The modest 2017 goals of a part-timer grinder

Week 11 summary
(3rd April- 9th April)

Games played this week 25
Games played to date 482 - 32% of 2017 volume goal achieved

I have studied this week for 2 hours 15
Study time to date is 32 hours 30 mins - 27% of 2017 study goal achieved

Bankroll = $97

Comments
Another very busy week at work, good for the bank balance, bad for the table time. However, things are not going well with my poker. My 'downswing' has now seen my BR drop below $100, which is having quite a psychological impact on me. Clearly this is more than a just a downswing.

I have some leaks which I need to address, I have decided to use my time to study this week, rather than play. My performance at mid-blind levels is very poor, and I need to do a lot of work to find where I can improve in this area. I am very much looking forward to undertaking this study period. Mid-blind play has always been my weak point, as identified by my recent coach Ben Hayles, and until now I have never sought to rectify this properly (aside from my standard ICMIZER analysis of in game re-shove spots etc). Hopefully by the end of this week, or maybe the end of next week if this takes a while, I will be a better player.

Week 12 summary
Double posted last weeks post in error, opps... so no update this week.

Week 13 summary
(10th April- 16th April)

Games played this week 14
Games played to date 496 - 33% of 2017 volume goal achieved

I have studied this week for 5 hours 0 mins
Study time to date is 37 hours 30 mins - 31% of 2017 study goal achieved

Bankroll = $103

Comments
I spent more time on study during this week. I am keen however to get back to playing as although I am on course to easily meet my volume goal with the first four months of the year nearly over, I had hoped to exceed my volume goal and perhaps aim for a higher volume.

I have a plan from now till end of April to play enough to slightly exceed my volume goal, and I hope to maintain a good amount of study time also. However, I am again busy with work so this will be difficult. I may have to sacrifice some gym sessions.

Week 14 summary
(17th April- 23rd April)

Games played this week 22
Games played to date 518 - 34% of 2017 volume goal achieved

I have studied this week for 0 hours 0 mins
Study time to date is 37 hours 30 mins - 31% of 2017 study goal achieved

Bankroll = $91

Comments
Very busy week at work, and Sunday was a lovely day so I spent some time tidying up my garden rather than playing poker.

I am finding it hard to complete my study tasks. I often get distracted from one study area by other topics to study, or simply get bogged down in all the information from my database that I have to sift through. As a part time player, study sessions have to fit around work and table time, and its difficult to maintain momentum. I am going to keep a log of current study topics pinned to my wall to help me keep focused on current study topics.

Today I reread this whole thread and made some observations:

I mention often that I am very busy at work. Compared to the same period last year, I have been far busier with work commitments. Despite this I am managing to play a similar number of games than last year - 540 games so far this year compared to 624 at this point last year. My study routine is what has suffered most however.

During the first few months of last year I had regular coaching sessions. I recorded these sessions and reviewed each session at least once, taking notes on important points and then bringing any further questions to my next coaching session. This made for a very intensive and productive study routine. This year, I am working far less on my game, as the reduced amount of free time I have is being used more for table-time than study. This has impacted on the study goals I have set in this thread as the following will confirm.

I have failed to reread all my tutor notes during after work sessions - this was mainly due to people staying late at work. I have reread around 20% or my notes however, so some progress has been made. My BB120 and BB160 ‘cheat sheet’ revamp mentioned above has stalled. To be honest, I completely forgot I had started this, which is perhaps a consequence of such long breaks between study periods. Also, I have not kept up with the ‘gametape’ study method mentioned above.

The simple remedy to this interrupted progress in my study routine is, as I also mention in an earlier post, that I will keep a note of current study topics on my wall to remind me to forge ahead until each topic is addressed.

Looking towards the next two month (May/June), I should have more free time at the weekend to dedicate to poker. One thought I had was to take a laptop to work to play a session immediately after work. I tend to wait till rush hour is over, so I usually have a workout or do shopping before setting off for home. I could easily play a poker session instead. This will be a good plan for through the summer, when I commute five days a week.

As to a summary of my progress during the first four months of the year: it’s been a bit of a struggle, and I am very disappointed with my bankroll drop and the table-count drop which I have made in order to make sure I am concentrating and not being rushed to decisions. This is the opposite of the goals in my OP, which were to increase table count and average buy-in.

Week 15 summary
(24th April- 30th April)

Games played this week 24
Games played to date 542 - 36% of 2017 volume goal achieved

I have studied this week for 1 hours 30 mins
Study time to date is 39 hours - 32% of 2017 study goal achieved

Bankroll = $76

Comments
A brief review of progress is in the post immediately above. One other thing I intend to implement quickly is a warm up routine before playing. This routine will be a short look through some of the marked hands which I have taken notes on, just to refresh my memory of any adjustments I need to make which these analysed hands have uncovered. Especially during after work session, I just load tables and start playing with no warm up, due to time pressure.

Other learning strategies that I intend to refresh are (in addition to the topics mentioned in the above post):

The Miracle Morning morning routine (from the book of the same name) to goal-set over the next three months. This week I had taken a week off this routine but I look forward to restarting.

Ipod dictation - My old ipod has died so I intend to convert an old iphone into my ’study’ ipod. I already have some contend which I have dictated - Slansky Chubukov ranges, nash shove/call ranges, bubble ICM ranges etc - and I will transfer these files to my new study ipod, and add more content.

I will report my progress on these study topics in this blog

Week 16 summary
(1st May - 7th May)

Games played this week 36
Games played to date 578 - 38% of 2017 volume goal achieved

I have studied this week for 2 hours 0 mins
Study time to date is 41 hours - 34% of 2017 study goal achieved

Bankroll = $63

Comments
As to the strategies I mentioned in last weeks weekly update: I restarted The Miracle Morning routine, although going forward I plan to get up even earlier to give more time for a productive morning routine. The routine includes yoga, affirmation and study mostly.

Also, I undertook a brief warm up before most of my sessions this week. And I converted an old iphone to a ‘poker study’ ipod. This has home-made dictated content (ICM ranges, 3bet ranges etc) which I listen to on my commute. I will also download some podcasts to listen to.

I also continued to work on my new ‘cheat sheets’ for SB open shoves. I did not read my tutor notes or make/review any game-tape. I did however go over the notes from a lesson with Ben Hayles where we pinpointed my performance from the blinds as something which needs to improve, and I have spent 3 hours so far looking into my database and running hands in ICMIZER to address this. I will continue this during this week.

Week 17 summary
(8th May - 14th May)

Games played this week 30
Games played to date 608 - 40% of 2017 volume goal achieved

I have studied this week for 3 hours 0 mins
Study time to date is 44 hours - 37% of 2017 study goal achieved

Bankroll = $61

Comments
I completed my new ‘cheat sheets’ for SB open shoves at BB120 and BB160. However I am rather worn-down by this downswing. I am becoming lost in the magnitude of the study I have to embark on in order to improve and climb out of this downswing. I may need to re-assess my goals for this year. If I end up break even this year I will be pleased, this is far removed from what I had initially hoped for.

When playing, I expect to lose. I expect losing sessions, and I fully expect my bankroll to plummet further. This is not a healthy mindset to have when playing poker, although it may be a realistic mindset for my current skill level.

I may soon seek a coach in order to more quickly identify and address the leaks in my game.

Over the past few weeks I have been increasingly despondent at my performance and plunging bankroll. However, after thinking about things over the last few days my view has changed.

My ROI and bankroll, aside from variance, can only ever be a reflection of my skill level compared to the general population. Currently, my ROI and bankroll are showing me that I need to improve. In order to improve, I need to study. So the effort that I am putting in to build game volume will be redirected towards building study volume. And everything should be fine.:f_tongue:

(I posted similar thoughts recently, but I now intend to persue a longer term refocusing on study. I still aim to meet my volume goals, and I am hoping that by building a more solid, surefooted game through study, I will eventually be able to add more tables, more quickly, and therefore make up the volume I will lose while studing.)

Week 18 summary
(15th May - 21st May)

Mainly study this week. I will post a more detailed update covering both week 18 and week 19 at end of week 19.

Week 19 summary
(22nd May - 28nd May)

Games played to date 620 - 41% of 2017 volume goal achieved

I have studied during week 18 and 19 for 3 hours 30 mins
Study time to date is 47.5 hours - 40% of 2017 study goal achieved

Comments
Very busy with work and life commitments over the last two weeks. I also spend more time in the gym as my dieting HIIT phase is coming to an end, going forward I will perform longer workouts to build muscle. My work commitments tend to increase during summer and I am worried that my poker time will be quite limited. If necessary I will stop gym for a month.

My study topics were mainly: finding missed shove opportunities facing open raise at eff stack of between 8 - 12bbs at BB300 level on bubble, and watching and taking notes from Moshman’s review of Bookai’s SnG. I was pleased that I would have played most of the hands in the manner that Colin advised.

Week 18 summary
(29th May - 4th June)

Games played to date 632- 42% of 2017 volume goal achieved

I have studied this week for 3 hours 30 mins
Study time to date is 51 hours - 42% of 2017 study goal achieved

Bankroll = $55

Comments
Mainly study this week. I am pressed for time at the moment and I an also hitting the gym hard. I am intending to dedicate some weekends this month to poker; poker, poker, nothing but poker!

Week 19 and 20 summary
(5th June- 18th June)

Games played to date 665- 44% of 2017 volume goal achieved

I have studied this week for 2 hours 0 mins
Study time to date is 53 hours - 44% of 2017 study goal achieved

Bankroll = $63

Comments
I worked 11 days out of 14 with some long shifts, so table time was limited. However, I enjoyed the games I played.

I must find time to squeeze in more play or study. I was looking to buy a laptop to run HM2 which I could use to study after work. However I have an old low spec laptop which I could use to review game tape at work. My first step towards more study time will be to use this laptop for game tape review.

Week 21 and 22 summary
(19th June- 2nd July)

Games played to date 706 - 47% of 2017 volume goal achieved

I have studied this week for 3 hours 0 mins
Study time to date is 56 hours - 47% of 2017 study goal achieved

Bankroll = $69

Comments
Again, I am busy at work at the moment. I will be working almost every day during July. I also want to go hard in the gym before I go on holiday. I hope to find a few hours here and there for study and play, but mainly I will be working, and working out!

General update

The company I work for does a lot of work during the Edinburgh Festival, so this is the busiest time. I intend to leave poker for a few weeks and build my 'real life' bankroll by working hard over the festival. It's great fun too, so this isn't a chore. I will still manage to study a bit during commute, I have plenty podcasts to listen to. PostFlopPoker Podcast with Ben Hayles is one of my favourites just now.

Once things calm down I intend to drop my gym time (which is pretty full on at the moment, but its all payin' off) and move to a 'maintain muscle' program which will involve one or two session per week max. This will allow time to get back to the tables and refocus on reaching my volume goals for the year.

Week 34

General update
My busy period at work is coming to an end. During this busy period I have managed to listen to many pod casts, and to watch the WSOP 2017 final table. I will only count this as a nominal study time of 2 hours. The reason being it is fairly ‘passive’ study, during commute and downtime at work. I do feel I have learned during this passive study time, mostly when listening to pod casts repeatedly, but this study is not as effective as ‘active’ study, taking notes with pen and paper while listening.

The pod casts I have been listening to include: The Poker Guys, Post Flop Poker, and Smart Poker Study.

I have only managed a handful of games during this busy period. My current game count is 723 (this time last year it was 785). I am only half way to achieving my volume goal for the year, with only four months remaining to complete my 1500 game target. Oh dear!

I do however have a new tool to help me catch up on volume, something I have talked about in previous posts. I bought a reconditioned i5 laptop with SSD. I have it running ‘stars, HM2 and ICMIZER. My plan, as also mentioned above, is to replace after work gym sessions with poker sessions. I will try this next week to see how it goes.

Summary
Games played to date 723 - 48% of 2017 volume goal achieved

I have studied for 2 hours 0 mins
Study time to date is 55 hours - 46% of 2017 study goal achieved

Week 36

General update
I took my new laptop to work and the after work sessions went well. However, I was a bit concerned about colleagues popping into work ‘after hours’. (They often do this to borrow equipment). Should this happen, I’m gonna look like a real degen! All my colleagues are absolutely convinced that poker is, pure and simple, gambling, like bingo or a lottery. But hopefully these after work session will squeeze in a bit more volume.

Study wise I am mainly listening to pod casts on my commute. I also have a dedicated ipod which I record my own poker content to (ranges, ICM spots and quiz type content which I make). Listening to this content really helps, as the content is focused and presented in a way which suits my listening environment. I had a small break from using this method as I lost my blue tooth headphones. I grew tired of waiting to find them somewhere (as I probably will tomorrow) and I bought a new pair, so its good to have this study method up and running again.

Originally posted by mostlyfolding
I had a small break from using this method as I lost my blue tooth headphones. I grew tired of waiting to find them somewhere (as I probably will tomorrow) and I bought a new pair, so its good to have this study method up and running again.

This is almost bound to happen.

I had moved into a new flat several years ago. I avoid using clothes irons as much as possible (I hate ironing), but after several months I got a new job that required shirt and tie so I gritted my teeth and set out for the tedious chore of ironing.

I tore the flat apart looking for the iron, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Eventually I gave up and went out and bought another. Got back home, did the ironing and while the iron was cooling down I looked for a place to store it.

Eventually I decided to put it in the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink. Ofc when I opened the cupboard, there was my long lost iron.

♦ :D:D

Week 37 summary
(11th Sept - 17th Sept)

I did mention in recent post’s that work should be getting quieter. Umm… not so I’m afraid. I just had one of the busiest weeks so far this year with work. Good for the ‘life’ bankroll, as I earned more money this week than any week for about the last 3 years, but poker has had to take a back seat. I barely have time to go food shopping and do laundry at the moment. I did manage to study during my commute however.

I have studied this week for 1.5 hours
Study time to date is 55.5 hours - 46% of 2017 study goal achieved

Comments
My study comprised of listening to podcasts as well as and my own ICM quizzes and recordings.

I was reassured that the latest Post Flop Poker pod cast, which was on the topic of note taking, mentioned that taking notes while multi-tabling is distracting. I often find this, but I always thought that this was a failing unique to me. I often look up after taking notes and find it takes several seconds to take stock of where I am on the tables, so it was good to hear that this is a common problem, and doesn’t quite confirm me as a donkey. (Although I do have other evidence I can submit in that regard).