Happy new year everyone! After getting many hours of entertainment/work-dodging from various PG&C threads and being inspired by a mate kicking his own off (found here) I decided to take the plunge and be a massive attention whore give something back by playing out my own story.

About Me


My name is Matt Crocker and I'm a 25 year old software developer living in Bristol, UK. Like pretty much everyone on this forum I found poker during the boom back in 2003, playing cards for a couple of quid on breaks at college. Unfortunately I didn't do what many success stories did and get good during university and make a whole heap of money; I instead decided to spend stupid amounts of time playing MMORPGs like a total idiot.

Fast forward to October 2011 and I finally decided to seek out backing for MTTs and get better. Since then I've been rewarded (chopped Bigger 5.5 for $5k), gone out on my own dollar and gotten somewhat better as a player but am still held back by one problem:

I am a lazy bastard

However, thanks to a Sharkscope of my 180s results I've realised that they're a pretty good format to grind, and combined with picking up a copy of The Mental Game of Poker (seriously buy this book) I've been invigorated with the motivation to knuckle down and become the player I know I can be.

2013

Last year I made a few goals with the overarching theme of chasing a big score. Obviously the dream didn't come true and was never really that likely to. This year I am being more realistic and the theme of my goals is simply to be a better player on 1st January 2014 than I was on 1st January 2013.

As the title of this thread says I'm looking to simply establish myself as a decent 180s reg and my goals reflect that. What I won't be doing is allowing myself to become another robo-nit. There's loads of them at the lower 180s buyin levels and they're pretty easy to roll over. Ideally I want to end up as a solid, thinking LAG.

Yearly Goals

10,000 VPP: This is going to be exceptionally difficult with my current volume/stake but that’s the point – it’s a challenge to get to.

Maintain SilverStar: SilverStar is 500VPP/month now and I’m going to try and maintain it for all 12 months of 2013.

Work on my mental game: I recently purchased “The Mental Game of Poker” and it’s wonderful. I believe I’m currently a massive mental game fish and have loads of work to do in this area.

Study once a week: I currently don’t do hand history reviews or anything like that. One hour of study minimum per week.

No fruit machines. Period: Not a single penny in 2013. I kicked the habit mid-2012 and fell off the wagon over Christmas. It dies this year. For good.

Go pro: Here is my stupid pie-in-the-sky goal for the year. Grinding software development 9-5 each day is crappy and to work out of my living room would be sweet.

About this thread

I'm likely to update this thread 1-2 times a week as that's probably how often I'll get a session in. What I'm also going to do is set weekly goals for myself that generally aim towards long-term improvements in my game or my longer-term goals period.

You will like this thread if:

• You like PG&C threads where the OP actually interacts with people reading it rather than just blogging
• You want to see an Intermediate player try and make something of himself
• You have a hard-on for well formatted posts
• You like cider. I will be doing TRs of any new stuff I try

You will not like this thread if:

• Micro-stakes bore you
• You need fap material

THREAD SAVER

Goals for Week 1: 31st Dec-6th Jan

[ ] Don't look at the cashier mid-session
[ ] Don't browse the internet except on breaks
[ ] Set a session length at the start of the day and stick to it

All my goals at the start of this challenge are to instil a grind mentality when I play. Once I've got the right mindset to put volume in I think I can start working on my game.

1st January

Results
Games: 40 x $2.50/180s
Session VPPs: 48.4
P/L: +$2.18

Cashier: Semi-success. Was overly desperate to check on many occasions.
Internet: Success.
Session Length: Semi-success. Stopped registering 15 mins early to spend time with my fiancée Harriet

Session Notes

• I 12-tabled successfully (except when trying to make duck pancakes at my desk! Suggest easier to eat food when I’m grinding). I'll try 15-tabling on my next session.
• My play was somewhat robotic. I need to get better at taking villain stats into account when making decisions. I was also not planning my actions going forward at all. This needs to be a long-term learning goal.
• I ran both hot and cold, pretty polarised. Some gross beats in both directions.
• I reasonably enjoyed myself. It’s a decent way to pass time that isn’t WoW. Could see myself grinding more frequently.

To Do

This week:
Read “Fear” chapter of Mental Game of Poker and do the writing exercises. I'm pretty certain my desperation to check the cashier stems from a fear of losing.

This month:
Train myself to look at stats before making a decision

Longer term:
Train myself to always have a plan based on my action and all possible villain responses



I'll be hitting up the tables tonight after work

GL sir

whats a "fruit machine"?


gl with your grind and hopefully you can reach your goals.

Cheers dude

AKA slot machine but generally used to refer to this style as opposed to casino slots: http://www.bitsnbobs.co.uk/forsale/1...hine133491.gif

I've basically been obsessed with the things since I was a kid, watching them like crazy when underage and playing them whenever at the pub now older. They eat money.

Thanks for the wishes. I've set the goals specifically to be challenging but attainable

birds are the genetic descendents of dinosaurs fyi

On the one hand I want to disagree with you. On the other:

a) I've seen Red Dwarf, even the ****ty 8th series
b) You are apparently a penguin

Not sure I can argue.

gl, will be following

is your avatar/location from look around you?

Thank you kindly!

Got it in one, good chap

No play tonight as my missus needed cheering up (SAD is a bugger ) and now I'm full of cocktails. Will play tomorrow instead.

[?] Don't look at the cashier mid-session
[X] Don't browse the internet except on breaks
[X] Set a session length at the start of the day and stick to it

5th January

Results
Games: 115 x $2.50/180s
Session VPPs: 139.15
P/L: -$75.38

Cashier: Semi-success. I found it quite hard to not look when losing
Internet: Success.
Session Length: Success.

First losing session of the year and first in a while, in fact. -30BI is pretty weak all considered but feels like a kick, but then again it's only a 2nd place in a 2.5/180 and half that loss can be attributed to losing a 95/5 HU.

My mental game is definitely not as robust as I would like it to be. Losing over a session feels really bad and although some progress can be made from injecting logic (115 is just a session where it's possible to lose every game or win $1k) this will be one of the major fights I have with myself.

For Week 2 (not entirely sure when I'm next going to be playing next but need to make sure I get some volume in) I'm going to leave my weekly goals as they are. I'm feeling pretty good about the internet and session length goals but I really want to work on my fear of losing/cashier obsession.