the game. I think that the $20 level has lost its excitement for me. I might as well be playing with play money. Its probably not the best reason to move up in stakes, but getting out of my comfort level will force me to concentrate more.

Play smarter. I admit that this is tough to measure, but I think I'll know it if I achieve it. I haven't been playing smart recently. At some point I loosened up my starting hand requirements significantly. I decided that I'm better than most of my opponents, so if I take a chance on some less than optimal hands, and hit, the implied odds justify a little gamble. And if I miss I can get out cheaply. The problem is I don't get out when I miss. I'll miss and so will everyone else so I'll bluff at the pot and get beat by bottom pair. Or I'll hit an ace and have no kicker and not be able to let it go. Or I'll bet the flop and then check fold the turn when I get called. I'm throwing away tons of chips on speculative hands when I need to be waiting for better opportunities and let my opponents get themselves into trouble. This may go back to not having high enough stakes and getting bored during the tourney.

Play more multi-table tournaments. I have difficulty starting these types of tournaments, because they tend to start later than I would like and I'm never sure that I'll have the time to finish them. I think I do better in bigger tourneys and finding time to play them will be +EV overall. Even if its just multi-table SNGs I think I'll do better.

Play some NL ring games. I'm scared of NL ring games. On the rare occasion that I play a ring game I play limit because I'm afraid of losing my bankroll in one bad/unlucky hand of NL. The problem is I'm not very good at limit poker. I play way to many speculative hands and chase way too often. A NL ring game now and then will be good for me.

Stop playing poker in front of the TV. A lot of the time, when I play these days its because I'm half watching something on TV and I'm a little bored, so I add a poker game into the mix. As I mentioned earlier this halves my concentration on the game and results in me losing a lot. I need to either play poker, or watch TV, but not both.

Start tracking my results. I haven't been recording my results in my bankroll spreadsheet recently and I just simply need to do that. Its hard to gauge your results if you don't measure them.

So that's my goals for the next year. Nothing real exciting or mind blowing, but hopefully it will get me on the right track.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com