MentorHB: Mentee Goals and Ambitions

Mentee Goals and Ambitions:

Taking some time to discuss with your mentee what he wants to achieve from poker is a great way to get your player motivated and in the right zone for playing winning poker. It is especially good if you have a new mentee who has lost for a sustained amount of time, as you can use it as a time to re-baseline (new mindset).

You can break down their ambition into separate goals (i.e. the ambition is what they want to achieve, the goals are how they are going to achieve it) for short term and long term. It's well worth documenting these once created and to schedule a time/date that you are going to revisit the goals in the future.

It's important to ensure that your mentee is able to balance his life and poker, so when you create goals together ensure they are realistic, achievable, and that the mentee agrees with them. Generally having financial goals isn't recommend due to the nature of poker, however using them as milestones for game selection (e.g. “if you are up over 1k this month then try some 50 rebuys”) is a good way to help progress players through the stakes and give them something to aim towards

Some example ambition/goals below (it does not matter what you label these terms as):

Ambition (this is what the mentee wants to do): To improve/maximize potential profit as a poker player

Goals (this is how the mentee is going to do it): Spend 30 minutes before every session reviewing hands from the previous session Organize a session just to increase knowledge of HEM and HEM filters Record every day after playing, an analysis of my own performance with comments Never have more than 6 games open at one time

Ambition (this is what the mentee wants to do): To clear player deficit

Goals (this is how the mentee is going to do it): Review / produce new game selection with mentor / sharkscope Mark up problem Hands in HEM for review with mentor Bank a profitable month Record own live session X evening for posting on website and open review

It is recommended that the goals are measurable, so that when they are revisited you can determine whether they have been completed or not (i.e. rather than a goal to “increase volume”, have a goal to “play X amount of games a month”).

If the goals are not complete by the deadline then make sure you explain to the mentee that the goals/ambitions were agreed together, and if they are not on-board, or not taking on the changes you recommend; then it is a waste of both your time and that you'd rather be with someone who wants your help.

Inform Pokerstaking if you have players like this because when a player has been assigned mentors it is because they are in deficit and we as Pokerstaking decided they needed help with their game, sometimes players can be stubborn when on losing streaks or neglect negative aspects of their game that need improving, even when clearly identified by their mentor – make sure they accept/confront these areas and report it to Pokerstaking if not as we are a business that cannot afford to waste money on players that are losing and not doing anything to change it.

The goals you create together don't necessarily have to be poker strategy related, for instance if there is a disconnect between the way your mentee plays when discussing hands in the HEM re-player, to when playing hands at the tables; then you may need goals that will improve the players mental state, e.g. to have MSN/TV/FB/Skype off when playing or to have a break/eat fruit/drink water every hour, etc.

Teach your mentee professional/effective approaches on and off the tables (i.e. good habits) based on your own experience and knowledge, and use the goals to integrate it into their overall game.