Upping the Ante

I can feel a lot of changes coming on, I just know now is the time...

Over the Christmas break and this month I've realised that there are fantastic opportunities available to me within the poker world and if I put the work in I'll get a HUGE amount out it. Aside from that I love this game, and it's something I really want to conquer. I've become really motivated to take my game to higher levels, and beat poker for a much higher winrate. I feel that this is the right time to step things up and dedicate a much bigger portion of my life to poker. Playing a lot more, studying a lot more, and analysing a lot more. I'm incredibly determined to get to the higher levels, and fast. I'm not after a quick fix or an easy way to get there, I'll be using proper bankroll management and crushing everything, playing high volumes of hands.

People talk about the games getting harder, but the fact is that there's so much fantastic material out there now that if you put the time in you'll become a top player. I'm fully ready commit to studying and playing the game HARD for the next 6 months. I've decided to give myself much higher goals. I want to put double the hands in each month, and spend a lot more time on strategy and study. I'll need to reschedule things a bit, but I'm going to make it happen.


More hands
There's no way to get better without putting in a lot of hands. This is pretty evident from reading top players blogs, like CTS's. I'm going to up the number of hands played each month to at least 20,000.

Smarter Study
I think I should use my studying time a lot more effectively. I also believe that it's worthwhile to invest a lot more money into study, as it'll pay off. Videos are a much faster way to get better than books, so I'll be focussing a lot less on books now. Although CardRunners is fantastic and offers a wide range of material not all of it is useful to me, probably only 1 or 2 of the videos per week are ideal study material. I'm really impressed with the DeucesCracked coaching site, I'm going to signup there in addition to CR, which will increase the amount of videos I've got access to.

Feedback and coaching
At the moment I definately don't use the most effective ways to get feedback on my game. I usually post on forums, or discuss things with players at the same level as me. I can often receive more poor advice than good advice, and it can be difficult to seperate the two. Verneer made me realise that paying for coaching is the way forward. Having a great coach eliminates poor advice, gives me the benefit of his experience, and confidence in my play.

I recently applied for a few different coaches, and came to the decision to start working with Messiah from DC. I'll be having my first session with him this week, and will do weekly or fortnightly 1.5hour sessions. In addition to this he'll be available through the week on IM or email to talk through hands or concerns. The cost isn't cheap at $150 per session, but I strongly believe it'll be worth it in the long run. He seems like a great guy, and the service he provides looks fantastic. What better way to learn than directly from someone who's crushed the levels I'm playing at.

Coaching is very flexible too, so in the future when my game moves up to 2/4 I can hire a new coach to guide me up to the higher stakes. The idea of being mentored by a top player like Brian Rue or Vanessa Selbst is pretty awesome.

Support and Motivation
I still feel it's really important to be part of a group of poker players, and have a lot of friends within the game. I think a group gives me the drive and motivation to push towards my goals, mainly because there are other players doing the same thing. A group can also provide a great amount of support, especially through tough times like downswings. Aside from that I think that online poker is a pretty lonely game, you need people to chat with or discuss hands with during long sessions, and players to connect with who understand the situations you're in on - and off of - the table.

Life balance
I won't succeed in making these new goals in poker without having balance in the rest of my life. I will be reprioritising things within my life to make more time for poker and balancing poker with the other things that are important to me... my job, spending time with friends/family, and my wellbeing (eating well, fitness, personal development). I'm confident I can make this work, and that having a fit, healthy, balanced life will make me a better poker player.



On to my updated goals, on where I want to be by the summer...

Cash Games
My play will primarily be at cash games, here are the cash game goals:

• Be beating 2/4 by the summer, achieving the $100/hour winrate
• Play >20k hands per month
• Specialise in 6-max, but branch out to Full-ring, Heads-up, and Omaha.
  

Tournaments
I'd like to play some of the softer touraments available this year. I really enjoy live tourneys, and they're a good break from playing cash and a nice opportunity to travel. Here's what I'd like to play this year:

• All events at GBPT Edinburgh next month. (£100 & £200 prelims, and the £500 ME)
• Travel to a couple of live events before the summer, maybe Ireland, Holland, Scandinavia, not had a look at the full schedule yet.
  
• Play in the WSOP this summer, one or more $1.5k prelim, a couple of Venitian events, and lots of live cash.

I think that's about it for now... lots more to come.