Here is the link to my 2015 PGC thread:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...hours-1500406/

I am a 35 year old professional poker player living in Rochester, NY, USA. I play about 70% online and about 30% live. I typically play 5/10 NLHE, although I do mix stakes fairly often.

I also work as a coach for ImaWhale Staking Group. Along with 2p2'er "skraper", we coach and manage the cash game staking for ImaWhale. It's a great operation, and in my opinion the number one staking organization out there. I am also personally backed by ImaWhale, and they have helped me to move up in stakes and continue to reach new levels of success in poker.

I will be using this thread to set and track my goals for 2016, as well as to generally blog about my thoughts regarding poker, mental game, and personal growth.

Here are some HM2 screenshots to show my past results:







2015 Accomplishments
- I played 1000 hours of poker, and became much more comfortable playing at higher limit games, specifically 5/10.
- I helped several ImaWhale stakees move up in limits.
- I adopted a variety of healthier life habits and approaches, thanks primarily to a variety of personal growth books I read (which are mentioned in my previous PGC threads).
- I learned about long term investing strategies, and opened a Roth IRA and maxed my 2014 and 2015 contributions, and devised a retirement strategy.
- I visited a foreign country (other than Canada) for the first time, albeit very briefly.
- I quit smoking marijuana.
- I got braces (on my teeth), and improved my general dental hygiene.
- I lost 90 pounds, and 10 inches off my waist.

2015 was a great year for me, and I'm ready to make 2016 even better.


2016 Goals

Poker
- Play 1100 hours. In 2015, my goal was to play 1000 hours, and I played almost exactly that amount. This year, I want to push myself a bit further, and shoot for 1100 total hours of combined live and online play.
- Focus on higher stakes. In 2015, my online play was somewhat evenly distributed between limits from 1/2 and 5/10. This year, I want to really focus the majority of my online play at 5/10 with the occasional 10/20 mixed in. I will try to avoid playing 3/6 unless game selection is really poor, and try to avoid 2/4 and below entirely.
- MTTs. I've never really played many MTTs, and I would like to start playing some MTTs this year from time to time and learn some better MTT fundamental and take advantage of good MTT value spots when they arise. I may end up playing the main event this year, and want to brush up on my MTT skills before this summer.
- I want to continue and even increase my efforts to help players in our stable move up in limits. Although we generally focus on midstakes players, we've recently taken on some small stakes players and I see potential to develop them and help them rise up in limits.
- I want to continue to improve my mental game. This has been a big focus and priority for me over the last couple years, and it has helped my growth as a poker player tremendously. Recently I have started to take this for granted a bit, and I want to redouble my efforts to keep improving my mental game and to remember that it is a lifelong growth process and I'm never "finished" with working on it.


Fitness
- Finish cutting body fat. I lost a lot of weight last year, and I'm almost done cutting body fat. I currently weigh about 180 pounds, and I still have a bit more body fat to lose, probably 5-10 more pounds.
- Increase muscle mass. Once I finish cutting body fat, then I can focus on increasing my lean muscle mass via weight training. I don't want to set too many specific goals, but I would really like to be able to bench 185x8x3.
- Continue to log my calories and protein grams consumed each day. While in the cut I am consuming 1500-2000 calories per day, and once that is finished I will target 2500 calories per day and 150+ grams of protein per day.
- Continue to stay in the habit of exercising in some fashion every single day as my standard habit.
- Allow myself off days periodically, and realize that as long as I plan and schedule these cheat days I can fully enjoy them and feel good about them and that they are a healthy part of life, as opposed to unplanned unhealthy behaviors, like binge eating, that result in guilty feelings.


Reading
- Last year I got back to reading fairly regularly, and I want to continue that and build on that habit.
- I'd like to a minimum of 4 fictional novels this year. First up are The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and then The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
- I'd like to read a minimum of 4 non-fiction books this year. This will likely be a mix of some new personal growth books along with a couple Malcom Gladwell books I have not yet read.
- Develop the habit of reading before bed. I find that I tend to get more solid and sound sleep when I read before bed, and if I can get used to doing this more often than falling asleep watching TV I'll be able to easily exceed my reading goals.


Personal Habits
- I want to increase the frequency with which I shave and get haircuts. I've often worn a bit of a stubble beard in the past, and recently I've started going clean shaven more often and I prefer it. I also tend to wait a bit too long between haircuts, and I want to make sure I'm going at least once a month minimum.
- I want to continue to improve my dental hygiene. The main thing I want to focus on is making sure I brush and floss before bed every day. Some days I have a late night snack and fall asleep without brushing my teeth before bed, which is a really poor habit both for my weight loss and fitness and also for my dental hygiene. I want to eliminate that habit.
- I want to go out to dinner with my girlfriend and also with friends more often. Often I find myself getting into the day to day grind and forgetting to make socialization time a priority, and end up going too long without taking my girlfriend out to do something fun or generally spend quality time together. I also sometimes get into stretches where I go too long without seeing my friends.


That's it for now. I'll be posting regularly throughout the year, and using this thread to help my monitor my progress and achieve my goals. For past subscribers, I'm sure you are accustomed to my mental game thoughts and ramblings being a regular part of the thread.

Please subscribe and vote 5 stars. Looking forward to a great 2016!

In, GL

subbed

the graphs are just for 2015 right?

gl dan!

nevermind, i saw the graph for the year in your last thread

gl in 2016!

Awesome 2015! gl this year! Subbed.

I finally got rid of my hoopty! I'm now the proud owner of a 2012 Honda Civic EX-L with 33,000 miles on it. It's important to me to remain debt free and try to limit my monthly expenses, so I saved up the cash to buy a vehicle outright before purchasing. I was originally playing on an SUV, but I think that would be overkill given my lifestyle and needs. I researched a bunch of vehicles, test drove several, and this was the best fit. I was surprised that I fit comfortably in the vehicle, given it's not a big car and I'm a tall guy, but it's very comfortable to drive. I think this car is a pretty nice mix of ameneties (it has leather, moonroof, heated seats, bluetooth, nice stereo, etc.) while also being a vehicle that will do well holding it's resale value for when I trade it in a few years down the road. My whole goal was to purchase a used vehicle that was a few years old and would continue to retain most of its value in another few years, so that the depreciation on the vehicle isn't too much and the actual cost of owning the vehicle then becomes quite low. Perhaps sometime in 2018 I'll be selling this for a few thousand less than I paid for it and purchasing something like a 2015 CR-V at that time.

I've been having a rough run lately at the tables. I've played 50 hours so far this month, so I'm doing well with the volume, but at times I have gotten off track from my A-game. I'm excited to start using my PGC again regularly to help myself stay on top of my processes, and redouble my efforts to adhere to the professional grinding habits that have helped make me a winner.

I got beat up at the 5/10 tables in a short session today, and I feel very good about my effort. I stayed on point throughout session and didn't get too affected by the negative variance, and quit appropriately when I did start to feel frustrated by the bad beats.

I think in some recent live sessions, though, I have gotten off my A-game when faced with negative variance. I can think of two things that will help me do my best more often at live right away that are easy changes to make.

1) Start playing shorter sessions, and adhere to fixed session lengths. I've been leaving my session lengths too open ended, and when I do that I often get into a results based mindset where even if subconsciously I'm playing with the goal of winning, as opposed to playing with the goal of doing my best and playing my best and improving my game for X hours and making the most of whatever situations present themselves, be it positive or negative variance. When I have a goal of playing my best for 2 hours, I tend to do a better job of staying on my game and I find it much easier to shake off the bad beats, since quickly regrouping is a skill I can improve at and is part of doing my best, and winning or losing in the short term has nothing to do with my goal of doing my best for 2 hours.

2) Using my mindfulness bell at live. When I play online, my phone timer beeps every 20 minutes and I do a quick self awareness check of how I'm playing and reminding myself of my goals and if I'm off tracking noting why and what I need to do to get back on track. I think doing this same thing at live (although perhaps every 30 minutes) will benefit me and help keep me in the proper mindset and keep my approach professional and focused on doing my best.

Even with just typing this out, I can feel a bit of a weight and pressure lifted off my shoulders, and I can feel my focus shifting away from my short term losses and moreso onto striving to do my best in the long run again. It's important for me to periodically collect and organize my thoughts in this fashion, and also to then come up with actionable steps to address the issues that are in front of me.

Subbed, great results last year. Looking forward to seeing you progress even further this year!

grats on the car! subbed mang, let's crush 2016

-Tony P

Subbing

subbed

pretty sick 2015 results with poker and personal fitness

glgl on crushing 2016

-Shane

Subbed. How's the live scene in Rochester? I was born there and have family still there. Any good home games or anything out there that play big and wouldn't mind another fish ?? Lol pm me if you want and good luck

Sub'd and in for another epic year!

Another question what sites do you play on?

Subbed! Really enjoyed the last thread and looking forward to this one. Glgl

Love your mental game self evaluation. Good luck this year!

Subscribed. GL this year.

Subbed. GL.

Rubbed

The recent changes you've made are pretty inspiring and I'll actually be following in your foot steps almost exactly.

GL in 2016

Ben has in my opinion the best PGC thread on 2+2. He works his ass off to get his results, both poker-wise and physically, and is always candid about everything. Plus his staking group is unparalleled in the poker world, without a doubt.

That's my sell but it's the truth!

GL Ben and let me know if you ever want to come out to Jackson Hole and get some serious workouts in!

btw nice wheels, azn

Great job in 2015 Dan with poker and the weight loss. Looking forward to watching your progress in 2015.

thanks!

let's go!

ty

thansk

live scene is pretty good. i know of some 2/5 1000max games, PM me if you want. the rake is high but the action is good.

let's go!

thanks

thanks

ty

ty

ty

good luck to you as well!

thanks man, really appreciate that

ty

thanks