So, I made a deposit on Global Poker and I can't believe how easy it is to do so. I am sure they won't be operational much longer, especially considering the jinx that I just provided. The site is actually something that really agrees with my sensibilities. Global Poker>ACR, and it's not even close imo. I've got my fingers crossed that Global Poker can keep their virtual doors open.

A hand from this evening:
6-max, 4NL
Hero, $14.41, Probably would have the appearance of playing loose, but nobody seems aware as I faced no 3b's in 1.5 hours of play, Sb, KJ
V1, $4.27, Pretty close to TAG, maybe a bit on the tighter side, UTG
V2, $2.24, Mega fish, I am trying to make sure that I am in every hand they play, super loose pf & station post, button.

V1 raise to .12, V2 calls, hero calls.
pot: $.40
flop: 6TA

V1 bets .20, V2 calls, hero calls. I didn't want to bet/raise as I wanted to try and make my hand as cheaply as possible. Based on this texture and then action I am for sure getting one of these player's stacks if I make a straight or flush.
pot: $1
turn: 9

This is where things go a bit off the rails as V1 bets $2.95. V2 calls ai for $1.92. So there is $5.87 in the pot and I am certain that I am getting the $1 that V1 has left if I make my hand and folding if I whiff, so I went with $6.87 in terms of thinking of my pot odds as 2.3-1. In my head I feel as though my equity has to be right around 30% against worst case scenario of a set. I make the call.
pot: $8.82
river: J

That kind of threw a wrench into things. Also, even though I am getting crazy odds, I don't think that I can call otr if V1 sticks it in. Luckily I didn't have that tough decision to make as V1 checks,

Thoughts?

As I continue to play on Global Poker, I am enjoying the game more and more. In any case, I dabbled into some 10NL and figure if I bust my nominal $20 deposit which I was using to test the site out, depositing is easy enough that I will just put more down. In any case, I have a few hands that I wanted to post before I fire up the last session for the night.

Hand 1:
4NL, 6-max(currently 4 handed)
Hero, $4.26, hero hasn't been at the table long but has played a few hands already in that time, utg, A8
V1, $3.78, seems a bit fishy, BB

Hero raises to .12, v1 calls.
pot: $.26
flop: Q59

Not the best flop, but not the worst. V1 checks and hero bets .18 and V1 calls. I think V1 is going to fold most of the time and will not be able to continue against 2 barrels. V1 isn't a stationy fish, more of a lose call pf fish.
pot: $.62
turn: Jd

Seems like a pretty good turn card, as most of the pf calling 's are on the board. If V1 has the A I think that we are going to hear about it, and V1 has mostly Q's in this spot I believe. Action goes check check.
pot: $.62
river: Q

This feels like a really good card to get some value. V1 checks, which pretty much seems to tell me they don't have the A or K. Also, the T seems very unlikely to have found the turn. Hero bets .20. V1 calls


Hand 2:
4NL, 6-max
A hand that I biffed a bit I believe.

Hero, $4, pretty active and have been tangling with a few of the players at the table, HJ, KK
V1, $2.26, weaker player, but has been playing a bit snug, UTG
V2, $2.02, Is on on tilt and been seeing every flop for about the previous 25 hands, loose/passive, Sb

V1 raises to .08, hero raises to .28, V2 calls and V1 calls. I could have probably sized up a bit more than I did, but I didn't want to lose V1 and V2 is never going anywhere pf.
pot: $0.88
flop: 785

V2 checks, V1 bets .88, and hero calls. I am not really sure what was going on in my mind here. At the time I was torn between flatting and shoving, but kind of wanted to do what I could to keep/get V2 ai. V2 folds
pot: $2.64
turn: A

Honestly this card doesn't really scare me at all as V1's line doesn't feel that A heavy. V1 checks to me and this makes me think that I don't want to bet as it will scare V1 out if I am ahead and I value-own myself when I am behind. Hero checks.
pot: $2.62
river: 2

V1 bets .04, and this is where I should go for some value, but feel the same scenario from the turn decision exists somewhat. I am not fully dialed into what this player is doing, and I just call.

Hand 3:
10NL, 9-handed
A hand that I really muff

Hero, $6.95, haven't played many hands, JJ, HJ
V1, $10.57, Loose/passive, mp
V2, $9.80, have only seen them play one or two hands in which they seemed ABC, CO

V1 limps, hero raises to .35, V2 calls, V1 calls. I should probably be making this a slight bit more.
pot: $1.20
flop: Q24

V1 checks, hero bets .80, V2 calls, V1 folds. With this board texture and a call, we are either way ahead or way behind. I guess that AK could be in V2's range, but I am assuming that is a 3b hand for them.
pot: $2.80
turn: 7

Pretty blank turn card. Hero bets 1.20 and V2 takes extra time to think, before raising to 3.2. I feel like the backdoor spades are a possibility here. I don't really like this spot at all. So of course I call, planning to get the rest in on any non A, non K. non , river. Okay, that is a lot to fade considering that we are quite possibly behind and V2 is afraid of the 's. Should be unhappily folding here most of the time I think.
pot: $9.20
river: Ks

Seems like one of the worst cards. River goes check check and V2 shows

Went on to play some more 10NL in which I picked off a couple of bluffs with not much of a hand. The situation was tilted more towards available bluffing avenues for the ones that I picked off, but it seems like I am finding V's with so many bluffs that I am borderline turning into a station. I just need to keep my head in each hand and stay focused on the information available to me at the time. My apologies for the somewhat boring hands, but I think that it helps to write hands like these up for some self-analysis (and community feedback). Back at it for a few more hands.

Week 18:
[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
[2:30 hours] 600 hours of live poker 46:10
[23:15 hours] 400 hours of online poker 322:15
[1/7, 0/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.

It was a good week in some respects, and a poor week in some respects. 12 minutes is the new benchmark for the duration of meditation daily. Per the advice of Dubnjoy, I have been employing a 12 minute track of relaxing/meditative sounds and my focus seems to be increasing through my meditation practice. In the near future, I am going to set 15 minutes as the benchmark for each sit down I have with meditation. Unfortunately I missed a day of meditation this week, but I didn't stress over this fact as that seems to kind of defeat the purpose of meditation.

My exercise routine is ramping up as well. I am up to 30 minutes per exercise session, and the vigor has increased alongside the duration. I would like to get to 6 days/week being the norm, but I seem to be falling a day short each week. I never seem to miss a workout because I "don't feel like it," but rather because I get busy in the day and can't find the time. Seems to happen, the one day each week that I would be able to get myself to 6 days for the week I get busy with some task and fall short. Something to work on there.

I already detailed my live play this week with my tournament on Tuesday night. Online I have been auditioning Global Poker and have been very pleased with the experience. I up ~$30 playing a mix of 4NL & 10NL, then down those profits and another $10 playing the same stakes and a couple of tournaments. I ran like some serious ass over that brief downswing, flopped 4's full and got 3 outted there, AK<A4 ai pf, straight got flushed ai otf, etc. No big deal though, I am still enjoying the ease with which deposits can be made. This fact seems to take a lot of anxiety out of my game. Knowing that I don't have to fiddle fart around with crypto to make a deposit is very reassuring.

My drinking habits were pretty much trash this week. a couple of the nights that I went over the 3 drink limit were just by a skosh, but this isn't really something that I am going to try and hang my hat on. Still working on reigning this area in. Still trying to be mindful of my habits with alcohol. As for now, off to cut the grass and work on some landscaping.

What is it about that phase between solidly clapping our eyes closed and sluggishly prying them back apart that makes every ambition seem just within reach? Is the mind a kind counselor of man, knowing the limitations in each, generously giving that sweet dreamy state for man to revel in what they will never reach? Motionless and subconscious, all the dread, anxiety, and worry float into the whirring ceiling fan that now doesn't seem face-to-face so much anymore. That ceiling fan I sometimes whack my hand on when carelessly stretching out now serves as a blender and a vacuum to all my uneasiness. Maybe our dreams actually are a reminder, from the subconscious that we are within reach of our goals. We are on the cusp of our wildest ambitions. Both the kind counselor, and the sage mystic of our proximity to greatness probably exist in equal parts, but it is us as conscious thinking people that get to decide which one we take more our cue from. We get to decide which basket to put our belief eggs in.

I happened to be up earlier than usual as an actual planned notion. I woke up just around sunup to start a new watering approach for my vegetables. What spurred my transition from an early evening watering approach was the possibility of playing more live poker, which predicates my presence be out of place for early evening watering. Also, the vitality of the plants is said to improve with an early morning watering approach. In the two years past, I have been a strict early evening waterer. I'll be taking stock of my new watering experiment and hope for the best.

Lastly, a hand that I played Sunday evening that I failed to include in the post yesterday:

10NL, 9-handed
Hero, $10.32, Bb, had lost a couple of bigger pots, may appear to be steaming, definitely have the appearance of a looser player, K2
V1, $16.13, not a very good player, loose/passive/sticky
V2, $11.78, playing lots of hands, from what I have seen, they appear to be a mega-fish, but more on the passive side, stationy, early position

V1 & V2 limp, folds to hero who checks.
pot: $0.35
flop:TK2

Hero leads out for .35, V1 folds, and V2 calls.
pot: $1.05
turn: J

Hero bets 1.05, and V2 pretty quickly moves ai. I don't feel like V is doing this with a flush draw. KT,KJ,AQ,Q9 all seem possible. 22 & TT seem unlikely. Pair+fd, pair+sd also seem unlikely. I end up folding. In chat V2 says that they had JT. I end up stacking V a few hands later w/ 58s v. A2o on a A838Tr board ai otr. So it seems plausible that V2 did in fact spazz w/ JT, or turned their hand into a bluff?

As I continued to type this hand history out I think this is a question for poker stove, but I will leave it here anyway in case some of you out there have some insights.

Week 19:
[6/7] 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
[3:50 hours] 600 hours of live poker 50
[14:30 hours] 400 hours of online poker 336:45
[5/7, 0/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.


There was just a singe day that I missed my meditation once again this past week. It's typical of a day where I get many irons in the fire to miss out on meditating, but I did not stress about the loss. Each meditation of the week was 12 minutes long, and I believe that I will move the duration goal to 15 minutes late on in the week in an effort to set that as the new benchmark.

My exercise routine is beginning to really take shape now. My average exercise length was 35 min. per workout. I pushed the duration past 40 minutes on a couple of days. with each of my workouts, each set is separated by 30 sec-1 minute, so I keep a fairy strenuous pace, with a focus on some aerobic conditioning. There are a couple of days that I put the focus more on strength training, but I want more functionality to my anatomy, as well as endurance. That's probably enough talk about exercise but I could definitely get in the weeds on the topic.

Although my poker hours totals are lower than I would like for the week, I feel that I am getting into the frame of mind necessary to get serious about the grind. I played on Saturday night with the intention of a minimum 4 hour session when my table broke and I was just short of my goal. Instead of getting re-instituted at a new table for a short amount of time, I decided to wrap up my $187 profit and call it a night. Early in the session I had my flopped set busted up by a limp caller utg w/ 87o off flopped straight that got ai ott. I ended up getting a seat to this players left later in the session and abused the hell out of their limp calling and got there in a couple of spots that helped me get out of the red. Online I continued to play on Global Poker and am still very much enjoying the experience that the site has to offer. The software for Global is by no means seamless, but overall it is the best site that I have played on post Black Friday imo. I took a huge -$50 loss near the end of last week, but am up about $20 since then. As for the upcoming week, I have a comped room booked room for Wednesday night in which there is a $135 donkament as part of local casino dipping into the tourney series waters, and will probably throw in at least one additional night of cash play. There will also be some additional 4NL & 10NL play online.

Drinking was way down this week. I only exceeded my 3 drink max benchmark two nights, one of which I was splitting hairs deciding if it was 4 or 3 that I actually had but I sided with have exceeded. I believe that 3 of the nights that I didn't exceed 3 drinks, I only had 1 drink. I feel like I am turning a corner in regard to my drinking, and it really felt like it made a big difference this last week.

Building on the thought of cutting back on alcohol making a difference, I feel like I have turned a major corner in regard to many aspects of my goals. Through my meditation, exercise, and limiting alcohol I feel rejuvenated towards chiseling away at my life goals. I seriously believe that each of us only have a set tank of energy to put forth towards our efforts in life and I am still working on getting my priorities and scheduling in line with what will maximize my output. Although I am not where I would like to be with my efforts in life, I am much closer than I was a year or even 6 months ago. My mind feels much more sanguine. My best to you all!

Went to the casino last night with the intention of playing a $135 tourney, part of a small tournament series that the Riverspirit casino is rolling out. The tournament was set to begin at 5 pm, and by the time I got to the tournament area upstairs the line was 40 deep. The tournament ended up getting pushed back to a 5:30 pm start. I stood in line until I figured out that I was going to be the ~20 alternate and decided to bail. Went downstairs to build up my apatite a bit more and dropped $20 at VP. I had a brisket sandwhich for dinner at the Riverside Grill, which was delicious and filling. Everything that I have had from the Riverside Grill has been awesome, and the list of menu items that I have had at this point is about 8. Post dinner I put myself on the waitlist for the single table of cash that was running and played some DDB VP to kill the time. About 15 minutes in I hit a nice hand:



I had been making a few hands along the way as well. I spun my credits up over $300 and decided to call it quits, +$200(-$20 from pre-dinner) on the VP. When I finally get into the poker game, the lineup is pretty tight-passive, the ones that were even paying attention to the poker game. No real hands of note, other than I was in a group text conversation and asked my buddies if they wanted to check out my next hand, while the cards were being dealt. Funny enough, this happened to be my hand:



I had a funny feeling this was the hand I was going to see. I raised to $12 from ep and get 3 callers, one is my direct left and the two blinds. All of these players are pretty weak/passive. We get a pretty unflattering flop(turn card included):



I check it thinking that V's are going to play this board pretty straight forward and don't see much value that I am going to get. I check the turn card as well and the player to my direct left bets $25, folds to the Bb who raises to $75. Both myself and original turn bettor fold. Another hand that signified the big pairs not working for me on the evening was my 3b w/ KK of a weak player that I had just taken to value town w/ a flopped nut flush. Weak player puts the rest of their $73 in and they turn/river a straight w/ their Q8o. Overall the session was in the positive and finish +$367 in a 5 hour, 17 minute session.

I mean the clear issue is your 28 years old living with your parents. You have never had to starve to pay rent, and you will never have the drive to be successful in this field. You are going up against people like me who play 100,000+ more hands than you do per month, and have a proven track record to win.

Your leaving your job because you have a safety nest because your parents aren't hard enough on you. You must move out , work hard at a job save, and play poker on the side, and the moment you continuously win and build a bank roll will be the moment you can quit your job and pursue poker.

Thanks for the food for thought. Best of luck to you on your grind!

Week 20:
[5/7] 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
[5:17 hours] 600 hours of live poker 57:17
[14:30 hours] 400 hours of online poker 351:15
[2/7, 0/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.


After missing a couple of days meditations, I had an epiphany of sorts. I started having feelings such as "geez, I don't have 12 minutes to meditate today," or "it's too late in the day to meditate." On and on. Then I realized the initial goal itt was to meditate for 5 minutes a day. Then I built upon that thought with, I am at a point where the duration of each of my meditation sessions is 12 minutes. So, with that in in mind whatever amount of time that I have that is 5 minutes or more that can be carved out, should, for meditation. Thus removing nearly any excuses that I could have for missing a day of meditation.

I fell a bit off my recent pace of exercise this week as well. Looking back in review of this past week, I went back and counted the days that I exercised a couple of times, and I am still not sure how I only got to 4 days of exercise. I know that I had one day where I had to run to the auto store and the like to get different tools to change the oil in one of my vehicles, then the actual oil change itself. Anyway, this must have contributed to a missed workout day. Altogether, with the workouts that I did get in, I averaged a duration of ~32 min, which is a decent length, but one that I am hoping to increase to about 40 minutes.

My live hours and result were pretty much already detailed above. I continued to play on Global Poker this week with a mix of 4NL, 10NL, 20NL, and a $3.30 sng. Over the 14.5 hours that I put in I was +$75.49. I intend to put in more hours at 10NL and up in the future, and with the ease of deposits I have been considering some 50NL.

The alcohol front was meh. 2/7 days staying at 3 drinks or less looks much worse than what I consumed in reality. 3 of the days going over were by one extra drink or topping off a drink. With the exception of the one day this week I got pretty ripped, the drinking was somewhat in check, but not nearly reaching my goals. I haven't given up at this goal.

I hope everyone in the PG&C community is doing well and motivated on working toward achieving their goals! All the best!

Week 21:
[6/7] Meditate for a minimum of 5 minutes each day
[2/7] 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 57:17
[4:30 hours] 400 hours of online poker 355:45
[4/7, 3/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.

So if anyone remembers accurately, I stated that there is no reason for me to miss a day of meditation. Well, I still didn't find a reason, but I did miss a day of meditation. A buddy and I went to Lubbock for, what has turned into a bi-annual visit. The day that I spent driving the 7 hours to Lubbock, I failed to get in my mediation. All of the days of my trip I wouldn't miss meditation again.

Similar to with meditation, I started out the week very strong, but due to my being on the road and not in/around my equipment, never got in a solid proper workout. There were some random push-ups, chin-ups, db work etc. Nothing legit though.

Poker was meager this week, even by my standards.

Monday-Wednesday there was no alcohol in my life. As I have alluded to before, I don't really have a problem being sober, I just find myself somewhat bored in the evenings. I guess this is where poker should come in to hold my attention. I finished the week fairly strong as well as I had a nightcap and called it quits. On the downside though, I more than made up for my sober nights with my pals during our Lubbock visit.

Two additional notes. My buddy had "Born to Run" on his bookshelf and I felt drawn to this book. I have heard others speak highly of this book in the past. Will get some anecdotes itt if there is anything of legitimate interest/application to what is going on here. Also, I am thinking of starting a new challenge to go along with what I am working on for a daily/yearly basis. If I decide to pull the trigger on said challenge I will include it here.

Well, the 7 session live winning streak came to a halt last night. -$600 for the session. Some of the spots were marginal, and in another hand my opponent took a very strange line and I ended up making a speculate call otr. The hand before the odd line hand, went something like this:

Hand 1:
Hero, $200, has been card dead and playing pretty snug. AK, HJ.
V1, $175, fishy, weak/splashy. CO.
V2, $215, started out loose, then became a maniac after losing several pots. Button.
V3, $200, weak/passive fish. MP.

V3 limps, hero raises to $15, V2 raises to $35, V2 deliberates and basically states that he is calling loose trying to hit. V3 does similar to V2 and flats as well. Hero doesn't take long to think and shoves. V1 snap calls. V2 hems and haws and calls. V3 calls pretty quickly. I just turn my hand over and so does V2. Board runs out 789J7r. Ott V3 says "there's my jack," and ships it. V1 has AKo and V2 has KQhh.

Hand 2:
odd line hand,
Hero, $300, same imagine except for losing the last pot. A9, Button Straddle.
V1, $215, this is V2 from the hand above. BB.
V2, $450, young competent player. Plays a bit loose, and I have seen him bluff in big pots. UTG.

V1 calls, V2 raises to $10, hero calls, V1 calls.
Pot: $30
Flop: Q9x7

V1 checks, V2 bets $25, hero calls, V1 calls.
Pot: $105
Turn: 8x

V1 checks, V2 thinks for bit and bets $65, hero calls and V1 folds. I don't think V2 has many Q's in this spot. Seemed like the line of a pair+sd or fd type hand.
Pot: $235
River:5x

V2 thinks for a stretch and bets $115. I take a decent amount of time to think the hand through. V2 has the apperance of not wanting a call. I can't see V2 taking this line with a Q, and in fact this seems terribly much like a missed fd. I don't even really see a four line straight making this bet otr. I call and V2 shows

I ended my evening with a button straddle pot and I have AJo in mp facing two limps. Hero raises to $20. CO calls, button straddle calls, first limper calls, and after the dealer wakes up the second limper who whined about the raise says "ah well, pick me dealer," and throws in his call. Flop comes Ax6dTd. checks to the complaing caller who bets $90. Hero thinks and shoves $205 total. Everyone folds to the complainer who calls. ott andV shows us A5dd.

Before last night, I had won 8 of my last 10 live sessions, so I knew that I was in store for some regression. I stayed at the casino hotel, so at least I did have the immediate drive home reflection. That was delayed to today. Back to it.

Week 22:
[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
[4:45 hours] 600 hours of live poker 62:02
[6:30 hours] 400 hours of online poker 362:15
[4/7, 0/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.

Meditation for the first time this week, I don't believe that I have reached this mark previously, averaged 10 minutes per. There were a couple of days that I came very close to missing out on sitting in meditation, but found some discipline and prioritized meditation over some more frivolous activities. I truly feel as though I am tapping into a better mindset the more entrenched I get with my meditation practices. This week I am looking to put in multiple days of 15 min/mediation, as well as averaging 12 min/ for the week.

Efforts on the exercise front churned along this week. My meditation seems to be coinciding nicely with my exercise, and I feel like both my mind and body are changing for the better. Not only has my train of thought seemed more sanguine, the control I seem to have over my mindfulness has been much more acute. That could also just be some nonsense, but the best that I can do in terms of trying to qualify how I feel mentally and physically. Specifically as a result of my meditation and exercise practices.

Something else that I haven't touched on in the last few weekly updates, has been my compassion levels. I feel like I have had much more patience with people in the past couple of weeks. I feel like I have been more understanding of others, and their unique situations. Just to hammer a point home, I feel like this is an extension of my going deeper with meditation and exercise.

I had the one live session this past week which I touched on in an earlier post. In all honesty, following that live session I felt sick to my stomach and had no desire to sit in a live game again. Of course, that feeling has passed and I am scouting my next live foray. Online I put in minimal hours as is evidence by the report above. I dabbled in 20NL for a majority of the online hours that I played and finished +$82. I am going to go ahead and set out to play 30 hours online this week and at least one live session.

My drinking control seems to be improving as well. I had one night where I got pretty loose, thanks in part to the 4th installation of a local craft beer festival held in my area. A few shots of the venue (an old city airport hanger), the sampling glass.









The food trucks were directly behind me in the venue shots. I should have included them for further context. I have no attended every iteration of this craft beer event and each year it seems to grow in both size and scale. Really fun event for an area like my to get going.

I also wanted to include a tasty brew that I had on Saturday night. This particular brewery was at the craft beer festival, but not with this particular brew, which is a barleywine ale brewed with coffee and honey. I enjoyed this beer as a great one off.



Lastly, I pulled off the first Jalapeno of the season. I have since grabbed a couple of green bell peppers as well. The tomatoes are on the way, but have probably another 2 weeks before they begin to vine ripen. I am most eagerly in anticipation of the habanero peppers which I am not sure are going to take, but fingers crossed. Here is the inaugural jalapeno:



Best of luck to everyone this week!

Lookin good, Zombie! Always appreciate the updates. GL this month.

Thanks, Ben! I enjoyed the recent article that you wrote on Benabadbeat. GL to you as well!

Just wanted to stop in and say I’m a fan of this thread. Also, “The Inaugural Jalapeño” is a great name for a band.

Are you still living with mommy and daddy?

Hey, thanks a lot! I'm happy to know that some 2+2er's find some enjoyment with what is going on here. Haha, that's great and I think you might be on to something with that band name! Do feel free to shop that name around if you know any up and coming groups in need of a name.

I am. Due in part to a need for my role of part-time caregiver for a little over the past 2 years.

Week 23:
[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
[3 hours] 600 hours of live poker 65:02
[14:15 hours] 400 hours of online poker 374:30
[5/7, 1/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.

Contrary to my thought that I wouldn't miss another day of practicing meditation, I did. Well, in reality, I knew that I more than likely would have a slip up here or there, and I did in fact miss a day this pat week. I didn't make multiple days of 15 min of meditation, I got to 1, and another day of 14:30 min. Also, my Average meditation duration/day was 9 min, quite short of my 12 minute goal. Missing the one day of mediation completely really set me back. I am going to revert back to last week's goals for my meditation and try harder to get there.

I was a little short on workouts this past week as well. I had one day that saw me on the road quite a bit, and I couldn't see to it that I squeeze some exercise. Also, near the end of this past week, I spent about 3 days under the weather and I am just now kind of getting back up to speed. My poor health necessitated that I take a couple of additional days of for the week that I normally wouldn't. I pushed through the illness yesterday to get in, what is my weekly goal, 4th workout for the week. Most of my workouts are outside, and if anyone is familiar with Oklahoma weather, it gets pretty hot and humid. I say this to typify my workouts a little more closely. Also maybe to dignify my missing a workout or two more clearly, as it is pretty miserable to exercising outdoors in the summer with a cold.

Just 3 hours of live poker this week, but this means I managed to get in the card room this past week, which was a goal of mine. I feel obviously, and pathetically short of my online goal for hours on the week by about half, or a little of 15 hours. In the live arena I posted a result of +13. Online my results ended up at -$21.01. Most of the online play was a mix of 10NL & 20NL. Probably would have at least had a break even week if it weren't for one $35 pot ai otf AK<KQ on a K95r. There were quite a few pots like the previous one mentioned. Had a session where I flopped two separate sets in 15 minutes and got stacked in one and value owned myself otr in another. Time to reinstate my goals for play from last week, with a slight amendment. Online 25 hours, and at least one live session and 5 hours.

I had a pretty solid week of temperance this past week. There were two nights were I got pretty loose, but outside of those, I was completely in control. Speaking of being in control of my drinking, there were a couple of situations that would typically see me getting the bag, and instead I cut myself off. I was pretty pleased with my ability to be mindful of my situation and the relation to my goals with cutting down my drinking. My temperance goals will remain with what I have set forth initially for this year. Below are a couple of contributions to my nights off the wagon.

Local beer out of a brewery from the guys that made up the 90's group Hanson. Anyone remember them? They are actually a pretty philanthropic groups of guys and good ambassadors for the state:



Another $3 special that accompanied the brew above. Santa Fe Brewing Co.:



Just a couple of shots from the hotel in Downtown Tulsa and a mural that is a physical representation of my avatar:







On to another week. Best of luck, all!

Good on you for helping out

Thanks, Jsingles. I'm happy, and lucky, to be in a position that I can help my family.

Just played a hand that had me scratching my head a bit. I thought that I would post it here to see if anyone had any thoughts/see any egregious errors on my part.

10NL, 6man
Hero, $14.77, has been active and mixing it up w/ both v's from this hand. Bb, QQ
V1, $26.33, has shown some agressive tendancies, doesn't seem to be calling really wide pf, Co.
V2, $6.30, fish, they call wide pf and will payoff lite. Sb

V1 raises to .40. V2 calls. Hero raises to 1.2. V1 takes time bank down quite a bit and calls. V2 calls quickly.
Pot: $3.60
Flop: 764

V2 checks. Hero bets 2.95. V1 calls, and V2 shoves for 4.83. Hero can only call and does so. V1 calls as well. I still feel pretty confident in my hand at this point. Obviously the board is getting coordinated and both V's have shown interest in the pot. I assume there are some pair+sd, some over pairs to the board, and maybe even two overs. As well as 2pair and sets that I am behind.
Pot: $18.09
Turn: 3

Hero goes ai for 8.74 and v1 calls. I still see some over pairs to the board making the call here, but that is probably it. The main reason for my shove here is that I am not sure what I am going to do if I check and v1 bets, or if I bet smaller than pot and V1 puts me ai. Not the best reason for betting but I still think that there are some hands I may be able to get value from with my ai ott.
River: J

V1 shows: & V2 shows

On the other fronts, I am through each day of the week with a meditation session of 15 min/day. I have also incorporated some running into my workout routine and put in just short of 2 miles today. My cardiovascular endurance is nowhere near where it once was and even in my heyday long distance running was not my strong suit. I still need to get into the live card room as well to meet that goal for this week. I will leave this post with a delicious beer that I have been enjoying over the past week or so, and a marvelous pastrami sandwich from a local deli-style restaurant that is in my small town.





P.S.

The tomatoes from the garden are getting close to be harvested. I have also been pulling off a few serrano's and jalapeno's of late. I have my fingers crossed for my okra, which is my favorite, but things aren't looking favorable. Here's to closing the week strong.

Congrats on the 15 minutes/day of meditation friend As far as the hand itself goes, I do not like the sizing of the 3bet ; 3x when almost 150bbs effective vs 2 opponents when fish is almost always calling and thus enticing other villain to do so, is WAY too small. I would bloat it exploitatively in these conditions, probably going for 5x or even 5.5x... Flop and turn shove are totally fine, me thinks, and I don't really think this hand ever plays differently, tbh, even if you size up pre.

GL friend

Thank you, Dubnjoy!

As I was typing that hh out, your analysis of my 3b size is exactly what popped to mind. In the moment I had a huge brain fart and sized much too small. I wish I knew exactly what was going on in my mind that led me to the sizing that I chose, so that I could more precisely hone in on the leak. As you stated, I don't think that I can do much differently post-flop given the players in the hand. Thanks a bunch for chiming in with your analysis!

Week 24:
[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 65:02
[17:40 hours] 400 hours of online poker 392:10
[2/7, 0/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.

As I alluded in my previous update post, I was able to establish an average of 12 min. of meditation per session (session sounds weird in referring to meditation, but I am lacking a better description). In fact, each meditation of the week was 15 minutes, with the exception of yesterday which ended up coming in at 8:30 min. I think that I will shoot for another week of averaging 12 min/meditation, with a goal to get in five days of 15 minutes.

I also spoke to my beginning to go on runs in addition, or supplement to my workouts. I think the routine that I am going to begin to fall into now is a 1.3 mile run everyday at 11 a.m. (I just got my first such run in today at a time of 10:06 min.) and my strength training at 2:30-3:30. Without tallying the exact average time of my workouts from last week, I would say that I came in around 32 min/workout. This week I am looking to get in a total of five 1.3 mile runs, and 5 strength training workouts of 30 minutes.

No live poker this week, which was a goal. I am going to start building in punishments if I continue to fail in the accountability department. This week there is a smaller week long tournament series at the Hard Rock in Tulsa. I am going to look at firing one of the $166 10k gtd, and possible the $366 $66k gtd. Overall I am going to set a goal of 10 hours of live play for the week. Online I also fell short of my 25 hours goal. I think that I need to move the online duration goal to 20 this week. I need to prove that I can get the hours in to myself. In the time that I put in this week, I end -$19. I got into two separate 20NL games with the seat to the left of a fish and just could not get a hand, and when I did get a hand, I couldn't get it to hold. Overall this past week I ran pretty damn bad, and was happy that I lost as small of an amount as I did.

Temperance was a huge issue this past week. A friend of mine who is a community college professor in Kansas is in our hometown for a couple of weeks. Of course, most of my friends double as drinking buddy's and we fell into a habit of playing drink the beer every other night while playing old Xbox games like Left for Dead. I know, Peter Pan needs to grow up, but I assure you that I am working on it. This week I am going to hit 5 nights of no more than 3 alcoholic drinks. That's the goal and about the best that I can do this week with my buddy still around.

My best to everyone on the grind!

Week 25:
[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
[2:45 hours] 600 hours of live poker 67:45
[7 hours] 400 hours of online poker 399:10
[4/7, 0/3] No more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a day.

I did it again. I accidentally missed a day of meditation due to getting very busy. Happily, it was not a case where I thought that I should meditate and chose not to, but rather I got through an entire day and on to the next and realized that I had not meditated. Needless to say, this missed day of meditation, along with my one day of a 6 minute sit, held me under my 12 minute meditation average. I ended up with an average of 11 minutes/meditation. I was able to post five, 15 minute sits, and in fact, 15 minutes is starting to feel like a breeze. Since I fell a bit short of my 12 min/sit average, I am going to reinstate the same meditation goals from last week, for this week.

With this past week I got in my 5 strength training workouts, and exceeded my 30 minute time frame, with an average of 33 minutes/workout. I was also able to get in my five 1.3 mile runs. I took my 1.3 mile rune time from 10:06 to 9:26, and my 1 mile time went from 8:05 to 7:12. Long-term, I am shooting to get my 1 mile time to sub 6 minute. In college, my baseball team had a post summer metric of a 6 minute mile, and the quickest time that I was ever able to post was 6:05, and I have in mind that I want to be able to best that time. I am also working my endurance up with hopes to run a 5k in the next few months. I am going to maintain my fitness goals from last week and try to meet each one again this week before ramping things up again.

My starting stack that I hoped would be spun up into something worth posting:


I played one event of the tournament series mentioned in my previous post and was ridiculously card dead after my KK won otf & AQ got in thinnish value on a Q568Kr board within the first 10 hands of the tournament. Overall the tournament play was 2 hours & 45 min. and -$166. I only played 7 hours online and was +$8 in that time. I am going to shoot for my poker goals from last week once again this week.

My alcohol resistance was so-so this past week. I could have been better, but I also know there where some spots where I could have gotten out of hand. Once again, I am going to maintain the goals that I set last week, and add in 2 days of no alcohol.

Lastly, I will end this post with a look at some of my produce, and my first legit harvest of the year. My best to everyone out there on the grind!