Convenience for sure makes it most desirable to play on the strip, along with game and table selection being much better as well.

Closed out the month with some nice momentum and showed profit in all areas of my grind.

My live hours far outweighed the online grind, but we still showed a solid total hours, beating our goal of 120 hours, turning in 130 total hours of play.

I hit or exceeded all of my other monthly goals including coaching sessions, hours spent on HH reviews by myself and/or among my network of coaches and peers, hours spent reading PGC threads and Mental Game of Poker, and keeping up with my own threads on a weekly basis.

With as busy as life has become here in Vegas, beyond just the poker work day, I am very pleased and excited with my effort output, and the results that are following along.

May is going to be another packed month for me, with the same hourly goals, but with a few less days to complete them in. This is partially due to the end of the month MTTs I will be playing, the South Point freeroll that will take up 1-2 evenings of the month, as well as a mini vacation I am taking this week to go spend some time in Lake Tahoe to visit my mom. I am also going to be spending 2 days back in Phoenix to take care of some personal stuff back in the old home town, so hitting all of my goals will certainly not come easy, and will take some maximized time management on my part.

Looking forward to the WSOP at the end of the month, and hope to carry over my momentum and continued learnings into what I expect to be a great and successful summer!

Sent from my 2013023 using 2+2 Forums

Taking a few days totally away from the grind and visiting my mom in Lake Tahoe area until Thursday! Pretty happy with how April went, but need to crack down again in May to really string together several months of solid volume and grind/work ethic going into what should be a pretty busy summer.

Still have some action I'm trying to sell for the series this year, thanks for taking a look guys:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh....php?t=1526367

Back to work the last few days and the live grind continues to treat me well! I have been continuing to ramp up my volume at 1/2 and 1/3 to keep on working on my technical game, as well as still building a strong mental game foundation. My online volume is still down overall, but it's more just a factor of wanting to continue the live momentum leading up to the series in a few weeks! There are going to be many long days of live MTT and cash game grind ahead and I want to be on the top of my live reads and comfort zone going into it this year.

As far as what I'll be playing tourney wise, it's nothing new to me. I have been mixing in bracelet events the last several years, as well as high volume of $200-$600 side event action. This year, however brings new opportunities as I will be living here and sleeping in my own bed, eating normal meals (maybe?) at least on a semi regular basis, with a steady mix of off the felt mental and physical activities to keep me fresh and ready for the on the felt ones.

With the support of the gf, and many incredible investors and friends, I will be making some solid runs and playing the game at a higher level than I ever have before! The last 9 months of deep stack cash game training and experience has my confidence levels high, and my technical and mental game levels also on another level.

Tomorrow night (tonite technically) is my Day 1b for the South Point $145k gtd freeroll. Also been playing a bunch in the smaller rooms and will probably qualify for some small weekly and monthly free rolls for those as well over the next few weeks, so my MTT game will get practice and it couldn't come at a better time! More updates to come as the month of May rolls on, so stay tuned, and enjoy the odyssey of this corporate clown!

Looking forward to hearing how it goes. Keep us posted and gl tonight!

Will be doing some updates tonite via Twitter, @RockstarRossi13

So we are now 0/2 in freeroll cashes, due to the fun nature of coin flipping variance in MTTs

Was cruising along with 15 winning cash sessions live until we finally also encountered some negative variance this week and posted a few losing ones actually. Lost some standard big pots that we just weren't able to recover completely from throughout the session. At first it bothered me a little simply from the stand point that I have done well in my mental game to not worry about how much I am down, yet these times I was overly aware of it (unlike online where I can close my lobby and not see the cashier, I am subjected to the chips being right in front of my face at all times, and I have to keep account of how much I'm in the game for).

I don't think it made me play different really, but I am sure I perhaps would or could have speculated in some situations that I normally wouldn't based on implied odds not being correct to set mine against a short stack in a heads up pot, or had me overlimp/calling raises to go HU to a pot oop with suited connectors, and the like.

While those two examples are not great habits, I am certainly much more tuned into my mental game and not making those types of mistakes when I am not down a buy in or 2.

In online news, I am now playing on WSOP.com here in Nevada, so if anyone sees me on there (same sn) shoot me a hello! I will be playing up to 200NL on there for now, but have been putting in some hands at 20NL and 50NL to get comfortable with the software a bit first.

I have been cleared also to play 4 tables of 200NL on Bovada now, rather than just mixing in 1 or 2 tables per session. This is great news as it does show that the results of my hard work has started to pay off. It also means as I work on the full jump up to bigger stakes, that I will mentally need to guard against being too conservative and perhaps not taking optimal lines because they might be slightly higher variance (passing up on a squeeze spot to avoid playing a big pot oop, even when it is an obvious squeeze situation, for example), and might cost us to lose a larger than we are used to amount.

Basically by doubling my buy in amounts, I am going to be tested by the larger swings, and will need to be ready to battle the mental aspect of that. I'm already playing a lot of 1/2 and 1/3 (200NL and 300NL) live, so the dollar amounts won't be anything new to be recording for wins and losses, it's just that now every avenue of my grind will be bigger swings!

I am excited and ready to take all of that on, especially since the majority of my "swings" are going to be UP anyway!

Quick correction, I just realized I actually did cash the south point freeroll. They paid everyone who qualified $50 for showing up, ha!

A little past half way through the month and all our volume, HH review hours, coaching sessions, and goals assessment are on pace to be exceeded or met.

My online volume has picked back up a tick in the middle of the month which is a very good thing, as well as I am still grinding a steady flow of live hours. Combined volume is still going full time strong!

Getting set to leave town and head back to Phoenix for a quick 2 day turn around trip Thurs/Fri but will be right back to the grind over the weekend, as we get set to take the WSOP by the balls this year! 2015 will mark my 8th year of being in Vegas for at least part of the summer to play side events and bracelet events, but I can honestly say the depth of my game has never been greater than it is going into this year. Technically and mentally, my game is exponentially stronger than it ever has been. Although I still make mistakes daily, my attitude and work ethic to improve and learn from them is hard fought and focused.

I will do my best to not let the results of my this years MTT schedule impact on where this journey will continue to go as I press on into the 2nd half of 2015. Whether it is a brick or a bink of a series for me, this corporate clown's cash game odyssey will remain on course.

Battling the emotional hurdles daily in this pursuit will always be the biggest part of finding success, and no amount of accrued learnings and unconscious competence will ever make the journey easy. Entitlement tilt, winners tilt, mistake tilt, along with the associated fears of moving up stakes all take their toll in their own way at different times with me, but being able to handle and diffuse all such obstacles has grown much more second natured to me, and is allowing me to get much closer to tapping into my maximum potential.

Still have about 20% available for my WSOP action:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh....php?t=1526367

Thanks for taking a (nother?) look!!

Got some decent volume in the last few days both online and live. Finally made my way over to the Venetian for a session, can't believe I waited until 20 days into the great rake promo, but been busy and just grinding where the grinding has been good!

Got a partial HH review in today also. Didn't get to spend too long on it with one of the coaches, but the hands we did discuss I had a few spots that I was in situations where I lost some value because I chose the wrong option against the wrong villain type. It has somewhat to do with incorrectly, or more specifically, narrowing the Villains range more than I should be, based on which type he is, and what position he is in. These are technical game things, as it relates to some exploitative vs GTO lines. Each situation will be different depending on whether or not we are in an anonymous setting (Bovada), live weak passive setting, or a slightly more difficult short handed non anonymous, aggressive online setting (WSOP.com/Carbon, etc).

Feels like there is a mouthful to chew on in that paragraph, and I'm not sure I captured everything exactly as I'm thinking it, as it pertained to some of what I want to be working more on in given situations, but nonetheless, it was a very productive few days of reviews and coach and self analysis.

I have hit my goals for coaching sessions on the month now, but plan to get at least 1, if not two more sessions in with a coach or peer or group HH review (which my stable offers weekly now). It will just depend on my schedule next week as I get set to kick off my WSOP grind!

Either way, I feel very good about the way May has gone, and as I continue to close in on my hourly goal for the month, I am reminding myself to pay particular attention to the quality of my hours, vs the actual number of them. I don't want to catch myself firing up an online session and stretching it too long just because I feel I need more hours to close out the month. My overall schedule has been good, and my processes strong. There is no need to put undue pressure where it isn't needed. June is going to be one hell of a busy month. I am planning on getting in a solid hourly sample of cash despite the fact that I may be firing off up to 15 MTTs and perhaps some satties as well.

That said, I'm jet-setting to Phoenix for a quick 1 night, 2 day turnaround tomorrow (today) to get some stuff done and to hopefully visit with a few friends for an evening as well. Will be back at it for the weekend grind on Sat/Sun!

Keep working hard Mike! Summer time is upon us! Focus and Crush

- Huddy

Thanks bud! Nothing new about my "eat sleep work" approach to the game, the only new part is the variant of the game I'm taking that approach with these days! Looking forward to finally having some of the old days of MTT training pay off this summer tho, to catapult me to the pay off success! GL to you as well my man!

good read dude, keep up the hard work. best of luck this summer.

Much thanks boyo!!

Bahahaha "you got a card?"

So it has been an interesting last few days with life stuff and poker stuff. Not even sure where to start, but anyone who follows my Las Vegas Lifestyle thread or my twitter/FB prob knows about the gigantic house flood issue that happened at my house in Vegas over memorial day weekend. It is now Thursday, and the real demo work is finally underway. About to be living through some crazy drying fans, dehumidifiers and the like, while my walls and floors are partially torn out from the kitchen to the living room and front door. Luckily its a 2 story, and the flooding happened from a burst pipe in the kitchen, so we can actually function and live upstairs during this 'remodel' process.

As you can imagine it has definitely cut into my grind time, and affected the convenience of life overall in so many ripple effect ways I can't even cover them all here. Anyone who may have experienced something similar can relate.

I would like to personally thank Duke, yes THE DUKE of 2+2 PG&C fame (deserved plug, click: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...urney-1376971/ if you don't know who this famous 2+2 legend is. I'm not overstating his legendary status either, just ask him ) for helping me broom and cardboard sweep inches of water out my front door the morning of said catastrophe. It was actually Duke's text messages and phone call that woke me up to the whole thing after he woke up from staying in my guest room the night before to a flooding downstairs. Wasn't quite how we expected to kick off our memorial day in Vegas was it bud?!

Anyway, enough off topic stuff, and not really trying to make any excuses for perhaps not hitting a volume goal or not playing at the top of my mental game here (although I am going to probably still hit pretty close to my volume goal anyway, and my mental game has actually been pretty spot on the past few sessions amidst the life chaos).

The live grind has continued to make up a greater % of my overall hours logged, as the action continues to be good, and the push for the start of the WSOP is finally upon us! I am registered for both Day 1a and Day 2a (should I need it) flights for the Colossus! The WSOP package that I sold in the 2+2 marketplace is sold out, and I am looking forward to an extremely busy and full month of June as I work to both continue to get decent cash game volume in, as well as fire off a dozen or so MTTs, and satties for the main event!

My package does not include playing the Main Event specifically, however there are a few chances to win a seat via a satellite, or if the bankroll is flush enough at the end of June, I will play the Main for the package. Otherwise I will look for other options to play my first ever Main Event at the World Series of Poker. It is hard for me to believe all the time, effort, and MTTs I have played over the years here in Vegas and really in my entire career that I have not ever played the Main Event. I am most certain that is about to change this year. Everything is coming together nicely, and it is 100% my plan to make this happen. It is not of course my end all, be all game plan. Nor would it completely demoralize or demotivate me if I was unable to play it this year. But, based on my current pace of goal setting and achieving said goals, it feels more realistic than not, or "more probable than not" (for all the Tom Brady fans out there) that I will in fact play it this year.

Ok, again I digress. Enough of the Main Event and WSOP chatter. It's back to work. It's down to the last few days of the month, and I am hoping that all things considered I can squeeze in another 10-20 hours of live/online grind before the end of the month. I am on pace to have another near record breaking profit month, but regardless of how that actually ends, I am not worried or scared of not breaking that record. I am not even worried or scared of losing money the last few hours I play this month either. I am in a good place, bankroll wise (backed and up nicely). I am in a good place life wise (although my residence is being torn up as I speak), and my gf and I are in a great place life wise, as we enter our 3rd month of the Las Vegas Lifestyle!

Things are falling into place nicely. The grind is going better than ever mentally, and literally. It is just a matter of time before the next breakthrough takes my poker career to yet another level.

Until then, it is simply and matter-of-factly 'go time' and " 'time to get busy livin' " - A. Brooks, Shawshank Redemption.

Tough beat on the house flood man. Hopefully it doesn't become too annoying of a distraction during the wsop grind. Gl in your tourneys!

Thanks man. It's definitely thrown a wrench into life this week and probably for another week or so beyond, but it won't be enough to blur my focus on the business at hand during the series!

GL to you in da Razzament and also with the cash games! Hope to catch ya while you are out here!

Closed out another solid profit month of the cash game grind. I hit my monthly pace of volume goal of 100 hours, (had 111 total hours) although I had personally adjusted that number to 120 at the start of the month despite knowing I would lose the last 3 days due to playing the Colossus, so I fell short on the adjusted goal.

Coaching sessions and HH reviews were done as planned, exceeding the number of times and hours spent on all avenues. (Keep in mind this is all above and beyond the actual 'hours played' so the number of hours is truly a full time work schedule.)

Got through a little more of the Matt Janda book "Applications of NL Hold Em" but trying to soak it in and taking it slow and not just rushing through it just to finish it. Really good material for where I am at in my technical and mental game progression.

As we make our way into June, with the WSOP now in full swing, it's about to get even busier. To put in perspective, I played tournaments all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It is now Monday, and I am in line to play again today. (We are 4 entries in, with zero cashes so far, as a results update). It is going to be like this for most of my month. I will do my best to get the cash game hours in, but have adjusted the hours goal way down, and will be very focused on long day deep run sessions in tournaments for this month. It won't affect my yearly progression or goals in any way as far as cash games are concerned, and hopefully it will just add another successful chapter to the book that will be 2015.

Mental game is strong and I am making it a point to not fall back into bad habits many MTT players have, myself included when I played them full time, which is dwelling on the knockouts, bad beats, gross ends to a life changing situation, etc. Taking every tournament and every day 1 at a time, and staying focused on the task at hand. Be here now, every hand, every level, every tournament. With all the distractions that come along with this circus, that is not the easiest a thing to do. By being mentally aware of this going in, I have a fighting chance. If I have a fighting chance of avoiding distractions, then I have an even better chance of winning one of my events!!

Exciting moments in the journey potentially unfolding every day this month! Stick around for the fun!

Reaaaaaaally slow start to my series this year. So far, I haven't even been able to build much of a stack in anything, so been playing pretty straight forward tournament poker. The exception to this was my first bullet of Colossus where I actually built up to a 3x starting stack before the first break only to lose it all in a huuuuge 3b pot (we 3b KsKd and player flatted, then open shoved almost double pot on a Ts2s2d flop and tabled AsQs when we called).

The biggest disappointment to not being able to get deep in anything yet (and build a nice stack post antes) is that the places where my game has grown so much (true deep stack 100bb+ style) over the past year have yet to show up in my decision making and post flop play. Part of this is simply just volume of non turbo structures has been non existent really (4 MTTs), and then of course just in part to running silly early on. As the summer sample size increases, and our shot finally comes when we are able to get deep, I look forward to utilizing my new arsenal of tools that are just sitting in the box waiting to be dusted off.

The cash game wait lists on the weekend so far have been ridiculous (see 'any other thread' on the topic in many sub forums) but I'm hoping as the month moves along I can get into some good juicy live games as well.

Have some rakeback bonus to earn on WSOP.com, so gonna try to get some good summer volume there as well, so going to take some time and effort on my part to get back into the non-anonymous online player pool and adjust back into that balanced part of the game theory world. Looking forward to the continued challenges that playing 3 (4 if you count MTTs back in) very specifically different poker variants brings, as it relates to my personal game growth as this clowns' journey presses on.

We made it to day 2 of the Milli Maker bracelet event. Bagged 43,200 which is right in the middle of the pack from the 500 that made it to day 2 of the 3300+ from day 1a. Blinds will be 600/1200 so we are deep enough for some wiggle room. I imagine day 1b will exceed the turnout and we should be coming back a few hundred until the money. Looking forward to a strong Day 2, and surviving another day beyond!!

We made day 3 of the Milli Maker!! Still like 145 or so left and we are one of the shorter stacks most likely but no worries! Got a Milli and a bracelet on my mind!

Nice work, take it down!

glgl tmrw!