Week 3:
[7/7] Meditate for a minimum of 5 minutes each day
[4/7] Exercise a minimum of 4 days each week. (minimum of 25 minute workout)
[7/7] Feed the wolf of love, starve the wolf of hate
[0 hours] 600 hours of live poker
[11 hours] 400 hours of online poker 23.5
[5/7, 1/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.


I decided to set a specific time each day for meditation. I ended up missing the time I set on a couple of days when I was out of the house, but ended up getting to my meditation later in the day. I’m not sure if it is the meditation practice, but my mind seems to be much more clear and my thoughts less bouncy (better focus). The duration of my daily meditation has been trending closer to 9-10 minutes per day.

I missed exercising on Monday, due to spending time with my family. Typically, if I miss one of my goal areas on Monday and spend the rest of the week trying to catch up, the quality of my efforts seems to be terribly diminished. I was still able to squeeze in 4 really great bouts of exercise, with my routine on Saturday being pretty strenuous. Here’s a look at what I performed on Saturday:

Circuit style workout
One exercise to the next with 30 seconds rest between exercises
1 minute rest after last exercise on the list
4 times through

Rapid power cleans (56lbs) x15
BB overhead squat (56lbs) x8
DB front swings (30lbs) x10
BB walking lunge (56lbs) x10
Hanging knee lifts x10

No live poker this week. Online I put in 11 hours. I was in the middle of an online session last night when the internet went out. I am 23.5 total hours online.

Similar drinking totals to last week. I really only got out of hand one night this week. Scotch kind of takes the lid off of my inhibitions like no other. Went with a buddy to try out a new taproom named the The Rail on Saturday. It’s a nice setup and they have some choice options for local craft beer, with taps that pretty regularly rotate. I was sippin on a Coffee Stout from ELk Valley Brewing Company. Would drink again.

From Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu:

If you understand others you are smart.
If you understand yourself you are illuminated.
If you overcome others you are powerful.
If you overcome yourself you have strength.
If you know how to be satisfied you are rich.
If you can act with vigor you have will.
If you don’t lose your objectives you can be long-lasting.

If you die without loss, you are eternal.

One more…

“Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I stated along the way itt, I was putting my primary grinding focus into daily fantasy sports(dfs). Coinciding with my foray into dfs involvement mindfulness and meditation practice began to become more important then at any other point in my past. Typically before time to lock in lineups, I would become anxiety riddled. Often times I was nervous to the point of nausea. Then, I broke the that cycle.

At some point in the past 4 months, either subconsciously or consciously, I can’t recall, I quit playing dfs. Talk to me near the start of the of this past NFL dfs season in August and I wouldn’t believe any assertion that, at this point in the year, I hadn’t wrapped up the NFL season of DFS and started a full transition into the NBA season. I was, for a lack better words, addicted. I was addicted to the action, the research, the sweat, probably the self-loathing from getting beat over the head by variance and no cashes, and seeing luck boxes and mass multi-lineup players shipping gpp’s. I wanted to win too bad, and shipping a big dfs gpp is much too elusive for any expectation of the sort (especially when you are a dfs fish like me). Thus, the suffering was assured.

I just wanted to share these thoughts above as I can state unequivocally, that I am so much happier not playing dfs, day in and day out, than I would have ever thought possible. I don’t share this experience to assert a feeling that dfs is presently unbeatable (though I suspect it may be) or that I plan to resurrect my dfs playing with a fierce determination to beat dfs. I simply want to provide a perspective. My perspective is that this activity, dfs, was something that I thought was going to fulfill many of my monetary, achievement, and recognition needs. Then I realized that dfs would never be able to do such. Addition by subtraction was the case rather, in that I added more time and contentedness to my day, by subtracting dfs, an activity that I thought that I couldn’t do without.

Sorry to have bored anyone that took the time to read the above. Just some thoughts that I had this morning. I hope everyone out there has, or is approaching, a life with a focus on impressing themselves, rather than impressing others. Peace be with you.

Impressing yourself is really great advice, I think it’s very easy for people to forget that it is for them and not some weird black mirror episode where they have totally lost touch with what they are about and what they enjoy.

well said, Zombie!

I am effing terrible at DFS.

Thanks, Springjr! I see what you are saying. It seems that far too many people today have lost their individuality, and what it is that will truly bring happiness into their lives. I find it unfortunate that people feel like they have to live chasing some ghost of approval that others have deemed agreeable, rather than in accordance with what they were meant to. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Thanks, brother! Oh my inadequacy at dfs... I was beginning to think that I knew nothing about sports, and I know that is nowhere near the case

I hope that all is well with you and the various grinds.

Week 4:
[7/7] Meditate for a minimum of 5 minutes each day
[5/7] Exercise a minimum of 4 days each week. (minimum of 25 minute workout)
[7/7] Feed the wolf of love, starve the wolf of hate
[0 hours] 600 hours of live poker
[15 hours] 400 hours of online poker 38.5
[5/7, 2/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.



I was once again able to practice meditation each day of the week. I continued trending closer to 9-10 minutes of meditation each day, as opposed to the 5 minutes stipulated in my goals. I believe that I will continue to lengthen the duration of each meditation session as I persist in my practice.

In week 4, I was able to add an additional day of exercise into the mix. As I progress through the year, I anticipate moving to 6 days of exercise per week. If I keep the 25 minute minimum threshold on the exercise sessions, I will certainly be moving to 6 days per week of exercise. Although, I envision that I will be lengthening my exercise session to 35-40 minutes per sessions. Most of my exercise sessions typically run into the 40 minute territory as it is.

The wolf of love had no issue reigning supreme this week, as it was fed like a champ. The wolf of hate reminded me that it was there on occasion, but I was able to batten it down without much resistance each day.

The lack of live poke hours is a severe issue. In all honesty, despite the illness that I experienced at the start of the year, which I am was unable to determine whether or not was a light touch of the flu, I am not too eager to get out in the influenza incubator that is the casino/cardoom and risk fate. Suffice to say my already tempered motivation to hit the live card room has been severely hampered by this flu outbreak. I hope each of you out there are staying healthy and running well in the flu avoidance game.

I was able to put in a few hours online this week. I was on pace to surpass 20 hours easily this week, as I was able to get the week off to a decent enough start with the week. However, I ran into some other duties that dictated I abdicate any sort of hour accumulation that I had in mind.

On the drinking front, I slipped up on 2 nights this week where I wasn’t able to stay within my 3 drink means. I added an additional night of no alcohol to this week that I failed to meet in the previous two weeks. One of the two nights that I went overboard was more of an instance of staying up much later than I anticipated, and waking up much too early. This I think made me feel like I imbibed well beyond my means, and I am not sure that is actually the case, as I was splitting a few 12oz craft beers with a buddy.

Let’s all keep getting after it with our goals this year, as I start to get after this week. Peace be with all of you.

Week 5:
[7/7] Meditate for a minimum of 5 minutes each day
[6/7] Exercise a minimum of 4 days each week. (minimum of 25 minute workout)
[5/7] Feed the wolf of love, starve the wolf of hate
[0 hours] 600 hours of live poker
[23 hours] 400 hours of online poker 61.5
[5/7, 0/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.



Daily meditation is becoming easier and easier. I didn’t have any issues carving out time to meditate, or meeting the 5 minute benchmark. Most of my sessions of meditation are in the neighborhood of 10 minutes. I see this as a possible new goal line for my meditation time.

I squeezed in an extra workout from the typical 5/week that I had been posting up. I could have very easily turned in a week of 7/7 but I felt that my body should have one day of complete rest as there was some residual soreness from a couple of the workouts that I employed near the end of the week. I plan on making 6/week workouts a staple of the routine at this point.

This week saw me with a sour demeanor during a couple of days that I just couldn’t shake. I am not sure what this emotional state was an extension of, but it was there and I relented to it. I am pleased to be mindful of my emotional state even in less than ideal settings, but I am disappointed in my inability to be more tolerant during this mood. 2 missed days may be a bit unfair to myself, but I want to be as accountable for my actions as possible.

Another goose egg for live hours. 23 hours for online hours is a trend in the right direction. This week I am shooting for 30 hours. I am at 61.5 hours of total online hours in 2018. Here is a hand played from last week:

Had a note on V1 that just said: “can fire all 3 barrels & bet 1/2 pot otr w/ AK high, felt like they thought they were bluffing;”

So my thoughts were such that I thought this V could make some plays without a hand, and may be a bit on the looser side.

Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: (2).
Seat 2: Hero (2.41). Ac9d
Seat 3: (2).
Seat 4 BB: V1 (2.12).
Seat 6: (3.05).

Seat 1 folds, Seat 3 folds, Hero raises (0.06), Seat 6 folds, V1 raises (0.18), Hero raises (0.50), V1 calls (0.36)

*** FLOP ***: [5 10 4]

V1 checks, Hero checks

*** TURN ***: [5 10 4 [9]

V1 bets (0.81), Hero calls (0.81)

*** RIVER ***: [5 10 4 9] [K]

V1 allin (0.75), Hero calls (0.75)

Pot: 4.04.

Spoiler:

Player V1 shows AsQc, MHIG

My drinking stayed pretty consistent with past weeks. Two days were I had more than 3 alcoholic drinks, but that was capped at 4-5 drinks on those instances. Overall my drinking is much more in check this time of this year than it was last. Snapshots of a couple of brews.





The Stellar IPA was meh. A little bit too malty for my taste in an IPA. Another problem was the staleness, but this was expected. Local liquor store had a dearth of cheap beers that were past their freshness dates, so I can’t complain too much as this pint was only $1.99. The Milk Stout on the other hand is tremendous. Wasn’t my first run-in with this beer, and it won’t be my last.

As an aside, I am sort of glad that football season is over. NFL football just doesn’t do it for me, and the dedication that sports talk pays to it over the top in my opinion. I am looking forward to the focus shifting to NBA and MLB. Rant over. Looking to possibly play some tournament poker when the Rungood series and WSOPc run through the local joints. I may not end up firing though, everyone knows how this goes itt. Best wishes to all out there on the grind.


“Great things are done when men and mountains meet” -- William Blake

Funny/odd hand from this morning. 6max, I open(3bb) A7o utg, with a splashy fish in the BB who has 45bb. Button player (100bb stack) 3b to 6.5bb (this seemed like a weak hand). Fish in the BB flats the 3b, and I 4b to 21bb. I feel as though I am just going to take it a lot of the time pf, or get shoved on by the button and I will be folding. Button flats, and fish shoves 40bb. I think that the fish is really light here and think that this is a good spot to shove myself. I shove and button calls.

Button has 75 & Fish has KT. Kind of a wild hand, that wasn't played so well be me. In game, given the players and the action, A7o didn't seem like such a terrible hand.

and now some recent thoughts I would like to share...

We shouldn’t be embarrassed by what we don’t know. Embarrassment should exist in an unwillingness to seek truth and continued learning. An unwillingness to acknowledge what one doesn’t know or understand, is indication of a weak will, and signals a meek existence. I believe this state of mind is a choice, but I am not sure if it is conscious or unconscious. I see stationary minds, or perhaps minds with arrested elevation in consciousness, and kindly wave at them as I attempt to transcend what it is that I previously knew and thought. The attempts of others to define you, are hopes that you will be stopped on your intellectual journey, and if not completely stopped, woefully slowed down. To be kept dreaming. We shouldn’t allow this. Do not accept the definition of yourself that others offer. We should all search deep within ourselves and find out who and what we are, and leave a trail that leads to the truth of us, rather than the truth that has been assigned to us.

Just played a wild hand that was appropriate for nearing the end of a rollercoaster day.

The V in this hand is on another table that I am playing as well, and I just noticed them bluff a river, but I was simultaneously in the aforementioned wild hand with them, and I couldn’t check out the replay to see exactly how the hand went down. I have seen them at the tables in the past, but it has been sometime. I seemed to remember them being on the looser side.


Hj: (109.5bb)
Co: V1 (106bb)
Button: (141.4bb)
Sb: (118.5bb)
Bb: (237bb)
Utg: Hero(169.5bb). AT


Hero raises (3bb), Hj folds, V1 calls (3bb), Button folds, Sb folds, Bb folds

Flop: 489

Hero checks, V1 bets (5.5bb), Hero calls (5.5bb). Seemed like an okay board to peel against a Laggy player. I don’t see much that hits this V’s Co flatting range. I also consider that I have a few good cards that can hit the turn.

Turn: 5d

Hero checks, V1 bets (13.5bb), Hero calls (13.5bb). I don’t see much that changed w/ the turn. In fact, any hand that I think that is ahead of me, this player 3b pf, with maybe the exception of 44,55. I am feeling a range of hands like JT,QJ,KQo, and then some hands that I am crushed.

River: K

Hero checks, V1 allin (84bb), Hero calls (84bb). I still feel like the hands that I mentioned above are in V’s range. I’m not positive that this V is going to ram it in with unimproved sets or a K on w/ this runout. Combine all of the mentioned w/ the nature of the player and the simultaneously bluffing on the other table and I come up w/ a call.




I am gonna need 7 hours tomorrow to hit the 30 that I set as my goal for the week. Let's see if I can actually hit a goal in this thread.

Also, I got a sweet workout in today since, my insolence prevailed and I missed a workout yesterday. I kept a pretty grueling pace throughout the workout to try and recoup for some of my missed time yesterday. I guess it will be five workout days only for me this week though. Here is what my workout looked like:

Super Sets (45 sec. rest between sets):
Push-up x15 & (2)30lb db @ shoulders squat x10 (set x4)
Chin-up x5 & 30lb db @ chest split squat x10(each leg) (set x3)
Bowties w/ (2) 30lb db's x6 & Stiff leg dead lift w/ (2) 30 lb db's (set x3)

Circuit (30 sec. rest between sets) 4x's through:
Calf raise x21
Double ab crunch x15
Lying leg lift x15
Lying hip thrust w/ 30lb db x10

A hand from the grind today:

Bb: V2 (100bb)
Utg: V1 (101bb)
Co: Hero (229.5bb) KQ
Button: (117.5bb)
Sb: dpockyyy (108bb)


V1 calls (1bb), Hero raises (4bb), Button folds, Player Sb folds, V2 raises (7bb), V1 calls (7bb), Hero calls (4bb). Seems okay to flat here in position. Especially considering the small 3b, which I have found to be weaker hands a majority of the time.

Flop: 4K6

V2 checks, V1 checks, Hero bets (15bb), V2 calls (15bb), V2 folds. Feels like I have the best hand here almost all of the time when I am checked to by the pfr. I think V2 is going to cbet anything that connects, and I have the fd strongly in mind in this regard.

Turn: 3

V2 checks, Hero checks. I’m not too worried about the S falling ott, but I want to do some pot control if I am up against a hand like AA or AK, even though this feels unlikely. I also figure that I am going to induce some bluffs otr with a check back ott.

River: 3

V2 bets (39bb), Hero calls (39bb). I decide on a call as I veiw the overbt as an attempt to steal the pot alot of the time, and think that hands that are ahead of me are going with a more value sized bet.

Pot: 126bb


Part of the rationale in the hand above re: V2 possibly having AA, I have noticed a lot of players at the micro’s limping and flatting raises w/ AA preflop. Later in my session this evening, a player to my direct left in the Co flats w/ AA when I pfr w/ 44. We see a J46x flop and he 4b gets it in. For the first time that I recall from my entire poker history I flopped sets in back to back hands. Still hunting for 30 hours this week as the midnight hour looms. Would be about there already, but the internet hit the skids this afternoon. No excuses though, I slacked on hours during the week and put myself up against it.

Week 6:
[6/7] Meditate for a minimum of 5 minutes each day
[5/7] Exercise a minimum of 4 days each week. (minimum of 25 minute workout)
[7/7] Feed the wolf of love, starve the wolf of hate
[0 hours] 600 hours of live poker
[30 hours] 400 hours of online poker 91.5
[4/7, 0/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.


Well, I missed a day of meditation, which is something that I didn't envision happening. Obviously I am attempting to meet or exceed each of the goals that I have set, but unlike most, I won't beat myself up if I fall short of a goal. I think that the world can be hard enough on us without us tearing ourselves up. I will simply keep my goals in mind, refocus my efforts, and try to discern why I fell short. Once I know and understand what undermined my efforts, I believe that there is greater potential for growth.

I had in mind 5 days of exercise per week. Although I missed the mark by 1 day, I turned in one day that was a bit more strenuous. I can feel my cardiovascular endurance improving and my my muscles strengthening, almost to the point where I may need to get a gym membership. To this point, I have been designing all of my workouts around 2 -30lb db's, 2- 7llb db's, a weight bar w/ 120lbs, a treadmill, and a chin-up bar. I have been pretty creative thus far, but I am think that I need more weights and equipment for some more traditional strength training exercises if I want to transform my physique beyond what it presently is.

ELE- Everybody Love Everybody

No live poker this week, but I am inching closer and closer to the door. I was able to play 30 hours online. I pushed through the internet outage yesterday afternoon, and grinded (ground? Grouwnd? whatever!) right up until midnight to get the hours in for the week. It felt great to actually meet a goal that I set itt, however feeble the actual goal outline may have been.

This week was probably my most feeble attempt to limit alcohol intake this year. I never really went off the rails in any one day or evening, but I pushed into a couple of 4 drink nights. We may be headed for a week of no alcohol challenge.

I was thinking last evening about meeting my challenge to play 30 hours online this week. Like I stated earlier, this is no herculean feat by any means. However, it is a goal that I set, and a goal that I met. This is something that was very encouraging for me. I thought back to all of the life changes that I have made throughout the run of this thread, and analyzed deeply if I would have made so many changes if I hadn't started this thing. I don't believe that I would have. I am constantly thinking of my accountability to myself by way of this thread. So many of my daily thoughts hearken back to this thread, and not wanting to embarrass myself to much with what I may have to post, or a goal I fell way short of. Inevitably this happens, but the mindfulness of the act pushing me in a way that I find beneficial. Anyway, I plan to shoot for 30 hours online again this week, as well as finding two nights with no alcohol as my goals for this week. Also, I am going to the live table for at least one session. Peace be with all.

I've been reading quite a bit of mental work stuff lately, and I think you've got the right mindset. When we set goals, we should really be looking at day-to-day results or week-to-week results rather than an entire year or even a month. When you say "600 hours live in a year", that sounds like a lot. Break it down into "15 hours live in a week," and not only does it seem more feasible, but you're more likely to accomplish it. So kudos for breaking things down into the simpler parts!

One thing I do want to point out while reading some of the HH. A lot of lines seem to be "creative." It seems like they've all worked so far, but your highest WR at micro stakes is still going to be simple ABC poker. The A7o hand for instance. Even with fish in BB, it's still a fold. Our hand is just going to play poorly postflop. We're going to have to rely on a lot of folds to win and we don't really have a hand that's going to be able to semi-bluff. When we bluff, we're going to have a zero equity bluff with an SPR around 5. So the stack off ranges, theoretically, become wider as well post-flop. I guess I would just call the 3bet? Once we 4bet, we're committed when the BB shoves, as we're taking the worst of a coin flip HU against a 30% or so range from him.

I'll share a HH where I had similar thoughts as you did, and this is usually what happens. I opened A5o to $7 in CO. SB, a shortstack, called. BB, a strange little dude who had 3bet me a couple of times earlier, 3bet me to $17. I decide to 4bet to $55. SB jams for $91 total, and BB just flat calls. And now I'm stuck. The pot is $237 and it's $36 for me to call. I'm getting roughly 7:1. I theoretically can't fold any hand here. So because I thought BB was weak and ignored the player in between, I wound up losing $84 more than what I should have.

(BTW, flop came K44 or something. BB bet like $40 and I had to fold. BB had TT, SB had AA).

Nice progress though! It's good to see you creeping your way back into poker!

Week 7:
[5/7] Meditate for a minimum of 5 minutes each day
[6/7] Exercise a minimum of 4 days each week. (minimum of 25 minute workout)
[7/7] Feed the wolf of love, starve the wolf of hate
[0 hours] 600 hours of live poker
[30.5 hours] 400 hours of online poker 122
[4/7, 2/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.


I missed meditating on two of the days from the past week. Not really sure where the time went, as I got to the end of the day and realized that I hadn't practiced. Part of the problem with missing meditation is that I still haven't set aside a specific time each day that I practice, I pretty much sit down to meditate when I see fit. In essence, I haven't made meditation the priority that I would like.

There were a couple of days that I dragged myself through an exercise this past week. I am happy to have exercised 6 days this past week. 6 days of exercise should be the norm. All of the exercise routines touched a minimum of 25 minutes, but this should be trending closer to 35 minutes moving forward.

One of my specific weekly goals was to get in the live scene this week. I didn't make it. I have structured a weekly routine pretty specific at this point to what is in my goal list, and I was unable to make the necessary adjustment to make a trip to the live arena happen. Part of my upping my live hours was to prove to myself that it is not an issue of putting in the hours playing poker per se, but more an issue of the hour travel to, and hour travel from, the poker room. when this thread first fired up, I had a small cardroom that was an 15 minutes from home, and made hour accumulation much more feasible. The two hour round trip started to wear on me, and contributed immensely to wearing me down throughout the grind. No excuses, I just need to make the necessary adjustments to meet the 600 hours, and soon...

I was once again able to meet the 30 hour online benchmark for the week. I am starting to find that 30 hours is a bit of a breeze, and I am not really pushing myself with this goal line. I am going to set the line for week 8 at 35 hours. A hand from this past week:

Not much information on any of the players at this table, which is pretty rare at this point through my play in the micro’s. This table has been playing pretty passive overall. Loose and passive specifically.

2NL
Bb: V3 (3.13)
Utg: (2.95)
Utg+1: (3.12)
Hj: V1 (1.59)
Co: V2 (2.01)
Button: Hero (2.68). 67
Sb: (1.13)


Utg folds, Utg+1 folds, V1 calls (0.02), V2calls (0.02), Hero raises (0.10), Sb folds, V3 calls (0.08), V1 folds, V2 calls (0.08). I was on the fence whether I wanted to raise pf, or overlimp. Ultimately, being able to take initiative with mostly passive play, and being in position led me to the obvious raise.

Pot: 0.31
Flop: 665

V3 checks, V2 checks, Hero bets (0.18), V3 calls (0.18), V2 folds. Great flop considering there were so many players to see it. Seems like a pretty clear betting situation to get some money into the pot.

Pot: 0.67
Turn: A

V3 checks, Hero checks. Not necessarily checking because I think this card is entirely bad. I feel like I can induce some bluffs otr, and the A is seemingly a big part of floating ranges from the Bb. Even though this game has been playing passively, which I am not sure precludes an A high floating the flop.

0.67
River: K

V3 bets (0.52), Hero calls (0.52). Sort of an intersting river card. V3 threw this bet out fairly quickly. With the board being paired, even though it is unlikely I have boated up, V might have to consider it somewhat here. Also, what combo’s get to this river and then have the confidence to value bet and get called by worse. QJ, JT, J9, even some of those would probably be weary of throwing out a bet of this size. At the end of my thought process, this felt like a blocking/bluff type bet.

Spoiler:

V3 shows A9 and mhig

My last week specific goal was to have two nights of no alcohol. I was able to reach this mark. There were still two nights that I went overboard on my "no day over 3 drinks," but not by much. With the exception of getting white girl wasted one evening on Kentucky Deluxe, the cheapest of the cheap, the dirtest of the dirt:


the culprit, or maybe it should be a pic of my lack of will power and poor decision making. Perhaps it is


during the weekly gathering I have with two friends where we watch a television series ( currently: The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story - Season 2), and wax completely unintelligible life theory.

On the grind this week, I am aiming again for two days of no alcohol and 35 hours of online grind. I was looking at a trip to Shreveport during this week, but extenuating circumstances have pushed that to next week possible. Maybe I will have something interesting for the thread through that trip. I am almost certain that a trip to Shreveport will force me into the live poker scene for at least a few hours. Best of luck to all out there on their own personal grind.

I forgot to include my current online brm approach in my last thread. Since I am plugging in some decent hours, I might as well have an approach to move up as I go.

Online BRM:
Once I get to 10 buy-ins of a stake, I begin to play at that level. If my bankroll falls to 10 buy-ins of the previous stake, I revert to playing the lower stake.

Okay, so that was short and simple. I am about 2 bi's from moving on to 5NL. I left about $13 in my account on ACR after cashing out back, oh I'm not really sure when. Sometime last year.

Thanks! I feel like I am much more in control of my fate when I am focusing on doing certain things day-in and day-out, rather than casting a wide net. Knowing myself, if I throw out a blanket, long-term goal, such as so many hours played for the year, I am giving myself much to wide of a time frame and will procrastination will ensue.

I have come to realize that if I keep my goals simple, and daily, there will be a compounding result to my efforts at the end of the year. If I tried to set a goal of 600 hours of live poker played for the year, I would go out and try to play all 600 hours in one session, burn out, and never pick the effort back up. Although, I may have chosen a poor example for this illustration at this point, considering my one live session played this year

It's like you read my mind. I came to a realization a few days ago, that each of the hh's that I have shared in the last few posts have been hands that I won in an unorthodox manner. Then I realized, this is probably some sort of subconscious way of massaging my ego. My takeaway is that I have been playing pretty fancy, and running quite pure. I have been working as of late to play more ABC, with perhaps a slight lean to wide opening.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. Like I stated in your thread, reading your hh analysis almost always makes something click in my mind with regard to my approach to poker.

Go Pokes! Another high quality win for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Just need to grab a few more wins to finish boosting that March Madness resume.

Week 8:
[6/7] Meditate for a minimum of 5 minutes each day
[4/7] Exercise a minimum of 4 days each week. (minimum of 25 minute workout)
[7/7] Feed the wolf of love, starve the wolf of hate
[0 hours] 600 hours of live poker
[35.5 hours] 400 hours of online poker 157.5
[5/7, 0/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.


Kind of an up and down week as far as meeting goals. I got to my online hours goal. I missed the mark on two days of no alcohol. So, I was 50% on my goals specific for the week. Outside of the specific goals I set, it was a great week, rainy weather aside. One of my oldest buddies was in town for the weekend and got to spend some time with him. He is one of the few political allies that I have from around our neck of the woods, and one of the few people that is educated on politics and likes to converse on the topic that I get face to face time with every so often.

I missed a day of meditation, but I got back to 6 days. The day that I missed came down to late in the evening, and I could have forced myself to sit for 5 minutes and trudge through, but I didn't want to force it as I think this runs a bit counter to zazen.

The days of exercise for the week were also on the paltry side. Although, I could feel that my body needed a bit more rest this week. rest truly is instrumental to any sort physiological growth. Not to mention avoiding burnout and potential injury. I've heard it said, "its not the 1 hour you put in at the gym each day, it's the 23 outside of the gym that count the most." I believe that is Mark Twight, original founder of Gym Jones, and trainer to the actors of the film 300.

As I mentioned, I was able to meet 35 hours of online play for the week. I mixed in 2nl, 2plo, and some $1.50 sng's. The bankroll is inching ever closer to the jump to 5nl. I had a very tilting day on Saturday. I mention my tilting day because I had had very few of them that I could remember of late. Oh the rage that I felt. Saturday was capped off with my $15 on Carbon being on the line with the with the under 221 in the Laker/Kings games. Predictably, the game ended on 221 w/ Josh Hart hitting 2 ft's w/ 1.5 seconds left. There was also a bizaarre fould by KCP of the Lakers on Bogdon Bogdonovic shooting, and hitting, a 3 w/ about 15 sec. left and the Kings down by just 6. Suffice to say it was a wild streak to 221 and left me busto on Carbon.

A hand from the week:
Note on V is that he is a passive player. Also, in a hand of note Pf they had flat called a 4bet ip w/ AKo. I feel like my image is a pretty straight forward one. Maybe in some minds I was opening up a bit more pf than standard.

Button: (1.52)
Sb: (3.88)
Bb: (1.43)
Utg: (2.16)
Utg+1: V1 (2)
Lj: Hero (2.30). KK
Hj: (1.92)
Co: (2)

Utg folds, Player V1 raises (0.06), Hero raises (0.21), Hj folds, Co folds, Button folds, Sb folds, Bb folds, Player V1 calls (0.15). Standard pf raise here. I am pretty certain that V1’s opening range in ep is pretty narrow due to the notes and my observations on their play.

Pot: 0.45
Flop: 3A7

V1 checks, Hero checks. Not a lot of A’s that V has in their range. AKs-AJs imo. Maybe only down to AQo in reality. I don’t think V is going to get crazy due to their playing style, so I am not going to get bluffed out of the pot very often. I don’t think that this hand is going to produce a big pot very often, and think that getting to showdown somewhat cheaply is, or at least in control of the pot is my best solution.

Pot: 0.45
Turn: K

V1 bets (0.21), Hero raises (0.48), V1 allin (1.58), Hero calls (1.31). Hero image almost got me to a fold in this spot, although I am not sure that I should ever find a fold here. If V has some two clubs, it is at least balanced out, by the one club cards they could have. Based on the play of the hand, I could see some sort of set over set sort of hands. I find it much more realistic that V has AA than 33, and about as likely V has AA as 77.

River: J

Spoiler:

V shows 77 and mhig.

I mentioned earlier in this post that I failed to abstain completely from alcohol for two days. However, There were only two days that I went beyond the 3 alcoholic drinks for the day threshold. So, I am going to set mark for this week that I had last, and push hard to have two completely sober days this week. Maybe my buddy being back out of town will help turn the tide.

In addition to running it back with this alcohol challenge for the week, I am going to shoot for 35 hours online once again. If I hit 35 hours for the second straight week, I am going to bump the mark up to 40 hours for the following week. In addition to the two mentioned goals specific for the week, I am going to put in one session of live poker, min.

So, that should do it for my weekly goals, and some more refined goals for this week. best of luck to everyone on their own personal grind. Peace be with all of you.

So, this hand came up last night. It displays the weird dynamic of some players that I have been encountering. V1 in this hand has a note that they are on the looser side, and that I suspect them taking some weird lines.

Co: V2 (2.22)
Button: Hero (2.39) JJ
Sb: (2.35)
Bb: (2)
Utg: V1 (2.09)
Mp: (4.14)

V1 raises (0.06), mp folds, V2 calls (0.06), Hero raises (0.28), Sb folds, Bb folds, V1 raises (0.87), V2 folds, Hero calls (0.65). I don’t really like this line of flatting pf. The sizing of V1 kind of caught me off guard. Most of the player pool has either been 4b shoving pf, or flatting 3b’s oop. So, my radar is up that this player could be up to something. Additionally, I feel that I may have induced an odd raise size from V1, as I turned my hand a little face up by sizing up. I seem to be saying that I have 99-JJ, I think. Ohsnapz, this is not a good example of the abc play that I said I would be reimplementing.

Pot: 1.83
Flop: 584

V1 checks, Hero checks. After V1 checks back to me, V1 has to either be trying to get to showdown, or is trying to induce me to stick it in, as they have AA-KK.

Pot: 1.83
Turn: 4

V1 allin (1.16), Hero calls (1.16). I take my time bank all the way down before making the call. In my assesment, V1’s range is AA-99, AKs-AJs. In the back of my mind, I put a couple of rando hands in there as well. I feel like I am flipping a coin with this.

Pot: 4.06
River: 10




I have no doubt been running pretty pure of late. This V’s line really hearkens to a lot of the play that I have been seeing at 2nl. What has made it tough, is mining out the player’s that are capable of taking these sorts of lines and the nittier players that are grinding it out. I have notes on a large percentage of the player pool that I am playing against at this point and that has been playing into my decision making, and odd lines that I myself have been taking.

Also, I have the bankroll on ACR to move to 5nl at this point, but I am not sure if I want to play out the rest of the week at 2nl and 2plo, or jump on up. At the moment, I am thinking of sticking to the lower limit and moving up at the start of the next week. I may change my mind on this at some point during the week.

Line seems fine. I'm torn between betting flop ourselves and just checking. The pro to betting the flop is we don't allow a potential scare card to come - diamond, 6, 7, A, K, Q, etc. The first half may kill our action, the second makes it impossible to call a bet. The con is that it's tough to get value from worse. But we also pick up the pot nearly 100% of the time. Most villains aren't checking this flop back in a 4bet pot with an overpair. They're just jamming flop.

Also another note, the 3bet size is fine. Online I normally go 3x + whatever callers. So standard size would be about $0.24, $0.28 isn't much off.

Well, my Poker got KU again. First time Bill Self has been swept in a Big12 season series during his tenure at KU. I believe Bill Self was 102-0 in that regard. In any case, my feel is that OSU is going to need a couple of Big12 tourney wins to make the dance.

I actually got into the cardoom last night. I posted a little over 3 hours, and have at least one hand to report. I sort of botched it, but I am not certain how bad at the moment. Also, I took a buddy with me to play for his first live casino poker introduction. He is eager to get back in there and grind. My buddy is a BJ & slot whale, so it was funny to hear him say that he had some nerves/anxiety about putting money into pots at 1/2, when I have seen him play some $1200 hands of BJ, and considering his massive slot sessions. Just goes to show that poker excites certain emotions in many kinds of people regardless of the stakes. I have some more to say on this topic, but will save it for a more in depth analysis.

Thanks for that input. The more I thought about my line post hand, it didn't feel all that spewy like it did somewhat during the hand. Needless to say, I had a new string of notes to add to this player's profile.

Week 9:
[5/7] Meditate for a minimum of 5 minutes each day
[5/7] Exercise a minimum of 4 days each week. (minimum of 25 minute workout)
[7/7] Feed the wolf of love, starve the wolf of hate
[3 hours] 600 hours of live poker
[32 hours] 400 hours of online poker 189.5
[6/7, 1/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.


As is on display, I missed a couple of days of meditation. When I get busy in the afternoon, and am forced to defer meditation to the evening, I am just not feeling it as much. Meditation has more utility to me in the morning and afternoon. I did jump over the 10 minute mark with a couple of my meditations this week, which set a high water mark of sorts.

The workouts that I have been laying out, particularly over the past week, have been hitting some very strenuous territory. I decided to give myself a couple of strategically placed rest days, so that I could push myself into more arduous depths. My body is starting to feel more fit, and strong, like my ball playing days in college.

Live poker was actually a thing this week. Friday night I hit the casino with my buddy, his first time playing poker in a live casino setting. Same old, same old, with live poker. Pretty much an endless stream of poor poker playing, and hoping that you get some hands to value bet villain's without mercy. I only played 3 hours, and pretty much saw AA or 52o for the majority of my hands. There was one hand of note from the short session:

I played a hand against V1 just a short time earlier. I pfr w/ KThh and got 3 callers, including v1. Flop came 78Tcc. checks to v1 who who bets $25, and I raise to $70, folds back to V1 who calls. Turn comes a 7x, v1 checks and I bet $55 and take it down. Where the profile comes into play is v1's speech. He is a really friendly lower 30's guy that says it would have been wrong for him to hit his draw that he needed, and didn't want to do that to me.

Hero, $425, TAG, Sb, AdAs
V1, $184, utg, sort of loose/splashy
V2, $156, in description above, ep
V3, $200, gambly, button straddle

limps to hero, raise to $20, all call.

Pot: $80
Flop: 54T

Hero bets out $25. V1 calls, V2 shoves ai for $136. V3 thinks, mutters, folds. Hero thinks and calls. V1 pretty quickly shoves all in for $164. Back to me, it is $28 more to call, and I do so.

Turn: A
River: 9

Spoiler:

V1 shows 67 and V2 shows 55

Online I feel a little bit short of the 35 hours that I had set out to play. I took a 2.5 bi thumping at 5nl yesterday and couldn't muster the energy to get back on the tables. Feel's like I ave some card dead/runbad going down, so I wanted to make sure that my mind was in the proper place to handle this sort of scenario before digging in on some hours. A hand from some online battling:

5NL
Sb: V3 (12.22)
Bb: V4 (8.16) really fishy
Utg: V1 (1.99) really fishy
Utg1: (5.49)
Mp: (5.55)
Lj: (2.14)
Hj: (5.12)
Co: Hero (6.43) QT
Button: V2 (4.76).

V1 calls (0.05), Utg1 folds, Mp folds, Lj folds, Hj folds, Hero calls (0.05), V2 calls (0.05), V3 calls (0.03), V4 checks. Not necessarily a hand that overlimp with often, but this table was playing fairly loose/passive, and just had some spots that I am trying to get into hands with.

Pot: 0.25
Flop: 10A10

V3 checks, V4 checks, V1 bets (0.05), Hero calls (0.05), V2 calls (0.05), V3 folds, V4 folds. This seems to be a nice flop. I don’t bet, not fearing any draws really, and want to try ensure that an A stays in.

Pot: 0.40
Turn: 2

V1 bets (0.48), Hero calls (0.48), V2 calls (0.48). Interesting overbet of the pot on a blank turn. I can’t really get into the mind of a superfish here, but I want to let them continue blasting away. I may be behind, but this is kind of the spot that I am looking to get into w/ these type of players. We aren't playing deep either, so decision making seemed kind of straight forward.

Pot: 1.84
River: J

V1 checks, Hero bets (0.75), V2 calls (0.75), V1 allin (1.41), Hero calls (0.66), V2 calls (0.66). Not the most glamorous river card, as some KQ gets to broadway, and one of the T’s, a likely one, I am now behind. I am not enamored with this spot, but I am getting some favorable pot odds, and have enough hands beat, I believe to make the call.

Spoiler:

V2 does not show cards, V1 shows: Two pairs. As and 10s As 8d

On the drinking front, I had one of the more sober weeks of the year. Last night was the only evening that I had more than a single alcoholic beverage. I didn't get to my two alcohol free days, but I did have the one and several additional days were I had just one beer. I picked this brew up Friday evening before the poker session:


The style is a Dark Wheat Ale, and it is from the Dead Armadillo Brewery in Tulsa, OK. Tasty beer that reminded me of a Dunkel style beer, with some hints of hand fruit, namely pear. Nice earthy tones to go with the ambling malt.

Then there were a couple of post session beers at the casino bar. Another Dead Armadillo beer makes an appearnce, the one pictured is there standard Ale. The darker beer pictured in the foreground is an exquisite Whiskey Barrel aged Boulavard that checks in at just under 18%abv. The WBA is smooth as eggs and carries some coconut flavor. It is a high level beer.


Well, that's a pretty long write-up. I don't believe that I am going to set any new specific goals for this week. I am sticking with the 35 hour online mark, and at least one live poker session for the week. On Thursday night I am going to see the Thunder take on the Suns. I have a theory where seeing the Suns game is more +ev than seeing any other team in the league playing the Thunder in Loud City. I may get into my gto approach to OKC game attendance at some point. I am 3-0 at the moment with my Thunder attendance. Thus far I've downed the Warriors, Nuggets, and Spurs, and will be looking to add the suns to the mount. Best to all of you out there, peace be with you.

Well, back down to 2nl for me. Can't seem to get to showdown with the best hand. Tons of runouts where I catch enough that I have to make a call and villain shows up w/ the top of their range. No doubt some poor play throughout the jump on my part. This is what I will be working on to shame myself for my poor efforts:



This is what you deserve now, Zombie. (excuse my foray into 3rd person.)

Still in the middle of some extremely odd run of the cards. Got V's limp calling my 10bb 3b utg w/ Q8o (75bb). I hold QQ and flop comes 883r. Bet flop, v calls. Turn 5 and check/ai and holds. Alot of weird rivered sets leaving me scratching my head how they got there along the way as well. No complaints, just grinding through the odd run of v's getting there. Back to it.

I moved to 4-0 on my Thunder live basketball record. The Suns were probably the easiest of the wins, although they have a win and 2 other tough games against the Thunder this year. All around enjoyable time. Here is a pic of the Riverwalk in Bricktown, from the jaunt to the game:



I caught a few pictures of the action that I thought were neat. We were in the rafters, but the view is actually pretty nice no matter where you are at in the arena. I can’t say the same for MLB games, because those views can get pretty obscured the farther out you are. NBA you kind of seem to sit on top of the action imo.

Melo after drilling a 3:


Adams walking the tightrope to preserve a posession:


Adams and Russ slapping hands:


HH:
2nl
Only history with V was a hand where hero Bb and has A9x and I call otf and ott of K high monotone board. Raise pf from V otb was min. And flop and turn bets were ½ pot. I hit the 4 flush otr and donked out ⅔ pot. V thought for a bit then folds.


Hj: V1(2.06)
Co: (2)
Button: hero (2.44) AJ
Sb: (2.01)
Bb: (2)
Utg: (2)

Utg folds, V1 raises (0.07), Co folds, hero calls (0.07), Sb folds, Bb folds. I almost always just flat AJo out of the blinds, to a single raise, 6-handed. Slightly less so pf when I am in position. To me, AJ kind of plays weird at the micro stakes pf, whether ip or oop, so I tend to take some more passive lines.

Pot: (0.17)
Flop: 66A

V1 bets (0.12), hero calls (0.12). Seems that more often than not, I am up against a better A here, even though there are only the two that beat me. I have the best hand a good portion of the time and have to call. I feel like V is going to make it apparent w/ their line if they have a better A.

Pot: (0.41)
Turn: Qs

V1 bets (0.39), hero calls (0.39). Less likely that V has AQ now, but still in the realm of possibility. The bet size of V just doesn't feel like a value bet from an AQ or AK. I don't understand why V would bet so much with AQ or AK here.

Pot: (1.19)
River: Qd

V1 allin (1.48), hero calls (1.48). Now I feel like AK is the only better A that I was in this hand with. I can't imagine any Q's that took this line to the river, other than maybe QQ, but that seems too far fetched. Maybe there are some 6's, but maybe only A6, K6s, 67s, 56s? Ultimately, this line feels like the scale is tipped more towards bluffs and A's trying to fold out the chops. After deciding that the decision is 50/50, I go with my read on the situation and decide to live with whatever it is V shows down.




Is my play in this hand standard, unusual, spewy?

I am not going to get to 35 hours online this week. Between getting under the hood on a stalled out vehicle (and I now a minuscule amount about automotive repairs), internet outages and slow connection, and day venture to see the Thunder, I am feeling myself coming up quite short this week. The distractions from the minor run bad period haven't gone completely unwelcome however. Sometimes it is nice to get away from poker, even if it is in effort to improve your automotive repair chops.

Week 10:
[7/7] Meditate for a minimum of 5 minutes each day
[5/7] Exercise a minimum of 4 days each week. (minimum of 25 minute workout)
[7/7] Feed the wolf of love, starve the wolf of hate
[0 hours] 600 hours of live poker
[25.5 hours] 400 hours of online poker 215
[2/7] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.

Hit every day of the week with meditation. Several days I exceeded 10 min. of meditation. Meditation seems to be helping me keep my mind clear, and my thoughts sanguine. Moving forward, I am going to continue moving the duration of my meditation to 10 min./per.

On the exercise front, I crushed it this week. I had 3 really stout workouts, 2 upper body and 1 lower body. The only thing that I would have changed to make it the perfect week of exercise would have been to include a sixth day, but my body doesn't seem to be able to recover like it did 10 years ago. This week I plan on continuing the trend that I have been on in regard to exercise.

Poker was a little bit stagnant for the week. I didn't get in the live arena at all, and I feel about 10 hours short of my goal for online. I was running pretty poorly, then hit some tilt on Friday night. It was pretty funny actually, what put on tilt, I ended up rivering a straight after cbetting and barreling ott. However, a 3rd club fell and the V was smack talking me in the chatbox (this is the funny part, I had just been pondering whether people still communicated in the chatbox). I ended up making the call at the last second of my time bank, and V showed me the flush. After the initial shock of being **** on in the chatbox after all these years, I started to have fun with the V. The only downside is, I stopped focusing on the game. The tilt didn't really last all that long, but it was long enough to drop 3 more bi's, one where I was coolered after being ai ott and V hit a 3-outer for a bigger fh. The other 2 bi's I punted.

The alcohol consumption was out of hand this week. I am instituting a 3 day alcohol ban effective immediately. Saturday I have St. Patrick's Day festivities planned and limiting my alcohol intake leading into this weekend seems to be a positive step. Typically I don't venture out on either NYE or St. Patty's Day due to them being amateur night for the drinkers of the world, but I think it's time to see if my old theory still rings true.

Wow, I almost shipped this post before venting about the NCAA Tournament selections. My Oklahoma State team got shafted pretty hard. Now, I wouldn't be as flummoxed, if the committee had left oklahoma out as well. However, oklahoma is in, and OSU is out, when OSU beat ou twice? I am not sure how that works. All this is aside from the resume that OSU put together, beat KU twice, beat ou twice, beat WV at WV, beat TTU, beat an undefeated FSU. I'll leave the venting about Oklahoma State being left out there, but lastly, I think the ou team that made the tournament is the worst team that I recall getting an at-large bid. When I watched ou playing basketball this year, it looked like they didn't even enjoy the game, almost like their players had rather be doing anything else. Okay, that is too much dedicated to ou itt. Peace be with everyone.

So that I can shorten up the length of my weekly post for Monday, I am going to post a brief update this evening. I hit my 3 nights of no alcohol this week. I went sober Monday-Wednesday. I also got into the poker room, or rather the temporary room as the Hard Rock is running the Wsopc, and posted a session just shy of 4 hours. The game was pretty nitty with the exception of my buddy who likes to splash around a lot. I spotted Mike Caro as he was leaving the poker room and snapped a photo, but I am not sure that it would be kosher to post it itt as I didn't ask his permission. Lastly, I enjoyed some revelry of St. Patty's day in downtown Tulsa. I was surprised at the number of people that ended up congregating there.







Then I got a few shots of some murials around town, and the brunch spot my buddy and I hit before leaving town. The Prairie Brewpub is the name of the brunch spot and gets my endorsement for the food and the beer. The first beer pictured is an American Pale Ale, Flashing Green Light. It was pretty standard, but continued to reinforce the notion that I have in thinking that I enjoy a nice bitter beer with breakfast more than coffee, and I am an everyday coffee drinker. The second beer pictured was the nuts, Smoked Out, a Piwo Grodziskie, which before today I had never heard of this style of beer. The taste was truly like a food that came off of the smoker. A Piwo Grodziskie is a Polish smoked wheat beer. Apparently this style of brewing beer was nearly extinct, but has seen a recent revival.











Well, this post was by no means short, but I had a pretty eventful week and had a good deal to update on. I didn't want my Monday post being too bogged down with the stuff that I put in this post. I hope everyone out there had a happy and safe St. Patty's Day.