And I am finally moved in to my new home! It's a one bedroom apartment. Kitchen, living room area, bathroom, basic cable included. I'm paying $650 a month, and compared to where I was living in Vancouver for $1000/month, I feel like a ****ing king right now. It feels so good to have a place of my own, and I really need to do everything in my power to make it the most productive grind space that I can as well.

On that note, I have cut the cord with my parents. I am now paying fully for my rent, my phone, my internet, my power, and my insurance when I get it. And food. I mean, if I really **** up they'll be there to bail me out. They kind of have to. I'm pretty confident they won't have to do that though.

So I'm gonna try crunching some numbers. Rent is $650, phone $80 for now, internet $30, insurance maybe $30, and power maybe $30. So that is my ballpark on all of those, which means I'm spending about $820 per month on all of those expenses. Let's push my monthly budget up to $1250 a month factoring in groceries, entertainment, and maybe just ****ty underestimation on my part. Really need to watch my frivolous spending and eat cheap at home as much as possible.

So, I am gonna say my monthly budget is $1250. I still have $11k in the bank after finally paying all of my deposits and first month bills. So if that budget holds true, I have a little over 8 months before I run out of money.

So some variables. I haven't factored poker winnings or losses into the equation. I find it hard to believe I am going to be making more deposits onto the sites, but I think it will be a while yet before I actually begin making an income from poker. My bankroll is still too small to withstand large withdrawals (~1.7k USD). On top of that, I am splitting my profits 50/50 with BPC until I reach 10k Euros. I'm like a seventh of the way there, and hopefully as I really start to grind and devote as much time to poker as possible I will reach that goal very quickly, but if I am being realistic it will still be a few months at the least. So I don't see poker being a source of income for a while yet.

So yeah. Eight months is a while, but it is very daunting. February has been a bad month for play so far. I'm only down like 90 euros, but I've only played maybe five or six days. The move along with some resting last week really pushed me back, but I am gonna grind the weekend and hopefully skyrocket in productivity. I've been slipping on studying once again as well, so I need to do that. The best thing about living in town is that I can play poker during the morning/day and see people at night. I won't be sacrificing my social life, needing to pick and choose what I want to do each day. Being able to have both is going to be huge for me, and I'm really excited to have some more balance in my life.

So... eight months. Sorry, I got sidetracked. It's still a long time, but it doesn't feel like it's that long. I am strongly considering getting a job maybe in the next two or three months to supplement income and pay for the bills if I really start feeling the pinch. Like I said, I was never opposed to getting a job. I think it's more of a realistic necessity at this point with my cost of living going way up. If I can get a job maybe working 3 days a week, where I can cover most of my bills, play the other four days and study when I'm done work, I still like my chances of making this happen. I'm still comfortable to sit tight for a few months however, and that is what I'm probably gonna do. Also, I can definitely move somewhere cheaper. Living by myself has driven up the cost of living, but it's something I want to try out for now.

So that is the financial update. I was a bit of a bozo and didn't get my power or internet lined up for when I moved in. I won't have internet until Tuesday (Monday is a holiday), so I'm going to use my phone's hotspot for the weekend grind. No music for me this weekend, need to watch that data haha

Last note. Like I said, I didn't play that much last week. What ended up happening was I just really focused on myself and this piece I ended up finishing for the mental health blog I talked about. It was one of those things that I just needed to get off my chest. I sent it in to the girl that manages the blogs, but she hasn't posted it yet. Honestly, that was a few days ago, so maybe she'll completely forget the piece exists. Doesn't matter too much either way. It just felt so good to put my thoughts down. The friend that was there for me in November proofread it for me, and she liked it and had some kind words for me. So even if the piece doesn't get out, I am so glad that I wrote it.

I ended up writing about my experiences in my last year of school, specifically around reading week. Last year's reading week was when I walked across the Granville and Burrard bridges checking to see if I would actually die if I jumped off. I never actually felt in true, true danger that I was going to kill myself, but it was a volatile time. That was basically a year ago, and if I knew I would be playing poker in my hometown in my own apartment with friends and family around me all the time, it would have sounded like a complete fantasy. It still does, a little bit. I am so happy with this path that I've chosen and have no regrets about it. There are still steps to go in this poker journey, but my personal wellbeing has improved so much that the poker journey is honestly kind of secondary. I am so glad to be enjoying life again considering I was stuck for such a long time thinking my life was over. Ready for that grind tomorrow, see ya later

Quick entry. Played Sat and Sunday, lost a couple of bucks but played well overall. Took yesterday off with the intention to play today after the Sasktel guy came at 8AM to hook up my internet.

So for three hours this morning I watched him try to drill a hole above my door frame to run the internet's fibre cable into my room. He kept breaking drill bits, said quizzical "huhs", neighbours flocked to my door to see what the **** was making that noise. Still without non-cell phone wifi in my apartment.

I don't blame the guy, but damn I was so ready to get back on the grind in earnest. **** me, eh?

The Sasktel guy just straight up left some of his **** here. He called me later in the day to say he'd come by, but he never did. Hopefully he calls me tomorrow, or else I'll be the one calling him. Annoying since I wanna get back on track.

I guess until my internet is hooked up or I know when it will be, I'm gonna be stuck in limbo a bit. I can still use my phone's hotspot, but I don't want to use too much data. Plus, I don't want to wake up and start playing tomorrow and then have the Sasktel guy come back and try setting up my internet again. I just want to get that out of the way so I can focus 100% on poker.

Once the Sasktel guy left, I ended up walking to our local library. It's only a few minutes away. Watched two BPC coaching session recordings. There's honestly probably like 20-30 webinars I still need to watch to be fully caught up. I realize that I need to commit myself to finishing them so that I can really make some strides in my game rather than being stuck in neutral.

I also reached out to some of my classmates in my program to set up some hand history reviews. That's supposed to be one of the perks of the program, us getting a poker network of like-minded individuals when we join. I've only done one HH review with a classmate so far though, so I need to get on that. My game will improve that much faster if my classmates help me out with my game rather than waiting for these BPC webinars that happen at all of these oddly timed European hours.

So, it felt good to study today. That needs to be a HUGE priority for me. Study study ****ing study. I think my game is solid for the most part, considering I have made a nice profit thusfar and feel comfortable in most situations. The thing is, I need to be hungry. I need to be the best player I can be, not just a good or profitable player. Put the work in off the felt, set some high bars for yourself, and just ****ing go for it. I'm not a complete newbie, but I can still grow so much more. Need to go out and get it.

Hey guys! The thing I wrote finally got posted. I've already talked about it enough, so if any of you want to read it here's a link. It's only like 1000 words so I left a lot out, including any mention of poker. I figured that if I wrote at the end that I decided to move back home and play poker, everyone would think I was a degenerate gambler who really hadn't learned anything. You guys know how it really is tho

https://thetippingpoint.community/bl...est-of-my-life

And the Sasktel guys are FINALLY here again. They were able to drill through another guy's wall with the same problem, so they should be able to do mine. I just want wi-fi baby. By tonight hopefully!

Lost money on the weekend grind, maybe fifty bucks or so. I was making a few deep runs, including a hard bubble of an FT, but February has just not been kind to me at all. With January all of my deep runs usually ended up in like a fifth or better, whereas this month I think I've had two FTs, finishing last on both of them while getting to final two tables another three or fours times. The results are just barely out of my reach, but I'm still pretty happy with my overall play.

Had my meeting with my classmate and it sounds like we'll try to push each other, which is awesome. Someone holding me accountable will be great. I need to catch up on all of the webinars in our database before we can really rip into our studying together since he is so much more advanced, but he seems like a cool guy and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Finally, the piece I wrote was very well received. I shared it on my Facebook and got a ****load of likes and comments. I only share Pusheen pics on Facebook anyways, so I switched it up a bit. I think just writing the piece and putting it out there was therapeutic for me. Even though my family knew about some of my problems and my one friend, it just felt good to get it out in the open. Saskatchewan is prairie central, so mental health is still pretty taboo and dudes are expected to be super masculine, keeping worries to themselves. If my piece helps out one person, it was worth it.

So I'm gonna try really ripping into this video database. I am 33% done it already, and lots of the webinars towards the end are coachings I actually attended and won't need to watch again. PartyPoker has their KO series on right now though, and the overlays are INSANE. I played a $5 normal tourney yesterday, 20k GTD prize pool. A little over two thousand people signed up, so the min cash was $23. 4.6x bubble Jesus. I really want to play as much of those tournaments as I can after today, there will be some INSANE value. Hopefully I can right the February ship before the end comes

Got my avatar up! Sometime last summer I was messing around on Twitch and decided to ask an old friend to design a logo for me. Best fifty bucks I ever spent lol

February Recap

So February was not a good month. No big scores. I made two final tables, finishing 9th on a 2.20 deepstack and a 5th on 2.20 6max hyper. Finishing towards the back of those tables I did not get a lot of money. I probably got final two tables an additional 5-6 times and hard bubbled the FT several times in very disappointing fashions. Although I lost money this month, I feel like I am still playing okay. I am feeling motivated to put in the work and improve my game off of the tables, and hopefully March will bring some good results.



Feb Stats

Profit: -213 Euros
Hours Played: 116
MTTs Played: 381


For March, I want to play a lot more consistently. Hopefully five days a week. I want 40 hours/week with 150 MTTs per week. Hopefully I will finish March with 160+ hours played and 600+ MTTs. I know that if I want to be a professional I will need to play more (specifically MTT volume). I still feel like I am getting my feet wet though. Even though my hours were down this month, I still played a pretty solid amount of tourneys for the hours in relation to last month. I am getting comfortable with 12-tabling, so hopefully I can continue to increase the amount of tourneys I play each day.

Also, I am looking to put in the work off of the felt as previously stated. I like where my mind is at and I’m ready to put in the work and try improve my game as fast as possible. Having my own place is really nice. Even though it’d be nice to see my parents more, I can straight up FOCUS here, and I think that this distraction-free environment will allow me to do the best that I can do.

Downswings ****ing blow.

It's starting to get to me a bit. I didn't win all of December, but I had just started in the program and wasn't playing nearly as much. This past month and a bit has just been me bricking bricking bricking. My aces have gotten cracked enough times today for me to come here and ***** about it.

I hear that downswings are a part of poker though, so I'm glad to be experiencing it. I am down maybe 80-100 BI right now? The cards just aren't with me, and when it looks like things might turn, they just haven't.

I'm not quitting poker yet! Just wanted to give the update on how it's going. I still got two tables left today, so maybe I'll bink one of them and just laugh off this past stretch. We'll see

Did not bink yesterday. Did not bink today either. Just got **** on.

Party crashed today and it was such a bummer. I had 3 bounties an hour into the $11 Main Event. I was obviously gonna bink that one haha

My poker coach ended up getting third in the Turbo Series 1k Main for $200k, so I still feel hyped by association. Gonna take the next couple of days off of playing to finish the webinar database. Hopefully things will take off after that

Yo. I am almost done the webinar database (Friday at the latest), and then I can get back on the grind. I have to say that I really, really wish that I had gone through those earlier. I think it was just daunting with the amount of videos there, but by putting it off I really just delayed my development as a player. If I am serious about poker, I need to put in the work.

That’s why my daily routine nees a huge overhaul. There are things I am supposed to be doing that I am just not doing, and I am going to be stuck in this downswing or in mediocre territory unless I make these changes.

Here is my idea of a new daily routine: wake up/meditate/study/play poker/finish/exercise/sleep/repeat.

Obviously those are playing days. On non-playing days, hopefully I will study extensively unless I really just need 24 hours to veg out (which I do need sometimes haha).

Study is so ****ing important. One of the webinars was a continuation of my HH that our coach analyzed, and I had some MASSIVE leaks. Overfolding, being too passive, not 3betting enough. These are all things I was feeling intuitively for the past couple of weeks, but getting called out for my mistakes was great. My attitude is something I’ve been aware of, and I think it’s problematic. A lot of the time I just think that I am already good, or consider myself high and mighty, or consider everyone at my table a fish, or come on here and ***** about my aces getting cracked. That **** is not okay. I need to be accountable, and I need to be earnest about improving. Thinking I am better than everyone is completely detrimental to my poker growth, and I really need to come at this from an angle of humility and wanting to learn. I am not a megalomaniac as is. I just realize that I can (and need to) be much better.

Another thing I haven’t been doing is exercise. I know I blogged about it earlier, but I haven’t pursued it in earnest. I have a six month membership gift card to a gym a ten minute walk away. Once I get these webinars off of my head, the next thing I need to do is go down there and cash it in. I need to get in shape. I really, really do. I need to get healthy, and I need to sleep better. These things will both improve my quality of life, and will improve my poker game as well. I need to do it.

Last thing I need to start doing is meditation. That was in the original course material, but I have never actually sat and tried it. I am already a pretty mellow person as is, which I think is a reason I’ve neglected it. I need to try meditation tho to see if it gives me an edge. An extra gear of focus, an extra .5% chip ev equity, anything really. I just need to try it. I had coffee with a friend a few days ago and she had just started meditating recently as well. So I can have someone to ***** to or gush to when it does or doesn’t work haha

Yes. That is the deal. A new, productive daily routine is something I need. I have been playing for THREE months. Time ****ing flies. And even though January was great, I am not improving fast enough. Frankly, with my current work ethic, I will never improve fast enough. I will fail.

And I don’t want to fail. If I am taking this shot, I need to give it 100%, not 60%. At least that way I can sleep easy knowing I did my best.

So that is the update on my poker journey. I don’t want you to think that these past few months have been a failure for me, because they have been an overwhelming success. I should have called this “mental health the blog” because that has honestly been my main focus these past few months. And if I’m being honest, it was way, way more important than getting better at poker.

I have put a lot of work into changing my life for the better, and it is paying off. I am sitting here in my bed and right here, at this moment, I think I might be happy. There was such a long time where I never thought I would be happy again. And even though I am not cured, I can say I am happy with what I am doing and where my life is going. That’s what the first few months of the poker journey have focused on, and that’s okay. I needed to focus on it. And now that I feel like a person again, feel like a hungry version of me again, it’s time to go beast mode on poker. I need to give it my all, or else I’ll have regrets forever. I know I will.

Yeah. One final thing. I wrote a poker TV show in school last year, and it was honestly the best thing I wrote during my time at UBC. I can see it being a real thing on TV. Other people could too. And in these past couple of weeks, the whole “research” thing has been something I’ve been doing. Collecting videos, articles, thoughts and observations from my own poker journey for the show. It’s honestly really exciting.

I bring that up because today I essentially wrote the end of my second last episode of season one. I am not going to go into details cuz I don’t want to have it stolen (as if it is actually worth something lol). In fact, I don’t even have a finished pilot script. All I have is a second draft outline of the pilot, but everyone knows that the outline is the hard part for a screenplay. Once that’s locked down, the rest is just fill in the blanks.

Yeah. The important thing is that I wrote today. Creative writing. On my own. And I wanted to do it. In all honesty, I want to finish my pilot. Maybe once the webinars are off my chest, I can devote some post session/exercise time to writing. I never wanted to write again after last year. That blog post, letting people know, it really has helped heal me. I’m glad to be writing again. Even if it was only three pages, even if it never becomes anything. I’m getting better, and i am so thankful for that

Really good post glgl. Stick to it and no telling how far you can go. Poker isn't close to dead.

So the NHL just straight up went into E-Gaming. As I'm sure none of you know, basically the only game I play is NHL 18. They have two Xbox tournaments to qualify for a big thing in Vegas, so I know I gotta do that. 100k for the winner, maybe I'll see if DNegs can get me into a soft cash game afterwards lol. Still gotta finish 4.5 webinars, but I'm gonna be practicing my chell skills as well. PM if you want to try a little 1v1 action (I used to be pretty good btw)

Everyone is different, but one change to your plan that you might consider is moving exercise to the beginning of the day, before you play poker. I found that it gave me extra energy to play longer sessions if I did my exercise a bit after breakfast and before playing. Meditation might be better after poker, so you can relax your mind after a bad session and sleep easier. It's just a suggestion, though, only you can figure out what's best for you. Good luck!

My computer decided to start buffering during my very last webinar. I guess I will watch it after tomorrow's session. I have a very busy Monday (study session with BPC student, Scrabble with a friend, gym time, and phone call with a friend). So I can afford to stay up late and watch it if need be.

I just have to say holy ****. I hate that I put off watching the database until now. There is just so much gold in there, and things I wish I had been applying to my play this entire time, but I didn't know any of it. I have no one to blame but myself. Now that I am making a commitment to improving my play as much as possible, I hope that I can start to improve at a very quick pace.

I am not a bad player. I did win 2k in January. I am still well in the positive for the poker journey. I just am ready to start crushing and crushing fast. Hopefully.

There was so much **** in that database that it is honestly overwhelming. Once I finish the last webinar, I would like to take some time and try and write down everything in the coachings that I NEED in my game, or things that I need fixed. I already mentioned my passivity, but really specific plays I can add to my repertoire would be great. If I can distill all of this information to morsel-sized chunks, I can deal with it.

Gonna grind Sunday with a ton of new info and will probably be a little bit flustered. Next couple of weeks, I want to be a machine and ingrain all of these concepts. If I do end up getting a job in the next couple of months, I think it is very important I get all of these concepts down solid first. The better the player I am when I can't commit 100% of my time to poker, the easier things will be. I need to take this time while I am full-time to improve as much as possible. Should be a fun/informative stretch here ***

*informative for me. I can't share BPC strats with y'all. It's in the contract I think lol*

I'm done the webinars!!!

Sunday didn't go great, but I am finally "caught up". It's honestly like I hopped into a university class in the last month of the semester, and I'm just trying to catch up to everyone else. I have finally got through the material, now it's a matter of digesting it all.

In NHL 18 news, I've been practicing with the Tampa Bay Lightning instead of the Edmonton Oilers since they are probably the strongest NHL team and will give me the best chance in the tourney. 15-2-0 since I got going with them, so I think it was the right choice. There's no room for sentimentality if I want to actually win (the Oilers are basically an AHL team plus McDavid and Draisaitl). So ****ing tired, gotta get ready for my study session tomorrow and then get **** done tomorrow. Excited to get back on the grind

Quick update. So I've had my place for a month now and I'm really enjoying it. It's nice to be in town and not stranded at the lake and just be able to have options. I'm able to walk around a lot more in town as well, which I'm really enjoying. Parent's took back the car a week ago, but I was basically walking everywhere anyways. Nice to get some fresh air after a lousy session, which was basically my entire last month haha

As far as costs go, it was more expensive than expected for me to live in town as I previously said, lot of bills I didn't expect, but I think I'm staying pretty close to budget. I've been cooking a lot at home plus bumming restaurant meals off my parents once or twice a week. So I think I'm in the $1k-$1.2k range per month still, which is basically on track. I still have money in the bank to go at this for several months.

That being said, this month and a half long downswing just hasn't stopped. Obviously I know I haven't been putting in true professional volume, but I haven't even gotten close to a big score it feels like. I'm hanging in there, still like 1k Euros in profit overall for the journey. Because I gave CFP 50% at end of January, my bankroll online is starting to get a little short, especially on Stars. Gonna need to shuffle around my money a bit pretty soon.

So while everything is going great, I think I'm going to be looking for a job in the near future unless I go on an insane heater. Just something to take the edge off and allow me to try poker for a while longer. I'm still a believer in myself and my abilities, but I'm going to need some time to fully incorporate everything I learned in the webinars into my game. Ideally, I will be an advanced player with a grasp on all of this stuff before I get a job. That way, the days that I play I can try my best to crush. So I gotta study study study and find a way to make everything stick. Should be fun

I just want to give a quick State of the Mind address. As previously stated, I've been doing much better the last several months, so so much better. That being said, the last week or so has been kind of off. I was just bummed. This poker downswing has been starting to get to me. Also, I've been having a lot of these bad thoughts revolving around my ex and things that happened, things I couldn't control, memories where I was just helpless and confused and lost. It was compounded a bit this week by having plans get pushed back by a friend, which made me remember all of these times last year where I was an afterthought for other people. I told a person last year that getting pushed back sucked because my time was valuable, it meant something. I was really just trying to convince myself that I was valuable back then. I know I didn't believe that.

So yeah. Last couple of days were off. I'm really proud of how I've handled these mental adversities though. Way, way better than I did last year haha. Being open to other people about how I feel has made all the difference for me. It can be really hard to carry everything on your own. When all the people that need to know know some of the stuff you've gone through, it takes a lot of that pressure off of being honest. I just wanted to note this growth. The mental fortitude is coming back a bit. A lot, actually. That's the most important thing to me in life, so I'm happy about the progress I've made.

The poker downswing has played a role in how I've been feeling, but I've been doing everything in my power to stay on top of it. Poker is not the only thing in my life. It's honestly just one aspect. Obviously how it is going will affect my mood, but no matter what it is NOT my entire life. I'm glad about that.

I haven't played the last two days but I'm getting back on the grind tomorrow. The fellow BPC student I was studying with who was also going through a significant (and probably much worse) downswing just binked a tourney for over $3k USD. I'm really glad for him cuz I know he's put in the work. It's good to see him be rewarded and persevere through the tough times. I'm gonna keep pushing for my results too. I'm a believer haha

Got 88th in the Sunday Storm for $176.38 USD. I'm a bit steamed because I got crippled when I got it in good versus a fish. I had AKo, he had AQo. He played it like such an idiot preflop, min-reraising in the BB vs my UTG open. I just ripped it in for like 35bb effective and he snap called. Queen on the flop, trips on the turn. That was to be a top 3 chipstack in the tournament. The Sunday Storm is an $11 buy in with $25k for first. So I know AK loses to AQ all of the time, but I am mourning the score that could have been.

Had a few okay runs in my bigger tournaments today. At least I won some money. But goddamn, if I even just made FT I lock up $1.2k. With that chip stack, and my edge in the field, I could've done it. Heartbreaker I guess. That's just how it goes.

Alright. So I am not studying enough. I've already gone over this point enough, but I NEED to study. I am not going to get better if I don't. I am going to keep losing losing losing or maybe if I'm lucky I can be a breakeven micro MTT player. Damn wouldn't that be the life

I think I need to tweak my weekly schedule. I know I haven't been playing as much as I should have been this month either. I'll probably break my MTT volume for a month, but I'll be hard pressed to hit my hour goals. I think I need to really think about what will give me the most SUCCESS. Playing five days a week is great for volume, but if my game isn't at a place where I can make some sick profit, then I'm just gonna be spinning my wheels. So I think I need 1-2 days where I need to STUDY per week.

Under my current goal set, I play five days and am supposed to study the other two. I just can't handle that. I can't do poker seven days a week. I need my downtime, and because I need my downtime I am playing when I am supposed to play and doing nothing when I am supposed to study. So maybe play 3-4 days per week and study 1-2 days with some extra hours maybe tacked on to my playing days.

I really need to develop good habits because I'm not getting better. If I don't get better, I'll fail. I've always been aware of this, I've already written about this. I knew that work ethic and focus would be my biggest weaknesses coming into the poker journey, and that's proven true so far. I need to make these changes.

It's great to see some of my classmates doing really well on the MTT grind. I just know that since I'm not putting in the hours, I am not going to get to their level. I'll just be stagnant. So yeah. Need to stop ****ing around basically haha. Went to the gym and ran for the first time yesterday, gonna go again tomorrow and try studying at the library. Just need to focus on the foundation and the rest will follow

You need days off yeah, it's important miiiinimum one a week. Not doing this will cost you a lot of winrate and lead to burnout that can cause you to need extended time off. Also have to be careful to not play too many hours and be sure your study is actually productive. I'd recommend anyone not crushing their level to study as much as they play (speaking from experience). Obviously tricky when you have bills to pay but goal should be move up ASAP.

Yeah man, this is great advice. In January I thought I had everything figured out since I was running hot, but it’s become clear I have a lot to learn. I’ve come to realize that only spending poker time playing is a huge resource leak. I’m making less money than I probably should be, and it’s much more important I work on my game than actually grind myself to dust. I was looking through my program stuff and it said I should aim for a 30/70 study-to-play ratio, but your 50/50 idea might be even better for me at this moment in time. Sucks to know I’ve been playing poker for over three months and haven’t grown as a player very much, but the best thing I can do now is recognize it and try to fix it 👍🏻

On another note, I think another big leak I have in my life is music. Which might sound weird, but I am just playing it all of the time. I actually don’t know lyrics to anything, I just like hearing the beats and rhythm of songs. I couldn’t even tell you who I listen to cuz I just put on a random playlist and blast it

I think this is a leak because it really hampers my ability to focus or think in an efficient way. I started listening to music while reading/working towards end of high school and have done so ever since. It’s okay if I’m listening to music while I’m playing NHL or I’m walking to get groceries, but listening to music while I am supposed to be playing or studying is distracting. I listen to music while I’m trying to read just cuz I’m uncomfortable with silence at this point. I think I need the silence though. I really need to work on developing my thought processes and my ability to focus on a single task. Music is great, but it’s just wasting some of my mental capacity, which in turn wastes time, which in turn wastes money. Gonna be weird trying to cut down on music, but if I really want to improve my work ethic I need to learn to embrace the silence and use it to the best of my ability

Fellow Canadian here, having called Dawson City in the Yukon home for the past 2 decades. GL with the poker journey, will be following

Don't worry about a few months of stagnation, at this point most players have stagnated for years. You'd be surprised how quickly you can catch up/get ahead if you approach it intelligently.

Interesting point on the music. I definitely find new/complex music distracting but I find some no/low vocal stuff pretty effective at keeping me on task. Even listen to hip hop I know really well when motivation dips. I find listening to 'for study' classical music like Bach pretty good but haven't tried playing in silence in some time. Might be worth exploring. Never been able to listen to music while studying but for me playing feels more performative and music helps me get into a flow state (unless I'm just deluding myself and I crave the entertainment).

Careful not to go too hard with trying to change everything at once. All meaningful change is stainable.

Thanks man, I appreciate it

Also, I've been walking around town a lot the past week or so. It's starting to warm up a bit so even though there's still snow we are in a constant state of thawing. **** load of snow supposed to be coming tonight tho haha. I've been taking lots of pics and this one is my favourite. Different in a good way from a BC kind of view

NHL 18 Tourney is starting up in a half hour. I've gotten my Online Versus rank up to top 300 in the last couple of weeks, but have been absolutely **** on in my last two games. I am fully anticipating losing at some point, but still holding out hope. Once I'm done today, there is no way I am going to play the next tourney. Time to give up the dream and stop wasting my time playing this game so I can focus my time on poker instead haha. We'll see how today goes I guess