One Step Beyond- My 60k Journey-From Thailand to Bali

♠_thumbsup:
Good luck man! Don't be stingy with regular updates - we want to envy you people:spit:

Thank you I wanted to do a bombastic update on 21st, as that was the day all other things were put aside and poker becomes "numero uno". But then I had some more steps to complete before playing and I wanted to bring the news when I have played my first hand. But let's go back in time for a bit:

I had more free time before 21st so I pre-started the season, but got caught with trying to solve my ipoker clients on windows 10. I did it with the helpful post of Nolande and I actually ended up shooting the ipoker -windows 10 tutorial video whole Sunday. I found out quite some things in video editing, played with many options in Camtasia and I also found out my English and pronunciation is not that good. But it might be a good practice so I hope I step up my game in this area as well and maybe do some videos,where you won't fall asleep before the end,even though it's 2 minutes long. Hmm I might try to use it when I have troubles with falling asleep. You can check the masterpiece here:

I also used the whole day doing it, because I had one Camtasia crash at the end of the 1st editing and lost most of the data so had to start over, but what is one bad beat to a poker player 😛 So as you can see I had a really productive mental game session, that will surely be a huge +EV in the future.

So Monday was time to officially start!!! I was not at the stage yet to play and I was not as productive as I wanted to be, but I did go through a lot of theory. I studied more or less the whole day,but had some mind wondering moments. Next day I continued and then got into preparing my computer even more to a new poker step, saving/cleaning my hyper’s databases and charts so that my trackers will be fresh and responsive. Sorted all the old files and making it tidy for this new project. But I finished all the theory. I did some during the weekend I more or less forgot about first chapters and took on some "simple" test to test what I learned from the theory. That ended pretty badly.. So I thought am probably one of the only ones that didn’t breeze through that. So as I didn't want to be the first guy in history to fail before I even start (it would be also quite an anticlimax to my first blog ever) I started "to hit the books hard" and go again over the videos and everything to refresh my memory.

So for the whole next day I’ve been going through all of the materials and actually was a bit anxious to retake this. It was exciting, I was feeling way more confident this time though and :) I made it!! I know small victory, but I was actually quite happy. Then the next day I was going through some technical things to take care of and solving some issues and then I completed all of the things on friday and so got the stage where I can finally play my first hand ♦

Soooo, did I play it? No. I finished everything just in time for my friends birthday party and I think I don't need to explain much further. Today was a recovery day and was creating small cheat lists to help me while playing.

Soon I’ll be playing my first HU cash game ever!! I will start with micro in the beginning just to try it out and then I hope I will soon climb to NL 50 where at least something will be happening money wise

On Monday I played my first HU cash game hand ever!!!! I started with NL2 of course to get a feel. It was exciting and overwhelming since everything was new. I was checking my paper for every single move. Then I reviewed a my hands and learned so more basics to eliminate a few of my leaks I was doing. After that it was already easier and I tried to play 2 tables that I felt went OK, 3 however are too much for me. Also had today like 3-4 hour session and I get so absorbed in the game I don’t even notice it. With 6maxSnG hypers- 2 hours was quite hard for me already and a few times I pulled 6 hours in one session and I was "game over". It might be the same here once I’ll be able to add more tables, but I hope it stays this way

I also connected with some other students, so I am getting into the flow of things slowly. My game is far from expert of course, but I am just trying to get experience and focus on standard lines. Also to get into different situations so that I learn how to deal with them and learn these basics as soon as possible, specially at NL2 as it costs no money. It is getting better and better I can observe way more things and developed a bit of the feeling on where I'll get the money vs. the style of play.

So during the week I was studying and playing a lot. Here is how it looks like:

Otherwise I had another birthday party of a close friend of mine on Saturday, but I did use all of my will power available to get home at a “reasonable” time at around 4am, as there were a lot of girls present and they just didn’t want to stop partying, but I somehow managed to do it Still the Sunday was not the most productive, but I had my first coaching session!!

I was OK by the time coaching started more or less and I did learn quite some new things. Long story short: after my short journey at NL2 I am going to try NL50!! Exciting and just a bit scary times, but let’s just hope it doesn’t end in a disaster Next week it will be all about continuing to study hard and really playing focused on NL50 and I hope I get comfortable and good at these limits soon. I won’t play a lot of tables so I expect a low volume, but I will play a lot of hours, the only way to gain experience and really learn the basics like a boss. Lot's of new poker adventures are on the way!!
Let's get it on!!!

A bit late week2 update.
So my shot at NL50 ended badly. Not just results wise, I felt like I have no clue on standard lines and my play was very bad. I made mistakes I knew that. In a very short session I was in so many spots where I didn't know what to do. Also reviewing everything was horrible, so I went into a tank and really bite into the theory in details again. Then I discussed some hands with my colleagues and coaches. Atm I have more questions than answers even for some basic stuff. So I haven’t played that much and also decided to go play NL10-NL25 for now until I grasp the basics. I had a huge grinding session on Saturday where I played 9,5 hours and pretty badly at that. I wanted to catch up for before played too many tables, made ton of mistakes and miss-clicks. So Sunday I played just a couple of hours and mostly 1 table-2 tables and it went a bit better.
Very big problem was my mental game as well. I was a bit discouraged and a full on drama queen. An all of that after like 2-3k hands. Was even thinking if it is smarter to go back to SnGs as it is now opened as I would have quite a head start there. Really embarrassing. I was working very hard for the last 2 years and the beginning of this one. But took a break and last 6 months of my life was a crazy mess and wild n’ free time. So it is harder than I thought to get my discipline and work ethic back and also to fight the adversity. Too much party weakens your mind I guess. But don't worry guys I snapped out of it quite quickly. I would like to learn cash games and HU, so I must accept there will be a learning curve and I won't just know how to play right away. So now no more distractions, no overthinking and just doing the steps. I did spend quite some time learning and everything, but it is far from the output I want to give in the program and this week I am changing this. My clear goal is back, let's go reach it.
Here is my sad looking graph:

A few of the hands are missing, but result is even a bit worser

It's only just under 4BI so it's not disastrous

I would strongly some self awareness / mindfulness video and working on your mindset first of all. recognising what game you are playing (a game, b game , c game etc) and knowing when to stop if you are not playing your A game for example or if you b game and c game are still winning game maybe you can stay play longer but still be aware. brushing off on your c- game and b game as well as improving your a game is also important.

I would also advice you to concentrate on one format at the moment. and again I would advice you HU or SH cash game as, from experience, when good at it, it gives you a great basis to switch format (MTT or SNG).

keep working hard and you'll get there

Hey thazar! Thank you for the advice. I mulled over everything last week, so I have a clearer mind this week and can concentrate on a task at hand to better my game. Also this is exactly the reason I really wanted to head into cash games as well, so I will further my knowledge and be better at other formats as well through oberall better understanding of the game better.

Good luck with your project!

A quick week3 update:
With my clear head I was doing much better. I was playing NL10-NL25 to get my basics better and I think I have improved. While I had a miss-click galore previous Saturday at the end of week2, I had a bit of a spewing shove it all in Wednesday.My hypers gene kicked out, but I learned a lot analyzing that and after that I think I played much better and things started slowly turning. I played quite some hours and studied a lot as well and am quite happy with the week. It helped that I had a side bet with my friend so if I would not complete my objectives I would need to pay up 100€ 😛 Yeah this side bet was with Yax(kukmian) actually, as most of you might know him better than me as he is a long time member here on Pokerstrategy and had/has some famous blogs here. But for the future I think my goal will be enough of a motivation, time is running fast.
Here is the graph for this week:

This week I will try NL50 again, am a bit worried it doesn’t end again like the first time:), but you have to try it sooner or later and I think I fixed a lot of mistakes from last week.

I missed the week 4 update as I had a rough week, got totally sick and was literally sleeping whole days and incapable of anything, that is why I haven’t updated my blog. What little I have played in the beginning it would be better that I wouldn’t as I couldn’t concentrate at all. So I decided to just relax and leave everything and get better as soon as possible. I must say it felt good to relax a few days, I had a lot of time to think and again set my goals in poker and personal life, made more specific plans and schedule on how to achieve it.
My NL50 shot started bad, but because I got sick I have played very little and it would be better that I wouldn't as it was catastrophic, I couldn't concentrate, saw the cards wrong a few times etc.. :-S I did almost hit a stop loss 2 times that I played. I rather stopped and went to rest after that to get healthy ASAP.
For November I decided to do a mini challenge and really go hard at it. First month was like a warm up, getting to know everything etc. So now it's time for more. and I will aim to have some profit on NL50. I have not really played NL50 a lot and am in the red so I am not at the level to just go all out crazy grinding, but must more concentrate on the quality of my play and eliminating leaks. However for November having this goal will be a good motivation, but I will have no problems moving down if this will be necessary (which won’t be :P).
The plan for November is:
1. very day I need to watch a video and really review it hard
2.work on my equities,
3.discuss hands with my colleges, make as much notes as I can
4.play play play (150 hours this month) but maybe even just one table, I need to concentrate and play at my best as I did a lot of miss-clicks and mistakes.

Tomorrow I'll do my whole monthly review and first week of November.

till then GL at the tables!

Hey all.
Here is the review of the month October. and first week of November.
There was a LOT happening, getting my feet wet for the first time in HU cash, taking care of all the things, learning all standard plays.A lot of new things to take in. Every week I feel I am better and learn a lot. I have played 3 weeks during October as I was actually quite badly sick for last 10 days. I have played NL2 in the beginning, tried NL50, but dropped down to NL10,NL25 after I figured I am not ready yet for NL50. So week3 I played NL 25 and got the hang of it a bit. I went back to NL50 after that, but I played about 2 days and half and lost again. However I felt good, just felt I am not running the best. Still going for 150+hours of playing so next weeks will be great.

Not the best first month, but I was not so unsatisfied. I felt I learned a lot and I expected my beginnings will be rough and getting comfortable at NL50 is my big first goal and I was quite excited for the new month to begin.

As I had bigger goals in November, specially regarding my work ethic I started with a structured plan and was way more productive. I have studied some days even 6hours a day, doing all the work and some extra. However I played much less than I meant. It was because of extra studying, but also because my battle with biorhytm. As I switched from going to bed at 9am, sleeping all day and being awake by night, to waking up at 9am, I slept just 2 hours first few days really trying not get to sleep before bed time and even when bed time came I slept 2 hours...grrr. Was not in no condition to play in the evenings. However I have way more energy now that I fought through it. I actually listened to some Sleep music on youtube and it helped me a lot. Not sure if anyone ever tried this, but it got me into "hibernation" mode haha, so I got some rest in even when I couldn't sleep. First time I heard about it, but hey, glad it worked.
All this studying made me feel quite comfortable at the tables. I played just 17 hours and a lot of 1 tableing at that so the volume is low. I didn't do much mistakes. I still have not won a stack on NL50 or any big pots. whenever I have the nuts it changes by the river. But I will catch this unicorn sooner or later. I did have my first positive session on NL50 and next days as well.

Still going for 150+hours of playing so next weeks will be great.

Week2 of November is done. I am not the most satisfied. I have played in the vicinity of 30 hours this week. So for the next two weeks I am playing at least 50h per week. I will limit my studying a bit and focus more on playing. I will still study of course everyday. The quality of my play was not the best last two days. I felt like I was struggling a bit to adjust and did some stupid moves. I also tried to play a bit more tables than just one, tried 2-3 at times and I need to get used to that.

So my second winning week in a row and on NL50, I am happy that the trend is going in that direction. I also finalyyyyy won a stack on NL50 Must say it felt good. But now with double the volume in next two weeks I hope we can go a step beyond and reach our goal and double or more the earnings as well.

Other than poker I am also learning some programming and have million of mini projects I would like to do, quite some related to poker as well. However it is a bit much to do everything at once, however I hope I still find some time for those things as well on a free day or like 30 minutes per day.

On friday I also had a party and I didn’t drink and went home quite early, I am finally in a right mindset about working and poker, so this is a big improvement. On top of that I am eating clean and working out a bit. I am feeling a consequences of sitting a lot, so I am now seriously thinking about buying a hydraulic table, where you can sit and then lift it up to stand while working. Was reading a lot about the health benefits this brings, it is not too cheap, but I think it will be well worth it. If anyone has any experience with that, please let me know and give some advice!

Oh one more thing, if you read my previous post about some sleep music that I randomly found on YouTube, I found out some app on this topic that neurologists made and really tested the effects. Its about special binaural sound beats that help you focus, relax or sleep. Will report how it effects me. But it really do help me sometimes and in the beginning the brainwave sessions were quite intense in some cases. How this works is that brain uses different activity when either being focused and in working stage, relaxing or sleeping and it is supposed to be in some kind of rhythm or specific frequency as they discovered. With binaural sounds brain start to mimic these frequencies, so you can affect your brain to calm yourself down, or to focus, or to sleep etc. They also tested some better results and something I don't know, will tell you if it helps me, it certainly felt intriguing after I read about it and when it helped me with sleeping.

Good luck at the tables!

Hey guys a late update! There are quite some new things: Some good, some bad and an announcement!!

I had a free Monday and ended up being around all day, also went to buy a sit and stand desk!! On Tuesday I was putting it together and let me tell you, cable management is the difference between pro's and amateurs Everything is tidy now, you don't see nothing, no wires on the floor etc. Also my power nap got prolonged and it was another day free of poker, but that is for next weeks report. About the desk I will tell you next week how standing up and playing is working out. I still mean to sit most of the time, but like every 2-3 hours I might stand for 30 minutes or more, it should help a lot for the health.
Speaking of health I caught a cold yesterday again... I was a bit outside and this is what happens. My body is obviously bad at adjusting to anything since I am at home and sitting down all the time. So I don't feel the best, but I will try to stay active and play. But I think this is quite an indication I really need to change my lifestyle. I started slacking with workouts, sleeping schedule sucks again etc. It is really important to keep the body healthy so I will need to incorporate some outside time every day, have a more scheduled food and drink, also to get all the nutrients, working out, going out for a walk or something. Standing and working option of the desk should definitely help.

Ok, so finally to my update: I wanted to play 50hours, did I do it? nope..Was quite a hard week. I played 10 hours for two days and it is not that easy. I also had mental-game problems, because I soooo wanted to earn 500€ this week. Was results oriented and wanted to force things to happen, so everything affected me and I did some moves I shouldn't. not pure out tilt, but just some gambling and close decision I would probably do differently. You can't force poker!!! I learned that many times in history, whenever I "needed" something to happen, like maybe my roll was not the most comfortable, was a bit on the lower side with the money, poker variance put me in place. After I let go and say, just play and see what happens, then it went better most of the time. So once again I got proven that. (OK to be honest poker was still overall good to me, it does give me many lessons on the road though, but that makes you stronger)
So I took last days of the week to get back to studying, checking all of my notes and just focusing on playing good.
Here is the graph:

I am not happy with my performance. It did end somewhat ok. There are also some hands missing from untracked sites and I think the results are about 40€ better. But I played bellow my best ability. In the end I clocked in around 36hours, but my traffic was not as good as usual this week.

I do have to mention my basics are much better and automated and I am not doing much mistakes anymore. There is a big improvement, even when I tried a few more tables I didn’t do a lot mistakes. I did have some trouble adjusting to some Villains though and made mistakes that way. Specially with more tables on.
So I will not go for 150h month as I have 5 days left and won't force myself 12h days playing at this time. As I said it is not so easy playing 10hours a day and I lost my compass a bit and started playing worse than I can,when I tried. I will go back to my routine of starting my day with studying and then playing. I have a better mindset that way, also think more on actual action and not results. My goal is at least 40 hours, with also about 2 -3 hours of studying on top of that. I feel it will be more beneficial in term of results as well as learning curve.
The big announcement is that I got a green light for NL100!! Wooooo. I am so excited. I will be really careful in the beginning and will just try it when I will feel I am playing really good and have the right mindset. As I was a bit disappointed this week with my play, in the next few days I want to play smart and if I am satisfied and in a good frame of mind, I am trying it out!!

GL at the tables all!

Hello Mystt,

Nice blog and look forward to reading more in the future.

I had a free Monday and ended up being around all day, also went to buy a sit and stand desk!! On Tuesday I was putting it together and let me tell you, cable management is the difference between pro's and amateurs Everything is tidy now, you don't see nothing, no wires on the floor etc. Also my power nap got prolonged and it was another day free of poker, but that is for next weeks report. About the desk I will tell you next week how standing up and playing is working out. I still mean to sit most of the time, but like every 2-3 hours I might stand for 30 minutes or more, it should help a lot for the health.

This is interesting as I have experience from the days as a telephone sales rep. I found that when I was standing in a call it helped overall with focus and gave me a better stance when talking to people. My personal results rocketed to a point of being offered a manager position! I refused tho and took up poker instead! lol. was correct move for sure! Congrats on the 100NL and I look forward to reading how you get on at this level. I nearly reached 50NL a few weeks ago but still here on 25NL.

Good luck at the tables.

Regards

Matt

Hey Matt aka MetalMonkey ! Thank you

Yes I was reading a lot about how bad sitting is for our lives and that it can help the focus if you stand up and also the other health benefits. Great that you have actual experience with that. I tried it just for a few moments for now and I still feel kind of strange haha, but also good.
I read your blog and it is interesting that you actually have same goals written down as I decided to make myself. You are a step ahead I see, but this is exactly what I am trying to schedule!! glasses of water, meals per day etc. Also fitness goals and playing time. I saw that without a timetable or a specific schedule my productivity suffers a lot.
Yeah getting to a new level/limit is always exciting. I hope it will not end as my first shots usually does haha. (crashing down)

Good luck on your journey will follow and hope you get to your NL50 shot soon as well!

So guys!!!
Let me tell you that the desk rocks!!!!
I had a few standing sessions already Felt a bit strange in the beginning, but it is kinda interesting as you move from one leg to the other, lean on a chair etc. I could feel my leg and lower back muscles and I think it is great. You luckily sit down t rest a bit, but it is way different that sitting too much and be tired because of sitting. It is also way easier to keep focus. I am really happy with the new addition!!
here is still in the assembly stage and battling with the cables: (Sit and stand desk )

Another good lesson was pointed to me by coach as I was slow starting the 4th week and failing my goal again.My coach said "you are just training yourself to getting used to failing your goal". I didn’t think of it like that before, but it is so true. I didn't take too serious my last weeks goals so this is about to change!!! Must respect myself and do what I say I will.

WEEK4:
Exciting week. Was a bit sick, but nothing that major so I felt bad a bit, but could still grind. As mentioned failed my goal and played about 30h. I played pretty well, my mindset was good as well and I also ran good I would say. So pretty much everything finally came together. Well, just not my bigger volume. I also played a few hands of NL100!!!! Well I tried it just at the end of the week, was kinda scared almost and actually haven’t played much more than 20-30 hands all together. And in the end I even won a first bigger stack, well half of it on NL100. Was super exciting to me.
The graph:

The end of the month November!
So month 2 is in the books. I went in deciding I am staying on NL50, trying to have first positive session on that limit. I started really organized, was studying ALOT first week and improved a ton. I had a profitable week and first session on nL50 in green, next week I finally won a stack at NL50 as well and had another positive week, week 3 was a bit up and down mental game problems, I kept trying to play more tables, did less and less mistakes and week4 ended great and I even tried out some NL100. Overall I am quite happy with the month and I feel I made a big step forward.
Failed the 1500€ mark, played about 100hours+ instead of 150h, played about 15500 hands instead of 25k-30k, studying went quite OK, last week in a bit different form then intended.
Profit at the end of the month with some bonuses and untracked sites is: 1143€

Other cliffs were more or less the new desk you are probably sick of mentioning already (but it is just so awesome (no, I am sitting now :P)) and getting much better focus for everything, no alcohol or other distraction and stepping up the work.

Next month's Goals:

First and foremost I will complete them no matter what!:

[*] 7 hours of playing 5 days per week. Maybe not so ambitious for some. but will still play 40h more than now with this tempo and I think it will work for me

[*] 3 hours of studying 5 days per week (includes at least one video , equities, hands discussion etc.)

Also have some learning scheduled with other students, also creating some stats for the hud etc., but I will not count that.

[*] Of course playing well and including NL100 regularly now and we will see how it goes, I hope I get comfortable and end up profitable

Non poker related will be nutrition and workouts that I still need to schedule specifically.

Good luck at the tables and I wish you all a happy and merry December! I am really excited about it myself.

Hey guys!

First week of December is over. I did all I set out to do, played 35 hours, studied 15. I messed up my sleeping again and was playing whole night last two nights (1am to 11am), but I am working on it. Also had one 6 hours standing up session, it’s great stuff. There was no way I was going to fail my goals this time!

The Performance:

The start of the week, my first playing day, I had the worst day ever at the tables. Basically because of my great performance previous month, I got a bit entitled/used to win. As it is a new month and I wanted to start strong and top my previous results I of course fell again in to a trap I did write about before as well when I want to earn money and don't have patience.. ahh I thought my mental game is rock solid, obviously not!

What happens then is that I start to spew and tilt. I find it hard to fold hands that I know I should and I play big pots with hands I shouldn’t. I get that feeling “I am so close to get this stack, what if he is bluffing or I am ahead, one click and I will be so much closer to my goal!!” and I somehow convince myself to go with it and usually call trying to get that "shortcut" money. Sometimes it is close, sometimes it is super bad, but I know I would many times make a different decision even in close spots if I would have my mindset right. Definitely I made the most mistakes and the most bad plays this week. Basically all of the downs are my own doing where I made an incorrect play because of my mindset, which is even more annoying. I regrouped a bit, but still lost a bit of my confidence and certainty in my game, so it was hard. The last downer after the peaking, it was actually the only one where I think I did good, but it was on NL100 and I just lose all the hands and pots that mattered. But yeah while first day I might not run that good, most of big downers on graph could have been avoided..

Here is the graph:

Results are even a bit worse with the untracked sites included and there are like 250 hands more not shown in the graph.

I am happy I finished everything, also almost had 2 days free, but not really because of my sleeping. One day I did go out to see the sun a bit. I am setting a more specific hours plan, I was working on a diet plan a bit, but haven't finished it yet. I actually spent the Monday evening playing roulette with some bonus money I got with some of my colleagues sweating me and chatting it up haha. I am a total noob there, but you can't have an edge anyway so I guess it doesn't really mater much, but it was fun to do it with free money. With a few cents left played some 6max NL2 mostly having fun and over analyzing jokingly and just messing around with it. So much for the free of poker day.. Guess I am thinking so much poker lately I don't know anything else anymore

Plan for this week is to keep doing what I am doing playing and studying wise. 35hours/15hours
Oh other than that I am playing NL100 regularly now (with lower limits as well, nit just NL100), I guess it is still ok I managed to pull at least break even week after my bad performance. I will just play and learn this week, and whatever will happen will happen.

It will be an exciting week, the ones who are watching UFC will know, but I really can't wait for the 3 days event and so many great fights. As a martial artist it will really be a treat for me. Not just for the masterful techniques. I am interested in Conor-Aldo fight because Conor is still a bit of an enigma to me, how he will do versus Aldo who is just a beast and truly great fighter, basically unmatched yet in standup. I am also intrigued in psychology and how Aldo or Conor will take the defeat. I always find it a bit exciting/scary when two strong minds, unused of the defeat clash ( i know Conor lost in his career, but after his streak and mindset now) and then how they adapt and also during the game/fight when they meet the better man or equal and the possibility of the defeat creeps into their reality for the first time. But there are also other fights that I can't wait to see it is not just about Conor and Aldo, it will definitely be a feast for mma lovers and fight fans
I need to also better my performance this week!!! GL at the Tables!

Hey all. Tough times...
2nd week was another tough week of poker. First a quick review.
I completed all of the goals, played 35 hours, studied etc. I lost the "love and feeling" though. I was not tilting, just I somehow end up losing a lot of times. I even had a few perfect opponents even on NL100 and even they ended up beating me. I am not sure if I am running bad, or I am playing bad. I don't think I am doing huge mistakes, but maybe those close decisions when you feel what your opponent is doing and capitalize more on it is missing. Maybe playing too much on autopilot, not sure. With coaching I found some leaks I was doing, I think it was a lot to do with me being a pussy on NL100, but was also passive too much in some spots.
So that is that, here is the graph:

The result is actually even a bit worse and there are some hundred hands more. Overall we are not in the green this month and a goal of 1500€ is looking far away atm.
What are good points of this week?
After some talk with a coach I am now not scared of NL100 anymore. And I have played some games much better already. At the end of the month I also had a chance to battle with some people that destroyed me a few days earlier and I made a few great adjustments that I learned and did a LOT better and was beating them. This gave me quite some confidence, that maybe I still have a bit of a feeling left.

My mindset:
At the moment my first priority is to get back into a groove and start winning. I hope it is just variance that everyone is kicking my ass. I am still grateful I am at least in break even waters and not losing my money too fast. While I will have free from playing day, I will be reviewing my play today. I hope I learn new things and get better than I am now and sooner or later the results will get better as well.
Goals for next week:
I have a challenge to play 50 hours this week. I will still watch a video a day and all, will just try to use my time better.
There will be some challenges to do this, as I have a few of the personal events in the following week, along with Star Wars premiere , some friends and family important stuff, so that will take some hours of the day.
THE UFC:
Whoaaa. What a great days of events and fights and surprises. Aldo did look like he crumbled under pressure a bit before the fight and Conor just thrived. Again he finishes fights in such a way, that you really don't see all that he is capable of and I can't wait for his next fight. As a student of the fighting game I just enjoy watching the masters and what they are capable of. Also a lot of great matches await him. Aldo rematch, Frankie, up to 155... will be a fun year in that regard.
I have one sentence written for a long time now that I read every day and is my motivation for every situation I get in: " We are not here to take part, we are here to take over!"Conor Mcgregor
So don't be a bystander but share what you have to offer and good luck at the tables!

Nice video MJQuads!
Also watched the UFC of this week. Overeem really surprised me, I knew he needed a perfect plan to make it, because one punch would end it otherwise. His weak chin versus the Santos bombs were not a good combination, but Reem is a top notch stand up fighter that should have an edge, just not getting hit for 15 minutes didn't seem so easy. Other fights were good as well.
I also watched StarWars on Wednesday at midnight, the pre-premiere and I liked it, was way better than the latest three , but that is not saying much.

On to poker:

3rd week is in the books.
It was a fight again, but it ended a bit better in the end. Didn't feel like I am really crushing or playing exceptionally well, but also not bad.
I completed all of the goals of course, well at least playing 50 hours. It was a struggle, because three or four days I had some other stuff outside of poker to do and was also a bit tired then, not completely concentrated, didn't have all the time to play 10 hours that day etc. I literally was sleeping, playing till I had time, go do other things, play, sleep etc. Full time action, without any breaks. Saturday and Sunday I mostly played 1 long session without breaks as well, but in the end I did it On Saturday I had a huge downswing that was tough to handle as it looked like htat whole week went into nothing again, but I got back up on Sunday. Videos I watched some, was re-watching some and refreshed a LOT of info, discussing hands, I still have other things that I neglected a bit. Yesterday that I had a free day really felt good, I must admit, after such an action week and so much playing.

Here is the graph of the week:

Results are actually a bit better as some hands are missing. Last two days were quite hard, had a huge downswing on NL100, did a few mistakes, but mostly was not running the best and next day getting back up.

Plan for next week:

-Play 50hours: This will be tough, because of Christmas and everything, but I'll do it. We still have a lot of poker to play, so let's make the best month possible, potentially at least.
-Study- have a few specific things I need to do everyday (equity, hands discussion etc.), but not hourly goal.
- Workout- this week I want to also workout every day or 4 days etc. It will really help me feel good and I also want to better myself in this area.

So here we go again, let the grind continue. GL at the tables all, may the force be with you!:)

Hey all! Hope you had a nice Christmas.

Myself I was just playing. I had a goal of 50 hours of playing to do and it was quite a challenge to finish it. To get some insight, this is how the week went down.
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After free Monday where I slept a lot,went out a bit etc. I was still really tired on Tuesday and was sleeping most of the day as well. Did not recover too good I guess. I was thinking of taking a free day, the problem for the week was Christmas and Fridays Birthday party my friend had, as I knew I won't be able to play enough. I was so not in a mood to play , but we had some conversation with the group of fellow students and I hit some tables up to test something and ended up playing for 6 hours. So while not 10 hours, it was ok, since I was close to not playing at all.

On Wednesday I had quite a discussion within a group and were analyzing some situations and stats for like 4-5hours, so it was already 7pm and I haven't played at all. It also tires you a bit. However I started and managed to play 10 hours straight. It was the second day already in a row that the day looked almost lost, but I ended up pulling through and was kind of on pace.

Thursday and Christmas Eve: I started playing relatively early already and had a nice 4 hour session, then went to have a dinner, family time and intended to go back to grinding. Everything looked good, but when I started playing I was not getting much action and was getting super sleepy, so I just went to bed. It was a bit of a problem as I was on 20 hours of playing with 3 days to go and a birthday party in the evening and coaching one day.

Friday. I woke up at 4am already and soon after I was already grinding. I had to get a lot of hours in as I knew I can't play in the evening so it was kind of crucial. The problem was I slept just about 3-4hours, so I was not sure how long will the fuel last. I ended up playing 8 hours and after lunch I wanted to put a few hours more in, however I needed a power nap, than I talked to my friend I haven't heard for a while and also solved some technical stuff for him (that's what I do :P). Then I went to the party. As I am not drinking and anything (if you read before I decided to not do it for some time), I knew I'll be ok to play the next day, but I was at 28 hours of playing with 22 to go and 2 days left + coaching, which takes a couple of hours. It was bound to be a packed weekend.

Saturday is where things went REALLY sour. I was super tired.. I didn't even get home late from the party, but maybe some free relaxing time with friends or probably the previous days of not a lot of sleeping piled up and I ended up sleeping like 15 hours that day in 3 different "sessions".Woke up to eat something and jsut fell back into sleep. I was so without the energy that it was crazy. It felt good though, I was relaxed and but just felt like resting all day. Big problem was it was 8pm and I had 22 hours of play left to do and coaching the next day, where I needed to prepare also + session which takes some hours and energy, so things were looking grim. At 9 pm I started... and for the next 30 hours I was a beast. First I played the 12 hour session straight with no breaks (some 30 seconds in between to literally run and grab food and drinks I dont count).

Sunday I finished session at around 9am,then prepared for an hour my hands and questions, went to sleep for about 3hours and had coaching. Went to bed for 30 minutes eat lunch and then played 10 hours again. At around 3 am I was done. 30 hours-3.5 hours of sleeping, 22hours of poker playing and a few hours for coaching and the rest is for meals where I don't eat in front of computer.
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So it was quite a messy week.
I have become very focused lately and now I can understand some successful people that sacrificed a lot of time to make it and I never understood, how they can't take a few minutes of their time. But there are different stages of work and now I can see how things can really consume you and you actually can't take a moment to start thinking and solving other things. I felt like a beast after this day, but I realize it is normal for some people and you can do even more, on a totally different level. It is not just time that is of essence, it is also the focus and energy you put into one single thing to succeed. I never thought I could do so much and I know I am just scratching the surface with my mindset, focus and productivity. It's a beautiful thing.

About results, I had some bad moments and I felt opponents were just hitting the nuts, I played some really good matches I was very happy, but otherwise nothing spectacular. Had some coolers where a few stacks went the other way, after opponent unlikely hitting, but yeah it has to happen so can't really say it is bad luck. But yeah a few main pots and stack offs and results could be much different specially on NL100 at my stage.
Here is the graph of the week:

Monetary can't be the most satisfied, as now I am not really close to 1500€ for the end of the month. I do have some bonuses I can exchange and if I would have some good session it is possible I would have a shot. We will see.

Goals for next week: I will not be defining so much.
Playing this much I am not studying as much as I want and I don't feel I improved. So I want to grind and try to make a result, but would also like to go over the hands and really answer some questions, check my play, refresh/learn theory and really improve quality wise. I mean I am doing sweat sessions, discuss hands and learn a lot, just sometimes going through the hands and just over the basic theory can help you clean the doubts and become more confident and certain again.
So I will make a shot and grind the first day and if I won't have a bombastic session I will take it easy, have a New Years Eve , study, relax and prepare for next years and January grind.