They say good things come to those who wait.. So I'ma be at least an hour late.

Gl sir, will be following

What games are you playing?

Hey Danny, thanks for stopping by!

I play NL50 6max at stars, sometimes zoom, sometimes regular tables. I have 30 BI's for NL100, but still not confident about moving up.

Nice, I also play NL50 zoom.

Hope you run well, looking forward to some updates

Need a poker buddy then? We could sweat, discuss, etc If this sounds good to you, throw me your skype via pm

Sure sounds good

Danny -> skype request sent.

Since I cannot get to action giving my 100% yet, thought it would be fine to put in another entry, covering a little bit about my past at poker and the upcoming challenges.

// My past at poker

I'll show you my lifetime graph of the database I currently have, which dates back to January, 2012. In my opinion, it says quite a lot about the topic. ♠_love:

So if the Rocky's famous quote

it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward

is true, then I like my chances!

Having started @ NL5 at 888poker, I was grinding happily and reached NL100. Until I hit a downswing.

Believe me guys. After that one, I know what does it feel like to run bad. As a result, I started to tilt massively. I did not drop down. I took every wrong decision. I felt absolutely crushed mentally. At some points I even had tears in my eyes because of anger and desperation. The feeling of being close to zero after reaching 4k in profit (excluding rakeback) was just soul crushing. Add to it constant set-ups, suckouts and massive run bad. This hell lasted 67k hands. 70k hands of steep downhill hell.

But I got up. And now I am super proud of it. Frankly, I treat this recovery as my biggest success in my poker career.

And it made me way better in general. Plus, it made me familiar with what is negative variance. Nothing compared to that one until then. With so many leaks (back then, not saying I don't have them anymore though) in my mental and technical game, I was not ready to be a good player anyway. Honestly, looking at it now, I think I was not even good enough for NL100 back then, just ran well at the beginning.

Now I am better than that, and in addition, I would be better prepared for terrible stretches of bad luck. It was a huge test and preparation for future, for the challenges ahead of me.

One of them is right in front.

// The upcoming challenge

So, I am virtually back to NL100. As I have mentioned in my OP, this is going to be my biggest attempt to finally be something more than uNL grinder. I have never been more serious than I am at the moment.

The biggest hurdle, no doubt about it, will be to keep my motivation high and stable. We all know how fired up we are in the beginning of something, but as the time goes by, things start to slide.

And I am planning to make this at least 9 month long marathon of constant work. (Exam sessions will be exceptions, I am on my final year at Uni after all). So definitely, staying motivated and disciplined will be the key. But I am going to do my best. Yesterday I watched Schnitzelfisch's video about this particular topic and it was of great help.

I am really curious myself of how I am going to do and where it will take me. Can't wait to get started. One thing I know is that it will take a lot of work and effort to be where I want to be. But it's worth a shot.

loo pretty sick swings variance plx

AArvanity - Thanks for stopping by. Yeah, had some swings in my career for sure.

I'm excited!

So I am back to studying, which means I can finally dedicate myself to poker a lot more.

Last couple of days I had some time though, and used it to make some important decisions. Like, will I be focusing on playing at regular tables or zoom, will I keep playing at stars or switch to softer sites, which stakes will I play, etc. Also, I've gone through schnitzelfisch's videos about motivation and goal setting.

So just basic preparation for the upcoming challenge, if I can call it so.

Came up with some decisions. I will stay at stars and be playing regular tables. This means it will take more effort to reach my volume goals, but after some contemplating, I think this is a good decision. The current stake is NL50.

// So now, the goals.

1. 12 000 hands / week at regular tables

2. Not looking at my results (won $, ev $, bb/100, session won $, etc) for a week.

3. Taking at least 2 seconds of thought before pretty much every decision at the table.

4. To reach PlatinumStar this month.

5. 80/20 Playing / learning ratio.

I've set them to actually face my weaknesses.

1. I have never been good in putting in decent volume and not burning out / hurting my game. This number looks like a good start and may be increased in the future. To try and keep my game better, I decided to play regular tables instead of zoom, because I tend to tilt faster at the latter, plus generally it is a little bit tougher to play.

2. I have always been terribly results oriented. Checking my results every 10 minutes or so was affecting my game really much. Therefore I will combat this. Already removed any stats and rates which have something to do with short-term results in my HEM. I will check the results at the same time I will be doing my weekly updates on my progress here at pokerstrategy. So it will be easier to focus on what really matters - the right decision.

3. Another common problem I have when trying to play a lot is autopilot. This is especially true if I slip to B game. To solve this, I think, forcing myself to use my brain and actually THINK while playing is a good idea.

4. 12k hands a week, according to my calculations, should be enough to reach Platinum Star. I never had it, so it looks like a motivating monthly goal for me.

5. Obviously, success needs hard work, so for every 4 hours I play, I'll commit 1 hour for improving my game.

This looks like a solid start for me. I'll repeat it once more, this will be updated weekly + whenever I feel like if there is something useful to say. I sincerely thank you if you are still reading, by the way.

I'm starting today. Really excited!

P.S. Schintzelfish talked about motivating environment in his video about motivation. I think, blogs section of pokerstrategy is the definition of that.
So many players are doing shitloads of work and not surprisingly having success. This is real motivation.

So the week has gone by and it is time for a promised update!

Overall, a really productive week. I was actually being out of my comfort zone for a fair amount of time during these seven days. Both in poker and real life. But since this is all about poker, I will start here.

As I have mentioned in my previous post, having clear volume goals was not something I practiced before. So it was kind of new to me to get up every day and know that I HAVE to schedule my time so that I am able to put in an X amount of hands in that particular day. But usually being out of your comfort zone is a good thing for a human being, and I think it is the case here. I always felt that this goal, y'a know, pushes me forward, does not let me waste time and just makes me feel responsible for my actions. So yeah, I really enjoyed the process.

As a result, my goal:

1. 12 000 hands / week at regular tables

was reached. I played 12484 hands. Even though I could not play for 2 days during the past week. So seems like 12k is a good number for me in the future. Most likely going to have to lower it for the next 7 days though, as seems like an upcoming week will be even harder to deal with playtime-wise.

Now, the second goal.

Not looking at my results (won $, ev $, bb/100, session won $, etc) for a week.

I'll color it orange. I did not achieve this, BUT, I definitely made improvements compared to my old me. But there are some serious excuses for this one. I started the week running good and decided to take shots @ NL100. Now, my usual routine when shooting at the higher limit is to set 2-3 BI's stoploss. So at one point I was kind of forced to check how I am doing.

But to be honest, even under normal circumstances, I can't help but check my results after every session. It's kinda hard to avoid, as I like to review my biggest lost / won hands when self-reflecting after sessions. Did not feel like this is hurting my game, but the fact is that it's a bad habit.

3. Taking at least 2 seconds of thought before pretty much every decision at the table.

4. To reach PlatinumStar this month.

These two are both green. Didn't feel like auto-piloting at all and I'm on schedule for PlatinumStar.

5. 80/20 Playing / learning ratio.

This one is also orange. While it is true that I did work on my game, there's definitely a feeling in me that what I've done is nothing compared to some of the hard working guys here at pokerstrategy. I think my learning process should be more organized and efficient. But that's okay, I have a plan on how to improve this.

// Summary of the week.

Yeah, the whole process of reaching goals was fun.
Results-wise it was no different. I was fortunate enough to start with an upswing. I took shots at NL100 and won 4 BI's, so now I'm sort of on a threshold between NL50 and NL100. Technically I can play NL100, but still very vulnerable to a bad run, so definitely going to proceed with caution.

During the whole week I had only one loosing session, and that was actually today. Dropped 2.5 BI's in an hour. It just felt that this was not my session right from the bat, running to the top ranges quite hard.

Graph of the week:

// Next week

Weekly goals:

1. 10 000 hands / week at regular tables
2. Looking at my results (won $, ev $, bb/100, session won $, etc) as rarely as I can.
3. Taking at least 2 seconds of thought before pretty much every decision at the table.
5. 80/20 Playing / learning ratio - more efficient and organized than last week.

Most likely going to have less time, so I'll reduce my volume goal to 10k. Still a fair number, given that I play solely regular tables.

The challenge will be to try and set my feet firmly @ NL100. By saying that I mean that I should play NL50 if I am running / playing bad and NL100 if otherwise. Really want to make this transition as smooth as possible, but in poker you can't control everything. I'm going to try and do what I can.

Looking how I am doing results-wise may be inevitable, so I'll just try and do it only when necessary.

The goal to prevent auto-piloting stays the same.

And as I've touched on before, I should work harder on my game. Have some ideas on how to improve this.

Monthly goal stays the same - to reach PlatinumStar. Smart (forces me to put in hands) and attainable, plus pretty beneficial.

So yeah, I guess this is it for this one. I also have some real life stuff to write about, but going to leave it for the other day.

Thanks if you are still reading, till the next time.

I have a free moment and thought that I haven't introduced properly yet, so beware, the following text AND VIDEOS (had to catch your attention somehow ♠_biggrin: ) will be all about ME! Since I'm planning to keep this blog running for quite a while, why not letting you know me a little bit better.

Name: Emilijus
Birthdate: 1992-03-03 (22yo)
Country: Lithuania
Height: 190 cm
Weight: 87 kg
Horoscope: Pisces
Lucky number: 3
Hobbies / interests / passions (besides poker, obviously ♠_confused: ): basketball, formula 1, karts, cars, hanging around with friends, some hookah (aka waterpipe).

Talking about hookah - that's me during one of the parties Sexy, ain't it? ♦

Ok that's enough, I'm going to be a little bit mysterious and won't let you know my shoe size and favorite underwear color ♦

Now, on a more serious note, my ultimate goal is self-development. As mentioned in my OP, my desire is to become a better man. I am great believer in a fact that true, quality man is made while going through life's hurdles and not born (with rare exceptions). Too bad I realized this not a long time ago.

Sadly, I'm not one of those rare exceptions and have to take action, make changes, learn new things, constantly get over myself to improve as a personality. But I absolutely enjoy the process.

Good news is that usually I'm good at something I like doing. So potential is there!

Ok, that will be enough of me, this is pokerstrategy after all

// Poker

Poker-wise doing well. September is going cool so far, but we're just halfway through it and everything can happen. Will cover more details in my weekly update.

Graph of the month so far:

That's it for this time, I'll leave you with a sweet move I mastered this summer.

#fishinthewater

Back to the tables!

Oh great jump into the water :f_cool:. Well done, well done. And of course what a great run at the tables. Keep up with great work.

Nice flip! ♠_thumbsup:

Thanks, you two. Yeah, I like that one myself. Took quite a couple of attempts before I got it right, to be honest.

//

Boy, time flies by really fast. Second week of the blog has just passed by and here I am doing my weekly recap.

Well, these were pretty contrasting seven days. During the first part of it I managed to carry on upswinging. As a result, been playing NL100. Not only regular tables, but mixed in some zoom. Not much, though. Just to change environment for a little.

But then this one session happened. I dropped 5.5 BI's @ NL100. Won't dig into details much, I think everyone has had one of these. Things just don't go your way. Pretty unfortunate, as I was really trying to drop my anchor in NL100. Two conclusions:

Positive: I swallowed my pride and immediately got back to NL50.
Negative: Didn't manage to catch an upswing again.

But the decision to move down was correct. I was able to get back 4 buy-ins @ NL50. Things could have gone so much worse if I hadn't moved down. Lost a bit of confidence (redine being a proof, not sure how much of it was variance though), and basically not in a state to continue shooting new limit.

Nevertheless, I am definitely not making tragedy of it. It was bound to happen, as I was just running too well before (having unsustainable win rate, I mean). So actually I lost what did not belong to me anyway.

Graph of the week:

+ I got 50$ stellar reward and 170$ rakeback from FPP sat's, so still a positive week cash-wise.

Now, talking about the goals, it was also quite positive. The only area which needs improvement is being less results oriented. Most importantly, I played close to 16k hands, which is 160% of what was the aim. So really happy about that.

// The week ahead

Grinding continues. There will be some changes, though.
Some bad sessions I experienced this week made me notice one area of the game that I definitely need to improve.

I realized that I am a non-believer. In other words, I don't fold (especially on the river) when I should. Usual excuses for that are ''Oh cmon, you don't rep anything'' or ''you don't have that'', etc. I think it comes down to the fact that I can't stand a thought about other reg outplaying/bluffing me, however you want to name it.

Frankly, I think the inability of making good folds is what separates me from better regs. As a result, I'll add a goal regarding this for the upcoming week.

And, being too much results oriented continues to be a problem. So maybe the right strategy would be to start from little steps.

Weekly goals:

1. 12 000 hands
2. To look at my results every other day. (starting small, fighting habit of checking every 30 minutes)
3. Taking at least 2 seconds of thought before pretty much every decision at the table.
4. Mark 15 hands where I make a fold, but would have called / continued before if I were not trying to improve in this area. Then post these for evaluation.
5. The hand-reading game (using Saw Showdown = True filter) for 50 hands

If I can reach these, it would for sure be a step forward for me. Improvement takes effort!

Feels like this is everything I have to say for this time. Take care!

keep up the good work mate!

Originally posted by maritsula
keep up the good work mate!

Thank's bro, your success is my motivation!

Originally posted by Pkrpains
4. To reach PlatinumStar this month.

So my monthly goal is easily achieved - feeling fine about that ♠_grin:. Obviously, no instant benefits, but it's the best monthly level at stars, there's nothing more I can do. Time to gather those FPP's!

Overall, being pretty productive poker-wise so far this week. Watching vids, discussing, playing, even thinking about poker.

Frankly, never before I was so dedicated to this game. I hope I can sustain things at this pace, because if I manage that, there's just no way that results aren't coming.

Now I just need to avoid massive doom-switches. These are known to f*ck up determination pretty horribly.

Congrats, some more FPP's is always nice, just got to save for when you turn supernova and can buy a few $1600 ♠_cool:

Originally posted by peche025
Congrats, some more FPP's is always nice, just got to save for when you turn supernova and can buy a few $1600 ♠_cool:

That's true mate! Bad news is that there is no supernova in horizon for me this year ♠_cry:

Plan is to collect as many FPP's as I can till the end of this year and then buy some Platinum bonuses for Christmas

And then next year push for supernova as fast as possible! If nothing extra happens of course. ♠_thumbsup:

Thanks for stopping by!

I doubt I will make it either, but maybe if we're crushing NL200 by December it won't be a problem ♠_cool:

GL m8!!!

SICK lifetime graph