Time to get serious I have been spending the last few days reading a lot of other blogs, namely the ones to the right and all I can say is WOW! There is some serious stuff going on there and people are doing great things in their poker travels. It has shown me how far behind the 8 ball I actually am.

But I'm ok with that. I know that I am just at the beginning of my journey and have a lot to learn about this great game. The first is setting some goals that I would like to achieve. Like everything a goal gives you direction, something to aim for and satisfaction when you arrive. So here goes, these are my goals for the next 12 months:

• To Make $10K clear profit in next 12 months;
  
• Profit to $500 by end of December 05.
• Profit to $1500 be end of January 06.
• Profit to $5K by end of June 06
• Profit to $10K by end of December 06
• To make good game selections (no ring tables for me);
• Plan my Poker playing time so that I get the time to play and ensure that I track what I am doing, hand history etc so that I ensure I become a better player;
• Focus on Single Table tournaments (Sit and Goes) as my main source of income, playing minimum 30-40 games a week;
• Move from current $5.00 + $0.50 SnG's to $100+$9.00 SnGs
  
• Read at least 3 books on Poker play;
  
• To qualify for a large(ish) game such as $100K guarantee; and
  
• To actually play a live game.

Achieveable? I think so, I've made the final table a few times on small tourney's and won quite a few STT's. The main issue has been focus and ensuring that I spend enough time to develop my game. For example I sit there and watch people stealing blinds, I know they are doing it but fail to do it myself namely due to a lack of confidence in my abilities. With a focus for 12 months I can build my game and my roll to continue to enjoy playing this great game. Things seem to be still quite small in Australia compare to the rest of the world, Joe will change that as will the Crown tourney next year with the $80M prize. It would be great to see an Australian Poker Tour (APT) or Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) in the future.

I'll let you know how the rest of the week pans out. Planning on a few STT tonight, nothing Thursday, some solid action Friday and Saturday.  ¶ Wednesday, December 14, 2005