Poker Players Take To Twitter With Their New Year’s Resolutions
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Every year on January 1st, poker players try and shake off the mistakes of the prior year and set out to write a new story that has a better ending than the last one.
It’s as if the clock striking midnight makes everything right in the world and with bankrolls everywhere – at least for a while.
I think we can all agree that one common and huge goal for most players in 2018 is for the U.S. to get its act together, bring online poker back to every state.
At the very least can we actually get a timeline for when we’ll see combined player pools in New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada. Maybe even toss Pennsylvania in there too?
But, alas, that is not a goal we can control. So let’s stick to the ones we can.
Poker’s New Year’s resolution maker
When it comes to making goals, intentions or resolutions, there’s always a classic over-achiever that makes everyone else question their life’s priorities. You know the type, right?
Well, poker’s over-achieving goal-setter has to be Daniel Negreanu. He is without a doubt, the best resolution and intention maker in poker.
It’s quite remarkable that with his success, he continues to be pretty transparent when it comes to his poker goals and what he needs to do to achieve them.
In his 2018 Annual Poker Goals Blog, Negreanu reviewed his achievements for 2017 and listed ten goals for the new year.
The thing that makes Negreanu’s annual blog so good is his goals are big. Really big. And as you read it, you just get this sense that he’s going to crush them.
His list of ten, very aggressive goals include:
- Hit the $40 million in live earnings mark
- Win a bracelet (of course.)
- Close the gap between Phil Hellmuth and him on number of cashes
- Win a Super High Roller PLUS either the Super High Roller Bowl or One Drop
- Win the Poker Masters or the US Poker Open
But the one goal that stood out was his intention to continue to study the game. He is committed to 120 hours of poker study to continue to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of the game.
Just goes to show you, the best of the best, those who have reached the pinnacle of success in poker and strive to stay there, still hit the books to improve.
Just ask Vanessa Selbst, who in a New Year’s Eve Facebook post, went in an entirely different direction.
Selbst announced her retirement from poker for a variety of reasons, one being, “Whether because poker got more competitive or because we got older (or likely some combination of the two), poker recently turned into a real job, requiring hard work and discipline to succeed.”
So while one of the games biggest names is committing to the hard work, another is leaving the game to learn something new.
Motherhood goals
On January 1st, Kara Scott announced (via Twitter, where else?) that she is expecting her first child with husband, Giovanni Rizzo.
She’s very keen that you know she has goals. Goals of wearing stretchy trousers, eating a lot (cheese and pickles were mentioned), and “build up my tolerance and stop crying at cute animal videos/sappy commercials.”
It’s true, they aren’t necessarily poker-related goals, or are they? Who doesn’t wish for a pair of stretchy trousers after a long session at the tables?
Philanthropy goals
Cardplayer Lifestyle founder, Robbie Strazynski is also a bit of an over-achiever with a list of ten goals for 2018. In 2017, Robbie ran his way through the year with his 1,000km Charity Poker “Running Well” Challenge.
He made his goal on December 25th, and as a result, ended up raising $3,600 for charity. And he is going bigger in 2018, with a fundraising goal of $10,000 and his first sponsor thanks to Run It Once.
After the year-end giving spree of Dan Smith, Tom Crowley, Martin Crowley, Fedor Holz, and PokerNews’ reporters Aleeyah Jadavji and Adam Lammers who hosted a live stream with big names such Martin Jacobson and Jason Sommerville to raise money, we can only hope giving back continues to be an intention in this new year.
It truly showcases the heart and warmth of the poker community that is otherwise painted dark and seedy.
Goal whisperer
Jamie Kerstetter, admittedly with wine in hand, tweeted out this status on New Year’s Eve.
What followed was a list of goals Kerstetter assigned to those who liked her tweet.
The thread is worth reading, but here are a few gems:
To Joe McKeehen (@dude904): “Make your twitter public and give the people what they need.”
To Mike Leah (@GoLeafsGoEh): “Train a doggo to surf or skateboard. You are slacking.”
To K.L. Cleeton (@highhands89): “Please say more random shit (“the river was a banana”) so we can try to make it mainstream terminology.”
To @PokerVixen: “Meet your PokerComet or PokerBlitzen ????”
To Scott Seiver (@scott_seiver): “Create a mash-up account (like @KimKierkegaard) with me – maybe @TexasDalaiLama.”
Whatever your intention for the new year, you should follow Kerstetter (@JamieKerstetter) on Twitter. You’re welcome.
Poker goals on Twitter
Everyone knows that a goal isn’t real until you declare it on Twitter. It was nice for everyone to take a break from the bitcoin talk and political speak to share theirs.
Now it’s your turn. What are your resolutions for 2018? We’ll be looking for them on Twitter.