Monday, November 3, 2008

Long term poker goals

Thought i'd finally get around to posting a few thoughts which might actually set some direction for me over the longer term. I guess i'll start with a few questions for myself:

Do I have ambitions to turn professional? Well the short answer is no. I like the social side of working a regular job, and even though I am an introvert, I'm sure i'd go nuts just playing poker online day after day. It would be very isolating I think. Even if I have a day or two off work now and decide to play poker, I do not just play for the whole day, as I get tired of it.

What is my motivation to play? I like winning at whatever I attempt to do. I like money. I don't necessarily need to be the best though, so I won't play against the best players, or even those too tight for the game to be EV+

Will I switch to no limit or some other form of poker? To be honest, i'm not sure. I regularly read that people find no limit easier - maybe there are more fish in the pool. However, given I am doing okay, I guess I don't feel the need to fix something that ain't broke.

Will I move up limits? Well, I started at .5/1 effectively, so I have moved up from there. I'm not convinced I will go a lot further than $4/8, although with good table selection I will be playing the occasional $5/10 game in the near future. In a couple years though I suspect the easier money will still be up to the $3/6 level. Might need to think about this some more.

What do I want out of poker? For the moment its a bit of extra income on the side. I am certain I wouldn't want to be reliant on the game as my only source of income as I believe that would drastically decrease my enjoyment of the game. I guess I also enjoy the challenge of growing my bankroll. I'm not sure if this is to prove anything to myself, or if I see at as kind of a video game where your bankroll is effectively your score, and I like to do well in games so the bigger the score the better.

How do I stay motivated? Basically I play when I want to play. Admittedly this is quite often still at the moment, but as soon as I get sidetracked or a bit bored I quit and only come back when I really want to play again. I think the fact that there is no pressure on me to do well also is a significant factor. Just having a blog may also motivate me to a degree I think - at least it prevents me from being too lazy and ensures that I do analyse my play after a significant loss or win.

So where would I actually like to be in a couple years? I think i'll still be playing limit poker predominantly unless the games completely dry up. I think I will still be at the medium stakes level with play mostly at the $3/$6-$5/$10 levels, and mainly at the lower end of that scale. I can't see myself playing more hours, so it will still be kind of a hobby at 20-30 hours per month. In terms of monetary targets, i'd like to have a bankroll somewhere around $40,000-$50,000 mark, with a fair chunk of that offline earning at least $200 per month for doing nothing. I suspect I won't be chasing bonuses quite as much but relying more on rakeback and reloads as I would have already completed many of the sign up bonus offers.

What is wrong with the higher stakes? I don't want to reach my level of incompetence, where I am no longer good enough to beat the game, which will happen if I just keep on moving up. (And I do have plenty of leaks which would probably be exploited!). Although I think that if I find myself with a $40k bankroll, I might actually play some of the $10/20 or higher games if I happen to spot a fishy table. It does all become relevant after a while - when I started a $2/4 game would have appeared to be crazy, so I guess you never know, maybe the bigger tables won't look so big in a couple years.

Tournaments? I just don't have the patience, or the inclination to spend multiple hours just sitting there. I think smallish sitngos are about my limit for them to be EV+ so I can't see anything changing in the next couple years.

Live play? Whilst I do quite enjoy live play, 30 hands an hour and a 10% rake is just atrocious. The local casino here is very fishy though. To be honest, the only time i'll bother going there is if its with a mate or two and we're just going to have fun. Its always good to come out in front though, so I do play a TAG style against the fishes.

What about education? I guess I haven't felt the need to sign up for a website like stox or cardrunners or anything like that. I find experience to be a great teacher, as long as I have a sound base, which I think I have from the Stox and Boerer books. I will continue to look at hands on 2p2 though from time to time, and see if my thinking is consistent with others. If anyone brings out a new book that is raved about, I will probably give it a go. If I switch to no limit I have no doubt i'd get Harrington on cash first.

How will I stay on track to achieving these goals? Probably through a couple ways - this blog for one, and in particular making sure I continue to do everything in yesterday's post. You never know though, I might get bored one day and quit playing altogether. Not super likely right now, but it could happen. Or my game could develop so many leaks that I dont notice that my play becomes EV- ... and then I would quit whilst I was still in front.

So I am going to .....? just keep cruising along. Everything always works out in the end

Might add some more if I think of any ....

6 comments:

Brandon Mark said...

great blog... How did you set up that progress chart?

parttimebonuschaser said...

i have the spreadsheet in google docs which then creates the graph.

i'd like to link it direct from my blog to google docs but it doesnt work properly so i end up saving the graph image to PC and then uploading it as a picture in the blog.

post said...

do u ever play on other sites/skins that use the cake poker network , or just the original

parttimebonuschaser said...

no, no other skins because as far as I know you're not allowed to have rakeback on more than one skin on that particular network.

that being said, i'm not sure anything stops me from taking up any bonus deals on the other skins

The blindman said...

I reckon you could be a bit more ambitious in terms of stepping up in stakes. You started less than 18 months ago, and are now winning up to the 3/6 and 4/8 level. Why not 10/20 or 30/60 in another year or two?

The progress graph shows a pretty solid and consistent win rate. Are you solidly in the black in BB/100 at 2/4 and 3/6? If so, I reckon you owe yourself at least a shot at some higher stakes. If you do some mining first, and carefully choose tables I reckon there's no reason you couldn't win up there.

parttimebonuschaser said...

I wouldnt say solidly at 1/2 and 3/6, but its hard to tell as by far the majority of my hands at those levels are on Cake which is my most profitable site as well.

In terms of database numbers i only have about 15k at 2/4 for 1.2BB/100 .. which is not enough hands to prove anything, and less than 10k at 3/6 for 0.8BB/100.

Should get in some more volume at those levels on actual database friendly sites in the next few months though as this cake bonus is going to clear pretty quick at those stakes.