ohhh, damn, was not on forums at all lately Varune, had so much things from wedding , to shorter trips etc.. I hope you found something great!
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Hey guys, been awhile!
Basically when I got back home, a lot of things were happening, but I also wasn't sure what to do with my blog. I had fun to write about traveling and relocating, to provide some information if other people would want to do it. Describe the challenges and fun stuff etc. So back home it didn't seem so cool to write it anymore.
I guess I can finish up the story at least of Vietnam. Danang is pretty nice place for work and relaxation. It is very convenient as you have everything close by. There was something missing to me though, maybe because just new hotels are building everywhere, so soon the beachfront will be just tourist oriented mass tourism spot, so there is a bit of character or soul missing for me. But there is still a mix of everything in the city center and with all that being said, I can still see myself going there again possibly.
Otherwise last week or two days were pretty straight forward with grinding, then having some walk by the beach, going to gym, going ot eat and from time to time going to have some coffee. A few times I also went a bit around to check out the environment, like a small city/village of Hoi An, packed with tailors and custom clothes you can do and there is much more western tourists there as well. Interesting is also Son Tra peninsula with a big temple and biggest Lady Buda overlooking the city. It looks like a guardian. After 4pm also ton of people come to the beach, as the sun is not strong anymore and there is a lot of beach volleyball courts, beach soccer courts and even outside gyms and the place is packing with activities everywhere. Even got challenged to a pullups "competition" there haha.
One day for The Projects birthday we also went parasailing, it was pretty fun, just a bit short.
Food is pretty good, not as good as in Thailand for my taste, but lot of Chinese and Vietnam cosine- of course most of the other things as well. I wrote a bit about some special food, also the barbecue is awesome where you grill the food yourself, quite some international food options also, but we mostly had our regular place we went to almost everyday, a corner where some Vietnamese/Chinese family is doing their thing for many years already, going form generation to generation. It is really nice to observe work as a team and they also pull up the temporary roof when it rains. In the end we almost didn't need to order our food anymore as we were the regulars 
"Mi total"
Oh, out of super few western people you see there, we of course met a Slovenian guy in the gym. So funny, how we always somehow meet, the only western guy besides us in the gym and he is our fellow countryman He and his girlfriend were living there for a while already so he introduced us to some other expats and we also had the farewell party together. Really cool guy. I mention about how cheap the beer is in Vietnam, so we had to try all the local beers (and of course Tiger-Singapur one that is popular in all of the Asia) Not a bad collection:
Oh during evening there are also some romantic places as having some coffee or a walk by the river, Dragon on the bridge even breathes fire at the weekends, there are some live shows, dancing and music going one and before leaving I actually managed to also go to the Sun Wheel. That big spinning wheel like in movies. It was awesome experience and you really see the whole city from up high.
That was that, last two days before flying we spent in Bangkok! Had go crazy with the beloved food, and a friend of mine also took me to some special dinner where she knows a chef. It was a big seafood dinner, which is not my favorite usually, but I like to try it all and I must admit it was pretty amazing, we had fish eggs, crabs, lobsters. The chicken they did for me extra, just in case, was actually the worst thing. Other than that we were mostly shopping as BKK is pretty good for that and I really wanted to go have a massage before leaving. I was a bit late from the dinner, but massage place was 2 meters away from the hotel, so I packed up and jumped to have one last massage. Perfect ending to the trip We left for the airport half an hour later because of that haha, but luckily everything went smoothly and we were not too late
POKER:
After last update Things went up and down, like it went the whole trip and I ended with playing about 110hours and had 600€profit. Pretty miserable. I did studied quite some though.
In August, I should have started playing almost as soon as I cam back as my coach gave me a lot of work to complete. But my good friend from Barcelona cam to visit so already next day after coming back home I went to the seas side, Portorose for a week. Also then friend had pre -engagement party, one weekend my other friend had a wedding in the mean time just meeting all of my friends and family took a lot of time, specially since summer days make it even easier for one beer to become much more beers.
I started to do off table work anyway. The deal with my coach was that I go back to think about poker and go back to basics, get disciplined and do all of the things I need to do. I started improvising a bit too much and just playing bad opponents. I think my thought process was still pretty good, so I didn't fall completely out of it, as I did put some time into playing and studying this time around. So while I did all of the other assignments, I didn't play as much as I wanted to. Some of it was all of the activities, other was that it was really hard month mentally for me. Well not realllyy hard, but maybe I went again through post traveling depression, was not motivated too much and probably needed to process all the new things that happened, re-establish what is important in my life and also to get used to the home environment again.
Long story short, I played about 120hours and had 1000€ profit 
So now we are in September. Goal is to play as much as I never did before (230 hours+) while playing very disciplined and doing all the little things everyday again. Equities, Flopzilla, watching videos and doing notes 30 min a day, attend coachings, analyze hands... And now back home, not traveling hopefully again start to make some good results and bump it up to another level!
Hopefully going from interesting adventures again to interesting results
Oh at half of the month it seems the plan is already working, am at 3500€ and can play NL400 again, as I built my bankroll after it was depleted during travel. So hope NL400 kicks in and I make some awesome 10k month finally
Lets GO! It is time!
Oh yeah and BTW!!!
SLOVENIA!! European Basketball Champions!!! Almost went to Istanbul to see it live, but decided to complete my goals and grind, discipline! I was around too much already 
Hey guys!
The end of September.
My goal in the beginning of the month was to everyday study, post hands, answer hands do equities and play more than I have never played before. After traveling and not doing all of that the goal was to become disciplined and start earning some money, making the final push towards 10k in next months. I was mostly doing everything, but last 10 days I had a bit of a trouble playing. My schedule really sucked. But everyday I went for it in the end, usually at about midnight and then did put the hours in. I didn't play 10 hours every time, but was putting in at least 5-6 hours. So it has been awhile I really had a day off. I also had a lot of coachings which was great. Last 4 days I also skipped my theory and equities work.
In the end I did play more than I ever had, but must say I was forcing myself today to play longer do it for at least an hour more and in the end I did for 3 hours more Results wise, last days were not so successful, I really hoped to push my results over 6k or over 7k, but it didn't happen. It was still my best month. I played 219 hours, had 26607 hands and earned 5275€. I am not 100% satisfied, but it is good to be back with at least this kind of numbers. It makes a big difference to be home and have the focus for poker again. Also studying, being disciplined and in the trenches all the time. I also saw where I was leaking a lot of money while traveling and it has mostly to do with discipline and not going on a spewy spree's haha.
The graph:
Other than poker I did go to gym, but not regularly. The challenge with playing so much was again with me having awful schedule by playing nights, sleeping over the days and I again discovered how important it is to move! So after feeling like crap two weeks into the month, I again incorporated stretching in the morning and a walk outside. Mostly what I did for fun though, next to meeting with friends a few times, was already researching a lot about south america and listening a lot to latin music haha. Preparing slowly for a possible trip in those parts. Then I was pimping out my laptops and desktop computer. I really love to tinker with and open up laptops or build PCs and make everything as it should be It is like my hobby. For desktop, I wrote to Fractal Design and they sent me a free ugprade to my computer case! My front panel has only USB 2.0 ports, but now they sent me a new panel with USB 3.0 as well. So happy!! Still need to take the case apart and switch it though. For my laptops I bought m.2 SSD disks. Don't read next part if you don't care about hardware :
Was thinking and researching a lot if I should go with the newer,faster nvme PCIe SSD disk as it can get quite hot and possibly uses more power or to stay with the good old SATA3 ones. In the end bought m.2 sata3 Samsung 850evo for my last years laptop as it doesn't support the new one yet, that will be a gift to my father so now it has SSD and normal HDD disks inside. For my current laptop, I went with m.2 Samsung 960Evo nvme one. In this one I already have also a SATA SSD disk inside so now it also has 2 disks. Had to go with the new technology Battery life seems ok. Benchmark results difference is huge, but in real life probably not so, need to do some more testing, but I do think windows and program installation is a bit more snappy. Not sure about transferring of large folder of pictures and movies though. Just so for comparison in the benchmarks 960evo has reading speed of 3200MB/s and write about 1200MB/s, Samsung 850EVO that is sata based has read and write both at about 540MB/s, sata 2 one have about 280MB/s and old HDD disks from 50MB to faster ones even 120MB/s I think. Of course there are a lot of other numbers and in real life it can be different as well as it depends on the workload. As for temperature, m.2 Sata3 SSD got heated up to 44 degrees, while new pcie nvme one did go up to 60 I think, during time of benchmarking.
For next month there are some things I need to change!
1. What I decided to do is to have again a morning ritual and some rules that I noticed messed up my plans this month.
-When I wake up I must not look at my mobile phone or tablet and spend time on it.
-I will drink first half a liter of water and then do a short stretching of 5min to 10 min and in the mean time get my mind ready a bit.
- Then I will take one hour to just study! I do a lot of things while I sit by the tables, but equities and video watching I will do first thing after stretching for now on without distractions
- Then I will play at least 3 hours
2. Generally one change I will make is also to go for 9 hours of playing instead of 10 per day. It will not make a huge difference, but it will make my study better. After this time I can check the mobile phone and all of that. Also after these first 4 hours I will drink water again and go for a walk and just be outside a bit.
3. I will finally join the gym. This month I tested a few of them, but now it is time to again do it regularly. I will also make a diet plan again. Until new years eve I want to bulk up a bit.
4. Spanish- haha made this plan a lot of times, but until end of the year I want to finish that 3 month audio course. MAybe I will do it right after first session, before going out on a walk.
I also have some micro plans on what I want to complete with my poker study, which videos to go over etc. I can play NL400 again, althogh in the beginning I always had to do some weird uncharacteristic shove or calldown to spew off some money, but will get it under control! so I hope I get at least 10k€ next month! I want to have an awesome finish to the year.
It is 6am and in 2 hours I am leaving to other part of Slovenia to have a ride in a helicopter 
and probably have a barbecue again sleepless, but hopefully will get back on track soon. Tomorrow I will have free day, or do some studying+calorie and meal plan etc. to get ready.
So take care all, till next time!
was already researching a lot about south america and listening a lot to latin music haha.
I am thinking of moving there too, Mexico is very good visa wise (180 days visa free). I am currently in Da Nang and I will move to Bali in 6 weeks, do you have some tips for finding a place for a few months there? Can you pm your Skype? I was the roommate of Varune btw. 
Originally posted by ladyboyrapeme
was already researching a lot about south america and listening a lot to latin music haha.
I am thinking of moving there too, Mexico is very good visa wise (180 days visa free). I am currently in Da Nang and I will move to Bali in 6 weeks, do you have some tips for finding a place for a few months there? Can you pm your Skype? I was the roommate of Varune btw.
Hey! Yeah I saw you in his thread
Hey all!!
First week of October didn't go according to plans. Realization was really bad. Main issue was sleeping disorder. Because I finished previous month on a whole night of grinding and then leaving for a trip, I had problems with getting things done.
I started the week with stretching and studying, but sooner or later got super sleepy and slept the day away, or went out trying to remain awake and go to sleep at normal time. On top of that I got promoted to Advanced group. That means that I have much more coachings and studying to do and it can take a lot of hours per day. Also the hours of coaching sessions are different so my master plan got disrupted. I still need to figure out how to make everything fit in the day.
So I was studying a lot and doing lot of poker stuff, but I didn't play much and Spanish and Gym fell off completely. On Saturday, end of the week I also went to that notorious Birthday party that usually get prolonged way into the next day, but this time I managed to finished earlier and got home at a decent 10 am. There were lot of Scottish in Ljubljana because of the soccer game and it was fun partying with them as well. Still I didn't grind at all on Sunday as I regenerated.
The results started with lots of lost flips and then I managed to grind it back up and ended around zero after 23 hours of playing. Definitely need to pick the pace for a 10k month.
Otherwise I added ab-roller and exercises for the shoulder to me morning routine. Was thinking about cold shower as well, but this will not fly with me, specially as the weather is cold already.
In advanced group I will also become a mentor or assistant coach so this will take a few more hours. Need to schedule somehow everything.
Otherwise as mentioned I went to fly with a helicopter 1st day of the month! What an awesome experience!! I even flew it myself for a few minutes!! Bucket list- check. I knew all these hours spent behind the PC when younger, playing F-14 and F-15 flight simulators will not go in vain. The feeling was actually pretty same. So I got to see a beautiful Slovenia from the sky and also flew over second largest city in Slovenia- Maribor.
MB soccer stadion
Bridges, famous "Lent" and part of city center
Steering hard over the highway
SECOND WEEK!
Second week, as hard as I say this, was also not so productive. I was playing a few hours and doing the morning routine, studying, coachings and all of that. However I did spend a lot of time outside and away from poker. Went to some hiking with a friend of mine, as I was feeling a bit bad after sitting all the time and late that day also met with some really awesome girl I run into again after a few years. We hanged out a few days in a row and because of that I didn't put the whole day grinds in. I really enjoy spending time with her and can also learn a lot from here as she is an amazing/successful person.
So of course this week, as in travels haha, it was a pretty rough stretch results wise. Guess if I don't go all in on poker I just get a lesson. But I will learn to do poker hard+ can have some social life on the side. I know I can do it. I can't win an all in lately. I lost JJ vs 88 for a whole stack on NL400 and all together I think around 1k there. Life time I am doing really bad on NL400, but also I never played a lot of hands on that limit so the sample is pretty negligible. One day I was close to stop loss, but luckily got a few awesome players on NL200 to get back. But next day I got destroyed (actually sucked out again in 80:20 to 90:10 situations) for 4 stacks on NL100. MY mental game was pretty fine so that is a good thing at least. I did some mistakes later and not always played my best, I must admit that, but otherwise pretty solid. With all that being said, you can imagine my results this month are horrible. I played just about another 22 hours more, but my results are about - 400€. I think EV wise I would otherwise actually be at about 1k to 1.5k, which would be on pace for 45 hours of playing. So I think it can still be an ok month in the end.
I am not going as hardcore as I meant after my previous month that I did good. Like I kinda backed off instead of pushing forward. I am sure this is also a mental game thing and I must really get my stuff together and push forward until end of the year to make my goal happen. I will also need to step up my game on NL400 if I want the 10k month, I can't do it on NL200 and under. And I am for sure not playing my best game there. Everytime I just calldown too lose or do some other stupid thing.
So that is that- next week is just poker grind time! Vamos
Hey guys! 3rd week update:
Another hard week it was. Rollercoaster ride. Organisation again was not on a high level, but at least I managed to play 45 hours in the end. Because not many distractions were in plans this time, except one evening to go to Opera House, I could do much more of poker. Also studying and everything was not on the same level as before and didn't do it every day like I did before. A bit related to the results, which it shouldn't be, but many times I just kinda wanted to quit after session and close everything and not bother with posting hands and do the other work.
Otherwise I started the week good, recovered what I lost second week and all ready to finally crush the month. But not even sure what happened, but I had an extremely bad day, no bad beats, no set ups, I was just slowly getting destroyed by not so good players and stacks were flying. I thought my mental game was fine, but after review I did make a few unnecessary moves and didn't adjust that well and certainly didn't play my A-game. Then on top of that the coolers and bad beats came and I was going down,down,down,down... Btw I stopped playing NL400 for a while, because of bankroll and results. Wanted to start whining to someone and show them all of the crazy hands, specially after one guy really made a tremendous series vs me, luckily on the lowest limits, but it felt surreal at times. So for sure my mindset was not so strong.
As I was reading "the power of now" lately, I luckily somehow manage to stop my negative train of thought, by focusing on the moment and get rid of most of my stress and ill-will, that I have when things go bad. As I always start worrying about the future and make a huge deal out of it. So I managed to just turn the tide in my mind and feel great again. I hope this will get easier and easier the more I am doing it. So I was already 700€ in the red for the month and then managed to get it all back in the next day and ended it up a 100€. While of course cards were on my side, I think a small part is also better mindset. But it is for sure not fun to play in general when shit goes bad.
This is how the month looks like:
The other graph is much nicer and I also had quite some action on untracked sites, where I also did some mistakes, but also had some things go in the way this month went- with preflop all in game being really bad for me haha.
Anyway flips or bad beat up or down, if I would be breaking the 5k-6k profit I would still be on 4 or 5k, so month is for sure bad and like usually I would say variance is not really a thing here, but my game....
Anyway I still have like 70-80 hours of poker to play until end of the month, which is almost same amount that I played until now and am starting the week with + 100€. So I went into the last week of the month with great optimism, pumped up to make it happen, but *SPOILER ALERT* after today's session that optimism is tremendously shaken and almost gone
End of October!
Everyday I sat down at the tables and thought to myself "Today will be the day!". Unfortunately didn't really happen. In wednesday or the day I gave up spoiler I hit a stoploss, more or less and the month was back quite a lot in the red numbers. I lost a lot versus one guy. I made a Khigh call for 200€, when I thought I have straight, but later had him stacked already, but unfortunately nothing where I was favorite hold and it ended bad.
Luckily this month I am doing a good job of relinquishing stress and bad mood. I remember plenty of times "The power of now" or Tony Robbin's "Hour of Power", the part where you focus and feel the gratitude, because when you feel grateful, you can't feel stress and fear. So lately I when the train of thought or emotions go towards "dark side" I manage to stop them "and be awesome instead" 
But not tilting and being relax still doesn't mean my poker mindset is so great. That is just part of mental game. What I noticed is how my recen bad results and bad month influence my decisions by the table. I am afraid to lose the money, so I don't play all of the spots optimally, from being to tight in some spots, to spewing it off in others, where I don't want to get bluffed and lose the money already in the pot. It is not logical, but I think this is the reason. Was talking to a friend that was doing some sessions with Elliot Roe and how deep you can go, really getting over even some stuff you struggle with in life or some childhood things you are not even aware of. And all of that influences your decision making abilities and can lead to self sabotage even if in theory you are as good as the guy that is crushing it. It goes hand in hand I think with the knowledge of the game, because if you understand one spot 100%, it is so obvious you will not make a mistake, but in some others your view can get distorted and what seemed like an easy decision during reviewing the hand, seemed way different when playing. Will try to be aware of this and improve in this area as well.
So anyway, I managed to grind out quite a lot of hours last week and things did turn to better during the weekend and last two days of the month. LAst weeks I didn't watch videos or do equities though but just focused on playing. I did have coaching everyday and discussed hands, but need to also progress in videos. All in all I played 161 hours, had 1332€profit and about 17-18k hands
Graph:
With normal run, no NL400 and a few more hours, maybe the month wouldn't even be so horrible.
One other cool thing was getting a free ticket to some tournament. While grinding, I also clicked there those few hands I could play 9handed in the tourney and managed to qualify to day 2-main event. The main prize was 45k€ or $. It all so happened that my friend not living in Slovenia, came here so I wanted to grab a beer with him as well. So what I did was dowload a mobile app, went for a beer and then play the tourney also it goes so slow, so it doesnt bother to click and play a hand every now and then. Would be so cool to go have a beer and then come home 45k richer lol. I was doing good though and the last hand I went out with top2P vs TP, if I would win this one, my stack would be among top15 ones, and would have realllllly good chance of battling for the big bucks. But I did run good up to that point so it's fine. Still successful beer session
So for next month I will again do some changes: I will start waking up early at 5,6 or7am and then grind until coaching session. Basically finishing the day at 3 or 4pm. I will still have some videos to watch, maybe grind a bit, but more or less I will have more time for social thingies, gym, Spanish etc.
I will also start playing NL400 later in the month as I think I will play better if the month will go positive and will then try for another shot.
Whoa, what's up with the updates??
WEEK1:
I started the month with a new plan. It felt awesome. Waking up early and finishing early and by coaching a lot fo things are done. And in the afternoon I sometimes work some more or I relax a bit with my friends. for the last day on Sunday I played 10.5 hours, went to gym and then had time to watch UFC217 in the evening. So early hours are great!
I played 44 hours and had 1100€ of profits. I still haven't played NL400 and if second week will go good I will do it. I did most of the studying, but didnt do spanish and coaching videos...
WEEK2:
Monday's now I have a few students I am helping out and otherwise a free day, except coaching. I also hanged out with the girl more often, but still played and studied in the morning. I also met some really old good friend of mine from childhood and it was fun to grab a beer together as he influenced and thought me a lot about life. Also fought some battles together and had lot of adventures. At the end of the week we had some primary school reunion haha. Was playing all day and then went, it was actually super fun Also met an old crush haha, but she is married with 3 children, ah well.. Unfortunately still the party lasted longer, so my schedule started to collapse next week
WEEK3:
Week 3 it went same old, same old. MY schedule started a bit later usually and I included some later in the night sessions so I usually didn't finish too soon. Also hanged out with that girl or other friends. Enjoyed some great food and events and that was that.
So not too much interesting to describe for blog, but otherwise a really fine and fun month. MAybe am enjoying too much again and not completely focused on poker, but I never miss a coaching, am reviewing hands, preparing. I played 110hours until end of week3 and 2500€profit. I started playing NL400 , didnt have much action yet and also I feel really great at the tables, really thinking clearly and I play very good. Made some great plays and adjustment I wouldn't do not long ago.
spanish, fitness and coaching videos took a hit though, so need to start doing it again
WEEKS 4 and (5):
NL 400 went good and I beat some opponents, felt really good. And then we hit quite a bump in the road. Lost versus NL400 fish and next day got like 5-6 80% favorite coolers on NL200 pretty fast and crashed from 3,5k to 1.8k. Had good opponents though, just went into wrong direction. My mental game was awesome , didn't tilt at all and was playing super solid. So it was another not successful month and I ended up a bit over 2,2k € in profits in the end. Played a bit over 160hours, so could also play some 40 hours more. Gym was lacking, Spanish didn't happen and even coaching videos progress stopped. I was posting and analyzing hands had great coachings and I think I improved a lot. However must not stop working and improving I still did some super stupid move right for the last hand of the month that I didn't do in quite a while. Also last day I was not the most concentrated and for sure played much worse than it was my standard lately. But I am enjoying to play poker lately quite a lot, specially such a good feeling on NL400 where relatively a lot of money is in play.
Our advanced group is pretty fine , really cool group of guys, Gonchan made 18k +month and Fred with his 3rd 10k+ month. I think I am not lagging behind in skill by too much, just would help to be able to play also NL600 games and now that I will play NL400 from the start of the month. Still didn't make a break through on NL400, but I think I was a bit up in the end. At least was playing a normal game there, not like before.
I am also a mentor now to a few of the other students and one of the students is really working hard. It is a really good feeling as I see him improving every week. He takes the goals and challenges where we identified some problems really seriously and pretty much doesn't do same mistakes next week anymore. Or at least very noticeably less. Of course it takes week after week of consistency for everything to get into your blood and to master it, but really congratulations to him!! So now we talk daily, even had some sweat sessions and some reviews and he is crushing it. I must also improve a bit my mentoring as I think I talk too much and having some monologues and are wasting both of our time probably haha. But I think we all know who to thank for when he breaks the record for the fastest finish of the program lol. Just kidding but really congratulations for the good work!
Out of poker I was on some BD party during weekend and one day we went to Italy, Trieste for a nice dinner and local Italian food. I am starting to notice that girl I like to hang out with is taking some toll on my concentration and focus though. Even if nothing much is happening and there is no drama or nothing, girls just take some edge of me, some of my mental capacities, I learned this a lot of times already. However it is a good situation to practice and trying to go back to the Power of Now, that I am failing lately haha. Harder to be present in the moment and shut of my mind. But it is easy to be "zen master" when you are isolated from everything, grinding at home and not be in any adverse situations. It is in the field where it counts, dealing with adversity. Going with a good early morning schedule helps in this regard, because then I know early morning is working time so can focus on that and after work is done I can do whatever and enjoy. When it is mixed it is harder to separate and be organized, focused and motivated. As I always like to drift back to "Layback, relax and enjoy life" when I am traveling or meeting new people/girls and enjoyable situations, I am really trying now to not forget about the goals I have when I have nothing else on my plate this time. I think it is possible to do it all, just need to be present in everything I am doing 100%, grow in all areas I have in personal development. Now I also stumbled again upon some personal areas I wanted to get better on, but forgot about it when in the bubble. So need to start working on it again to be even better human being and then incorporate into that also that other part of social life. I can do it all, I know it! And to be fair it can also go the other way around and girl gives you additional motivation and want to succeed! Just need to stir everything in right direction and that is still a bit of a challenge atm.
That was basically the month. The other thing was that I finally installed the new panel into desktop computer and that I am probably switching finally my whole workstation on to laptop as main, after I made a few more benchmarks and it is just stronger machine. Also traveling or moving will be even easier as everything will already be set for work. no more transferring of the database and things like that
In December I would really like to be better with Gym and also start Spanish. Also to go on with the coaching videos and make awesome notes and game plan, play good and try to be focused on everything.
Have a great last month of the year everyone!
You seem to have the opposite feeling about NL400 what i have. 'specially such a good feeling on NL400 where relatively a lot of money is in play.'. I tend to lean more towards the scared money because it's my highest stake by far and 2 flip lost/won basicly is a month's worth of normal wager.
I assume when you're playing you're not that distracted by girls? Ofc it's appealing to do other stuff when you're waiting for HU action, especially when there's girls involved
Where are you living nowadays, i'm reading something about italy and some spanish lessons so i assume somewhere in between. 
Hey Varune! How have you been doing?
Yeah I was pretty money scared before on NL400, but lately something switched in my mentality and I love when I have opportunity to play it and being in the mix to win a lot of money. it is a crucial stepping stone for 10k+ months (probably also NL600) and gotta pay for the experience, so no biggie haha. But also am pretty confident atm, so I feel if I just play it will all be good. My last match there was pretty swingy vs maniac (-600 in 30 hands and then got him in next 60 or so), but this time could keep my cool and patience and enjoyed the big pots (specially as they went my way haha)
As for girls/traveling/other activites I think it is about my general mindset. When I am all about "need to get the moneyz and own poker" while waiting at the tables I am working on my game, trying to figure out some spots, have the right mentality and am calm to adjust correctly, specially having patience to not force things and wait for opportunities, not get annoyed. Then I usually also spend 200h+ playing as well. The other alternative while waiting is that I am chatting on the phone, searching bookings,flights,restaurants, missing grinding sessions for a few days in a row, being out all day on a drink or lunch, sight seeing and enjoying the beach/possibly drink some beers to seize the moment haha and then grind 3 hours when I get home and 2 hours in the morning before leaving, but just my mind being all over the place. Can also make bad adjustment easier am not doing the notes and reads that well, don't have patience and fall a bit out of rhythm. But I think I am doing much better with keeping my own goals at higher priority, so I will get there.
I am actually in Slovenia, but I have about an hour drive to Trieste, Italy. As for Spanish learning, I want to do it for a possible trip to South America in a few months. . But I am also a fan of Spain -Barcelona, Ibiza, Canary Islands, basically sun,sea,beaches,EU is pretty good combination for me so would love to know Spanish anyway.
Hey Mysst!
I am on considering joining that 6 max with Adam Jackson CFP. What is your overall experience with BPC? Positive and negative sides?
Hey Pedja!!
Oh man, this is not so easy to answer. First I have to point out that programs differ a lot between themselves, so I can't speak how 6max program is and not sure I can really be helpful. From what I see HU program has the best results and takes most of the top places all the time on the top 5 leaderboard. The reason for that I guess is also the format as HU is easiest and fastest to start with.
Pro's for me are that I learned a lot of how to earn money with poker, managing time, money, goals, mindset, professional attitude. All the sites. Also Gordon's mindset about life and tackling problems gives you quite inspiration, I know have much higher goals then before and also better idea to achieve it. Also the group of guys I am with are a great motivation, then getting ton of coaching on daily basis , feedback whenever I need. The material is well organized and takes all of the situations in, kind of follows progression and is not just random-oh you have this leak don't do this. You build up and go with very simple lines that are kind of easy to learn and basis for everything and then you build on that strategy and get to next level also with experience and new material where you go more in depth in every spot and then more and more in HU we go to adjustments and how to deal with different villains and get reads. So I learned a pretty solid game style which exploits recreational players or general population. Also whole spirit of the group is pretty good and you are with people that also want to succeed on Skype everyday and get some networking done for some future projects also. Support is also ok if you need anything or have some suggestions and so.
Con's are that you play with your own money and pay quite some share out of profits, but that depends on the EV of each particular person. Also the idea imo, but this is for the HU program is to learn how to earn money, not to destroy all the regs and be the best, which can be pro in some way as most money comes from fun players and HU you can finish without really going too deep into everything, but still it is also a con as you miss quite some deepness of the competitive game. Again not sure if this is the same in 6max though, because there you can't avoid regs and need to at least deal with them so their approach might be a bit different. In the beginning you don't get too much time 1on1 with coach, but ok material should be pretty simple to understand though and there are practically daily group coachings where you can ask anything+can write to coaches anytime and all will respond, you get mentor, but is not so tailor made for individual and mostly it is videos, group coaching or where you prepare material and are presentor and then discussions on forum. I think 6 max you also send database and get analyzed something, not sure as we don't do it in HU.
I don't think my post was too useful, sorry, but really programs are not so similar. Even while I was here we changed the way things are done like 4 times already and I think now it is in a very good state. Also for me that I never played cash games before was really good as I went from complete beginning and blank page and followed the system, not sure how it is for you that already have such a big knowledge about the game and you also made a very good post a while ago about who the CFP is good and for who not. I think the conditions are now much easier if you want to quit the contract( not sure) so maybe it is worth to try it. You can also ask me more specific questions if I didn't touch on something, just had a few hours battle with some dude and am semi annoyed haha
Hey all, I suck with updates lately!!
I popped in to at least wish everyone happy holidays (probably not for us poker players though) and hope you all had Merry Christmas (or will have it) if you even celebrate it
The reason for lack of updates was it was a more laid back December. At least in the beginning. Even though it is one of the best months for poker, I didn't feel to be too much in grinding mode and hustling for record month.
In first 8-10 days I didn't play much, just about 20hours of poker. I was again in one of my thinking a lot times. I also found the 2017 goals I had written down and started doing some of the things I love to do and was postponing for a while. I started to read some books I can put into personal development and education category and fell in to it wholeheartedly. I started learning Spanish and finally signed up to a Gym and started going
Spanish I started with that Learn Spanish like crazy audio series and Duolingo. The thing is that I already did these first 15 or more lessons of audio series and going through it again, was a bit boring as it is not new. I always had that problem where it is really hard to go through some stuff again after I already read it once and then I remember already some things, but forget other etc. Probably should take one days and just binge through it to get to the new stuff again. Also what I am noticing is that I think there is huge benefit to learn foreign language through you own native language. First, sentences are formed much more similar to Slovenian language anyway haha, but also when I try to say something I think in my head Slovenian. While I am using English so much, I sometimes even think in English, but when I am in a new situation, hit with a very new and not integrated language where you have to think super quick, it goes from Slovenian, but seems like all those connections in my brain are made from English audio course. So I can understand quite some words and can write a few things, but when someone asks me : "say something in Spanish", I go blank. The solution is to try to use the language actively and the right connections will form in time . As I was reading a lot on the web, I got excited with Synergy Spanish, which is geared towards making you start speaking really fast. So 2 days ago I just bought the course and will start with that. I also know some super cute Spanish speaking girl with bad English, which will give me motivation and some practice at trying to actively use Spanish
As for the gym it is great to be back in action. I needed so long to sing up after I got back from Asia, because some other friends wanted to go as well and then some girl wanted to go with me, but in the end this thing is not so important for them on the priority list. They want to do it, but everything else comes first, so I must know for the future to not wait for too long for others and just go. A smaller fact was also that Gyms just seem too expensive for my taste here, as I was not sure how long I will be staying in Slovenia anyway + I didn't have a perfect option regarding the location etc. But yeah, was a mistake, should just go with it after Asia. I gained like 4 kg since my Asia trip and lost some strenght, so we know where in body composition did the extra kilograms go. However my strength didn't go down much and after a few sessions I feel much better already and I think I will be ready to hit some PR's soon again.
Other things included getting familiar with Bitcoins,wallets, sending, receiving, setting up all the accounts, documents, so I finally know what is up with that. Then I finally transferred everything to a laptop and is my main station now. Also took a few days ot get together all the missing files. The extra HP USB video adapter has a flaw that it lags the whole computer if a lot is happening on it. A lot is even a full screen YouTube video. Processor is not even sweating, but everything start acting like it is a a 15 years old computer. Soon as I minimize it or put that window to some other screen it becomes snappy again. Luckily I got the adapter for super cheap on Ebay. The new set up however still feels pretty much like desktop station, I just need to use laptops and main screen more and then keep it light on the third big screen through USB and use more static and easy stuff there. When I started using the laptop the CPUI load was still 100% with everything running, but when I default GPU to dicreet Gefore 1050 instead of intergrated intel graphics, everything is easy mode now, with CPU load at 50%. Easy Also ready to transfer/travel without any setting up, ready for battle always
So it was more this kind of month. Got together with friends, had a few beers, Watched Star Wars, UFC and the before mentioned things+cleaning my environment a bit. I also feel very relaxed this month, handling stress like a boss when it presents itself.
I was not completely lazy with poker though. I started playing after first 8-10 days and still plan to make at least 180hours. Especially as I also made a bet with my friend for 50€ to make it a week ago when I was at about 77hours. Doesn't seem too hard task on surface, but with friends coming to Slovenia, family times, holidays, many party options it does take an effort on the organization part.
Results were not best as I lost a full stack on NL500 with Aces vs trips and some on NL400 and that shows a lot in my overall results as I fell back down to zero profit. Last 2-3months I lost quite some buyins on NL400+ so definitely hurts my results a lot. But last days went better and atm I am at 134hours and 2800€ profit. So I just need to play mostly everyday until New Years and I will make it.
also I am not sure if ti is good or bad to not really care so much about results and just play. I think I still play pretty good and am not tilting much because of it, but on the other hand having a bit of fear makes you sharper and more focused.
Well that is that for December more or less. Grinding days ahead and some parties and then I will think about plans for 2018 and evaluation of 2017 and what I can learn and improve from it.
Have a nice rest of the year or luck at the tables if you are playing!
Hey guys, hope you had a nice New Years Eve!
My bet challenge didn’t go so smooth as I slept over one day after the birthday party and had to play quite a lot on 31st, before going to the party. Still did it and played 180hours in the end. It was a huge +EV bet as otherwise I would play way less and action was quite nice. too bad I missed first part of the month and that it didn’t go so good in the beginning on NL500 and NL400. Last session was a bit tilt-y, but otherwise went fine.
In the end the result was 4164€.
I don’t have exact goals for 2018 made yet. I think they will look pretty similar to 2017, but I will make a year’s review in next post. Lot’s of things I learned and experienced, lot’s of things I didn’t complete and that didn’t go according to plan.
Ok, the late analysis of the year 2017, but things are a bit clearer in my head now on what I want to do in 2018.
So, about pure poker results the year was for sure unsuccessful. No 10k month, no finishing of the contract. When I finished last year with 4 consecutive 4k months (or close to it) I was pretty sure I will not look a lot of months under that score anymore. However January I was running pretty bad, took a free February, played/run bad in March + my mindset was really bad after that.I lost a lot of confidence and I was also under a bit of pressure as I was traveling and diminishing my bankroll. I think this fact played a huge role in the year. I had to play just up to NL200 most of the year, which is huge -EV. Big thing was in my head as in my head I stopped believing a bit and put restrictions on what is possible. After I got strict rules again on what to do and eliminated a lot of leaks when I got home things started going better again, had the best month and was making some money again. I also progressed a ton in last 4 months and see, understand a lot of boards much better. But I still didn't get to the results I desired and I think my bankroll was the biggest limiting factor. I checked the results:
Funny how it seems so easy on the graph, but is coupled with so many doubts, bad days, tough situations. Actually since May when I had that lesson with Nubson and had to cut out all the crap I was doing and go back to pure basics, my bb/100 is good and I think the period before where I also battled too much versus regs and not doing best, still helped me with experience, understanding and being more comfortable in different situations.
So I think my play was not the issue, I still do a lot of mistakes, but I felt my adjustment were still pretty much on point generally even when I did something funky from time to time. So the thing is that I played super small number of hands on NL400 + my results on those stakes were very bad. A lot under EV and I lost at least 3k there instead of adding a bit to the results and got some ugly set ups as well. Also I could always put more hours and hands in. I can also compete with more and more opponents, although still have a long way to go versus good crushers.
A lot of hands are also on untracked sites unfortunately, but I don't think they would change things dramatically and my overall feeling was that I did pretty good on those. Maybe even better.
I am getting the bankroll for NL600 and hopefully can sit on more higher stakes tables and then see how things will go.
So skill wise I think year was pretty good, especially last 4-5 months, but I did manage to travel while still putting quite some hours into poker and not forget about it. Did balance work and fun much better also, so I think with my skill level and confidence rising, I will be able to do it in the future without affecting my performance too much.
Concerning other goals, while I was regularly going to the gym more or less, 2 months without after I cam back + diet not exactly on macros didn't result in achieved goals in the end. I did gain some strength and shape maybe, but after Asia I was well on my way and messed it up in last 4 months of the year.
Investments were so so. I did do it at the end of the year a bit, in the beginning I was not really making money almost half a year so that was out of the picture.
Personal growth. I mean traveling 6 months was awesome and fulfillment of some part of my life goals, I learned and experienced quite a lot. I did neglect some parts of it, but made a steps forward last for months, so overall it was semi decent, but more at like 60% intensity.
So overall I still think year was pretty fine, loved that I went and experienced living in Asia,seeing 6 different countries, living in 3 and there was plenty of adventure on the way. "career" wise it could be better.
Plans for 2018 are mostly finish the contract in next 3 months. I already messed up January due to lack of vision/focus/motivation, but February and March will be hard core.
I have a really high chance of going to Brazil end of March, but will need to re-evaluate depending on how poker is going.
After April I am not sure yet how to proceed in my poker knowledge and which direction I will go. One seems most likely, but there are few rough options I have, one being also going to Thailand to connect with some awesome players and going there with some awesome students/players already. We will see.
I want to go more hard in my personal development. To give you an idea what I mean by that is like when reading "How to make friends and influence people", to really have a goal oriented approach and actually specifically practice the stuff and have some goals every day/week/month. Even if it is the same just so I consciously practice something. Same goes with posture, conquering fear, learn new skills and that kind of things.
And I will go with investments/Spanish learning/gym as I did before and should start hardcore in February again, with correct macros etc.
So that is pretty much it. I want to still see Caribbean, South America, earn enough for an apartment, but don't have some dead lines or specific goals, it will probably happen this or next year.
Been a bit faster analysis and I might add some to it later
Take care all!
For Personal development i'd highly recommend reading on regular basis. Not only is this a good habit to have, the books you'll read(non fiction ofc) will give you tools that'll further improve your personal growth.
That graph looks pretty solid.
PS: Are you still in Thailand or SE Asia in general at the end of the year? I'm probably planning to go for a few months to bridge the winter. Was thinking of taking a villa with some poker players..
Thanks Yes usually I am reading something almost all of the time. Will try to actively practice it this year a lot more. When I read Mental game of poker it helped me a lot as you understand some things better, but I didn't actively practice it and then it has much less of an effect.
Originally posted by Varune
PS: Are you still in Thailand or SE Asia in general at the end of the year? I'm probably planning to go for a few months to bridge the winter. Was thinking of taking a villa with some poker players..
Are you thinking of end of the 2018 year (October,December+)? or now February, March?
But yeah generally I am down for sure! If I wouldn't have the South America towards the end of March in plan I think I would go to Thailand now for February and March. Might still do it actually
End of the year, so Oktober+, till maybe jan-feb '19...
I'm planning on staying on hometurf during the summer months this year, last year i went to Thailand during the raining season, i kinda want to flip that around.
It's just something i have in the back of my mind, seeing us poker players are pretty flexible and renting something in Thailand is just as easy..