1. Reduce Alcohol Intake While Playing.
Getting drunk at the table, while always seeming like a great idea at the time, has always ended up being a mistake - not least because it gives the illusion you can make great decisions and play great poker at the same time. I need to cut this out altogether or, at the very least, set myself a limit.
2. Keep Studying.
With more and more players seeing the benefit of tracking software nowadays as well as the benefits of training sites, along with reading forums and books, studying the game is probably more important than ever. I'm reading some great books at the moment and certainly intend to continue studying the game throughout next year and beyond.
3. Cash Games Good / MTTs Bad.
I should now make this my mantra for next year. I've got to get away from playing the high-variance game and sheer lottery of the low buy-in MTTs. I nearly always regret entering tournies and as it's cash games that I study, it's really cash games that I should play.
4. Bankroll Management.
My savings and poker bankroll have always merged and got in the way of each other so in 2012, my poker bankroll will be held totally separate from my savings and current account. The bankroll will now be seen as an investment that has been paid for so the money will be considered as spent. I will have a detached attitude to the poker bankroll and as long as I play my best, the results should take care of themselves.
5. Reduce Online Poker Play / Increase Live Poker Play
If 2011 has taught me anything it's that online poker has just got tougher. I have drastically reduced the volume of online hands I've played this year and results-wise I have barely broken even. Next year I will cut down with my online play but attempt to play more live poker as a result. I hope to mainly play the £1/£2 game at The Empire some time between Fridays and Sundays but the odd £1/£1 game at other venues will be fine.
6. Walk Away From A Tough Table
Many evening live poker sessions have had me pleasantly swimming in all sorts of fish ponds with all sorts of fish. However, a few off-peak sessions at various poker rooms (and some evening ones as well), can seem like shark pools. In future, if I feel the game is not tipping in my favour, I'll need the self-discipline to rise out of my seat and just leave!
7. A-Game Poker Only
The mind needs to be free of all sorts of influences when sitting down to play. The main thought process that should be going on when sitting down is: "Let's see what these opponents are like and let's figure out what is the best way to win their chips." If this thought process is not uppermost in the mind then something is probably not quite right.
8. More Reason / Less Emotion.
I'm all for A-game poker, but there have been occasions when my heart has ruled my head and I've made a call or gone all-in despite what logic dictates. As Tendler would say, this is when the emotional side of me is heightened to the extent that it switches off the brain's capacity to think or function properly. It's a rarer occurrence, thankfully, but it still creeps back every once in a while.
9. Keep Records
I did this for much of 2010 and I've been doing this throughout 2011 and know exactly where my money has been lost and won. Every live poker session result has been recorded and I record my online balance at the end of every day. As a result I'm confident where my best chances lie in 2012. If any player wants to hone their skills in a certain format, they need to know how well they're doing at cash games, MTTs or SnGs - and at which stakes. Online or live is also a consideration.
10. My Business
This is one I've learned after doing this blog for a year. After playing poker quite seriously for about 2 or 3 years, I can see myself now as a winning player; not a GREAT winning player for sure, but a winning player nevertheless - with faults and leaks galore. But I've had it with pressurizing myself by revealing those results. I know it was my own choosing to show them in the first place but I've come to realise that I now need only to prove my ability to myself. Consequently, in 2012, my poker business is MY business and MY business only.
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This still leaves me with settings goals and targets for 2012 but, to be honest, I don't really think that setting monetary targets is useful. All I think I really need to do is stick with my action plan (above) and let nature, or the poker gods, take their course. One thing I would like to do in 2012, which I haven't done in 2011, is to enter one or two higher-end MTTs; preferably via a satellite or two. By these I don't necessarily mean the 4-figure buy-in events that the high-stakes pros go for (although satelliting into one of these would be nice) but, possibly, a few of the £200-£350 events that take place in London from time to time. I'll have to see how my cash game is getting on before entering one of those though.
Finally, online poker just never goes away does it? I'll really need to figure out just what I'm going to do in that department; Shall I just go with a small monthly bankroll strategy? Shall I stick to low stakes? Shall I just focus on satellites or shall I switch backwards and forwards between sats and cash? I really don't know but I do want to lay out a clear strategy before the new year arrives.
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As always, I'll let you know.
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