Softly softly catchee monkey
Posted by thebuddhistbear
Posted by
thebuddhistbear
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Poker Journals
Softly softly catchee monkey
Hi everyone,
Happy New Year, best wishes to all for the year ahead!
This is my first poker journal, or journal of any sort, come to that - I've been inspired to start it largely due to reading through Freenachos journal since being linked to it by a friend a couple of weeks back. So big shoutout to Nachos, and I hope that my journal will also be able to serve as some inspiration and motivation to others during my journey :-)
I'll flesh out some more of my backstory as we go, if anyone is interested, but for now I'll jump ahead to my current point and my plans for this year, as that's where I want my focus to be :-)
So after various years of being around the game, sometimes quitting for some time before coming back, always dabbling, but never mastering anything whilst playing MTTs and SNGs, I decided to give poker one last shot, and switch to cash games, due to the more flexible schedule. So in 2020 I deposited $100 on stars, and started grinding 2nl, whilst studying using free content - shoutouts to Gingepoker and Zerospoker for their twitch streams. Then over the next 18 months I grinded a pretty steady schedule, concentrating on improving my understanding of the game, and getting reps in. So by the end of that time I had eventually gotten to 25nl, and I decided that I really wanted to take the game much more seriously and to able to make a living from it. So I applied to join a staking/CFP group. Whilst looking for the right group, it was important to me to find a team that was really interested in helping their players progress, and in doing something positive for the community. I applied to BrPC, and was invited to interview with Max Lacerda, the CEO of the microstakes team (also a coach here on RIO), and honestly I was pretty blown away by the professionalism of the team, and the incredible community that they've created, and it immediately felt like the perfect choice, and after a trial period I was invited to join the microstakes team there starting at 50nl, which I gratefully accepted. Now I've been with BrPC for about 4 months, and am so happy to be part of an amazing team of positive, motivated people who are always ready to help and support - shout out also to Stevejpa for the great weekly coaching sessions. :-) So far my results have not gone as I would have liked, but I'm in this for the long-term. Hence the "Softly softly catchee monkey", as this is a process that requires a lot of patience and persistence, and those are 2 of the qualities that I'm aiming to develop this year.
So that's my poker story in a nutshell :-)
Now I would like to set some weekly goals here to keep myself accountable:
End date for this set of goals will be midnight of Friday 7th January
Play 14k hands in blocks of no more than 500 hands in order to keep maximum focus level ( )
Study 1 video per day and create flashcards of all relevant info learned in Mochi ( )
Meditate 3 times per day every day ( )
Home workout everyday - currently self-isolating with covid, so can't leave the house ( )
Post one hand per day in BrPC discord, and respond to one hand posted by other players, if someone posted ( )
Ok, I think 5 goals for the week is probably a good number, so I'll leave it there :-) Also aiming to do a good amount of reading/listening to audiobooks, plus working on improving my Spanish and Russian, but I don't want to create an overwhelming number of goals, so 5 it is :-)
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my friend! nice way to start the year .. and with what commitment!
As a teammate I will always be present and I will accompany you in this process of transforming you (and transforming us) every day into a better poker player.
I think you have the setmind to establish yourself at high limits and undoubtedly being part of BRPC will pave the way and help us fulfill our dreams and goals .. Remember, it always depends on us!
Gracias amigo! :-) Seeing the hard work that all the guys in the team are putting in, and the desire to improve ourselves really spurs me on. And together we will stride forwards! Vamooo! :-)
Good luck with your goals!
I like this a lot: "as this is a process that requires a lot of patience and persistence, and those are 2 of the qualities that I'm aiming to develop this year."
Instead of patience and persistence I think of resilience and grit, but I think they are very similar. What are your steps/methods to not lose sight of these?
My wife joined a 1 year group, where you decide on a word that is very important to you and this year. And then she will get reminders/questions and so on throughout the year to keep up with it. I will follow along, curious to see one year progress in a certain area of my life.
I also like the idea of playing hands as getting in reps (I enjoy going to the gym ;)). I am currently trying to play 2 sessions of 30 minutes a day. I don't play full time and have a small kid, thus there just isn't that much time available. I feel like playing quite short but focussed sessions is currently my way to go. You think I should stick to this for a while and then put in 3 reps (still all in the max strength area ^^),
How do you manage to control Goal Nr. 1 (500 hands)? Do you have a hand counter running?
And how long do you meditate each time?
Cheers, Aquila
Hi Aquila!
Thanks a lot for your post and the good wishes :-)
That idea of the group that your wife has joined sounds great! What word did she choose, if you don't mind sharing? I'd be really interested to hear about how that progresses for the two of you! :-)
I think the main step in working on persistence is just constantly reminding myself that there are no quick fixes or hacks in getting to where you want to be, and the only way to grow and progress is to be putting in the work on a daily basis. That's always been something I've struggled with to be honest, so it's a work in progress - but having this journal I think will play a big role in keeping that upmost in my mind :-)
And yes, I use starscaption on pokerstars to keep a hand count, and as soon as it hits 500 hands I log out of stars, and leave the room to ensure that I don't continue past that. I would definitely recommend sticking with the short sessions, so adding in a 3rd 30 min session as and when you can sounds like the way to go :-) I think 2x45mins would be ok too, but I definitely find that my focus starts to drop off after 45 mins so wouldn't recommend going for 1 long session.
And the meditations I also keep short and sweet, usually 10 mins each, 1 upon waking, 1 sometime during the day or evening, and 1 before sleep. Do you meditate too?
Hi mate,
yeah, I meditate as well. For most of them time I just use Insight timer, but have been using the waking up app as well for some time. Now I am back to silent breath meditation by myself. Mostly 20 minutes a day when the little is asleep. The guided meditation was nice for a while but I found it a bit too repetitive.
Can't give away her word, but I choose "moderation". I tend to go to extremes and then not stick with stuff. Or just skip other stuff. For example: I really love sports, but when I get into the gym groove, I go 6x a week, but don't really do cardio or mobility. After a while my body starts to hurt and I think the overall better approach for me is to hit the weights 2-3x a week, do cardio 2-3x and learn yoga and practice this daily. As this is the part I lack the most. Also, not doing yoga for 1 h, but just 15-20 minutes. I also tend to either drink alcohol a bit too regularly or then go without any for extended periods of time. I think finding a good middleground is what I am looking for.
Good luck and interesting to hear about that feature. Wasn't aware of it, but also don't play on PS right now.
Great progress so far! I look forward to following your results. Good luck!
RoleTide What happened to your PLO journey? I think I remember you bloggin about it.
The plan was to study/drill PLO all of June and July during my summer break. I learned a ton in June, made a lot of progress, and made a couple of buy ins. In July I took a week off to take a little family vacay. When we got back I didn’t feel well and ended up with the good ole Delta variant. It kicked my butt to be honest. I ran a fever for 10-12 days and lost 17 lbs. My body was drained and it took me two more weeks to recover. Then school started back up and my time had run out for PLO. I don’t think two months would’ve been a long enough commitment anyway. PLO is a ton of fun but the transition is a little more difficult than I expected.
Hello again everyone :-)
So here we are with the update after week 1. This is how my goals for the week went:
Play 14k hands in blocks of no more than 500 hands in order to keep maximum focus level (x) - Played a total of 20k hands in the end, and stuck to taking a break after every 500. Felt like that approach worked really well, and that I was able to play very focused.
Study 1 video per day and create flashcards of all relevant info learned in Mochi ( )
I heavily underestimated the time it would take to create flashcards with all the relevant information and to study them - ended up taking 2.5-3 hours per ~40 min video and so only got through 2 videos for the week rather than the planned 7. So will need to adjust this goal based on studying a particular amount of time per day.
Meditate 3 times per day every day ( x)
Stuck to this without any problems :-)
Home workout everyday (x)
Stuck to this too - was feeling pretty tired recovering from covid, so some "workouts" were just 10 pressups or 5 mins of stretching, but the main aim was to get back in the habit of doing some sort of exercise every day, and this coming week will aim to increase the workouts.
Post one hand per day in BrPC discord, and respond to one hand posted by other players, if someone posted ( )
Disappointed in myself not to have completed this one, as it was probably the simplest of the goals - it only takes a minute to paste a hand (I mark several every day) in the group and write my thought process to get some feedback. Posted hands the first 2 days and then dropped off. So will be repeating this goal again this week.
So, goals for this week:
Play 21k hands in blocks of no more than 500 hands in order to keep maximum focus level ( ) - stepping up the volume target a little to get on track to clear 2x stars challenge, worth $800
Spend 1 hour per day studying video, creating flashcards and drilling them ( )
Meditate 3 times per day every day ( )
Do a yoga session every day ( )
- 1 youtube yoga session for beginners per day, usually around 20 mins
Post one hand per day in BrPC discord, and respond to one hand posted by other players, if someone posted ( )
- repeating this one with renewed determination :-) Just pick one marked hand per day, post it in the group with my thoughts. And give my thoughts about my teammates hands should they post one. Simples. So no excuses.
Alright, that's my goals set for the week. Thanks to all for reading, and gl :-)
Ok, update after week 2.
Play 21k hands in blocks of no more than 500 hands in order to keep maximum focus level (x) - ended up moving house at short notice so got in only very small volume on 2 days but managed to catch up on remaining days to just hit the 21k hand target.
Spend 1 hour per day studying video, creating flashcards and drilling them ( )
Did a reasonable amount of study, but missed those 2 days that I moved house, and was short of the hour target on a couple of other days. So need to be more structured with this, and set a specific time each day to do this.
Meditate 3 times per day every day ( )
Missed this on the day of the move - not an excuse as I could have found 10 mins in the morning still, and could have meditated during the train journey, but I didn't think about it at all until bedtime when I suddenly realised I'd missed 2 meditations. So also need to ensure I get back to hitting this everyday for this week.
Do a yoga session every day ( )
Well, this one was a huge fail, as I didn't even do a single yoga session this week. Not sure why I'm so resistant to doing it, as it would certainly help with my bad back and general lack of fitness/flexibility.
Post one hand per day in BrPC discord, and respond to one hand posted by other players, if someone posted ( )
I was pretty active in the group this week, posting my own hands and also responding to other players, but again I missed the day of the move.
So overall, obviously disappointing that I only completed 1/5 goals for the week, but looking at the positive side, that does mean that I completed 1 :-D And 3 of the others I felt that I did ok in them. So that gives me something to work toward this week coming.
So, I'm actually going to scale down a little this week and set myself only 3 goals and then add in an additional next week once I complete those 3:
Play 21k hands in blocks of no more than 500 hands in order to keep maximum focus level -
Repeating this one to keep me on track for completing the monthly goal of 80k hands and to unlock the stars challenge x2.
Meditate 3 times per day every day
Thought I had this one pretty well down pat, but it seems that this habit is still far from automatic as a change in routine for the day caused me to completely forget about it. So time to get back on track :-)
Do some form of exercise every day, including 1 yoga session for the week
I am more or less in the habit of doing some exercise every day, whether it just going for a walk, or a short home workout, so just going to specify that 1 of these exercise sessions must be a yoga session, to try to start incorporating this into my preexisting habit.
Still going to be aiming to study and post in the group discord as much as possible, but not going to make specific goals for those this week.
GL this week, everyone :-)
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