2008 The Objectives

Here I am on day 4 of 2008 and I am still debating what my realistic aims for 2008 should be.
I have a feeling this posting might end up being a brain dump, so apologies if I go off on tangents!

Last year whilst I met the basic fundamentals of my objectives, I got far too carried away into trying to get to play in many live events. I have a full time job, which unless something major happens, I am simply not going to be able to play in many live events. So this year you won't see a long long list of ideal events, it will be case of seeing how it goes.

So what do I want out of poker in 2008. To be honest I can't really expect much more than I am getting at the moment. I will not be able to play any more frequently, or devote any more time, so realistically it is going to have to be something similar to last year.
The difficulty then comes if its not challenging then you lose interest or do not perform to your best.

The question remains how big a part do I want poker to become in my life. Right now there is no more space left for it to take up, so to do more, something has to give, at the moment there is nothing I wish to sacrifice for it, so it must remain to be a profitable sideline.

I then ask myself will I enjoy the results of my efforts, will it be challenging enough for me, am I going to have the desire to see it through. At the end of 2008, would I be happy with the same as last year.

I have questioned since I have been playing, what elements do I enjoy.
Winning, is the main one of course, I am very competitive by nature, winning is a big deal.
Money, I can never see a time where the value of money makes little difference to my decisions, in the £40k last year, with 5 left, I played for the top 2 as opposed to out and out first. Looking back I do not think I would do this differently if played over, the differences in money were too large.
Improving. I love to get better at something. Maximising the return from each winning hand and minimising the losses really matter.
Learning from mistakes, making a mistake is often a good thing, because it gives you a learning situation.
Teaching. A strange one this, but I love the fact that I have been able to help many people improve their game and seeing their results improve, gives me great satisfaction.
Friendship. I have met a number of great people through this game and I hope to continue to do so.
Bad Beats. What I hear you say! Well without them the game would be dull and predictable. It is a game of skill, but nothing is certain in life, so it should not be in poker. You can make all the right moves and still something goes wrong. Whilst I don't want too many bad beats, I would not do without them.

In summary to that there is still enough that I enjoy from this game to play at the levels I do, as long as I keep challenging myself and my game is progressing then I am going to be satisfied with a similiar level of return for effort.

I knew it was going to be long post!

So where does that leave me with objectives.

1) To be the top career earning live player with the surname Orchard!

What on earth is this, I hear you say.
Well its a lot more difficult than you might think!
Right now David Orchard from Los Angeles is in front with $29,949. He has had a great year with 7 live cashes. I am sitting $11,000 behind, so a lot of work to do.

2) Live Events

I am not going to go overboard this year.
I am going to Las Vegas during the World Series, so I will have a going at qualifying, but I will be playing most of the time I am there.
The Caribbean Poker Classic, wherever this ends up being, this is an event that is simply above everything else, so this is a must.

Everything else becomes a bonus.
GUKPT - I realistically have to play in one of these this year. I still find that I could never voluntarily pay £1k for a poker tournament, so I will have to win my seat, but I do need to play in one of these.

EPT - Ideally San Remo sounds like fun. I was 3rd in a qualifier a couple of weeks ago with the winner off to the EPT, I qualified for Dortmund in 2007. It is not within my ability to qualify for one of these.

Aussie Millions - I have never been to Australia and would love to go. I don't have time to go to this event, so probably won't even bother trying, but it is still something I would like to do.

3) Total Profit.
£32k in 2006, £33k in 2007, well my target for 2008 is a small increase £36,000. Working out at £3k a month. A very challenging target based on playing a similar amount to last year.

4) Tournament Wins.
It was 11 last year (13 if you include my 2 live wins, 1 CPC and 1 in vegas). I will keep this target to online wins and aim for 12, 1 a month.

5) Final Tables.
A real tough one this, I am going for 52. 1 a week.

I am also going to set some targets of % time cashed and some smaller targets, but I will post these when I have thought about them more.
Also I will have some aims for Poccer over the next few days.

ClintonO