Hey guys, I would like to know your opinion and experience whether you set up goals and targets like - by july 2017 I want to win $5000 or play 50 000 hands.

I think it could help me in improving my motivation and knowledge why I play and so on. So if you set up goals like that, what are those goals? How do you define them?

Thanks, gl

It depends on what type of person you are. Lots of people set long term goals and achieve them just fine. I'd caution against setting monetary targets, for obvious reasons - you can't control variance and there's no point in being extra stressed out by running bad (or wanting to stop playing because you've hit your target early).

I'm a chronic procrastinator so I've found long term goals work against me - they seem so far away that there's no real incentive to get things done on a day to day basis until it's too late. What works for me is setting lots of short term goals, planning a few days at a time continuously. That way the long term results take care of themselves.

A really useful method for setting goals is the SMART model.

The criteria speak for themselves really. So your aforementioned goals fulfil Specific, Measurable, Relevant and Time-related. Whether they are Achievable is a more subjective measure - if you have never played poker before, or are playing microstakes then perhaps not.

I agree with The Imp and would caution setting financial targets. I used to set a goal of 30k hands per month, which I further reduced to 1000 a day, and further still to 1000 before lunch. Setting shorter term goals can help keep you motivated, as you goals are readily achievable and don't seem so daunting. So try to set a mixture of short- and long-term goals, and try to set goals that are more task-based then results based - although you will always need a sprinkling of results-based goals.

There is really lots of stuff on the internet about the SMART model - it's very easy to understand, and well-validated empirically.