Aprils Goals

I have a very clear idea of where I want to be by the end of my poker life. In the long term I want to be a poker star and I know that to do it will be a very long a winding road. But it suddenly came to me today that I don't have my short term goals mapped out.

Last month I just pottered along playing some online sit n go's, had a live home game and read a few articles online. I didn't have a plan and instead of marching forcefully down the road of success, I just floated along it.

Not this month!

Here is the plan for April 2008 for The Future Poker Star.

• Break even - I understand that my mission right now is to gain knowledge and experience, and not necessarily money. However I want to be able to set a target to sustain my poker education this month.
• Find a tell in everyone - Since starting this project I have been looking a lot more at the way that people talk to me in my everyday life. I think that there is a lot to learn about peoples tells, not just at a poker table, but twenty four hours a day. I want to be able to spot a tell, or at least something unusual in the subconscious behaviour in the closest people in my life.
• Play a live tournament - It is very difficult to do anything where I live! I live out in the countryside so I have to travel to get anywhere. Also with my current bankroll I don't want to just jump head first into a game that is way above my poker finances. However, in April, I will find a poker tournament, play it, and learn as much as possible from it. (entered) and (played)
• Quality over quantity - I played 120 online sit n go's last month, and can honestly say I learned nothing with it. In fact, I probably had sharper poker skills a month ago. I think that online poker is a fantastic thing, but it has defiantly dumbed me down. I found that i was just clicking away without really concentrating like I should be. I will play a lot less this month but learn more at online poker.
• Be the home game hero - There is a re-buy game with friends that I play about once a fortnight. It is a typical drunken re-buy game where people make crazy raises and they go all in as soon as they see a top pair. I know that I am better than that and I know I should take one of these games down this month without buying back in by using my skills I have learned.
• Read Super System - Many people have recommended this book to me and i am told it could be the most important book I ever read.

So here we go, more focused than ever this month and knowing that long term goals are only archived by hitting the short term targets.