Poker New Year’s resolutions always sound the same. Put in more volume, study more, move up in stakes, stop tilting. And for 99% of people, by the time February rolls around, everything’s back to exactly how it was the year before. So for 2026, I propose we try something different: instead of making the same promises that history has taught us we’ll never keep, let’s use philosophy to inspire us not just to become better poker players, but better people too.
- Stop Being a Misreg
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.” — Marcus Aurelius
If you could do one thing for yourself in 2026, let it be to make sure you actually enjoy your life. So many regs show up to the poker table like they’re clocking into a job they hate. They look miserable, they act miserable, and on the rare occasion they actually interact with anyone, it’s to complain about the rake, the software, or how nobody plays “real poker” anymore.
This year, make one of your resolutions to constantly remind yourself of why you started playing in the first place. Bad beats or not, profitable session or not, downswing or not, make 2026 the year you dedicate yourself to actually enjoying the game again.
- Make It a Spiritual Practice
“Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not ‘This is misfortune,’ but ‘To bear this worthily is good fortune.’” — Marcus Aurelius
Speaking of downswings, if you plan on putting in any decent amount of volume this year, you have to come to terms with the fact that at some point you will run bad. Most likely, multiple times. The question isn’t whether it will happen—it will—but how you will handle it.
What if instead of treating every downswing as the proof the universe is against you, or that you’ll never make it, you see it as the training ground for every other hard thing life will throw at you? Imagine the fortitude you would build if you could learn to sit in the discomfort of an extended run of bad luck without panicking. To continue making good decisions when nothing feels like it’s working. To truly trust the process when the results haven’t yet caught up to your efforts. These aren’t just poker skills, they’re life skills that will carry you through the rest of your days.
To know that no matter what fate throws your way, you’ll always be okay, transforms your run-bad into what Aurelius calls good fortune.
- Learn, Don’t Memorize
“Don’t just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.”
— Epictetus
We’ve all seen the geniuses at the poker table who have read every poker book, watched every training video, and can recite dozens of GTO strategies, all while still losing at the lowest stakes available.
That’s because training material is just the beginning of the poker journey. The real work happens both at the table and within your own mind. It requires staying present throughout your sessions. It requires honest reflection about the hands you play. It demands you make adjustment after adjustment until the concepts become instinctual. Study has its time and place, but what you need more than anything is to get some real-world experience and then to sit in honest self-reflection and figure out how you could have played your hands better, one at a time. A single concept fully integrated into your game is worth more than a hundred sitting in your notes folder.
- Stop Chasing the Wrong Thing
“Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue.” — Viktor Frankl
The goal should never be to move up to 5/10, or to make $100K this year. Instead, the goal should be first to learn how to learn, then to make progress in the skills you value most. As Frankl says, success ensues from that, not from chasing it directly.
Every time you check your results mid-session, every time you calculate how many buy-ins until you hit your monthly goal, every time you play a longer session than you had planned because you’re stuck, you’re ensuring your mind remains focused on the wrong thing.
Let 2026 be the year you focus on making one good decision after another, and make that the marker of success.
And finally, a little tough love from our friend Epictetus.
- Stop Punting Your Potential
“You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man. If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not notice that you are making no progress, but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary.” — Epictetus
many years have you vowed to take things more seriously? To get up earlier? To study more? To practice good bankroll management? To meditate before each session? How long have you been telling yourself that next month you’ll really focus?
Eventually, you have to recognize that you’re not a kid anymore. That the passion you have for this game deserves to be taken seriously. That it’s time to commit to the pursuit of greatness like an adult. With discipline, consistency, and the awareness that time is running out to become who you were always meant to be. It’s not too late to begin again, let 2026 be the year you finally get started.
Happy New Year my friend, this is your year.
