I don't really set New Year's Resolutions, but I do have goals. In 2010, poker and myself will tangle like never before.

I've spent the last couple of days thinking about what I want to do in the next year poker-wise. In certain ways I've lost the fire for 6m NLHE, and I've grinding through the awaiting process at HU tables for more than my fair share as well. Ironically, as stated in a couple of my 'boxes' posts, this has made my holdem game stronger. When it came time to draw up a poker plan for 2010, I made a list of all the ways that I could make money playing poker:

NLHE 6m
NLHE HU
MTTs
SNGs HU/6m/Full
PLO 6m
PLO HU
Mixed Games

Most of these categories split further into live and online. In 2010, I want to become a complete poker player. I want to be able to sit down in almost any game imaginable (in other words, go fuck yourself full ring limit holdem, etc.) and be confident in my ability to perform at the highest level. This task will require a ton of work away from the table, but, as I have found, that's where most of the work gets done (as a bigger bonus, most of the game types on the upcoming list are solvable/nearly solvable/easier because they betting structure is limited). Without further ado, here are the games I will be playing in 2010:

NLHE HU and 6m online: As of now I would categorize these games by low to moderate volume. Most of the work I do is away from the tables and the beneficiaries are you guys/students.

PLO 6m and HU online: I will probably be devoting around 2-4 months on omaha in the next six months. My game does not even resemble what it did two months ago. I can now draw the line between what hands are acceptable and too weak to play in various situations preflop, which is something I think everyone who switches to omaha hopes to do. I feel comfortable in most of the games that run at 5/10 and 10/20, HU and 6m.

Mixed Games: I want to be comfortable playing in all 100/200 8 games by the summer. That effectively means learning bottom to top 5 games, but these won't be too difficult between receiving coaching and dissecting the games mathematically. Additionally, something like stud hi ten years ago is almost identical to what it is today, and cannot be compared to NLHE 2 years ago vs. today. I want to be able to potentially play the 50k 8 Game at WSOP.

MTTs: I want a 20k+ score online in a 'normal' buy-in tournament (i.e. not a WCOOP 5200 main event). Live I want a 50k+ score. I'm going to hope to play 5-8 big buyin tournaments not including WSOP. For the WSOP, I plan on being prepared to play over half of the events. I have no idea how often I will have 'tournament' day online, but I feel very comfortable when I play them now. I really want everything to come together during the WSOP, so I'll be working extra hard to come into it as prepared as possible. From my experience, most "good" cash game players are slightly better than breakeven at tournaments, and I've worked hard enough to overcome that statistic. The next step is parlaying my cumulative skills into a big payday.

SNGs: There is some small merit to being capable at SNGs. The 6m/9m ones mirror the endgame of MTTs, and sometimes randomly playing HU SNGs is fun. From my experience, I have an edge on almost all the regs at the ~500 HU NLHE limit (they tend to get surprised when I don't shit the bed with <35 bb ). Of course, I will be rarely playing any sit and gos, but I included it because I will still play some.

Yes, that means there is no chance I play limit holdem ring games*

I wanted to put a dollar goal, but it was tough to quantify what everything here would amount to. After some consideration, I'll go with $750k-$1MM.

Here's to 2010. I'll see you at the finish line!



*I actually did play limit holdem recently, but that was to knock out supernova. I closed it out with some HU SNGs, obviously.