Plan for 2011

In the spirit of New Year's resolutions, I've been thinking about how I can set some more concrete goals for the upcoming year. I've been fiddling around at the micros for several years now and my ultimate realistic dream is to get to a point where online poker can provide a little bit of extra spending money. I don't have time in my busy life with a full-time job and two young kids to play the kind of volume required to make real money playing online poker, but I'd be happy if I can get to a point where I can pull in an average of a couple hundred $ per month. So here's my more concrete plan for 2011.

Jan-Feb 2011
Bring my Stars bankroll over $300 playing mostly $1.10, 45-turbos. I think I can average 20-25 tournies/week, and although I know I can't maintain the ROI clip I've been on thus far (I've been absolutely killing these things since I returned to them a few weeks ago), I don't think it's unreasonable at all to think I could hit my goal within the next month or so. I'm currently at $241.95. I also plan to throw in the odd $1.10, 90-turbo and maybe some of the $2.20, 180-turbos as well.

Feb 2011
Before making the move to $3.25, I'm going to take some time to observe some of the games to see what the play is like. This is where my first poker New Year's resolution comes into play: there is no rush. By setting myself very realistic goals I will now enable myself to take the time I need to play the game properly. If I'm tired or in a bad mood, it's okay to take a night off. Rather than jumping right into the $3.25's and learning everything the hard way, take some time to observe and study my opponents. Then I'll move up and give it a shot.

Spring 2011
The next step will depend in part on how things go at the $3.25 level. If I'm doing okay and I'm satisfied with my returns, I'll probably just stick around and keep focusing on the 45-turbos. I've been reading quite a bit on one of the poker forums about how "reg-infested" the $3.25 and higher levels are in the 45-turbos, and lots of experienced players seem to be suggesting that it's very difficult to put up a solid ROI over a decent sample at those levels.

If I'm not satisfied with how things are going there, I will probably move back to the $4.40, 135-turbo Rush tournies on Tilt since I really enjoyed those and had some decent success when I played them. I stopped only because I started chasing a bonus and ended up spending some time at the cash tables.

There are a couple of other things I'd like to do in the spring of 2011:(1) As I have done every year for the past couple of years, I'd like to spend a bit of time trying to score a seat to the WSOP ME. I usually try the steps and I don't usually get very far, but I always like to take a shot anyway. (2) At some point I would like to take a few shots at a large-field MTT. I've only done it a couple of times in my online poker career simply because I don't have the time in my schedule. In order to fit this goal into my schedule what I will likely do is try something like the 8pm $1 turbo rebuy on Stars on a Friday or Saturday night.

Here is also where my second poker resolution comes into play: focus on the game. It is incredibly difficult to play online poker and resist the temptation to check email or play silly games on Facebook at the same time. It's also pretty easy to be successful at the $1 level while doing those things. But once I get to the $3.25 level and/or the $4.40 Rush tournies, I'm going to make a real effort to focus on the games and the games only.

Summer 2011
Play in the WSOP ME?

Summer-December 2011
Continue making some money playing online poker.