Poker Goals for March

[ ] 160hrs+ Total Grind
[ ] 170hrs+ dedicated to poker


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I've not been keeping an accurate log of my hours so far but even disregarding the 20 or more hours I've put into poker this month this goal is still within reach IMO. I'll leave it be, start keeping accurate logs and see where I end up.

Vamos!

hey!

wow, 160h of total grind is sick! Good Luck.

160hrs, really? Got dam that's a lot.

You know there are apps you can download that will monitor how long you grind for, you can even segment it to split how much you play/study.

Hey guys, yes in hindsight the grind goal was a bit too lofty considering the first few weeks of the month were decimated by the PC issues and general issues I had but I'm really looking forward to having a complete April and setting some new goals!

Also, I just use google spreadsheets and it doesn't really consume much time but maybe I'll look into that app at some point.


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Sup guys.

Been working really hard at the new games since last update. Also had a few coaching sessions which have been great so it's just a case of focusing on improving certain aspects of my game and increasing my cev.

Also had some good news today, my backers are discussing the prospect of moving me up to the next level (2x times the buyin of the current level) and letting me have a shot up there. Apparently the jump is really huge but the chance to get some experience higher up is massively exciting to me. I've actually not managed to make a cashout so far because I've run pretty poorly but I suppose a huge advantage of being staked is that, in a good stable you will get moved up based on performance and not results.


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Month so far




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I'll drop in before the end of the month, review March and set some new goals for April. I'm feeling very positive about this arrangement and the future!


Thankyou for reading.

Looking at your graph I would say it would be a very good idea to move you on up

CRUSHING

How the hell did I manage to miss this epic thread! The OP alone was worth the price of admission. Anyway, I hope you're still planning on updating this thread? Our interests are fairly similar so if you ever want to talk health/fitness, mindset, self-improvement, and music let me know.

Cheers Jon, very close to moving up to the next level now! We've discussed it in detail and I think it will happen in one more week.



Cheers Matt, welcome aboard and yes I'll still be updating from time-to-time!
I'm always up for a chat with like-minded individuals so hit me up either here or on Skype.


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March Review

Pleased with the month overall. Obviously there was big disruption at the start, and I maybe let myself down a little at the end by slipping out of a good rhythm so there's plenty of improvements to be made but I'm encouraged and excited to see what I can produce in April.

As I'm sure you're all aware, being in a good productive rhythm is all about consistency. It's way easier to push ahead in 4th or 5th gear when you're already at that level than it is to get to that level from a standing-start!

I've made a good start to a new relationship with my backers and not only do I feel like I've made a great decision, but I'm hoping that I've also made a strong impression on them. There's already talk of moving me up to the next level and it's at that level where I believe I'll have everything I need to achieve the original goal of this thread, which is to consistently earn enough to live comfortably. (about £1.2k a month)


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I probably should've adjusted this goal after the disruption of the first 1/3 of the month. There was also a bunch of hours that didn't get recorded in my diary.

Nontheless, I recorded;

5619 minutes of Grind which is 93hrs 39mins

1141 minutes of other activities (Coaching, Study, Notetaking, HUD-Work) which is 19hrs 1min

So a total of 112hrs 40mins which isn't a terrible effort. Realistically there's probably about 30hrs missing from there.


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March Graph





It's a shame about the dip at the end as it basically coincided with me upping to 3-tables. I'm pretty sure it's mostly just variance but the swing couldn't have come at a worse time as it did freak me out a bit and made me feel like I wasn't in control. Happy to say I've got a few hours 3-tabling under my belt now and I believe the majority of this month will be spent grinding that many tables.

Goals for April

RiD = Record in Diary


Poker

[ ] 160hrs+ total grind + RiD
[ ] RiD all poker activity (Grind, Study, Coaching, Notetaking, etc)


Mental

[ ] 10mins AM meditation on at least 28/30 days + RiD
[ ] 10mins PM meditation on at least 28/30 days + RiD
[ ] read at least 2 books


Nutrition

[ ] RiD all food consumed in April + estimate carbs
[ ] < 200g Total Carbs (TC) on at least 25/30 days


Fitness

[ ] workout on at least 25/30 days + RiD (Squash, Weights, Running)


Creativity

[ ] 30mins+ learning keyboard on at least 25/30 days + RiD


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This is a huge month. I've got everything I need to kick on and move within sight of being able to support myself. It's just a case of getting into a great rhythm of productivity and staying there!


Vamos!

Congrats on a solid month! I wouldn't underestimate the importance of adding another table to the mix. While the dip at the end of the graph could very well be explained by the short-term variance one of the biggest regrets that I have when it comes to my poker (and from what I've read on the forum people like @Harvie have a very similar view on the matter) is playing too many tables. And by 'too many' I don't mean a massive 12+ multi-tabling, I mean anything more than 3-4. I think only a very, very small percentage of players can actually benefit from multi-tabling in the long run and while many people were able to get away with it in the past, it's much harder to do in today's games.

As for your plans for April, they look solid. I like the idea of recording as much of your progress as possible in a diary. "1984" by George Orwell is not a title that comes to mind when talking about self-improvement, but I had a huge "aha moment" while reading it. At some point in the story, the main protagonist is amazed at the fact how easy it is to forget or misrepresent something if there are no written, reliable records of it. This is of course in line with the science of goal setting and the simple act of writing you progress down can be very powerful.

Hi Matt. Whilst I completely agree with your concerns with regards to the multi-tabling aspect and do believe I was flustered when first upping to three, I also think the primary explanation for that graph is simply hitting a tough patch of variance at a very unfortunate moment. Obviously improvement is massively important at any level, but at the low levels where I exist it's vital that players look to adapt and grow with a view to gaining the necessary tools to successfully move up. I see plenty of guys who are (relatively speaking for these stakes) mass-tabling and it's clear that these guys are going to stagnate at the low levels because they make many fundamental errors. They're putting volume ahead of study and whilst they're probably making tidy money I don't think it's the right path to go down.

However, the games I'm playing really do reward high-volume players so it's imperative I look to gradually increase multi-tabling ability to maximise overall winrate with rb considered. I'm being guided by some very smart and experienced guys so I'm in good hands with regards to finding a happy balance. I understand your concerns because when I was a 180 reg on stars, there were a few mass-tablers with awful ROIs who were infamous. There was even one who was a top-reg back in the day but had become a 50 (fifty!) tabler and was now playing awful, as you'd expect. This sort of thing is not a trap I will fall into!


Thankyou for the kind words regarding my plans!

As you mention, writing down goals is a very simple yet monumental activity in terms of productivity and staying-the-course. I actually have a bunch of physical diaries that I use to record everything. Maybe when I'm next feeling down about myself, I will spend a few hours reading through those diaries to remember the progress I'm making, and to show me how I can improve things moving forwards.

I'm going to borrow 1984 from my library btw as one of my goals this month is to read two books!



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Sup guys. Made an ok start to the month, running way better than before and although there's been some disruption with implementing a new HUD and getting used to that, and also some issues with PT4 that I'm in the process of fixing, I'm fairly pleased with how poker and life is going.

Things can definitely improve though so I'll be looking to build upon the momentum I've created in the last week or so and really kick on from here!


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Month to Date




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Plan for the week is to have my coaching session on Tuesday but otherwise use that day as a chill day as I've been pretty goals-orientated and living with the pressures that come with that mindframe, so it'll be nice to have a day to reset a bit. I have the short story The Old Man And The Sea sitting on my bedside table so looking forward to chilling out and reading that! I'm also making some really solid progress with my other goals so I'll have plenty to keep me occupied on my chill day!

I'm also going for a meal on Saturday so not sure if I'll be grinding then, might be super professional and just limit myself to only a couple of beers but failing that I've got at least five days to hit it hard.

I'm 3-tabling now and feeling more comfortable every day so there's no reason why I can't double my months volume by the end of next Sunday night! A 900 game week would be a solid effort, 1k would be amazing. At the end of this week I'll be moving up to the next limit so exciting times lie ahead!


Vamos!

Nice progress so far, keep going.
Which limit do u play at the moment ?

That graph is sick, how many games do you need to play in these games to get a decent sample? Oh and move up if you have not already.

Thankyou very much and welcome aboard buddy!

A requirement of the staking arrangement is that I can't be specific about the site or terms I'm on, but let's say I'm playing equivalent of $7 spins and the next level is equivalent of $15 obviously.





Hello Harvie, thankyou for the kind words I'm quite pleased with the progress and improvements I'm making! And with the fact I'm running super hot this month!

The idea of moving up has been in the air for a few weeks now and we've decided the big day will be one week from today! Very excited for that, it's clearly demonstrable progress before my eyes that my backers want this, and as I'm sure you're well aware demonstrable progress isn't always easy to recognise in poker.

One of my backers tells me that 5k is solid enough to be within 3 of your true cev, and 2k is probably good enough to be within 7-6 so I can definitely feel confident as I've played close to 3k games now!

Can I ask what split you're on with backers, for the stake you're at now might be time to ask for an increase, but you may want to keep that in your pocket for another week or so to see if you can crush the higher stakes, if so I'd defo be asking for a bigger slice if it's 50/50.

Can't reveal much but it's a very good and fair deal that I'm on and it clearly represents value for both parties.

Sup guys. I'm moving up to the next limit today. Fingers crossed I can show enough competence and improvement to remain here permanently. As I think I said before, it's equivalent to moving from $7 spins to $15 so it's a big leap but I feel like my fundamentals are solid enough to cope with the jump.


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CEV Graph of All Games at Previous Level




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I'll be 2-tabling again until at least Sunday, though I may stick to 2 for next week. Will play it by eye. Will drop in on Sunday night/Monday morning with an update of how the first few days have gone. Big weekend incoming!


Let's go!

That graph is killing it, what type of RB do you get? Gl on moving up a level, my suggestion would have been to play less tables as you warm into it but seems you're doing that already.

Cheers Harvie.

Less tables definitely seems the right thing to do, to be honest I will probably stick to 2 for the rest of the month. It's more rakeback than 3-tabling the previous level. The RB varies but it's significantly >50% and I think at one point we worked out was significantly >100%!

Good stuff, like the intro. Will be following!

Cheers, welcome aboard!


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Sup guys. I let myself down second half of the month which is a real shame. Went out on the piss on Easter Sunday and it just completely annihilated me. I don't know if I have ****ed up brain chemistry or if I'm just a wimp or what, but I was hungover for a few days and bodyclock got out of whack then from that point on just slipped into a nocturnal depression hole-type-thing that I'm prone to. Once in that state I struggle terribly to find the ignition to get back on track.

As a result of the screeching halt in productivity I've been moved back down in stakes for the first week of May. It's disappointing but understandable. I barely got any volume at the higher stake games.

This blip is something that used to happen when I was a grinder a few years ago. I'd work really hard, go out and get ****ed up to celebrate and then slip into a depression and essentially undo a bunch of hard work and progress. Maybe I had just forgotten how I am, or maybe I just overestimated the progress I'd made since back then, but clearly I'm not the sort of person who can afford to go wild. Moving forwards I'll remember this episode and ensure it doesn't happen again. :mad:


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April Review

Basically failed all the goals I set including keeping track of everything but I suppose in the spirit of a positive start to May I'll list some things I'm proud of.


- I ate super clean and healthy for the first half of the month, lots of organic veg (I get a box delivered weekly), lots of good meat and fats, fairly low carbs and very little processed carbs.

- I meditated for approximately 200 minutes in total in the first half of the month. Looking to pick up this habit again.

- I spent well over 6 hours of recorded learning the keyboard (prob closer to 10 overall) and made a real breakthrough on one of the songs. It was the first time left and right hand parts were essentially separate entities. All other songs I've learnt so far, left hand notes are played at the same time as right hand, on this song (The Entertainer) the left hand is basically a bed for the right hand to lie on and I spent a bunch of sessions and several hours banging my head against a wall trying to play it right, but now I'm very competent and feel like I've smashed through a plateau.

- I worked out 14 times (squash, weights, jogging), made clear improvements to my squash game and started running again for the first time in at least a year.

- I made clear improvements to my poker game and made a little bit of money, enough to keep the wolf at bay for a short while longer. Although I'm overall unhappy with my volume and general efforts in the last half of the month, if I can recreate the efforts from first half over the entirety of May then I won't go far wrong.


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April Graphs

Lower Stakes





Higher Stakes