The Goal - WSOP Bracelet by 2011

The goal has been set. My challenge is on.

After a little over two years of playing poker, I've decided to set my sights on the most coveted prize in poker - a bracelet at the World Series of Poker.

I totally understand that this won't happen overnight, which is why I've set this as a five year goal. I believe that I have the foundation and raw talent to be a great player, but I also realize that developing skills and gaining experience takes time.

Why do I think I'm capable of reaching this goal?

1. I take a business like approach to things. Most people do not even take the first step of setting a goal. Of those, a very small percentage set a plan of attack to reach their goals.

2. I have the focus and determination to make it happen.

3. I believe that I have an edge over many players in that I'm always observing and taking in information. Because of that, I can read people well and I'm good at putting them on a hand. Empathy and the ability to put myself in other's shoes has always been a skill of mine and something I have utilized throughout my career. As this is already one of my edges, improving this skill will only make me stronger.

4. I take a logical and strategic approach to decision making and rarely make emotional decisions. This has been an aspect of my game that I've really worked on and feel it is very strong in relation to other players.

5. I rarely get star struck. The top pros are real people like anyone else. I've played with the best online and they don't intimidate me, so when I sit down at the table with Ivey or Helmuth I'll play them like I would anyone else.

6. I'm a student of the game and I am always looking for ways to take my skills to a new level.

Where am I in relation to my goal?

My statistics from online play are consistent with many of the pros, so I feel like I have a solid foundation of confidence from there. But I do feel like there are aspects of my game and elements specific to live play that I need to work on. In the entire world of poker players, I'd say I'm in the top 80-85% in terms of undersanding of the game.

The main thing I need is repetition acting on situations in order to continue to build my decision making confidence. In any given tournament there may be 3 or 4 complex situations that come up where there are a few different ways to play it based on the situation. I need to practice trusting my gut in these situations.

There are some tournament sitations like short stack play and playing sets that have become second nature. I want some of these more complex situations, especially ones where the opponent is playing back, to also become second nature.

Skills to improve to reach my goal:

• Continue to improve putting opponents on hands
• Don’t give away as much information about my hand and justification for my plays
• Turn play in NLHE
• Work on improving skills in PLO8 and PLO
• Increase the variety in my play/changing gears
• Become more comfortable recognizing and reading live tells
• Continue to work on picking who I want to be getting into pots with vs. those I don’t want to get into pots with
• Continue to focus on making smart decisions focused on long term EV
• Improve table talk to induce action
• For live play - getting better at quickly assessing odds and opponents' stack sizes
• Staying in the zone and reconizing situations during live play vs. just playing cards

Mental skills to enhance in order to reach the goal:

• Believe that it is possible
• Solidify my confidence by competing in WSOP/WPT & higher skilled online events
• Have fun every time I play and don’t take the game too seriously
• Develop a consistent “soft focus” at the table
• Don’t try too hard in any one tournament. Detach myself emotionally from the results.
• Detaching myself from the monetary value of money
• Work on understanding what level other players are thinking on so that I don't overthink situations

So there it is. The majority of my blog posts will be geared toward my progress in reaching my goal and the ups and downs on the way there. I'm confident that I will acheive my goal, it's just a matter of time.