Quarter pro

Originally posted by JazBenz
well regarding luck, if I go all in preflop with AA and get called by QQ and he hits a third Queen on the river, if it's not about luck, in these spots, what is it? lol

No no, that doesn't depend on luck that's just a proof you've gotta work more on your zen.
When this happens to you that just mean his zen spirit crushed yours...It's hard to except it especially when opponents look like super donkeys - obviously they work more on their zen then their game

@CryoGenic
Ipoker. Since I've been playing on other ipoker sites I feel like home there. However my account is not linked to pokerstrategy so I intend to go to PS related pokerroom by the end of the year.

Originally posted by yaxkukmian

Originally posted by JazBenz
well regarding luck, if I go all in preflop with AA and get called by QQ and he hits a third Queen on the river, if it's not about luck, in these spots, what is it? lol

No no, that doesn't depend on luck that's just a proof you've gotta work more on your zen.
When this happens to you that just mean his zen spirit crushed yours...It's hard to except it especially when opponents look like super donkeys - obviously they work more on their zen then their game

@CryoGenic
Ipoker. Since I've been playing on other ipoker sites I feel like home there. However my account is not linked to pokerstrategy so I intend to go to PS related pokerroom by the end of the year.

i agree as far as had i been more zen he wouldnt have hit the Queen on the river - cuz how else can i play it? on the flop he still wouldve called an all in

I hate dreaming. I hate dreams.
I can't choose which one I hate more.

In past when I had sad dreams my day didn't start nice. I tried to forgot it but throughout the day I came back to that dreams and caught myself trying to find the meaning behind it. I really tried to find out what my dreams meant and how are people inside that dreams connected to me, why was I dreaming it at that moment,etc...
Then there were times when I had nightmares. Nobody wants or likes having them. Even when I woke up and saw clearly that wasn't for real I couldn't get rid of that strange taste. Because I'm analytical person I did the same thing as I did for bad dreams - analyzed them to find out why.

Today I don't do that anymore, most likely because I'm aware my perception of "understanding psychology" is far from it in reality. Since then my life is much easier because I intentionally forget my dreams as soon as possible and don't try do bother what, how, why, when, ... I just wake up and day starts like any other. At first it wouldn't go as smooth as it sounds but with practice I perfected it so much that I don't remember my dreams when I wake up.
As any other thing there are pros and cons. From time to time there were also nice and positive dreams. I sacrificed good for bad. Word "sacrifice" means exactly that - to give up something that is valuable to you in order to help another person - and in this case that person is myself. I'm quite happy with my sacrifice and as a matter of fact I don't even think about it in that way, for me that's just something natural.

From time to time "error" occurs and some dreams are so intense and strong that I simply can't just forget them. It happens rarely but it does. And in moments like this I fully understand why I dislike dreaming and dreams. I can take seeing the reason behind my running or falling dreams. This is like suckout you take it and go on just like nothing happened. But there are even worse things than that.
The other day something really odd happened. I was feeling really well, was doing what I really like and on top of it the energy around me was just indescribable. You know that feeling when everything goes so well that you say to yourself:"That's unreal something is gonna happen that's just too good to be true"? I even didn't have that thought. While flying so high I woke up. I couldn't believe what effect those dreams had on me. There were tears in my eyes that wanted to go out. I was happy when I woke up but at the same time I was sad because those dreams were not real.

World is not easy. You can do 100 things right but one wrong step can ruin everything. Be aware of it. Believe in yourself and you'll achieve what you want.

Peacemaker Kurogane

(This drawings can be understood as a metaphor for today's topic...birds in the sky are dreams, bloody hand is cruel reality and boy in the middle is torn between those two options)

Just read through the whole blog. Very interesting. I've read a lot of blogs from start to finish of the more successful players here on PS.com and I recognise a lot of similarities with your blog. You have a great ability to know your weaknesses, write them out clearly and making up plans to get rid of them. If you continue like this I can guarantee you will have no problems getting out of the micros in no time.

btw, my favourite picture is the diary of tortov riddle, but ofc all of them are cool :f_biggrin:.

BTW, are you serious about that zen thing? That it's not lucky to hit a 2 outer in one isolated occassion but it's just because of zen? Not sure whether you're joking or you're fully serious lol.

Keep it up anyways, Good luck (Zen) at the tables!

@arisko
Thanks man. Appreciate your opinion and I really hope my poker career won't end too soon.
About zen - it's obviously a joke ♦; I do however try to make jokes that make me laugh when opponents suckout on me because I found out that way it hurts me less.

Spring...everything grows and blossoms and everything looks nicer and more optimistic. Enjoying in spring is universal but I like many people want to believe that I really know the real reason behind it. Spring is metaphor for thriving at least that is stereotype but for many spheres that's just not the case...for me that's poker.

Lately I've been out of poker and I don't have guilty conscience about it. I just noticed it and reconciled with it. If I would be real pro then it would be big problem but being recreational player I can "afford" it. As a matter a fact I think that not playing all the time will be good for me in the long run.

I still play from time to time but I don't "need" to play. And it feels good.

Here are three hands that I remember and the last is quite nice

1. What comes around goes around...if we modify original version

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.10(BB) Replayer
SB ($9.90)
BB ($19.07)
UTG ($37)
Hero ($13.98)
CO ($9.85)
BTN ($10.78)

Dealt to Hero Q♠ Q♣

fold, Hero raises to $0.40, fold, BTN calls $0.40, fold, fold

FLOP ($0.95) 7♠ 9♠ 9♣

Hero bets $0.78, BTN calls $0.78

TURN ($2.51) 7♠ 9♠ 9♣ 7♦

Hero bets $2.30, BTN raises to $5, Hero raises to $12.80 (AI), BTN calls $4.60 (AI)

RIVER ($21.71) 7♠ 9♠ 9♣ 7♦ 3♣

Hero shows Q♠ Q♣
(Pre 82%, Flop 92.0%, Turn 95.5%)

BTN shows 3♥ 3♠
(Pre 18%, Flop 8.0%, Turn 4.5%)

BTN wins $20.27

2. Easy fold
sb = 22/13/6 aggression
co = 68/8/ 1,2

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.10(BB) Replayer
SB ($10.10)
BB ($10.15)
Hero ($15.58)
UTG+1 ($13.44)
CO ($5.30)
BTN ($10)

CO posts $0.10
CO posts $0.05

Dealt to Hero Q♣ K♣

Hero raises to $0.50, fold, CO calls $0.40, fold, SB calls $0.45, fold

FLOP ($1.65) 2♥ K♦ T♠

SB checks, Hero bets $1.25, CO calls $1.25, SB raises to $3.70, Hero folds, CO raises to $4.75 (AI), SB calls $1.05

TURN ($12.40) 2♥ K♦ T♠ 8♥

RIVER ($12.40) 2♥ K♦ T♠ 8♥ K♥

SB shows T♣ T♥
(Pre 82%, Flop 95.7%, Turn 97.7%)

CO shows 2♣ 2♦
(Pre 18%, Flop 4.3%, Turn 2.3%)

SB wins $11.58
CO wins $0.-5

3. Easy call (because of HM)

Villain is 46/36/ 49 (steal)/ 22 (4bet)

I would never play this hand this way without HM. He was stealing too much and I decided to make a statement. Flop came really nice for me (and his range - put him on KQ or QJ ♠_cool: ) so I was going to do c/r-shove. When he shoved I needed 5 seconds but against him it was pretty easy call

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.10(BB) Replayer
SB ($11.15)
Hero ($10.79)
UTG ($12.45)
UTG+1 ($10.70)
CO ($14.47)
BTN ($8.06)

Dealt to Hero T♠ 9♥

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.35, fold, Hero raises to $1.10, BTN raises to $1.85, Hero calls $0.75

FLOP ($3.75) 3♦ A♣ T♦

Hero checks, BTN bets $6.21 (AI), Hero calls $6.21

TURN ($16.17) 3♦ A♣ T♦ 9♣

RIVER ($16.17) 3♦ A♣ T♦ 9♣ 4♣

BTN shows K♥ J♦
(Pre 65%, Flop 39.8%, Turn 9.1%)

Hero shows T♠ 9♥
(Pre 35%, Flop 60.2%, Turn 90.9%)

Hero wins $15.10

Balsa (Seirei no Moribito)

BR: $564,84.

I started with $25 few months ago and today I reached third personal milestone - 100k hands.

All in all I'm quite surprised about my progress for two reasons:

1) I started SH from scratch - dynamics is very different from full ring and especially SSS which was my former format. After playing only 100k hands I can say SH and FR of holdem are different games. Finding good tables with bad opponents is even more important in SH.

2) I haven't played a hand in more than a year (home games with friends excluded) and despite that I was able to adapt fairly quickly.

Writing this blog definitely helped me a lot. There are many things that boosted my level of game and consecutively my self-confidence in my play, decisions, judgment, etc. There are really lots of reading material, video content but in the end you have to work yourself - hand analyzing, writing summaries, calculating different scenarios.

There is one interesting proverb I like to connect with poker. "My tailor is the smartest man in the world. Every time I want new suit he measures me. Everyone else think they know me. Human changes."

When we learn basics of poker and we win few pots we think we know everything. Only good players constantly work on themselves, their game and attitude towards game. They know that game evolves and things change so in order to be successful I believe I have to change and think out of box.

Sebastian Michaelis(Kuroshitsuji)

BR: $639,20.

With smaller delay here is summary of previous month. It started dream like but after that I didn't find any time to analyze my hands and instead of doing some analysis I just played on hoping things will turn around. Well, they didn't. I'm not surprised and not so disappointed because all in all it was ok month.

Here are April's numbers and graph:

I cleared many bonuses so when I sum everything together = +$222,37.

Last 14 days were great
I've been to Spain - from Barcelona, Malaga, Granada, Cordoba to Sevilla. I will definitely remember Spain for all the good things I saw and experienced there. I sure hope someday I visit Andalusia again and see even more cities in this region.

I didn't miss poker at all so in May I'm taking time out for at least a month. Maybe I'll find some hour here and there but that will be all.

BR: $601,95.

When I'm not in the mood I shouldn't play. That's one rule everyone should know... I obviously don't. It sucks I lost so many hands because I knew I won't play much hands this month so I rushed. Instead of waiting and exploiting I opened like 213 tables and played marginal hands on every single one. How can you expect to win then? You can't.

Here is summary of May:

Since I won't be playing for at least a month. I deleted the software so the temptation won't be too big This is pretty much my worst month since starting SH. With shorter break and some work on my mistakes I could make it into black but I decided to finish it here and now. I don't enjoy playing at the moment. I can't concentrate on poker having so many other things to finish in my mind. I haven't watched any videos for more than a month and half. Also haven't analyzed my hands for more than a month. It just not good time for poker I guess.

When I finish my remaining two exams I will be able to play my B game again ♦ I'll be back then ♠_cool:

BR: $545,43.

Life is full of challenges...day after day we're confronted with them. Some are interesting, others not so much. From time to time enormous hurdle comes our way and instead of overcoming it, we stumble. This happened to me recently. I picked myself up and tried again...and when it didn't work, I reconsidered and tried again. When I failed many times my self-confidence suffered and I started doubting whether I can really do it. Fortunately I have good people around me who trust in me so they gave me mental support and strength so I was able to give it another chance. This time I didn't even get the chance to prove myself because some things changed and this hurt even more.

If there is a smaller problem and you don't solve it immediately, it always becomes big. While becoming bigger and bigger, we still can solve it. Most of the times we can solve it even if it becomes huge, we just have to set our mind to it and that's it. Rarely we let it become enormous and no matter how much we try we just can't solve it. Not only that but it follows you everywhere all the time. It's like giant snowball rolling behind your back and every time you look behind it's bigger and a bit faster.

It not the matter of life and death but it's the thing I really want to finish and it's frustrating as hell that I can't bring it to the end. I haven't given up it's just so fucking hard to accept. Feeling of helplessness is something I really hate. I guess there is also a period of life when we have to feel like this. I try to motivate myself so that doesn't influence and guide my life but sometimes I just can't let it go because I can feel it, it's under my skin, killing me. I will give my maximum when I get the next chance.

Recently I haven't been thinking about poker so I won't write too much about it. It's somehow hard to play when my thoughts can't be totally devoted to improving my game and skills.

PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! You can do anything, just believe in yourself and don't just think, move and do something.

I was one of the lucky pokerstrategists who got the chance to participate in pokerstrategy school. I'm happy for getting the chance and I'll do my best to graduate successfully ♦

I made two changes regarding my (more professional) attitude towards poker:

1) I turned off "use the winning/losing row colors" in HM -> this will help me to be more concentrated on my play and not only on results.

2) Not opening cashier throughout whole month -> the same logic as the first one + I don't want to be bonus whoring but just playing my A-game.

Found one inspirational article...here is "my" summary:

How do great people achieve success in life?
They cultivate certain qualities in order to awaken the hidden confidence within themselves.

The qualities needed to be cultivated to build self-confidence are:

1) Conviction

The very first step in climbing the ladder of self-confidence is firm conviction about one's own ability.
Never doubt your inner strength.

Never mind failures, they are quite natural, they are the beauty of life, these failures. What would life be without them? Never mind these back-slips, hold on to the ideal a thousand times and if you fail a thousand times make the attempt once more.

2) Hard work

Nothing great can come unless we work for it. Dreams can never become a reality without hard work.
The lazy and those who depend solely on destiny don't fulfil their objective.

To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will.

3) Will-power

We are experts in taking vows and breaking them within no time. It is easy to take vows but difficult to keep them up.
Those who possess a strong will and are determined to achieve great things never listen to their minds. They make their minds work for them to achieve higher things in life.

You must not say that you are weak. How do you know what possibilities lie behind that degradation on the surface?

4) Self-respect

Men of hard work, knowledge, wisdom and perfection are always honoured and respected everywhere.

5) Long Preparation

It's not enough to manage things, but it is important to manage them well. Great things happen not out of magic or miracles but out of systematic preparation.
Most of the people keep on thinking about goals but do not pay attention to the minute details which will help them to achieve it.

Without proper preparation no person can be confident of success.

6) Commitment

Commitment and confidence always go together. The moment we forget our commitment to a particular cause, we lose faith in ourselves and try to justify our weaknesses.

7) Definite Goal

Many people are not very clear about their goal in life. We can't begin our journey unless we are clear about our destination. We cannot proceed even a step unless we decide where we want to go. A clear-cut goal and a one-pointed concentration alone help us to manifest tremendous confidence.

We want to do many things simultaneously. Without singular devotion to the ideal, no great things can be achieved.

Take up one idea, make that one idea your life. Think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

8) Concentration

The difference in power of concentration constitutes the difference between man and man. Compare the lowest with the highest man. The difference is in the degree of concentration. This is the only difference.

Concentration leads to perfection, perfection to confidence, confidence to success and success finally leads to happiness.

9) Strength

Life is not always smooth like a bed of roses. Happiness and misery are two sides of the same coin. One needs to develop mental strength to digest them.

Is anyone free from problems in this world? Without struggle, there is no meaning for life. Success and failure are inevitable in life.

For every problem there is a solution: we need only a little patience and confidence. Let us develop mental strength and courage to face the problems of life and they will disappear in no time.

Himura's sword (Rurouni Kenshin)

June looks like this. It's not the best month ever but that's poker. I even didn't have a feeling I was playing that bad, but obviously I'm far from my A game. I did run few times into AA and KK, but most stacks lost are the result of my bad play. When something isn't working, we have to make the adjustments so things can turn around.

Resolutions:

1) Play only 4 TABLES from now on

2) Follow this preflop chart

3) Analyze more hands and post at least 5 after every session

Be aware, there are no shortcuts, you have to work on your game and play. Don't put too much pressure on yourself, it will come.

My first anime drawing...

Goku (Dragonball)

...

Brutality, here I come

After this bad streak I have to step down and play NL4 again. It's very bad for my ego, but in the end I have to admit it's not only bad luck that brought me here. I obviously have too many leaks to be successfully playing NL10 at the moment. It's hard to acknowledge it, but in the end I know I have to go over ego issue and start building my BR back.

As Tacitus nicely wrote:
"He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day; but he that is in battle slain, will never rise to fight again."

I'm taking few days off to forget about poker and everything. After that I'll be reading some psychology articles, I think I have problems with preparation, proper concentration and attitude towards poker. I need to find a way so I won't get in my own way.
After that I'll read some theory articles to refresh my basics and also some new concepts, which will hopefully give me some new directions or ideas.

Hitokiri Battousai (Rurouni Kenshin)

It was really ugly, I mean really ugly month. EV shows that I didn't get it in very well in most cases. There are also many coolers and bad beats, but all in all I didn't play my A game and that's the reason for bad results.

I'm quite devastating at this point. I can't beat NL10 and I tried two times already. At the end of the month I started playing NL4 and it went not so bad. Players there are way more passive and exploitable. I just can't understand how is it possible that NL10 is killing me so much. I don't have motivation for playing NL4, not that I'm not patient but I hate micro limits so I just open many tables and I end up playing 9 tables. I don't think that's a good recipe for success.

In July I'll continue playing NL10, 4 table max and hopefully trend inverts. Of course I won't be going with my head through the wall. If I keep losing I'm returning to NL4 if I reach $350, hope that doesn't happen.

Tsumiki no Ie

I feel like this man at the moment...thinking about past month and poker in general.

BR: $418,43.

Black friday came out of nowhere and we were all thinking "is this for real"? How? Why?
When things got complicated even more and further stories came to the surface, especially with FT anonymity and no answers were given I started to think what else can happen in poker world. When everything goes up almost nobody questions this things, people accept it and that's it. Poker world is no different.

Poker has been expanding massively in the last few years and despite some frauds being noted, the poker communities were optimistic and strong and getting even stronger after shady affairs, because people were thinking the things were more regulated so worse things can't happen. Theory is one thing but when you have human factor, theory is no good. This variable is the most important and cannot be taken out of context - human being never acts like we expect him to act.

In economy there's a often used phrase - ceteris paribus, which means that you examine particular thing and you use only two parameters and at the same time you ignore all other known and unknown factors which may also influence the result of our examination. It basically simplifies the description of economic outcomes. Many theorist base their theories on some ceteris paribus assumptions which look very nice in theory but in real world those theories just doesn't work and therefore they're pretty much useless.

Why? In most cases they don't include "human factor" or at least not as much as they should. Nick Leeson, Jerome Kerviel, Kenneth Lay and probably the most known - Charles Ponzi are just some worst examples. They were all highly respected, knowledgeable and recognized in their circles, but being successful wasn't enough for them. History will remember them as a warning for future...

Today we have to update "human factor failures" list and add another name - Jose Girah Macedo. I was so happy for him, he seemed genuine and honest, but so did Nick, Jerome, Kenneth and Charles, right?

There are too many people, and too few human beings. ~Robert Zend

Poker is not one of the things in my mind in the last three months. I haven't been playing or working on it, I pretty much neglected it...I played only 20k hands in last 3 months, that's like nothing. Results are pretty bad too but that goes hand in hand with my attitude, if you're not committed you can't progress and if you don't progress you regress. That's the simple equation and I'm aware of it but too often I don't take everything into consideration.

Today I read my blog from the start and I realized I could (should) achieve so much more until now. I lack of few things which are key components for success:

1. Lack of self-discipline and will power = failure

I should set myself goals which are a bit higher than I believe I can achieve. At the same time this goals shouldn't be too high to discourage me and awake bad thoughts. Too many times I find myself before a task I don't believe I can't jump over...and so in reality I don't do it. When I later think about it I come to conclusion that I could do it if I really tried but I don't even try so I can't succeed.

An example I figured out today: I play some online chess and I'm not particularly good but my percent of victories is 63% and losses 29%! One would think that's good but I see it as proof of my low self confidence. The best players have ratio between wins and losses a bit over 50% and that's because they play against best players (or those who have somewhat similar rating). I, on the other hand play more games against lower rated players and so I tend to win more often. In few situations I even accepted a draw against higher rated player when I really liked my position. I would never accept it against lower rated player but against higher rated I was afraid that my endgame skills are not so good as his, so in endgames this edge becomes an important factor because one move can cost you the game.

What is better, to accept a draw and gain some rating points or continue playing and see how it comes out? The answer should really be easy. How can I improve my game if I always play in a comfort zone? What's the point of playing the game if you're not ready to take the hit? Just playing for fun? Ok, that's good for today and maybe tomorrow, but definitely not for next week or year when you realize that you are standing at the same point and haven't moved a bit in all this time.

This is pretty much how I feel about my poker. With all good things I read about, thought about and wrote about I should progressed much faster than I did. And that's all because I didn't give myself the real chance. I have big mouth but in the end I have nothing to show. Like fucking coward I brag and write things I don't know about, but when the moment comes "I'm too busy", "don't have time" and other stupid excuses come to life. It's really sad when I say it like this, but that's just the truth what can I do.

2. No goals set, no goals achieved!

I was writing about setting myself a smaller goals and also the ultimate one, but never actually set it. Probably forgot about it, how sad is that? If you don't have the goal, where can you find the motivation to do something when you hit the bottom? When you don't have things figured out, what to achieve and until when, it's easy to say "I'll do it tomorrow" and since no goal can't protest, you can go to bed without guilty conscience. That's like the ultimate sin, lying to yourself and not realizing it.

3. Is poker "the shit"?

I never really answered myself this question. I never went into details to make an effort to sincerely answer myself will the poker be my hobby or source of income.

If it's just a hobby I should take it like this. Is poker really hot and cold ping-pong hobby for which I don't care to improve? Would I write this blog if this was true? Possibly, not likely but possibly.

Do I see it as a source of income? The answer should be no, because my attitude and mentality are definitely not worth of title this blog has.

I can't just play it just for fun and at the same time I'm not ready to play it for real. That's the worst option - to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

If I want to be honest to myself I have to do next: ♠_confused:

1. In next 3 days set yourself poker goals, which will guide you to achieve something you want!

2. Write pros and cons which will help you decide if poker deserves to be part of your life and how far should you go to achieve what you want in poker.

3. Get grip of your life, you're too old to just mess around. Grow up and be responsible. Life is not a fucking joke, it can be beautiful or brutal, but never a joke, remember that.

Very nice blog.... really inspiring

yax,

from your "tight" picture, I can see that you are not raise small PP from UTG. Why you do so? I think it's too tight.

so you're a chess reg? i'm a low stakes chess regular
that's absolutely true what you say about win ratio, if you want to improve you should start making your average opponent at least as good as you.
in fact, playing too much against worse players can even be bad because you may get a feeling like "i can play anything and get away with it, i think i'm pretty good"...

Originally posted by patszerdonk
yax,

from your "tight" picture, I can see that you are not raise small PP from UTG. Why you do so? I think it's too tight.

well, i also personally believe in raising all PPs from anywhere, but for the reason that... by raising all of them you can hit a monster hand on any flop and may even look looser than you actually are.
besides that, i don't see much difference between playing 66 and 22 OOP (as you'll usually be in UTG), they both suck i feel like you only get like some slightly better showdown value against calling stations

is there a like button to this blog? ♦

Originally posted by patszerdonk
from your "tight" picture, I can see that you are not raise small PP from UTG. Why you do so? I think it's too tight.

My playing style is 23/18 so I'm not that tight. This chart helps me decide easier and faster which hands can be played. I adjust it to the table I play...if I have some loose players who call preflop and don't fold flops, I tend to fold PP in UTG. If I have some tighter players I open the range so I don't play only by this chart. It does help me in some positions, let say to fold some weak Ax in sb or KJ in MP...

Originally posted by Tomaloc
so you're a chess reg? i'm a low stakes chess regular
that's absolutely true what you say about win ratio, if you want to improve you should start making your average opponent at least as good as you.
in fact, playing too much against worse players can even be bad because you may get a feeling like "i can play anything and get away with it, i think i'm pretty good"...

I play here and there at gameknot, but far from being regular. I love playing it but since I don't know anyone who plays it around me I can't play it live. Challenge me

@tnx dwyt84, you just found it

After thinking it over I decided it's still not time to finish my poker journey. I still like to play it, but of course I enjoy it much more when I actually win. It's not about the money because let's be real, I'm playing for cents. It's about beating opponents and becoming better than myself in the first place and after that being better than worse players.

Poker is still going to be my hobby, but I will only play it long-term if it brings me some money/ success. In order to make it happen I will have to work on my game and not just passively click automatically.

My long-term goal: to play NL200

This is my ultimate goal, which I think could be achieved if I trust myself and give maximum every time I sit at the tables, open HM, read poker material, make notes on new concepts,...
I was thinking about it quite a lot and at first I was afraid the bar would be set too high, but after considering my way of thinking I decided it's best to put it quite high. I have problems if I set some goal and as soon as I come near to it, I already feel I've reach my goal, so if I set it to be NL50 I would already feel "the victory" while slightly winning at NL20. Also NL200 is far far faaar away from my current level of game and everything what goes with it. If I want to reach it someday I should start gathering smaller pieces of the picture right now, so I can hope that someday I will be able to put it all together.

My short-term goal: to play NL20

Time frame to accomplish this is from 26.9.2011 to 11.3.2012.

At the moment I'm a losing NL10 player, so first I have to beat this limit in order to go up. This goal looks reachable but at the same time it doesn't look that challenging. Thing is that in this 168 days I will also have to finish my final two exams and graduate (or come close to it). So poker definitely won't be number 1 priority, but no matter how busy I will be I should be able to play some poker.

What it means "to play NL20"? There are two conditions and at least one of them must be reached:

1. I have to play at least 55000 hands.

2. BR has to be $800, which is 40BI for NL20.

If I fall short to reach at least one of this conditions I don't see the reason to continue playing poker. If I fail to meet such low requirements I won't torture myself anymore and will end this chapter for good - QUIT POKER and close all accounts so I won't be able to play.

Since I'm not a quitter here is my plan how to make progress and come closer to my goal(s). ♠_cool:

1. The most important thing is of course BRM.

Today I have exactly $368,54.
I will continue to play NL10.
If I reach $330 I will step down and play NL4 until I reach $350 again.
I will play NL20 when I reach 35BI ($700) and will return to NL10 if my br comes to $660. I think making more tries is better than grinding it to 40BI at once. This may change because I will see how my advancement goes.

2. Monthly goals

They will include more lax things and will only point the direction which I'll be working on - articles/books read, videos, coachings, playing, analyzing, trying some concepts,...

Basically before every month I will write on which topics will be the emphasis and what I want to achieve by end of this month. From my earlier experiences I know it's good to write it down because later on you can evaluate whether you completed what you wanted or were expectations too optimistic.

3. Weekly goals

This is "the shit". If I follow it as I think I should, this will give me big results. Before every week I will state very detailed plan and how to execute it effectively. I will write exactly:
- how many videos will be watched
- how many articles/books will be read
- how many hands will I play
- how many hands will I post/ comment
- ...

4. Free day

I decided also to have one poker free day in a week. This is a safety fuse so I don't get fed up with poker too fast. I know in reality sometimes I'll take few days off and some weeks there won't be any free days. In general I think this is good concept to clear my head, we'll see how it works in practice.

5. Regular exercising

This is not directly linked to poker but lately I don't do any workouts, so I have to start it now. Being in shape is good for mind and spirit so I will do various exercising to get into shape I was few years ago.

6. Updating this blog

This actually means I'm doing all the things (most of it) I was writing above. When you write things you have to formulate it and while doing it maybe I will see some things differently than I did before writing it down. Also if I update there might be more comments which will give me more motivation in future.

Challenge is starting on Monday... 5 months, 24 weeks, 168 days of success. Bring it on!

Guts (Berserk)