There is no tomorrow. DO IT NOW! (2016 starts on page 10)

Poker update. My month finally started! Better late than never they say but from now on no more excuses. Less thinking and more grinding will be my main mantra for this week.

So far I've put in 14h of grind. I've been working on charts and other things but that shouldn't be an excuse not to grind required hours. Monthly goal is 100h and I'm doing it! No way I'm missing it this time. Although it shouldn't be too hard to hit it I just need to sit down and grind. Enough of motivational sentences now is time for some other things.

Positive things:

1) For the past week or so I've been doing on my mindset a lot. The way we think about things actually shapes our mindset and also attitude. So instead of looking for trouble and problem we should first of all see all the things that are good. That doesn't mean we toss hard things under rug but we shouldn't devote so much time and energy to things that we know can't bring us positive outcomes. Be positive and soon you will see positive people around you (I know it doesn't work exactly like that but in the long run it definitely can).

2) Insanity - max 30. Doing it regularly and I already see some progress. Although it is quite hard I take it also as a exercise for mind - how to convince my brain to push harder and harder. Although I'm almost in mid 30s I want to be in best shape of my life. So there's a lot of work ahead since 2016 has only started.

3) Job oportunity. Since I'm not poker pro I've been searching for a regular job that would bring me regular income and peace of mind regarding financial requirements. Things have started to move but not exactly as I predicted or wished. I have one opportunity that short-term doesn't look good at all but long-term could bring me the job and self-management I wish to have. Still deliberating about it but for now it's 60/40 to take this chance.

At the moment poker is part of my daily routine since I start and finish with it. Have to be more organized and consistent but I'm taking baby steps towards my goal.

There is no tomorrow. DO IT NOW!

January Review

When we start new project there is a lot of optimism and enthusiasm - we can do anything. What usually happens is that reality comes in and quickly after that enthusiasm drops a bit since obstacles occur. I'm the best representative of this. I can make a perfect plan and I know what I should do and how I should do it but in practice there are lots of "problems" (mostly in my head). Once again I set myself realistic goals and I have written down the accurate plan but already the first month I had problems meeting the goals.

Month in numbers:

Time of playing: 35,5h /100h
Volume: 1001/3000
Videos: 30h/25h
Theory (working on my game): 15h/15h

All together I spent ~80h for poker in whole month. There was definitely more time spent but I can't talk about productively spent time so I'm not going to count it in. In my defense (here come the excuses) my computer has been freezing so I'm buying new one so I won't have additional "challenges". First month was awful but you know what they say - bad start good finish:f_biggrin:

Graph:

Winnings: +406,17

Plan for February:

Hours played: 100h
(Volume: 3000)
Videos: 20h
Theory: 20h
HRC: 20x

About 10 days ago I finally got new computer! So no more excuses not to finish my grinding goals. It's seems like new world opens when you can browse without lagging and waiting computer to respond.

Pokerwise things are not great. One of those humbling months but I can't whine too much since I haven't invested quality time into it. Have been working on my game but it seems I've become super tight player and what's even worse regs abuse me big time. It's frustrating when you can't figure out what exactly is not working but I'll find my leaks and I'll be back crushing them:f_cool:

Real life is not great either but I've been working on myself not to whine too much. Obviously wussy mode still comes by but I'm determined to eliminate it.

Head up and go on!

February Review

Many setbacks again. All that obstacles seem unreal but I'm more and more convinced everything is just in my head. Poker sucked big time. Mostly because I couldn't play normal sessions due to slow working computer. After long consideration I finally bought new one. So no excuses after that but again no real volume and the main reason is I invested only ~60h into poker in a whole month - less than pro's play in a week.

Had family health issues which took quite some energy from me. It drained me mentally but again I see it as an excuse.

Positive things:
+ started reading regularly on daily basis
+ actively started looking for a job
+ got my diploma so I'm officially off the hook

Month in numbers:

Time of playing: 33,5h /100h
Volume: 978/3000
Videos: 20h/20h
Theory (working on my game): 3h/20h
HRC: 14/20

Graph:

Winnings: -46,68

Plan for March:

Hours played: 100h
(Volume: 3000)

Only one goal so let's do it. One time!:f_thumbsup:

Originally posted by yaxkukmian
Many setbacks again. All that obstacles seem unreal but I'm more and more convinced everything is just in my head.

Hi, yaxkukmian,
Have you read "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler?

That book helped me a lot.

I learned very little about Poker, but a lot about me. It helped in my real life game as well.

Best of luck in March,
VS

Go go go Yax. Remember your goals for this year, sit down and do some 8 to 10 hours grind sessions to get you started poker all day, you will feel good after it and that part time 4 hours will seem like slacking
Challenge-> 32 hours of playing time by the end of 18.3.2016- friday. Gives you 4 days playing time, for some nice meal and drinks when I get back (maybe Brazilian barbecue or well whatever)-> you do it, I pay, otherwise you
Good luck!

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Hi, yaxkukmian,
Have you read "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler?

That book helped me a lot.

I learned very little about Poker, but a lot about me. It helped in my real life game as well.

Best of luck in March,
VS

Yep, read it two times. And the second time I've been using it as a workbook. I have mental problems but I can't find the real reason for it. Will have to work on it to find it. Thanks for your input.

Originally posted by Mystt
Go go go Yax. Remember your goals for this year, sit down and do some 8 to 10 hours grind sessions to get you started poker all day, you will feel good after it and that part time 4 hours will seem like slacking
Challenge-> 32 hours of playing time by the end of 18.3.2016- friday. Gives you 4 days playing time, for some nice meal and drinks when I get back (maybe Brazilian barbecue or well whatever)-> you do it, I pay, otherwise you
Good luck!

Is that a question or a proposition? It's true I've been slacking again. 32h in 4 days? Madness! But since I don't want to be pussy let's do it.

Proposition. Alright, good luck man, don't forget the quality

So, what is the score, who gets a feast? Screen shot!!

Originally posted by Mystt
So, what is the score, who gets a feast? Screen shot!!

Almost...20h:f_frown:

Good news is that my "grinding" hours went up by days -> 2h + 4h + 6h + 8h. Had my first 4h session! Although that's nothing for you I realized it's better to 6 table and have longer sessions than to 8-10 table 1,5h. This means I will start making more volume from now on.

So you won this time but are you ready for double or nothing bet in coming week? mon to fri = 35h?

Man.. You take the challenge and play a whooping 2h the first day

Well I already have a nice little lunch secured, so not sure if I want to lose it I think after Thailand some Brazilian barbecue would do me good, but you know I'll give you the chance to redeem yourself. If the first challenge was 4 days 32 hours, let's make it 5 days 40 hours now. A nice week of poker and then have a deserved weekend. I am on 7 days-70hours myself, so we are both grinding hard until Friday.

I think less tables is not all that bad, if you think more and learn while playing it will do you very good.

Good luck!! Let's make it a good week, Do It Now!

Being result oriented is not the best thing in poker. We have to respect variance and despite playing poker for many years I don't seem to understand variance. I've been running over 80BI under EV. In hyper format that is not unusual but when it happened to me I just could take it like I should. Instead of dropping a limit and slowly building my confidence back I almost destroyed my BR. Fortunatelly I managed to drop limits before going broke and the "downswing" is not over yet but smaller losses don't affect me that much.

After 7 consecutive negative days I managed to have a positive one. It wasn't anything special but it's definitely a good feeling to know I can have one of those
Being consistent with playing volume will bring me where I want to be. DO IT NOW!

This week I'm doing 35h of grinding. I have full booked weekends so I won't be able to make it up if I fell behind during weekdays. I'm not thinking ahead I just need to complete planned 35h. Be focused and optimistic - just work don't think.

March is over and yet another disappointment. Making plans and setting goals is not enough you have to finish it. My focus is just not there and I can't find the reason for it. It might have something to do with internal drive since I don't seem to have high level of confidence and I'm not totally sure what I can expect from poker.

March in BI:

March in $:

Second half of the month I played only $3 and $1 hypers and I was able to gain some momentum but all in all it was pretty awful month.

Instead of thinking and overthinking this month my goal is only to play 100h. So not 50h not 70h not 99h but 100h! I will do daily updates everyday I play. Motivation to complete it this time? External reward in shape of physical thing - I'm buying myself a watch when I complete 100h!

4.4. - day 1

playing time: 3h
volume: 72

Poker
Not a great start but I have all under control. I went through my opening ranges, push/folding ranges so I was focused on my A game. Have been playing well and I have to continue like this. My playing sessions need to become longer so I play less sessions. At the moment I have mental block when I play 2h+ because I start thinking I'm going to play worse as a result of my fatigue so I just end the sessions to prevent this from happening. That's really not good because I don't train my mind to battle through it so it's like I'm always playing in my comfort zone. This month I should start playing 3h+ sessions.

Real life
Went to Bitcoin lecture. I know few things about it since I read a lot about it when I was writting my diploma. It's been interesting but most of the things were known to me. What was interesting to me was how biased it seemed to me. Although I'm big advocate of Bitcoin it seemed to me a bit unfair he omitted some important facts. He started his presentation with question how many people in the audience doesn't own Bitcoins and when something like 90% of people raised their hands he knew they're not super educated public. I don't want to sound patronizing but it's not fair to talk about certain subject so biased. I understand his standpoint (him being the ceo of the company which set up company's first two way Bitcoin ATM in this area) but still. All in all it was very positive experience for me and I think it will bring even more attention to me in the future.

Tomorrow's goal is to (in this priority order):
- grind 5h
- analyze with HRC
- sent 2 job applications
- do Insanity training

5.4. - Day 2

playing time: 4h
volume: 116

Poker
Another disappointing day from the perspective of playing time. Positive thing is that I finally started playing at $5 level after almost 20 days. I'm happy I'm not playing those $1 but on the other side I sure didn't miss all those regs I see at $5. Difference in quality of play is quite different but that is expected. This means I have to work on my game and improve if I wan't to be winning player but even more importantly I have to put in serious playing hours.

Real life

Dad needed my help first thing in the morning so this "small" thing took me like 5h. From now on I'm putting my phone in silent mode untill lunch time so I can invest my time into things that are important to me. Also need to start working out since I've been sitting out for quite some time now and that's definitely not a good idea. Plan for tomorrow is to clean my table so I don't have that many things "to do" but to focus on main thing and just do it.

Same old same old. "Been trying" is key word that pops out every time. I've been trying really hard but when having so many excuses you just can't make it. This month I have played less than 1000 hypers so I won't be able to reach 3k tourneys or 100h playing hours. With this I'm ending this challenge for this month.

I didn't write anything meaningful for a long time and I don't feel I have anything new to say so I won't update this blog anymore. It was a fun ride but I have a feeling this chapter is closed.

Before I check out I would like to mention few things which are the most important in life -> my message to other members of this great forum:

1) health - take care of yourself, exercise regularly and eat quality food.

2) family - even when you have a dispute with one member of your family always do your best to smooth things up because family is the basis that will help you when you need them most and also vice versa.

3) friends - people who you share your interests with and therefore help each other develop skills we need and also enjoy good time with them.

4) positive attitude towards things and life in general - no matter how dark it seems positive attitude will help you everytime.

5) smile - the most important but often underestimated ingredient of life. Do it every day

I wish everyone all the best on all areas of life! ♠_biggrin:

Milan