Everyone has their own reason why they play. Maybe you want to pay off some bills or debts. Perhaps you want to be able to put a down payment on your new house. Most people, though, have no sense of direction as to where they are heading in the poker world. I attribute most of my recent success (as small as it may be to some of you) to setting goals. I have a few simple rules and guidelines you can follow to help you with your game. <READMORE>

1) What are the things you want to accomplish in the poker world the most? - (Keep it reasonable, lol we all want to win the WCOOP) Mine were to turn the initial $60 I deposited into $750 before the summer ended, have over $1000 in cashes on the poker db, and to make 5 final tables.

2) Write down your goals. - You need to have physical evidence of what you are trying to accomplish, or else you may forget. Also if you have it written down, it is a lot harder to give up. I find that when people are going to see your goals, if you don't accomplish them, your friends and family will know you failed. This was a big incentive for me.

3) Play Smart – I am referring to bankroll management, a subject that has been discussed on our boards MANY times before. To save me the trouble of typing this here is the link to a great article by Fox, Basic Bankroll Management.

4) Accomplish your goals – It is a great feeling to know you have completed everything you set out to do all those months ago. If you didn’t make it, no problem. Sure it sucks, but you have gained valuable experience during that time period, and you are most likely to make it next time. Keep in mind that it is not worth it to go broke playing too high, and also that sometimes something more important than poker comes up.

5) Have Fun – Don’t be stressed out if you aren’t going to make the deadline for your goal. Maybe set it too high, and you will learn from your mistake for the next time.

The above types of goals are extremely broad and do not really focus on one thing in general, which brings me to my next point…

SNG Challenges

These are a great way to learn some valuable skills, put in a lot of hands, and make some good money. Now all you have to decide is what the guidelines for challenge are going to be.

1) What’s the challenge? What do you want to do? Play 500 sngs? 1000 sngs? And what are you aiming for? Do you want to have a 20% ROI over all those sngs, or do you want to make $20/h? Here is a post from one of the resident sng experts on the site, dhubermex.

2) Buy in – What level is suitable to your bankroll? Once again, I recommend reading fox's article to get an idea of where you stand: Basic Bankroll Management.

3) Multi-tabling – It is going to take along time to play 500 sngs 1 at a time, so I recommend playing several. If you are unfamiliar with multi-tabling, then start off slow and add tables when you feel comfortable until you feel you are ready to take on your challenge.

I highly recommend anyone who has read this article to think of some goals and go out and accomplish them. gl..

ronjon13
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