+1

But also got to say Sharky, no hard feelings I know you meant nothing by it, and it sure does look like that I know but I'm really not one of those 21 year old I'm going to be at NL100 by 2016 sort of guys who then realises that they are not going to be a pro. I'm an old guy with a proper career and a family. Poker was just fun and the challenge element was all about mental game progress which has been my biggest personal challenge in life and poker. I was way too negative so if anything I had the opposite problem. I expected nothing from poker.

I've actually got a lot from it. Especially in 2016 as I've made breakthroughs in my mental state that are improving my life in the real world too. Didn't get any money from it though!

Wow, interesting last few pages and a lot I can relate to. I believe I post, play and feel similarly to Paul in a lot of ways and have had similar responses from @CrazyCookie in the past too. I'm also half caught in that 'playing for fun' but also 'wanting to be better, why have I plateaued' mindset. Would love to study and improve but poker is still only one fraction of everything I do and I don't want to over commit time etc and see other areas suffer (family relationships, work etc).

The call of 15 minutes a day studying is interesting from CC and I'm not denying it could be true. But how best to use that 15 minutes? I've always thought a lot of my study problems are less to do with time and being prepared to do it and more about not actually knowing what I should be doing and recognising the weaknesses and parts of my game I need to work on....and then to how to go about remedying them.

I'm at a poker void right now where I'm just playing very little and with little purpose. I still want to actually get better at the game and start finding enjoyment in the game again, but right now I never feel like playing for long and beyond scanning through PokerVIP forums, articles and vids, haven't found the incentive to really work at my game.

I want to though. I don't want to go pro. I don't want or need to be playing nosebleeds online. I don't need it to pay the bills (although some extra spending money would be nice). I just want to play because I enjoy the game and I do want to at least beat the level I can get to, whether that's 25NL or 50NL who knows? It's frustrating as hell right now not because I don't have $'000s or or I'm not playing 100NL, but because I want to be better than I obviously am even at the micros I'm playing.

You know this thread is very interesting as I see @thetallpaul and @MinerBoy23 as kinda similar due to being very successful in the jobs they do but still want something out of poker...but maybe not 100% sure what that is. But basically enjoy the game, causes some stress and maybe don't have enough time to home their skills.

What I would say is to honestly be really chilled with it. You both seem to have a nice life, earn really good money and have a certain amount of freedom. When you sit down just be happy, play your best and the results will be what they will be. I know we all like to push ourselves to be the best version of ourselves but doing some headers and volleys in the park playing football is super fun even though you ain't earning £50k a week playing in the Premier League.

That's a really good post I think @Jon-PokerVIP and yeah it's true. Maybe it's just the competitive nature with me but it's annoying if I'm not winning. However poker is such a game that 'trying to win too much' is almost a way to ensure you play worse. This compounds how you are feeling about the results.

And the thing is that I enjoy poker so much and communities like this, that I want to have a poker thread and discuss the game, which in the end might be the worst thing for someone like me because if you have a poker thread, you want to be doing well. None of us mind posting a graph where we might be on a bit of a down swing but in the end that just might lead me to frustration and poorer play so I can get some nice results going for the next update.

That's my challenge then. Play for fun, but still attempt to play my best. Put the effort in to learning when I can, don't sweat it too much when I can't and don't try too hard to be a winner. Relax, enjoy the challenge, don't sweat the standard beats and if I'm getting beaten by being outplayed, then enjoy that challenge too of trying to work out how and why.

Got a run in last night, trying to rebuild my distance after the layoff. I'm so far behind 1000km pace now that it may not be possible. I'm going to try and get the hammer down a bit for the next couple of months and see if I can get close. If not I'm going to keep pushing. Basically every run I set a PB goal for something, longest distance, fastest time, most consistent splits, fastest short sprint, fastest in a Strava segment whatever, just something to go for.

Pokerwise things are going OK. NL5 feels a lot easier to return to now I've been playing a lot at NL10 and even a bit on NL25. Got a very nice winrate out of that and got my BR back up to $250 on Stars. Most pleasing though is all the HH I've been spamming. I'm trying to hit the competition hard and that's good but mainly I'm happy that generally the group are agreeing with my thought process and recommending what I actually did. Couple of exceptions as always, some disagreement and a few where I bet too small (plus ca change as the French say, Rodney) but largely some good thinking. That's really good for me. The results may not have been so good but I made decent plays. I may consider moving back to NL10 relatively soon. Although perhaps I'll go back to my old BR strategy. 30 BI to move up for 10BI shot. So would move up at $300, and back down if hit $200. Seems odd though as the only reason my BR is this small is because I withdrew so actually will to be a bit more aggressive with it, moving to NL10 now. I'd then be at NL10 for the foreseeable future. I'd need to win 5000bb to move up with 30BI. Given my average winrate of 2bb/100 it would take me 250k hands or to put it another way nearly 2 years at my current volume! On that basis probably better to go to NL10 now and not have a BR strategy, especially as just playing for fun. Just, if bored, stop playing not play underrolled somewhere!

Unibet as I go for challenges and stuff I'm holding my BR there steady/slight improvement, as I'm only playing NL4, donking about on PLO. Its an odd game PLO and I have no idea how to calculate odds but at NL4 I don't have to as people don't even understand the rules and are calling off with air thinking they have a flush as they have 3 hearts in their hand and 1 on the board. Valuewise though it seems like anything but a FH is destined to be behind! Very strange game.

I'd suggest move up now and move back down at $200. 5 bi for a shot is plenty and the skill gap isn't big enough to warrant 30buyins and you have a winning experience there

I'm making a videos series on 15min study sessions btw... Watch this space

Yeh think this sums it up really well!

So I went back to NL10 as Cookie suggested and ran decent. NL5 seemed easy by comparison. I think it's no bad thing to drop limits for a little confidence boost to see how far you've come. NL5 used to seem tough but not so much now. I'm also likely to do a Stars promo that if you deposit £400 they give you £80 free. I can then just withdraw the £400. I could do that 4 times but couldn't withdraw until all done. That would net me 32bi but the risk of having £2k on Stars after they allowed me to be robbed last year puts me off. LinkedIn just got done with the same thing as Stars refused to admit happened to them. Their old password database was hashed but not salted. So anyone who didn't regularly change their password was at risk. I wasn't hacked for shit. They can't admit it and as poker is perceived as 'dodgy' they just hide behind that and no one can do anything. Now I've got stupid alphanumeric caps symbol password and a Pin so I guess it's safer but just don't trust this. Maybe just to get loads of deposits because they are about to Black Friday everyone and steal their money. Probs too cynical I suppose.

Can you explain or link to this promo?

Yeah its just deposit $400 and you get $40 free and another $40 for doing a challenge. You can do this each week for the next 4 weeks but if you withdraw you can't do it in any subsequent weeks so to get the max value you need to have $1600 to hand, that you don't need for a month and be willing to risk having it on deposit in Stars.

I think I'll just do the one week.

Yikes I had a tough run today. I had to look in Pokertracker afterward to see how bad it was. I made a few loose raises maybe from the SB, and I misread the action on one hand and thought I was facing MP not UTG but broadly I was not being nuts. My mental game was B game at best as was doing HH work at the same time and was a bit autopiloty but really I hit nothing.

I won one 15bb hand and everything else was under 10bb and taken down pre or on the flop. I only lost 120bb which is decent given I hit nothing, got every cbet raised or jammed on the turn. Donked into everytime I had nothing etc. This is why stats are fun, putting it into context. 16% WTSD and 20% W$SD, 30% WWSF. Playing 26/22 3% 3bet. Sometime the deck decides to punch you in the dick.

I feel good about the review. I've been good at not being results focused but I felt like I was being a passive tilty C game sort of guy, folding too much. So I allowed myself to look over it properly to put my mind at rest and not stew on being a foldy fish. See how that plays tomorrow as to wether that was a good idea. Hopefully it will mean this session is put behind me. My warm up was weak today as well. Still don't think I could have turned today into a win if I was on my A+ game. Maybe saved 30bb ish looking at the errors I made but not made it all back.

Deposited for the Double promo on Stars. Turns out it was for selected players only. Also turns out the challenge to double the $40 bonus can only be done on NL400 so thats not a thing. Might still deposit on some other weeks to get the $40 but I think probably not.

Lolz. Nice hero there boss. Was just nailed on for a split I thought.

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

BTN: $6.43 (VPIP: 38.89, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 11.11, Hands: 18)
SB: $13.82 (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 12.82, 3Bet Preflop: 4.35, Hands: 237)
BB: $7.56 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 2)
UTG: $18.74 (VPIP: 16.00, PFR: 12.50, 3Bet Preflop: 25.00, Hands: 26)
Hero (MP): $10.00
CO: $10.00 (VPIP: 8.00, PFR: 4.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 27)

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has Tc Ad
fold, Hero raises to $0.30, fold, BTN calls $0.30, fold, fold

Flop : ($0.75, 2 players) As 4c 4d
Hero bets $0.40, BTN calls $0.40

Turn : ($1.55, 2 players) Ah
Hero bets $0.95, BTN calls $0.95

River : ($3.45, 2 players) 8h
Hero bets $2.70, BTN calls $2.70

Hero shows Tc Ad (Full House, Aces full of Fours)
(Pre 60%, Flop 98%, Turn 100%)

BTN mucks Kd Js (Two Pair, Aces and Fours)
(Pre 40%, Flop 2%, Turn 0%)

Hero wins $8.45

Another bad day today although in a totally different way. Yesterday was just super run bad and my game was largely decent apart from when trying to post HH. Today I ran really bad (the HH above as an exception) but whats worse was I slipped into my old super passive mode where I overfold and get passive even with strong hands as I'm afraid to raise and get stacked.

I suppose I'm going to treat this as a mental drift. A bit like in mindfulness when you notice your internal voice is chattering again. I'm not going to be angry or beat myself up. Thats not the mental edge I'm working on. Instead I'm going to notice it, name it, recognise it and then go back to focussing on improving. I did no real warm up today so that will be where I start tomorrow in trying to fix it.

Hope you are all well in yourselves. My thoughts especially with MG, who had a shot but couldn't make it land today at Unibet Open in Malta. I would definately sub him for a cash game but I bought a new house I can't afford today. Bloody hell.

^ BRAGS

Congrats on the house

Yeh totally gutted for MG - really wanted him to run deep and scoop up a ton of cash but he is a great guy and a dope player so I am sure he will be just fine! May just take a bit of time for him realise that

First of my 15mins to crush videos is HERE!

Hope you enjoy mate! Let me know what you think

Yeah thanks @Jon-PokerVIP I've really enjoying the clearer mental frame. House is currently feeling like a beat. With the additional interest this is going to cost me £100k to move. Hopefully it will turn out to be a good idea.

@CrazyCookie Yeah I saw. I'll watch it tonight. Look at you, you Poker Coach you!

a I don't class myself as a coach so much, but if what I do worked for me then I don't see why it can't help other

Got him with the old value check.

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

BTN: $18.07 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9)
SB: $34.56 (VPIP: 22.09, PFR: 17.44, 3Bet Preflop: 3.45, Hands: 89)
Hero (BB): $13.37
UTG: $16.46 (VPIP: 21.08, PFR: 16.27, 3Bet Preflop: 5.00, Hands: 171)
MP: $10.25 (VPIP: 21.62, PFR: 16.76, 3Bet Preflop: 9.59, Hands: 188)
CO: $19.34 (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has As Qc
fold, fold, CO raises to $0.30, fold, fold, Hero calls $0.20

Flop : ($0.65, 2 players) Qh 9d 4s
Hero checks, CO bets $0.60, Hero calls $0.60

Turn : ($1.85, 2 players) Td
Hero checks, fold

Hero wins $1.77

Skrill is the absolute worst. I will never use that POS again. Now I have to pay again to withdraw my money, after paying to upload it, paying to send , paying a terrible exchange rate.

Scam.

Not sending MG $50 has now cost me $6. Fucks sake.