The how rather than the what
Setting goals as a poker player is a fiddly business. We know we should be process-oriented but it’s very human to want to see some fruits of that labour. The last time I checked, you can’t buy a house with Sklansky Dollars. Being ambitious is a good thing but romantic notions of crushing high stakes by the end of a calendar year tends to end in tears and a deposit screen.
I’m not just hoping for improvement but rather I’m building it, hand by hand
The trick is to create targets that stretch you without snapping you in half. Finding that balance between aspiration and delusion is the key. When you focus on the how rather than the what, the results have a funny way of catching up to you. Personally, I try to set goals that force me to be accountable. In doing so, I’m not just hoping for improvement but rather I’m building it, hand by hand, article by article, frame by frame, episode by episode.
Goals can be set at any time but December tends to be a month both of reflection and looking forward. With that in mind, I reached out to a motley crew of 20 poker players to ask them whether they had hit their 2025 goals and what objectives they were setting for themselves in 2026.
2025 Goals
David Lappin: Looking back at 2025, did you accomplish the goals you set for yourself at the start of the year, both on and off the felt?
Nate Silver:
The thing that I focused on the most in 2025 was developing better exploits in soft fields, and I think that went well. I also put in more mixed-games study than I had in a long time, but the results were, uhh, mixed. I want to be honest about the fact that when you get into your 40s, and poker isn’t your main source of income, your “true” goals are basically to (i) have fun and (ii) make deep runs, understanding that (ii) is largely out of your control.
Nikki Limo:
Technically, no, I didn’t hit my goals BUT I believe the things I ended up accomplishing were actually way more satisfying. I wanted to learn mixed games and have a deep run in the Main, neither of which I came close to. However, a whole bunch of other cool stuff happened! I signed with Club WPT Gold, which is a match made in Heaven. I won a GPI award, something for which I had never even been nominated previously. Last Summer, I booked a podium finish at the Wynn in a $1K for a five-figure score. I’ve also been having fun, working with a variety of people, creating content, and experimenting with a range of new concepts and ideas. I even got to get back to my roots and did some stand-up comedy again at the NAPT! 2025 has been a very invigorating year to say the least.
David Docherty:
I can’t fully answer that yet as I’m on my way to Prague and then Cannes where I’m hoping to clinch the PokerStars Live League Low Leaderboard, which was my number one target at the start of the year. Off the felt, I’ve had a lot of rough luck but I’m really happy with how hard I’ve worked to battle through it. I’ve not had the results that I wanted overall but it has not been for the want of trying.
Ray Wheatley:
Financial was a big no from a P&L perspective. I had a poor Irish Open and Vegas created a hole that I cannot fill (unless Prague goes very well). I had a profitable International Poker Open, Irish Poker Tour Killarney, and won lots of satellite packages so that was a nice Quarter 3. Online has generally gone well. I have been profitable on iPoker. Off the felt, I think that I made a massive step forward this year. My game is continually improving but I need to keep working on it and keep focusing on good game selection.
Barry Carter:
I finally won a live tournament this year at PartyPoker Glasgow which was lovely because I was starting to think that I was cursed live. I also won the Twitter Award at what turns out to be the last ever Global Poker Awards. That had been a goal of mine, and also winning Best Book with Dara O’Kearney was the cherry on top. I started the year not owning a trophy cabinet and ended it with a very respectable three trophies.
Kyna England:
I set out trying to make the Mid-Stakes Poker Tour Hall of Fame. I needed something like ten more cashes, but then they changed the structure, so I didn’t really have any goals other than to play tournaments that I enjoy.
Andreas Mavromoustakis
Looking back at 2025, I feel like I improved a lot of parts of my game and life. I started to play high stakes and I accomplished things that I thought were unachievable a year ago. There is still a long way to go though and a lot of things to work on.
Ian Simpson:
My goals are always the same: volume (both online, live and Twitch) and study. The adrenaline come down from the live runs that I had left me exhausted for weeks at a time afterwards, but I’m very happy with my work ethic overall this year.
Nick Walsh:
On the felt (digital or live or work related), I would say I have ticked a few boxes but there is always room for improvement. Off the felt, I have been successful in the support of others in their work endeavours / dreams / goals while woefully failing to support myself in mine (as usual… *SIGH*).
Turlough McHugh:
Kind of surprisingly… yes! The previous couple of years, I have done a lot of travel, bouncing around for about five to six months of each year and somehow still not playing enough. In 2025, I calmed down and acted like a functioning adult.
I had my first winning Vegas trip after bricking the previous four”
I got my driver’s license and a car. This was a great feeling until I crashed it about five hours after buying it. I also refurbished my home. On the poker side, I studied a lot of multiway poker with Dara O’Kearney and Barry Carter for an upcoming course for Simplify Poker. I had my first winning Vegas trip after bricking the previous four. That was a small win but emotionally it felt like binking a Triton.
Tobias Leknes:
I’m not one to set many goals if any at all, but I guess 2025 was all about finding poker/family balance with a new born at home. Having less time for poker and longer times away from it made me really want to make the most out of any moment at the tables. I think this made me appreciate everything poker has given, and keeps giving me, even more.
Padraig O’Neill:
My poker goals were/are based on volume and study time but I try not to chase them with ‘Junk Volume.’ I think my volume is just about right for my current stage of life and although I could maybe do an extra few hours here and there, I won’t be too hard on myself. I also had some goals around win-rates which I’ve accomplished. Off the felt, I posted two videos a week, working with an editor, and hopefully I will work with a poker site in 2026.
Sid Sudunagunta:
In the past, I’ve often had specific goals in terms of volume. This year, I was a bit more nebulous, which maybe speaks to a lack of focus and/or spreading myself too thin. I had fallen in love with mixed games in 2024 and, this year, I wanted to “get better at mixed games and play more live poker.” In 2025, I had lots of mixed game cashes, a couple of new Hendon Mob flags and some new high scores. I also really loved playing live poker this year. I’m still fairly new to it so it feels novel and exciting. I feel very fortunate to have made a lot of friends through poker and spending time on live trips with them has been highlight this year.
Jaime Staples:
I didn’t make any specific goals but my approach going into the year was more about general areas of focus and that went well. On the tables, it was really about the new PartyPoker Tour and I wanted to do my best to make the experience special for any players that attended. I’m proud of the job I did there, connecting with people and making the series feel a bit more human and meaningful as opposed to just another poker stop. Off the felt, I have put a lot of time into reading, consuming art, and learning French. It has gone fairly well on all three fronts and I think I am getting a more rounded experience in the world than in 2024.
Kenny Hallaert:
I surpassed my goals on the felt with a final table in the WSOP Main Event. I don’t make many goals results-wise and just always try to do my best and see where the cards bring me. Off the felt was good as well. Within my role as PokerStars live event advisor, there was a lot of progress, improving the player experience at our live events.
Rania Nasreddine:
I have not yet accomplished my goal of winning a tournament outright at a higher buy-in level. However, there is still a little bit of time left this year.
Jim Reid:
I had very modest goals for poker in 2025, so they were relatively easy to accomplish: more poker travel within the great country of Canada, expanding my paid writing portfolio within the poker industry, playing in more of the RecPoker Home Game tournaments and repeating my very positive results from the Irish Open and the World Series of Poker in 2024. Unfortunately, that last goal was the one that I did NOT accomplish. (EDITOR’S NOTE: I have a trophy on my mantle that suggests he did not achieve that Irish Open goal in 2024 either.)
Lukas Robinson:
My main goal was to keep improving as a player and content creator and I feel like I am playing my best poker right now plus also achieving my peak numbers on my content. Another was to travel to more new countries to play poker. I achieved this by travelling to both Brazil and Canada to play poker for the first time.
Aaron Barone:
Throughout my career, I have always put in a ton of volume, but my wife gave birth to our first child in November 2024 so I tried to set realistic expectations for my 2025 grind. I realised that the less I play, the less I can expect to make, and that was difficult at times.
the trade off for lower volume was being more present in my daughter’s life”
Thankfully, the trade off for lower volume was being more present in my daughter’s life, which is undoubtedly a massive win.
Jen Shahade
Yes, I finished the edits for my book Thinking Sideways built my substack and had a really great and fortunate year at the tables, cashing many of the tournaments I played in, including a third place finish at NAPT and a first place at the PokerStars Summer Women’s Festival.
2026 Goals
David Lappin: What are your goals for 2026?
David Docherty:
I don’t think I can set any until I know how the leaderboard has finished! The direction of my poker career could change overnight if I win the PokerStars ambassador contract.
Ray Wheatley:
Game improvement is key. I am curtailed by having a very busy work life which hampers study/play. I probably need to play less and study more. I need to do more hand history reviews with Poker Tracker and GTO Wizard. Overall, my goal is to keep working on leaks while focusing on bigger festivals and my online grind. A six-figure score live and a five-figure score online are both targets but it’s very hard to have goals that I cannot control so improving my game is more realistic.
Nate Silver:
I need to sharpen up my game theory optimal (GTO) play. As much as I think GTO is closer to being overrated than underrated in live poker, I am starting to notice more of my imprecision when battling against tougher opponents. More broadly, my goal in 2026 is to come to terms with the fact that as much as I love poker, I only have so many hours to give to it. Plus, next year, there are the midterm elections and the World Cup competing with the summer schedule.
Barry Carter:
The big pleasant surprise for me in 2025 was getting sponsored by PartyPoker which led to me playing a lot more live poker. I’ve developed a bug for it, so I want to do a lot more poker travel in 2026. The PartyPoker Tour is expanding next year so I’ve already marked a lot of dates in my calendar.
Kyna England:
For 2026, I want to focus on that same goal on the MSPT circuit. I will try to select my tournaments based on where I want to go, who I want to see and try to just have fun. Hopefully, I’ll make a little money too. It would be cool though if that somehow results in me winning another title.
Andreas Mavromoustakis:
My goals for 2026 are to improve on the daily aspects of my life: being more disciplined, studying more and becoming a regular on poker’s biggest stages. I want to improve on my discipline and focus, avoiding distractions that might interfere with my game.
Nick Walsh:
My goals for 2026 are to play Spins and make regs cry, play MTTs and try to cry less when the regs beat me. I’d also like to get fit and launch a UK based Bloody Mary mix empire (work in progress).
Turlough McHugh:
Study more. Coach more. If all that goes well, I’m eyeing up the Aussie Millions in May, after which I’ll do a long WSOP stint.
Tobias Leknes:
Firstly, I have enjoyed working with my mixed games students a lot, and I’m really looking forward to continuing the journey with them. Secondly, I’m looking forward to bringing back the European Mixed Poker Championship for another thrilling ride. The feedback from both staff and players was overwhelming this year, and I really want to see it succeed and grow in 2026!
Padraig O’Neill:
It’s the same as 2025. I normally start working harder in the winter months to hit the ground running. I want to continue to grow as a Twitch streamer but also improve at this game that we all love. Getting the balance right is important for me so family and health comes first. Then we will see about those win-rates!
Sid Sudunagunta:
I don’t think that my study was as well-structured this year as it could have been. On one hand, this is quite reasonable; it’s difficult for a recreational with a full time job to have a structured approach to studying 8-10 games. On the other hand, I could have found more time and used it better, certainly something to work on in 2026. I also want to play more live poker in new places (hopefully with new flags and maybe even a trophy).
Jaime Staples:
More of the same. I want to continue to make a difference on the PartyPoker Tour. We have more stops in 2026, and new locations. Of course, I want to try my best to improve and results are important. The important things, of which I want to remind myself, have to do with being a good part of the table dynamic.
I want to continue to gain knowledge, read another 40 books, explore film”
Off the felt, I want to continue to gain knowledge, read another 40 books, explore film, get a better grasp on the works of Philosophy, and bring my French to a conversational level with native speakers.
Nikki Limo:
This might be a little woo-woo, but I believe that there is a magic in not telling people your goals until they happen. I have them written down though and they’re exciting!
Kenny Hallaert:
My goal is simply to enjoy life and to keep working with PokerStars to make the product even better.
Aaron Barone:
I am flirting with the idea of a year long challenge, but, as of now, I remain undecided. I definitely want to continue to establish more efficient routines. One thing I constantly stress to other aspiring players is instead of emulating what works for others, find out what works for you. Regardless of your situation, whether you’re a professional or amateur, it’s important to make poker fit within the framework of your own life and what that is different for everyone.
Rania Nasreddine:
I have a secret project that I am hoping to launch in the middle of 2026 which is a way to bring more players into the game. I would also love to find a poker home with a brand that aligns with my goals and hopes for the poker world.
Jim Reid:
I’m REALLY excited for 2026. We are about to unveil a new online home for the entire RecPoker community so a major 2026 goal will be filling that home with fun players who want to get better (your invite got lost in the mail somehow, David).
a triumphant return to Dublin for the Irish Open”
Other major goals include: a triumphant return to Dublin for the Irish Open, my first major international tournament series win, my first trip to the Calgary poker streets, growing my portfolio of coaching clients, playing more online from my new home office setup and playing more friendly/social live poker games with pals at my new house!
Lukas Robinson:
Pretty much exactly the same as 2025. Improve as a player by studying consistently and putting in enough volume on the felt. Improve as a content creator by consistently grinding the stream and short form content. And then travel to more countries to play some live poker!
Jen Shahade:
Poker-wise, I’d like to study more PLO. I’d also like to write and speak about poker in new, creative ways that attract more people to the game. I’m hoping to take on a few students to work on their mental game, confidence and happiness. I’ve become more obsessed with mental game since writing Thinking Sideways and I’d love to help people make the most of their potential.
