Rycky's Poker Plan for 2010

Edit: 12/31/09

Beginning January 1st, I will attempt to increase my playing time and volume in a concerted effort to supplement my income through poker in a fashion much like a professional player would accomplish. The following are the rules by which I intend to impliment in order to achieve this objective.

Bankroll Management: Cashout and Buyin Guidelines

HUSTs: 1% of buy-ins, 40 Buyins
3-10 players : 3%, 65
11-20 players: 4%, 90
21-50 players: 5%, 120
51-99 players: 6%, 150
100+ players : 8%, 200 (150 without ceiling)

Ceiling Cashouts: Establish a Bankroll Cap of $11000 with a soft ceiling. When the bankroll cap is exceeded, pay out 80% of the excess with the cashout and use the remaining 20% for continued bankroll growth by adding this amount to the former cap and establishing a new cap. All normal volume cashouts are paid before any ceiling cashouts can be earned and a new cap established.

Monthly Volume Goals

A. Iron Man status on Full Tilt: Need $30 of rake played for a minimum of 25 days each month. Goal will be reached by mainly playing heads-up super turbo SNGs (HUSTs).

B. Contender status on Ultimate Bet: Need $150 of rake played each month. Goal will be reached by mainly playing turbo 9-man SNGs.

C. Silver Star on Stars: Need at least $137 of rake played each month. Goal will be reached by playing multi-table SNGs and MTTs. These games will be where the majority of our monthly volume comes from.

Weekly Schedule Plan

A. Play HUSTs on Full Tilt each morning during the Early Morning Happy Hour (6am-8am) until required daily volume is reached. Generally will be done before going to work on weekdays in order to take advantage of the double FTP credit. Estimated monthly volume: 750 games of $29 (or 1500 games of $14.50) HUSTs.

B. Play SNGs on Ultimate Bet about one night per week or when most convenient. Use Monday as the default day since the rakeback freeroll is usually on this day. Play for approximately 3 hours each session. Estimated monthly volume: 60 games of $22T SNGs.

C. Play MTTs and multi-table SNGs on any site (with heavy volume on Stars) as a default session, normally Tuesdays and Thursday thru Sunday, with Saturday used as the default MTT day. Estimated monthly volume: 360 games of various buy-ins.

D. Allowances in the schedule will need to be made for certain events like the monthly Races and Rolls freerolls on Ultimate Bet and Cake, the Iron Man freeroll on Full Tilt, any TLB freerolls we may qualify for, and also for any special series events like mFTOPS, WCOOP and UBOC.

Estimated time played is approximately 30 hours per week. Considering that the average time for 2009 was close to 20-25 hours per week, this should not be very difficult. In fact, this plan should result in a better use of my time.

Methods and Tactics needed to obtain goals

HUSTs: Play in sets of two to four tables until volume goal is reached. Depending on buy-in level this should take from 20-30 minutes.

SNGs: Play six-tables at the $22 level in each set played. Keep the majority of games at the $22 level in an effort to qualify for weekly and monthly Diamond TLBs. A rake-played goal of $30 per session is encouraged.

MTTs: Play as many of the games targeted below as possible.

15:00 Bodog 6.60T
15:00 Stars 5.50T
15:45 FTP 22T
16:30 Carbon 16.50B
16:50 FTP 5.50T
17:00 Stars 7.50T
17:00 UB 16.50T
17:15 FTP 33T
17:40 Stars 16.50T
17:45 Bodog 35T
18:15 Bodog 11UT
18:20 UB 11T
18:50 UB 11T
19:00 Cake 39T
19:30 Bodog 16.50T
19:35 FTP 2.20RT
20:00 UB 11B
20:40 Stars 8.80T
21:00 FTP 12DDA
21:02 FTP 12DDB
21:10 Bodog 13T
21:20 UB 27.50
22:15 Bodog 16.50T
22:30 Cake 22TB
22:30 Bodog 22
23:00 Cake 33T
23:30 Bodog 11T
23:40 Stars 27.50T
00:00 FTP 11MM
00:00 Bodog 33
00:30 Cake 26T

Use games like the 12x180s and 27x45s on Stars and the 26x90KOs on Full Tilt along with any other games that may fit within the schedule and our bankroll as needed. A volume goal of at least 30 games and $500 of buy-ins is encouraged.

The long term bankroll goal for 2010 is to reach the $11000 ceiling in order to maximize cashouts long-term. Falling short of this goal would not mean failure. Assuming the rate of return previously stated for each game our bankroll would increase by $7500 during the year 2010, meaning our goal is certainly in reach within the calendar year.

Yearly Volume Expectations

Based on the minimum volume expectations above:

HUSTs : 9000 (or 18000) games played
$22 SNGs: 720
M/T SNGs: 3600
MTTs : 1440
Total : 14760 (23760) games played, not including freerolls, special events, and any play over planned volume.

Other Goals

1. As always, MDFR (Make Decisions, Fuck Results) at all times. Be positive yet level-headed. In general, crush other players' dreams and pwn their souls.
2. Secure my first $1000+ score, be it with a win or final table appearance, and then continue to obtain more of them.
3. Strive to increase the number of tables played at one time both for SNGs and MTTs. A goal of 12-tabling SNGs is strongly encouraged, eight-tabling should be mandatory.
4. Look to move up in stakes in all games, potentially playing at the $55 level in UB SNGs if feasible for Heart TLB.
5. Continue to learn and take time to study the game.
6. Use peer review to further evalulate and improve my game.
7. Have fun!