i was thinking pokerstrategy should do end of the year awards. Maybe pick a few categories, take nominations, then either have a poll or send votes to the organizer
possible categories:
tilt monkey
best chat
biggest nit
sunrunner
biggest FPS
single hand awards:
best bluff vs a reg
biggest hero call
worst suckout
worst cooler
ideas? nominations? ps will u run it, it will be fun ! ♦
Originally posted by silent21
i was thinking pokerstrategy should do end of the year awards.
HELLO boys and girls! our phantastic blog is back.
there are many news i want to share with u.
firstly, i want to say i rly love my life last few days and i feel incredibly good and strong and happy and fulfilled and motivated and thankful. I am thankful to basically everyone around, my contacts among poker plrs are increasing every day and i am usually having so many interesting/nice ppl to talk with that can either share some of outside of poker stories with me (otherwise i would feel like there is JUST poker in my life-ah, ok and NHL, which i follow every single day: have to watch Alexander the Great , and some other games, like quakelive and sc2 -> rly motivating if u re a gamer: day9: life as a pro gamer ..
Ok, i am getting lost already. Let me pause and reunite with the universe again.............................................. ok got it back! so: abt the last few days:
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1, selfreflection period:
i ve realized how undisciplined i am in many ways abt what i do. I ve thought abt the year is coming to an end and i looked back to the start of it and all those buetiful pink new years resolutions made in January. Oh boy did i fail!
--> 2 reasons:
A, whole this year i run ridiculously bad, esp last half a year, just constantly; but ok, this is sth i cannot influence.
but B, i didnt have the mental strength to motivate myself to play after i kept losing when i was playing good. And this is just a big mistake without any excuse. Like ok, i know how is to run as terrible as 30BIs under EV for as little as 10k hands and i literally just didnt care at all. But this not caring was tuned out so apathic towards the game. I lost the momentum, the shine, the motivation.. and repeatedly any will to play longer sessions again.
I never rly considered this whole issue as anyhow important in this game, but it IS! Ok, lets face it: on NL1k+ there are 99% of toppros like me who dont do anytihng else than just play/analyse and do it for their job. To gain an edge u have to look for smallest possible leaks and breaches not only in their game, but in their psychology. And the matter of the fact is, most ppl who play highstakes and even nosebleeds are too competitive. When i say TOO, i mean: they are not collected when they play on the overall picture, but concentrate too much on too specific of the things. Many many many therefore rly tilt after losing coz they take it personally. The ability to be detached from the tables is indeed a big gift and sth that should be pushed towards max advantage whenever possible. The thing abt tilt is, its so common on even high games full of otherwise very good regs, that they auto-suppose that sb is on tilt after losing few times in a row- Therefore not tilting in cases which u "should" , anyhow weirdly it seems,: gives u a possible big advantage when u can continue playing! If ppl see that u re playing great, even when they know and realize that u should be playing badly, they start to respect and fear u. And when they fear u, u can make them do what u want.. ultimately.
On the nosebleeds games the ego-issue is so huge, this ability alone can earn u a fortune and can be a deciding factor in otherwise very close matches. I ll return to the match of Isildur vs Durrrr for the instance. Durrrr was clearly on tilt in that match many times. Remember, he couldnt even quit till his acount was busted a few times and needed to redeposit and borrow more money. I indeed think, the biggest difference between fe. Galfond and Dwan is that the first has just by faaar superior inner psychology. I dont know what they overall exact earnings are, but i am quite confident Galfond's wrs are quite decently higher, he just plays less.
This issues another question. Isn't actually playing less the prime cause of being psychologically stronger?
hmm.. i came to believe for most ppl it does play a big role. Ppl playing a lot, like 8h/every day are much more trained to face bigger swings ofc, but they are also more connected to the game, they dream abt the game prolly (as i did so often during the neverending sessions) , they think so intensily all the time abt it that its by far more personal to them to lose. It's ofc incredibly cruel to lose / keep losing when u know u have an edge, u ve been working on ur game. It's just not just. There is abs no justice in poker. Shortrun. But that's the only reason there is so much money in the game in the first place. No succesful poker plr would earn a penny if there wasnt for these notorious gamblers that keep winning 9/10 times when being 1:10 behind. And again: just look at the things from the outside if u re rly serious abt this game. This is a stupid (well.. :rolleyes:) unproductive game of clicking buttons, ppl who save lives, educate others every single day, work on farms, build houses, give ppl employment and money or just sweep the litter of streets everyday: all those are MUCH more productive for the society than we are in poker, hence it feels rly unjust from their point of view for us to be earning many times tens and hundreds of times more than them. Ofc this is a professional sport, i look at things much differently than this now and have no inner reproaches for doing what i do and love to do so much.
Poker is a mental and physical challenge. U challenge and prove to URSELF in the first place that u re good/smart/hardworking/creative/stable/alert and with endurance enough to succeed in this difficult endeavor. Poker puts most of the qualities of a highly intelligent human being into the test.
As for me, i know i have very little endurance, and i defined this as my biggest problem and i shall and will train on this. Everything is a matter of training and hardwork. And the wonderful thing is, u know that other ppl work hard as well and u know they want to rip u off all ur money, but let me tell u this: everyone, EVERY SINGLE person has its weaknesses. We are not computers, everyone plays off its best even with perfect theoretical preperation, which most ppl dont have ofc. There is no chance even Jungelman is going to play perfect all the time and in theory u can play better if u only knew more of his mind than him of yours at that particular time and had the guts to put it into the practice.
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2, real life:
i ve spent a lot of hours thinking what is going to be the best for my personal development for the next few months. Both in and out of poker. Firsly, i ve settled that poker is 100% going to be my profession in the whole of 2011. Inspired by Travis Steffen (if u never heard of him-> go to dc and check out his vidseries abt poker professionalism; there is also a book of his on Amazon: Peak performance poker. ) , i am tracking my daily schedules and have put again a regular spots + very healthy eating into my every day. I decided to plan 2011 just in few brief non-conrete day specific points and then next 3 months for concrete shorterterm action. I will not talk abt my personal life obv, but outside of it poker+lifestyle its this:
2011 brief guideline:
poker:
a winning reg on NL5k, especiall excel at HU, i will most prolly totally stop playing SH from mid of 2011; shots on 10k and few on 20k with proper bankroll and tight stoploss.
play PLO; get to beat PLO400 by the end of March and get to at least PLO1k till end of the year (2k is a big ambition)
every single 1st day of the month write down a list of all MTTs which are going to happen on all of my platfroms and play qualis for at least 1 EPT/WPT other big events per month. Basically i want to travell for a big tourney at least 1/2months. Online play at least 5 MTTs every weekend which are 100$+ BIs
get to live with dedicated poker pros (contact mostly throught the big tourneys) which can elevate my game even further
get to play at least 1x/month (either at those events or in Kosice) at least NL2k live game and try to make the most cash i can. + get more contacts
immediately after anyhow worthwhile success in MTTs start putting a ton of volume on the platform which sponsored it, to get recognized so that i can try to get a status of a redpro.
produce vids for some coaching site (we have set out to make a series w Ivan, abt me coaching him on NL200-it should be out soon); pokerstrategy to begin with, and private coach. I love coaching and i will try to do the most i will be able to, tho prices will likely go higher soon.
issue a HU challenge to Czech republic (if i manage to win the Slovak one- sofar i am leading a tiny 2.5k after 1.9k/20k hands, but i ll improve) and play a medialised game Svk-Cze vs some excellent HUbonecrusher. Hope to play some televised cgs after that. I want to provide action so that i get action in the future. Simple. Tho its quite certain at the time of suposing that challenge i am going to be a big underdog, i ll do it for the longrun benefits.
NEVER GIVE UP on poker. NEVER get to doubt, alw BELIEVE in myself, alw push myself to the edge, work hard and go on no matter what. Never quit any session coz of a downswing unless i realistically can judge i feel like vomitting. Shot higher limits, and after busting the stoploss (prolly going to be 5BIs), get back and try again and again and again till the end of the year. Force myself to do it. I will force myself to shoot NL5k in the end of January for at least 1k hands, hope there will be action, coz i wont play HU there yet)
EVERY SINGLE day 1h of analysis to my notebook. On mondays and tuesdays more. Never skip any day. Christmas, Silvester or any holiday, or bday party no exceptions-after i get sober, first thing: review those 3-5hands and write down the ranges and kick the ass to think through the balancing (i ve started to analyse quite a lot few weeks ago, even though i havent done it every day, i average that 1h/day and i feel extremely confident now and extramotivated to work on my game each day even more.
lifestyle:
active running. run a halfmarathon in Bratislava in march under 1h40mins, (i dream of 1:30, but i ve never run so long under any pressure and i just might so easily get a cramp or sth, so dont want to overburn it for the 1st run) i ve assigned for a course of running, my 1st class there is 2moro, we train for 10km+ with coaches. Also my father said he ll get me special bandages for my hurt knees so that i can run more and longer. (i have probs with knees since bodybuilding at high school)
get a paid personal coach in a gym and train for endurance and strength 3x/week with him.
keep my hand in semiregular swimming and speedskating, some other also possible: like, i d like to start playing squash rly, but i need to organize my time better for this coz i have to interact with the society way too much to arrange it 
every morning stretch
eat continuously healthy, never eat in McDonals or KFC, never any junk. Get drunk at most 1x/month on a special occasion.
never go to sleep later than 6AM for no good reason. If dont feel sleepy-> get a pill instantly to not ruin my schedules.
other:
study economics/business in free time and make some plans abt how to invest the money i have for good productive purposes in the future.
support my family, help ppl who need help and are honest and hardworking
study psychology in the free time (to decide if i potentially want to go to a uni later on)
make a donation. If everything goes well during the year and i manage to carry out most of my duties, i ll donate 2% of my all yearly winnings to UNICEF
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ok, this is already turning out to be the longest post i ve ever made, so i ll finish here and bring my jan-march plans of 2011 in the next post.
gl everyone.
j
This is my first post in your blog, but I have been following for a while ( I am Bulgarian, so I feel closer )
I really like your poker and lifestyle targets for 2011, but I really admire your so called "Other" targets. You cannot see people like you very often. I am sure you are a very good poker player, but now I am sure you are a great person. I wish you to meet all your set targets and hope you will make a lot of profit, so you can make more people happier.
Wish you best!
Nice post Sir. Wish you all the best.
Could you add me on skype please. ( Ensyfer) I would like to ask you something.
great post sir!
especially:
Originally posted by TheLastNail
wow .... respect (bow)
Just make sure everytime you find a coach first of all they:
1, talk to you about the state of your body (your history meaning health, injuries, goals, why you wanna do that, etc.)
2, if they fire plans you at you without any further diagnosis of your shorten/weak muscles just say gtfo and find a coach who does plans based on this
3, for stretching muscles - u dont have to stretch muscle parts you know they are not shorten. Again, make sure ur coach made u a good diagnosis + tests of flexibility to find what's the problem
Also make sure u warmp up before stretching. Otherewise u can cause yourself an injury.
4. I hope this helped. if you want to know anything about points mentioned above let me know. I am here to help.
great post TLN.
so proud of you 
from when i met you, uv really climbed the limits not only in poker but rl as well. congrats!
Hi TLN,
this is definitely one of the best post, I´ve red here so far.
You have my respect!
You set up very challenging goals. Cross fingers that you accomplish it.
I may be of some help with setting the HU challenge in the Czech Republic. (as I said already, we will be starting Czech community, or Czech & Slovak respectively, on PokerStrategy from 2011 and I would say organizing a televized HU challenge between pokerstrategy top grinder like you and one of the best Czech HU pros could be great. I´m thinking of Jan Skampa in order not to think small ♦ EDIT: You will be required to win in order to make the marketing point sucessful ♦ 
)
pls add me on skype pstehno or I will add you when I´m back from my work (still stuck at PwC for the last month 
). Respectively I´ll be home tomorrow as I go directly for big leaving party today.
I´d be also glad to discuss the coaching point you mentioned with you to check whether we can have some overlaps in visions / plans.
btw - I like your point about UNICEF!! That will make you feel inner much stronger because charity and helping others is one of the life purposes.. Very nice, sir!!
Cheers,
Cornie
...
some1 want to play holdem battleship with me? nl10 or nl20
rules are if u win a hand with 27 83 49 or t5 the losing player has to shove all in next hand and hero gets the option to call or fold.
Originally posted by silent21
some1 want to play holdem battleship with me? nl10 or nl20rules are if u win a hand with 27 83 49 or t5 the losing player has to shove all in next hand and hero gets the option to call or fold.
Is that HU? Which platforms?
Originally posted by THESHade
Originally posted by silent21
some1 want to play holdem battleship with me? nl10 or nl20rules are if u win a hand with 27 83 49 or t5 the losing player has to shove all in next hand and hero gets the option to call or fold.
Is that HU? Which platforms?
yea hu, stars/ftp/micro/ipoker/pacific
would prefer micro or pacific
Pacific, sure, I am not sure if there are any NL10 HU tables though, maybe we can play SnG? I won tcare if I lose those 250 there right now ♦
hey, thx for input and encouragement everyone.
@Bobo: yea, i will do some consultations ofc, almost whole of my family are doctors, and i ve already discussed some things with my father and i ll get some great knee bandages for running under the Xmas tree. wee
@skype: i added everyone who requested, i am not online all that often tho, when i play i am alw offline. when i am "busy" its usually that i am analysing or playing quake or watching nhl or so so ofc write me when i am red, just dont expect an immediate reply too often. I am green when i have jsut no plan and am able to chat, so when u see me like that (very seldomly and mostly ~5-6AM), u can experience some of my social weirdness if u dare to write me. heh
anyway, just felt like tow plans with poker for next year i didnt make a clear plan towards neither of style or amount of playing. This is rly bad and even though 1 year is a hack of a timespan i still should add these: (found out esp after playing some my weakest sessions for a few months these few days)
NEVER play more than 6 tabs of SH (that being 4 at most if 1 out of it is HU and 3 at most if its just HU, 2 at most when those HU are vs 2 different opponents-subject to a change if i learn HU more).. omg, i am so retarded sometimes its incredible, i start to thinking i have decent gameplan for everyone, i know them well enough, so i dont have to watch tabledyna or anything and slip to play like 8tabs easily, fml, thats just so -ev on NL1k i found out repeatedly, but now for good, i have to just quit doing it coz i felt quite a few times totally owned and was like, wtf, why is this happening to me? - answer: watch the tables, idiot! ppl are actually adjusting!?!
volume goals: i found out setting no. of hands goals is kinda contraproductive for me and i think not good in general if sb wants to watch for his improvements mainly. The volume goal should be measured in time played. /analysed ofc. I usually play in avg ~100h/month last few months, which is pretty low imo, and i will set the minimum goal to at least 130h. I think its still not much at all, however i dont rly expect being able to go over 150h too often coz of extended plans for playing live/MTTs..
dont play on more than 2 of the major sites at the time. this is a newest discovery: i just rly cannot pay attention to my perceived image when at some platforms i am a feared reg, on some i am pretty much unknown or just bumhunting or even losing and i keep totally forgetting that i should absolutely go from that and use it. Rly sucks bigtime when a person has too many platforms to totally lose track of dynamics.
but anyway i ve played total rubbish last 3days i need to get sth going with some long, concentrated effort these few days. well, rawr! is my battle cry.
