Poker Resolutions and Goals...

With the new year I really want to make sure that I make some resolutions as far as my poker playing is concerned. It was a positive year, but with my bankroll, that I worked very hard in making, comes some possible conflicts. In poker, the old adage, "more money, more problems" comes to mind. With that being said, "they" also say you can't play with scared money. So I have to figure out if the bankroll that I have now is making me play scared. I never like leaving loser, but that is part of the deal. So I have to understand variance a better. For the past month I have been almost exactly even. I go up some and down some and right now I am pretty much back where I was after my blackjack debacle. So I have come up with a few things that I want to do for this year, some specific goals, and ways to make them happen.

1. Record Keeping.
2. Game Selection
3. Tournaments
4. Cash Games - Moving up in Limits
5. Goals

RECORD KEEPING
This is something that I tried to do here on this blog, but failed to keep track of enough. So I have started a physical journal to log my daily sessions of play. I will make note of the game I played, the amount I won/lost, who I played with, and specific game notes (ie. interesting hands, strategies used, etc.). I might have to ask some of the plus 1'rs how they keep track of everything and what they log if they do. I know there are some computer programs out there (besides Pokertracker) that may be of use to me. But for some reason, I feel like I can "make" myself physically write things down better than typing them in some program, but I will still look into it.

GAME SELECTION
This kind of goes hand in hand with my record keeping. By noting the games that I am playing and who I am playing them with I will be able to understand a little more about how I can maximize my winnings. I need to make sure that I have the necessary bankroll AND skill level to be playing the limits I play. I have no problem playing 2/4 limit games, although I have only played triple draw this high and not hold em'. I feel pretty confident that with my bankroll, this is the absolute highest I can play in LIMIT games. And, I still probably shouldn't play hold'em that high, but that is the risk factor and the gambler in me! It wouldn't be enjoyable for me if there wasn't some amount of risk. It's funny that I can sit down at the 25 NL table and play without a care about the $$. But as soon as I sit down at the $100 NL table, or even WATCH a $100 NL table, I start to sweat.
So right now I want to stick with the following game selection:
NLHE - No higher than $50 NL
LHE - No higher than $1/2 (I hardly EVER play limit holdem, so I doubt this will matter much)
TRIPLE DRAW - No higher than $2/4 (I should probably stick with $1/2 and .50/1, but it really doesn't matter as you pretty much have to take the game you get at the limit that people are playing at the time).
OMAHA (HIGH + 8/B) - The pot limit games are big enough at the $25 tables for me. I really want to work on this game and may try to play some of the micro-limit tables to gain more experience.
OTHER GAMES (Stud - for now) - I hardly ever play stud games, but if I do I will not play anything higher than the .50/1 games.

TOURNAMENTS
This is the area of my game that I feel I can really improve upon. I really want to concentrate on these and make some money along the way. Right now i'd say I am only an average multi table tournament player, but above average SnG tournament player. I have a good tight aggressive strategy that seems to work for me on UB. After reading all of "Kill Phil", I think I can put some of there strategies to good use in the MTT's. Also, with my bankroll, I can afford to play higher buy-in's. I probably shouldn't be playing any of the $100's just yet, but anything $10 and above up to $50 I would consider to be bankroll approved. I seriously need to try some of the TEC SnG's if I want to play any of the $100's. I like that idea. One thing I want to do is try the KILL PHIL strategy in one of the lower buy-in tournaments. I find it really hard to fold pocket jacks early in a tournament, but I seriously want to give it a shot. Who knows what will happen.

CASH GAMES - MOVING UP IN LIMITS
I guess my goal is to double my bankroll before I move up. I should be able to consistently beat the limits that I am playing in cash games and tourneys/SnG's. I would like to do this all by January 2007.

GOALS
I was looking back through my September archives because I know I had posted some of my specific goals that I wanted to accomplish. They were two-fold (shorterm and longterm)
Previous Short-term goals:
1.Deposit into 'Party and/or 'Stars - well I guess I could check this off with an asterisk...yes i won a lot of money on Party Poker, no I didn't do it by playing poker. Will I do it again? Possibly, but only for the cash games over there which are very juicy. I seriously cannot decide if I really want to play on another site. What's the point? Well, maybe I should try Poker Stars after all...I really like there setup as it seems very much like UB's as far as there tournament structure is concerned.
2.Move up to $20 SnG's. CHECK. No problem here, although I tend to play the $10's a lot more. I will stick with this and play both. My ROI on the $20's is probably pretty good, but again, this will all depend on my record keeping.
3.Buy Pokertracker. CHECK. I never use it...hmmm...maybe I should? Ok, yes, I WILL!!
Previous Long-term goals:
1.Win a MTT online or live. CHECK. So shouldn't this always be the goal!!
2.Bankroll at $2500. Not yet!
3.Buy-in for WSOP prelim. event. I don't like this idea actually. It's not that I wouldn't do it. I just don't see it as a goal anymore.

So I think since this is a new year, I'm going to make some new goals. These will be time based and achievable considering my current ability. My short-term goals will now be monthly goals. My long-term goals need to be more measurable goals that are concerned with moving up in limits.

Goals for January:
Keep track of EVERY session of poker.
Have a 40% ROI for SnG's.
Play at least one MTT a week with player pool under 200 (ie $20-$30 buy-ins)

Long-term Goals:
Consistently beat the $2/4 Triple Draw tables for 5 big bets an hour.
Move up to $100 NL tables
Move up to $100 buy-in MTT's.
Win entry into big-buyin tournament (WSOP/WPT/etc.)