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! 

2012 RESULTS

2012 SNG RESULTS (after RB+bonus)

GOALS FOR 2013

2012 was a good year for me.
I took my job as a poker player seriously. I improved a lot, I found a staker who had faith in my abilities and I proved I could beat the games and make it as a pro. When all is said and done I have earned more than $50,000 from poker for the year. That figure includes rakeback and bonuses, which I have been taught is the only figure I should care about.

But as good as 2012 was, I want 2013 to be that much better. Here are my goals for 2013.

MORE THAN 1,200 HOURS OF PLAY  

In 2012 I spent a lot of my time studying, reviewing with coaches, watching training videos. I managed to log 770 hours of actual play for the entire year. This year, while I do intend to study/review/watch videos, I will be toning it down in favor of more time at the tables.

This is the first goal on my list and it is probably the most important. I have a monetary figure I would like to reach, and I can be very likely to get close to that figure, but I am not in control of that outcome. Hours at the tables being focused and playing well is the most important thing.
I can achieve this goal by: Sticking to a strict schedule (sleeping, waking, playing). Playing more when games are good. Improving mental game to deal with bad swings. 

MORE THAN 20,000 GAMES (Multi-Table better) 

This goal is similar to the hours goal, but really it has more to do with getting better at playing multiple tables at once. Right now I mostly play 12 tables at once, less if the games aren't very good, more tables if they are. The most I ever play is 14 tables. I would like to improve my ability to multi-table as this is the best way I can improve my hourly earn.
I can achieve this goal by: Improving my game: The more situations I am sure of what to do the faster I will be able to react and less effort I will have to put into playing. Tailoring my game for playing more tables.

And here are my "wants" for 2013. These are less important. They are moving targets that I can't control which are going to change throughout the year and that is important to remember so I don't get discouraged or complacent.

MORE THAN $120,000 IN PROFIT  

So long as I can reach my hours goal I think this is a very realistic profit goal. It is more than double last years earn with less than double the hours but I did spend a few months last year only playing $20-30 games. This year I will be playing almost exclusively $50-200 with an ABI probably around $80. I also was not as good early in the year as I am now. 

I might improve and earn $200k, or the games may get worse and I may only make $50k, but as of this moment I see 120k being a very reachable number. 

STAKE MYSELF BY MAY 

Or at the least make enough money to negotiate a better deal.
My staker is a great staker. I also consider him a very dear friend. I think the deal we have is very fair and I have no complaints about it. But I am a winning player in the games and once I have a big enough roll it would not make sense to continue to be staked even with the good deal I have at the moment.
I have no other means of income, and I do have a bit of expenses. Even with the money I earned this year I do not have a lot of money to my name.
I'd like to have a poker bankroll of $20k and a personal bankroll of about $10k before I consider staking myself. Living expenses mean I will have to make >30k to reach this goal. If I stick to the plan I think I have a very good shot of making this goal before 01/04/2013.
Even if I end up staking myself at the end of this I should make the staker a good chunk of $ before the goal is met. 

And I believe that should do it for the major yearly goals. I will be posting monthly goals as well.
So here is to a great two-thousand and thirteenth year to us all!

... well, after tomorrow of course.