My Poker Quest: Goals and a Plan

As I stated in my welcome post, I’ve been playing for awhile but just recently decided to significantly intensify my efforts toward becoming a really good poker player. I think the best way to go about this is with a disciplined and systematic effort. What I mean by this is that like any journey, it’s tough to get someplace if you don’t know where you’re going.

So I think identifying goals is important. I’m primarily going to be playing single-table sit-n-go tournaments. I'll also play multi-table holdem tournaments, so I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to be doing a ton of reading about small-stakes limit games (although there is one book in this area that is truly outstanding and I intend to write a review in the next few days). I’m developing a plan to get where I want to go.

My primary goal is to achieve a 40% ITM rate and 16% ROI at the $33 level sit-n-gos. My secondary goal is a significant cash in one multi-table no-limit tournament. Let’s define “significant” as, say, a $10,000 cash.

In addition to playing, I think the best ways to improve my play is a thorough reading of applicable poker literature, reading through relevant articles online, and through reading and discussing the game with accomplished players such as those posting at 2+2.

There aren't really any sit-n-go books out so I'll read through everything I can find online, as well as the STT forum on 2+2.

I’ll also work on my MTT tournament book list. I’ve divided it into two areas -- no-limit play and tournament strategy. There are also quite a few books that cover both areas. After a through perusal of available literature, as well as consulting with a number of accomplished players, the following are the books I’ve identified as the very best to help me reach my goal. Some of these I’ve read, but it’s been quite awhile and they definitely deserve a re-read.

- No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice by David Sklansky and Ed Miller -- I’m currently reading this book. When I’ve completed, I’ll get a review out.

- Tournament Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklansky -- This book is acknowledged as the gold standard on its subject by most skilled tournament players that I’ve talked to, as one would expect given its author is poker's foremost theorist.

- Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments: Strategic Play (Vol. 1) -- I’ve read this one once, but it’s definitely great and worth a re-read. Author Dan Harrington won the world championship at the 1995 World Series of Poker, but his back-to-back final tables at the 2003 and 2004 WSOP main events is arguably he greatest accomplishment in poker history given the size of those fields. He's also a skilled author, writing in a style that is both entertaining and understandable.

- Harrington on Hold'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments: Endgame (Volume 2) -- I bought this one awhile back when I was playing a lot of tournaments, and never got around to reading it.

- Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategies for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. III--The Workbook

Word on the street is there is also a new small-stakes no-limit book coming out from Ed Miller and some very good co-authors. I’ll also be giving that a read when it comes available given Ed’s previous work. And World Champion Greg “Fossilman” Raymer is expected to have a book coming out. Given the Fossilman’s great posts on the 2+2 forum, he’s got an amazing ability to identify the important skills and teach them in a way that’s even understandable for a donk like me.

I think this reading list is more than enough for me to start with, but if you have other suggestions for me, I’d love to have them. Please feel free to leave them in a comment.