I knew for a long time that my main problem advancing in poker was the same and only tool needed to do it: my own mind.

We are all servants to our mental patterns which decide most of our thoughts and actions. Some of those are negative patterns, which will keep repeating forever unless we do something about it - either to change them to positive patterns or stop them from appearing in the first place.

With poker I have worked with material on the mental stuff like The Elements of Poker or listening to The Eightfold Path series - both by Tommy Angelo before, however they work to a limited extend, not deep enough to remove the destructive patterns that are there. In my case with it's repeated bad calls that I know are bad, bad aggression not warranted, lack and sometimes inability of paying attention even when playing few tables, or playing more tables than I can focus on (even 6 is too much for me)

Quick example of a needlessly spewy call (25nl 4max deep):

SB: $72.40 (289.6 bb)
BB: $16.32 (65.3 bb)
Hero (BTN): $65.01 (260 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with 9 A
Hero raises to $0.75, SB folds, BB calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.60) 4 Q T (2 players)
BB bets $0.25, Hero calls $0.25

Turn: ($2.10) 4 (2 players)
BB bets $0.78, Hero calls $0.78

River: ($3.66) 9 (2 players)
BB bets $2.35, Hero calls $2.35



I am working now with the book "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler, a pioneer in poker psychology, and it is very promising. If you read it or skimmed through it then you are familiar with ALM, the Adult Learning Model, where every skill is in one of four states - Unconscious Incompetence (you're no good at it and don't even know it), Conscious Incompetence (you're no good but you know it), Conscious Competence (you're good at it but still sometimes you mess it up and have to keep focus on it) and the holy grail of Unconscious Competence, automatic mode, where you execute that skill to perfection every time, say like walking or 3betting KK.

One of the things outlined in the book is using The Process Model every day, like people in most if not all professional sports do: prepare, perform( result), evaluate, analyze.

It's really neat in my opinion and not as simple as it seems - preparation is a pre-session warm up where you can read your overall goals, write down goals for that session, look at specific hands that fit those goals, do a meditation or concentration exercise and so on, and possibly the most important one imo, start with 30-50%; the results are to be evaluated not according to money won/lost but to the goals set for that session, the location of the skill I'm training in the ALM

This is the purpose of this thread, to force me to do it every day, before and after every session. I tried doing it by myself but couldn't, so I figure this is the best way. Ok enough talk, let's set some goals.

Overall Goals:

1) Training "easy fold" type spots to Unconscious Competence (probably in CC now)

2) Taming my bad aggression tendencies (isoing/3b too much esp vs fish, bluffing too much in certain spots, over adjusting to single reads or reading too much into small samples ).

3) Using proper bankroll management much more in depth than I ever had, including the stakes I'm playing, using tools like this article

4) Playing tighter in tourneys - I mix cash with a few soft MTTs where tight is right. Focus on protecting my stack more than on small edges or unnecessary flips.

5) Never play a session without doing the pre-session warm up, including starting with 2-3 tables for the first half hour. This will help with my concentration problems and help me ease into it, instead like feeling assaulted from every table and not knowing. Also try to always do the cool down - evaluation part after finishing a session.

6) Slowly advance my A-game while keeping the main focus on the mental game and advancing C-game. Keep learning new stuff at a more rapid pace only after my big leaks get sufficiently rare

7) Analyze at least 3 hands of my own per day, aim for 5.

Session Goals:

1) Keep/stabilize the calling pattern in Conscious Competence, by folding one pair hands as a default to a raise, triple barrel, big sizings (pot or more) or a river donk bet after I showed strength. Allow me plenty of time to think about calling 2p+ in those situations

2) Play tight in tourneys until late stages, open tight from EP, focus firstly on protecting my stack if it has a healthy M ~15 or so.

3) Play for 4 hours (more if still in an MTT) starting with 2 or 3 tables the first half hour. Try to be as aware as possible in that time, by sitting up straight and using conscious breathing.

Warm Up:

Look at a few hands that I played well, breaking those negative patterns

Meditate for 5 minutes using breathing.

About me: Been playing poker professionally for some years, up and down, max I played as a winning player was 100nl but on a very soft Enet network. Currently struggling at 50nl, moved down to 25nl 4max deep (sweet tables) and some 25nl HU. Also 50nl on party poker, smiley tables mostly.

Alright session over - and right on time, good sign for the first day of my new mental approach!

Goal Results Evaluation:

1) I think I did OK with my calls, a bunch of good folds that before I would have probably called, at least some of them. I also like the speed I'm doing it with, sometimes mucking very fast (anticipation needs to be a long term goal!)

The only hand I'm not sure that I should have called or not is this - villain was 41/18 with 43% f3b, passive on turn/river - 28% bet river stat, 1 AF 17 AFq, 478 hands. Probably close-ish but could be a fold, I called because ppl tend to spew in big pots and he could be value betting TT-QQ

Hero (MP2): $62.19 (248.8 bb)
CO: $25 (100 bb)
BB: $20.63 (82.5 bb)
BTN: $39.96 (159.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with K K
CO posts BB OOP, BB checks, BTN raises to $1, Hero raises to $3.40, 2 folds, BTN calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.50) 3 9 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $3.75, BTN calls $3.75

Turn: ($15) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $7.50, Hero calls $7.50

River: ($30) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $17.75, Hero calls $17.75



I am however satisfied with a couple of folds:



BB: $17.16 (68.6 bb)
Hero (SB): $30.15 (120.6 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A 9
Hero raises to $0.50, BB raises to $0.75, Hero calls $0.25

Flop: ($1.50) 3 2 A (2 players)
BB bets $0.75, Hero calls $0.75

Turn: ($3) 6 (2 players)
BB bets $0.75, Hero raises to $3.50, BB calls $2.75

River: ($10) Q (2 players)
BB bets $12.16 and is all-in, Hero folds







Hero (BB): $27 (108 bb)
SB: $16.50 (66 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K 7
SB raises to $0.50, Hero calls $0.25

Flop: ($1) 5 3 Q (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks

Turn: ($1) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.66, SB raises to $1.32, Hero folds




I know I know, it may be super std insta fold to you but this is what I've been struggling with all my life so I'm happy to be on the right path.

2) Play tight in tourneys - pretty happy with it, did bust out in one by jamming 96s in CO with 10 bbs but that's close anyway and on some sheets I'm using for jam/fold spots. Probably just variance that I always run into hands the last couple of months and can't win anything.

3) Did great on the time, 4 hours sharp and also on the 3 tables first half an hour. The awareness was pretty lacking though, but I also slept 3 hours last night. Did manage a few minutes of conscious breathing, hope more tomorrow!

4) Variance - I looked at the top 7 losers an they all look due to variance, it's well over what I actually lost this sess. So I'm actually happy

As a final say today, this really does feel good, like a closure so I can get on with my day. Till tomorrow!

Today I've been procastinating / feeling pretty anxious but I'm gonna get going in a session so

Session Goals:

1) Use the new tighter iso/3b ranges I made vs fish (3b KJo+ TT+, iso broadways+ 22+ T9s+)

2) Try more super exploitative plays even if it makes me very unbalanced - most people won't notice or do anything about it

3) Focus on folding in the same scenarios as yesterday - ne pair hands as a default to a raise, triple barrel, big sizings (pot or more) or a river donk bet after I showed strength. Allow me plenty of time to think about calling 2p+ in those situations

Ok session over after about 5 and a half hours and 1.9k hands. Proceeding to

Goal Evaluation

1) Not really sure, I tried to keep it low probably managed to. Not that many spots

2) I did try a few like 4.5x cbet raising on 663 or such flop with air, vs a station reg too and it worked. A couple of others as well but I think there's a ton more opp like that to look for

3) This was kinda meh - did 2 or 3 bad calls, like KJo OOP to 4bet deep, I think better to do a small 5bet with it and call suited, A high broadways, some QQ-AA

In one or 2 spots I even reverted to bad calling patterns, perhaps I'll post later now I gotta run.

Overall impression / conclusions:

It was a bad day and a good day. A bad day because I was tired, nervous, got tilted quickly. Spewed pretty heavily in some tourneys. It was a good day because although I probably played my C-game most of the time it looks like that C-game has improved! I managed to keep it together and win a little in the end

I need to do a better warm up with actual breathing exercises or a 15-minutes vipassana meditation before each session (I like that more) - I skipped it today that's why I started all cranky.

I'm really happy that I managed to close a table for a better one, keeping max of 5 tables at all times (6 with 2 tourneys). So that's coming along.

One thing I'll need to do is work harder on tourney spew especially specific spots like calling min 3bets in early/late stages from fishy players or when they're oop - they always seem to be AA. Maybe I'll do that on Sunday.

Ok I'm very smart, typed a bunch of stuff then closed the browser without hitting enter. Anyways, took a 4 day break from playing because of poker/life anxiety that I get sometimes and I'm proud of myself that I didn't force myself to play, although I needed the volume. I would have automatically played my C-game for sure.

Also wanted to take a break from tourneys because I had very poor results past 2 months and they were tilting me, I was losing quite a bit with them. Today after this break I placed 2nd in one and 11th in the other, so super pumped! (not to self: adjust overall goals tomorrow to include those breaks)

Anyways, very late now so no time for studying hands, will just do some simple goals and get to it!

Session goals:


1) Play max 6 tables even if I have 4 tourney tables open

2) Take a 5 min break every hour; sit straight and do conscious beathing for at least 10 minutes at the start of the hour - including the start of the session

3) Focus on folding in the same scenarios - one pair hands as a default to a raise, triple barrel, big sizings (pot or more) or a turn/ river donk bet after I showed strength. Allow me plenty of time to think about calling 2p+ in those situations

Today is all about Poker Anxiety. Where I plan to study and play but end up wasting 4 hours+ because I have anxiety to do both. I guess it's because working/improving my mental game is threatening the negative patterns I developed. Psychology can be fascinating.

Last session, 2 days ago, was crappy and filled with tilt. Looking at the biggest losers most were my fault. Goals review:

1) Did ok, when I had more opened I forced myself to close one after a few minutes

2) Not so good especially the breathing part - I will practice again today and need to practice awareness more in real life too - the end goal is to be highly aware always.

3) Did managed some nice folds but also a few really bad calls - also some bad aggression. Here's the worst, where this guy was very aggro pre and otf but much more passive ott.

SB: $128.21 (256.4 bb)
Hero (BB): $50.92 (101.8 bb)
MP: $56.31 (112.6 bb)
CO: $78.12 (156.2 bb)
BTN: $172.51 (345 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9 9
MP folds, CO raises to $1.50, BTN raises to $5, SB calls $4.75, Hero calls $4.50, CO calls $3.50

Flop: ($20) 3 3 7 (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, CO checks, BTN bets $13, SB folds, Hero calls $13, CO folds

Turn: ($46) A (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $21.85, Hero raises to $32.92 and is all-in, BTN calls $11.07

River: ($111.84) 7 (2 players, 1 is all-in)



Session goals:

1) Have a notepad opened for mental observations and one for poker observations. Write the conclusions down in the post session analysys

2) Constantly ask myself - am I tilted? Try to correct it, if I can't take a break and if I'm still tilted after that simply quit playing. If still in a tourney I could quit the cash tables.

3) The classic - focus on folding one pair hands as a default to a raise, triple barrel, big sizings (pot or more) or a turn/ river donk bet after I showed strength.

For pre-session warmup I'm going to review the badly misplayed hands again, along with some good hands then take a 10 minute walk to the shop and back while trying to be as aware as possible. Also, look at my overall goals first.

Ok managing to do a post-session analysys this time. Overall impressions: Satisfied considering there was some C-game or at best B-game most of the time, which I expected after 4 hours of anxiety and not playing. Bitter taste because of one hand where I lost $25 but would've won $150 if I called river to an aggro whale.

What's not OK is that although I stopped playing at 2 AM I stayed browsing the web for more than an hour after, and I want to wake up early tomorrow. Need to stop this, I think I'll set it up as a goal for next session.

I worried about money too much again, constantly checking how I'm doing etc. - probably because real life money situation isn't so good atm.

1) Notepad was ready but nothing was written on it. I'll try to keep on it though.

2) Did ask myself a few times and actually closed the session at 2 AM when I was pretty tilted. There were a couple of good tables as well but some closed so that made it easier. Overall progress though

3) Counted 4 call mistakes which is not good at this stage. I may be in between CI and CC with this skill in the ALM (adult learning model) so have to keep working on it. One bad hand vs an aggro fish, I knew he was aggro but not that many hands on him and I don't think I can call twice so I should just fold as he was betting rivers a lot


BB: $37.50 (75 bb)
Hero (): $37.50 (75 bb)

Preflop: Hero is with A T
Hero raises to $1.50, BB calls $1

Flop: ($3) 8 9 T (2 players)
BB bets $2.25, Hero calls $2.25

Turn: ($7.50) 6 (2 players)
BB bets $4.88, Hero calls $4.88

River: ($17.26) Q (2 players)
BB bets $8.13, Hero folds



I do have some interesting hands though! 2 of them versus the same reg

BB: $73.50 (294 bb)
Hero (SB): $60.35 (241.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 8 7
Hero raises to $0.50, BB raises to $2, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($4) 8 4 J (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($4) 5 (2 players)
BB bets $2.66, Hero calls $2.66

River: ($9.32) 2 (2 players)
BB bets $7.25, Hero calls $7.25



Have notes on this guy that he may be a good aggressive reg. He was definitely aggressive on the river, 37% bet river so I called, thinking he's very polarized here and more towards bluffs as he didn't cbet; his cbet was 41% overall and 67% in 3bet pots so he shouldn't have many flushes or straights there and why would he bet a hand like QJ like that?

Answer should be b/c ppl do silly stuff at those stakes so I should not assume too much; I'm not being exploited by folding 87 as I have many better hands to call with. Maybe he thought I'd always bet a flush draw or gs otf once he checks, if he did good for him, well played.

This is the other interesting hand I played vs him


Hero (BB): $61.58 (246.3 bb)
SB: $62.85 (251.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with J T
SB raises to $0.50, Hero raises to $1.75, SB calls $1.25

Flop: ($3.50) Q 2 K (2 players)
Hero bets $2.33, SB calls $2.33

Turn: ($8.16) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $5.75, Hero calls $5.75

River: ($19.66) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks



I like his turn value bet, he may know I'm capped once I check as I wouldn't cbet Qx or play any Kx like that - I'm going to try and be more balanced vs him in the future. Not sure if thinking player or just clicking buttons though as his fold stats are really low, 29/36/30 or something like that and his WTSD a whooping 36%.

Good night.

Wish you all the best, friend of mine has the same problem, i sent him your link.

Wow that's really cool, had no idea someone was reading this. Feels good and motivating. Would be nice if this thread could help him just a little; I feel it has definitely helped me.

Today is tourney day I guess! I didn't really plan for that but it sort of happened like that, with a bunch of satelites and all. I don't do pre-session warmups for tourneys so woke up with 4-5 tables and no preparation, not cool. Going to look at some saved tourney hands and set up some goals.

Session goals:

1) Be aware that min 3bets are KK+ in low MTTs

2) Don't play back to 3betsand post flop raises without great equity vs unknowns as ppl rarely bluff there past the rebuy stage

3) Be tighter in general with open/calling ranges. Be aware you're not that good and speculative hands get you in a lot of trouble

Time for some post session analysis. Don't really feel like doing it but have to pull myself sometimes. So played a bunch of tourneys, I guess overall I'm break even-ish or a slight profit.

1) didn't really happen, 2) I think I managed ok, but did a stupid stupid bluff. I'm ok with this fold, he's no repping much but people can be weird in tourneys and I didn't want to blow away my stack with TPWK

SB: 104,906 (35 bb)
BB: 243,100 (81 bb)
UTG: 40,187 (13.4 bb)
MP: 43,050 (14.4 bb)
Hero (CO): 70,562 (23.5 bb)
BTN: 69,090 (23 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with J 9
2 folds, Hero raises to 6,000, 2 folds, BB calls 3,000

Flop: (15,300) J 4 T (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (15,300) 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 7,650, BB raises to 19,355, Hero folds



3) Think I managed this one reasonably but probably messed up in a sat or two

Cash: Ended up with 1700 cash hands anway. Pretty tired/ low attenion span and I broke even. Overall satisfied that I didn't spew or tilt which would have happened much more in the past.

Here's a hand where I think river could've been a fold, I just don't think it's really a bluff spot even though he was a whale

BB: $42.06 (84.1 bb)
Hero (SB): $53.75 (107.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K K
Hero raises to $1, BB raises to $3, Hero raises to $7.50, BB calls $4.50

Flop: ($15) Q 3 9 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $6.50, BB calls $6.50

Turn: ($28) 8 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $13, BB calls $13

River: ($54) A (2 players)
BB bets $15.06 and is all-in, Hero calls $15.06



Some hands I'm not sure of, some I did make call mistakes again though, like this one (he was a fish but passive on the rivers and in general)

SB: $81.82 (163.6 bb)
BB: $29.26 (58.5 bb)
UTG: $27.13 (54.3 bb)
MP: $53.19 (106.4 bb)
Hero (CO): $50 (100 bb)
BTN: $88.64 (177.3 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q A
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, BTN folds, SB calls $1.25, BB calls $1

Flop: ($4.50) A 5 9 (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $0.50, Hero raises to $3.50, SB folds, BB calls $3

Turn: ($11.50) 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($11.50) 9 (2 players)
BB bets $11.50, Hero calls $11.50



The other call mistake:

Hero (BB): $56.30 (112.6 bb)
SB: $86.52 (173 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A 9
SB raises to $1.50, Hero calls $1

Flop: ($3) 9 4 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks

Turn: ($3) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, SB calls $2

River: ($7) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $4.66, SB raises to $10.82, Hero calls $6.16



2 call mmistakes in 1.7k hands is not so bad considering I made some good folds as well, like overpair QQ to double barrer on TTxx from a v passive guy. But still ways to go.

Made these notes in my mental game file:

too tired - play 4 tables; don't know what I'm doing much, need to study/anal hands more - from tomorrow

I did notice that when I analyze hands or watch a movie prior to playing I'm more attentive, and I really lack behind in that department. Hopefully I can get something going tomorrow, good night till then!

Well going to play for the first time in 2 days. Read a lot on the mental game and also this article on bankroll management which I'll try to apply for today. In short, I'll use these rules for withdrawals:

25nl FA: 4.5$/h (1.5$/h/table)
25nl 4M: 1.5$/h (0.75$/h/table)
10nl 4M: 0.5$/h (0.25$/h/table)
25nl HU: 1.5$/h/table
50pl 6M: 8$/h/table
50nl SM: 1$/h
MTT: 8% of your buyin
SATs: 2000/x (x=% paid)

Session Goals:

1) Focus heavily on exploitative plays attacking weak and capped ranges even with no equity

2) Look at timing tells, especially when fast checking a dbl barrel card or bluff card - usually sdv

Going to play 3 fast 25nl tables on party and one smiley 50nl table. For 4 hours

Alright. Managed to finish my 4 hours. Went pretty badly though. Same old reason, too many tables. I thought I could handle 3 fast tables and 1 casual but I can't. Was just on auto-mode, and a bad one at that. Goals are pretty failed because of lack of focus.

Made 2 or 3 horrendous calls. Here's te worst two. Actually wrote down what I was feeling/why I was making those calls, which is a plus.

SB: $24.71 (49.4 bb)
Hero (BB): $68.46 (136.9 bb)
MP: $53.02 (106 bb)
CO: $67.25 (134.5 bb)
BTN: $111.38 (222.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K J
MP raises to $1, CO raises to $1.50, 2 folds, Hero calls $1, MP calls $0.50

Flop: ($4.75) 4 6 J (3 players)
Hero checks, MP checks, CO bets $2.26, Hero calls $2.26, MP folds

Turn: ($9.27) J (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $4.40, Hero calls $4.40

River: ($18.07) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $8.58, Hero raises to $23.50, CO raises to $59.09 and is all-in, Hero calls $35.59



The guy was a fish obviously. I actualy planned to raise/fold [R]. Then comes the note:

KJ c mimstake: felt he didn't have it / convinced myself

To add to that, I rememebr that I was feeling some combo of fear and anger and I really wanted to win it. I convinced myself he was spewing with AA or something as he wouldn't play boats like that and only AJ beat me.

Hero (SB): $31.30 (125.2 bb)
BB: $26.31 (105.2 bb)
UTG: $32.59 (130.4 bb)
MP: $20.58 (82.3 bb)
CO: $24.65 (98.6 bb)
BTN: $27.79 (111.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with J J
2 folds, CO raises to $0.50, BTN calls $0.50, Hero raises to $2, 2 folds, BTN calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.75) 7 6 K (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $2.50, Hero calls $2.50

Turn: ($9.75) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($9.75) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $6.25, Hero calls $6.25



Noted during sess: overvalue perceived range vs stats on big sample - bet river 24%!; prob tilted b/c losing.

Which is bull anyway, he can have some 8x and spade flushes in his range. It was just an excuse to convince myself and I ignored those stats.

And after a while I closed one fast table and had this to write:

Can't focus at all with 3 fast tables + 1 casual; it worsens my leaks as I don't have mental space to think about those spots and just click call

Which is pretty much what I've been reading yesterday. My emotions + too many tables - which also generate negative emotions - are blocking judgement so then i end up just clicking.

I am hopeful though, tomorrow I will try the same with 2 fast tables and 1 casual only (and 1 more table only if it's a tourney).

I'll also keep writing in my mental observations file, it seems to help me become aware of things.

I forgot to mention that poker is intruding heavily in real life. Starting from yesterday I started to feel depressed/anxious/no motivation to go out or talk to / meet people. And today I continued this rather bad state.

I think it can be some form of fear/anxiety inside that's triggering this. Been reading more of the mental game book and from tomorrow on I'll start the real work, today my goal is

Session goal: Recognition

Practice recognition. Watch my sensations/emotions/thoughts constantly and catch a snapshot of what they are whenever I think of making an outrageous bad call/bad bluff. Write it down in my mental game file.

Done, 3 hours of playing; it went a bit better than expected, considering how badly I was feeling; still made some bad moves, bad calls and bad aggression; this was one of them, can't find the other

SB: $25.10 (100.4 bb)
BB: $38.64 (154.6 bb)
UTG: $52.93 (211.7 bb)
Hero (MP): $40.42 (161.7 bb)
CO: $24.50 (98 bb)
BTN: $19.92 (79.7 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q Q
UTG folds, Hero raises to $0.75, CO folds, BTN raises to $1.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, BTN raises to $5.75, Hero raises to $40.42 and is all-in, BTN calls $14.17 and is all-in

Flop: ($40.19) 9 2 3 (2 players, 2 are all-in)
Turn: ($40.19) J (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: ($40.19) 6 (2 players, 2 are all-in)



I should fold KK to a 5bet. I know that and kept telling myself that but just can't do it sometimes. Wrote down what I was feeling during the call:
QQ: felt ok, just thinking maybe in THIS GAME the 5 bet rule doesn't apply. So basically I found a way to delude myself without realizing. I must learn to recognize this type of thought and change it when it happens.

Also wrote this bit in my mental game file: when I want to call weak hand otr, my mind goes in a haze and I care about my hand - emotionally invest in it and don't think about everything; even when I make the right calls! - from tomorrow on I'll be working on that, according to The Mental Game of Poker method.

A very similar process happens when I'm bad aggressive, like the hand below.

SB: $25.76 (103 bb)
BB: $28.67 (114.7 bb)
Hero (BTN): $46.25 (185 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with T A
Hero raises to $0.85, SB raises to $2.80, BB folds, Hero calls $1.95

Flop: ($5.85) 9 2 3 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($5.85) J (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($5.85) 4 (2 players)
SB bets $3.25, Hero raises to $12, SB calls $8.75



I had all the info I needed there, 0.9 river AF and someting like 30% frequency, and 39% flop cbet. But my emotion was so high (wanted to win this hand as I was thinking he'd bet a fd/sd) that I pushed those aside. In my defense it was pretty unlikely he had a flush/straight as played BUT his very low aggression was key. And it's also not a spot people usually bluff/thin vbet in.

Session review:

Played a little, under 3 hours. But it's OK as I worked on the mental game. Thought it was better BUT still did 3 call mistakes without even realizing it! In small pots thankfully, I was more attentive in big pots.

When I play too many tables I don't realize what's going on and can do call mistakes - even if I think they're few enough tables. Feels like a rush and kind of desperation to not time out.

For tomorrow I'll add that feeling in my mental game file and do the process for that. I guess the post I written above is gone, damn 2p2. Oh well, not writing it again

Today I analyzed some hands and am happy about that! So there will be two session goals, a strategic one and some mental ones.

For the mental game I will continue working with my mental profile and the 6 steps, picking an easier to spot leak so recognition is easier; actually make that 2 leaks that come often as I'll get to practice the 6 step process of Recognition-Deep breath- Injecting logic - Strategy reminder- Repeat as necessary - Quitting routine

Session goals:

1) Practice the pattern for: thinking about money all the time
2) Practice the pattern for: playing too many tables
3) Jam turn for value vs fish when it's about pot and they can't have many draws

Phew, that was an eventful session! 6 1/2 hours, a whooping 16$!

I was tilting a few times but managed to quit, and I think I stopped myself going on tilt with the mental tehniques I've been using. However analyzed the top losing hands and only 2 were my fault, lots of variance. Seems good!

Analysys:


1) Did this pattern A LOT of times. Wrote in the mental note file: money concern is bigger than I thought - I tilt a lot. I think it helped me avoid tilt though, will do it again tomorrow

2) Had to do this one 2 or 3 times only as I obeyed it and learned not to do it again

3) Not sure if I had spots or time to think about it

Conclusion: good day overall, only did the calling mistakes twice! Once for a small pot where I'm sure it was due to too many tables, so I'm beginning to think that has the biggest impact on my calling mistakes.

Procastinating today, an hour and a half of internet browsing and spewing in mtts. Locally one guy came and donated at a cash table.

First day after starting this blog that I played ANY cash game before doing the pre-session routine. maybe not a great sign but I think it's quite the achievement! Only played a few and this knowledge made me close the interwebs and focus on poker, so all good.

Got pretty tilted after spewing in an mtt with a bad call. Which means today I'm focusing on the calling pattern mainly, along with the money-obsession pattern.

I had a few thoughts about it following Friday and came to the conclusion that my money obsession may be way more important than previously thought. I think I'm able to do folds and contain my agression reasonably well - perhaps to CC level - if I have enough mental space - like not too many tables, not having money occupy all my thoughts, not browsing the web at the same time.

But more importantly and perversely, it may just be that my money obsession is making me do those bad calls and bad aggression in the first place because of fear of not having enough for living expenses/goals. Thus fear may be the underlying main issue manifesting itself.

I will integrate reading the awesome litany against fear into my pre-session warmup.

Session goals:

1) Do the inject logic scheme for calling mistakes

2) Do the inject logic scheme for the money-obsession

Done after some 2k hands. Tilty session. It seems the money issue is pretty big, I can't let go and if I'm not winning I'm super nervous. Definitely see an improvement with the injecting logic tactic, just that results are less than impressive. BUT analyzing biggest losers after a session is the nuts, I feel much better after seeing them.

Made a mental game note, "too fast for call" - meaning my emotions are taking over too fast and I can't get to the recognition phase before clicking call. It seems to be deeply seated. However only made 2-3 calling mistakes again, it's slowly getting better.

Fear, anxiety are with me today. I'll just force myself to play with one objective in mind, the same as yesterday - detach from money and calling mistakes.

I'll also be only doing 4 tables and just play for 3 hours.

Well rough 2 days, been losing and really tilted 2 days ago. I haven't even done the post session nor calculated how much to withdraw from bankroll (though the new system isn't going too well so far). Waking up late, not putting in enough hands or hand analysys. I'm gonna prepare by reading my mental profile and doing the logic reminder for folds too this time.

Session goals:


1) Do the inject logic thing for folding and caring too much about money

Finally a winning session! I think that summizes it pretty well. I felt I played pretty well but to be honest made plenty of mistakes in the post session analysys, something like 2 bis have been my fault

On the objectives, I again didn't manage to catch myself before doing calling mistakes. However I was very good with table selection / number of tables and ok with caring about money (I was winning though), possibly stopped myself from tilting. Here's some bad calls





I still can't manage to fold in those spots - donk bet after heavey aggression and limp/3bet. Come on!

Bad aggression from me showed up a couple of times, I'll have to start addressing it soon as well.

Finally a winning session! I think that summizes it pretty well. I felt I played pretty well but to be honest made plenty of mistakes in the post session analysys, something like 2 bis have been my fault

On the objectives, I again didn't manage to catch myself before doing calling mistakes. However I was very good with table selection / number of tables and ok with caring about money (I was winning though), possibly stopped myself from tilting

Bad aggression from me showed up a couple of times, I'll have to start addressing it soon as well


Hero (BB): $36.33 (145.3 bb)
SB: $27.31 (109.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with T J
SB raises to $0.50, Hero calls $0.25

Flop: ($1) A 7 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $0.66, Hero raises to $2.20, SB calls $1.54

Turn: ($5.40) K (2 players)
Hero bets $3.75, SB raises to $7.50, Hero calls $3.75

River: ($20.40) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $20.40, SB calls $17.11 and is all-in



Note to self: Stop trying to get ppl to fold 2 pairs at 25nl. I knew he was capped since he didn't have the flush but I still shouldn't bluff without better reads.

Best hand, which I'm proud of!

Ok so it's been almost a month without updating! Not good but I'm getting back on track slowly. 2-3 weeks are for objective reasons, was out of internet/poker for 2 weeks and another week occupied my time with something else while only playing 2 tables. Lucked out and had good results that time but now my roll has taken a big hit and I can't even do the brm strat anymore.

The last few days I played without any care for my mental game and the results showed themselves, getting back into old habits quickly.

The truth is, and it's very hard to admit, that I have a lot of anxiety about working to improve and also when I'm low on bankroll. There I've said it. That's pobably the biggest thing with my mental game, fear of failure and fear of success.

Today's session goals:

1) Do the mental logic reminder for attachment to hands

2) Do the same for having a low bankroll.

In Greece trying to work and vacation at the same time. Normally my schedule will be from 12 to 4, but today I'll try 4:15 - 6:30 or something. Too bad I wasted like half an hour online, I need discipline in order to not do that. Probably will need to add that to my mental profile.

Session warm up: Start with re-reading the notes of a zoom video I watched; read the overall poker goals; read my mental profile; look at a few hands I played bad; start with 2 fast tables and maybe one casual table for the first half hour.

Session goals:

1) Play more straight forward/ABC, as at 10nl fast it's harder to figure out ranges because ppl slowplay too much

2) Try to watch my sensations when I tild / start caring about results or get attached to a hand to try and identify a pattern; write it down in a notepad.