Progress Towards the Year’s Goals

It’s been a while, but with only one month left in the year, it’s time to assess my progress on my goals for the year and consider how I should allocate my remaining time.

Goal 1: Average 15 Hours/Week Playing My “Regular” Games

Goal 2: Earn $X in NLHE Cash Games

I’m nowhere near my cash games goal, and I’ve given up trying. Basically tournaments were going so well for me that I started putting more time into those and when I did grind cash games it was usually easier stuff that wasn’t quite as lucrative. Thankfully tournaments have gone so well that I don’t really need cash games to contribute to the year’s income.

Goal 3: Earn Supernova status on PokerStars

This is still within my grasp, but I need nearly 9000 points, which is more than I’ve earned in any one month this year. When I do play, it’s going to be with a focus on picking up FPP’s so that I can be sure of making Supernova.

Goal 4: Monetize This Blog

I’ve pretty much gotten over the idea of pulling in ad revenue, but the blog has been helpful in generating coaching business, and hopefully soon it will help me to sell a book as well!

Goal 5: Write a Book

It took most of the year, but I have a draft of an entire book that is currently in the hands of some trusted friends from whom I’m awaiting feedback. I still don’t know what the timeline will be for publication, but this project is well underway.

Goal 6: Average One Blog Post Per Day

I had 311 as of the first of this year. Hitting 365 would require nearly two a day this month. I don’t want to drown you with garbage, but I am going to try to pick up the pace, and we’ll see what happens.

Goal 7: Average Five Hours of Coaching Per Week

I’ll be lucky to get half of that. Even adding time spent on Poker Savvy Plus, which is a bit of cheat, doesn’t get me too close to the goal. I’ve really enjoyed the students I’ve worked this year, but I need to work harder to get my name out there. Just browsing the 2+2 Coaching forum I see so many unqualified people charging absurd rates that I have to figure I’d have more business if people knew that I offered coaching. Look for a revamped coaching page in 2011.

Goal 7: Average an Hour a Day of Dedicated Studying and Improvement

Defining this very generously gets me to about half an hour a day. I found it really difficult to make time for this, mostly because there aren’t that many poker videos that I really find helpful at this point. Since I’m pretty well set on hours for the year, I’m going to make a push to practice my PLO game this month. That will give me some impetus to study and also a reason to grind small stakes games for FPP’s.

Goal 8: Use Hold ‘Em Manager

I’m getting much better with this. There’s more I should be doing to review my own play and that of specific opponents whom I play regularly, but this is the first year that I feel I’ve really mastered the basics of playing with a HUD and using those stats at the table.

Goal 9: Finish the Year with a 4BB/100 Win-Rate at 5/10 NL and/or Higher

Heads up games really tanked my winrate, but if we just look at games with 3+ players, I’m at 3.98 BB/100 for games up to 25/50 Cap (though I’m down at 25/50 uncapped). That’s also counting 2/4 Rush, which is a bit of a cheat since it’s easier than 5/10, but honestly my hourly rate per table is pretty close because of all the extra hands, so I’m going to count it.

Goal 10: Play 50,000 Hands of Heads Up NLHE at 5/10 and Higher

I’ve played 27,000 hands, and I’ve got a -5BB/100 win rate. That’s a bit odd, as this was my best game last year. Part of it is variance, I’m sure, and bad game selection. I’ve been trying to play more lately, but it’s just so damn hard to get action.

What About You?

So my big change for December is going to be a focus on Heads Up and PLO games, playing mostly on Stars in order to rack up FPP’s and make Supernova.

How are you progressing towards your goals. Any last-minute adjustments you need to make to finish where you want to be for the year?