Operation: GTFO

Hey Raknyo!

Good luck with your goals! Loving your positive attitude and hoping you can carry through!

Thank you for encouraging words HM!

Day 1 Review
Good Points:

• Kept a time diary, proved very helpful.
  
• Spent some time learning C++.
  
• Practiced the process model for poker
  
• Went to bed early enough
  
• Constantly drank water

Bad Points:

• Had a cheeky 4 hr nap after lunch
  
• Didn't go to see my Grandma, definitely missed some loving!
  
• Could have found a little time to exercise

Development areas:

• Make sure to see your Grandma often enough
  
• Be sure to exercise daily
  
• No napping!

As you can see, I'm always looking for ways to Live, Love and Learn!

Also deciding to change the E in (SEW) from exercise to energy levels so I can make sure I don't eat sweets and also exercise often.

Going to keep doing this time diary as well, might have to update my development goals to include this, not sure yet.

Time for my morning walk!

Day 2 Review
Good Points

• Got up early
  
• Didn't eat many sweets
  
• Practiced process model
  
• Spent some time with friends
  

Bad Points:

• Played poker when tired and spewed 4BI in 800 hands
  
• Went to bed late
  
• Didn't learn any C++

Development areas:

• Don't play poker when tired, you're goals are set for a reason
  
• Ensure you get asleep in a timely manner
  
• Regain some confidence by reading and practicing TMGP

Here is my graph for first 3500 hands of NL25 ZOOM. I am looking forward to analyzing my previous session and regaining the needed mental attitude to thrive in the next 3500 hands.

Day 3 - 5 Review
Good points:

• Since my big tilt on Monday, I haven't played when tired
  
• Improved my pre-flop hand selection.
  
• Improving my river value bet sizing
  
• In the habit of practicing the process model each session

Bad points:

• Haven't dedicated anymore time to learning C++
  
• Haven't analysed my previous tilt session
  
• Haven't exercised much
  
• Could drink more water

Development areas:

• Drink more water
  
• Exercise more
  
• Analyse previous sessions
  
• Dedicate some time to learning C++

Had a day off work on Wednesday and grinded 1250 hands. Also made sure to improve by reading up on pre-flop range and then making sure I put this knowledge into my decisions whilst playing.

I feel as if I've gained insight on the whole learning process of poker. After reading TMGP and now TMGP2, I feel I better understand the long road it takes to become a poker pro.

Also recently purchased 'Applications of No-Limit Holdem' even though it's a bit advanced for my stake. However, seeing the math behind solid play is something I've been waiting too long for!

A couple things I've realized since last post:

• Performing a technically bad play repeatedly not only hurts your win-rate now but also future win-rate as the more you get into bad habits, the harder they are to break. This has motivated me to stop playing when tired, since the longer the bad habit continues, the harder it is to break.
  
• I know very little! After briefly looking over some material when I was bored, it made me realize how little I actually know. There is so much concepts to learn in poker, and I look forward to learning them all eventually but for now I accept that I am a work in process.
  

Overall, I'm very happy with the progress I've made on both my mental and technical game. I'm so happy that I managed to quit after tilting 4BI the other day, and also that I haven't play when tired since that. My confidence felt shattered but after working on perfecting my pre-flop play, I got straight back into and played near my A-game.

It's of great importance that I analyse this tilt session.

It'll allow me to see the lead up to tilt, which I think may be:

1. Either lose some money or win very little. (Entitlement Tilt)
   
2. 2. I start chaning my technical strategy or open up more tables.
   
3. 3. I make mistakes or lose more and become aggressive.
   
4. 4. I lose a lot and turn into aggro. monkey.
   

Wow, getting this out my head is so beneficial. I am also looking to use this C-game session to see exactly what the difference between my A, B and C game is. This will allow me to know what I should be focusing on whilst playing my C-game so I can actively improve it.

PS. I'm experiencing so much positive variance, recently. Played poker with friends yesterday and I made trips+ each hand I dealt so they thought I was cheating and wouldn't let me deal.

I feel like I have improved my mental game so I'm interested in seeing how I will deal with negative variance. As long as I can continue working towards my goals and stay confident by proving losing hands were actually solid plays, and also continue to address mental game issues, I should be alright.



PSS. Sorry for my wall of text, I needed this stuff out of my head! Will update after I reach 10K hands.

Wow, a really great blog you got going there!
I also read TMGP and it helped me a lot as I am not tilting as much as I used before.
Moreover, I am going to read the second part in a little while as I have to do exams.

I also have a question -> did you have any problems with fear? That's probably one of my biggest weaknesses atm and I am working really hard to get rid of it, but it takes time of course! I am currently playing at NL5 (just started) and I currently have to figure out how to beat that limit - but betting the river for value on a rather "scary" board was/is always a problem for me.

Just wanted to know about your experiences before / after reading TMGP

Your graphs look very good and I really like the format of your blog / attitude towards poker

Keep up the good work!

Originally posted by Rains7
Wow, a really great blog you got going there!
I also read TMGP and it helped me a lot as I am not tilting as much as I used before.
Moreover, I am going to read the second part in a little while as I have to do exams.

I also have a question -> did you have any problems with fear? That's probably one of my biggest weaknesses atm and I am working really hard to get rid of it, but it takes time of course! I am currently playing at NL5 (just started) and I currently have to figure out how to beat that limit - but betting the river for value on a rather "scary" board was/is always a problem for me.

Just wanted to know about your experiences before / after reading TMGP

Your graphs look very good and I really like the format of your blog / attitude towards poker

Keep up the good work!

Hi Rains7,

TMGP is such a great read, I recently purchased TMGP2 and that one is just as awesome.

I have also had problems with fear, they sound quite similar to yours. I'd give my opponents a bias range. By this I mean that I'd focus either too much on the hands I beat, or either the hands which beat me.

The way that I combat this is by reviewing these tricky hands and giving my opponents a full range.

QJo - Turned Straight versus. X/R w/ Possible Flush

This is a good example from yesterday, I was sure my opponent had a flush so I folded. After reviewing it, I realised that sometimes my opponent could have a set so my fold, even though marginal, was incorrect. Doing this review has allowed me to see my errors.

Next time I'm in a similar situation, I'll inject logic and say:
"OK, I accept he does have a flush a lot of the time here, but he could also have a slow-played set or possibly two-pair. And my flush draw might be good."

This way, even if I call and see the flush, I'm confident my play was correct. This will also allow me to remain confident and focused during the reminder of the session.

If you could do the same with your river betting situations, then you will be able to do the same. I've had some problems myself on the river (betting the correct amount for maximum value), it's the hardest street due to the wealth of information available but we'll master it eventually!

Thank you for your kind words,
Raknyo

Edit
I've been neglecting poker a little these past few days but I'm working on ensuring that I grind enough each day. Haven't been reviewing many of my plays, I don't want to fall back into this bad habit so I'm going ahead and reviewing a lot of my hands today.

I feel like I've started to make using of my opponents player type a lot more. And because of this, I've started to open-raise the correct range, specifically in late position and the SB.

However, went I'm playing my playing my C-game (when I'm tired or distracted) I've realised that I have a very high c-bet, even for Zoom poker, it's very high. As well as this, I've been going to showdown with the worst hand a lot.

I'm going to investigate this further to see exactly where my logic is flawed regarding these issues and then I can actively work on preventing these in future sessions.

Update:
I have a real bad problem of playing whilst under the influence.

I've realised how much of a leak this actually is, not only does it destroy my win-rate but I lose motivation to play and improve.

I've developed a real bad habit of hopelessly grinding, sometimes staying awake for days just to try to win it back.

I've managed to learn a couple things about myself during this tilt, some areas which I can improve but mostly, that I need to find something else to do when I'm hammered.

This has been my number 1 reason for going broke, and it's going to be hard but I will find a way to overcome this. I've tried to justify playing at these times in the past, to prove I can crush even without sufficient rest, but this is all bullshit.

I turn from a level-headed poker player into a highly volatile degenerate.

Will update with my sick graph when I get home, but today is a long overdue wake up call.

I've took a break from poker after this weekends crazy antics and I think a little time away has allowed me to regather strength and the needed motivation to get where I need to go.

Later reflection:
I think to overcome this, I need to realise what is on the line when I play.

It's not just money, it's future motivation and my potential future which I am destroying.

The way I'm looking at decisions at the moment is like a domino train. We make choices (which dominos to knock over) but each decision has a knock on affect to the next available decision.

I need to realise that simple decisions such as whether I should play whilst high, have a massive affect on whether or not I'll reach my goals.


EDIT:


At about 8.5K - 12.5K is when I decided to get high and play.

On the positive side, at least I'm not bust!

Also, a few days away and I've come back and feel just as confident with my decision-making.

This is definitely progress, shaky progress, but progress non the less!