Moving forward in poker

I had my first ever $5K day grinding online cash yesterday, over 2K hands of heads-up. It isn't miles ahead of some of my other best days, but still feels very cool to reach that plateau for the first time.

I also played a $300+22 six handed tourney yesterday with Andr3w. There were 310 entrants, and I was chip leader with 80 people left. However, I made a few spewy plays and didn't switch into a slower gear when I should have, and wound up not cashing. Andrew also hit a tough wall and was the bubble boy. Those results aren't the most uplifting for two people looking to hit the tourney scene, but I am still ready to play some satellites for the WSOP main event. The first one is a $650 super satellite on Pokerstars today, which has a very slow structure that I will be focusing on this evening.

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My stepdad has been closely following my poker progress since I got home from school. Last night, he asked me "so what is the next step?". It shocked me, because I had no idea how to answer the question. Until he asked that question, I was content with the idea of simply grinding my current stakes. Consistently making 6 digits with (relatively) low stress is an awesome opportunity, so I didn't think twice about veering from that path. However, with that question posed, I realized that I need to keep making new goals in poker.

I will never have the gamble (nor skill set) that the top players in poker do. They have amazing instincts in all facets of poker, but more importantly, they have the gamble to risk large portions of their bankroll when the time is right. I love poker for this competitive aspect, and I tell myself I wanna be the best, yet I am so conservative about moving up the ladder. Partially, my hesitancy is due to the fact that I am realistic about the online poker economy, and observe that 5/10+ NL games online are largely drying up. So many people have developed great NL hold em fundamentals, and its a constant fight to sit with fish. However, I should not allow this observation to completely halt me from rising up the poker hierarchy.

So, here are some basic goals to help steer me forward in these upcoming months:

-Regularly sit at 5/10 NL heads up (in addition to 2/4 and 3/6)
-Look into other sites that provide heads-up games at 3/6 NL and above. This is the more logical decision to move up and make better money at my best game (heads-up cash) than just battling regulars on Full Tilt.
-Become competent in other games, particularly Pot limit omaha. I need to be more well-rounded so that when I inevitably get burned out from NL hold em, I have other options of games I am competent enough at to make a living.
-Continue to build a live roll, and loosen up my risk tolerance so I can allow myself to play soft big games live. I think the main test for myself is to build up the courage to sit in a 10/20 NL (or higher) live game at some point while I am in Vegas.