Goals for the month

I failed most of my September goals, although it wasn't utter failure. I think that the work I did towards my goals helped quite a bit, so I'll keep the goals pretty much the same for October, although I'll maybe change the targets.

First, a target to actual comparison in September:

1. 10,000 hands. This one I met, pretty much right on the nose (10,403). Didn't think I was going to make it, but I had an unexpected chunk of time the last week of the month to push me over the hump.
2. 100 posts across forums, blogs, chats. I tried to keep a tally on a spreadsheet, just to see how much I was really participating in various communities, and only counted posts and chats with some content to them (so, like all the posts saying nothing more than good luck, nice job, I agree, etc. don't count). With that in mind, I counted 28 posts. So, well short, even if I missed a few.
3. Review 75% of the hands I play. I used a comment in PT sessions to indicate whether I reviewed them, and I counted 5,562 reviewed hands, so a little under 50%. I got some good insights from these self reviews, and I won't do a review unless I'm concentrating on it pretty hard, so I'd rather review 50% of the hands this way as opposed to rushing through 75% or more. I just need to make the time to review more.
4. Actively study 10 CR videos. I watched quite a few, but I'll judge this one based on how many videos I took more than a couple notes on (where they differ from what I would do, or a key concept one of the pros discussed. Based on that higher threshold, I only actively studied 6 videos. 3 full pages of typed notes, though, so I did study those 6 well.
5. Tighten up in early position. My UTG VPIP was 9.78 and my button VPIP was 24.16, or 147% higher. Note that I was not exactly super loose on the button, but I was way tighter UTG, so I'll consider it a success.
6. Practice hand-reading. Absolute failure from a PT review standpoint, but I did have some success while actually playing....there were a couple big hands where I paused before acting to review my opponents' ranges, and a couple times changed my action for the better as it turned out. Nevertheless, I still think I should go through some PT hands, not at game speed, and try to put people on ranges. Thinking about it during the hand is good, but not enough. With the replayer available, and the ability to filter only for hands that go to showdown, this is too easy to avoid, unless I think I'm already an expert hand reader (I don't).

Like I said, I think that for the most part, these are the right sorts of measurable goals. There are some you can't objectively measure like don't tilt, play your "A" game all the time, and others. But for October, I am going to keep them measurable, and let the rest take care of itself. Same 6 goals but with different targets outlined below, as well as a new one.

1. Play 7,000 hands. I'm reducing this over a normal month for 2 reasons. I'll be on vacation (without computer) for 8-10 days. I'm starting play at a new level, and rather than 4 tables will play 2 or 3 as I ease into the games, and build up my database.
2. 50 community contributions. Again, this is content-filled posts, blogs, chats, etc. Fluff does not count. I'm lowering this from last month both because I'm away as well as that I fell so short last month, maybe I was too unrealistic.
3. Review 75% of the hands I play. I fell short of this, but ideally I'd like to review all sessions, and I think this is a crucial part of study.
4. Review 8 CR videos. Again, this goes beyond just watching a video. It extends to taking copious notes and paying full attention to the video. I thought this would be easy since I watch a lot of them, but it's actually pretty difficult to give 100% attention and note down everything important in them. At least it's difficult for me (I get too easily distracted).
5. Maintain tight UTG stats. Same as last month: UTG VPIP should be half that of button.
6. Practice hand reading. Let's make it easier than last month. How about just all the showdown hands in a 1,000 chunk of hands.
7. Participate in group session reviews. I'm excited about this one. A bunch of us had our first review today, and I think it went really well. My goal for this one is to participate in at least one per week that I am in town.