I have never done one of these before but think it is a good idea to put some thoughts and goals down on paper for the world to see. I have seen some others do this and when taken seriously and focused upon I believe it is a very useful tool and reminder to retain discipline and structure in my poker environment. The key thing for me in 2014 is to play with a more professional approach. So, below are my poker goals for 2014 along with a brief note of where I am as a player.

2013 Reviewed

 This year has been very much a year of highs and lows. I began playing again in November 2012 when FTP came back online as it released some funds for me to play actively again. Prior to Black Friday I was a successful player on FTP at stakes of up to $60 for SNGs and $50 or so for MTTs. Given that there was virtually no traffic on FTP for SNGs I decided to concentrate on playing MTTs. The first few months did not go very well so I decided to hire a poker coach in February to help with my game. This proved to be an excellent investment and really enabled me to open up my game significantly in many spots. Basically, I had been playing way too tight and was probably quite weak post flop. As a consequence of this learning I managed to achieve some decent results in 2013 at up to $60 level with an ABI of $25. I played 1,006 tournaments and achieved a profit in these games of $19,527 for a 35.2% ROI. I also achieved six four figure scores at this level. Results in this buy-in range were therefore quite pleasing.

The main issue with experiencing some decent results was that I made the mistake that many others do and moved up too soon. I started playing the Sunday Majors every week plus regularly playing the $100-200 regulars such as Big Ben, T-Rex, Big $109 etc. It is fair to say that this foray did not go too well. I played 239 tournaments at an ABI of $124 and achieved a loss in these games of -$18,856 and -49.3% ROI. Every time I got a stack and had a deep run I could not run well late either. I discussed the issues with my poker coach who felt that I should be profitable in these games so long as I cut out the really tough ones such as Sunday Brawl and T-Rex, however, the biggest issue arising is that I am not bankrolled to play games regularly at these levels. Also, 239 tournaments is clearly nowhere near enough volume to gain a handle on whether I can cut it at these levels or not. 

In summary, I was really pleased with my development as a player but disappointed that I did not stick more rigidly to good bankroll management. I firmly believe that I can consistently beat the games at up to $100 for MTTs. In addition, SNGs are also an option on Stars to help reduce variance.

2014 Plans

Bankroll Management, Volume and Results Target

I can now see the benefits of managing my bankroll strictly. Having read Ron’s bankroll management article it really did highlight the issues I faced in 2013 which was taking too many shots relative to my roll. I have a bankroll of $7,500 so my plan for 2014 is stated below:

MTTS

• Sundays only.
• Stars, Stars.fr and FTP.
• Stars: Bigger $5.50, Hotter $33, Bigger $8.80, Bigger $22, Hotter $11, Sunday Storm, Hotter $16.50, Bigger $11, Bigger $55, Hotter $55.
• Stars.fr: Le Triomphe, Sunday Zoom, Le Classico, Sunday Warm-Up (High and Low), Sunday Full KO.
• FTP: Double Deuce, Ceratops.
• Largest buy-in will be Sunday Warm up on Stars.fr at around $70.
• ABI will be approximately $25.
• Play satellites for Stars Warm-Up, Stars Sunday Million, Stars.fr Sunday Special and festival events with a buy-in of no more than $250.
• Play festival events at no more than $150 buy-in as this is 2% of my bankroll.
• Volume target is 1,000 tournaments per annum which breaks down to around 80-85 per month. This should be achievable based on the above schedule.
• ROI target is +35% or better which means a profit of at least $9,000 during 2014 from MTT play. At these stakes I believe this is an achievable goal without becoming a slave to results.

I think this schedule will enable me to control my bankroll well whilst also taking some shots at occasional bigger buy-in events via the satellite route. I have a pretty decent record in qualifying for satellites so it makes sense to use these as my entry to the bigger events if I can do it profitably.

SNGs

• 9 man and 18 man SNGs on Stars.
• 2 evenings per week for up to 6 hours.
• Buy-in of $15-30 initially rising to up to $30-60 if I am still successful over a sustained period.
• Multi-table up to 12 games at a time.
• Volume target is 7,200 tournaments per annum which breaks down to around 600 per month. This should be achievable based on the traffic available at the stakes suggested.
• ROI target is +2.5%. My ROI at average stakes of $45 pre Black Friday was +4% so I have scaled my target back for now to reflect the fact that these games will have got harder.
• Across the year I would hope to be able to achieve an ABI of $30 so my profit target for SNGs will be $6,000 based on volume and ROI target.

I am working the SNGs into my schedule as a bankroll builder and also as a means to help control the brutality of MTTs variance. I was very successful at SNGs prior to Black Friday so it makes sense to grind these during the week. In addition, I work a normal office based job so playing SNGs means that I can get finished at a reasonable time during weekdays and ensure that I am not playing too tired. The added bonus of getting a decent amount of rake back under the Stars VIP program will also be useful for bankroll building.

Learning and Development

• 1-1 coaching has been successful so I plan to continue with this going forward. I see this form of learning as an excellent investment of time and money. 1 hour per week is the target for now.
• TPE University looks a useful tool for MTT development. I will work through this during my lunch breaks at work mainly. 2 hours per week seems a reasonable target for now.
• Hand histories: 1-1 coaching will review these but I will try to post hands in the forums as well. Posting a minimum of 5 hands per week seems a reasonable target.

If anyone has any additional recommendations, please feel free to post on this thread and let me know what might help.

Poker Set-Up

• New PC has been set up and is ready to go. I bought a Zoostorm PC with 16g Ram, i7 processor and 3TB hard drive. Performance of this is good so far.
• New monitor purchased. I now have a 24” Dell Ultra Sharp (1920×1200) and an 27” ACER V273 dual monitor set-up. I will mostly play using the Dell and have other programs on the ACER along with the occasional extra tables.
• HM2 and PT4 installed and ready. I prefer PT4 but HM2 has SNG Wizard integrated so will be good for SNGs.
• PT4 has an equity calculator but I am considering Flopzilla as well if anyone has any views on Flopzilla then that will be useful.
• HM Resources: I have this installed to help quickly identify potential push/fold type leaks in my game. I have not used it much yet but plan to spend a bit more time with it in future.

If there are any tools you guys use for your poker set-up that might prove useful in MTTs or SNGs then post them here and I will have a look at them.

I think that is all I want to say for now. I will post regular updates here as to progress (good and bad). I hope some of you guys look in from time to time to chip in. Let’s see how we go. Happy New Year TPE nation!