2007 Targets

[FatBoyFat]

I've enjoyed the break from poker during December but I am chomping at the bit to get started again in January. I am the kind of person/spanner that likes to set targets and goals and whilst I have posted these on my blog I wanted to put them up here as another record for me to be held to account against. I would welcome comments, criticisms & suggestions on the goals. Too easy? Too hard? Waste of time? Any I am missing?

1. NLHE Tournaments – Punters Lounge Best Poker Player (BPP) I was going to take it easy here and suggest a top 5/10 position on the Punters Lounge Best Poker Player (BPP) table. However I am going to stretch myself and go for the top spot. There are some very good players on PL and a number of them have progressed from low limit tournaments to higher buy-ins. Achieving BPP would be a significant achievement for me and would require a considerable amount of time and effort. I would imagine I would need to play the BPP tourney every night for at least 30 days to have any chance. Top 5 spot would be acceptable, anything less wouldn’t. 2. NLHE Tournaments – 20% ROI from all tournaments Having done a quick google search on reasonable ROI’s from MTT’s it would appear (from 2+2) that 15% is a good return. Therefore to make this a tougher target I am going to aim for a 20% return. What I hope will give me a chance of achieving this is that I intend to focus my tournament play on the added value tournaments. The Sporting Odds champions league being an obvious example as well as the Punters Lounge added value tournaments. There are also going to be a number of freerolls included, such as Virgin V points, and whilst variance will be high, the ROI will be stonking ;) This goal will also obviously include the tournaments from 1 above and I expect to be playing between 15 and 30 tournaments a month. 3. NLHE Cash Games – Turn $10 into $2,000 Ladbrokes kindly gave me $10 for free earlier this year and from dabbling at the $0.1/$0.2 NLHE tables over a few thousand hands I have got that up to $190. As I have nothing to lose I want to build this $10 up into a $2k balance whilst at the same time moving up in stakes. I have decided to move up each time I have 10 buy-ins for the next level and step back down upon losing 5 buy-ins at that level. I would have preferred to be bankrolled to 20 buy-ins but given the number of hands I expect to play it would take too much time to move up. I would expect to have to yo-yo between the levels and plug leaks in my game before giving the next level a shot. It is also unlikely I will continue with the challenge solely at Laddies. Once I am up to $250 I amy move over to Party as there are more games on offer. I'll datamine a few nights first to see what the quality of play is like. I estimate that it will take approx 50,000 hands to get to the $2k figure (assuming BB/100 of 10, 7 & 5 for $0.1/$0.2, $0.2/$0.4 and $0.5/$1 respectively). Therefore by the end of the year I hope to be sitting down at 4 $1/$2 tables with $200 at each in front of me. I’ll need to put in 5,000 hands per month to have any chance of achieving this. At 200 hands/hour 4 tabling about 25 hours/month. 4. NLHE SNG’s – Turn $0 into $1,000 Pokerroom is a site I haven’t used for a while but having built up a few player points there when I was bonus whoring I had enough ‘player points’ to get a free buy-in to 3 $10+$1 SNGs. Obviously a good prompt for another challenge to see what I can turn this free money into and as I have managed to build this up to $102 already through play in December (38 SNGs for a 20% ROI) I am going to see where I can get to in 2007. The first problem is I only have 9 buy-ins so this could all be over in a couple of nights anyway as I will always 4 table. I think that I need to continue 4 tabling as I move up the levels so that my true hourly rate is comparable. No point having a 10% ROI 1 tabling 50's if I can make a 20% ROI 4-tabling 10s. I am also concerned that there may not be enough volume of tournies going on at the higher buy-ins at Pokerroom so again I may move the bankroll over to Party. I am going to step up once I have 20 buy-ins for the next level and step back down again after losing 10 buy-ins. I certainly don’t think this is good bankroll management and I could easily go busto before I step up to the $20s. Based on my estimates for ROI at $10s, $20s & 30s (25%, 17.5%, 12.5%) I reckon it is going to take about 600 SNG’s to get to the $50s (assuming I never have to step down). Intention here is to go for 100 SNGs/month and see where that gets me. 25 Sets of 4 is going to take about 25 hours play a month. 5. Entry into major buy-in live poker tournament (and participate) Ok, so I kind of achieved this in 2006 but never managed to play becuase my beautiful baby daughter, Maggie, decided to come along. This is a nice to have rather than a must. It's unlikley that I will actively pursue this and it is more likely to come along through winning an Inside Edge or Poker Player tourny again. Tempted to go for the WSOP $1,500 NLHE this summer but it would mean using a week of holiday away from the family and I am not sure I want to do that yet. 6. Make $6,000 from the above – poker alone I'm really not arsed about the money this year but I can't have a goals post without putting some monetary measure on it. This could come from one good cash on an MTT or from a consistent monthly return. I think I am unlikely to hit this target unless I get a good 'cash' in an MTT. The poker alone comment relates to the fact that a lot of my profits over the past couple of years have come from bonuses and sports and casino whoring. The $6k target is from the poker play alone.

Anyone else set goals for 2007? Hopefully not too many going for BPP or I will definitely have no chance? FBF

[DC]

Re: 2007 Targets Hi mate. To me it seems you have a lot of objectives. Surely there should be one objective - to improve your game, be a better player than 2006! And if that means a better ROI%, a better grand total profit$ or winning a big prize tourney$ then so be it. Personally I don't know why you are setting yourself the first objective. You will spend a lot of time playing the various games in the league but there may be other tournaments and games you'll be missing out on while you're focussed there. Some of the games are only $1 and 3-5 hours spent in the focus game may detract from your overall play, ROI and winnings. Remember - there are no prizes for being the current best player in this particular forum, although you can assume that in order to be the BPP you'll have won plenty along the way! In no way am I putting down the idea and the hard work GaF puts into this competition. I wish you good luck in all your goals. :hope Danny

[glceud]

Re: 2007 Targets A couple of possible moves with your bankroll to Party Poker. Let me know if your ROI is the same there

[GaF]

Re: 2007 Targets I like this mate - think it's good to have targets :ok How much poker does this expect you to play each month to reach all targets? STT's plus MTT's plus Cash? Sounds like an awful lot!!! For the amount of poker you are talking about, I feel $6000 is very conservative - I reckon you'll blow that out of the water :ok Agree with DC's comments - BPP in itself is more "friendly competition" than "profitable poker", having said that I do try and choose value added games :ok But I think you should steer clear of "crapshoot freerolls" such as Safety Net (if/when they are played) - if you are taking your poker seriously, then tourneys like this are not for you. We have had quite a few players who have managed to become BPP without playing all/most games, but having said that, the more games you play, obviously the better advantage you have. I think one of my goals for 2007 is to get more PL'rs achieving what they are capable of - we have a good standard of player here, but I do feel we shoot below our weight - We play too many freerolls and $1 games when we can win big buy in games - don't misunderstand - I in no way want to push people into playing at a level higher than they are comfortable with (or profitable at). BUT I don't want to be encouraging people into low value freerolls or $1 games when they are capable of so much more either..... at the moment we overemphasize the low buy in games, I want to see that change a bit (without excluding anyone).....

[jomell]

Re: 2007 Targets Buying in at a higher level is something that i've recently explored although i would prefer to gain entry via a satellite. I normally play MTT's at a buy in of £22/$44 and feel comfortable at this level. Now occassionally i buy straight in at levels of £55/$109...which is alot of money to me,but has been profitable. I've played the 15K Betfair $109 buy in 4 times now and made the money 3 times usually top 18 get paid )Finishing 1st,9th and 12th with the other finish 21st. I think that you must find "value" in a game as in the 15K tournament which usually gets between 100/120 entries...added value of $2K/$4K. I know that the standard of play on here is very high! :ok

[H-Bomb]

Re: 2007 Targets Two targets: 1) To get my tournament game back to a high standard. My game has suffered because I spend 99% of my time playing short handed cash games. My live play is still strong, but my online MTT game has suffered terribly because I've been transferring my cash game on to the tables. If I can get it back to how I was playing in the first half of 2006, I'll be happy...as long as my cash game doesn't suffer. 2) Build my bankroll (live and online) to a level where I am comfortable playing at most buy-in levels (WSOP Main Event levels excluded) without having to risk too much of it.

[GB80]

Re: 2007 Targets Only 1 target for me, and thats to play in the WSOP Main Event. Whether that by qualifying online, in the satellites in Vegas, or by winning enough to buy into the thing myself I don't care!!

[FatBoyFat]

Re: 2007 Targets

Hi mate. To me it seems you have a lot of objectives. Surely there should be one objective - to improve your game' date= be a better player than 2006! And if that means a better ROI%, a better grand total profit$ or winning a big prize tourney$ then so be it.

Couldn't agree more mate and the objective of improving my game is implicit in the other objectives for 2007. My problem is that I have bonus whored for the past 2 years and my main objective has been to make money. As long as I was a break-even player I was making good money and never really strived to improve my game. The goals for 2007 should require me to improve my game as I am going to move up in stakes each time my bankroll permits. I expect to move up and then have to move back down again as my game won't be up to the higher stakes. If I am to move up and stay there then I am sure I will need to analyse my game in PT and improve on it. ALso, if I just set a goal of improve my game I would probably lose motivation and fock it off. These objectives give me something tangible to aim for.

[GaF]

Re: 2007 Targets SOunds interesting and some food for thought :ok There is the semblings of a plan coming together (I wont go into any detail till we have someting more concrete) - nothing as grandiose as you're proposing, but a good starting point - so "watch this space"

[ColU_FC]

Re: 2007 Targets

There is the semblings of a plan coming together

:loon tut tut ;)

[GaF]

Re: 2007 Targets FBF - you been trying the mansion dome qualifiers again? The value is HUGE - PL'rs would clean up!!! I looked at it last week and the $100+$9 rebuy and addon had 1 seat ADDED to the prize pool (cash paid out 2nd downwards - think top 30 were paid) - there were 100 entrants - APPROX 30% OF WHOM SEEMED SAT OUT THROUGHOUT (I presume qualified through sats and then couldn't make it) - it was played pretty much like a freezeout (though an add on would probably be advisable). The $200 + $15 freezeout game had TWO SEATS ADDED (so paid out cash from 3rd downwards I presume) - but ONLY 81 entrants!!!!

[AJ]

Re: 2007 Targets I made $6k from Poker this year. My aim is simple, to make more this year. $10k+ should be possible. I started off at $3.30 STT's, moved throught the 5's and am now winning at the $10+$1s. My aim is to continue until I find a level I can't win at, then move down one. ROI doesn't interest me, hourly rate is much more important. I want to master multitabling more. Oh yeah, then there is the small matter of the WSOP............

[DC]

Re: 2007 Targets AJ - nice work mate, ties in with the bankroll management thread but at what stage did you UP your buyin's? And did you ever go back down a level? What %age of your bank did you base your starting buyins and did you keep a full record of all your results? One thing I HAVE to do next year is record everything I play in so I can see where I'm at. :ok

[AJ]

Re: 2007 Targets I took a pretty conservate approach of 50 x buy in. When I reach this, I set aside 10 buys in at higher level to see how it goes. I'm not sure 50 is high enough, perhasp I should be looking at 200 as a more realistic number A good proportion of my winning comes form live games though, I play two nights a week in local pubs.

[FatBoyFat]

Re: 2007 Targets Progressing okay on the cash games so far. Just broke through the $500 barrier from the initial $10 freebie. I will start 4 tabling the $50 buy-in tables once I go back to cash games. Gonna spend the rest of the month trying to get the 200MPPs for the Parbet freeroll. Only running at 16% ROI at the moment which is very poor indeed. Running shite on the MTT's but your not gonna hear any bad beat stories from me. Blog updated with progress to date. FBF

[GaF]

Re: 2007 Targets Keep the updates coming mate - I will check out your blog later :ok

[DIF1891]

Re: 2007 Targets

but I reckon our top 10 against there top 10 would give them a good challenge.

Please tell me you are joking? If not do yourself a favour and stop playing poker mate.

[FatBoyFat]

Re: 2007 Targets

Please tell me you are joking? If not do yourself a favour and stop playing poker mate.

Wasn't joking. I reckon GaF could beat them all by himself :nana Seeing as you asked so nicely I'll stop playing poker immediately. GL at the tables. FBF

[FatBoyFat]

Re: 2007 Targets Just got through my first 50 MTTs this year and so far so good as I am well above my 20% ROI target. The $750 win on Paradise helped though :lol

[GaF]

Re: 2007 Targets Nice one mate :ok Interesting that the freerolls are providing a significantly higher hourly rate than the buy in events (are you listening all you freeroll knockers? :loon) Is that your own spreadsheet? Or a prefab one? (you've probably said earlier in the thread :$)

[FatBoyFat]

Re: 2007 Targets

Nice one mate :ok Interesting that the freerolls are providing a significantly higher hourly rate than the buy in events (are you listening all you freeroll knockers? :loon) Is that your own spreadsheet? Or a prefab one? (you've probably said earlier in the thread :$)

Freerolls should never be disregarded IMHO, but I do think you need to be selective about which ones you choose. Most of the MTTs I play in have added value in one form or another, and have resulted in entry into some of the freerolls (including the $750 win). Over the long run I expect this selectivity to be reflected in my ROI which may add 5% and is not to be sniffed at. No matter where I end up with this poker lark I will never be too proud to give the

freerolls a go. In terms of buy-in tournies I am still getting a good ROI in these events but I think that is to be expected given the micro stakes I play at. I probably set my goal too low and 15%/20% ROI is for good players on the 100s and 200s tournies. At my level is should be much more. The spreadsheet was one I picked up somewhere but not sure who to credit it to, probably 2+2. PM if interested and I'll send it to your email addy. FBF [Another $216 from tonight to add onto the freeroll profits as well :) ]

[FatBoyFat]

Re: 2007 Targets Took a break from poker for the last couple of weeks to take the family away and make some inroads into moving home. Back into it now and played 4 SNGs on FT to take my SNG tally to 100. Should be upto the 20s within the next 100. FBF

[GaF]

Re: 2007 Targets Looking good mate (at a glance - will try and look properly later :ok) :clap :clap

[FatBoyFat]

Re: 2007 Targets Managed to push the SNG bankroll though $440 much faster than I expected. After 140 $10 SNGs I am now sat on $463 profit from a zero start. Stats look reasonably solid with a ITM of 44% and ROI of 30%. My MT utilisation is 2.5 but I pretty much 4 tabled throughout. The dip in the MT figure is from when i was playing some MTTs and cash games alongside the SNGs. I will start playing solely at the $20 SNG level from next month. I need another $220 profit to step up to the $30s so I would hope I can do that with the next 100 SNGs. If I achieve a 15% ROI (half my current ROI @ 10s) then I should do it in 67 SNGs. Anyone with ideas on how big the skill increase is between the $10 and $20 tournies? FBF

[AJ]

Re: 2007 Targets These are stunning figures, FBF. I'd suggest that 140 SNG's isn't really giving you apicture of how good you are at the $10 though, sample size is just too small and you could be running hot. I'd suggest playing 500 of them and seeing where you are. Get your profits up to $2k before making the next step

[FatBoyFat]

Re: 2007 Targets I think I'm going to count this one as achieving target 5 although I will probably try for a seat at the Laddies poker cruise later this year. Hopefully the legends won't be too good and I can win some money for charity. FBF

[spannerjago]

Re: 2007 Targets Thats a huge cut they are taking for an STT or am I being stupid. £6 rake for a £5 STT. WP FBF.

[FatBoyFat]

Re: 2007 Targets

Thats a huge cut they are taking for an STT or am I being stupid. £6 rake for a £5 STT. WP FBF.

I think the £6 goes to charity. There is a £5k prize on the night too, but I think that probably also goes to charity as well, not sure if Goodison Park has a license to operate a poker game with cash prizes.

[spannerjago]

Re: 2007 Targets Ah I see. Maybe Everton pocket the cash. They could buy themselves a decent centre half then.

[robilaruk]

Re: 2007 Targets not much at all - you notice the difference after the 3 nutters bust out rather than the 4 you get in the $11..... the one thing I found was you got more shove monkeys at bubble time in the $22's than the $11's and less calls to the shoves - where as folks in the $11's shove less at bubble time but call shoves more, am not sure why :unsure (maybe the players at the $22's understand fold equity, ICM, and shove management better?) good luck :ok Damo

Anyone with ideas on how big the skill increase is between the $10 and $20 tournies? FBF