Pretty solid read. I'm very even keeled both in life and with poker, I'm also hyper competitive (which a lot of people find surprising) I just deal with losing pretty well.

This actually stems to where I was a kid where I apparently was a huge sore loser, but then my mother threatened to stop playing games with me if I cried or whined after I lost

Yeah so will usually mutter "this guy is so f****** clueless" be frustrated for 5-10 seconds and then be fine where it's not really an impediment to my game. Overall, my mental game could be a lot better, but I have a good baseline in general due to my temperament (never too high, never too low)

I think you mentioned somewhere in your thread that nowadays 3b range from blinds vs BTN is getting more linear.

I's using purely linear 3b range from SB. But for BB, I'm still using polarized range(adding small scs as 3b bluffs).

I see snowie using small PP, TT+, strong Broadways and almost all Axs but no scs as BB vs BTN. What is your opinion of this type linear 3b range from bb vs btn compared to polarized range

Not so black and white. If they fold a lot to 3b you should have a ton of trash. If they call a lot of 3b a more value heavy, linear range is appropriate. Also consider their rfi. Better to think logically and situationally than rely on 3b range x in spot y

I would definitely be 3 betting some scs BB vs BU and probably nix the low pp's (EV of calling much better than 3betting imo, unless given drastic reads)


I agree with most of this. I think everyone should always have a set range in spots IMO and then deviate from it based on opponents. Don't really agree with 3betting trash unless villain is literally folding 80% to 3bet. I find regs put themselves in a world of hurt when they just decide to 3b 86o BU vs CO because someone folds 55% over a 20 hand sample in that spot. It's a spot I see often where regs don't do a good job of exploiting other regs/ fish etc.

If they fold a lot to 3b's we make our sizings smaller and with a wider range, if they never fold to our 3b's we go bigger and widen our value range. Looking at RFI def good as well as fold to flop and turn cbets



------------------------------------

Back from the Bahamas, much needed rest, although I'm fighting a cold. I am ready to finish the year strong and kick off 2018 with a bang.

Also, in the spirit of Holiday Giving think it's imperative people give to the less fortunate and to causes they are passionate about.

http://toysforkidscharity.com/ is a charity that gives 100% of its proceeds back to kids, including those in Children's hospitals. They are taking donations til tonight and every little bit helps.

I'm also donating some money tonight to the Marfan Foundation as my girlfriend has it, so any money given to that cause would be forever grateful on my end!

Hope any of you that read this donate to any kind of charity that has made an impact on you/ helped the less fortunate/ or is something you're passionate about.


Happy Holidays to everybody

December Results




I'm relatively happy with the results since I lost quite a bit in the higher games although I'm not too happy with how I've been playing, leaving way too much money on the table.

On the other side of the coin, I dealt with a bad cold through 75% of my volume and I still managed to win at 5 EVbb so going to try to look at it with a positive perspective.


Outside Poker

Went on a 4 day vacation to Atlantis in the Bahamas to celebrate my one year anniversary with my girlfriend.

Highlights:

1. Ran into Kobe Bryant in line for one of the water slides
2. Had one of the best meals ever at Nobu

Lowlights:

Lost 2k playing $10 a bet BJ for some extreme variance...we had fun though!

Outside of that, I turned 25 a few days ago...RIP to my early twenties, and I celebrated my 2 year anniversary of turning professional. Obviously best decision I've ever made.



Yearly Review

Tomorrow. Have lots to discuss

That's dope and I'm crazy jealous! Did you talk to him?



Since it's never a bad time to post this, here's the (imo) GOAT Kobe moment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUdLLdR8Pow

I couldn't believe it tbh. We were at the top of the slide when an employee brings up a family of 2 teenage girls and a guy who looked just like Kobe Bryant (he had a bit of a dad bod tbh but hey retirement) but I'm 6'3 so after looking it was very noticeable it was Kobe, I was silently freaking out but didn't feel like the appropriate place to get his attention, I did see him walking around the park later on.

Also fantastic clip, pretty much sums up his mentality.

Anyway, writing yearly review now

Yearly Review, Recap, Musings, and What's Ahead for 2018

Wow, what a year! 2017 was a great year for me, both poker wise and personally.

In early January, I was close to 20k in debt and only was rolled for 200 NL, I was horrible at poker and was veryyy financially stressed living in one of the most expensive cities in NJ. I was still confident that I'd find a way to make poker work but there were inklings of desperation starting to set in. I knew I had a lot of potential with this game I just hadn't put it all together.

Thankfully, I chose right in of the most difficult decisions I've had to make. I ended up accepting a CFP deal with Bluff the Spot where I'd be splitting profits for the rest of 2017 despite being in pretty desperate need of some money. I ended up getting a dog walking job for the first month of January just to cover my ass. Overall, it was an extremely humbling experience.

Flash forward to now, I have $0 in debt, I've started taking shots for HSNL and have been beating MSNL for a decent rate. All in all, feeling very blessed and content but not satisfied.

Let's take a look at some 2017 goals.


Yearly Results

BB



$




Stake Breakdown (Note: My PT has been bugging on all my Omaha hands so they're excluded)




Musings and Other Thoughts

I'm not sure how to really start this section so it will mostly entail just a ton of rambling. I think part of my success is that every decision I've made is about improving and getting better. I think if you do that the money will come. I probably lost a ton of money in EV in playing good regs HU (I even played some at the time when I knew they were better) and not doing any table selection 500NL and below but gained future EV by getting better.

-If you want to crush in Poker you have to be able to beat regs, I want to slap the people who say you're only getting money from the fishes. Edges on regs can still be massive

-I have the best job in the world.

-I only worked 27 hours a week this year. But when I worked, I worked. No distractions during studying, and it was very active.

-I'm still obsessed with poker and still very passionate about this game. I think about poker all the time (when I zone out I'm often thinking of hands)

-I think I have 5-7 years left of playing full time, I want to make the most of it

-I've had good experiences with almost every reg, people have been kind and helpful when I've started out even when I played in the same games. I've also never been scammed etc.

-Bumhunting is a problem in my pool, I mean I myself bumhunt 5k. I'm not really mad as it is what it is. It also often leads to regs who are not great playing big games which leads to a bigger advantage for me. At the same time, it's almost like why should I start a game when a player is just gonna swoop in as soon as someone sits me

-Having capital is so important in poker, once I got consistently rolled in those bigger games I was able to win at a much higher hourly ($duh)


2018 Goals


1.) Be the best 6 max player in my pool. It's a subjective goal, but it's something I feel I can be honest with myself about. I still have a ways to go.

2.) Earn $250,000

3.) Play 600,000 hands of Online Poker

4.)Play 400 hours of Live Poker

5.) Learn PLO

I have a ton of other goals but decided to keep those separate from this blog.

I'm entering Year 3 of Poker if I could classify each year

1.) Survival
2.) Ascencion
3.) Domination

I'm looking to manage my time much more effectively, continue to work hard on my game and hopefully crush for 2018.

Hope everyone has a great New Years and Drive safe!

Brilliant stuff mate, awesome to see someone come up and crush the online games in 2017. Quite the impressive feat indeed! Look forward to 12 months down the line, will be sweating the quarter milly grind. Vamoo!!!

Good stuff man, gl this year!

Damn, wp BB.

you got this!

Sick year JP. Good luck with 2018 bud!

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Lol I completely agree w these classifications. Impressive results, wp

Fun read. GL in 2018!

Thanks man Excited to read about your progression into 5/10

Thank you man

Thanks bud, didn't stop you from putting me into the red to start 2018

Thanks man, and congrats on a great year as well

Kinda rolls off the tongue right? Hoping I can live upto it and thanks boss, GL to you in 2018 as well

Thank you for following along!


------------------------------------------------

A big challenge this year for me is going to be time management. Unlike previous years, I have other important priorities besides poker that are important to me. Namely a girlfriend I live with and a pup (who I'm in love with)

To combat this I started working on changing up my schedule to hopefully be more productive and have less wasteful hours. I started the 28th and just hoping to continue with this til it's a habit.


Schedule is looking like this:

9 AM: Wake up, get my bearings, make breakfast, brush teeth etc

9:40AM: Go to the gym

11:30AM: Meditate

11:45AM: Review some hands from previous nights, work on topic of review for that week.

.....

And that's it. Having a full day scheduled and organized is just too structured for me. I'm hoping that doing this in the morning gets me on a productive foot for the rest of the day, so far it's been working well, although getting up at 9 am sucks (poker player probs)

I'm also setting weekly volume goals instead of doing daily ones which I used to do.

I'm also having trouble going to bed at night, as I really want to snooze after I'm done playing my night session, but haven't been able to sleep til 3ish which leads to only 6 hours of sleep. Anybody with sleeping tips?

Top 2 are exercise and camomile tea ainec. Exercise gives your body a reason to want to rest. Camomile is natural sleep aid that works.

Also no screen activity 1 hr before bed. (No poker, no tv, etc). I know that's impossible to 95% of people in 2018 but yea.

Thanks for the advice, I do exercise in the morning but haven't tried tea so will give that a go tonight, yeah looking at my phone too much before bed is probably not ideal either. Games can run quite late so unfortunately not much I can do about screen activity before bed

I take melatonin.

Gratz on great year, beast!

Much of GL for 2k18, in.

I am extremely wired in grinding periods and after 10-15k hand days your head is just cards allover the place, and I obviously always end up dreaming about the hands too!

I don't struggle falling asleep though as long as I have a somewhat steady sleeping pattern (2-3 hours deviation doesn't matter). And I almost always just quit my grind, leave the computer straight away and go to bed. Put my phone on flight mode and read every night in bed. I use kindle with the lowest light settings I can read comfortably on, and otherwise dark room. Reading makes me super tired and relaxed straight away, but I usually try to read until I literally pass out with the book on top of me! (15-30min I guess). I think I got through about 40 books in 2017 even though I don't try reading fast, was too drunk to read half the nights, and only reading in bed. +EV IMO!

Yea wrt exercise its just really good to push your body to the point of "too far", thats how you sleep like a baby. Alot of folks get into a routine but your body adapts to routine so its good to always push.

I know the screen thing is impossible, try 20 minutes first lol.

I'm a huge sleep fish but GABA supplements can definitely help. Obv exercise is very +EV too, avoiding caffeine etc.

I think its good to have a cool off just like a pre session warm up. I do similar to what Avarita suggests. An hour before bed no pc just a large mug of camomile tea on the couch. Otherwise its hard to shut off your brain some nights.

Definitely willing to try anything


Thanks for the support man. Yeah, I really like the reading component you brought up. I used to be an avid reader but once college started I really have not read much.

May have to try this, that instead of watching a netflix episode I read a book.


Yeah and I think that's something I've struggled with as far as the gym, as far as having super intense workouts. Actually deadlifted for the first time in ages today so hopefully get back to being in great shape!

I also tried the tea idea and it worked quite well, I was out in about 20 minutes, so gonna keep going forward with this.

Yeah if it ever got too bad I'd look into supplements, yeah trying hard to just drink a lot of water

Yeah agreed, I also web surf a little too long after my sessions where I need to just get up and leave


-----------------------------------
Random Stuff

-I'm off to a decent start this month though I'm running wellll above EV, although I got KK<AA in one of my last hands at 5/10 last night

-An important goal of mine was to start building up a portfolio and begin investing. I did make a little off crypto last year although nothing groundbreaking like a few of you. I put in about 5k yday in various stocks, silver, and btc (not planning to hold).

-I've been doing a ton of reading on various alt coins, super, super interesting stuff. I'm definitely a crypto fish but obviously want to get a good understanding before I put money in

-Got a very strong desire to play live poker recently. Unfortunately with a puppy I think I'll have to wait til the spring poker open or WSOP this year.

Do you use a belt when you deadlift? Research is mixed on whether or not it actually prevents injury, but I've found it helpful at improving my lifts and I do feel more stability with it on.


Squelch that desire. I checked with the highest authorities and they confirmed that (10 handed) live poker is the ****ing worst.