Seven Goals for 2012

   As yesterday was the shortest day of the year, I thought it would be a good time to review my progress towards achieving a set of poker goals that I set at the beginning of the year. These were originally posted on a different blogging site in February. I list them here in order, starting from the one that I think is most likely to be achieved, down to the most difficult to achieve.
   1. STAY IN THE BLACK. At the beginning of the year my bankroll was sliding back down towards the break-even point. Since then, things have got better. Even though I'm currently in the middle of a bad run of losses, I'm still reasonably confident of staying on the winning side of the equation.
   2. PLAY FIXED LIMIT HOLDEM.  This would be item number one if it wasn't for the fact that there have been no FLH games available recently on my online poker night. However, I note that there are games available at a higher buy-in level, and this is still within my buy-in limit. I had hoped to play at a lower level until until I got used to the game, but if necessary, I'll move up a level.I'm determined to play this game at least once a week and, hopefully, figure out how to win.
   3. LEARN THE ODDS. I've just recently revisited the pot odds tables for different numbers of outs and I think I have that pretty much memorised. The next step is to get into a bit more detail with the odds for different starting hands. I just need to get the right book or visit the right website. So I'm headed in the right direction.
   4. PLAY LIVE GAMES. This didn't look very likely at the start of the year, but I've started playing the Friday pub game again and it looks likely to continue. I'm also working on getting a game going at the club where I play pool, but it's early days yet.
   5. READ SUPER SYSTEM. Doyle Brunson's Super System is a poker classic and I'd really like to read it. In theory, nothing could be simpler; I just need to order it from the library, go down and pick it up, then take it home and read it. In practice, my free time seems to be taken up with a lot of other stuff, not least of which is actually playing poker rather than reading about it. I'm going on holiday later in the year. Maybe I'll do it then.
   6. DOUBLE MY BANKROLL. This is looking increasingly unlikely. A couple of months with net losses means that I'm playing catch-up. June is also not looking good at the moment. So I'll have to have a couple of spectacular results to get anywhere near this target.
   7. START A HOME GAME. At the start, doubling my bankroll was always going to be the most difficult goal. But now, I'm nearly halfway through the year and the likelihood of getting a home game going seems remote indeed. It's a shame because I really used to enjoy the home games I played with my Pool Club mates up until a couple of years ago. But they've all lost interest now and I don't see any other likely prospects. I think this one is going on the back burner for now.

   Looking at this list, I'm reasonably happy with my progress so far. I'm well on my way towards achieving the first four goals, and should be able to fit in number five. That just leaves the last two. Doubling my bankroll is entirely dependant on me developing my  skill as a player; something I keep working on. As for number seven; well, I still have six months...