Talent + Hard Work = Success! A Young Logician's Approach to Life and Poker.

in before busto!

err.. wait a sec.

j/k, hope you follow your BRM more wisely from now. it shouldn't be much of a problem since you described yourself pretty bot-like.

and running is awesome, just don't overdo it or you won't be able to walk much. i pretty much am struggling to introduce it as a steady habit myself too.

and yes, it's quite ironic. cosmic irony ftw.

Haha, not busto pal. I managed to tear myself away from my degenerative stage to save $13. Now is that lucky or unlucky? Cosmic irony FTW!

Even though I managed to lose all that money, I'm still proud of myself that I managed to save some. This is longest I haven't been broke for, roughly 7 weeks which is a major improvement on previous attempts at becoming a winning player.

I am going to be conservative with my bankroll management and follow a strict 25 buy-in rule. I would probably be confident moving up to NL5 with 20 buy-ins but I'm going to stick to my BRM as a test of discipline for later levels.

As for the run, I went outside and it was raining but not even the weather could put me off today, I'm a man with a mission. I managed to jog for 15 minutes, taking certain minutes out to either sprint or walk. I've got to admit that I'm absolutely knackered off it though, my bedroom is located up many stairs so I basically had to crawl up the last few.

I'm not sure if it's a placebo but I already see some benefits, I've been able to think that little bit clearer today and have been making sure to write down all my thoughts and goals into a notepad. Then I actually tidied my room to an excellent standard and had breakfast for once.

It's only 10:14am and even though I haven't really done much, I've accomplished more than I would on most days. Can't wait for the rest of today, going to do some poker stuff, update my blog and then spend most of the day with my family for my nephew's 1st birthday.

that's nice ^^ good job on following thru with running despite the rain.

and, $13 is great compared to busto. hope you have a little run good, so you get some breathing room, BR wise. remember tight is right.

continue having a productive day then!

out of interest, what site do you play on?

thanks for the song

gl on your quest

I play Zoom on Pokerstars, what about you?

I love that song also, I sent my friend a text thanking him for re-introducing me to it

Well this week is going great so far, I've already clocked in over 10 hours of poker work, making sure to spend a fair amount of time studying theory, playing and analysing tricky spots.

Also managed to find an hour to do some work through my Maths course which I never got to finish at College, I very much enjoy this so will definitely be doing some more.

Have also been continuing with my 5:00am jogs even though it's been raining, I told myself I could have today off but I think it'll be best if I just keep going for these jogs but I think I'll go a bit later today.

Having great success with my study group, did a sweat with another player which allowed me to highlight where I was making mistakes, mainly when to c-bet as well as overvaluing my opponents draws.

Feel like I've made great progress already and it's only Wednesday morning, don't know how I've managed to wake up at 03:00am instead of 05:00am though

Well, I let my old habits get the better of me and I nearly lost my entire BR again though this time I was left with $25.

To some of you, this would count as a failure but to me it's a giant success. When I used to tilt off my bankroll, it would all go, every last cent but now I can quit before the dreaded $0.00. This means I haven't had to deposit in over 2 months, the longest time I can remember! Also, next time I think I should be able to quit after I reach my stop-loss tactics, from which I had stopped practicing.

Also, I only have to win $50 until I can take another shot at NL5. However, this time I must remind myself that it is of the uttermost importance that I drop back down to NL2 with $50 otherwise I'll end up in the same position.

At the moment, I'm trying to limit my volume to ensure that the quality of my hands still stays as high as it should be. Also been trying out usual cash games instead of Zoom and I've got to say these past 500 hands have been the most profitable (in terms of BB) of my whole poker career.

Even though this week hasn't went as great as I'd hoped, I have really saw great improvement in my game and how well I am able to handle making mistakes. I am more determined than ever to succeed and most importantly, I see where I have been making mistakes in my previous attempts.

Will try to remember to jot my interesting thoughts down so I can make my blog a bit more fun and also will post a blog of my graph and the most interesting hands I can find once I play another 500 or so.

First 1,000 hands have went brilliantly for the following reasons:

• I practiced the process model for each session.
• I didn't look at my bankroll during the game.
• I gained maximum value from fish.
• I saw improvement in my greatest weaknesses, bluffing fish and calling river bets too lightly.
• I ran good!

Haven't went over the last 700 hands with a fine tooth-comb yet but here is one, moderately interesting hand:

PokerStars - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 215.5 BB
Hero (BTN): 136.5 BB
SB: 50 BB
BB: 53 BB
UTG: 102 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has 2♦ 2♥

fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, BB calls 2 BB

Flop: ($0.13, 2 players) T♣ 2♠ 2♣
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($0.13, 2 players) A♥
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($0.13, 2 players) 3♦
BB bets 4 BB, Hero raises to 15 BB, BB raises to 26 BB, Hero raises to 50 BB, BB calls 24 BB and is all-in

Slow-playing, like a BOSS!

Look forward to practicing the process model for the next 1,500 hands!

As for anyone who doesn't know what the process model is (go read Jared Tellers book NOW!), it is a simple concept which allows people to perform at their best most often. This is incredibly important for us poker players, who need to play their A-game as often as possible.

If your intrigued, click here!

Also, I recently found a great software which has greatly improved my motivation but more about that next time

Nice graph will be following

Losing a big chunk of your BR twice really sucks. Hopefully you'll be able to get yourself out of this downward spiral. Like you said yourself, if you really enforce your BRM and the stop-loss limits you set up for yourself, this shouldn't be a problem. It's a bit of a mindset change, but I'm sure you'll be able to pull it off, based on the way you write about it

Also nh