Turning 0$ into WSOP trip

Cute Kid!

Best wishes for 2022

Best of luck for 2022!

January 1st, the day when people are so motivated that they create spectacular goals. Needless to say that most of them fail I recently listened to Elliot Roe tips about making goals and sticking to them. Interestingly he suggests to have a goal that has only chance of 10% to complete. My first reaction was that the number is too low Why do you want to create a goal that you are most likely to fail? The reason is the journey itself, the commitment throughout the year to show your best every single day and grab that cherry on the top at the end. If you look at my goals at 2021, you will see that I only fully completed 1 goal out of 10. So Elliot was spot on There were more tips in his podcast, mostly based on SMART goals technique. Interestingly, he doesn't recommend setting "negative" goals like stop smoking, avoid alcohol, lose weight etc. I'm cultivating a healthy lifestyle so I don't relate to those anyway, but I must improve my sleep patterns for sure. Too many times I sneak into my bed after midnight only to blame myself in the morning for lack of quality sleep. I guess most of the poker players have an issue here As for setting a goal, there are like 3 guidelines: What do you set, Why do you set, and How you are going to achieve it? Based on this, I will look at my goals for 2022

1. Visit 6 countries, at least 1 of them new to me

It's been almost 2 years since my last trip and that's enough time to realize how much I missed that. Covid doesn't make it easy to travel, but the world is trying to get back to its normal. Also our daughter is growing up which should make travelling a little easier. I promised to myself that if I manage to have a profitable January in Spins prerakeback, we will go to some warm country in February. That was also recommended by Elliot - Reward yourself after milestones or good wins throughout the year.

2. Play 10k games of Spins at 100$ level and be profitable prerakeback
Last year showed that I'm falling behind strong players so I must improve my game a lot. I have now studying material for at least 3 months and hopefully this will lead me to winning paths again. As PokerStars are still offering additional 40% rakeback, I must play 1800 games a month. That means I need to play full 5 months for 9000 games, plus one softer month of additional 1k games. And as this grind demands much mental strength, I definitely can't grind 2 months in a row. Also it would be difficult to grind for bonus when I'm in a live festival, meaning 1 week less for online grind (At the moment I have a package to EPT Prague in March). So my Spins months should be: January, April, July, September, November and half December. If I manage to be profitable before rakeback, that would be a really nice salary overall

3. Update Trophy board or ship Major MTT online event

With 6 months dedicated to Spins, other 6 are for tournaments. I find it a good ratio 1 month Spin/1 month MTT to avoid burnout, also it leaves me with a better chance for a big tournament hit. Plus I don't have to strictly stick to my tournament schedule as I can easily have a day off when I wanted to. Although those 2 poker formats are different, but Spins definitely help to beat MTT fields, especially in the later stages when you have 10-25 Bib blinds in your stack. As for trophies, my favorite festival Battle of Malta is scheduled in May this year. Maybe I can grab one of those pictured knights back to my home

4. Reach Final Table in Sunday Million or GG Masters

Last year I was down to 4 tables, hopefully this year I get closer even more Those two tournaments are the most prestigious on both sites in my Buy-in range, so I plan to be a frequent guest here.

5. Buy 5 art paintings

I've noticed myself that I'm into art more and more. Last year we have bought 3 paintings but there are still plenty of naked walls in our home I saw that some poker players buy a painting after a big tournament win so I will follow the trend this year Everytime I win a 25x Spin Multiplier or have a score of 5k and more in tournaments, I will reward myself with a new painting. Hopefully I get 5 by the end

6. Study poker 360 hours

I leave 360 hours as last year as I think 2 hours a day (taking into consideration days off) is crucial to your poker career. But it is also important that you study smart, not only hard. Last year I was too much into worthless or little benefits material, but this year I will try to switch to more quality material

7. Buy land, equip solar system and build sauna

The goal that I want to progress the most. It would be amazing to run from the city to such place even just for a day, especially in summer when the nature in Lithuania blossom. But even in other seasons there would be plenty of activities so I really hope I will manage to take my first step!

8. Reach 30k XPoints on French Duolingo

It would be nice if I could keep the same pattern as last year. Although it doesn't directly contribute to my Life Vision, learning a new language has shown great benefits to human mind. Also I enjoy French cinema and it is great when you can understand the movie without subtitles

9. Get promoted with Top Kickers into League III

With my age at 34, I have less and less time for strong performances in higher leagues This year I will be allowed to play in Veteran Leagues (Starting from age 35), so it could be my last chance to lead my team to promotion. Most of the professional athletes end they career at this point, with couple of exceptions like Ronaldo, so I know how much effort I will have to make. The speed is not as high, injuries don't heel so fast, but sometimes you can compensate that with experience. Hopefully I will be able to show young lads that I still have some tricks in my sleeves

10. Read 12 books

One book a month should be a reachable goal. There is a saying, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies". And I think it's e perfect way to end my 2022 Goals section Thanks for Your time and good luck everyone this Year

Wow! Lofty goals!
I like the idea of learning a new language, but I think I'll re-learn one I knew a little before: German, since I now have relatives that speak it.

Spins:
1800 games a month — with no days off, that would be 60 per day.
Do you allow for days off?
At 25 days per month that is 72 per day.
I don't think that I could keep up that pace — if you can I am massively impressed.

Books:
I highly recommend Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/
There, you have access to a vast library of classics — any book that is no longer subject to copyright is eligible for inclusion.
There are different sites for different languages.

All the best for 2022!
VS

Hi Vorpal, thanks for Gutenberg recommendation, I've already took a look into it

As for Spins, I plan to play 6 days a week with Mondays being a rest day. 72 per games per day is a lot, but hopefully worth it in the end

A fresh start to my 2022 challenge Goal profit set at 50k again. In the past it was believed that if you earn around 50k in Lithuania, more money won't buy you any more happiness. New studies show that it was all wrong..

So the data suggests "More money = more happiness". But I don't want to be the happiest person in the world. I just want to be happy.
Another article has shown "Happiness index" in all Europe, take a look.

I was really surprised that the "Happiness price" in Lithuania is double as high as in its neighbors Latvia, Estonia, Poland, or 5x comparing to Belarus, Ukraine or Russia. Until I see other numbers, I will leave 50k as my yearly goal (55461$ is around 49000 in euros).

2022 Challenge
Weekly review, part 1
Weekly profit 171 €
Previous profit 0€
Current profit 171€
Goal profit 50 000€

I appreciate your long posts about past and new goals!
Obv the most amazing achievement in 2021 has been the three animals on GGPoker, you have to admit that!
Also quite funny: empty-landed, I feel with you through my inner desire to just live in a garden environment the whole year and teach my kids to love the natural way of living.

By the way, you write a lot about your goals in different areas, but what is your daily routine looking like? I mean you were doing the physiotherapist studies a while ago - is this still part of your daily life? Or is taking care of the baby and grinding & studying the major part now?

For the BR Challenge - I will take you in again on a 50k goal with a 10k starting role! Expecting to finish that by August unless you are binking a big one....

Originally posted by Mantelo
Hi Vorpal, thanks for Gutenberg recommendation, I've already took a look into it

As for Spins, I plan to play 6 days a week with Mondays being a rest day. 72 per games per day is a lot, but hopefully worth it in the end
Just for the fun of it, I played a number of $1 spins yesterday just to see what it would be like
Since I'm not a spin master, I played 'em one at a time. The longest was 9 minutes.
So if I played 4 at a time, it should be possible to play 24 per hour, so 72 would not take as long as I thought.

I might just do that if it comes down to needing some points to make the monthly rakeback prize, since over the 11 games I broke even exactly.

Thanks guys for feedback and questions
I'm no longer into physiotherapy, basically no time left for that. After the birth of my daughter I had to sacrifice something and that was it. Also having extra hours for poker studying helps for results As for finishing the challenge by August it is very optimistic! But I like that approach

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Just for the fun of it, I played a number of $1 spins yesterday just to see what it would be like
Since I'm not a spin master, I played 'em one at a time. The longest was 9 minutes.
So if I played 4 at a time, it should be possible to play 24 per hour, so 72 would not take as long as I thought.

I believe the average time for a Spin is around 7 minutes. Personally I feel best while playing 2 tables at once, 3 tabling is better for a challenge but my quality is starting to get lower at that point. So while I'm still on my time schedule, I will stick to 2 tables. I know some Regs play 4 or even more tables, but you have to master the game greatly at that point as most decisions should be made without too much thinking. Also you have to take longer and more frequent breaks while playing 4 tables as you get tired much faster. So for me getting 72 games takes around 5 hours which is not as impossible as you say

2022 Challenge
Weekly review, part 2
Weekly profit 129 €
Previous profit 171€
Current profit 300€
Goal profit 50 000€

Small weekly profits, but everything is going according to the plan

Spins went breakeven all week throughout but eventually it ended it small loses. However, one day I finished high in the leaderboards + milestone chest and that's how I managed to get into green zone.

On Sunday I tried to mix it up, playing both Spins and Sunday Million. However, I really couldn't get focused in any of those, ended firing 4 empty bullets in 50$ Main event so I'd rather stick to one discipline in a session.
And to conclude, I'm getting closer to my PokerStars Monthly challenge, only 1272 games left

2022 Challenge
Weekly review, part 3
Weekly profit 536 €
Previous profit 300€
Current profit 836€
Goal profit 50 000€

Happy Day Grinders
A fine week of Spins. It started well, dropped in the middle, but the last session was extremely good and moved me into the top again

I'm very happy with my ChipEV, won most of my games, even the 10x. However, no 25x game yet in the side but hopefully it's coming
As for this week, again sticking to Spins. Only 10 days left of Monthly PokerStars challenge and I need 90games per day to complete it. No time to get lazy

I'm a bit late this year, i had a really long vacation. Good luck with your goals this year Mantelo !

May the upswing be with you all year long !

Originally posted by AgapieGheorghe
I'm a bit late this year, i had a really long vacation. Good luck with your goals this year Mantelo !
May the upswing be with you all year long !
Thanks Agapie, I definitely need a good upswing All the best to you as well

2022 Challenge
Weekly review, part 4 & 5
Weekly loses -240 €
Previous profit 836€
Current profit 596€
Goal profit 50 000€

Good day mates
It was intense weeks of grinding, finished my PokerStars Monthly Challenge with only couple of hours left. Was it worth it? Not really, considering I was planning to put many hours both in grinding and studying. I had to increase my table count and my focus was instantly off. And although I didn't notice much change while playing, the results never lie

Total loses of 7900$, adding rakeback and bonuses it decreases to around 2000$ in red. Very low Chip EV, only 15, half of the desired number. On the other hand, I didn't get any bigger multipliers, and expected prizepool over such sample is 507 858$, mine was 501 700$, more then 6k difference. So definitely this month I won't be chasing Monthly Challenges and I will concentrate more on studying. Also I will fire 2 or 3 tournament sessions in a week. In fact, yesterday I was offered to participate in BetOnline tournament series and I was very close to the Final Table in the biggest event

From 2000 runners, I ended up in 12th place. A little pity as I was chipleading with 3 tables left, but couldn't exploit it to the victory. Anyway, this tournament was a key factor deciding if my month goes into the losing or profitable one. And a score of 1160$ puts me slightly into the green So thank you Sven, you are my savior

2022 Challenge
Weekly review, part 6
Weekly profit 78 €
Previous profit 596€
Current profit 674€
Goal profit 50 000€

A calm week with no big swings. Played couple of Spins, couple of MTT sessions and in the end I got some profits for food
However, I made a deep run in Global Millions on GG. Not a bad run out of 20k players, maybe one day I will get closer to Final table

2022 Challenge
Weekly review, part 7
Weekly loses -1467 €
Previous profit 674€
Current profit -793€
Goal profit 50 000€

A bad week of my part, taking me into losing year overall. Only played two sessions of tournaments, both unsuccessfully It could have been even worse, but got a deep run into my last played tournament of the week. Not enough to make me very happy though

2022 Challenge
Weekly review, part 11
Weekly profit 2683 €
Previous profit -793€
Current profit 1890€
Goal profit 50 000€

Good day Long time since my last post as I didn't play much, and it had couple of reasons. First, I got sick and it was very challenging to run a session No focus, no stamina, no fun of playing so I though it is better to recover fully in a week. After that a war started in Ukraine Lithuania has a direct border with Russia and many believe that if Putin decides to go further than Ukraine, Baltic countries might go next. Not sure if he would attack a NATO country, but you may never know what's in his mind. But for sure this uncertainty affects the daily routines and it is very tough to concentrate on grinding, especially in the first weeks. Also, last week I was in EPT festival in Prague. Played 3 tournaments, cashed in all of them.
In the Main Event Eureka made to day 2 with short stack (ITM once Day1 finishes), had a good restart with couple of double ups but eventually lost a 3way Allin pre with A♣:K♥: vs 7♦:7♣: and J♠:J♦:
In a 330€ Cup event I needed two bullets to reach money, but busted right after a bubble burst, leaving me a breakeven tournament here.
And lastly, I was invited to PokerStars VIP event, probably similar to SuperNova players in the past. The field of somewhat 50 players was tough, but managed to get into Top3 for 1100€. Not bad for a freeroll

Hey congratz for the results you got !