Running nowhere fast: Poker and Fitness

Originally posted by 8runo

On the exercise bike, last Monday I started a controlled "1 Hour Time Trial", intended for repetition weekly, to try and measure my progress. My objective was to cycle as far as I could in 1 hour at resistance level 10 (of 32). Last Monday (25th May) I managed 37.84 KM. As I progress, I will move the bike up 1 resistance level any time my cadence averages 120RPM over the hour. My goal is to increase my distance EVERY week that the resistance does not increase. I aim to achieve this by cycling for 55 minutes at slightly above the average speed I need to achieve, and then push on for the last 5 minutes to increase the average speed. I shall be doing my next time trial shortly after making this post.

goals for this week
6) Set a record distance (or increase the resistance) in my 1 hour time trial on the exercise bike (current record 37.84KM at resistance 10) both today and next Monday

Not a good start!!

Failed in my first attempt at the time trial! Just under 20 minutes in and the cat decides to walk under the pedals and got a hefty whack on the head. I had to stop to check everything was ok, fortunately there were no visible signs of any damage! (The cat was ok as well :f_p:)

In truth though, I was never going to make it. My calculated maximum heart rate is 170 and I exceeded that a couple of times. My heart rate was consistently above 160 to keep on pace and I was never going to be able to maintain that for the hour. It seemed tougher this morning! No second attempts at the time trial though - need to work on my training and nutrition for the next week and aim to go better next Monday!!

For the record, I did 19 minutes and 38 seconds for a distance of 12.67 km which pro rata if I'd managed to keep going at that pace (which I couldn't) would have given me a distance of 38.72 KM (and a new record).

I think the cadence of 120RPM is unrealistic which is the threshold I set to increase resistance. I've done an hour at that cadence before, but at nowhere near this resistance level. I'm changing the criteria for increasing the resistance now therefore to 40KM over the hour (instead of 120RPM) - still tough, but hopefully achievable! I'll update post 1 (you can see the original text quoted in this post)

"not a good start" has become an utterly catastrophic start!!

49 minutes play, 2 tabling and I am €15.22 down, leaving a bankroll of just £12.97 - almost half what it was an hour ago.

On top of that, changing the way I'm playing (concentrating on what double2 highlighted in his first video - "steal more") has decimated my hand rate, because I'm playing substantially more hands (and waiting to see what happens on substantially more hands) - I'm playing less than half the hands per hour than I expected - I have no chance of hitting my volume targets.

At the moment I'm struggling to know which of my weekly objectives I can possibly hit!!

Day 1 Update

What a disastrous start! In all aspects!
Not many positives to take from yesterday, but I'll keep fighting, try to learn from my mistakes and move on....

Goal 1: This is now clearly unachievable for me. Yesterdays play was 103 minutes for 502 hands - a long way short of pace. I am now abandoning this goal for the week.
Goal 2: Bankroll was decimated yesterday, though I did recover a little from my post above to £15.85. That's not really a positive though as the big hand was just a complete suck out (I got the money in behind). I am very conscious that I'm playing with a bankroll short of what is needed for the stakes I'm playing and that small amounts of variance could leave me in trouble. I could deal with that, however I feel that my current losses are not variance, but bad play, and I need to improve! Probably a good time to say at this stage, that I don't view tilt as a problem when it comes to my opponents bad play, or simple variance (e.g. getting KK twice yesterday against Aces - albeit flopping quads the second time) - what can get to me is my own ineptitude, independent of hand result!

Goal 3: I kept on pace to meet this goal! Hurrah! I managed 2 hours study yesterday. This involved re-watching video 1 of double2 video on escaping the micros, tweaking my notes and interrogating my database to see if my behaviour had changed based on the video ("Steal more"). It had. My steal rate from the cut off in unopened pots has increased from 23% to 48% and my steal rate from the button in unopened pots has increased from 45% to 84%. This is of course a ridiculously small sample, but shows a clear change in behaviour.
Goal 4: My weigh in this morning showed an inconsequential increase of 0.1KG to 75.5kg. I will shift that last 0.5KG!!!
Goal 5: My weigh in this morning showed a body fat reading of 15.6KG. I'm not really confident of setting a new low this week. But to some extent it's arbitrary - variance around the real reading is relatively large and so I'm looking largely for an anomalous reading to set a new low (as the real figures fall, the size of anomaly required reduces - so I'm not saying this objective is pure chance)
Goal 6: As already reported above - a failure yesterday. Back into training today, preparing for next week. Plan is to do a 1 hour cardio programme at a heart rate of 142 (80% of calculated max). I find this relatively unchallenging and the bike sets a low resistance level to only 142 (though I will maintain a relatively slow cadence of around 80 rpm in order that the bike increases the resistance a little) . Assuming I feel fine through it, intention tomorrow will be 1 hour at 150, cadence still 80, which is a little more challenging, and where the bike starts to set tougher resistance levels.
Goal 7: Updates are coming in. So far this is the easy goal!! I'm going to try and avoid posting interim updates through the day, and stick to just 1 update each day.

So looking good so far for goals 3 and 7!! The rest show varying degrees of difficulty!!

PS The cat seems fine, and even seems to have forgiven me!

Hey 8runo,

Welcome to the 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' bankroll challenge. we will be looking forward to your first update which you should post by Monday of each week in Get Rich or Die Tryin' - The Bankroll Challenge - Reporting thread.

Have you checked out w34z3l's 6max walkthrough - (microstakes edition) and No Limit Beginners course with confidant91. These threads will also contain some nice tips on how to bust out of the micros.

Have fun

Laz

Thanks Lazza.

I haven't seen w34z3l's videos - but will be sure to check them out

I will be honest and admit that I did start watching confidants videos but first impression was that they seemed a little long and rambling and I had trouble keeping my focus (sorry ) - I think they were about 90 minutes each? When I found the more bitesize videos (30-40 minutes) from double2 I found that style seemed to suit me much better.

I saw confidant has a big following/high profile, so I'm sure his content is excellent and intend/hope to return to it at a later stage.

What a difference a day makes. A lot of strong positives from yesterday, and far more encouraging than Monday! And to top it all, Blatter is going, does it get any better?

Day 2 Update
Goal 1 - I have given up on my original goal as unrealistic. I am also now single tabling for a bit more focus. Yesterday I played 368 hands in 100 minutes. I'm now thinking that 500 hands a day is probably a good target, so looking at about 3,500 hands this week.
Goal 2 - Finished the day in positive territory, which is a massive boost It could, and should have been so much better though. I got far too sloppy towards the end. At the moment though I'm satisfied with any win! My bankroll now stands at £17.89, a £2 increase on yesterday.

The filter on the second graph says "This Year" - ignore that, it is "This Month" (Just one month selected in the "Sessions by Month" report)
Goal 3 - Still well on pace. I didn't time my study period, but it was in excess of 2 hours. My main focus was posting hand histories on here. I think that was useful, though I haven't properly assimilated the responses yet (that's one of my tasks for today). The time wasn't all "poker productive" as it took me quite a long time to work out how to extract Hand History files from HM2 in the right format, but that is now sorted and useful knowledge for the future. I have had the w34s4l videos recommended to me on here. I watched the first few minutes of the first video and it did look good. I have a decision today whether to continue with the double2 series or to switch to the w34s4l series. I suspect I'll switch - mainly because the w34s4l series seems more targeted to the level I am at at the moment.
Goal 4 - My weigh in this morning showed an increase to 75.9KG. I'm not too fussed about that defeat. I know that my net calorie intake yesterday was very good, and I know I did the right things - the results will come!
Goal 5 - My bodyfat measure showed a fall yesterday of 0.2KG to 15.4KG, which is probably very good against a rise in body weight of 0.4KG. My muscle today measured 27.7KG, getting closer to the highest measure I've had of 28.2KG.
Goal 6 - This was probably the biggest victory of the day - not just for me, but for this process!! I usually do my exercise in the morning, but getting to late afternoon and having not done it, I would previously have skipped it for the day. Not yesterday however! With the knowledge that I'd have to come on here and report my failure (or success) I hopped on the bike and did my 1 hour at a heart rate of 80% (142) and a cadence of about 80 RPM. It was tough. Very tough. I can't work out whether that is a positive or a negative, but I'm tending towards a positive, because I think the bike set the resistance substantially higher than before, for the same heart rate and the same cadence. As a comparison, yesterday, the bike estimated a calorie burn of 780 calories in the hour. 10 Days ago, for the same cadence and the same heart rate the bike estimated a calorie burn of 657 calories in the hour. So heart rate and speed are constants, the variable is the resistance (which isn't measured over the session) and higher resistance is the only explanation I can come up with for a 20% higher calorie burn (and that ties in with the experience). For today, I will repeat a 1 hour session at 142 heart rate, (not increasing to 150 as I planned yesterday) and will also increase the cadence to 90 for a slightly easier session.
Goal 7 - Still on target. 2 daily updates completed so far

Best of luck!

6-max walkthrough will give you the best foundation you could ask for. ♠_drink:

"The highest reward for man's toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it."
-John Ruskin

Thanks Drew - Your support is really appreciated

The 1st video of w3as3l 6-max walkthrough is definitely my training priority for today (I didn't do so much yesterday, but what I did do was mainly side-tracked by hand history thoughts/considerations)

A tougher day, but some hope towards the end....

Day 3 Update

Goal 1 - I played 399 hands yesterday in 176 minutes. So timewise I exceeded the 2 hours per day goal - but I was still short of the hand volume goals - both the original and revised (but at least I'm in the ballpark for revised....). There are further reasons, which you'll see below (switch from Fast Poker to standard tables)

Goal 2 - I took a hammering again early on yesterday, and my bankroll fell to a critical level, about £10 (€13.60/$15.32) - just over 2 buy ins at the NL€5 fast poker tables. I felt it was unsustainable at that level - even if I were playing winning poker (which I'm almost certainly not .... yet ) and I had to move down. Unfortunately there are no lower speed poker tables, so I switched to standard tables NL€2 - playing just 1 table initially (and 2 tables later) - had a slight recovery, but as importantly, a belief that I was better than these tables (which I didn't hold at NL€5 Fast ) - they seemed an order of magnitude softer and I genuinely believe I could win here! Bankroll closed at £13.02 (€17.71/$19.94). Going forward, its my intention to stick to these tables for the moment and see if I can recover my bankroll. I feel that I can be comfortable 2 tabling. In the daily graph below, the first 228 hands are Fast NL€5, the rest are Standard NL€2.

Goal 3 - I don't think I managed 2 hours study yesterday - still the same problem that I didn't formally time what I did. I'm confident I've done more than 6 hours this week so far, but cannot prove that, either to you or to myself! What I did yesterday was in relation to the hands I posted here, and thinking about those - assimilating the comments on the threads and probing my database a little to compare with other similar hands I've played. What I didn't do yesterday was to start my study of W34s4ls 6-max walkthrough, which I'm determined I MUST start today!

Goal 4 - My weigh in this morning showed that I was down a bit at 75.6KG. These constant, daily, updates with my weight make it look like I'm obsessed with every fractional movement - I'm really not and the emphasis placed on it here, probably isn't reflective of the emphasis I place on it. I understand that there are normal daily variations, things like exact time I weigh in, and hydration levels etc can have quite a substantial impact when measuring so frequently and to the nearest 100g - I don't get hung up by those variations..... I view my weight as healthy and the daily weigh ins are just to ensure it stays there (whilst always mildly aware that I haven't exactly hit what I consider my ideal weight at all this year - whilst remaining close). Its when I take my eye off the ball that I can lose sight of where I'm at.

Goal 5 - My bodyfat this morning was down to 15.2KG, so getting very close to the record low of 15.0 KG. My muscle was 27.7KG - so not that far from the record high of 28.2KG. Combined, that is precisely what I want to see.....

Goal 6 - I did my Exercise yesterday morning, a lot more voluntarily than on Tuesday! It was surprisingly tough again, and I'm still struggling to understand exactly what it means. I worked at a higher cadence, which should have meant an easier workout, but the bike estimated a higher calorie burn than on Tuesday which makes no sense to me. The only explanation I can come up with now is that I need a recovery day, so I'll take today off. I'll repeat the cardio training runs again on Friday and Saturday, then take Sunday off in preparation for next Mondays Time Trial! A summary of my last couple of weeks or so exertions are in the table below if anyone can better explain to me what is happening.

Goal 7 - 3 out of 3 - Impressive

Still very encouraging early signs at NL€2, but I'm getting frustrated at the pace/hand volume.

Day 4 Update

Goal 1 - I played 214 hands yesterday in 100 minutes (139 table minutes - I 2 tabled some). Hand pace is pathetic! I'm playing up to 2 tables at a time at the moment. I don't feel I can play more at the moment (and indeed, even 2 is pushing it) because I'm trying to develop and think about what I'm doing, and very little is being done naturally/instinctively at the moment.

Goal 2 - I made a profit of €4.20, which is fantastic for the number of hands played! My Bankroll has increased to exactly €14. Just a reminder (in case the numbers don't appear to add up), my bankroll is what is actually shown in the poker software, my profit is my all-in EV. My reports in HM2 don't even show the actual profit/loss, so I don't have much idea what it is, if it is different to my EV. (I can see from the graphs below that my EV on Day 4 was substantially higher than the actual results).

Goal 3 - A great study day yesterday. The majority of my time was spent working through the first video in w34z3ls 6max Walkthrough series, mainly defining Opening ranges by position and cold calling ranges by position. I probably spent approaching 3 hours on this. A little ahead of myself given where I am now, but I also set BRM limits, and this gives me a clear goal for where I need to be to move away from the NL€2 tables to the Fast NL€5 tables. Specifically I need to get to £36.68 to move back up. £22.68 to go! I appreciate that the BRM levels I've defined are uber aggressive, but as stated before, I view the amounts involved as relatively low and the damage of busting completely as not having serious consequences. My bankroll is easily replaceable if necessary.

Goal 4 - My weigh in this morning was a record equalling (for this year) 75.4KG. That surprised me somewhat as I had a rest day on the exercise bike and my calorie consumption was ill disciplined (It wasn't overly excessive, and I didn't consume anything "bad", it was just a little bit more than usual)

Goal 5 - Body fat increased slightly to 15.5KG. Nothing significant and well within the bounds of the usual swings in this measure.

Goal 6 - No exercise bike on day 4 as it was a scheduled rest day. For day 5 I will repeat my Day 3 programme - Heart Rate of 142BPM (80%) and cadence to repeat the distance of approx. 35.65KM. Will be interesting to see what the estimated calorie burn is after the rest day (estimated calorie burn is the only stat that varies - I haven't got my head around what the differences mean)

Goal 7 - 4 out of 4 - Yay!

Poor volume for Day 5, and Day 6 will be poor as well! Next set of objectives, I definitely need to be more realistic on volume!

Day 5 Update

Goal 1- 47 hands in 17 minutes! Eek! Not much poker in day 5!

Goal 2 - Loss of €0.37 on the day. I wont bother with the graphs, because there really isn't much to add!!!

Goal 3 - Study was a bit better than the volume! But not much! Most of my time was spent reviewing the previous days play and comparing my opening ranges with the ranges defined a day earlier.

Goal 4 - Weighed in at 75.5KG. Got away with it a little following another poorly disciplined day in consumption (polished of a bag of dried fruit!!)

Goal 5 - Body fat up to 16KG!

Goal 6 - 1 hour exercise bike session completed. Heart Rate of 142, distance of 35.21 KM and estimated 753 cal burned.

Goal 7 - 5 out of 5 .... even if today is a little....erm... briefer!

I'm kinda treading water at the moment .... waiting for Monday to set a new set of achievable goals.....

Day 6 Update

Goals 1-3 - No poker and no study

Goal 4 - Weighed in at 75.8KG - I think my goal for next week will be to measure and record everything I consume for the week and to publish it on myfitnesspal.

Goal 5 - 15.5 KG Body Fat

Goal 6 - 1 hour exercise bike session completed. 35.74KM for 795 calories. Day 7 will be a rest day in readiness for a time trial on Monday.

Goal 7 - 6 out of 6.

Against my goals, the week has been a huge failure. However I see progress and am, mostly, happy with what I have put in. I think that my initial goals were over-optimistic and re-evaluating future goals will help. I need to push myself and push the boundaries, but I also need to keep it realistic and achievable. I want to hit my goals each week, and build the momentum and push forward. Its a tough balance to find. The biggest success of the week is how these goals and this blog have pushed me just that little bit further to do just that little bit more than I otherwise would have done. That's all I can ask and all I want to do!

Week 1 Update

Goal 1 - I set myself the goal of playing 14,000 hands in the week. That was a pretty modest target against what I have managed before, however it was a ridiculous target against a backdrop of increased study time, standard tables instead of "fast poker", playing fewer tables to focus more on each table and not playing so tight (waiting more often for the action to get to me before folding and moving onto the next table). Over the week I played 1,544 hands of fast poker (€NL5) in 6 hours 33 minutes and 432 hands of standard poker in 3 hours 32 minutes. Overall that is 1,976 hands of poker in 10 hours and 5 minutes. That's less than a sixth of my goal! However I played an average of nearly an hour and a half a day, against my initial objective of 2 hours a day. I was short, but not out of sight, on time!

Goal 2 - My goal for the week was to finish without a diminished bankroll. At the start of the week, my bankroll was £27.41. At the end of the week, my bankroll is £12.90. An unmitigated disaster! The success I can take from this goal is that I moved down from €NL5 to €NL2 and I showed a profit at the new lower stakes. I've now set myself a clear BRM strategy going forward and have the expectation of improvements in the future!
At €NL5 I played 1,544 hands and lost €39.61 (As always I repeat that I only look at EV numbers - I honestly don't have a clue what the actual number is - beyond the fact that overall my bankroll for the week was severely depleted - I will probably see in a minute with the graphs, but the real figures are only in the graph at all because, so far as I can tell, they cannot be removed). If my maths is right, that is a loss of 51.3 bb/100. Wow that's poor! (Small sample noted, but still hope for better).
€NL2 looks substantially better. A profit over the week of €7.81 from 432 hands. If my maths is right, that's a profit of 25.3 bb/100.

Goal 3 - I set myself the goal of 14 hours study for the week. I didn't track and measure my study time properly, and don't really expect to going forward. I suspect I missed the 14 hour goal, but not by much and am generally happy with the study I did. I switched from double2's course to w34s3ls video series, which is probably better targeted to where I am at the moment.

Goal 4 - I set myself the goal of finally hitting my ideal weight of 75KG. I didn't manage this, or to make any progress towards it. Shifting the last 1 lb/0.5KG is easy .... if I really have the motivation and willpower to do it, which I clearly haven't had. There have been times when I have snacked when I didn't need to (not excessively, and not on "unhealthy" food, but enough to boost my calorie intake). This occasional snacking is what I need to get under control.

Goal 5 - I wanted a weigh in below 15.0KG body fat. My best was 15.2KG. Not a million miles away, but target missed nonetheless.

Goal 6 - I set myself the goal of a new time trial record - I didn't achieve that, partially through intervention from the cat, but I don't think I would have made it anyway. I have done well through the week in my preparations for the next time trial.

Goal 7 - I wanted to update my blog every day. I have updated my blog every day. Hurrah!

Week 2 Goals

Goal 1 - Hand Volume - I will aim for 2 hours of play a day, on average, again. My assumption is that the whole week will be played at standard tables of €NL2 and that I will average 2 tables (I did play a little 4 tabling yesterday, which wasn't too bad, but I expect to mostly be 2 tabling). Over the last week, at this kind of table, I was averaging very close to 1.5 hands per table minute, therefore some simple maths ..... 2 hours per day 2 tabling should be 4 table hours per day, 240 table minutes per day at 1.5 hands per minute should be 360 hands per day, over 7 days that will be 2,520 hands for the week. My goal for the week is therefore 2,500 hands and 14 hours play

Goal 2 - Profitability - Last week, I set myself the goal of breaking even at €NL5 and failed miserably. This week I am setting myself the goal of a 10 bb/100 profit at €NL2. Over my volume goal, that's a target profit of €5 (£3.64). Very modest and hopefully very achievable. That would therefore be an ending bankroll for the week of £12.90 + £3.64 = £16.54. I have my clear BRM goals now, (Day 4 Update in week 1) but am not expecting to trouble the limits that allow me to move up (and there is nowhere else to move down to!) My goal for the week is therefore to end the week with a bankroll of at least £16.54.

Goal 3 - Study - I'm going to set a more modest target this week and aim for a minimum of 1 hour study per day. Specific objectives are to recap the first video of w34s3ls walkthrough series, in the context and in combination with checks on my database, and to complete my first pass study of video 2 of the series. My goal for the week is a minimum of 7 hours study.

Goal 4 - Weight - This is the week where I will make progress towards my goal. To give myself the willpower and motivation, for the week I will track every calorie consumed (low calorie drinks excepted - mostly no added sugar cordial, which has inconsequential numbers of calories, but also a couple of cups of decaffeinated tea and 1 cup of caffeinated coffee) on myfitnesspal on a public profile. If I snack excessively I have to report it!! My diary should be viewable here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/8runo I've set the calorie goal to "Maintain Weight". The loss will be through the exercise bike calories burned, which I will not track on myfitnesspal because I do not want to eat those calories back. My goal for the week is to hit my ideal weight of 75KG

Goal 5 - Body Fat (KG) - This is not a goal I'll lose sleep over as its a difficult one to affect in the short term (1 week) and the "variance" is huge. However if I have a measure during the week that is a new record low, I will be very happy The flip side of this measure is Muscle (KG) which I track in my spreadsheet too (and on myfitnesspal), so a record low Body Fat should also equate to a record high Muscle measure. My goal for the week is a Body Fat(KG) reading below 15.0KG.

Goal 6 - Exercise - My main goal is to set a new 1 hour time trial record (which will be achieved or not on Monday, so during Day1). Anything Sir Bradley Wiggins can do .... My secondary goal is at least 4 (and maybe 5) 1 hour training runs during the week, in preparation for next Mondays time trial. My goal for the week is to beat 37.84KM in my 1 hour time trial.

Goal 7 - Blog updates - Blog updates - Last week I set myself the goal of daily updates. This week I'm going to raise the bar, and aim for daily updates before midday each day (UK Time). My goal for the week is to update this page every day before midday.

A pretty successful day on, nearly, all fronts

Week 2 Day 1 Update

Goal 1 - Hand Volume - New goal is 2 hours per day and 350 hands per day. Day 1 was excellent against these goals. I played 723 hands in 142 minutes (456 table minutes - yes I was 4 tabling most of the time!!! Not sure that's good in the overall scheme of things, but it felt reasonably comfortable)

Goal 2 - Profitability - New goal is €5 profit on the week - an excellent start as I chalked up a €1.23 profit. Bankroll has increased from £12.90 to £13.35.

Goal 3 - Study - My one failure from the day! I didn't do any study. I intend to hit W34z3ls second walkthrough video on Day 2!

Goal 4 - Weight - I'm aiming to get right down to my ideal weight of 75KG ....... sooooo close - my weigh in for the day was 75.1KG ..... a record low weight for the year so far and surely just a matter of time before I finally hit 75KG. (I'm looking forward to that because my approach will change at that point from calorie deficit to eating back all of my exercise calories - whilst I'm basically there, I'm showing zero tolerance for not being completely there.....)

Goal 5 - Body Fat (KG) - equalled the record low body fat measure for the year at 14.9KG. This combined with my Muscle (27.6KG) being towards the higher end of my range for the year is a great sign of progress

Goal 6 - Exercise - SMASHED IT!!! In my 1 hour time trial (resistance level 10) I managed 39.33 KM, for an estimated calorie burn for 859 calories. Inspired by Sir Bradley Wiggins 1 hour time trial exploits at the weekend (I know doing it on an exercise bike is nothing like doing it on a proper bike!!) I picked up a few pointers .... but didn't quite get it right - I set off too fast, got a stitch very early on, and nearly quit ... but pressed on through it, at a moderate pace and was then able to really push on towards the end - if I can get the pace a bit more consistent, there has to be more I can manage. Next goal is 40KM, at which point I increase the resistance and reset my distance goals (so the first ride at resistance level 11 will be relatively leisurely, just to set a target). The option isn't really there for going much beyond 40KM in an hour as that speed has a cadence of about 110 RPM (no gears on the exercise bike - just increased and decreased resistance (uphill and downhill I suppose!) - but speed stays the same).

Goal 7 - Blog Updates - Update completed today, and on time

A day where I felt less confident against my opponents at NL€2.

Week 2 Day 2 Update

Goal 1 - Hand Volume - All hunky dory here, BUT only because I'm 4 tabling. I don't perceive any major issues or struggles coping with 4 tabling, however my instincive feel is that I shouldn't be doing it and I should instead be playing fewer tables to REALLY focus on the things I'm trying to learn. The problem is, having become used to Zoom/Fast Poker I'm finding 1 or 2 tabling standard tables insanely slow and finding my focus wandering, before I know it I've got browsers or emails open alongside the tables...... How do people take so long, so often, to open fold pre flop? I figure its multi tabling regs who are playing more tables than they can cope with, however, it TOTALLY ruins the experience for those who dont mass multitable.... (I don't blame the players that do this - they have the time and are entitled to use it - the blame lies with the poker networks that put the structure in place that allows and encourages it....), Anyway I played 454 hands in 143 minutes (323 table minutes).

Goal 2 - Profitability - The reverse of yesterday and my profit on the week back pretty much where it started. Day 2 showed a loss of €1.10. Bankroll now stands at £11.10.

Goal 3 - Study - I worked through Video 2 of W3az3ls Walkthrough series yesterday. Didn't really get around to adjusting my 3bet strategy much during my play .... having learned that vdeo 3 is on HUD set up, my intention is to push on faster than I expected to the next video, and then to return to videos 1 and 2 to recap. I really want to improve my HUD, and when I play around with it myself, I don't feel I necessarily make that much progress.

Goal 4 - Weight - Weigh in today was 75.8KG, a bit of a disappointment after yesterday, but its only one reading (as was yesterday!), so we'll see where we stand tomorrow.....

Goal 5 - Body Fat (KG) - Came in at 15.0KG. Remained at 19.8% - first time I've been below 20% for two consecutive days!SHooting for the hat trick tomorrow.... Muscle went up to 28KG - very close to the high of 28.2KG.

Goal 6 - Exercise - I completed a relatively easy hour on the exercise bike. I completed 42.41KM for an estimated 618 Calories burned.This ride had a target heart rate of 142BPM (80% of calculated maximum). The high cadence (approx 110 RPM) meant the bike kept the resistance level low (in order to manage my Heart Rate at 142). My day 3 goal is a similar ride (142BP, 1 hour) but with a slightly lower cadence (meaning slightly higher resistance and slightly harder workout)

Goal 7 - Blog Updates - Blog updated on time again

Week 2 Day 3 Update

Goal 1 - Hand Volume - Pathetic volume on Day 3 - fortunatley I had some spare hands in the bank from Day 1. I played 89 hands in 54 minutes (also 54 table minutes - I played 1 table). The main reason for the low volume was going down to a single table and working on my HUD. The lack of volume was therefore an investment in the future.

Goal 2 - Profitability - a €2.13 profit on the day :). As you can see from the graph - it all hinged on 1 hand! Bankroll up to £12.75.

Goal 3 - Study - A good study day - I worked through W34z3ls 3rd video in the walkthrough series - and worked extensively on my HUD as a result.

Goal 4 - Weight - Great strides - weighed in at 75.2KG - 0.2KG above my 75KG goal. I also measured my stomach and compared it to a measurement I did 6 months ago .... it fell from 94cm to 89cm, so quite a visible difference. (Although I'm not overweight, I still store a lot of fat on my stomach!)

Goal 5 - Body Fat - Got the hattrick - first time I've had 3 consecutive days with a body fat reading below 20%. Hopefully here to stay now? A new low - 14.7KG (19.5%). Muscle % was a new high - 37%.

Goal 6 - Exercise - Did my hour, at a slower cadence, stil 142 BPM heart rate, so higher resistance and tougher workout. I went 35.37 KM and burned an estimated 763 Calories. The next session will try a higher heart rate, with an even slower cadence, for a substantially tougher workout - so this time I will only attempt 30 minutes and see how it goes.... (I've been reading a bit here: https://wattbike.com/uk/guide/getting_started/heart_rate_and_power_training_zones)

Goal 7 - Blog Updates - Still on target ... only just before midday today....

Week 2 Day 4 Update

Goal 1 - Hand Volume - I reached my daily goal. I was mostly up to 2 tabling again today. I played 357 hands in 150 minutes (246 table minutes). For the week, I'm up to 1,623 hands so far. To hit my weekly goal, I need to play another 897 hands this week (299 per day). I'm likely to be busy on Day 5, and busier on Day 6, so might struggle and be leaving myself a marathon (relatively!) end on Day 7 (or I might be able to stay on target the next couple of days....)

Goal 2 - Profitability - A profit of €0.34 on Day 4. First 4 days of the week currently recording a profit of €2.60 (that's about 8bb/100). I remain hopeful that Week 2 can show my first profit. Any profit! Netbet appears to be down at the moment, so I cannot report my exact bankroll.

Goal 3 - Study - not a lot of study completed on Day 4 (and days 5 and 6 likely to be approaching nil) - overall I'm happy with what I have done in the week, but will probably need to make a bit up on Day 7 to be totally satisfied. The study I did on day 4 was mainly database session/hand reviews.

Goal 4 - Weight - Day 4 weigh in was flat at 75.2KG. Disappointed with the weakness I showed in consumption at the end of day 4, munching my way through 150g of sultanas! Unfortunately dried fruit I find hard to resist when it is in the house - and its not helped when buying it for cooking and the supermarkets only sell it in quantities far greater than what's required! Overall though calories for Day 4 were roughly where they should be (I still want a calorie deficit to finally hit my 75KG goal - but once I hit it, my intention is to start eating back my exercise calories burned)

Goal 5 - Body Fat - The measure showed an increase, and was recorded at 15.0KG (20.0%). However within the daily swings, I'm happy that I'm showing the improvement I'm seeking.

Goal 6 - Exercise - Completed my shorter, but more intense session relatively comfortably. 30 minutes completed at a target heart rate of 156 (89% of calculated max) for a distance of 16.11KM and estimated calories burned of 419. I aim to repeat the same on day 5, but for 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes. I will have 2 rest days on day 6 and day 7, in preparation for a monumental time trial on day 1 of week 3 to try and hit the 40km distance (leading to an increase in resistance in future time trials)

Goal 7 - Blog updates - done nice and early today - not leaving it till the last minute again!

Week 2 Day 5 Update

Goal 1 - Hand Volume - As expected, Day 5 had low volume as I had other things on (same on Day 6). TO be honest, I didn't think I would get any hands in at all, so what I did manage was a bonus! I played 44 hands (lol) in 21 minutes (34 table minutes). Volume for the week now is 1,667 hands in 510 minutes (1,113 Table minutes).

Goal 2 - Profitability - The small number of hands I played was for a loss of €0.79. Overall for the week now I am €1.81 up. (about 5 bb/100). I was reading the blog of livethelife7 yesterday (NLHE 6max bankroll building @zoom) and noted that he displays his graphs in bb instead of currency. It makes a lot of sense and I gave serious consideration to following suit, but decided against it mainly because, it would give added weight to NL2 and less weight to NL5 - than the actual profit/loss achieved. For example,m it would be totally possible that I could show a loss at NL5, and a profit at NL2, having a loss overall, but the bb graph showing an overall profit. If I was playing just one stake, then I would probably switch the graphs.

Goal 3 - Study - Didn't manage any study on Day 5 and will not manage any on day 6. Hoping to catch up a bit on day 7.

Goal 4 - Weight - An increase on Day 5, and a FULLY deserved increase! I went into meltdown in the evening and started snacking excessively! Must get my discipline and willpower back if I want to lose that last smidgeon of weight to hit my target! Its this lack of discipline and willpower, the closer I get to my target that is precisely the reason I haven't hit my target!

Goal 5 - Bodyfat - A slight increase again, 20.4% Body Fat recorded (15.4KG). I'm not trying to micromanage this - its more of a long term measure, but it doesn't surprise me that its increased over the last 2 days (or that it has fallen quite a lot over the last 6 months).

Goal 6 - Exercise - Failure! Only managed 20 minutes of my tougher, longer session. With a bit more drive and willpower I could probably have got through it .... but I was lacking in that department. Having said that, it did seem tougher than the day before and I'm wondering whether I need to avoid tougher workouts on consecutive days in the future. Something to try.

Goal 7 - Blog Updates - Perfect record continues