Hey guys, I'm a 21 years old online cash game pro from Israel playing under the alias Pray4Love on GGPoker.
Today I'll have a knee surgery due to a ligament injury, after which I will be discharged from the Israel Defense Forces after 2 years and 8 months of mandatory service.
I have been preparing for this day for ~4 years, Studying with solvers, Watching thousands of hours of poker content and listening to dozens of podcasts.
While I was playing during my service, my volume was low, and it was hard to get a solid routine being on base 4/5 days a week.
I wasn't able to consistently bring my A Game, so it caused me to spend much more of my time studying rather than playing.
I will be using this blog as a journey, I will be setting myself goals and updating the results on a weekly basis, while also adding some other topics from my life over time.

My Weekly Goals:
1) Play 20,000 - about 3,000 hands a day which takes ~6 hours.
2) Study 7 hours - Usually 1 hour everyday in the morning before the "happy hours" on GG Rush&Cash.
3) Meditate everyday (takes about 10 minutes).
4) Workout 4 times - hopefully I will be able to start working out this week, if not will be starting next week, depending on the condition of my knee.
5) Go for 1 Run every week In a place I haven't been before (Also, depends on the condition of my knee).

Why didn't I set myself any $ amount goals?
During my service, I played up to 100NL R&C without staking and up to 400NL under a staking deal (which I ended) on some app sites.
I was winning in those games and felt I had an edge in those games.
Now, my bankroll is relatively low, and I find it hard for me to bring my A game with the pressure of going broke, So I won't be playing a limit I don't have ~150BI for.
I will be starting at 25NL, but hopefully the plan is to move up to 50NL very quickly, maybe even after 1 or 2 weeks.
Once I reach 100NL, I will set myself $ amount goals.
Nevertheless, my goal is to reach 5BB/100 winrate after rakeback+leaderbord, which means ~2BB/100 winrate from the tables only, regardless of the limit I'll be playing.

Good luck with the knee surgery and the poker. What was it like being in the Israel Defense Forces?

gl

So things didn't go as I planned and expected.
The surgery and its recovery was much harder than I thought it would be. I spent the first 2 weeks in bed on painkillers and dealing with a lot of pain.
The past week I have been feeling much better, and even though I am doing physiotherapy twice a day, I've been spending a lot of time playing.
By the start of the week, my goal was first to get my life together, I was sleeping for ~12 hours a day for two week, so I needed to gradually wake up earlier every day and get to my regular routines of eating and taking care of myself.
Thankfully, now I am much better and ready to get everything going.


Goals this week:

1) Played 19K/20K hands

2) Studied 0/7 hours. Because I have yet to get my sleeping schedule to wake up at 7AM, I've been waking up and jumping straight to the tables because of the GG Rush&Cash happy hours (8AM-10AM). This will change in the upcoming week.

3) Meditate 7/7 days.

4-5) I can't walk yet without my crutches, so I didn't workout or run this week. this is probably gonna be the same in the upcoming week, unless a miracle happens.



Results for this week:



tbh, I am fine with the results this week, I've come back to playing after 3 weeks of not playing a single hand, so I can't expect to come back and bring my best game after such a long break + not being in my best form both mentally and physically.
Also, not studying affects my game a lot, usually when I play right after I study I'm really "in the zone" and I play my A+ game.

Lucky me, the second day after I came back, I won a small Bad Beat jackpot in a hand I wasn't even involved in for ~300$ (~12BI):



Total results:
Money won/loss from the tables: -429.13$
Rakeback (includes leaderboard race, #ThanksGG flipout and regular rakeback): +96.91$
Bad Beat jackpot: +292.81$
Total won/loss: -39.41$

Thanks man,
tbh, it's ****, at least for most people, but it really depends on your role..
In Israel, when you finish high school, all men are forced to do 2 years and 8 months of mandatory service, while women do 2 years.
I will not go into too much detail, because it differs from one to another, some might find meaning in their service, while others hate it because they are feeling trapped and they can't pursue the things they love.
For me, it was fine, but I got "lucky" to have a really good role with a lot of free time both to pursue what I love (poker) and having a lot of home time being with friends.

tyty


Excited for a much better week! glgl to everyone

Second week of playing full time has ended, and I'm much happier with my play and with the way life is going.
First things first, I am feeling very well, I manage to walk freely (sometimes still having a small limp tho), I got back to working out and things are really looking up.
Despite that, I didn't get as much volume at the tables as I wanted this week, I had to take care of a few things this week plus doing physiotherapy twice a day takes quite a bit of time and energy.


Goals this week:

1) Played 12K/20K hands.

2) Studied 2.5/7 hours. Definitely not the amount of study time I aim for the future, but baby steps I guess :P

3) Meditate 7/7 days. Seems like that's the only goal I manage to achieve these 2 weeks.

4) Worked out 2/4 times. Only today I got my gym membership renewed, but I did 2 small home workouts to get the body moving and ready for this upcoming week.

5) Still not able to run, but that's probably the last week as I can now power walk/run slow, so I believe that by the end of the week I will be able to run again.



Results for this week:



As I've said at the beginning, I'm much happier with my play this week, the little bit of study time got me in the right mindset most mornings (the ones I studied), plus I run pretty good for most of the week.


Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: 319.08$
Rakeback: 191.09$
Total won/loss: 510.17$


Ready for the new upcoming week, very excited to go back to working out, and taking extra care I will get the 20K hands this week.
gl to everyone at the tables

Another week has come to an end, not much to say tbh..
Getting back to working out at the gym feels amazing.
Man Utd played like ****, but I guess we at least took the deciding game to the Old Trafford. Also, the tie against Watford was disastrous.
I am unhappy with how I played and the volume I put this week, but I can and will do better for sure, just kinda autopilot it for the first days of the week and tilted a bit because of some internet issues.


Goals this week:

1) Played ~9K/20K hands

2) Studied 3/7 hours

3) Meditate 4/7 days. I stopped “forcing” myself and had a few days where I just wasn’t in the mood or always had something to do, But I still want to try and meditate daily.

4) Worked out 4/4 times. Got 4 very good workouts at the gym (despite usually having a bad few workouts after a big break, this time it went great).

5) The doctor said I shouldn’t start running until my next appointment with him (which is at the end of this week).



Results for this week:




Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: 167.17$
Rakeback: 32.44$
Total won/loss: 199.61$

Thanks man!

Last week to sum up our first month as a full-time poker player, if everything goes well (and by that, I mean I’ll play close to the 20K hands and get good results), I will be shot taking 50NL by the start of next week.
Good luck to everybody!

Subscribed, GL with your journey!

The first month of being a full-time poker player has ended.
Pretty happy overall, as expected I really enjoy playing and love the grind (as was while I was in the army, but back then I only did it part time).
As for my volume and study time this month, It was much lower then I expect and aim for, but man this month was full of stuff;
Firstly, the recovery from the knee surgery hasn't ended (and is not going to end in the near future), although I am getting better and stronger each day, I am still going to the hospital 3 days a week for physiotherapy and the days I am not going I am doing it at home.
Secondly, I have moved from my old room to our basement, I live in a pretty big house with my family (both my parents and my two younger brothers), and the past two weeks we had renovations to turn our basement into a housing unit where I will have a place of my own, so that took quite a bit of time from me (painting the walls, decorating, cleaning and so on).
Lastly, setting up my life after being a soldier for almost 3 years was also tough but extremely exciting.
I am sure the next month will be packed with much more poker, as my life is getting more orderly.
As for the results, I am pretty happy, If you would've asked me at the beginning of the month about my expectations, I would tell you I don't even mind just finishing breakeven for the first month, as long as I get my routines right and get in the right mindset for the future.


Goals this week:

1) Played ~7K/20K hands

2) Studied ~2.5/7 hours

3) Meditate 4/7 days.

4) Worked out 4/4 times.

5) Still not allowed to ****ing run, and not even for the next few weeks...



Results for this week:




Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: -82.97$
Rakeback: 24.39$
Total won/loss: -58.58$

As I have said, I barely played this week due to moving places.



Resulted for this month:



*You can't see the last week flat rakeback I got on Monday morning since I didn't upload any hands past last Sunday*


Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: -25.85$
Rakeback: 638.83$ (Including the Jackpot)
Total won/loss: +612.98$



Ty

As it seems, I will keep uploading every Monday, and for every first Monday of the month I will do a big monthly recap like this one.
Good luck to everyone, and let's crush it this month!

Hello Hello,
A day late with this weekly recap post.
Week went by pretty fast,
Nothing too special, ran very well the first few days of the week, the exact opposite in the last 3 days.
Was a big week for the football fans
The match between Real Madrid and PSG was insane, PSG are such a ****ing weak minded losers
except you Mbappe come to Madrid already.
Ronaldo with a ****ing banger against Tottenham, showing once again he is the GOAT.
BIG BIG GAME today, but I'm 100% sure we are going to qualify,
Atletico ****ed up by letting us get that tie at the Metropolitano, because there is no way they winning at the Old Trafford
I predict a BIG Sancho performance, he looks better game after game and the growing love from the fans really affects him
anyway...;


Goals this week:

1) Played ~11K/20K hands

2) Studied ~2.5/7 hours

3) Meditate 3/7 days

4) Worked out 4/4 times

5) If you still read this, you know the drill.



Results for this week:




Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: +262.17$
Rakeback: 32.12$
Total won/loss: +294.29$

Good luck everyone

Very low volume week, so I will make it pretty quick,
We had a holiday this week in Israel (It's called "Purim", it's basically the same as Halloween with people dressing up with costumes and there are a bunch of parties), so I went out partying a few times and drank a little.
I hate playing after drinking/partly hungover, so both studying and playing this week was extremely low, also working out/meditating wasn't consistent.
Although I didn't achieve much this week, I feel it was a good mental reset and got some rest for the next few hard grinding weeks.


Goals this week:

1) Played ~4.5K/20K hands

2) Studied ~1.5/7 hours

3) Meditate 2/7 days

4) Worked out 3/4 times

5) Soon. Very soon.



Results for this week:




Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: +143.35$
Rakeback: 10.61$
Total won/loss: +153.96$

Have a great week everyone

Hello everyone
Ran pretty bad this week, just missed almost every flop and ran into top of the range in some spots..
somehow still manage to book a small win though
Feeling very good with my play, and ready to move up to 50NL, just 200$ short (8BI) with my bankroll, so when I make it I will start shot taking.
Also, improvement in both volume and study time, can still make it better and finally reach the weekly goals, but I feel improvement in my time management.


Goals this week:

1) Played ~14K/20K hands

2) Studied 4/7 hours

3) Meditate 4/7 days.

4) Worked out 4/4 times.



Results for this week:




Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: +75.18$
Rakeback: 42.01$
Total won/loss: +117.19$

Last week to the end of march and a monthly recap next Monday.
Good luck guys.

Time for a weekly/monthly recap
The First week of summer here in Israel, the bitches opened up and the vibe is great.
As for poker this week, it started disastrous, losing 10BI in the first 5K hands, just getting set ups one after another.
although this sucks because I was really hyped to start taking shots at 50NL, I believe I handled it as good as it can be, just focused on my meditations/workouts/study routines, and managed to grind it back to an almost breakeven week (at least Allin-EV breakeven).

March (I count it for 07.03.2022-03.04.2022, First Monday of the month Till the first Sunday of next month, so It counts for 4 weeks this month) went fine, I don't want to be crybaby or make excuses, But I honestly think I played much better than the results show (3BB/100 Pre Rakeback), and I believe I ran pretty bad. I see the **** that the regs do there, even the better ones, and I feel I like I have such a big edge on them and they are exploitable as ****.
Until now, I played 90K hands at 25NL, so what I will do is play another 10K hands there to set a 100K milestone, after which I will move up to 50NL as I now have the bankroll for it (unless something crazy happens in this 10K hands? )
As for rakeback this month, it was very low, as I didn't cash in a SINGLE one of the #ThanksGG freeroll Flipouts which you get an invitation after a bad beat or a big hand, most of the time this makes up for the very high rake and the very low flat rakeback I get due to their PVI system where winning players get much less rakeback:





SO, after all this whining, here are the Goals this week:

1) Played ~12.5K/20K hands

2) Studied ~6/7 hours

3) Meditate 5/7 days

4) Worked out 4/4 times



Results for this week:




Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: -83.77$
Rakeback: 36.61$
Total won/loss: -47.16$



Resulted for this month:



*You can't see the last week flat rakeback I got on Monday morning since I didn't upload any hands past Sunday*


Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: +396.93$
Rakeback: 121.35$
Total won/loss: +518.28$

I know I've said I won't make any $ amount goals until I reach 100NL, but having a 1K$ month would be a nice bump to the bankroll :X
GL to everyone and have a great April.

100K hands at 25NL are done, let's talk about the rake numbers:
In those 100K hands, I raked 1881.94$, which is 7.52BB/100, this rake includes the 1BB that goes into the jackpot for every pot bigger than 30BB.
In total rakeback, which includes: Flat rakeback (Fish Buffet), Leaderboard Race, Affiliate commission rakeback, #ThanksGG flipouts and the 292$ Bad Beat Jackpot, I have earned 789.68$ which is 3.16BB/100 or 42% rakeback.
Keep in mind, I am at the lowest rank at the fish buffet rakeback system, so when I get to the second rank, rakeback should be higher (but it depends more on getting lucky in the flipouts or binking the jackpot can change everything).
In my opinion, I think that's fair, GG net 4.36BB/100, and considering the pool is running 24/7, a big number of fish, and the great software, I believe it is the best site to currently grind micro/low stakes.

So including everything, I made 4.69BB/100 in those 100K hands, little below what I wanted/expected (I've said in the first post I want to win at least 2BB/100 from the tables and 5BB/100 after rakeback), But I think I improved a lot outside poker strategy, I have just finished the BTS Mindset course by Steffen Rachut, and although most of my study time this past two months wasn't too much with the solver, I believe I now have a much better approach towards the game and I built a good habits to get myself to the next level.
From now on, most of my study time will be with the solver as I have ~100 marked hands to look over and some spots I know I need to be spending more time on.

Also, I took my first shot at 50NL on Sunday, and that went pretty well (won 3 BI).


Goals this week:

1) Played ~13K/20K hands

2) Studied 6/7 hours

3) Meditate 7/7 days.

4) Worked out 4/4 times.



Results for this week:




Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: +172.49$
Rakeback: 62.60$
Total won/loss: +235.09$

Have a great week guys

good luck in the z50 streets op, see you in the pools. subbed.

Hey
A day late with this week's summary, I was on vacation for the past 3 days and just got back home.
I'll make it a quick one since Manchester United vs Liverpool starts in an hour and I gotta go watch it with some friends,
Monday was great, and then **** started to fall, Tuesday and Wednesday went EXTREMELY bad and I lost around 600$ (mostly on 50NL and a bit on 25NL after I moved back down), I got extremely tilted, and what do I usually do when it happens? I study my ****ing ass off and can't play...
Luckily, I played some again on Friday and Saturday and ran pretty hot on 25NL, getting my bankroll back to when I shot take 50NL again.


Goals this week:

1) Played ~7.5K/20K hands

2) Studied 10+/7 hours

3) Meditate 3/7 days. very unprofessional of me, and pretty sad after I was on a 11-day streak.

4) Worked out 4/4 times.



Results for this week:




Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: -232.23$
Rakeback: 58.09$
Total won/loss: -174.14$



Thanks man, what's your screenname? maybe we had/will have an interesting hand to talk about

Have a great week guys

Goals this week:

1) Played ~7K/20K hands

2) Studied ~7/7 hours

3) Meditate 3/7 day

4) Worked out 2/4 times



Results for this week:




Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: -71.62$
Rakeback: 88.35$
Total won/loss: +16.73$

Main focus for the upcoming weeks is volume, I have played only 14.5K hands the past 2 weeks, even thought it was holiday and I was on vacation, that is unaccptable.
gonna do my best to get 20K hands this week, even if it means a bit less study or giving up on a workout.
good luck

April recap:
April didn't go as well as expected, volume wasn't as high as it should've been, but there were a couple of holidays this month, and I was on vacation.
Though I did start taking shots at 50NL, hopefully we will not need to move back to 25NL again.
I plan on getting a lot of volume this upcoming month, since there is just 1 small holiday and my focus is only on poker (no plans for nothing).
At the start of next month, I will get my military grant, which is about 3.5K$.
Hopefully I'll have a good month and including the grant I will be able to shot take 100NL (as I have said in the first post, I need at least 150BI for the limit below to shot take, so 7.5K$ in this case).
Big plans when I reach 100NL regarding table selecting, but we get there when we get there.
As for the week, I didn't reach 20K hands, man I don't know how people do it, do they just click buttons without thinking?
Anyway, it was a pretty good week, my game was on point, and my mental was good.


Goals this week:

1) Played ~13.5K/20K hands

2) Studied 7+/7 hours

3) Meditate 6/7 days.

4) Worked out 4/4 times.



Results for this week:



Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: +67.24$
Rakeback: 185.64$
Total won/loss: +252.88$



Resulted for this month:
(I count it for 04.04.2022-01.05.2022, First Monday of the month Till the first Sunday of next month, so It counts for 4 weeks this month)



*You can't see the last week flat rakeback I got on Monday morning since I didn't upload any hands past Sunday*

Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: -64.12$
Rakeback: 394.69$
Total won/loss: +330.57$

Have a good week and a great month guys

Am I just a break even 50NL player? I mean I feel like I am playing well for most of the sessions...
Anyway, it doesn't really matter, because even if I am just a breaking even player now, I work so hard it just a matter of time until I will become a winner in those games :P
Overall good week though, volume was high, studied a lot, and life in general is going great


Goals this week:

1) Played ~17K/20K hands

2) Studied ~10/7 hours

3) Meditate 6/7 day

4) Worked out 6/4 times



Results for this week:



Total Results:
Money won/loss from the tables: -205.85$
Rakeback: 226.03$
Total won/loss: +20.18$

have a good week everyone

LETS ****ING GO

Great work so far man¡

Quick question, how you finding cash on GG in comparison to stars?

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

WOW ，How lucky are you!!!

Thank you,
Stars are Unavailable from Israel, actually, all Major sites are closed to Israel players apart from GG (The only other option we had was ACR which closed about 2 months ago).
But, even though I haven't played there, I do believe GG has more fish and even though the rake is slightly higher, the high Rakeback (I get around 40% even with a **** PVI because I am a winning player) do make it a better site IN MY OPINION.

Big update on Monday, as I just got into some app games and started game selecting much more (at 100NL).

Thanks for the response mate.

Really looking forward to the next update, heard those app clubs can be juicy as hell if you find the right one

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

Good Monday everyone,
BIG BIG week that was, all due to the jackpot though, I guess I am just a luckbox,
Anyway, I'll take it, I don't need a sexy graph to approve me
Bankroll / Life roll just around 10K$ now, more then 150BI for 50NL, so no reason to slow down and keep moving up and shot take,
I didn't play much this week, and overall, the rest of the week was kinda mess, just doing whatever (partying / hanging out with friends) I want, but that's enough of that, back on the grind.
I did get into couple clubs on the app games, played around 2-3K hands of 100NL, broke even but down around 3 BI in EV.
Was pretty happy with the level of play there, almost every table has at least one big whale and the rest are **** regs, kinda similar to live regs, so I am sure my win rate there is off the roof.
The only downside is that most of these games run at such a **** time for me, the tables really fill up at ~10-11PM and run until ~6AM... I will need to see how my days are gonna look as I work out a lot and I need a good sleeping routine, probably just gonna keep playing on GG in the mornings and play on the apps until 2AM.


Goals this week:

1) Played ~6K/20K hands (including the app games)

2) Studied 3/7 hours

3) Meditate 2/7 days

4) Worked out 3/4 times

5) I actually started running again, but currently I am only allowed to on the treadmill for short periods, so no point keeping track of it.



Results for this week (GG only, Including the jackpot):



Total Results (GG Only):
Money won/loss from the tables: -40.43$
Rakeback (Including Jackpot): 3369.46$
Total won/loss: +3329.03$

*Results for the app games will be uploaded once every two weeks, as I get rakeback and rebate every two weeks.

Let's focus up and keep going, GL guys

Another sub-optimal week,
Volume wasn't half of what I expected from myself, motivation was just a bit low and I spent a lot of time playing league...
I feel I am much more results driven then I was, so I set myself a challenge;
I will be posting results again in two weeks (next time I get rakeback/pay rebate on the apps), until then I will not check my results, both for GG and app games.
Will be playing almost only 100NL (60NL only if there are no 4 tables of 100 running).
I will check the results only if I feel I am down at least 1000$.
Goal is at least 20K hands in these 2 weeks (more is a bit unrealistic as I see 200 hands/hour max on the app games).


Goals this week:

1) Played ~4K/20K hands (mostly app games, only one session on GG)

2) Studied ~ 6 /7 hours

3) Meditate 24/7 days

4) Worked out 5/4 times



I thought if there is a point of sharing results for GG this week as I played only 2 1-hour sessions, but I shared every hand so far so I figured let's continue:



Total Results (GG Only):
Money won/loss from the tables: -124.12$
Rakeback: 6.46$
Total won/loss: -117.66$

Results graph for the app games are not accurate, as hands from anonymous tables are not imported to HM3 (which are about 20% of the volume).Graph for regular tables only:



Total results app games (Accurate, including anonymous tables):Money won/loss from the tables: +230.86$
Rakeback: +89.14$Rebate: -44.70$
Total won/loss: +275.30$


see y'all in two weeks! good luck