2018 is rapidly drawing to a close and a New Year is upon us. It is a time that millions of people make New Year’s Resolutions, vowing making changes to undesired traits or behaviours in order to accomplish goals or improve their lives.
A New Year is the perfect time to make some resolutions revolving around your poker playing. Whether you’re a keen amateur poker player or a seasoned professional, we would bet our bottom dollar that there are area’s you could improve with a tweak here or there.
There are a hundred and one things that you could change or improve to make you a better poker player or to keep you focussed for longer. You will find a few poker resolutions you could make for 2019.
Set Yourself Some Realistic Poker Goals
Setting goals is important in all walks of life, not just at the poker table. Having long-term goals give us something to focus on when the going gets tough, a light at the end of the tunnel so to speak.
It is important to set goals that are realistic even if they are ambitious. Break down your end goal into smaller targets so that you are climbing the ladder to success and can see some progress. These goals may be to put in a certain number of hours studying away from the tables or playing a specific number of cash game hands or multi-table tournaments.
Plan how you are going to achieve your goals and, again, be realistic about matters. If you prefer playing one partypoker tournament at a time, work a 40-hour week and have children and a partner to consider, it is unlikely you are going to be able to play 150 tournaments per week, for example.
Set Yourself Some Goals For Things You Can Control
A popular poker-related goal is one where players set themselves a target of winning a certain amount of money over the next 12-months. While monetary goals are common, you should tend to avoid them.
The reason for avoiding monetary goals is simple: you can play the best poker of your life and still not win any money. That’s just how the game rolls; that’s poker, as they say. Furthermore, setting money targets can cause you to play less than optimally. For example, you may be in profit during your session so you leave a good cash game to lock in the win. On the flipside, you may start to chase losses if you’re behind, playing longer hours while you’re not in the correct frame of mind.
By all means, have a monetary goal in the back of your mind but set your goals around how you are going to achieve this. Perhaps it will be by studying more, discussing hands with your poker friends, trying to satellite into a bigger buy-in Power Series or partypoker LIVE event, or cutting out distractions whenever you play poker. Your main focus should be to improve your poker skillset because that should ultimately lead to being more profitable.
Learn a New Poker Format or Variant
Poker players can be creatures of habit and tend to stick to the same games each time they play at partypoker. You may only play no-limit hold’em cash games, be a Sit & Go Jackpot grinder, or hop in the occasional MTT when big series’ such as the Christmas Freeze come around but learning new variants and format can help you improve your mainstay game.
Playing Sit & Go Jackpot games can help you learn skills that will help you if you find yourself three-handed in a multi-tale tournaments. Trying cash games will help you when you are deep-stacked in a tournament, while playing tournaments can give you an insight into playing a 20-40 big blind stack, which could come in handy in your cash games if you’re facing someone who has not bought in for the maximum.
Plus, you never know, that little foray into the world of pot-limit Omaha could result in your finding a new game that you enjoy, and having fun is the most important thing when all is said and done.
Make Sure You’re Prepared to Play Poker
A huge common mistake made by poker players time and time again is playing when they are not prepared mentally and physically. How often have you sat down at the tables and played poker while tired, angry, or stressed? We bet you can say yes to all three.
If you want to make money from poker, you need to keep your wits about you and try to play you’re A-game as often as possible. Having a pre-poker ritual can help you achieve this, one where you chill out and relax for 10-15 minutes before playing, perhaps helped by listening to some music; whatever works for you.
You should also try to play poker with as few distractions as possible. Online poker is amazing in t hat it gives you flexibility of where to play. You can sit on your couch and catch up on your favourite shows, fire up social media channels or watch cat videos on YouTube. When playing poker, your number one goal should be to play poker! Prepare yourself to play some poker, cut out the unnecessary distractions and hopefully your win rate will improve.
What are your poker-related New Year’s resolutions? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
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