Thanks for the update. One day i'll ask you for the secrets behind that sexy green line on GG and how to get one like that ♦ ♦
Congratulations once again on hitting the target - checked out old posts and remembered how excited i was when i "officially" hit that target exactly 2 years ago and proved to myself i can do it. Really well done to stick through it from beginning to (first) goal 
Chapter 2 - Becoming a semi pro
So for next chapter I will keep a blog about my journey to become a semi pro.
Last couple of weeks I let it sink in that my BR reached 5 figures. Tbh I didn’t think it was possible to make it seeing the time I had left for poker and the toughness of the game compared to 15-16 years ago. But ok here we are now and we need to figure out how to set realistic goals that cover my needs.
Truth is this is pbb easier said than done and the more I think about it the more I know that I don’t know what to aim for. On one hand I want a big BR to get to the highest stakes around. When ration sets in we see this is not achievable when you have a real life job also. So first question is do we dream about a life of only poker as income. Surprisingly my answer was no. I love my job. When I started thinking about my job I realized I just loved my colleagues and the social aspects of the job all together. So we scratch only poker.
When I looked up the definition of a semi professional “People who are semi-professional are paid for an activity that they take part in but do not do all the time.” It actually fell in to place. So atm I know I want to keep playing poker. I know I want to keep taking this serious. What I mean with “serious” is dedication on and beyond the tables. I want to keep my routine of mediation, work-outs and healthy food to maximize my focus during study and playing.
Pokerwise I obv need to set some points. As it is I will set a money goal. I don’t feel I need it to keep it going but it’s just fun. Still struggeling a bit with the fact that I also want to withdraw some amount just to have some extras in life for my but even more for my family. Any advice here is welcome.
Just to get it started I will set the goal on 6 figures: 10k to 100k.
As it’s not done by me in any way I will not make it time bound. I expect to have the routine and knowledge by now to know I will need to study and need to move up 2 to 3 stakes to make this real. The thing is I know at some point I will hit my limit just by not spending the most hours. Like a semi professional soccer player won’t make it in the team of Man City. I need to take it stake by stake and evaluate my goals when I feel I reached my limit.
As I was on a winners high I took shot at higher stake and yh as you can see it was not nice. Didn't even think I played bad just running like crap and because of the high variance you can get this slope. Some things from my every session diary from that time:
Big session, played over 4h. Was down around 1k at one point but tried to grind it out.
Pbb have soem issues to quit a session while i'm down. The thing is I don't think my game is going down it's more like fuel to keep going...
Played big session yesterday and today tables really amazing but not running great. Down over 1.k in last 2 sessions...
Still up around $500 for the month so all in all can't complain but ok one more bullet for CNY10 than back to CNY5 if it's a big loss again.
Ok again big big losing session, down almost $900.
As said will have to leave CNY10 for what it is eventhough I feel I have my place at that stake.
But ok we took a shot when we had nice winnings and the lessons are also worthy I guess.
For the month down $400 so will need to rebuild at CNY5.
Today felt it did infect my game a bit like "knowing" there 2 outer would fall etc. So recorded the session and will have to disect it as much as I can.
Funny how 4 days ago I was in heavinf when BR tipped the 10k and now tears are in my eyes 🥺 .When I'm honest last weeks my "non poker routine" had serious set backs (work outs and meditation. Last week the food part started to slide and I will take this losing streak as a sign I need to regroup and can't let this slide away.
Nothing we can do but pick ourselfs up and continue the grind. Around half the month I had some serious motivational issues. For no known reason I didn't even felt like playing. Funny I say here I don't know the reason because last 2 weeks I restarted my routines (had to stop work outs because of injury) and from yesterday I started to feel motivated again. It's supposed to be connected with stuff in the brain (the book sais). So yh good for me to keep journals and rereading them 
So yh pokerwise the month was up and down but in hindsight I feel pretty good to have overcome this in just 2 weeks periode. Tbh in the past this could've costed me my BR. Now it truelly is fuel to keep grinding life. Needless to say the study was close to zero. This shows when my study partners take time off I'm not strong enough (yet) to do it on my own.
Health wise the routine has to be added with stretch excercises and "core stability" according to doctors. In real life this means I am getting up around 5 in the morning to do 15 min stretch, 15 min core stab and 30 min work out. Than cooling a bit down followed by meditation and shower.
Goal for next month will be to implement study again and keeping it all structured.
Btw I will start my next BR challenge when I get my BR finisher badge ♠_evil:
Good luck at the tables everyone!
Originally posted by Fredjen
Big session, played over 4h. Was down around 1k at one point but tried to grind it out.
Pbb have soem issues to quit a session while i'm down. The thing is I don't think my game is going down it's more like fuel to keep going...
I used to have it too, while being down, knowing inside that you are winning in these games you just want to see it go into green... I might suggest trying to think of grinding differently, rather than thinking if you are up or down, think of it as if you are moving forward... With each hand, being closer to your goal, result doesn't really matter as your routine is solid and you are winning... It is just matter of putting in volume, moving forward
Originally posted by Fredjen Around half the month I had some serious motivational issues. For no known reason I didn't even felt like playing. Funny I say here I don't know the reason because last 2 weeks I restarted my routines
Another factor might be that, you just finished your challenge, so your brain doesn't chase that goal = no dopamine kicks from seeing progress... Maybe you need to set new challenge up for yourself, I mean measurable one.
GLGL keep on going brother, you will be winning on higher stakes in no time!
Just wanted to share this one. I loved it.
No easy way to say but first big losing month is in the books. Tbh I don't feel like posting at all. After completing the challenge it all went south, down 3k from my top. Partly because of a cold deck but also because of 'I'm the man' feeling (again 2 years ago I would've gone broke in these circumstances).
Biggest part of me is just ashamed because I do put in the hours to study, I work on my game, my mindset and my body but the rewards are not as I expect.
I won't nag and complain but I will continue to prove I beat the next level and have my spot on those tables.
Signed up for a second BR challenge 7.5k to 50k in 380 days. 2025 will be my breakthrough year where I furfill my poker dream! Prepared a nice sheet for 2025 where I can put all results in 1 graph and keep you an honest view of the swings.
Result 2/380: $-311.38
Had a nice week, lots of study and practicing.
Felt good on the tables and started the weekend up close to $700. Today gave it almost all back, variance is really killing me atm.
Result 8/380: $ -109.32
its shortdeck bro, one week going even and not broke is lucky 
Can't always win 'em
Had some mixed feeling this week, study did not went super great but we got the hours in.
Have to say when playing after some days of study/practice a beat brings more frustration then when you are in the grind. So will have to work on this aspect.
Result day 15/380: $ 564.97
We got out of the couch and back into the grind. Just a very nice week at the tables and running hot (could always run hotter but we are not complaining)
Result day 29/380: $ 2.921,48
New to the pokerstartegy, very very good blog. Btw i started playing short Deck but there is not a lot of info of postflop play
Fair to say December ended just great. Really gives me motivation to keep doing the work and keep the grind going. Needless to say focus has to remain on routine and structure. Work outs, nutrition, meditation and sleep are key for keeping this up. By now I've read a couple books on the non technical part of the game (Purposeful practive for poker, Positive poker, The poker mindset, The mental game of poker & Peak poker performance) and yh all of them are worth your time but it all comes down to doing the work, be positive and keep focussed.
Very happy to have recoverred my biggest loss in the last month of the year. Feels like I have my spot now on the NL150 tables and the idea is to grind this stake out for the comming year. Next stake is like NL375 so it's a big jump in a high variance game and I will need to get way better on the technical part to even take shots here.
So for the comming year no big goals other than keeping the grind and tuning schedules to fit in daily life. I seem to have some trouble with putting in unrealistic hours wich leads to being dissapointed wich leads to doing even less in hours that are available. So plan is to start rather minimal and keep evaluating week by week what is doable (for me and my family).
So first week of the year is in the books. Went from dinner parties to drinks and so on. In meantime found the time to work out and kept the poker mindset for study and grind. Had some wild long and swingy session but sunrun is still going hard :heart:. Have to say when I have some time of from work my mind is way sharper during the playing sessions.
Let's keep this going!!!
Result day 36/380:
BR start: $7,500.00
Profit challenge 2: $5,109.98
BR now: $12,609.98
Second week in the books. Eventhough it was a BE week resultwise I just feel more and more at ease at the tables. Close to no frustrations and try to be as dialed in as possible. One point of attention is the study time compared to the playing time. I have had half the hours put in to study compared to playing so I will try to change that as much as possible!
Result day 43/380:
BR start: $7,500.00
Profit challenge 2: $5,053.78
BR now: $12,553.78
Originally posted by Fredjen
One point of attention is the study time compared to the playing time. I have had half the hours put in to study compared to playing so I will try to change that as much as possible!
Just make sure you are spending your time effectively brother, kepp it up! #fingerscrossed
So this 3rd week we hit the tables hard (volume wise - 7k hands in a work week is huge for me). Some stuff happened that had lot's of influence on my routines from studying and work out and a normal playing sessions (normal means 2-3h where I had sessions from 9h this week). Needless to say I ended the week down around $700.
In hindsight I just really love to play sometimes it's all I can think about. Pbb got caught up in the upswing and again had the feeling 'I made it' or 'taking momentum'. Anyways last session was down about 1.5k so it will need to sink in and feed me for keeping up routine no mather what.
Result day 50/380:
BR start: $7,500.00
Profit challenge 2: $5,424.75
BR now: $12,924.75
As I'm filling in the numbers above I noticed that from last posts time point I'm a bit up so yh small good feeling is comming in and make sme realise it's all just depending what time stamps you're compairing.
Safe to say the swings eventually got to me. I was playing too much and not in the best state of mind during those sessions.
On the bright side I noticed it in time (read: before going broke) and tried to reset and get back into a routine. I was fortunate enough to have some run good session to go along with that.
As you can see in the above overview I just played too much sessions. This month I have around 24k hands. It's just not realistich to perform to my best for these volumes besides a full time job and household. 15k would be more realistic.
Another thing is atm I truelly feel I can beat the NL150 pool and I just need to get used to the swings that come with these stakes.
Result day 62/380: BR start: $7,500.00 Profit challenge 2: $4,937.90 BR now: $12,437.90Atm I think tbh that would need to move up 1 stake to make the challenge. I'm not planning on chasing it though. My goal at the beginning (more like a dream) was to make 1k a month and I feel i'm on that lvl atm. So pbb will grind it out for a couple months and see what the BR look like if I withdraw the 1k/month (for this year for example).
Enjoy the dream Embrase the grind Let's go!!!
Edit: Day of challenge was wrong.
So just finished a wonderfull week. Only had 1 losing session. Feels like I'm getting rewarded for sticking around eventhough it sometimes feel like I'm banging a wall.
Had a good study session this weekend and I am eager to put in some work!
This weekend I had my biggest session ever up 2.2k and almost 3k for the day. really will practice to not start flying and just keep being humble, gratefull and work!
Result day 64/380: BR start: $7,500.00
Profit challenge 2: $7,208.70
BR now: $14,708.70
keep up good work, results will follow