Results for week of April 29-May5

Results for April 29-May 5
$25.85  profit or loss from tournaments
    1.00  bonus
    0.95  rakeback
 --------
$27.80

Now that's the kind of week for which I have been waiting.  My bankroll is at $130.59, and it would be great to close out the month well over $150.  I think that $500 is an amount where I could start taking out small amounts to reinvest back into the business.  I guess that makes a $500 bankroll my short-term goal, but thinking about poker goals in that wasy just doesn't feel right.

I'm very goal-oriented, and most of my accomplishments, from getting promoted in the National Guard to running a marathon, have involved goal-setting.  But I know that with poker, especially tournament poker, the volatility is so great that it doesn't really make sense to think of any kind of goal as far as amount of winnings, and that is especially true over any period shorter than a year.

With poker, my goals can really only involve the means, not the end.  The end is money, and I have no idea what that number will be. I can't control the end, only the means, so when I think about goals, I think about things like this:

---------------------------

I need to spend more time studying flash cards so that I know the math involved in different situations at the table.

I need to pick a new (to me) concept in the book that I am currently studying (Secrets of Professional  Tournament Poker, Volume 1, Fundamentals and how to handle various stack sizes by Johnathan Little), and practice applying that concept while I play.

Little says in his book that I should use PokerStove to run and study equities in different situations for 30 minutes a day, until they become second nature.  That is definitely one of the most important  things that I need to do to get better, but if I do as he suggests, how would that change my schedule?  Should I work more hours?  Take those 3 hours a week from my playing time?

---------------------------------

As I work on becoming a better poker player, things like the above are my goals.  It's about working on all of the many things that I need to do to become a better player.

There is so much to learn that it's not unlike a college degree plan.  In fact, at the highest levels, the top players often have advanced degrees. During ESPN coverage of the World Series of Poker it has become standard practice for the broadcasters, as part of their player introductions, to list each player's school(s) and degrees. 

I remember one televised tournament where a theoretical physicist was sitting across the table from a Ph.D. in computer science.  Many of the top players study things like psychology, game theory, statistics, and kinesiology, and they apply all of those disciplines at the table.

I have a lot of work to do.