LAZY

I've been a little put off by my results lately. I'm not really losing much but just being break-even in winnings for a bit and it's gotten me down. I took the last few days very lightly and took 2 days this week off.
I'm going to try to grind a bit now and I'll try to make a proper blog update either tonight or tomorrow.

WEEK 2 (8-14) GOALS

Week 1 did not go as planned. 377 games in exactly 25 hours of HEM play. I took a day off and had a few days where I let myself get a little too tilted to play. I did put in a lot of hours away from the games studying but I'm disappointed with my hours/games, obviously.

This week is a new week. I started yesterday by taking another full day off to recover from a night out drinking. Today I am getting back to the tables after posting this update.

WEEK 2 GOALS:
[ ] 30 hours of HEM play
[ ] 500+ games played

I have some catching up to do but I don't want to try to overdue it and burn myself out. At the same time I know 500+ games is not going to be a cake walk with only 6 days in the week and I will need to push myself to get there.
I need to not let myself get lazy. I want to make money and I can't do that if I put off grinding. I have the skills to beat the games for a decent clip and I should make sure I put in my minimum hours/games each day and then worry about review/improving after. I get this feeling sometimes when I'm losing (even for just a session) that I might be making big mistakes and I have to review my play to see if I'm doing anything wrong - these reviews usually reveal nothing and are a waste of time.

Let's get crackin' on week 2!

BEHIND PACE

Took yesterday off. I'm a little behind pace on hours with 9.2 but I still think I can make 30+ this week. Games I'm a bit more behind pace with only 142 - I'll need to really step it up to stay on pace. I'm gonna consider dropping it to 500 games but I'll see how I do today first. 

Gonna do a little review then jump into the grind. 

Cheers!

FEB. WEEK 1 GOALS

[ ] - 30+ HOURS OF HEM PLAY
The "+" is important. I don't want to hit the minimum here. I plan on taking maybe a full day off this week, so figuring 5 hours per day average (hopefully more) my minimum is going to be 30 hours. I would be super happy to get 35+ hours and I will hopefully be upping the goal to that but 30 is the absolute bare minimum.

[ ] - 550+ games
Let's get a jump-start on >2000 games for the month. I don't want any less than 550+. Quality of games could change this but I think I can just make up for games by putting in more hours if need be. This time I'm going to start off putting more emphasis on getting the games goal because the hours goal should be easy if I focus on # of games.

... I've already started the month off. A little behind pace for hours and games (4.7 hours, 69 games). Did well and made up for a horrible previous day.

Today I'll look to close the gap by playing >115 games. and >5.3 hours. Not hell-bent on it but would like to do that.

Well, no time to waste. Let's get it done!

FEBRUARY GOALS

[ ] - 120+ HOURS OF HEM PLAY.
Last month I got in 115 hours while starting off the month putting in only 3-4hrs per day and later upping it to 5-7. I didn't have many off days, however, and I will probably have a few this month. I plan on playing 5-7hours on as many grinding days as I can. I think 140+ hours is doable by me but I don't want to set the bar too high and 120hours would not be a bad result. I may change this goal to increase the hours if I stay ahead of pace but I don't plan on lowering it.
I have got to remember to not focus on bad sessions, days, or even weeks. If I put in 120+ hours each month I will have a nice chunk of change to make up for them. This is the only thing that matters.

[ ] - 2,000+ GAMES.
This is another low-estimate goal. I would think on average putting in 120 hours of play would lean more towards 2,400 games but I have to figure in February the games still won't be all that great, I may have to avoid a lot of games and settle for a low game-per-hour count. I may also implement changes in my game that make me drop down tables for a few days. So there is a good chance I adjust this goal higher, a slight change I adjust it lower, but I think 2,000 games would be an OK amount for the month.


That's about it. I don't have any monetary goals because I can't possibly control that outcome within a month. I would like to rake >12,500 for the month but it's not something that should take more focus than hours/games (which will of course lead to the rake goal).
I want to keep reviewing, discussing strategy with my small circle of poker buddies, and watch a few poker videos to learn some new, and improve on some old, concepts but I think I'm dedicated enough to doing that that I shouldn't need to make it a goal.

Cheers!

JANUARY RESULTS

Have been so preoccupied with grinding that I haven't updated the blog. Sorry about that.

I made a lot of adjustments to my game in Jan. and I've still got a bit of work to do before I feel ready to stop doing near daily review.

As far as volume goes, January was actually pretty good. I started off slow and then I was doing the whole 6 tabling thing for a week. In the end I've put in 115 hours in HEM, which is above my goals. I also played 1,780 games, less than I had hoped to start the month but actually pretty good considering how things went.

Results are quite sub-par. Not as bad as they could be but definitely not as good as I can expect on average.

January 2013 results

Just about $6,300.

Truth be told I know January is one of the worst month for an online poker grinder. Every other grinder is super motivated and a little too eager to be in every game. I expect the months to get progressively softer until right about the 4th quarter of the year so hopefully I can post better results in the next months to come.

I am proud of myself for the hours I put in this month and it should serve as a reminder that even when things don't go so great the volume will help overcome. As long as I can put in the volume I will get results.

WAITING TO LOAD

Games are super reg-infested at the moment so I figured I'd write a quick update while I'm just sitting here waiting for a soft enough one to go off (basically a game without 5 regs in it). Ooo, one just opened :) but it's the only one.

I am still making some adjustments to my game, but I think I am for the most part ready to start really grinding. I'm going for 6 hours of play per day from now on, and something like 26 days a month. It just seems like a reasonable amount of grinding to do.
I fixed my sleeping schedule to let me play more good poker hours. I started yesterday and got in 6.2hrs of play. Ran really awful to start and had to break maybe 4 times but I crushed the last session and went from -1,400 to +700 which was a super nice feeling.
I have to admit I was pretty tilted at the worst of it and was saying and feeling a lot of negative things - thinking i would never be "allowed" to grind and not run bad.
I definitely have some confidence issues that I need to resolve. But really I need to remember that I have beat the games for a decent clip over a decent sample and I should be more confident in my ability to beat the games while grinding decent hours. I need to stop doubting myself over a small stretch of games, this means that I shouldn't even really doubt myself over a 5,000 game sample unless I am really losing a ton.

OK games are picking up. Wish me luck!

REVIEW AND GRIND

From the 8th to the 14th I had only put in a measly 15.6 hours of play, and from the 15th to date I have played 18.5, which isn't too bad, but I have put in an very healthy amount of hours reviewing my game. 

I think I've really made some huge strides. In fact I don't think I've made such a big leap in my game, in such a short time, in a long while. 

I've been working very hard on the very base of my game. My default actions. I've improved them and made a lot more of my decisions second hand. I'm finding myself second-guessing my plays less and because of that I think I'm getting upset far less. 

I plan on doing more work to my game for at least a few more days, maybe longer, so I will probably only be getting in 4-5 hours per day of play at most. After I feel confident that I've milked this study time for all I could I plan on really getting on the grind and going for 6+ hours a day of playing. 

I still plan on getting to my 100 hours goal for the month. I'm not giving up on that at all. 

The games have been particularly bad this month which is no surprise. Most grinders are still feeling that new year motivation and will eventually fade out. I will be different. I will be consistent. I will have a great year and make a boatload of money.

Ran particularly bad at my highest games. Not too worried about it. The red line is "expected value" but i have my doubts about it accuracy and don't pay too much attention to it. 

43.5 hours minimum to put in for the rest of the month.

Cheers. 

THE START OF WEEKLY GOALS

Not much time to write this up as I'm a bit late to start my day of poker as it is but I wanted to make sure I got this one out.

Last week I let myself get a little too upset with results but I took a day off. I also did some work with one of my coaches and feel like it helped a good bit.

I've decided it's probably a very good idea to break down my goals into weekly goals as well.
For the first week of January I've played 406 games and 22.5 hours of play according to HEM.

We're already on the 3rd day of the second week and I've only 27 games and 2.1 hours. This includes a day off and a less than half day where I got the coaching.
I now have 5 days, including today, left in this week with no expected days off. I'm going to aim for 4.5hours a day of play on average so that would have me at just under 25 hours for the week.
I'm going to drop down from 12 tabling to playing 6 tables for a few days while I try to implement some new things that I picked up from my coach. I may up it to 8 tables in a few days and then to 12 again when I feel I have it in my "poker-muscle memory". Needless to say I'm not going to be trying to get a lot of games in this week nor am I going to be concerned with the number of games I get in.

I'll be doing a new weekly goals each and every week and posting it right here. At the end of the week I may adjust my monthly goals based on how things are going, but for the most part I will try to make my weekly goals help reach my original monthly goals even if it means putting in more hours.

OK, I'm off.

JANUARY WEEK 2 GOALS:
[ ] 25hours
[ ] 6 table to ingrain new things in my game

TURNED AROUND

Today was interesting. I started my grind a bit later than usual and got off to an actually decent start. About 30 games in I hit a bit of a downer and lost a lot of games in a row. I made myself break because I could feel the tilt creeping in. Next session hit a welcomed upper and ended up +2,000 for the day. Not bad.

$2k day FTW!

It was really nice to be rewarded for playing more after an annoying run. Maybe in the future this memory will help me push through a rough patch.
I played really well for most of the day and even in that downer felt confident. Towards the end I was making a few small mistakes from being tired but the games were too good to quit.

I forgot to put up my January Goals, so here they are:

[ ] >100 hours of play
[ ] >2,000 games 

At the end of 2013 I would like to average more than 100 hours and 2k games per month but I figure I should start out at a reasonable pace and adjust myself to playing more hours so I don't burn out. I also think the first few months of the year won't be so great with everyone on their New Years motivation and going for all the sites bonuses and such.
If games are horrible I don't mind falling under the 2,000 mark but I absolutely want 100 hours to be my minimum.

Results of the month so far

I'm off for now. Got some grinding to do tomorrow.
Cheers!

TILT REPORT PART 2

Played another session and unfortunately I ran about as bad as possible. Luckily I didn't play any 200's.
Managed 90 games in 4.3 hours of play. Considering how things went I am not upset with this volume and I'm actually proud of myself for how I handled myself mentally. I can get better and maybe one day I will be able to just play through. I just need to keep reminding myself what I said in the last post.

TILT REPORT

So I was playing my first session of the day. Feeling good. Had my breakfast and caffeine fix. 

Games were particularly good but I was running shit in my high dollars. Lost every $200 I played (probably 5-6) and lost 3 to the same massive fish while getting it in massively ahead, none the less. 

I managed just over 2 hours of play which isn't too bad, although I would prefer to have played at least 3. No clue what my results were, trying not to pay attention. I decided to take a break and get some food in me  as I could feel the lingering sense of tilt. 

I was tempted to check my results, or play back the "sick" hands that I busted the $200s with, but I calmed myself down and reminded myself that this would do nothing for me and that each game I play is only one out of hundreds of thousands in the long run of my career. An individual game means nothing, an individual session or day means nothing, even a month full of grinding means almost entirely nothing to my final result. All that matters is improving, playing well, and making as much EV per hour that I can. 

Back to the tables I go!