Greetings, everyone.

My name is Atvars, I am 24 years old, and I come from Latvia. I play 6max NLHE, NL100/NL200, and I must confess that I'm occasionally guilty of being a spew-monkey. It's because I so desperately want to be the best that I lose control and bet those chips where they should never belong. Clearly, I haven't been so successful if I'm still stuck in low-stakes after roughly 4 years of serious trying. Now it's become clear to me that my poker career will go nowhere, if I don't give it some extra push, and it's a conclusion that I should have made a long long time ago. For this very reason, I'm participating in the coaching for profits program of BPC, as well as writing this blog in order to track my progress, motivate myself, and if it just so happens, perhaps even motivate others to give their best at doing their job and following their passion. I may experience some harder times while doing this, and it's fine with me – the more I fall, the more I will have to learn how to stand up again, and it's the act of training oneself that is going to turn me into the best version of me.

Anyone who's read thus far deserves to know the future contents of this blog. It's for you to know whether this can be of any use to you, and for me to start my transformation by organising everything I do as well as possible, this blog included, even if there may be a slight danger of it turning me into a robotic freak, lol. While it's not set in stone, this is what you'll mostly get:

Several general updates per week about how I'm doing and where I'm at in my career;
Some homework assignments that I'll post;
Interesting hands that I cannot resist posting for the public to see;
Graphs, graphs, and some more graphs, because everybody loves them;
Random thoughts on poker

I'm still getting ready for everything. And I may be clumsy in the beginning. But I'll make sure it becomes history soon. So await new updates shortly.

This blog is a story about how much I can do when I push myself to the limits. It's a story about the best I've got.

PS. To spice things up, here’s my youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQB...ed_help_flow=3

Expect the first vlog post soon.

Gl

Sent from my SM-N910F using 2+2 Forums

gl gl

OK. I’m finally ready to start this all for real. Let this be known as the beginning of my super awesome profesionally profesional poker career.

There are quite a few things I’ve done as part of my preparation for this. But perhaps the best decision I’ve made thus far will be most precisely reflected in the following two pictures:

Before:



After:



How on Earth have I been able to play for 4 years staring at this ridiculously undersized screen?? I wish I could go back in time and bitchslap the **** out of myself for not having bought those two sexy monitors much much earlier, the same goes for the PC. Best money spent in my life. Thus far. And a great thing to start with.

Anyway, I should, obviously, let you all know where I’m currently at in my poker adventures.
Thank god for poker graphs, for there is nothing better in life. NOTHING.

NL100. 7.27/100 bb



NL200 -1.51/100 bb



Apparently, I should probably stop bragging to everyone about how I’m playing NL200 and how much money it is etc. etc. Interestingly enough, I didn’t even notice this before starting this blog. I will have to make a decision on whether to cut NL200 out of my repertoire completely for now, or whether to keep pushing towards the profits. At least my NL100 performance seems solid. Very solid indeed! But nowhere near as solid as it could have been. At the end of this, I’d really like to find myself playing midstakes, perhaps even some carefully selected high stakes tables.

The 60 000 euro challenge.

To make this ever so more interesting, I’m going for a 60 000 euro challenge. Deadline: 1 year starting from now. If I make it, I’m super happy, and if I lose, I kind of don’t care but I’m still sad and may drink a bottle of vodka or two for the perfect fix.
I’ll really work my ass off studying and playing long periods of time to make it. Which means very little free time for me for the duration of this challenge. Gotta work hard if you want to make it. Consider this day 1 of the challenge.

But enough talking for one day. Today is Friday, and as you all know, we never lose on Fridays. So let’s not be lazy and just go for the grind. Who knows, perhaps we’ll meet?

In.

I know how the lap top thing is... I'm on one right now..

I can tell ya – you don't wanna be the 8-tabling laptop guy I was. All the missclicks and board misreads. I swear to god, if I ever confuse A4 with AA again and ship it pre, I will break my keyboard.

Days 1 – 5

I’m slowly getting accustomed to my new routine and the fact that I have to sleep 6 hours each night to keep up with my schedule. It never occurred to me that I’m actually very ineffective at just about anything I do. I keep spending too much time on stuff that could be done twice as fast. Will have to work on that, because I’d really like to have some free time left each day after having studied and played for the whole day. Oh, my 8 hours of sleep, when will I ever see you again?

Had my first real coaching session yesterday and got my mind blown. I really feel like I can make it now and get those 60k in 1 year just in time. My results for these 5 days almost beg to differ, though:



The perfect start!

I played fine but not too great in the first few days. Still can’t get away from my old spewtard style but that will change. There’s one rule that I officially set for myself starting from now: no overbets vs regs until I’m really ready for it.

Here's the reason why:

BTN: $74.55 - VPIP: 50, PFR: 0, 3B: 0, AF: 0,0, Hands: 4
SB: $200.00 - VPIP: 33, PFR: 25, 3B: 16, AF: 0,9, Hands: 123
Hero (BB): $165.72 - VPIP: 30, PFR: 23, 3B: 9, AF: 4,4, Hands: 29051
UTG: $207.27 - VPIP: 26, PFR: 18, 3B: 10, AF: 1,9, Hands: 420
CO: $197.00 - VPIP: 28, PFR: 22, 3B: 8, AF: 2,5, Hands: 784

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with T K
3 folds, SB raises to $6, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($12.00) Q 4 J (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $9.00, SB calls $9

Turn: ($30.00) 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $22.50, SB calls $22.50

River: ($75.00) 6 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $128.22, SB calls $128.22

Final Pot: $331.44
SB shows 9 9
Hero shows T K
SB wins $327.44

What can I say... why did I have to do this? On the other hand, wtf @ his call? Does not matter, no overbets from now on.

Will keep this updated. Gotta continue work or it’s gonna end up being 5 hours of sleep tonight.

Days 6-8

Yup, I’m on a pretty hardcore regime. Slept 3 hours yesterday. It still has not killed me, so I suppose I’m getting stronger? Well, I know I am. It’s been one week since I’ve started this and I already feel more secure and emotionally stable at the tables. My play has also improved and I’m really looking forward to improving it much much more. Reaching midstakes during this year seems more and more possible.

The results are getting better as well:



They say that all that matters is the green line. And I know they’re right. But no matter what you tell me, having a positive red line is the coolest achievement in poker ever. And it IS important. All those graphs always look soooo cool. I should just filter out all non-showdown losses and just pretend for a little while that I too am part of the super-crushers club.

You gotta love it when fish don’t understand hand strength:

BB: $301.75 - VPIP: 25, PFR: 18, 3B: 7, AF: 2.7, Hands: 61759
UTG: $43.00 - VPIP: 22, PFR: 17, 3B: 9, AF: 2.5, Hands: 3125
MP: $210.00 - VPIP: 24, PFR: 12, 3B: 5, AF: 1.4, Hands: 635
CO: $264.80 - VPIP: 21, PFR: 17, 3B: 6, AF: 2.6, Hands: 11914
Hero (BTN): $204.50 - VPIP: 32, PFR: 25, 3B: 11, AF: 3.9, Hands: 374745
SB: $294.67 - VPIP: 52, PFR: 22, 3B: 5, AF: 2.3, Hands: 1544

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BTN with A 5
3 folds, Hero raises to $5, SB calls $4, 1 fold

Flop: ($12.00) 5 Q 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $9.00, SB raises to $18, Hero raises to $27, SB calls $9

Turn: ($66.00) 3 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $40.00, SB raises to $80, Hero calls $40

River: ($226.00) 6 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $20.00, SB raises to $40, Hero calls $20

Final Pot: $306.00
Hero shows A 5
SB shows 3 Q
Hero wins $303.00

April review

It’s most certainly time to reflect on how April went for me. Without much introduction, the results are as follows:

NL100 + 200:



NL100:



NL200:



Total hands played: 32825

One could say I’ve started out okish. But the results need to be much much better if I am to make those 60k in one years time. That’s alright though, I’m studying and playing so much that the results are bound to impove. Also, I started in the middle of the month, which makes May a very interesting month to come. First full month so first serious results to draw conclusions from.

I should really try to get more sleep though. I’m so slow at doing things that I had to sleep only 3 hours twice during these last two weeks to do everything on time. That, of course, sucks tremendously.

Will soon make a video on how I feel about regs treating fish at the tables. Stay updated.

Also, gotta love it when regs make silly mistakes against you:

SB: $103.35 (103.4 bb)
Hero (BB): $103.71 (103.7 bb)
CO: $124.17 (124.2 bb)
BTN: $107.88 (107.9 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with J Q
CO folds, BTN raises to $2, SB folds, Hero raises to $8, BTN raises to $17.50, Hero calls $9.50

Flop: ($35.50) 7 T J (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($35.50) J (2 players)
Hero bets $20, BTN calls $20

River: ($75.50) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $66.21 and is all-in, BTN calls $66.21

[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

Here's the promised youtube vlog:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxFDRxLcw8w

Down 15 BI currently this month. Not such a great start after all! Other than that, feeling quite good about my game. Have improved a lot and am willing to turn this month around no matter what.

I’m on a 100k hands challenge this month as well. Gotta grind as much as I’ve never done before. Not sure but I think I’ve never played more than 60k hands in one month. This will be my record volume month. All regular tables. Excited! No graph this time because losing graphs look too ugly and I’m all about aesthetics

First week of May

On a bit of a downswing at the moment:



Down almost 15 buyins. What a great start! Interestingly enough, I feel like as if this week I played as well as never before. I did get coolered and sucked out on a lot. Then again, some bad plays are involved as well. Another small reason may be that I'm horrible at not misreading boards or hands. Not 5betpushing A4 COvsMP would certainly help my game if I were able to figure out that A4 only looks like AA, and actually isn't.

Or such easy board misreads as these:

The next level super ultra thin valuebet:

SB: $125.40 (125.4 bb)
BB: $178.04 (178 bb)
Hero (MP): $101.50 (101.5 bb)
CO: $195.08 (195.1 bb)
BTN: $115.20 (115.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with K 7
Hero raises to $2.50, CO calls $2.50, 2 folds, BB calls $1.50

Flop: ($8) 3 5 A (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $6, CO calls $6, BB folds

Turn: ($20) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $16, CO calls $16

River: ($52) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $36, CO calls $36

[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

And who could forget the unexpectedly well disguised river check/raise bluff vs a fish:

Hero (SB): $195 (195 bb)
BB: $100 (100 bb)
BTN: $92.94 (92.9 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6 5
BTN folds, Hero raises to $2, BB calls $1

Flop: ($4) Q 8 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $3, BB raises to $8.75, Hero calls $5.75

Turn: ($21.50) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $14.25, Hero calls $14.25

River: ($50) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $33, Hero raises to $170 and is all-in, BB folds



For my defense, I can say that it took me only 5 seconds after that river ch/raise to realise that I actually didn't hit a straight on the river.

As for the run bad, here's a little more about how my downswing has been:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftgNCe_NBgA

Right, the results are slowly coming back:



But still not good enough. I am also getting more and more concerned about my chances of moving up to NL400 anytime soon. The more I study the clearer it is to me that poker is no playground and that dealing with competent regs is not that easy at all. Will have to do a lot of work before I’m even ready to consider taking those NL400 shots.

Total hands played this month: 30601
That means it will take plenty of 12 hour sessions this month to make it to 100k. Quite the zombie-grind. Have to get back to the tables ASAP

Middle of the month report



An interesting week in many regards. First of all, the results have overall been not so great given the volume I’ve put in. While I was extremely unlucky I also realised that there are still quite a lot of situations that I still don’t feel 100% confident about, some very simple situations included. A practical realisation, I would say. Nonetheless, I’m officially out of the negative profit zone for the time being. Largely thanks to the sickest day in my poker carreer yet:



Finally set up a new record for biggest winning day! Was waiting something like a year for that. Surely that must be an indicator that I’m doing ok. Roughly 12-13 hours of play. From 8-12 tables.

One thing I don’t understand though is this:

NL200



NL100



I mean, I don’t mind, but it’s just weird will mbe have to play NL200 + NL50 only. Because apparently I can’t beat NL100 anymore.

Total hands played so far in May: 51046

Having just discovered the ability to play 12 tables if necessary is what will allow me to reach those 100k hands this month. Gotta say though, feeling quite braindead.

Gotta hit the tables again now. Take care!

Results in May thus far:



A boringly breakeven month so far. Only rakeback comes to some rescue. At least the month rocks in terms of how much I’ve learned and how much I’ve progressed not only as a player but also as a person. At least I like to think that way. It’s crazy to look back at myself ~ 2 months ago and to understand how doomed my poker future would likely have been, had I not joined the program. I was so often essentially playing next to randomly with unjustifiable excuses in so many spots. Great to be on the right track, that I can say for sure.

Total hands played this month: 60312

Either way, breakeven or not, some cool hands still appear every once in a while:

Hero (SB): $595.29 (297.6 bb)
BB: $201.67 (100.8 bb)
CO: $502.42 (251.2 bb)
BTN: $401.10 (200.6 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 3 A
CO folds, BTN raises to $4, Hero raises to $16, BB folds, BTN calls $12

Flop: ($34) J 4 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $26, BTN calls $26

Turn: ($86) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $65, BTN calls $65

River: ($216) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $488.29 and is all-in, BTN calls $294.10 and is all-in

[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

Week #3 of May

Total results for May:



Hands played this month: 81504

Gotta say, for the highest volume month ever, the results are still quite modest to my taste. Even if you add rakeback. But that matters little for there are still many more months to come and I do feel quite happy about how I’m playing now. There are still those days though when I question my plays more than I typically do. But that will be history soon enough. I’ve got roughly 6 days to put in ~19k hands and perhaps even earn myself a free day. That would be pretty swell because I kind of haven’t left the house for such a looong time. Not sure I will be able to survive outside anymore, lol.

What helps is this so far motivating NL200 graph:



NL100 still remains a mistery for me, as it looks just purely ugly. Too ugly for me to share.

Before I end this update, there’s just this one hand I desperately need to share.

Some fish just have way too much spare money:

SB: $104.70 (104.7 bb)
BB: $100 (100 bb)
MP: $245.29 (245.3 bb)
Hero (CO): $157.87 (157.9 bb)
BTN: $174.44 (174.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with J 9
MP folds, Hero raises to $2.50, BTN raises to $4, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($9.50) 6 3 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $4.80, Hero raises to $22, BTN calls $17.20

Turn: ($53.50) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $42, BTN calls $42

River: ($137.50) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $89.87 and is all-in, BTN calls $89.87

Results:[spoiler] $317.24 pot ($3 rake)
Final Board: 6 3 2 7 9
Hero showed J 9 and won $314.24 ($156.37 net)
BTN showed Q A and lost (-$157.87 net)
[/spoiler]

New record day!



Two records broken in one month. I did in 1.5 months of CFP more than I could in a year on my own. The hard work is starting to pay off. And the pay off is nice. Looks also like a potential record month after rakeback. Will see about that.

A huge contrast to all the stop-losses I hit this month. Gotta say, I feel awesome though for having improved so much in such a short time frame. Let's hope this is not just a sick run-good, but then again, I still consider the results very modest considering the large volume I put in this month. Anyways, future will tell how well I'm actually doing or not.

So far May looks like this:



7.3k more hands to go and the 100k hand mark will be reached. Maybe, just maybe I will earn a free day finally. At least unless I hit my beloved stop loss limit again. Sometimes I still miss the good old "the sky is the limit" -15BI days with the addicted gambler kind of a never ending hope of "I know I can get it back". Those were the times.

So great that the month ends with the weekend. Best profit days = an awesome end to a spectacular month.

When I set that record yesterday, I had no dreams whatsoever of coming anywhere close to reaching it again anytime soon. ~700$ more today and I would have succeeded right on the next day. I'm not sure I can fully grasp what is happening right now for the results of yesterday and today look like this:



In the last two days I have made more than I ever did in a whole month. I still have roughly 2k hands left to play this month. Will likely just do it tomorrow and then will check what this month looks like in the big picture. Month report incoming soon.

May report

Time to reflect on the sickest month yet.

Total results in May:



Total results since CFP:



For the highest volume month ever the results could have been better but then again, 100k hands is an achievement on its own for me personally so regardless of anything, this is and remains my highest winning month in which I managed to break my previous highest winnings day twice.

Ran like **** in the beginning and ran like god in the end. I don't know why, but whenever I run bad I feel bad because it feels unfair and whenever I run good I feel bad because I don't like to attribute my results to pure luck. Major mindset issues, I'd say

This is what my results look like when viewed separately according to the stakes:

NL100 since CFP



NL200 since CFP



Gotta love those NL200 results!

Total hands played in May: 101476

Was pretty tough getting in the volume in the end. This experience will be very useful for it's gonna be 110k hands this month. Looking forward to probably dying sometime in the middle of June.

Approximate winnings after rakeback this month: 10 000$+

Total progress: EUR 12 775 / 60 000

Off to the tables now for there's big grind in front of me.

Subbed, gl and wp for May!

Thanks, PandaLife!

June, Week #1

Not a bad start this month:



Hands played: 26 306

A bit tough to grind 110k hands right after having played 100k for the first time right in the previous month. Essentially had just a half day of rest on the 31st of May and that’s it – off to the tables again. Go hard or go home I guess. Then again, I pretty much have not left my flat for something like 3 weeks straight except for a minor party and once to get some groceries. So I’m both going hard and I’m home at the same time..

One could likely notice my inability to form sensible sentences lately.

I also have difficulty falling asleep because whenever I go to bed all I can think about is poker, CFP, BPC stuff, and some more poker. Having said that, I am getting stronger poker-wise with each coming day and could not imagine a faster way to improve than this. I suppose that “gain some, lose some” would be an appropriate expression for describing my everyday adventures.

Anyways, due to several reasons, I’ve set myself a new goal:

I have to reach the 60k mark by the end of August.

Current status: EUR 13 951 / 60 000

Which means I have a little less than 3 months left to make 46 000 euro. It’s not gonna be easy but should be doable. I will talk to my coach soon about finally trying out that NL400 and that may just do the trick.

Wish me good luck! I can study all I want but at the end of the day: better lucky than good!

In order to make the 60k til the end of August I may likely need to include NL400 and hope that it goes well for me there. I asked my coach about moving up and there's one condition under which I will be allowed to start that NL400 action. And I essentially have a new goal this month:

Earn 20 000$.

Ambitious but realistic as long as I keep up the good performance. Will let you know soon how my results look like at the moment, Stay updated.

June, Week #2

Not bad:



Also compares pretty well to my results before I started the program:



But still not good enough if I am to make 20k in June. Had a few peak-performance days where I really noticed strong improvements. But did play somewhat horribly today in comparison. Hit stop loss as a result. Gotta say, some days the spots are also easier. Which makes it easier to get peak-performance days as well for that matter. Nonetheless, the kind of mistakes that I made today have made me more aware of what kind of plays I should avoid making. Which is a good result in the end.

I foresee this turning out to be an exciting month in terms of me reaching my goal. Next week is of particular importance. So I better step up my game.

Total hands played: 52 343
Rough estimate of winnings after rakeback: 8 500$

A quick update on my progress:



Hit a bit of a downswing but have managed to get back on track. Truth be told, mistakes were involved, as were some misclicks and board/hand misreads. Also had some mindset issues with overconfidence after having won so much in such a short time frame. Good to see how that can affect my game negatively and it's definitely something I will be able to look out for in future now that I've felt its dangers. But it's still something I just cannot afford if I am to make those 20 000$ this month. I've got only 11 days left to make 10k so I will need a bit of luck as well as a super focused mind. Let's hope I nail it.

Current approximate winnings after rakeback: 10 000$
Hands played: 72593