Originally posted by SvenBe
I am always reading the blog. I've sometimes getting the feeling that you are the master of plans, but how well do you do with your master-plan?
It is easy to come up with new goals, challenges - but please make sure that you stay accountable to yourself and your goals. Obviously your goal of going abroad is always on the table, but when it comes to your poker game, I am seeing variations imho a bit too frequently:
Today:
Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
Starting tomorrow, in next 5 weeks
Yesterday
Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
What to do in future?
13.12.
Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
My goal is before Thailand to actually grind 30 days in a row with 8 hours of grind per day.
10.12.
Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
So starting today, I will grind 8 hours per day 5 tabling and check my win rate during the next 7 days (....
8.12.
Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
I will stay in every single day and grind until I hit that 3k target and do steady 8 hours.
5.12.
Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
Again, goals for 2017 are:
What do i want to say? I am not even sure... I think loosing the focus and not pulling something through once in a while can be a big problem. But even with your insights from the blog i might be totally wrong in judging it - so leaving it up to you!
For sure Sven!
I wrote many times before, will write again. The way things work in life for me are very flexible. My only intention and major goal for this year was to make money and pay off apartment mortgage for my dad using Spins. I did that in November and when it comes to whole year as far as I am concerned I am very happy! Other goals are side goals which are not 100% set in stone. In other words, they are very flexible for me. I want to continue and grind 8 hours per day but when I started to do it I noticed couple of really big things : 1) my focus later in the day falls and from 7-8 sessions 2 sessions are not played with B, B- game but way worse then that. 2) In the process of 5 tabling I noticed more edges that I need to work on and polish (despite the downswing I am in now) 3) Thirst to study and improve! Before I was content through out whole year to just grind and make 25$ per hour without studying. Now it is different. I want to crush the game so hard in a way that whatever spot comes I am at least 90%+ sure what my and opponent range looks like with different bet sizing and actions that come before or after it.
So in that sense, my goal to grind 8 hours per day will change. Grinding 8 hours per day won't improve my game! On contrary, it will keep it in the same place where it is. I need to go back in the lab and study every day minimum 1 hour and play 6 hours with focus + study with study partners.
With all this being said, now there is couple of things going on!
1) Past 2k games I am running bellow EV a bit over 2k$ , instead of being up 225$ I am down 1.8k. So now Thailand goal is very far out of reach. I would give myself at this moment 40% equity to actually cover the make up of 1.8k and make another 1.5k in next 4 weeks.
2) I restarted my studying habit and I want to keep it consistent and improve. Goal is this time next year not to be at 25$ hourly but rather to increase it to 35$ per hour minimum. To do that I can still play 15s but with crushing win rate, or play 30s with good win rate. Along the way I want to do tons of DB analysis, game plan adaptation, HH reviews, studying sessions with my studying partners and improve a ton.
3) I hired my HU hypers coach today! Tomorrow we will do 1 hour session, 30 minutes to discuss game plan and 30 minutes of live play. He is not playing poker full time any more but he is one of the people who helped me beat 15s-30s 6 max SNGs thanks to my work with him on 7s and 15s HU hypers. Now he can help me a lot - spot all the leaks that I have, check tendencies with me and tell me how to adjust immediately (since I will keep grind consistent)
So what is realistic?
Thailand should happen on 21st of January. I invested 650 euros for that trip (plane + accomodation) but I don't want to rush it an certainly don't plan on going if I am in make up at that point. Also, I don't plan to loan any money so that I go to beach for 10 days. I spent whole year paying off apartment mortgage. I don't want to have on my back weight of owing any money to anyone ever again. Which is why, if by 17th of January I don't have money that I need (make up covered + profit split for extra money for Thailand) I will simply not go to Thailand.
Grind wise, I will go for 6 to 7 hours on days that I play + study 1 hour and teach guitar/music. That is a lot of hours of activities where I have to be engaged and in focus, especially without break. So in that sense, I want to have about 5 days off in next 45 days. That leaves close to 40 days of grinding. 200 hours of grind is certainly reachable. I will go for more then that of course, but what I won't do is let tilt triggers due to tiredness and loss of focus push me to grind through but will rather take break even if that means grinding less that day.
Also, I will work with my HU hypers coach whenever he is available. He can help me so much and I expect my game to boost once we do 10+ hours together. I am putting all my free time (Between sessions and before) To go into PT4 and do DB analysis as well as run ranges in CREV and check how certain thing should be done while also reviewing (writting on paper) things from my game plan.
So, tons of things happening right now and in plan by 21st of January.
Whether I go to Thailand or not, that will not change my plans for 2017. Those plans are very simple:
- Improve hourly on 15s, improve knowledge, continue to 5 table, consistently grind
- Mix and move up to 30s, become a steady winner there
- Make 50k from poker and teaching minimum
- Take coaching and work with relevant study partners on my game
- Stay in Serbia in 2017 for the most part of the year and depending on results during the year travel to visit friends in Europe
My personal expectation is to grind minimum 5 to 6 hours 10 months in 2017. So 1500-1800 hours. With 30ish $ hourly that would bring me from 45-54k $ from poker alone. Even with 30$ hourly I will with music make additional 5k and get those 50k $. But I am not in it just for the money. I want to get all the doubts out when it comes to range vs range post flop on certain textures that cause me trouble. Once I do all these things, win rate will skyrocket and I can comfortably move up in stakes because they only things that are stopping me are : 1) doubt in my game plan (that its not ready for higher limits) 2) BR
BR will come with steady grind but doubt will only go away after 100s of hours of studying, experimenting with new knowledge at the tables and making those game plan adjustments my new high.
Response is a bit chaotic but hopefully it made sense!
Only thing I can promise poker related are things above for 2017. This year was very successful despite downswing I am in now. I am prioritizing studying and improving while pushing grinding at the same time. Remember, through the year my grind months were like 4 hours per day average at best (120 hours of poker). Now I will actually get to 150+ hours easily and not that, my plan is to get to 180 hours minimum on months that I grind in 2017 so that I reach 1.8k hours of grind in 2017 as that will bring me all the financial goals I have set for next year. Improvement wise - hard to tell. I won't give up, will study daily and work on improving but my brain has to accept all the new information, test it in games, try not to be biased when it doesn't work and move on. I know 1 thing for sure - for me to improve and reach new high, I need to accept that I will hit some new low 1st. For me this 2k downswing came at worst time (Thailand wise - likely not going there now!) but at the same time at best time improvement wise. Thanks to it I said to myself - no more going back, staying in the same place. It pushes me to work improve work hard and crush.
Save this post, use it for accountability for 2017.
Lets compare in 2017 my results and if I completed the goals set!