Hi everyone!

I have been reading and lurking around 2+2 quite a well. Just didn't bother to create an account mostly b/c I am new to the whole online forum thing. But after some tries at other forum, I decide to start my journey blog here. The reason: I hope this can be a thing when I look back 2 or 3 years from now, I can laugh about how silly my plays were, how far I have grown in poker.

A brief introduction: I am currently a student. Future career is quite promising. But I do love this game and I really want to get better and start to be a well recognized player at higher limits. After 6 months of seriously playing/studying (I started to play seriously back in April), I have learned great deal about life from poker. Poker is like a never ending puzzle, which every similar to life. We always try to look for right answer, but there is always an element of unknown. The best we can do is prepare and put ourselves in the best situation possible, and hope for the best.

I am currently playing at donk stake NL10. My goal is within 2 years I can make to SS and take shots at MS. I know it is a long time, but b/c my school responsibilities, my hours are limited. But I will try make the best out of it!

Currently I am working with BrokeSoBroke. He has coached many students and crushed higher limits. He also fought through a really sick downswings for a year. From his experience, I learned that through strong will and hard work, the results will show. That's why I grab the opportunity to work with him. We had our first intro session last weekend. But b/c my schedule I have not put many hands yet. He pointed several leaks that I can work on. It was a lot of materials to digest but I feel in long run it will improve my game a lot.

Current BR: $405
Plan to move up once have 30BI for next level (which probably next year? hopefully? But I am determined to give my best effort!)

Plan for this blog:
1. Post some session updates, what I learned from sessions
2. Post one or two interesting hands.
3. Post the goals/schedule for the week. One for time management, another one for publicize my goals (include my school an poker). I think by putting my goals out there I feel more responsible so I work harder to get them.
4. Update this blog biweekly with plans/goals of the week along with things I learned. (Can be from reading/session I played).

Wish me luck everyone!

After review some HH, one of my major issue is I don't think through enough when situation rises. I need to pieces everything together starting from preflop to the river. Not just one river action give him a certain hands etc. Also base on opponent's range, I need to estimate our equity vs pot odds. Even when opponent bluffing there should be certain hands that from preflop that make the opponent to bluff. For opponent's value hands, will these actually be here base on previous actions? These are the things I need to consider when at the table. I think for Thursday's session I will drop to 3 tables and aiming for 1000 hands (4 hours playing).

A breakdown of this week's schedule:

This Week Goal:

Mon:
Review for exams, workout/meal prep
Poker: post 3 hands, ans 5 HH, Equity calculation practice.

Tues:
Review for exams, workout
Poker: post 3 hands, ans 5 HH, Equity calculation practice.

Wed:
Review for exams, workout
Poker: 5 HH and equity calculation practice (optional)

Thurs:
Workout, automobile engine oil schedule change.
Poker: Session (3 hour minimum). Focus on why I do certain things, what are equities, why call, why bet, why raise.

Fri:
Workout
I have night shifts at hospital this weekend, so I may not able to put in a lot of session. Thus nothing planned poker wise on Fri and Sat

Sat: n/a

Sun: Workout, meal prep.

Results from past week:



Not a lot of hands but I was still met my goal. Did roughly about 3.5 hours of play. And posted hands here.

Goal for this week.

Mon: Post 3 hands from previous session. Discuss a couple spot I find with BrokeSoBroke. Comment 3 HH here. Equity calcualtion practice. Review some lecture notes for school.

Tues: If school website is done, catch up on some school work. (Currently school website is done, still have class, just majority of assignment can't be turned in or start b/c they are all online) If school website is still bad. Review some lecture notes, Post 3 hands and comment 3 HH. Off table work (i.e. equity, etc). 2 session (optional).

Wed: Post 3 hands comment 3 HH. Off table work on equity/reading math of poker.

Thurs: Post 3 hands comment 3 HH. 3 Hour session.

Fri: Post 3 Hands Comment 3 HH. 2 hour session

Sat: 3 hour session

Sun: meal prep, next week planning.

So I goofed yesterday. Even school website is down we are still responsible for the materials. So I end up not doing my Monday to do list. I will make it up on my off day Sunday. Otherwise still meeting the goal.

Hi.

gl

@kenth: Hello there
@SayWhaat? Thanks Will try my best Love your SN btw!

Today's session, came up with whopping 30bb in 1K hands Better than nothing right?

Definitely had couple coolers. KK vs JQ lost, AK vs KK BvB. And also had a lucky strike. KK vs AA SB vs MP and I hit the K otf Well sometimes the coin does land on our side
Graf:


Also have a couple hands that I have trouble with. But I think I will use the strategy forum, is that better Not sure since quite new to this thing.

Hi guys:

Sorry MIA for past couple days. Trying squeeze a session in here and there along with my school work.
So here is the month's result til today.

I guess I can say I solved poker? Just run good and put money in and get called and run super well and suck out on other ppl

To be honest, I have no idea why. RNG must like me this month. Well got to pay back sometimes so hope I can play as well. Still a lot to learn.
Main things to work on:
1. When bet or raise, why? For value or bluff? What about our hand relative equity vs villain's all possible hands and villain's all possible ranges with all our decisions?
2. Each action at the table should have sufficient sounding logic behind it. Not simply oh I want take a pot in. Need go beyond that.

Schedule for rest of the week:

Tuesday: post 3 HH and comment on 6 HH.
Wed: 2 hour session (early class next day )
Thurs: 3 hour session
Fri: 2 hour session (work next day got feed my gambling addiciton some how right?)
Sat: break
Sun: meal prep/3 hour session.

GL all!

Results so far this month.
Going to go on a nice vacation from Wed to Saturday, so I won't play that much this week at all. Will put one session in for Tuesday. And go do some off table work while I am out of town.
Tues: 3 hour session
Wed-Sat: out of town. Off table work. Read Math of Poker by Bill Chen. And analyze some hands. Send a HH analysis document file to my coach.

GL to all!

New year, new updates, new aim:

I have to say it has been a very long time that I have updated on this blog here. I have been commenting here and there on hands history forum and make sure my donkey thoughts to be heard by the great minds out there. But I have rarely shared about my own progress. The main reason was I didn’t not put in much volume like majority people here. So part of me feel shamed even to put my graph up. I mean yea I win over 8K hands in three weeks, but what is the big deal. Another thing is, I am not even sure who is bothering reading my donkey rumblings. So why should I bother with this blog then?

I think that’s my main downfall from last year (which I will summarize later). What I have found that by updating my blog more frequently, my time management got better because I put my goals in the blog and I feel I need to give 100% to finish them. This leads to a better time management, which get more stuff done. Thus I would make so huge improvement for this part in 2015. So enough rumbling and self-pity, let’s see what I have accomplished ion 2014.

Things I accomplished in 2015:

Took shot in Nl25. considering my BR, I am under-rolled at current BR management. I took a shot with a 20BI for NL25. It is not I am super confidently. The main reason I did that b/c I started playing at another site which gives me some RB deals. Since I have enough BR on the other site. I have a choice to withdraw the money I have, or play higher and become better, so that’s exactly what I did. This part I am quite happy about considering I seriously started my journey at beginning of June ( I had the course and become a member at the site in May, but didn’t put any volume in due to school, etc). So in 6 months, with some clownish volume, I somehow had 3 winning session at Nl25, I think I am extremely lucky and let’s hope this luck continue at 2015.

Become more accurate on hands equity and pot odds, etc: After some practice, I become more comfortable with this stuff at the table. But still need to improve in 2015.

Got my first A in pharmacy school: This is non poker related, but somehow after I start and make plans to improve on my poker game, my other part of life got improved also. I know a lot of people probably getting As here and there. But I certainly did struggle in my PharmD program. It it a tough program. To get the A you need to treat it like your life (which I am nowhere near that). But by managing my time with the certain goal in mind for the day, I find myself accomplish more during the day, I was more prepared for my class (maybe b/c I know if I want to do anything poker related I have to get my school stuff done ASAP). I hope I can keep up with this and make it a life long habit.

Things I need to work on:

Keep time management, daily planning as a habit, a way of life: It may only take 10 minutes the day before we go to bed. But it help me great deal to get things done and keep focused. But I need to make it as a habit. I probably need to make an offer that I will do that from Jan 6th to Jan 31st to keep a daily plan for each day, and if I break that I may owe someone $20 or so.

Exercise/Healthy eating: I was on a good track. But after thanksgiving I went off the rail and didn’t put into any serious commitment into this. I need to get back on track (maybe another $20?)

Have a plan each week for poker: This goes with the idea of the 1st. I feel even sometimes I don’t accomplish them all, but I still made a positive progress toward being a better player.

Don’t be mad if I can’t accomplish all my goals: In the past, when I don’t finish my to-do list. I get frustrated, but I should really change that. Instead of frustrated, I should really buckle down and ask myself, did I waste any time some where? Did I give my all but just simply over-schedule myself? A lot of times things just happen in our life so we have to catch up later date, which can be okay too.

[COLOR=Red]So what the @#%& are you trying to do for your game in 2015?

Good question. personally don’t have a specific money goal for this adventure yet. But overall, I hope I can be a reg at Nl25 by my birthday, which is in June. And I hope I can accomplish that by doing 10 hours of play per week along with 3 hours of study per week (study=book, video+HH). I will set session days and study days accordingly. However that schedule will be based on my school requirement first. I will have less class this semester (only lecture on Tue, Wed, and Thur, no class on Mon until April 6th). So I feel it should be easier for me a get more things done this semester.

With this being said. I will update my daily goals here and daily accomplishment here. And hopefully can present graphs each month as a summary.

I think that is for now. GL new year and keep crushing.

Sunday 1/4/15 will be my official new year post with this new plan. Let’s get going!

http://elliotthulse.com/2015-version/?gl=240479148

I will leave above post as some fruits for thought. I have been following Elliot Hulse for a while. He has good workout plans, but he also has some decent thought process. For those who want some life in general advice, I think you can find some answers there.

Hopefully new year is going well for everyone.
So one week before my school starts thus I will try to utilize the last week as much as I can. Here are my this coming week's goal:

Mon:

Exercise (weight training)

Poker: comment HH focus on NL10/NL25, read Math of Poker (3 chapters), equity training

Pharmacy Rotation

Tues:

Exercise (Weight training)

Poker: equity training, 4 hour session

Wed:

Exercise: cardio

Poker: Session review, 4 hour session, equity training, read Math of Poker

Thurs:

Exercise (weight training)

Poker: 4 hour session, HH

Fri:

Exercise (Weight training)

Poker: HH, 4-5 hour session

Sat:

If have completed all things in to do list. It is a free day. If not catch up

Sun:

Organize School schedule for coming week, meal prep, 3 hour session for poker.

Self-grade:

Fitness: C-

Poker: C-

Life: B

Well, I had a huge heater at beginning of the week then everything went down hill, and HM2 shows I am still running +EV. LOL I am such a donkfish have no idea. PPL plz take my roll! WTF I am saying. Anyways here the graph:
So yea, I guess I am just a lucky fish overall.
Well, here is the journey for a fish to a shark, so it is fine since it just in my 1st year of journey.
Plan for next week:
Mon: Session Analysis, post HH, comment HH, equity training, work, exercise, cooking, put exams on calendar.
Tues: 3 hour session, post HH, coment HH, exercise
Wed: 3 hour session, post HH, coment HH, equity, cardio exercise.
Thurs: 3 hour session, exercise, post HH/comment HH cooking/meal prep
Fri: Session review, post HH/comment HH, equity, exercise
Sat: Break/School work review.
Sun: Meal prep, 3 hour session organize for next week.

P.S. I will update tomorrow on here or in HH section why I say I am worst, I have solid evidence. (Nothing wrong with that, that means I have huge room for improvements thus huge potential right? cricket cricket, yea what a ***** fish. LOL)

Hi there again!
ahh what can I say, have been playing like a donkey recently. I think I have so much leaks to work on I don’t even know where to start. I need to redefine my preflop ranges since I do face villain like 3bet/4bet bluff in this stake however it is not as much leak as my mental I think. I tend to do bad auto piloting in the middle of session. I need to stop doing that. Take my time, even I time out at certain table I think it is okay since I want to make sure each decision is well made and well thought before I make it.
Things to focus on this week:
1. Preflop ranges, try to follow the course, however adjust base on sample.
2. Focus when play, think through each hands like I am looking through a HH during review.

This week graph:

As you can see, I tend to let my mind went off during the session. Need to stop that. If I feel I need to take a 5 min break, just do so. But I need to make sure each decision I made is well thought
Overall grade for last week:
Poker:C, still a donkey, but at least I know some leaks, hour wise I have logged 12 hour at table, which is nice for me since I have school/work to worry, but I need to be more alert.
Fitness: F. Only made to gym 3 times, nutrition wise was barely okay (maybe that’s why I am not that alert after 90min of my session?)
Life: Need to organize my sleeping schedule, sleep in way to much and have to catch up on school work already. F.

Things to do this week.
I decide to cancel this Sunday’s session for 2 reasons: 1. Sleeping schedule is poorly organized and end up running very late on my things. 2. A lot of stuff/HH to review, need to work on some.

Mon: Exercise, work, catch up on school, HH comment (5 min), Equity training, session review
Tue: Exercise, 3 Hour session. HH Comment,
Wed: Catch up on school, rotation, Equity training 3 hour session
Thurs: Exercise, 3 hour session
Fri: Exercise, session review, HH comment, equity training, 3 hour session.
Sat: Break
Sun: Meal prep, Session review/video review, HH coment. 3 hour session (if time available).

Let’s hope I stop being a donk and back to being smart crusher.

So I am still a donkey. But I think I have found some major leaks in my game.
1. Randomly button clicking. I have found myself do better when I read HH to analyze that way but I don’t put that on the table. I think I will start a daily practice that I review 10 hands I have played in SRP and 3bet pot go through each action and see why and why not each action make sense. Also try to see alternative better lines to take. Ofc, this will be done along with equilab to check if my estimate is right.
2. Play less table. I am 6 tabling now. But my previous journey, where I had 4.5BB winning in 20K hands for NL10 is where I played only 4 tables. Same as NL4. So I think I will cut it to 5 tables see how things go. Need to make sure that I am thinking through on each hand. My equity, why I am betting/calling.
3. Plan ahead for each hand. I sometimes use call and see as a plan, which is not a plan at all. I need have a plan that if I call here I will raise on certain cards, fold on certain cards, am I just planning to call down?

Grade for this week
Poker: D (once I start to loose and hit stop loss. Need to stop, review hands, and think why I got there, don’t start another session after a break, there is no improvment for that).
Fitness: B (Nutrition wise still meh but getting better)
School: D(very behind, need catch up in next couple days).
graph

Goals for next week
Mon: HH Review activity (10 replay/review). Comment on HH. School catch up, workout
Tues: Preflop range review, HH Review activity, School catch up, workout. If finish everything by 9:30pm, fire a session
Wed: HH review activity, 3hr session
Thurs: HH review activy, 4hr session
Fri: HH review 4-5 hr session
Sat: break/catchup unfinished task
Sun: Plan for next week, school review, if finish everything by 8:30 fire up another session.

So end of Jan and beginning of Feb.

I have to say my 1st month of this year is one of the worst I got since I started my journey pokerwise.
First time end up in negative, despite putting in way volume than I did before. I am pretty sure these will be more and it is a chance for me to get better. But overall, it is something that I look into. That is I still have a lot of room to improve.
This week: got sick at earlier this week so not much poker or workout related. Did some off table work but my main strength was used in school, trying to keep up despite have a congested sinus and cloudy mind. I put in about 2k hands this week. Played about 7 hours, which is below my target, but overall I still find a lot of leaks and spots to improve.

Things to work on:
1. stop clicking buttons. Think more, what their ranges in this and that, what equity we have and is the odds right to call. Pot odds? Poker is a mental game. But sometimes I found myself auto-piloting a lot, which is not good, especially I don't have a strong fundamentals yet
2. Make better decisions start from preflop----asking why we cold call, why we 3bet, plan after 4bet, etc.
3. Get back to work out gear and incoporate daily lemon drink. This just to help my own immune system. I hate getting sick, then spread disease to my GF, then just mess up my plans.
Overall grade: poker: c, fitness: F.

I really appreciate BrokesoBroke give me some guidance at this moment. I think at one point I was unable to sleep b/c I have not book a solid winning session yet this month. But then after some chat with BrokesoBroke, I have realized that success is not going to come after night with my low volume. Despite I am doing what I can with my volume, but still, this is a hard game. It takes time to improve, just like everything else. But only perseverance and hard work will get me there.
graph


Despite being my largest volume I put in, which is quite small volume compare to majority of ppl out there. But still enough volume for me to see I have some major leaks to fix.

Goals for this coming week:

Mon: Review notes, HH activity(range, equity, maximize)(30min to 1 hour), comment 10 HH. School catching up. Workout
Tues: Notes review, HH activity (30min to 1 hour), school catching up, workout
Wed: School catching up (morning), HH activity (30min to 1 hour), 3 hour session (4 to 5 tables, but focus on thought process), cardio
Thurs: HH activity (30min to 1 hour), 3 hour session (4 to 5 tables, focus on thought process), workout
Fri: HH activity (30min to 1 hour), 4 hour session ( 4 to 5 tables, focus on thought process), workout
Sat: School review
Sun: HH activity, review questionable hands school review (2 exams coming up in 2nd week of Feb)

This week I didn't hit my 10 hour goal of playing. I think I need review my mental state first. I am still in losing state. And now I am not even looking forward to play b/c I am scared to lose. Plus I have exams coming in school so I decide to focus on my school work first. Just played on session this week and lost 1 more BI.
Poker: I am trying to build a habit to work on flopzilla every day. Will continue to do that, even it is only 30min
Need to start to build a habit on comment and post HH on forum more, hope this can build my thought process.
Overall this week is meh. Need to regain my focus again.
This week goal:
Mon: school exam review. Post 2 HH and comment on 2 thread. Do 2 HH flopzilla
Tues: Session review, off table work (2HH, 2 trhead, 2 HH flopzilla, theory video)
Wed: Exam review Along with Post 2 HH and comment on 2 thread. Do 2 HH flopzilla
Thurs: Post 2 HH and comment on 2 thread. Do 2 HH flopzilla. 3 hour of play
Fri: Post 2 HH and comment on 2 thread. Do 2 HH flopzilla. 3-4 hours of play
Sat: Post 2 HH and comment on 2 thread. Do 2 HH flopzilla. 3 hours of play
Sun: Theory video watching. Post 2 HH and comment on 2 thread. Do 2 HH flopzilla. Session review.