Wassup wassup wassup,

Just got home from Fallsview Classic. Played 3 events there and a little bit of cash. Ended up getting 29th in the 1100 for about 5k cash, and bubbled 5 off ITM in the 5k main event. To be honest I played what I think to be an elite level of poker through the whole week. Yeah I might have butchered a hand or two in the 2500 (I was really exhausted after busting the 1100 early day 3). All in all I'm extremely happy with how I played and twice came close to some nice scores. Here's a few hands of interest from the week:

1. Early day 3 I'm fairly readless on the villain. I don't even remember what the BB was but I know I started the hand about 16bbs deep. Villain is young asian reg makes it 2.8bb. I defend 108o. FLOP: JJ7. He c bets 2.8 bb, I decided to jam here because felt most of his Jx doesn't c bet flop with this sizing/at this stack depth/most A high jams pre/most Jx jams pre. Tbh I just thought he's soo bluff heavy here and my hand has ok equity vs 7x/A high (if he has that). He calls A8o I lose.

2. In the 5k UTG opens to BB 150 to 300. MP asian guy calls. I wake up to KK in the SB and pump it up to 1500. UTG folds, other guy tanks for a bit and then makes it 12500 (start stack was 30k). I tank forever and fold KK.
-Villain tells me in game he had AK which I just simply don't believe ever lol. Especially because he was asking if I woudl fold if he jammed all in. After busting he came up and told me he had AA that hand.

3. In MP ~40BB deep I limp 44 (soft lineup behind). Guy to my left calls and 2-3 other guys. Flop: A106r...checks around. TURN: 4. I bet ~70% pot, guy to my left calls. RIVER: A. I bet 80% pot...he jams all in. I tank fold he shows A10.

4. 25 players off ITM today live reg fish to my right opens BB 4k to 8.5k. I 3 bet K9cc to 22k, he calls. FLOP: 9h8s7h...check check. TURN: 3h, he bets 25k I call. RIVER: 9s. He checks, I jam all in for about 1.2x pot (his stack, leaving me 20bb). He tank calls J10o (so fkn tilting.)

5. I spin my stack back up to ~35BBs, 5 off ITM same villain limps in SB. I have A10o and decided to just jam because 1) felt he is like never trapping 2) we put any hands he wanted to limp/jam in a gross spot that prob have to fold 3) I was happy winning pot pre no variance (or so I thought)... he snaps TT I lose. GG.


Anyways, I should've been eliminated twice from that tourney and also KK lost to AJo for piles today as well. Sometimes things just don't go your way and all we can do is make the best decisions we can and show up to battle. That's it.

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The Importance and Difficulty of Taking the High Road in Poker

In poker and in life I always like to think that I'm a respectful and honorable person. I would be lying if I said poker didn't test that frequently. As I was walking through the tournament room the other day a guy stopped me and said "hey bro, aren't you Walmart?" I didn't recognize him and said "yeah, sorry I don't know you." He said "you chirped me online a while ago." I asked him what I said and he told me I said "nh genius" after a hand. To be honest this is a line I drop quite frequently when grinding online when a hand tilts me/ I think a guy played a hand badly. I explained to him that I do this sometimes and apologized for it/introduced myself properly.

Sometimes when we're grinding online it's easy to forget that we're playing against real people who have real emotions as well. I guess when I call someone a "bad reg" or "genius" it is pretty offensive especially if they consider me to be a good player. For example if Fedor Holz told me I suck I would be quite hurt by it (even though it's true prob compared to him.) It's so easy to get caught up in the emotion/turmoil/stress that comes from grinding tournament poker for a living. It's so easy to deviate from the high road and holding myself accountable for that going forward is necessary.

Grinding live poker is a whole different beast and there is times when I'm visibly frustrated or angered by a scenario. However, I don't think I've ever gotten disrespectful to somebody else (unless they brought it upon themselves.) So often I see players arguing back and forth or watching regs snicker as they see an old man 7x pre flop. We need to remember that these players deserve to be in the tournament just as much as us as they paid their entrance fee. These players chose to spend their disposable income on the tournament, and being our customers, it's necessary we provide an entertaining environment for them. I'm sick of seeing old guys on a table trying to make conversation and a bunch of "mean muggin' regs" ignoring them with their headphones and hoodies. Also keep in mind that in these higher stakes tourneys these recreational players are likely very successful in other facets of life/business. Just because they didn't grow up grinding hundreds of hours in pio solver and studying poker does not mean they are not smart/good people.

It's so easy to become bitter and angry when playing live poker for a lot of reasons:

-Most players are out with a kill or be killed mentality and everyone is looking out for themselves. There is an overwhelming sense of "gluttony" in the air.
-Sleep schedules and diets are erratic leading to mood swings.
-Live poker is a tense environment. Sometimes we over-react and our fight/flight response is activated. (Similar to road rage).
-Having a lot at stake causes stress and a broad spectrum of emotion.


Anyways guys I'm not saying I'm some Mother Teresa of this stuff and I'm definitely as guilty as the worst of us sometimes. It's not about educating bad players or trying to prevent them from realizing they play bad. It's about being a good person and realizing that at the end of the day this is just a card game. That's all it is.

On a side note my gym efforts have been going really well. Today marks 2 weeks of hitting my scheduled workouts. Feels good to be back home now after a week on the road and kicking it off with a nice lift. Gonna do my best to actually put more effort/time into posts in here going forward this year.


Time to go cele' my Bday on Tuesday

Thanks for reading and hope y'all have a great week! Crush it!

How deep were you with ATo? From an exploitive standpoint, I'd iso/call ATo for <25bb BvB. Unless we think V never limp/shoves a worse Ax, and even if he doesn't we can still get value from weaker hands that limp/call, I don't see much merit to jamming this hand unless stacks are <17bb.

35bbs ish.

This is 100% terrible/missing value when there isn't ICM implications. We were 6 off ITM and I figured he might limp/jam some stuff I flip with and also figured he was very seldom trapping because he was a very weak player with no live cashes to date. To be honest in my head I just figured I jam and make free chips no variance. Quite wrong I was

Without ICM implications I'm 100% raise/snapping this off.

Yao,

Before getting into a bit of a tangent I want to ask for a little advice from whomever reads this:

So about a month ago I decided I was going to book a couple sessions with a psychologist partly to help deal with some of the negative things ruminating through my head and partly because I wanted someone to hold me accountable with staying on my path towards healthy living.

In all honesty I didn't really feel comfortable conversing on a very deep level with this guy and I think that's very crucial in terms of the value you get out of these things. For example he can't really help you too much if you aren't completely honest about everything.

On the bright side of things I'm back in the gym regularly now and feeling really good about how things are progressing. I originally scheduled our third appointment tomorrow morning. Around 4 pm today I decided fk it I don't want to go and messaged him saying I have to cancel. He replied saying he would have to charge me without 24 hours notice. Meh, fk it may as well just send him the money and be done with it right?

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Today was my 26th birthday and I'm thankful for all of the thoughtful wishes and time people spent with me today/the past few days. I'm truly thankful/blessed for a lot of the great friendships I've fostered. There was a time where I was far away @ Uni and de-activated facebook so nobody outside of my really close friends knew it was my birthday. I know it sounds selfish but it really tilted me that a few friends just completely forgot or didn't even give me a call etc. I didn't have facebook and still remembered to buy them a beer/give them a call or text at the very least on their birthdays. This pattern repeated itself for a few years and quite a lot of anxiety would follow along with it.

The first time I remember having a big mindset shift was when I saw a quote "why do you spend so much time and energy thinking about people you mean so little to?" (or something along those lines). This is a very good point. If someone else is treating you poorly or does not care about you...why should they occupy any of your thoughts or time? I also heard this life coach say "if your buddy blows you off on your birthday he probably isn't a very good friend."

So I thought I'd make this post because I guess some of those negative feelings I'd get in the past were partly rooted in insecurity of being worried about not having good friends/not being important to them. I can tell my mindset has improved a million % because I couldn't give 2 ****s about friends who can't be bothered to give me a quick text/call. At the same time I couldn't be more thankful for my friends/family that took me out for a meal/beer/coffee or even just gave me a quick text/call. I appreciate those people a lot and they can expect the same treatment on their birthdays.


Didn't mean for this post to sound like some drama queen but I wanted to make a note of how far my mindset has come in this regard. I know it sounds selfish but your close friends should always get some love on their b-days. My goals for my 26th year are very similar to my goals for 2018....Health/Wealth/Relationships/Travel/Happiness/Self-Improvement. I know this is gonna be a good year. The ball has been rolling nicely for a few weeks now.

Thanks for reading

This took me some time as well, but in the end you "get there". Not only you dont need this kind of people in your life, you also have to be very carefull and in some cases let them go.

Do not struggle with some1 who repeatidly seem sooooo unwilling to "return the favour". And thats not meant to come out as being selfish, but its just unbelievable tiring and it drains your soul.

Anyway just my thoughts.

Happy birthday d00d! Surround yourself with those who make u happy

Peace and luv!

hey man 100% agree with you there. spending as little time as possible with people who don't have your best interests in mind/aren't clapping when you succeed/kick you when you are down etc is possibly the best thing someone could do for themselves.

so important to surround yourself with people who want the best for you and want to bring you up with them...actually executing this is hard sometimes however

I appreciate the happy b day wish btw ty, sorry took me a few days to respond.

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On a side note things have been going very well guys on the gym front. Have met all my gym goals for the past month without one failure now. Looking to continue that going forward and tack on some nutritional guidelines as well. I really do want to get this PGC up and running and make it a good read etc like the one I did last year. Time and energy have been very low given how many hours I've been grinding/life living/exercising etc.

Had a pretty ****ty night with DFS last night decided to take a relatively big shot and got smoked. If I get some time tonight I'll make a more in depth post about it and some of the money management restrictions I want to place on myself going forward.


Anyways, back later.

If you do not have a great rapport/trust with your psychologist keep looking...until you find one you're very comfortable with imho. They're many of them out there to choose from. Feel free to and do your best to find the best one for YOU.

And happy belated day of birth!

@divineglory: thanks man! Actually I ended up cancelling my scheduled appointment the night before (probably a poor move on my part), and then he responded to my email saying he charges full rate when not given 24h notice. I sort of felt this was unfair but sort of understand at the same time. Gave him his ~100 bucks but will not be back. Full price seems like a lot for a missed appointment but meh what can ya do.

After all, my main goal of going there was to gain some encouragement/will power for getting back to the gym. I've been going strong so I guess maybe it had some influence on my efforts. But yeah going forward I agree with you that I need someone I feel more comfortable opening up to

Well well well,

Been quite some time since I put in a good thorough post in here. After taking a nice long stroll (the snow has melted temporarily here) and clearing my head, the time feels right to catch up with myself and whomever is unlucky enough to stumble into this rabbit hole of text. I'll try to keep things concise and hopefully relevant...got a lot of ground to cover!

I've said for the last few years that the most important things to me and my goals all fall under 4 main categories: Health, Wealth, Relationships, Happiness. Probably easiest to just talk about progressions/regressions in each category.

Health:

As mentioned before I have a prop bet with a friend for 4 weeks. The bet is that you must take a snap chat of yourself at the gym 4x/week for 1 month and send the snap to the other guy. If you fail to do this any week you forfeit the wagered money.

1) I refuse to lose to my friend.
2) I refuse to lose money because I was too lazy to exercise.
3) It's good to have a friend motivating you along the way. Sometimes when you are falling off the horse you need someone to help you get back on it.

For these reasons I've been going to the gym and loving it. It feels really good to do a good deed for your body and this echoes to every other aspect of life. At first the gym was a chore, then it was a habitual chore, now it's an addiction. The feeling of getting the blood flowing and muscles pumping to start the day is unmatched by any time of "rolling out of bed and registering the hot 33" or "rolling out of bed and getting an egg mcmuffin" type feeling.

-On a more negative note my nutrition has been pretty bad lately. I have been sort of focused on working out and tackled that challenge first. It's time to work on my nutrition because that is arguably the most important thing about fitness. Definitely struggle with poor eating habits and choices for a few years now. Have made a lot of improvements but need to make more. Picked up lots of healthy groceries earlier today so will try my best to stay disciplined and make health stuff at home.

Wealth:

I know this is going to sound pretty absurd to you guys but this has been one of my worst gambling weeks of my life. My personal loss has been somewhere around ~-5k USD. You're probably thinking that you would expect that I've had way worse? Well I've always been very responsible with BRM and selling pieces accordingly. I lost maybe 2k in poker which is fine. I ran really bad in high EV games so meh w/e just part of it.

The thing which really tilts me is that DraftKings had a big Fantasy Hockey tournament and live event qualifier so I flicked ~1k in entries myself and bought ~3k in entries of a friend. Figured the chances of a complete brick was minimal and seemed like a +EV spot (my friend knows his sht and played it pro last season). Guess what? Ever heard of this thing called Murphy's Law? Yeah, what could have went wrong went wrong. We bricked.

I sort of knew this was a chance upon playing yesterday but it really felt like just a huge punt in a marginal EV game. Anyways, I got punished for making a punty investment and I need to deal with the consequences of feeling crappy about it. Going forward I'm done with sports betting and DFS. I haven't lost too much overall in them or even really played that much but doing all the research and sweating the games just takes away from what I'm actually good at...poker.

Poker:

Meh, ran really bad all week. Got ~10th in the Monday 215 6m lost a few pretty big all ins to bust. Got a live home game tomorrow so probably will attend that and maybe a live tourney this weekend. Have been taking a bit of a hiatus from the online streets but I'll be ready to give it my all probably starting this Sunday. Just need to regain my hunger.

Books:

My mom gave me 100$ for my birthday so I decided to invest it into some books that will hopefully yield me much more than 100$ of value in the long run. Bought 3 books:
-12 Rules of Life by Jordan Peterson
-Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
-Solve for Happy by can'trememberauthor

Look forward to reading and I'll give you guys a brief review of each upon completion.

Relationships:

I've become really close with a few poker friends that live around me and also have become really close with 3-4 other friends from my personal life. A lot of this is partially because I think I've just become a lot better of a person in recent years and also because I've put a lot of effort into those relationships. Sucks that at the same time I've drifted from a few other friends but sometimes that's just part of life. Feels like this part of my life is maybe the strongest it's ever been and I'm really understanding how to have a strong social circle.

To shed some light on one negative aspect of my relationship life is that my dating game is pretty bad atm. Have basically put 0 effort into this and haven't been going out to be social very much. Getting back in the gym and everything is helping me gain motivation for dating and confidence so this is something that needs to be addressed soon. I just need to get out more and get on dating apps probably.

Happiness:

Pretty sure happiness is really just a function of all of the above lol. Overall, feeling like 7.5/10. Decent but I think being very productive next few weeks and getting back into meditation will help.

Usual Rant?

Way too tired here but I'll leave you guys with a good article or video or something to take the place of my usual wall of text. *Let me check the archives*

https://www.pocketfives.com/articles...ourney-592462/
this was a very emotional article but an extremely inspiring read.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASIT7U463Q0
cheesy motivational video but I really like it.


Anyways guys, felt nice to map out some of my thoughts and goals on this page! Hopefully you guys at least check out the pocketfives article I linked above if nothing else! Til' next time brothers.


"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." -Nelson Mandela

Weeeee back on track with amazing updates and super interesting reads/articles.

I always enjoy ur articles!!

Tbh i ve already read this WSOP story, i dont remember where (actually thought in here but now im guessing not ).

Nice to see u crushing the gym man just keep doing ur thing!

Imo scre.w dating apps, u dont need them. Be yourself and be confident, u got absolutely 0 things to lose, only to gain. Its like the story u once mentioned in ur past PGC with the furniture store!

Keep doing what u love and with the ones u love and be alert. Always go out with style/attitude/dressed like ur gonna meet the love of ur life.

Ok enough with my rant. I just shared my thoughts #nofiltered.

Peace bro.

thanks bud. sorry maybe i posted it twice i usually just copy down good articles/vids i find into a folder so i just picked one from it. also thanks for the advice
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Bit of a whine incoming here guys so no need to waste ur time reading through it if ur sane:

So I've been going to this underground cash game of absolute glory. It's 1/2 blinds but often there is straddling and flops are usually several ways. It's pretty standard to have 50-300 in the pot pre flop.

There is a player (very nice guy) who routinely swings 1-2k a night there and has VPIP ~95% and basically makes it anywhere from 9-90$ as an open raise size and opens almost every time when folded to/3 bets a lot/almost never folds to others opens. Post flop basically just bets randomly/random amounts.

Anyways, this hand starts with him opening to 17$ UTG (7 handed), he gets 4 callers. I wake up to TT in the BB. I decide to squeeze for value here even though it sort of sucks, to 100$. The (very nice guy) snap calls, others fold.

FLOP: As2h4c. I check, he puts me all in for 209$. I tank for a bit and decide I have to call as he could have any random bs here lol. He flips over 72o...river 7.

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Tbh last week I took over 1k profit mostly off of this player and he remained still a nice friendly guy even when stuck a bunch. What makes this story a little bit tilting is that I was stuck ~500$ in this game tonight and just sooo card dead/running bad and I wanted to quit. However, I told myself "this is so +EV I can't afford not to be here all night". So instead of going home I decided to reload my stack and print some EV...to tough it out.

Welp, print EV I did but unfortunately went home with nothing but some Sklansky dollars. As tilting as it was to get sucked out so badly in such a dumb way in a way I felt a little bit happy. Proceeded to genuinely say "nice hand" and made a few jokes/had a few laughs before leaving the game.

As I was driving home from the game I was thinking about how humbled I felt by this bad beat and how I have 0 reason to be upset about it.
-Did I put myself in a +EV spot? (x)
-Did I have a productive day/eat well/go to the gym? (x)
-Did I give my best effort in the game? (x)
-Did I handle losing well? (x)

At the end of the day this is all I can give and in the long run the cream rises to the top. Sometimes it's easy to forget that we're blessed to play a game for a living and I have sooo much to be thankful for in poker...including all these little life lessons along the way.


Thanks for reading if you stuck around.

Been in the same situation in the past (×)

Handle it with same attitude ( )

Although i have to admit in my case this was at least 4-5 years ago.

Hopefully I am 5x better mentally nowdays, but fwiw i honestly believe "tilt" and " bad reactions" have a very very strong corelation with your "bankroll state" and how much dependant u are on the wins/loses.

And yes i used to play games SUPER underolled hehe

Think i ve larned my lesson

Keep going sir

Cheers!

Friendships are funny things. When your young between 18-25 everyone is in the same place, and its easy to be social and maintain them. As you get older and people move elsewhere for jobs, start settling down etc you tend to naturally have less friends and you tend to only make really good friends with those in the same city as you. You also only tend to keep in touch with really really good friends that live elsewhere.

@scarecrow: yeah for sure for example losing a 100bb pot in a 1/2 game is like lol w/e but if that was a 10/20 game or something it would be much more painful...it's in those tougher times of variance where our character is tested the most.

@colin: also there is less sense of obligation to be close with tonnes of people. liek when you are in high school its important that you remain "cool" with your own social circle of friends and every person they associate with. you have to see these people every day at school, at parties on the weekend, and they also probably live near you. i think as we get older our free time and availability decreases>we have less time for friends>we spend to choose that time with our best friends (which is basically what u said haha)

Howdy,

Gonna come in for a quick update here to let you guys know where things are at on my end as well as to make note for myself of a few things:

-Prop bet has finished. We decided this was a great thing for both of us and decided to renew for another month.
-The new bet: gym 5x/week, must burn min. 300 calories in cardio 4x and send pic to other guy, we agreed to eat as clean as we can
-My personal diet challenge: no fast food other than 1 cheat meal per week. (I'm allowing myself burritos and Tim Horton's just in case I'm really craving or if running low on time on the road or w/e, neither is as bad for me as burgers/pizza etc.) Other than that just gonna try and keep things as clean as possible.
-Haven't been on my regular grind schedule as been so busy with other stuff. Gonna grind hard this week.

Ran so bad in poker this week it was absurd. Not much to show for it but volume was small. Here's a few hands of interest:

https://www.boomplayer.com/27016017_BF4E6ADFED
Seemed like a good bluff. Can elaborate on it more if need be but would like to hear you guys thoughts first.

https://www.boomplayer.com/26954999_C62D13BBE1
favourable run out

https://www.boomplayer.com/26948573_0BA4046C01
should we ever just x/r gii here? fold to 3 bet? villain was like a 21/18/9 type reg.

https://www.boomplayer.com/26947964_6EC2E4A8B3
nyhan

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I want to talk a little bit about something that we all crave.

In searching for this "thing" we bring upon ourselves this overbearing weight on our shoulders that is a detriment to our freedom and us living our most fulfilled lives.

This "thing" happens when we get a "like" on our facebook photo, win an award, get a compliment from someone, or even when someone acknowledges that they read this thread.

If you haven't figured it out by now the "thing" I am referencing is "validation" or "approval". We're sort of wired to be looking for approval of others all the time. Ever since we were young we were obsessed with making our parents happy, fitting in with our social circle, and making our parents proud.

When I first started out in poker I didn't have the approval of anybody. I was grinding $1.50 SNGs and had several failed attempts of building a bankroll. It was rare for my bank account to have more than $500 in it and it was even more rare for me to have the next month's rent/tuition payments in my account the week before they were due.

It was in this time where my parents really did not approve of poker. My friends did not approve of poker. I realized that I had dreams in poker unlike any other dreams I'd ever had. At the time I really craved the validation and acceptance of others, but I had nothing to show for it. This led to a very unhealthy habit of glorifying even the smallest of my wins and trying to provide a facade that "I was a baller from poker".

I figured if I showed people how much money I was making that they would respect me more and my parents would be ok with me playing poker for a summer job. The funny part is that I was no baller (a quick look at my first 50k games of poker on sharkscope will indicate this lol), and I wasn't very confident about poker or really anything at the time.

It was this weird paradox of feeling like I had to justify my winnings and success to everyone so that I could justify to them that poker was my calling. Instead of just chasing my passion and being ignorant of the opinions of others I spent so much time and energy trying to hold up this "front". The problem with putting up this "front" all of the time was that it took so much energy and I felt like some phony that was in hiding.

Anyways, these types of "fronts" are something that we all put up. We feel like there is certain parts of us that just can't be exposed to the real world so we hide them to fit in. It's like we're some type of chameleon blending in with our environment. Think of the "overly-nice" person, or the "mean-muggin'" guy, or the roid-monkey at the gym.

I can honestly say that letting go of the need for validation from others can be one of the most freeing feelings on Earth. Instead of just saying stuff that you think will make another person like you or agreeing with them about everything they say...try stating your true feelings. If you're used to being a "people-pleaser" your whole life this will seem very awkward and difficult. As cliche as it sounds, just be yourself and be ok with people not liking you. There is 7 billion people on this planet and not every person will like you...get over it. By getting rid of these "fronts" and becoming a more genuine/confident person people will not only appreciate it and respect you more...they will be drawn to you and often look for leadership.

I partially write this because it has been one of my biggest paradigm shifts/epiphanies in the last couple of years and partially because I still struggle with it sometimes. Even in the last year my self-confidence/self-security has literally doubled or tripled but the need for validation/approval still holds me back from sooo much. Just like not all 7 billion people will like you, I know not all ~7 people reading this post will like it, but I did Hopefully this can help some people have some realizations!

Thinking about how many people in this world, and u gotta fight with all of tjhem for your piece of cake gets little depressing to me.
7 billy is no joke. Gl

haha no kidding
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hey guys day 1 of the challenge v.2 got underway today and couldn't be happier with the foot I got off on. so far the past 5-6 weeks I've really been living the way I envisioned for myself as "GTO" for the time being anyways.

Something I'm really happy about is going to bed every night being able to say "I'm proud of what I got done today". I know it sounds small/stupid but for so many years 90% of nights I couldn't say that. Decided I'm gonna try to make this blog go out with a bang as I believe it will be my last one on 2p2 this year. Gonna do my best to start posting pics etc of everything and make it a little more easy on the eyes.
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Anyways, have been running so fkn bad in poker lately. Literally doesn't seem fathomable. (I'll end the whine here). Tomorrow we got a light workout for breakfast served up with a hefty grind entree, and maybe a little hike for dessert if the weather is nice. Feeling great about my game and hope variance can stop being the cruel, cruel mistress that she is.

I'll leave you with a little pic of my grind station:
https://gyazo.com/70d69ea4598e8c5d7f21de1fd190f053
maybe not the most GTO having a laptop, def looking into a desktop and maybe a nicer chair going forward.

take note of the extra desk if someone wants to stop by for a session sometime

PEACE

Having an extra desk for fellow grinders imo is da NUTS!! Have this in my plans and will implement it FOR SURE after my 1 year challenge (coming June).

Imo you could possibly find a spot with more natural light in ur house/room. Maybe its just me, but i cant think of my self grinding anywhere else than near a balcony or a massive window. Maybe is psychology i dont know but i would 100% recomend to try this.

Then again if its rainy/snowy in Canada like 5days/week - 10months/year, maybe not so important after all. Not sure about that just my suggestion.

Keep up the good work in gym, u seem to have found a nice routine! If u dont mind sharing some gym-playlists would be cool to get some ideas

Gl m8!

Late to the party, gl this year!

Enjoyed the openness and authentic feeling of this post.
Finding genuine, authentic friend(s) is a true rarity. And worth infinite value.
Imho they're the only kind of friends worth desiring in your life.

@scarecrow: yeah that is one slight draw back of my place is that the natural light isnt the greatest. this room gets some good light if the blinds are open. actually i ll show u my grind station that i got set up @ my friends place next time i play there (its pretty sexy with an even sexier view). in terms of gym playlists: when doing cardio I often listen to podcasts (rogan podcast/tim ferris/elliot roe/miscellaneous), then when getting into the weights I listen to a variety mostly rap/rock/classic rock. I have a spotify membership so usually just listen to random stuff on there. Some of my favourite artists: eminem, linkin park, notorious big, tupac, barenaked ladies, atmosphere, brother ali, hopsin, mac miller, acdc, disturbed, the arkells, audioslave, rage against the machine, the tragically hip, machine gun kelly, our lady peace, billy talent, 50 cent, staind, shinedown.
-theres a lot more but if u havent explored some of those check em out!

@lolchip: thanks ma dude. have a good year yoself

@divineglory: I appreciate the post. Definitely great advice 100p agree. Sometimes I think when you're coming from a position of scarcity it's quite easy to compromise this. For example a guy in Uni who doesn't have a lot of friends or strong social circle, moreover camaraderie, might be more prone to settle for less than optimal friend groups and allow them to take advantage of him.

On the other hand a guy who has an abundance of people to select as his core friends will be less prone to take **** from anybody and will naturally select a much more pure/authentic social circle.

Took the day off today to essentially just catch up on sleep, relax, and get some work done around my place. (The mess can quickly stack up if you are busy grinding hard for a few days.)

After waking around noon I did a bunch of cleaning etc. I've been thinking about trying this out lately: http://www.goflowt.com/ so thought fk it sounds cool let's give it a try. Will report back about the experience next post.

https://www.boomplayer.com/27040018_1D3F8A8CC8
let's just pretend like I was value betting river

https://www.boomplayer.com/27037600_90F02E25DD
pretty tilting hand vs a fish here. I would check this flop a lot but decided to just go with it for bounty equity which makes me a little bit happier to gii on flop+I think he prob calls twice too much and folds river (apparently im wrong).

https://www.boomplayer.com/27035989_E0875CB50D
what a blast by him lol

https://www.boomplayer.com/27034959_4D5844B562
vs a fish, guess we just have to fold this turn right? sigh. fwiw he said he had AJ

Sensory Deprivation Tank Experience:

I've been wanting to try this for a while now after hearing a pretty GTO person talk about it. Was bored today so thought it would be a good time today to treat myself to a new experience.

What is it? I posted the website in the above post if you want to read more in depth. I guess to describe it quickly: You book an appointment and show up in this building that is similar layout to a doctor's office (reception desk at the front, waiting room that has some nice teas etc, and then a bunch of individual rooms.) Each person gets their own room that has a shower and a float tank in it. The float tank is this big thing that looks like one of those hospital scanner things that people go in for body scans. Inside of it is about 1 ft. of luke warm water that is made to be the exact temperature of your body, and is highly buoyant because of immense amounts of salt. When you close the door behind you when entering the tank it is pitch black with absolutely no sound. You have ~1.5 hours in there to just float. After ~5-10 minutes your body starts to lose it's senses because it can not tell the difference between your skin and the water. All you can hear is your breath and heart beat.

Did I enjoy it? Yes and no. At first I found myself a little bit claustrophobic and it was a very rare experience just being alone in the dark and losing bodily feeling. I ended up losing my meditative state several times when: my body touched the sides of the tank, I got salty water burning my eyes, and when my shoulder/neck pains made me distracted. Overall, I felt super relaxed by the end of it and decided to book 2 more sessions where I will be less distracted.

What can be the benefits of this? Well there are lots of apparent benefits that you can read about on the website or with a quick google search. In my opinion the biggest benefits of floating are that you get to be alone with your own thoughts and achieve an intense meditative/lucid dreaming state for a reasonable price. At the very least I think taking some time out of your week to just allow yourself to relax/treat yourself is extremely therapeutic for the mind and body.

Have you ever realized how little you are just alone in silence with your thoughts? What about when you're driving? Music. At home on the couch? TV. Taking a ****? Facebook. Out for a walk? Podcasts. It's so vital to just take a step back and give your mind a chance to reset and have a breather. You can't just non-stop be lifting weights stressing your muscles. Your mind isn't any different. Taking a mental breather doesn't require a sensory deprivation tank either.


Anyways guys, back to work tomorrow. Time for bed now, workout in the morning, then a heavy grind. GL to y'all.


PS: My posture has been so bad for several years now and my upper back/shoulders/neck I think have taken quite a beating from this. All the muscles there feel so tense. Anyone have any recommendations on exercises to kind of correct my posture and relieve some of the tension? Cheers!

- https://www.boomplayer.com/27016017_BF4E6ADFED
what are we trying to fold out?? i think there is big chance villain to have 2 pairs or pair with backdoor flush like JTcc/AJcc/ QTcc/AQcc or even ATdd or ATcc or KTdd AKdd that he just decide not to fold on river and i think with that SPR on river you dont have much FEQ so i just give up tbh
- https://www.boomplayer.com/26948573_0BA4046C01
preflop w/e if i call i will play it the same, i maybe GII if i have backdoor flush draw on flop
- https://www.boomplayer.com/26947964_6EC2E4A8B3
i think smth like 40-50k is hero called way more the overbet
- https://www.boomplayer.com/27034959_4D5844B562
if guys is fishy why we are ch flop??shouldn't we start value betting and building pot??

Sensory Deprivation Tank Experience sounds interesting