Goals Review

The following were the goals I gave myself back on February 16th, 2009. One month after joining PokerVT.com and Pokerstrategy. I am now going to comment on each goal individually and see where I am and provide the reason, in my mind as to why I have or haven't accomplished them. If not completed is it realistic by year end or was I simply dreaming.

This post is does not have humour in it as I would like but it is a serious look at my poker progress this year, sorry for the boring read.

Cheers!

All input is greatly welcome both positive and negative, I need to be realistic and not a "tool" if I have any chance at becoming a better poker player.

1. to play 1$ sng's to increase my bankroll on FullTilt past $100 and begin $2 sng's, and progressively increase the limit played by $1 per $50 increase to bankroll.
Completed, currently playing $11 turbos and $14 super turbos, with a bankroll of $2,300.00 with a couple tokens and some tournament $'s. Over 1,600 games played.

2. to play 1$ sng's to increase my bankroll on Mansionpoker past $100 and begin $2 sng's.
Completed, currently playing $11 turbos and don's, with a bankroll of $1,500.00. I was up as high as $1,700.00 but was losing at $20 and $30 down to $1,100.00, so I moved back down to the $10 level. Over3,000 games played.

3. to cashout $1000. from my tiger gaming account to get a new computer set up for larger amounts of play and to increase the sites I currently can log into and play on.
Completed, "the old dinasaur" is long gone in the trash and I purchased a new system for myself and my children so they could never use and screw up "Daddy's" computer. I have named her "Bertha".

4. to deposit $50 into and to play 1$ sng's to increase my bankroll on Betfair past $100 and begin $2 sng's,
Completed, I am at $150.00 on Betfair and am playing $3 turbos mostly Don's, but I hardly ever play on that site as there is not much game selection. To be honest I only joined Betfair because of Annette, but am slowly losing my "awe" for her and have only played in one tournament with her. She was not at my table either. 50 games played.

5. to play 1$ sng's to increase my bankroll on Pokerstars past $100 and begin $2 sng's,
Completed, I am at $450.00 and am playing $3 turbos and all PokerVT tournaments that I have time for. Not playing that much only just over 200 games played.

6. a) to play 1-5$ sng's and MTT's to increase my bankroll on Tiger gaming past $500 and begin $10 sng's and MTT's,
Not completed, I have $400.00 in my account and haven't played much at all on the site all year except for member point free rolls. I will be returning to play as the year runs down to build my bankroll a little.

b) I am permitted to transfer funds between poker sites to increase the limit of play on each if I am able to expand my bankroll to over $1000 on any given site, then $500 will be transferred.
Not done or completed, as I have decided that I will not transfer funds between sites because the sites I play little on don't need more money in the accounts and I am debating just playing up to the minimum withdrawal amount and taking out the funds and limiting my play to fewer sites which offer better bonuses.

7. to continue to expand my poker skills and knowledge by broadening my chances to learn.
a) stay with PokerVT for the next 11 months and continue to learn, watch all videos 2x, and 5 times for videos about Sng and MTT's, participate in member tournys. Decide after 1 year if I want to continue.
Completed, I have watched every video on the site, except the math, twice. Some videos I have watched 4-5 times and some videos almost 10 times. I have played in every PVT member tourney I could, and won the leader board in the Sng challenge, won some FNF's and beat a trainer on the site for bonus money. My membership fees are taken care of until January 2010 at the moment. At this point I feel I will be staying for another year.

b) begin learning through PokerStrategy, reading all the articles and materials available to me, taking advantage of rake back programs currently unavailable to me.
Since I already had an existing Full Tilt account I couldn't get rake back, did apply through rake back pros and now receive it through them but I do get rake back on Betfair and will be able to get it on other sites in the future if wanted. I have watched many videos and read many articles. But there are too many videos to watch them all without having playing time and living a life and going to work. They do offer many programs for members to use that assist in improving your game including ICM games which I practice on regularly.

c)to take poker seriously, not just a hobby anymore, expand in as many areas possible and listen to my advisors and follow there advice. To purchase some poker software to expand my ability to play the game. i.e. PT3, Pokerstove, SnG Power tools or SnG wizard, universal player for now.
UMMM, I am a putercore ignorant tool... lol yes I am! I have purchased PT3 and have a great HUD but am not able to use it for all it's other great assets. I got universal player but couldn't get it to work, and out of frustration deleted it from my computer. I didn't bother with SnG Wizard because I was worried it would be the same thing as the universal player. I haven't done table ninja or poker short cuts because I haven't gone past the 6-8 tables at a time and can manage that much on my own without extra programs, for now. I suck with computers and know how to use e-mail and play poker, write this blog, navigate forums and watch videos. Thanks to Derek, PokerDerk, I have recently learned how to send in HH to get reviews.

8. begin expanding into 45 and 90 person sng's as I have done well with MTT's on Tiger gaming which are usually between 30-150 entries.
Completed, I play 45 mans on Pokerstars, 90 mans on Full Tilt, 18-50 mans on Mansion, as well as MTT's on many of the sites when I have time to play for over 3-7 hrs. I also got in a lot of free roll practice as I built my BR

9. to qualify in the top 10 of the SNG 10 wk Contest and play at the final table on PokerVT.
Completed, I came in 1st after the 10 week contest and finished 4th in the final's. I also was only member to win FNF's 2 times and get to play a trainer HU for bonus cash.

10. to not make a fool of myself on the forums or in the chat box on the larger sites now that I have begun playing on them, and hopefully not here on my blog... hehehe.
Not really completed, I am a tool and have made some mistakes, but I call them like I see them. As it turns out I have not been disrespectful and my opinions have been close to accurate about some people as time eventually proved. I also am able to admit when I am wrong, and recognize the need to improve in many areas.

11. to increase at least 1 level of buy in for SnG's and MTT's each 2 months on any of the sites.
Completed, went from $1 - $2 - $3 on 5 of the sites, then to $5 - $6 - $10 on two of the sites, up to $14 on FT.

12. to increase at least 2 level of buy in for MTT's and SNG's for all 5 sites within 12 months.
Completed, as explained above in #11.

14. to reread 4 poker books in my collection and purchase 4 new poker books and read them.
Not completed, I have purchased 3 new books, and read 2 of them. I also purchased "Fooled by Randomness" and "The world is flat" and read 1 of those. I have also started reading more poker articles on line as well as picked up a prescription for 1 year with Bluff magazine.

15. to increase my multi-tabling ability, for now 3 at a time, 30 tournaments a day at the proper bankroll mangement level on any of my given poker rooms, and only go out of the bankroll comfort zone for PokerVT member tournaments or events related to PokerVT.
I guess this one wasn't measurable per say, but I have gotten up to 6-8 tables at a time with comfort and try to get up to 10 at a when the buy in is low. I have played like a super ubber nit when it comes to BR management.

16. when I begin playing larger amounts of money on FullTilt, if possible, look into getting the rake back as I was not aware of it when I signed up a month ago or sign up a new account with a rake back affiliate on a site I have yet to create an account on, rake back is very important.
I get rake back for Betfair through pokerstrategy and Fulltilt through rakebackpros, it took time and patience but it finally went through. I can also get rakeback on any new accounts through pokerstrategy as well.

17. be willing to adjust my goals if suggested by instructers that a different or more realistic approach may be needed, as well as open to criticism.
Didn't get much feedback, but looking back I realize I set my goals very very low and was able to accomplish most or all of them already. Next year I will have to increase the goals I set for myself. I don't know if these goals are appropriate with the long term goal of having a chance at going professional or playing on a professional level in 3-5 years. I would love any and all feedback as pertains to this goal specifically as well as all the rest.

18. at my current account balance level, to also continue to play 10-20 online freerolls per day. At least until all the beginner bonuses for Free tourneys has expired.
Comleted, and after finding out that playing free rolls on Full Tilt actually affect my rakeback I only play free rolls on Pokerstars anymore and have almost completely eliminated my "free roll habit", I do have a very addictive personality.

I hope to become a professional poker player within the next 3-5 years, after building enough bankroll to pay the bills for 2 years and still have enough to play and have a 1 year bad run/loosing streak at the higher levels.
Never to forget that a sound strategy and ability to encompass as much information as possible into my game play will be my ticket to happiness.
I am forever learning and have done a lot to try to improve and work on my game and leaks. I will continue to remember what my main goal is and do everything in my power to achieve the long term goal of going pro in 3-5 years.

Cheers! I do hope to get some input and even suggestions towards other goals that I could give myself to work on in the future and advice where these goals above were pathetic or reasonable and anything else you can think of.

Double Cheers and Thanks in advance!