The quest to make poker +LIFE EV - an MTT progress thread
09-25-2015
, 05:59 AM
Hey guys,
I'm 22 and live in the UK and currently play low-midstakes MTTs on Pokerstars. I've been playing poker for probably 6 years now. Been through phases of playing obsessively and then leaving the game for a while. I have a full time job so the only times I can really play are Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
It has become a trend that right before I take a break it's because I question the time I invest in playing and getting better. Is it worth it? Can I be doing something better with my time? Is playing poker all weekend +life EV?
However, when I'm in play mode, poker is everything. It dominates my life. You could say I become quite unbalanced in favour of poker. My physical health, time seeing family and friends, the amount of sleep I get, the background thinking in my mind.. it all becomes sacrificed for/orientated around poker. I haven't ever struck that 'healthy' balance. I don't know if this has ever been the route to success for any player, but I don't think it will ever work for me. Hopefully over the course of this thread I will find the steadiness that allows me to play, be successful and be +life EV.
I'm going to be honest. So far, I think poker has been -life EV for me. I don't think I'm alone with this. The number of people who probably grind online for years and get nowhere will always outweigh the people who break through.
This is my quest to change what has been. So every day I play, I'll record which tournaments I played in and how I fared, put some hands on through boom player, but 'thread' the thread with talk on life and balance.
I'm also going to set a target for myself: to make £50,000 by the end of the year. I don't mind if you think this is unrealistic given the tournaments you'll see me play. This is a target that motivates me and that's all it's for. If I achieve it, which is certainly in the realms of possibility then happy days.
My poker history:
Giraffe
Overview
My best results
I hope you all enjoy the read, I'm in it for the long haul and will try and make it as interesting as possible. Thanks everyone.
I'm 22 and live in the UK and currently play low-midstakes MTTs on Pokerstars. I've been playing poker for probably 6 years now. Been through phases of playing obsessively and then leaving the game for a while. I have a full time job so the only times I can really play are Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
It has become a trend that right before I take a break it's because I question the time I invest in playing and getting better. Is it worth it? Can I be doing something better with my time? Is playing poker all weekend +life EV?
However, when I'm in play mode, poker is everything. It dominates my life. You could say I become quite unbalanced in favour of poker. My physical health, time seeing family and friends, the amount of sleep I get, the background thinking in my mind.. it all becomes sacrificed for/orientated around poker. I haven't ever struck that 'healthy' balance. I don't know if this has ever been the route to success for any player, but I don't think it will ever work for me. Hopefully over the course of this thread I will find the steadiness that allows me to play, be successful and be +life EV.
I'm going to be honest. So far, I think poker has been -life EV for me. I don't think I'm alone with this. The number of people who probably grind online for years and get nowhere will always outweigh the people who break through.
This is my quest to change what has been. So every day I play, I'll record which tournaments I played in and how I fared, put some hands on through boom player, but 'thread' the thread with talk on life and balance.
I'm also going to set a target for myself: to make £50,000 by the end of the year. I don't mind if you think this is unrealistic given the tournaments you'll see me play. This is a target that motivates me and that's all it's for. If I achieve it, which is certainly in the realms of possibility then happy days.
My poker history:
Giraffe
Overview
My best results
I hope you all enjoy the read, I'm in it for the long haul and will try and make it as interesting as possible. Thanks everyone.
09-26-2015
, 03:54 AM
Yesterday's session:
Current bankroll:
I felt like I played really well yesterday. Fortunate enough to make some pretty deep runs. It was one of those days where I seemed to get it in with the best hand at important times.
Made a final table early with a $1.35 turbo knockout. Was 2/7 in chips when I clashed with the chip leader...
http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hand...045_2F59AC090C
Very close to cashing in an $11 8-max $4k GTD. Wake up with AA in a huge pot but cannot hold:
http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hand...576_839675CA61
The last table I had up was a $5.50 Turbo $8k GTD. I was set for a good score until I got my two pair in against a set:
http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hand...769_CF1D38F8CC
I don't know whether I could've found a flop fold after what seemed like incredibly strong actions from my opponent. After peeling and seeing the A hit it just became tougher to get away from.
Sorry if the theme here seems like bad beats or misfortune, but that was how I ran yesterday. It seemed like there was this impenetrable wall to me getting to bigger money. We will be breaking through before long, I can feel it!
Anyway, something non-poker related:
On Saturdays I captain a cricket team. We've managed to get promoted this year. I've had a really good season, averaged nearly 40 with the bat and even my leg spin pies have got me 14 wickets. Today is a memorial day for one of our players' wives, who passed away to cancer a few months ago. We play a twenty twenty in her honour. It should be a fun day.
When I get home I might fire up a bunch of tables and try take something down.
Current bankroll:
I felt like I played really well yesterday. Fortunate enough to make some pretty deep runs. It was one of those days where I seemed to get it in with the best hand at important times.
Made a final table early with a $1.35 turbo knockout. Was 2/7 in chips when I clashed with the chip leader...
http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hand...045_2F59AC090C
Very close to cashing in an $11 8-max $4k GTD. Wake up with AA in a huge pot but cannot hold:
http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hand...576_839675CA61
The last table I had up was a $5.50 Turbo $8k GTD. I was set for a good score until I got my two pair in against a set:
http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hand...769_CF1D38F8CC
I don't know whether I could've found a flop fold after what seemed like incredibly strong actions from my opponent. After peeling and seeing the A hit it just became tougher to get away from.
Sorry if the theme here seems like bad beats or misfortune, but that was how I ran yesterday. It seemed like there was this impenetrable wall to me getting to bigger money. We will be breaking through before long, I can feel it!
Anyway, something non-poker related:
On Saturdays I captain a cricket team. We've managed to get promoted this year. I've had a really good season, averaged nearly 40 with the bat and even my leg spin pies have got me 14 wickets. Today is a memorial day for one of our players' wives, who passed away to cancer a few months ago. We play a twenty twenty in her honour. It should be a fun day.
When I get home I might fire up a bunch of tables and try take something down.
09-27-2015
, 04:21 AM
26/09/2015 results
I just couldn't get anything going last night. I don't know if listening to the England rugby match affected me negatively while playing! One thing I learned was that I may not be ready for a certain level of multi-tabling just yet (12+).
One hand I was unsure on was this: http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hand...883_535A7C6C29
Is it standard to get 99 in here? Player was not alarmingly tight or loose. I figured this is an okay call after 3bet.
Anyway, I'm going to put that day behind me and focus on today. Going to get a lot of tourneys in.
For anybody's interest, this is my 'grind station':
This was one view of yesterday's cricket game, which we won!
As I mentioned before, this game was in memory of one former players' wife who passed away a couple of months ago. The club chairman decided to buy a bench for the club as something to remember her buy as a surprise. There was a big 'unveiling' after the match. So, the bench was covered, the crowd surrounded it and the club chairman asked the widower and his daughter to 'reveal' it. I felt that it must be so painful for them. What made it worse was when the chairman got them to have a picture next to it. In front of this crowd of people, what were they meant to do? Smile for the camera? I just found it painful watching and thought it could be done more sensitively.
Anyway... time to start le poke.
I just couldn't get anything going last night. I don't know if listening to the England rugby match affected me negatively while playing! One thing I learned was that I may not be ready for a certain level of multi-tabling just yet (12+).
One hand I was unsure on was this: http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hand...883_535A7C6C29
Is it standard to get 99 in here? Player was not alarmingly tight or loose. I figured this is an okay call after 3bet.
Anyway, I'm going to put that day behind me and focus on today. Going to get a lot of tourneys in.
For anybody's interest, this is my 'grind station':
This was one view of yesterday's cricket game, which we won!
As I mentioned before, this game was in memory of one former players' wife who passed away a couple of months ago. The club chairman decided to buy a bench for the club as something to remember her buy as a surprise. There was a big 'unveiling' after the match. So, the bench was covered, the crowd surrounded it and the club chairman asked the widower and his daughter to 'reveal' it. I felt that it must be so painful for them. What made it worse was when the chairman got them to have a picture next to it. In front of this crowd of people, what were they meant to do? Smile for the camera? I just found it painful watching and thought it could be done more sensitively.
Anyway... time to start le poke.
09-27-2015
, 06:05 AM
09-28-2015
, 08:46 AM
Yesterday's Results:
Yesterday did not go great. If cards could laugh, they were laughing at me. My bankroll was really hit, and I understand when playing the size tournaments I am playing that is bound to happen frequently.
I probably played for too long. I started playing at 8am and did not finish my last tournament until 12am. The quality of my play if graphed took the shape of a bell curve before plummeting towards the end of my session. In future, I think I am going to give myself the morning for other things and possibly start at around 1/2pm. The volume of tournaments available in the morning is not that great for me anyway, so I won't be missing much and might be in a better frame of mind.
Today I'm feeling quite negative. With tournaments like these, I understand you've got to get a fair bit of volume in if you want to see results, but when you do just that and come away with nothing it can feel like you've wasted a weekend. I realize thinking like this is going to get me nowhere near to success, days like this are going to happen... I still enjoy playing and I can't help but anticipate a big score on the horizon which will surely make up for all the frustration.
As mentioned many times, volume during the week just isn't going to happen, so I'm going to be doing a few small things every day to position myself for success at the weekend. The things I will do will hopefully improve my life too. These things are...
[ ] - meditation
[ ] - reading for 30 minutes
[ ] - crossfit
[ ] - watch one poker training video
[ ] - NF (NF will be forever a mystery, but it's something I THINK might help)
These are daily habits and I will post whether I have done them or not at the end of each day. Until next time.
Yesterday did not go great. If cards could laugh, they were laughing at me. My bankroll was really hit, and I understand when playing the size tournaments I am playing that is bound to happen frequently.
I probably played for too long. I started playing at 8am and did not finish my last tournament until 12am. The quality of my play if graphed took the shape of a bell curve before plummeting towards the end of my session. In future, I think I am going to give myself the morning for other things and possibly start at around 1/2pm. The volume of tournaments available in the morning is not that great for me anyway, so I won't be missing much and might be in a better frame of mind.
Today I'm feeling quite negative. With tournaments like these, I understand you've got to get a fair bit of volume in if you want to see results, but when you do just that and come away with nothing it can feel like you've wasted a weekend. I realize thinking like this is going to get me nowhere near to success, days like this are going to happen... I still enjoy playing and I can't help but anticipate a big score on the horizon which will surely make up for all the frustration.
As mentioned many times, volume during the week just isn't going to happen, so I'm going to be doing a few small things every day to position myself for success at the weekend. The things I will do will hopefully improve my life too. These things are...
[ ] - meditation
[ ] - reading for 30 minutes
[ ] - crossfit
[ ] - watch one poker training video
[ ] - NF (NF will be forever a mystery, but it's something I THINK might help)
These are daily habits and I will post whether I have done them or not at the end of each day. Until next time.
09-28-2015
, 02:07 PM
