Just one thing can stand in the way of success!

New post for this because I didn't want the other one to become too long.

Mental game & Time management

The results of my first 2 weeks of keeping track of my time have been very interesting, to say the least. From May 1st to May 16th this is what I've come up with:

The activities listed above cost me roughly 250 hours. That means I have 130 hours to split between poker, uni and free time and I have to be honest, I'm not so happy with the results. Actually I'm very disappointed. I noted down way too much 'free time' for my liking. It roughly comes out at:

Over 16 days, that's roughly 4 hours a day I spend doing basically nothing productive. Yes Better Call Saul, Fargo and so many other things on Netflix are absolutely amazing but this is just waaaaay too much. The numbers here are a little bit skewed because of some social activities that took up a lot of time, but in that case I just need to be more disciplined on the other days. Apparently...

Apparently those 20 minute or half hour breaks between poker/uni sessions really add up. Also, after my morning routine before work, there's usually 15 minutes where I just sit and watch some TV before going to work. All these little things apparently really added up while I didn't really notice it. Also, admittedly, sometimes I just felt too tired after a long day of work. Almost every evening I basically have a volleyball or gym session (except weekends). Add one hour of poker or uni to that and you get tired pretty quickly. So I've had days where I would just watch Netflix from say 9pm until I went to bed. Not good enough

Of course all these numbers would be meaningless if I didn't use them. I've made a plan. I'm going to change my schedule a bit (read: drastically). I already mentioned before that getting up earlier might be a good idea, and I think the numbers here agree. I feel like my morning routine is too long, plus I just sit and do nothing when I'm done. So I'll get up earlier, do my morning routine and then do some uni/poker work. Also, I'll just stick to short 5 minute breaks during poker/uni sessions instead of 20-30 minutes. For example, a schedule on Monday where I have to work and have volleyball practice in the evening could look like this:

This way I get in roughly 4 hours for uni and poker while still having well over an hour to just relax and do nothing. And let's not forget that I go to volleyball practice because I enjoy doing it as well so that's an add bonus (although of course it is a commitment). 6.5 hours of sleep seems on the low side but honestly I can handle that. I think my quality of sleep is good enough to the point where I should easily be able to get by with 6-6.5 hours of sleep.

Of course I'm going to have to fine-tune this a bit, but I feel like I'm onto something here. I already thought I was managing my time extremely well. I planned my days and weeks in advance, but still I allowed myself to slack off way too much.

But no more! If I'm not disciplined enough, I will never make it. In that case it will take me ages to finish uni and I will never get anywhere in poker, or anywhere else in life for that matter. I'm in general a very ambitious person. If I can't put in the required hard work, hours and effort that are needed, I will never reach my full potential. And I will never forgive myself if that happens. So I better get myself together and start doing what I have to do!

I will see how things go with this. I think I will start with my new schedules on Monday. This Friday, Saturday and Sunday I'm going away for the weekend with friends, so Monday seems like the perfect time to start

If you managed to read through one or both of these walls of text, thanks for reading! Really appreciate it! Have this GIF as a reward:

Tino

Nice meercat picutre at the end!

great plans but don't be to hard on you. you neeeeeeeed breaks between uni/pokersession etcs. Just 5 minutes will hardly free your mind.

Nice on 1 buyin profit! That is a comfortable spot I only can dream about right now! ;D

great plans but don't be to hard on you. you neeeeeeeed breaks between uni/pokersession etcs. Just 5 minutes will hardly free your mind.

I know breaks are important. Like I said I still have to finetune it which I can only do by starting somewhere and just trying it out. Right now when I play poker I also study 30 minutes then play 1 hour without taking any break so I think just taking 5-10 minutes off in the middle should be okay.

Also I plan on giving myself more of a break on my days off (so weekends and Wednesday). Won't cram those days as full as the others. So hopefully that way I can also make up for the tight schedule on the other four days while still keeping my productivity as high as possible. Also if I want to get all the things done that I want, I'll need to be a little hard on myself

It's pretty much a puzzle of which the pieces still have to fall into place.

Nice on 1 buyin profit! That is a comfortable spot I only can dream about right now! ;D

Yea it's pretty sweet

Changed my name on the forum! Still the same person obv, just didn't want to keep a name that was very close to my real name

Took the weekend off from anything poker and/or uni-related as we had a volleyball tournament. Drank plenty of beer, had amazing weather, didn't lose a single game, the list goes on. Good times, good times

More poker-related, unfortunately my HM2 database got corrupted. Tried basically everything to get it sorted out but in the end the only way to get it sorted out was to completely uninstall postgreSQL and HM2 as well as completely delete the database. So all my progress so far is gone

Luckily it wasn't a huge database yet so not too much is lost. I will however make the switch over to PT4 instead. Been using HM ever since I can remember. People are creatures of habit and I'm no different, so I looked past the minor bugs and flaws since I never had any real issues. However I don't want things like this to happen again and I feel like PT4 will be a bit more stable in that regard.

That's all for now, will keep you guys posted if anything else noteworthy happens

I do not believe you are the same person! stop stealing others threads!

crap you got me, maybe I'll steal your thread then

Originally posted by TJtheTJ
Changed my name on the forum! Still the same person obv, just didn't want to keep a name that was very close to my real name

You'll always be Tino to me..... or was that Bino...... or Rino.

I'll be whatever you want me to be Laz

TJtheDJ?

How to improve your redline 101.

He had $0.06 left

PokerStars - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $2.00 (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 50.00, 3Bet Preflop: 40.00, Hands: 12)
SB: $1.06
BB: $5.82 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
UTG: $2.24 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
Hero (MP): $2.00
CO: $2.95 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)

SB posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has 4♦ 4♣

fold, Hero raises to $0.06, fold, fold, SB calls $0.05, fold

Flop: ($0.14, 2 players) A♣ 2♠ 3♠
SB checks, Hero bets $0.07, SB calls $0.07

Turn: ($0.28, 2 players) 5♦

SB checks, Hero bets $0.20, SB calls $0.20

River: ($0.68, 2 players) A♥
SB bets $0.66,

Hero raises to $1.32,

fold

Hero wins $1.93

Thank you for jumping in to my blog and drew my attention to yours.
Men, this blog is a positive powerhouse!

Although I do not agree with everything around your time management but we are all different after all.

Your gif hands are amazing, I might steal them (not the gifs, but the idea)

You have got one more follower, at the tables

Thanks for dropping by legeny and thanks for the kinds words

Of course you don't have to agree with everything. Like you said we're all different and we all have our own preferences and different approaches to things. Nothing wrong with that

Gonna try and get in some good time at the tables today on my day off and will give you guys an overview of the month hopefully tomorrow.

So earlier I taught you all you need to know about improving your redline. Today I bring you a lesson on playing draws.

PokerStars - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $2.00 (VPIP: 25.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 4)
Hero (SB): $2.93
BB: $3.85 (VPIP: 21.62, PFR: 13.51, 3Bet Preflop: 14.29, Hands: 39)
UTG: $6.37 (VPIP: 12.00, PFR: 12.00, 3Bet Preflop: 14.29, Hands: 25)
MP: $2.87 (VPIP: 42.86, PFR: 42.86, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 7)
CO: $4.30 (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)

Hero posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has 6♠ 8♠

fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.05, BB calls $0.03

Flop: ($0.10, 2 players) 3♣ 9♠ 4♠

Hero bets $0.08, BB calls $0.08

Turn: ($0.26, 2 players) 2♦
Hero bets $0.19, BB calls $0.19

River: ($0.64, 2 players) Q♥

Hero checks, BB checks

Hero shows 6♠ 8♠ (High Card, Queen)

BB mucks 7♠ 5♠ (High Card, Queen)

Hero wins $0.62

And that kids, is how you win with 8 high!

And I will join the BR challenge too

Starting BR: €77
Goal: €1250
Format: NL 6-max

Hey Tino,

Welcome to the 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' bankroll challenge. we will be looking forward to your first update which you should post by Monday of each week in Get Rich or Die Tryin' - The Bankroll Challenge - Reporting thread.

Love that hand with 8 high

Have fun

Laz

nice one! Finally one more guy here with a sense of humour for the hand histories - making them my favorite HHs!
GL in your challenge!

Hi Laz and Sven, and thanks!

Unfortunately real life got in the way of both poker and uni the past two days, but having put that behind me, here's my May recap.

May review

Now I'll be short and honest here, I didn't reach most of the goals I had set out for myself. The only goals I reached were my uni goals. Uni is still by far my biggest priority though so I'm still pretty happy with that.

In poker I ran into some trouble when I lost my database. I spent a couple days trying to figure out how to fix the issues only to eventually find out it was doomed. So that was a couple of days where I pretty much didn't make any progress. That also gave me a tiny motivation dip but I recovered pretty quickly. Still, I didn't put in as much volume as I would've liked, nor did I get in the studying time I had planned for. I got pretty close, but 'close' isn't good enough when I'm setting relatively simple goals for myself

I also didn't hit my gym goals although there's not a whole lot I can do about that. My gym partner and I both picked up small injuries during a regular volleyball training session so we were forced to take a break from going to the gym. Hopefully I can pick it up again later next week, but I might have to wait until the week after, dependent on how quickly I recover. So I can't really blame myself here and I don't

Poker

Graph time!

Doesn't look so impressive, and it's not

However, with the hands I played this month before my DB got corrupted and rakeback I actually made a pretty decent profit this month of about €35. So even if I didn't exactly reach all my goals, I'm still very happy with this result

Flop strategy

Now I haven't really talked much about strategy or things I've learned and still have yet to learn. So I want to briefly go through my progress so far.

I feel like I have a solid default gameplan now that works quite well. My preflop gameplan is very simple and probably not that great for higher limits, but at NL2 I'm sure it will do the job. I am mostly focusing on my postflop play now though so I will leave preflop for what it is for now.

The past weeks I have been studying flop play a lot. So think about things like when to call cbets with for example A high, when to raise or call with draws, etc. Here's a short list of some of the key things I've picked up on:

• Folding TP type hands against raises is fine on super connected or monotone boards
• Raising draws is NEVER mandatory but is of course always fine with strong combo draws
• In multiway pots we should be a lot tighter especially when facing raises
• On very dry boards we shouldn't be too tight calling cbets (A high can almost always call one street)

I think the second point here is a very important one. I firmly believe that at these limits, our money doesn't come from bluffing our opponents but rather from value betting well. When we raise with a FD for example, we are of course still bluffing with maybe T high. I'm not saying raising is never an option, I'm just saying it's fine to play draws more passively. It also depends a bit on positions and the actual strength of our draw.

Playing draws

For example, I'll never raise an OESD when there's a FD possible. Or if we have for example KT on a 987r board I'm also inclined to play a bit more passively because we're drawing with just one card. Therefore it's a lot more difficult to get paid off even if we do hit. If we had for example A6 on that same board it would be even more clearcut. And with FDs I might be more inclined to raise A high FDs instead of 6 high FDs, for example.

Also if I have a draw that's strong enough to raise and I'm OOP, I'm a lot more inclined to raise instead of call because it's a lot harder to get paid off OOP if we do hit, unless we decide to lead out at some point. IP we have a lot more options at our disposal so calling becomes a much better option, although even then raising should still be fine. Multiway I actually like calling a lot more than raising even with strong combo draws. We have to hit anyway, so might as well try to hit against two players, right?

Of course all of this is just a general way to think about these kind of situations where you have a draw and face a cbet. What I wrote here doesn't take absolute positions, stack sizes and villain's range into account. Those things of course influence the decision as well.

What to learn next

This is of course one aspect of flop play, but I feel like my flop play overall has improved quite a lot. It's going to be far from perfect but I think I've addressed the most important issues. So from this point on I'll be shifting my focus to turn play and river play after that. Because I'm still making plenty of mistakes on those streets. For example:

PokerStars - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): $2.00
SB: $1.98 (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
BB: $1.99 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
UTG: $3.05 (VPIP: 22.92, PFR: 10.42, 3Bet Preflop: 4.17, Hands: 51)
MP: $2.24
CO: $2.64 (VPIP: 23.53, PFR: 17.65, 3Bet Preflop: 12.50, Hands: 17)

SB posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has 8♥ 6♣

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.04, fold, BB calls $0.02

Flop: ($0.09, 2 players) 8♦ Q♦ 6♥
BB checks, Hero bets $0.07, BB calls $0.07

Turn: ($0.23, 2 players) K♠
BB bets $0.02, Hero raises to $0.20, BB calls $0.18

River: ($0.63, 2 players) A♦
BB checks, Hero bets $0.31, BB calls $0.31

Very loose open, I know. But I want to focus on the river here.

Now as a default, I just always bet two pair on all streets because well, it's two pair and it's NL2 so players can call with a lot of crap

Flop and turn is completely standard imo. However, I don't actually think I have a value bet OTR here. This river card is basically the worst one possible. It's BU vs BB so he can have a ton of FDs which now get there. If he has a worse hand like Qx he's not calling anymore and if he has a better hand he's not folding. We have the worst possible two pair so it's honestly not that much better here than for example A9 or something (not that I would ever have A9 OTR in this particular hand, but still).

We can't get better to fold and we can't get worse to call, so by default we should not bet here. Personally I think just x/fold would be the best line to take here.

Of course, river decisions generally tend to involve the most money. So mistakes there are relatively costly. So it's mistakes like the one I made in this hand that are definitely reducing my winrate right now. I also believe I'm still calling too light on rivers. So I'm going to put in a lot of time and effort into improving my turn and river play in the coming weeks. Once I've done that I can start working on more specific things.

I've said it before and I will again: it's only a matter of time before that green line is gonna really go up

Other stuff

Honestly, just disregard everything I've said above. Because in one and a half months Game of Thrones starts again! And you know what that means!

Actually for most of you it doesn't really mean that much, but for a GoT degenerate like me it means I'm going to have to watch all 6 seasons again before the 19th of July. That means no more time for poker and no more time for uni! Gotta get my priorities straight right

That's all for now, here's to crushing June

Week 1 update for BR challenge:

Hands: 7617 hands
Profit: -€1
BR: €76
Starting BR: €77
Goal: €1250