Good luck! You'll find not checking the cashier easier than you think once you get a few weeks into it.

So thought I'd post an update on progress so far:

Been putting in a decent amount of time in. Managed to play most days and had some free hours to do some study. I've been trying to work on SB vs BB ranges this week and think its definitely helped being more confident in my game post flop.

I think that the decision not to check results is a good one and it feels like a lot less pressure as I'm not constantly worrying if I'm up or down on a session. Also been using starshelper over the past couple of weeks which has helped with sizing issues and makes things more streamlined. Obviously things always seem better when you're running good though...

Results for the past 2 weeks:

Goals for the next few weeks:

1. Don't check results until end of week
2. Study EP vs LP ranges in single raised pots and 3bet pots post flop
3. 1-2 hours per day playing hands

thanks

An interesting couple of weeks. Went on a 10 BI downswing towards the end of the month which ended up making it a breakeven month. This was tough and was definitely not playing my A game for the most part. In a way though, the downswing was really good as it forced me to take a real hard look at my game and to be brutally honest with myself. It was clear from looking at my stats and database that I was giving up too many spots pre and post flop and this was crippling my redline.

I’ve been working on widening my range in favorable spots pre-flop and putting pressure on opponents where they are capped and board texture doesn’t favour them. I’ve also got elite for this month so am aiming to put some solid study in off the tables and really break my game apart and improve my thought process.

Graph for the week:

Good luck!

Thought I’d post an update given it’s been a while. All in all a decent month. Managed to hit study targets and play a decent number of hours which I’m happy with. I’ve made a lot of changes to my game which I think is starting to pay off.

One thing which I do struggle with is sometimes spewing vs some of the regs when their ranges look capped but perhaps need to pick the opponents I’m going to barrel off against more selectively. Looking forward to putting in more solid study for November and hopefully mixing in some 50z if things go well.

Goals for the month
1. Aim to not check results until end of the month
2. 5 hours study a week
3. 10 hours play per week
4. Hopefully mix in some 50z
5. Start working with a solver

Nice! Following :)

End of the month and mixed feelings. The beginning of the month went quite well and felt that I was playing decent so ended up playing 90% of volume at Nl50. Downside is that I found myself overadjusting in certain spots vs the regs and certainly donated a few stacks through some spewy play. Graph pretty much speaks for itself, losing on EV and redline tanked hard when moving up.

Study-wise, I’m quite happy with the time and effort put in, managed to hit my study goals quite comfortably and have started working with a solver, particularly a lot of 3bet spots as they seem to be spots where I’m leaking a lot of money according to my database.

I didn’t quite manage to not look at results the whole month and certainly the temptation to check came back when I was running both good and bad. For this next month, I really want to focus on playing my A game at every session and this means not looking at results and trying to be fully focussed on the process. Also I want to make it a priority to be playing the strategy that nets the most EV against the player pool and not to just to try and play a GTO strategy when an exploitative one would work better.

Goals for the month
1. 5 hours study per week
2. 10 hours play per week
3. Play most of volume at Nl50z
4. Don’t check results until end of the month

GL!

NL50z type of limit where you need to forget your ego and play as solid as possible. Will face people who look reggish but not aware much, people who will 3 bet almost every hand vs you, and many weird not optimal aggressive plays

2019 and onwards

Wrapping up another year and there’s a lot to think about poker-wise. Looking back, I started the year with the aim of trying to move up in stakes and to improve my game. To those ends, I feel as though I’ve achieved what I set out to do and have definitely put in a decent amount of study. On reflection though, things could have been better and I feel as though there are some areas of my game where I am leaking heavily. Graph for December:

Just looking at the past month for example, I found at least 7 buyins worth of pure spew where I didn’t consider my whole range and was being way too assumptive in my thinking. This is the sort of thing I’m keen to cut out of my game and to do that I’m going to be putting a lot of effort into playing my A game and not going into autopilot. I would like this year to be one I can look back and say I’ve given my best into trying to get better and if things don’t go to plan then I’ll find a way to overcome that. The fear of failure is something that’s constantly plagued me, not only in poker but my own life and sometimes by holding something back, there is less disappointment when we don’t hit our goals.

This year, I’d like to set myself goals that I believe are possible but also challenging. The reason I started playing poker was because it was fun and I liked the learning curve so keeping it enjoyable is key.

Goals for the year
1. Put aside dedicated time to study every week and vary study schedule enough to break through plateaus
2. Aim to have a few days off every now and then to consolidate and to avoid burnout
3. Aim to be playing 200z by the end of the year

Thanks and best of luck for 2019

Mid month update and thoughts on mindset

Posting a mid month update really just to vent more than anything. Month has been quite swingy so far. Dropped a quite a few buyins over the past week and although there were some coolers and set ups, definitely was a large chunk of poor play and spew. For a couple of sessions, I stayed on far longer than I usually do and played 3 tables (normally play 2 tables for max 30 mins at a time) and think my play definitely deteriorated. Because of all this, ended up dropping down a limit to try and regain some confidence and try and put some focus back to playing solid.

To be honest, I think I was feeling quite burnt out and looking through HEM, I don’t think I’ve been having enough days off from the tables. Downswings also bring out some of the negative thoughts that are masked when we are upswinging, such as doubts whether we are playing solidly and whether we are even winning at all. I’ve been trying to challenge these thoughts but also need to accept that this is all a learning process and even if I’m not winning, that’s OK too and is why I’m working on fixing some of my leaks.

So plan is to take a small break, consolidate some of the studying I’ve been doing and come back with a fresh mindset in a few days. GL

Good work!

So I realise that I haven't updated this in almost a year. I guess life got in the way and poker had to take a bit of a back seat. I started playing again recently though and its feeling good. I'm thinking goals for next year will be to put in less volume and focus more on studying and developing more exploitative lines. Also I'm committing to not checking results until the end of the month as its definitely something that influences me.

Thoughts on poker and more

Just posting an update as its been several months. I started this year trying to get back into the swing of poker after having a some time off. This year has been busy – I was due to be getting married this month but the wedding is delayed due to coronavirus and I work in mental health, which has been increasingly busy recently. I’ve been trying to keep to a routine, going for runs and eating healthier which has been even more important.

Poker has been going pretty well. Disregarding results, I’ve been happy with my work ethic and have been building in regular study as well as days off. I’ve also started taking last few days off each month to have a mental break which I think has helped reduce burnout. I don’t want to speak too soon, but I’m feeling like I’m getting a bit closer to being more balanced with regards to life. I’ve thought a lot about where I want to be in 1 year, 5 years and 10 years from now and family life and work is always going to take priority there. That’s not to say though that I want to start splashing around at the tables and I’ve always enjoyed the challenges in poker and the way its taught me to think about situations logically.

I’m still setting myself goals, but perhaps not as ambitious as before and I don’t want to get hung up on putting in x amount of hands or making y amount of money. For me, the challenge is enough and getting better and playing higher would be a real achievement.

No post would be complete without a graph and this is the year to date. Most of the volume played at 25z.

Thanks and GL