I took 2nd in the Sunday Grand (PLO) for 25k yesterday! Things are going well, and I feel good about my game. I feel a bit more motivated to work harder, and get in quality grinding this month. It's important to not get winners tilt and keep my head level, and continue to focus on playing well.

grats

Thanks

Well I haven't updated this in awhile...
A lot has happened in life and poker. First off, huge upswing in life! I got engaged and couldn't be happier. I proposed during Christmas in New York, and it all went amazingly. After Christmas my Fiance and I went to the Bahamas for the PCA and enjoyed a great vacation.

Poker has been up and down quite a bit, I've been playing high stakes under a deal, and I'm in a bit of makeup, but feel confident I can get out and give myself some great opportunities in the future for SCOOP/WSOP. I plan on working hard in 2017 and really give it my all to see if I can get back to a healthy bankroll, and healthy physique. I've let my fitness fall quite a bit after a long series of traveling/getting sick/wisdom teeth removed/etc... I'm going to make an effort to get back to my basic goals from the start of this post, and focus on poker/fitness again. If I can get back to playing 500-2k on my own and hit 160lbs 10% fat by the end of the year, i'll have achieved my 2017 goals!

congrats! still playing all plo or working the higher stakes 8game back in?

Nice to see a bump! Keep up the hard work!

Welcome back

Sent from my SM-N920C using Tapatalk

back to playing some high stakes mixed as well!

Subscribed.
Nice reading your blog ceegee.
Maybe you can give me some advice how to tilt less, how to improve the mental game and how to improve the mindset.
Just take take a look in my blog here.
Ty and good luck at high stakes!

I was thinking of making a runitonce about mental game. I'm by no means an expert, but i've received a lot of good information, and know what works for me.

A bit of an update as the last few weeks/month has been quite hectic!

I've been playing a lot of high stakes. It's been swingy, I've been winning and losing 5 figures often. Yesterday I played the 1k/2k O8 and 400/800 8-game, two huge games that I don't normally play. The action was great, which caused the anomaly, and it was a good opportunity. Unfortunately I had a few hands not go my way when I had the best of it.

3 outs to scoop for 13k pot


Normally those hands don't bother me at all, but it hurts a bit more when you take a big shot and run bad. I've shaken it off, but I feel moments like that can easily define your poker career. If I ran well at 1k/2k well... then I'm in a whole other situation.

I heard a quote the other day from Leo Nordin (Isildroon) and he said that PLO is such a grind, you need to be consistent for a long time to realize your equity, and be a winning player. This resonated with me. I find the times I've done well in poker is when I'm the most consistent over a period of time, with a solid plan and focus. When I deviate from that, I find most of my downswings occur. I think the best thing for building back slowly will be to focus on my play, get in hands, and review. If there is another opportunity at nosebleeds i'll happily take it, but also keep in mind that those will be one offs and I can't put much stake into it because I can't really control how well i'll do in a short session of <100 hands.

I recently read a blog post by Daniel Negreanu about goals for the year. I liked how he laid down a foundation to follow, and tried to follow it. I've done this before, writing down goals, but I haven't done it this year, nor in the style that Daniel did. I think listing some more specific goals may be helpful for me. Here are some 2017 goals:

1. Get back on my own bankroll able to play up to 600 PLO (30k BR)
2. Achieve a healthy physique
3. Win a SCOOP event
4. Win a WSOP bracelet
5. 150-200k hands online poker
6. Max out my IRA for the year
7. Work on my website/project

I think this is definitely an achievable list. I don't think you can plan to win a tournament, but with that goal I'll take the steps I feel are needed to achieve that, and if I fall short I will still be happy knowing I did what I could to try.

I recently discovered a subreddit called /r/theXeffect. The purpose of the subreddit is to cultivate discipline by marking X's on a card. You fill out a card with 49 boxes, and every day you mark a X on the card for every day you complete a habit. The idea is that you want to fill the whole card with red X's which looks nice; When you miss a day it looks awful. I started this method a couple days ago.

I have 4 index cards. They are for: Poker playing/studying, not playing video games before accomplishing what I want for the day, meditation for 10 minutes, and prioritizing my next day. I also ordered a book on discipline, and hope that the combination of all this will help me achieve my goals!

Good luck. Subbed.

I've been keeping up with theXeffect which i'm very happy about. I've been focusing more on the things that I can control. I'm looking to get in a lot of hands this month, and capitalize on opportunities whenever they are presented.

Meditating every morning has more or less started to feel like part of my routine. I'm getting in hands easier as I'm more aware of my goal for the day. it's easier to sit at 5/10 and get hands in instead of watching the lobby for a good 10/20 game.

I really hope to be in a good position for WCOOP/WSOP. I feel my game is sharp right now and I'm getting better.

What's your exercise regime look like?

https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightf...mended_routine

I def recommend integrating squatting and DL, just really hard to get a good lower body workout and stressing your CNS is great for your health.

Playing poker hasn't been fun lately. I've been playing high stakes games frequently in the last couple of months. I've played 25/50 - 200/400 PLO 100/200 - 1k/2k 8-game, and lost most sessions. Most of the sessions were short in the nosebleed games, and unfortunately not sweet. I have to remind myself that a 10-20k losing session is hardly 1 buy-in. Looking forward I want to keep working on my game so that I can be prepared when the SCOOP/WSOP rolls around. I want to not have any regrets when it comes to seizing opportunity, and I feel the deal I currently have is still a great opportunity to play these huge games and turn a profit. I'll start focusing more on tournament mixed games in later April, and continue to grind PLO/Mixed cash until then.

I thought about streaming. I tried it out a while ago when JCarver was the only streamer around. I did enjoy it, but it wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to be a high stakes player, and that required most of my focus and attention on playing, not streaming. If things don't work out with my current deal I'll have to build up my own roll again, and that might be fun to do on stream, as grinding mid stakes can get very mundane and streaming could enhance that experience. But let's hope that this deal works out so I can continue to grind the high stakes!

I do want to be a high stakes player, but it is very stressful if you don't have the proper bankroll. If you have a bad run, it's very tough to get back up if you're not crushing the games. Variance I think has a lot to do with who stays up at the nosebleeds and who gets sent back down. Of course working hard and doing everything within your control is how to get there in the first place, but as the high stakes don't really run often anymore the variance will matter more and more.

I have been following theXeffect method to great success so far. I've marked almost over 14 X's for 4 different habits which I'm very happy about and proud of. It's good to focus on the positive. I sometimes get in my own head about "failing" at poker and that really brings me down. Reminding yourself of all you have and accomplished is the best medicine to cure the debbie downer bug. I would like to add a new index card to theXeffect; To appreciate the things I have every day. I think a small reminder each day could help keep my positivity up while i'm in this poker rut. Hopefully things will turn around during the biggest opportunities of the year

Sorry to hear it's going poorly, understandable how losing those big numbers when the games don't run frequently is extra tough. Are you forced to grind back these high stakes shots at 2/4-10/20plo after?

Right now I have a deal that allows me to play high stakes as long as the games are good. My own bankroll is separate at the moment.

It's prob good for both parties - the well financed, well informed backer is requisite to having your horse playing up to 1k/2k fl or 4/8 mix when games are good (esp when a certain nosebleed rec shows up) and should yield good roi, based on his past success and ability.

The bankroll management stress of playing HS is one of the toughest aspects of staying successful in those games over time. Downswings are amplified bc while the units are the same for a 100z grinder on a downswing, the absolute money involved can be daunting.

well said!

One thing that might help with your mental game/health is to not focus on being a "high stakes player" and just focus on playing as well as you can at whatever stake you are playing. Poker is a mind **** because so much of it is counter intuitive, primarily that people view moving up in stakes akin to moving up in a career which means moving down = failure.

That's not really the case with cards, and most people who aren't willing to move down just wind up hitting a wall at some point and going busto.

In all things I just focus on being process oriented and grinding it out. if high stakes happen then it happens. Blowing your brains out chasing that dragon is going to do nothing but stress you out.

All very true! I've been focusing on playing well more so than the stakes I'm playing lately, and I notice a significant amount of pressure relieved when I'm able to do this. It never affects my game, but the stress is definitely an issue, and that can build up over time if you aren't able to clear your mind.

Will you grind nosebleed live cash/tourneys during wsop too or is your deal just for online cash/scoop?