Played another sesh this morning: 1 table 50NL, 2 tables 25NL. Won a BI at 25NL and .5 at 50NL.

IRT changing my game in order to win here's what I will do:

1) Stick to 3 tables. I'm not a 4 tabling, 10bb/100 winning beast at 1KNL. I don't have just about every decision mapped out prior to playing so I can pretty much autopilot and print stacks. I'm a rec player working on my game. I enjoy playing more when I stick to 3 tables because it's a pace at which I can follow the action. I can play off players' tendencies and it doesn't matter as much if DH is working or not. When I 4 table it seems almost every session I make some pretty big mistakes. There's misclicks; timeouts; and FPS in which I spew stacks. There's a phrase that comes to mind that I think applies to how I play 4 tables: "phoning it in." I'm not giving decisions enough effort; I'm clicking buttons.

2) Play as much as I can on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's definitely more fun when there's more fun players at the tables. I'm sick of sitting at a 50NL rake-trap table on a Tuesday night w/5 regs and a tendency to tilt from boredom, weak executive function, and/or unmet expectations. I will spend more time on the other days of the week taking care of the rest of life and studying.

3) Read and post in Micro-Small Stakes. This is an act of humility. My game is not that good and merely posting hands in my thread isn't as beneficial as posting them in MSS. There's so many aspects of a hand that I am not going to think of. In both poker and life it's important to ask for help.

4) Work w/my coach. This is also an act of humility and asking for help. We've only spent about 2 hours and some texts working together so far, but it's already helping me see the game better. Both working w/my coach and participating in MSS speed up the learning process.

Week 9 Report:

Hands Played: 3449

-494

BR: 1157

[] Be at work 15 min prior to report time every shift

[X] Bike to-and-from and/or run 3-4mi a total of 4 times for the week

[] Do CoreWorkout1(CW1) x 2 and CW2 x 2


It was a pretty rough week. Was down 11 BI's at one point on Saturday I think. Started playing a mix of 25NL and 50NL on Sunday. Did meet my cardio goal. Also had a great coaching session w/ ohsnapzbrah. Was hesitant to name my coach as I don't want them to look bad if I continue to fail at poker. But I don't think I will fail and even if I do I think it will be on me and not my coach. Been really impressed w/his thoroughness and work ethic so far.

So for the week my coach suggested to stick to 25NL. I will mostly stick to 25NL. Fired up some tables this morning and accidentally fired up 50NL tables initially. Ended up sticking w/one 50NL and played 3 25NL. I know this is also out of line w/the "play only 3 tables" guideline in my previous post. Anyway, the 1.25 hour sesh went great at the 25NL tables and felt tit-for-tat at the 50NL. I like that 50NL is this challenge that I want to overcome despite not beating it so far. 25NL just seems so different. Maybe I've just been running great at 25NL so far.

Otherwise, my coach assigned me homework involving coming up w/set opening ranges from UTG, HJ and so forth. Having this will help me avoid tilt play(should I really be opening xx (junk) pre UTG?) and also help me range Villains.

Week 10 Goals:

[] Be at work 15 min prior to report time every shift

[] Bike to-and-from and/or run 3-4mi a total of 4 times for the week

[] Do CoreWorkout1(CW1) x 2 and CW2 x 2

[] Memorize set opening ranges from UTG and HJ

[] Try out breaks after every 55 min of play at least 2 sessions

[] Create 2 new threads in micros

[] Post in 2 other threads in micros

Week 10 Report:

Hands Played: 2547

-2

BR: 1155

[] Be at work 15 min prior to report time every shift

[X] Bike to-and-from and/or run 3-4mi a total of 4 times for the week

[] Do CoreWorkout1(CW1) x 2 and CW2 x 2

[] Memorize set opening ranges from UTG and HJ

[] Try out breaks after every 55 min of play at least 2 sessions

[X] Create 2 new threads in micros

[] Post in 2 other threads in micros

Played mostly 25NL which felt great. Think I won some at 25NL and lost some at 50NL.

Was a bit of a rough week outside of poker and thus it's understandable that I didn't hit more of my goals. Had parent-teacher conference on Monday. Our 4 year old daughter is doing great academically it appears. I work on reading and math w/her at home. She seems to have good enough social skills, but she's been stuck on the same couple of friends at school and she doesn't always get along w/them. In recent weeks there's been a lot of pouting at school. She's an only child and so doesn't get the same amount of exposure to kids that children w/siblings do. Anyway, I took it to heart--parenting (believe it or not) is actually more important to me than poker.

Aside from the aforementioned concern involving parenting, gf got the flu and was bed ridden for a day and a half which meant a little extra responsibility fell on me. Then I got the flu, which made me pretty tired and kept me from playing.

10 weeks into this PG&C so far. The results have not been great. But I'm optimistic. If I continue to stay humble and ask for help from my coach, from the micros, and from wherever else and continue to stay hungry to get better then I think in the end I will reach my BR-to-play-live goal. I like how it seems like every time I post in Micro-Small Stakes or Poker Theory I learn something.

Btw, here's my results since starting playing again 11/1/17:

20K hands at 25NL: 12.24 ev bb/100

40K hands at 50NL: -.93 ev bb/100

Week 11 Goals:

[] Be at work 15 min prior to report time every shift

[] Bike to-and-from and/or run 3-4mi a total of 4 times for the week

[] Do CoreWorkout1(CW1) x 2

[] Create and do CoreWorkout2 x 2

[] Memorize set opening ranges from HJ; CO; BTN

[] Set a timer and take breaks every 55 min

[] Create 2 new threads in Micro-Small Stakes and/or Poker Theory

[] Post in 2 other threads in Micro-Small Stakes and/or Poker Theory

[] Play only during the following hours: Tuesday 10p-1a; Wednesday 12a-1a; Thursday 12a-1a; Friday 12a-3a; Saturday 12a-3a.

Had a great coaching session last night. Stoked about what I've been learning and eager to pick up where we left off next week. Definitely money well spent. Starting to feel much more confident about my game. (Going to stay humble tho. I won't ever "arrive" or be an end boss. At least that's the attitude I want to continue to hold onto.)

Otherwise, more of the usual goals mostly. The posting in Micros and PT has been fun and helpful to my game.

Going to continue on w/some structured play hours. Like these night time hours because they are distraction free and doing this makes sure that I have plenty of time outside of playing to get life's responsibilities and poker study done.

Setting the timer on my phone and taking a break every 55 min has been awesome so far. Will continue to try this out and see how it goes.

Continuing to memorize set opening ranges according to position is pretty much just the next step in my game development. It's almost laughable that I haven't done so already. It's not difficult--there's plenty pre-made ranges from authors and experts to use and/or tailor. I guess my coach got me thinking a little more about how the hands play post flop and a bit about how to think about adjustments to these opening ranges. Mostly just takes some doing tho to memorize them.

The Coreworkout1 I will do 2 sets of each exercise, 15 reps each. CW2 is a work in progress as I want to add in some new core exercises. CW1 takes a 25-30 min. CW2 should take about the same.

keep at your goals, gl.

^Thanks Elmo! Gonna keep at it!

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker Tracking Software

NL Holdem $0.25(BB)
CO ($22.62)
BTN ($24.65)
SB ($74.81)
HERO ($36.19)
HJ ($23.96)

Dealt to Hero Q Q

HJ Raises To $0.75 (Rem. Stack: 23.21), CO Folds, BTN Folds, SB Raises To $2.5 (Rem. Stack: 72.31), HERO Raises To $7 (Rem. Stack: 29.19), HJ Folds, SB Calls $4.5 (Rem. Stack: 67.81)

Flop ($14.75) 3 A T
SB Checks, HERO Bets $7.37 (Rem. Stack: 21.82), SB Calls $7.37 (Rem. Stack: 60.44)

Turn ($29.49) 3 A T 9
SB Checks, HERO Bets $21.82 (allin) (Rem. Stack: 0.00), SB Folds

HERO wins $28.02



Week 11 Report

Hands Played: 1491

+118

BR: 1273

[] Be at work 15 min prior to report time every shift

[X] Bike to-and-from and/or run 3-4mi a total of 4 times for the week

[X] Do CoreWorkout1(CW1) x 2

[X] Create and do CoreWorkout2 x 2

[X] Memorize set opening ranges from HJ; CO; BTN

[X] Set a timer and take breaks every 55 min

[X] Create 2 new threads in Micro-Small Stakes and/or Poker Theory

[X] Post in 2 other threads in Micro-Small Stakes and/or Poker Theory

[X] Play only during the following hours: Tuesday 10p-1a; Wednesday 12a-1a; Thursday 12a-1a; Friday 12a-3a; Saturday 12a-3a.

Pushed hard to meet my goals this week. Was actually on track to meet my "arrive 15 min prior" goal until today. So made it 4 out of the 5 days.

Actually ran a 3mi run on Tuesday and biked to-and-from all 5 days for a total of 6 days of cardio.

Did the CW1 and finished creating and did CW2. Found them both to be at least a little difficult. But I can feel the difference in trunk strength and that's exactly what I want from doing them. Will continue w/these in WK 12.

Pretty much memorized the set RFI ranges by position. Prob not w/o hesitation 100%, but happy enough w/it to give myself the "X".

I took breaks at the 55min mark except for 1 sesh in which I forgot to set the timer. I still remembered to take the break only ~10 min past the 55 min mark so I still give myself the "X" here.

Created 2 threads and I posted in at least 2 threads. This is helping my game and it's something I enjoy. I like looking at these threads during downtime at work.

I played only during the structured time. Sure I thought about playing outside that time, but stuck to it. The purpose of this is to separate play from the rest of life. I think sticking to this goal was key to hitting so many other goals.

Week 12 Goals:

[] Be at work 15 min prior to report time every shift

[] Bike to-and-from and/or run 3-4mi a total of 3 times for the week

[] Do CoreWorkout1(CW1) x 1-2

[] Do CoreWorkout2 x 1-2

[] Create and store set RFI from SB

[] Set a timer and take breaks every 55 min

[] Create 2 new threads in Micro-Small Stakes and/or Poker Theory

[] Post in 2 other threads in Micro-Small Stakes and/or Poker Theory

[] Play only during the following hours: Wed 10p-1a; Thur 10p-1a; Fri-Tue 12a-1a

[] Look up what V's had in 10 hands

Pretty late in the week to be setting goals. Was happy the way they went last week; glad to hit so many of them. A while back itt someone said "focus on how you feel not on whether you hit your goals" or something like that. To each their own. The thing about setting goals and actually hitting them is that it almost invariably means that I put forth that extra effort needed to get something done. When I don't hit them it means I did not put forth the effort (or they were the wrong goals to begin w/.) Last week I made them challenging enough, but not too much and it worked out the way I described in that they required some exertion, some effort to get them done. And it feels good; I feel a sense of accomplishment. I know they are not even much, but for me it works.

Arrived at work 15 min prior yesterday. So far so good here.

Bike/run: Dropped it down to 3 times instead of 4 tho bc late in the week and have not done anything yet. I helped GF find a used car to buy like a week and a half ago and she finally got that registered and is driving that instead of my car. Thus, I will likely drive to and from work a lot instead of bike. I will prob end up doing a lot more running to make up for it.

CoreWorkouts: Dropped to 1-2.

Gonna add that default SB range to my game.

Play longer than an hour then set that 55min timer.

Going to continue w/the 2 threads and 2 posts.

Came up w/some new set hours to play. Will talk more about this below.

I wan to get back into looking up what V's had. Switched from jotting down hands in my notebook as I played to simply tagging them in DH. Fell out of the habit of looking up what V's had w/the switch. Thus the goal here.

I start a new work schedule next week in which I will have Wed and Thu off instead of Mon and Tue. Prob slightly better days to play. Not sure if I want to go thru the trouble of switching my weeks to go Wed thru Tue. Will continue w/Mon thru Sun for now.

The set hours give me exactly 11 hours to play each week. I think I will try to hit as much of those hours as I can each week. I like playing at least an hour each day as it helps keep me thinking about poker everyday. It'll provide me w/hands that bug me that I will post, etc. I know it's not a lot of hours to play--doesn't give me a lot of flexibility. That's too bad. That's just the way it is tho.

My daughter will start 5K in the fall and have a full school day Mon thru Fri instead of the 3h Tue thru Fri she has now. I want to spend more time w/her now as after this we will spend less and less time together. Happy w/ a lot of my parenting so far, but want to up the reading and math and more this summer. Also I will prob enroll her in karate, dance, soccer or something like that. At times I've stayed up late playing poker and slept in later than I want to because of it. Also, I've been more tired than I want to be because of so much play. Thus, the importance of the set hours. This goes back to maintaining life balance. I think I will enjoy this set up and find that I feel good from the poker-life balance it provides. We'll see.

Subscribed to a training site a few days ago. Still not going to set timed study goals as I still study here and there when I can.

A few things:

== I notice that my actual BR is 165 less than the amounts logged in DH. I did play some 100NL when I was in degen mode a few months ago, but I thought I won more than I lost there. Anyway, a little annoying. I feel like I lost more at 50NL than is tracked, but I really don't know what the real breakdown is there.

== I will probably set some sort of goal to stick solely to 25NL for a while as it's been the same old pattern at 50NL. I sit at a table that seems pretty reggish; I get frustrated; I play poorly. My game is just not there yet. Gonna keep working on it and maybe one day. I remember I was really hesitant to start playing 50NL in the first place. 25NL was going really well and I wanted to keep having fun and winning and was afraid of 50NL. But at that point my BR was around 1500 or the 30BI mark and I pushed myself to move up. 40k 50NL hands later and a smaller BR and here I am admitting once again that my game is just not there yet.

== I might actually give myself 1 hour of play on Fri, Sat, Sun midday. The games are usually good and especially on Friday's I have distraction-free time. This way I'd feel more comfortable skipping some of the night time play if I felt too tired. I'd still like to avg 2500 hands per/wk, which I think is about 11 hours of play.

Good job on your part to remain realistic with regard to your game/abilities atm. I've been enjoying the updates. Best of luck to you on the grind!

^Thanks!

Decided to have my weeks run Wed thru Tuesday to be in line w/my days off. I will give an update for the last week and 2 days tonight or tomorrow morning. Didn't do so well w/reaching my goals as I got distracted by some work stuff; I went to a friend's graduation ceremony and party; and Mother's Day required some extra doing.

Btw, I have it in mind to stick to 25NL until the 40BI mark for 50NL. I've seen in a couple of places the 40BI suggestion. I know 20BI is pretty common. But even at 30BI I didn't feel comfortable at 50NL. BR concerns kept popping up and I don't want that to be an issue; I don't want that to take any part of my mental energy while I play.

It's always better to be a BR nit and have a good cushion than play with your BR on your mind.

Week 12 Report


Hands Played: 3267


-14

BR: 1259

[] Be at work 15 min prior to report time every shift

[] Bike to-and-from and/or run 3-4mi a total of 3 times for the week

[] Do CoreWorkout1(CW1) x 1-2

[] Do CoreWorkout2 x 1-2

[] Create and store set RFI from SB

[] Set a timer and take breaks every 55 min

[] Create 2 new threads in Micro-Small Stakes and/or Poker Theory

[X] Post in 2 other threads in Micro-Small Stakes and/or Poker Theory

[] Play only during the following hours: Wed 10p-1a; Thur 10p-1a; Fri-Tue 12a-1a

[] Look up what V's had in 10 hands

Did not do so well IRT my goals last week. Like I said tho, I got caught up w/some other things. I think the upcoming week will be better.

Week 13 Goals:

[] Be at work 15 min prior to report time every shift

[] Bike to-and-from and/or run 3-4mi a total of 3 times for the week

[] Do CoreWorkout1(CW1) x 2

[] Do CoreWorkout2 x 2

[] Create and do Chest/Shoulders Workout x 2

[] Create and do Biceps Workout x 2

[] Create and do Leg Workout x 2

[] Set a timer and take breaks every 55 min

[] Look up what V's had in 5 hands

[] Study >= 5 hours

I plan on actually keeping track of the time I spend studying this week.

Week 13 Report:

Hands Played: 2708

+259 (won 11 in MTT, rest @25NL)

BR: 1518

[] Be at work 15 min prior to report time every shift====think I made it 2-3 shifts and showed up only 13min prior at least one shift

[X] Bike to-and-from and/or run 3-4mi a total of 3 times for the week===3, 3mi runs

[] Do CoreWorkout1(CW1) x 2===did 1.5

[] Do CoreWorkout2 x 2===did 1

[] Create and do Chest/Shoulders Workout x 2===did 1

[] Create and do Biceps Workout x 2===did 0

[] Create and do Leg Workout x 2===did 1

[X] Set a timer and take breaks every 55 min===been sticking to this

[X] Look up what V's had in 5 hands===got it done in one sitting

[] Study >= 5 hours===I prob put in 3-4h. Did not time it exactly.


Maybe I'm running really great, but been feeling like a beast at 25NL. I will continue to stick to 25NL until I have 40BI's or more for 50NL. I played one 11 dollar MTT this past week and just barely got into the money. 99<AA AIPF w/M of like 8.

My decisions seemed really on point this past week. I think at 50NL my confidence is not the same; think I hesitate and make the wrong decisions in a lot of similar spots. But at 25NL, especially recently I've been navigating the same spots w/confidence and ease.

Week 14 Goals:

[] Be at work 15 min prior to report time every shift

[] Bike to-and-from and/or run 3-4mi a total of 3 times for the week

[] Do CoreWorkout1(CW1) x 2

[] Do CoreWorkout2 x 2

[] Create and do Chest/Shoulders Workout x 2

[] Create and do Biceps Workout x 2

[] Create and do Leg Workout x 2

[] Set a timer and take breaks every 55 min

[] Look up what V's had in 5 hands

[] Study >= 5 hours

^The same goals as Week 13. Want to continue on the same track pretty much.

Week 14 Report:

Hands Played: 2932

+105

BR: 1623

[] Be at work 15 min prior to report time every shift

[X] Bike to-and-from and/or run 3-4mi a total of 3 times for the week

[] Do CoreWorkout1(CW1) x 2

[] Do CoreWorkout2 x 2

[] Create and do Chest/Shoulders Workout x 2

[] Create and do Biceps Workout x 2

[] Create and do Leg Workout x 2

[X] Set a timer and take breaks every 55 min

[] Look up what V's had in 5 hands

[] Study >= 5 hours


Obviously struggled w/reaching goals last week. But I've been mostly happy w/the way I've been playing at 25NL. I'm happy to have stuck to my commitment to stay at 25NL until 2K; happy that taking a break ~every 55min is almost a habit(I don't always set the timer, but still find myself almost automatically taking a break.). I'm also happy w/volume--2.9K hands is pretty good for my busy life.

I got a lot of family time in last week. Think I've said before that I won't have as much time to spend w/my daughter once she starts 5K in the fall as it will be ~7h school days Mon thru Fri instead of the 3-4h, 4 days a week that 4K is now. So life has felt pretty in balance in regard to family/poker balance this past week and I think in general in recent weeks.

The main thing I want to accomplish IRT poker in the upcoming week is to study more. At times my game felt like it deteriorated; felt like I was just clicking buttons and not thinking. Like I said, happy w/the volume, but if I had devoted a session or two's worth of time toward looking up what V's had and study in general I think the play/study balance would have been better.

Week 15 Report:

Hands Played: 2154

+137

BR: 1760

Did not set any goals last week and it went pretty well despite that. Still been rockin it at 25NL. Mostly been feeling great and playing pretty well there. I played one 11 dollar SNG(did not win) and otherwise stuck to 25NL cash.

I almost didn't study at all last week. Yesterday morning I looked up like 20 hands that I had tagged. Mostly been happy w/my play, but there were a few sessions in which I felt like I was just clicking buttons. I think w/o study I devolve into mindless button clicking.

I went for a run 5 out of the 7 days. Did 2 regular 3 mi runs and then 3, 3.6 mi runs thru this park that I had forgotten about until Sunday. It's a great place to run this time of year and the weather's been awesome the past few days. So I found myself almost automatically running and thoroughly enjoying it.

IRT poker I plan on sticking to 25NL until at least 40BI's for 50NL and am even considering waiting until 50BI's. Regardless of when I start playing some 50NL I will look for good tables and good times of the week to play when I do. I will still play 25NL when I cannot find good 50NL tables. I take pride in my WR and want to push it as high as I can. It's fun. It gives me motivation to make the best decisions I can at each decision point; to limit bad sessions; to keep improving my game; etc.

Despite not having the "arrive 15 min prior" goal I still did alright showing up to work early. It's almost become a habit. I did however have one day in which I was walking in the door only 7 min prior. That is cutting it too close. If I can keep it between 10-15min that would be great. Or if I always show up >= 15min (never actually done this in a week yet) that would be awesome.

Did not workout at all last week. My number one reason to work out has been to take care of my back. My back never actually hurts, but does feel tight and "weird". I want my physical health to hold up basically as long as I live if I can help it. Back problems are common where I work and thus I've been motivated to be proactive about it. I found a new way to sleep w/a pillow under my belly that has me waking up w/ a back that is not as tight as it was before. Between this, the running, and getting out of my seat at work and walking around as much as I can my back felt pretty good this past week.

Of course there's other benefits to working out than taking care of my back. I do like looking stronger and being stronger so there's incentive to workout regardless of back health. As always tho, limited time.

Last week of 4K for my daughter. Summer begins next week. In the fall I will have the mornings to myself to sleep or study or whatever. I will have more time to devote to poker or work outs, etc.

I am going to continue w/o setting goals in Week 16. I hope to be able to report having gotten more study time and do better IRT showing up to work early. Otherwise I think I want to stay on a similar track to what I've been doing.

I hope readers are doing well.

Glad to see things are going well!

Don't stay complacent. Even if it's just a few hand histories a day, those few hand histories add up over the course of a month.

And WRT back issues, I'd highly recommend a massaging seat cushion. You can get solid ones for $40 or so on Amazon. My back is messed up from genetics, and I find a 30-minute session using it helps keep my back flexible each day. Might even be something you can use at work.

^Hey thanks! I have a $80 seat cushion that I like a lot, that helps a lot. I might look into one that massages tho--that would prob help a lot as well. I think it would be great to use something like that at home while I play or am in front of the computer doing whatever.

Currently I just use a Triggerpoint massage ball that I've had for years. It's pretty intense as it's pretty firm and I usually try to get as much weight on it as I can. Anyway, it works wonders in getting knots out.

Week 16 Report:

Hands Played: 697 (all 25NL)

+45

BR: 1805

Been pretty focused on other things recently. W/my daughter out of school for the summer I am hesitant to set poker goals as my time is even more limited as I spend more time parenting than previously. Plus, any time spent parenting won't be regretted. Still, I'd like to average >2k hands per wk to stay in the groove. I feel like there's a certain minimum amount of time needed to be devoted to poker between playing and studying in order to keep one's game advancing (or to at least maintain a level of skill). Plus, I enjoy studying and like that it gives me something to focus on, to think about. My work can be boring at times and having poker to think about I think has been really positive. But I have to be studying a little daily in order to take that with me to work. Ideally I think I'd like to set some time goal like maybe even just 20 min of solid study each day and take notes. Looking over notes during downtime at work I think would be pretty huge for my game and a pretty efficient way to use my time.

Having said all of that tho, I am still not going to set any goals for Week 17. The family time has been pretty awesome. Been watching a lot of documentaries on Netflix. Recently found a bunch that were pretty good. Very disturbing tho.

I guess it might not be until school starts in the fall that I get back into weekly goals. We'll see. Will keep updating hands played; win/loss amount; and BR weekly.

BR: 2564

Time to update my thread. BR's been hovering between 1500-2000 all summer I think. Been playing a mix of 100NL, 50NL, and 25NL. Had a really good 100NL table last night and ran great and won ~600. Now w/25BI's I feel much more comfortable playing 100NL. Will prob still mix in some lower stakes as well tho.

Otherwise, life is going alright. Daughter starts 5K in a few weeks. Pretty happy w/the way summer has gone. Lot of swim lessons and I've still been teaching her reading and math. I want her to be a beast academically. I think her math and reading is above average for her age, but I'm sure there's going to be other kids ahead of her. Gotta be happy w/how fast she learns tho. Kinda funny story: Maybe about 1 yr ago I started teaching her how to read "Bob Books"--really simple books created for 1st time readers. My GF was sitting next to us when I was painstakingly going over and over words like "Mat" and "sat" and "on" and so forth. GF said something like, "That's too hard for her!" I said, "Go away." We then established a semi-solid routine of GF leaving the room when we did "school". Anyway, sometimes things seem hard at first and you just gotta keep at it. We've come a long way since learning "Mat" and "sat", but I don't want to get complacent. I want her to have the option of crushing college classes if she wants when she's older. She'll have a supportive family regardless. Whatever she wants to do in life, being good at math and reading will only make life better.

Oh yeah, kind of a shake up at my job. Been there 2.5 yrs and love it. But now there's concern over changes in rules and pay. I think it'll still be a great job for years to come, but I also think I should keep my options open. I think at some point before I want to retire that robots will replace me(drive the city bus). So whether my pay gets cut in half or not I need to be working to have other options.

Also, we're still thinking about buying a house. Market is really hot seller's market tho right now, especially in the areas that we want to buy in. House is like "offer-no show" w/in a couple of days of being listed on Zillow or whatever. We have ~30k for a down payment right now and pretty much need 50k or more to have 20% down plus closing costs. Most of the houses we liked that we've seen come and go sold in the 180-260k range. So we'll keep saving DP money and keep watching the market. Eventually it'll cool off and we'll have more DP money.

BR: 2596

So this thread and other PG&C's I've done have been an outlet to share about poker as well as life. Quite the changes going on seemingly all of a sudden. On Monday shortly before I leave for work GF tells me that she wants to move out. It's true that I have not put enough into our relationship and I've even been mean to her at times. I keep coming back to the fact that I'm overworked between working over 40h/week at my job and watching our 5yr old daughter sometimes 60h/wk. There was a pretty tough stretch in which GF was working more than the normal 55h/wk because one of her underlings quit.

I thought I was doing pretty good over the summer too. I was taking Josie to swim lessons and improving her math and reading skills. I was helping her develop some of the skills they teach in swim class on our own time. But I pretty much stopped putting effort in my relationship w/GF and looking back now it's pretty obvious why she wants to break up. She even cited poker as being part of the problem; it is true that poker has taken a lot of my time and energy. I think it's interesting that this comes at a time when I think my game is stronger than it ever was and I'm getting comfortable playing at the 100NL level--something I've before had very little experience at.

Fortunately I have a lot of help. I don't remember ever stating it itt, but I've been in recovery for about 17 years; I attend NA (and in a pinch AA) and have been clean for almost 11 years. I've gone for stretches in which I wasn't very involved in NA, but it's times like this that I reach out for a lot of help and try to be around others in recovery more.

So we'll see where this goes. On the one hand I think I could have more time to work on my BR and poker game. On the other hand I'm not sure how exactly I will structure my priorities. The happiness and well being of my daughter is the most important thing to me. Unfortunately all my somewhat frantic attempts to change GF's mind have failed. Now I can only accept the situation and deal with it in the healthiest manner possible. That definitely means always being civil w/now ex-GF. At this point I need to figure out how best to still be a positive, involved parent to my daughter; that means I must work w/ex-GF as best as I can.

I'm sorry to hear about what happened. This may be too little, too late, but balance is definitely key. While it is important to have your hobbies, it's also important to make sure they don't consume you. Have a schedule, set aside a time period where it's all about the significant other. Poker will always be around, but time may not.

When I would put in 60 hours or more a week between work and poker, I had a set schedule. Work Sunday morning/poker Sunday night, work Monday/family and friend time, work Tuesday/poker Tuesday night, work all day Wednesday, work Thursday/poker Thursday night, poker all day Friday until the SO got off, and then the rest of Friday and Saturday were hers.

With a child, it does make it a bit more difficult. And this is all hindsight, but maybe you can only set aside two nights a week for poker. Or maybe set some goals of where you want to be in poker and see how or if you can accomplish these goals. Oftentimes, we have the goal of being the best player we possibly can be. It's a noble goal, but what winds up happening is that we play 6 days a week, studying 2 hours a day. And yes, this will lead us to becoming the best possible player that we can, but other aspects suffer. A lot of times, the best we can be (if you're not a pro) may just be playing a couple days a week and studying during downtime at home. And that's fine.

Good luck man, and hopefully everything goes well.

Hey thanks ohsnapzbrah!

Life has been going pretty well despite the fact GF (now ex-GF) moved out a few weeks ago. I've been hanging out a lot w/NA friends which has been awesome. Had BR >2800 like a week ago and it dropped to just below 2k tonight. Some run bad, some play bad, and game's just been a little off. Just wanted to check in and say that I'm considering getting back into it in a more serious fashion--poker and this thread that is. Bed for now, but hopefully more to come in the near future.

BR: 1712


Had it over 2800 not long ago. The adjective to describe my game is "sloppy". I want my game to be: organized, calculated, and planned. Going back to Sun thru Sat weeks. My goals:

Goals 9/30 thru 10/6

[] Play in 55 min increments w/5 min breaks each hour I play. Ask am I winning (in a +ev fashion) each break.

[] Study >= 15 min Sun thru FRi

[] Do deck memorization exercise Sun thru Fri

1605

Last week: 1) I did NOT stick to the play 55 min then take a break. I still think it's important. 2) I prob got about 15 min worth of study in each day. Close to it at least. 3) I did the deck mem exercise I think about 4 days.

I also ran 21 mi last week, which is the most in a long time. I got 4 pretty great core workouts in too.

Gonna keep pushing to get study time in. Gonna be playing 50NL and maybe some 25NL till BR is above 2K.

Btw, got a girl I know from NA I'm stuck on. We'll see if that goes anywhere.