Happy new year! Poker is a sport. The importance of goal setting.

Happy new year 2011! It's with great emotion that I write this blog on the first day of the year. This year marks the beginning of a new chapter of my life and I am very excited to get back to poker after a short 10 days break. I had a great time celebrating the holidays with family and friends and i'm now really pumped to get back in the game! I wouldn't be anywhere close to where I am today if I didn't have the help of the poker community and so I want this blog to not only be about me and my poker progress, but also a place where I can give tips, post strategy & various ways to think about poker both on and off the tables. Make no mistake, poker is no different from any other sport and to win seriously, you need to take serious care of yourself, just like any athlete. In competition, one of the most important part of an athlete's progression is his training. In poker terms, that means goal setting, preparation and focus. You're much less likely to reach your goal if you don't have a very clear picture of what it is you want. If you don't know exactly what you want yet, here's a few steps that may help you.

First, think long and hard about what it is you want and cultivate a burning desire for its attainment. Perhaps you want to get a certain VIP level or beat a new limit. Whatever it is you want, be very specific. "I want more money" does not qualify as a specific goal. First, fix in your mind the exact goal you want to achieve (IE : I want to be Supernova). Then, determine exactly what it is you will do to attain that goal (I will play X hands on Y days every week for Z weeks) and establish a definite date for its achievement (December 30th). Once you've figured that out, write a clear, concise statement with your goal, the time limit for its achievement and describe clearly what you will do to get it. Finally, read your statement aloud twice daily ; once just before retiring at night and once after rising in the morning. Perhaps most important of all, as you read, SEE, FEEL and BELIEVE yourself already in possession of your goal. If you are not used to think this way, it may seem strange but if you're not getting the results you want, why not give this a try?

Second, plan every step very carefully, from the first day all the way to the finish line, write down everything you plan to do in as much detail as you can. As you go along, you might adjust this plan based on your observations, and that is fine. But always having a detailed and solid plan will make it that much more likely that you will reach your goal. One way to ensure you're progressing is to have a "To-do List Template" as it will make the process of time management quicker and easier and makes it that much more probable that you will actually do it. Try to include everything in that list (meals, travel, workouts, work, poker study, poker sessions, daily errands, snacks, shower, meditation, sleep schedule, exercice, etc.). The psychology behind this is that the more things you check off, the less likely you'll want to leave 1-2 things out of 20 unchecked. Plan everyday of the week and print out TDLTs for the whole month at the first of every month. Again, this may seem cumbersome at first but if what you're currently doing is not working, give this a try!

Third, take care of yourself. This step is not directly linked to poker like the first two, but it's probably the most important of all. In my opinion, the three primary pillars of health are ; a proper sleeping schedule, a healthy diet & proper exercice. Don't forget that in the sport of poker, you need to treat your body the same way any other athlete would. Plan this area carefully as well and you will see massive improvements in every aspect of your life, from poker to general well being and happiness. One could easily write a whole book on this subject alone but in short, here's some suggestions of things to work on ; Nutrition, Resistance Training, Cardiovascular Training, Recovery, Mental health (meditation, social activities, achieving balance in your life) and the list goes on. Take a few minutes to think about what aspect of your health you've been neglecting in the past and how a few small changes could end up making a big difference in your overall quality of life, not to mention the overall health of your bankroll!

And so, at the turn of the year, it's time for me to set new goals. I've already accomplished my first major goal of Supernova last year (see : http://zapatos80.blogspot.com/2010/12/end-of-beginning-start-of-career-as.html) and now it's time to reach even higher. As of now, I have no plan to get Supernova Elite this year. If my marathon sessions to finish Supernova taught me anything, it's that playing mass volume is terrible for my game & mental health. The former is pretty obvious ; if you play marathon sessions day in day out, you will obviously start making more and more mistakes which quickly decrease your already small bb/100 edge. But for me, the latter is even more destructive ; feeling "forced" to play a very intense schedule just takes all the fun out of the game. Right now i'm super psyched to get back in the game and play some more and I want to do everything I can to maintain this state of mind all year long. Furthermore, I get very little satisfaction out of playing like a robot. I'm a very competitive person by nature and outplaying my opponents in any game is more than half the fun, something you obviously don't get when playing like a zombie.

Thus, for the time being, I want to really focus on the quality of my game. Obviously I will need to put in reasonable volume since poker will be one of my main sources of income but I want to make sure I keep ample amounts of time to relax/enjoy life, study, work on my game and post my findings in this blog. If everything goes superbly and I climb up in stakes enough that making SNE on a reasonable schedule becomes possible, I may reconsider. But overall, I will be much happier if I "only" get 400-500k VPP but am able to maintain a very positive attitude with poker (and a very positive bb/100 would be great too!).

Since I can't plan out the whole year yet, I will do what I can for now ; plan this month. Here are the goals I want to achieve in January :

Poker :

[ ] Play 30k hands per week.
[ ] Spend at least 3 hours studying my game (reading strategy threads, watching instructional videos, digging in my HEM database, do equity calculations & sharing my results on the forums and in this blog so other people can benefit and/or add/correct my findings)
[ ] Post at least 1 poker strategy blog every week.

Health & Exercice :

[ ] Go to bed no later than 11pm every night.
[ ] Get up no later than 9am every morning.
[ ] Eat at least 2 healthy meals and 2 healthy snacks every day
[ ] Kung-fu classes 2 evenings per week
[ ] Resistance training at home 3 times per week, mostly for my back and knees

Life :

[ ] Maintain a positive attitude by starting every poker session by looking through inspirational pictures & performing a quick meditation for focus.
[ ] Spend at least 1 full evening per week completely off work and enjoying quality time with girlfriend, friends and family.
[ ] Maintain and update this planning schedule at the first of every month to ensure progression both as a player and in life.

There may be other goals that I have forgotten but if I succeed in all this I will consider January to have been a  great first month. I look forward to share this poker year with you, and good luck at the tables!