Going through a patch of a little less discipline, a little more tilt... "regs are supposed to put me in tough spots", I think during times when I dislike tough spots. It's that expectation: "You won't win this pot very often" that I am looking for, instead I got: "Let's look for plays that win me the pot a LOT", while my gut says lots of things, and I am deciphering that. Mental turmoil? You bet.
There's this storm that I end up in, and my game has never before carried me through it comfortably, it just got me through. Afterwards I felt bruised and battered anyway, so if that's what's it like to be mentally tough then I used to be mentally tough. On the other hand, things affect me. "I am not mentally tough ... yet" is what I should put on my wall in a bright red on a white sign with neon lights just to give it that red-light feel that makes you realize that you're not out of the woods yet... but then, like an epiphany, I see what I also put on the wall:



and dwelling on the fact that I've found a difficult road indeed, hit a crossroads, tried four destinations, all of them difficult, and not despaired makes me begin to relax now. So it's time to wrap this up in peace.

Bankroll @ 280 % (+9%)

• 23 hours of poker
• No theory
• some writing

And mentally exhausted right now. Good week, good change of pace and hanging in there. The important thing is that I keep learning, which I know because I keep cracking nuts in game (metaphorically speaking) and new ways of playing have opened up that I always wanted to experience. It's one thing to say that what you focus on grows, it's another thing to experience it. So if you're struggling through a rough patch of playing or learning or generally figuring things out: Hang in there! If you're anything like me then you can be so much better than you are.

great read, like your previous blog!
good luck

Bankroll @ ? (I'll update it later)

• 20 hours of poker
• No theory
• some writing, probably 2 hours

Mayhem irl, so gotta make it short. Gl guys, I'll update as usual next week.

And yes, there'll be a free give-away, this time a strategy session.

How's it going? Are you doing well in Coronaworld? Hope you are.

Bankroll, as of friday, was 248% (-32% ). Let's move on from that, shall we?



I got this little fella yesterday to help track my exercise and sleep. We'll see how that goes... definitely becoming more health conscious these days, especially after listening to Wim Hof (click for video of approx. 2 minutes):



I've got to confess that it's hard for me to make healthy rituals part of my daily routine, or rather: To make even more healthy rituals and even healthier rituals part of my daily or even weekly routine. I've made progress but staying humble is important to me, as is staying realistic. This is what that sounds like: I could do so much more. The Wim Hof method is one example of that.

Anyways, I am grinding a lot, as I am sure you all are, too, and I am happy with my progress, as I hope you are, too. Keep doing what you're doing (if it works for you) and stay humble (or at least stay realistic)!

Bill Burr



Bankroll: 292% (+44% )

Taking the day off tomorrow, so this is my weekly recap and it was a good week indeed which makes me happy. I love it when things are paying off and the more my hard work is paying off the more I love it. I've found a way to feel even more love and here's how I do it which I am sharing so that you can do it too by loving your love for feeling good: I love my love for feeling good feelings (you can pick and choose your favorite ones) because it just seems to appropriate which is good because feeling good when you're doing something useful is what I consider great timing. I used to not feel good when things went well, but it's a great time for feeling good! There are good times for feeling bad, too, for example when you step into dog poop. But I did not do that, no sir.

On a different note, I want your input and here's how:



I feel like I am an eternal dabbler in things like meditation, healthy diet and Wim Hof breathing... how are you doing it? What are your healthy rituals? Is it something simple like cooking, something hip like the carnivore diet or something fancy like Wim Hof breathing? Have you added new routines and rituals (or systems) to your daily routine, and how has that been going? How did you begin to look at it in a way that made you be more disciplined and tenacious during those days when it was a struggle to keep doing what's good for you? Any tips on how to get through the first week, the first month and the first quarter successfully?

Well, you know what I say when I say goodbye for now: Stay h****e!

Thanks sir and welcome on board this ship that's like a fine wine getting better with age: It just gets better with age. "Wait, who said that?" said the captain drinking fine wine to the running mate who may or may not have grabbed some p***y when he still could... and then a wild Covid appeared and things got worse from there.

Hey,

I stumbled across Simon's blog a while ago I decided to send him a PM regarding the coaching giveaway. I thought it would be both beneficial and insightful to see how he approaches learning and the great game of PLO. Given that we had an hour (which would not really suffice for a deep technical analysis of a situation, and the fact it was the first time we spoke) we kept the discussion around the concept of learning itself (processes) and progress as a broad theme and its relevance in a successful poker career. Simon has a strong understanding of learning "techniques" - I would call them, and is very good at bringing awareness to measuring success in terms of your studies or off-table work. The latter, especially made me think about how I can implement time lines for my development.

It was clear to me that he has a deep understanding of the game in terms of strategy. He is very detailed in his approach and articulates ideas and concepts very well, I also enjoyed the direct approach of getting things done.

Looking forward to the next one

...which clearly isn't going to happen, because from now on I'll always post on time

Does it ever happen that you autopilot raise preflop and once you get three bet by that loose aggressive player you realize: I should have folded this hand at this table. Let’s address that issue, cause it’s a bigger one than you might think and the underlying question is this:

What decisions do you put the most of your attention and focus into?

Making a bit of a spewy preflop raise isn’t a big deal, right? Wrong. And here’s why:
Getting the chance to open a pot preflop is one of the most frequent situations in poker. This year, I got that chance 73074 times, and I took the chance to open raise 22318 times, or roughly 30%. The opponents I play against vary drastically in strength and aggression. Depending who is in the blinds, I’d either open raise the button with 55% of hands or closer to 40% of hands. That’s a 27% difference… let’s see whether that holds true in a tight position as well: At a soft table, I’ll open up my under the gun range to include many more broadway pairs and broadway ace-high hands like AQT2, whereas I’d fold many of those at a more aggressive table. I’d estimate that I would open anywhere between 15% and 25%, which is a 40% difference. Let’s work with 30% on average:
That’s the difference between open raising 18970 or open raising 25665 hands. To play or not to play those 6695 hands… considering that I play around 7 hands per minute, that's 16 hours worth of attention that I've got to invest, taking away a chance to maybe play one or even two additional tables and taking away much needed attention from other spots... and who takes the time to debate whether to play these hands? Hopefully I do, because here’s a fact: In the same time frame, I cbet 7513 times and I faced a cbet 6730 times… which puts the weight of each decision into a totally new perspective: Getting those decisions right preflop is arguably even more important than getting your cbets right, because some of those cbets and some of those calls on the flop are automatic and don’t give you an edge. If you assume the same types of adjustments in my flop play as I’d like to make preflop on a good day, you’ll arrive at a total of 4273 flop decisions that make a real difference to my balance at the end of the year… that’s just 2/3 of the preflop decisions when I am the potential open raiser that I get the chance to sharpen each and every day! …and, as usual, there’s even more to it which means that depending where you habitually put most of your attention it gets even worse when you stop and think to realize this:

I got 60049 additional chances to call or reraise before the flop, and I took 15506 of them. That’s 5000 more hands preflop that even good players might argue about once you take your opponent’s tendencies in large player pools into account. Once there’s an argument, there’s an opportunity… How to make the most of these close decisions? AJJ5 with an ace high suit against an MP opener can be a fold at an aggressive table, a clear call at a fishy table and a re-raise against a table full of tight opponents… who takes the time to make that decision in game, and to decide well? Hopefully I do!
Because now we’ve got 11700 hands preflop that could probably go either way versus just 4273 hands on the flop! Let’s hope that I am not autopiloting my decisions preflop in order to be able to pay close attention to my flop decisions, cause those priorities aren’t backed up by these numbers.

Good bets and calls on the flop generate a larger profit, you might say, so they deserve more of my attention. So what is it about those flop bets that generates a profit? Is it all the attention you pour into them in order to decide whether something is a close cbet or a close check?

...Be that as it may, I’d argue that making clear and good decisions preflop already dictates some parts of your edge on the flop, because it gives you an awareness of what hand range you’re dealing with. Let's not forget that we are human: Making a decision before the flop that you spent some time on sends you into the flop with a quality of awareness that's much improved compared to when your autopilot sends you to a flop, which makes a large difference in terms of what types of considerations you can focus on now that you're faced with a flop decision or two. Even if you've worked out good and tight ranges preflop which you never deviate from: Taking a moment to realize what sort of range you're dealing with when THIS player calls you or THAT player three bets you is a good exercise in paying attention to what matters:

The quality of your decisions.

(To be continued)

Bankroll @ 312% (+20% )

• 15 hours of poker
• No theory
• 2.5 hrs of writing

Now that I've got some data I'll work out a profit challenge for myself starting next week. I'll post some details on that later so stay tuned if you're into profit challenges or if you've got some other reason for staying tuned - Any profit challenge you've done? Did you achieve what you set out to do if you did? And looking back at it, which useful things have you learned from doing it about yourself?

Sup guys.

Deciding to give away free sessions has done two things for me:
1) I finally got the chance to talk to Jamie, which was a lot of fun.
2) I feel much more content with being late for blogging, which I am (again... ).

So...

This is your chance to get a free mental game session with me. All you have to do is send me a PM and tell me:

1) Why you want that free mental game session (could include: Would it be your first mental game session ever? Are you curious what a seasoned poker player(=me) has to offer in terms of mental game advice? Are you simply taking all the opportunities you can get, and this is one of them? etc)
2) What you hope to achieve from that one mental game session? (Examples of this are: Would this session be the beginning of something new? Are you on the right track and need help staying on it or aren't you and need help getting on it? Do you want to work on your C-game or on your A-game or both? Do you need routines and rituals in order to perform even better? etc)

I'll consider every PM that I receive before thursday next week central european time. Good luck!

First a sort of 70% complete sample of my results this year because I don't have all the hands:

...for 8.5evbb/100, which gives me a good feeling because it's much more than I expected because these stakes already matter and are filled with some good players.



Bankroll @ 319% (+7% )

• 17.5 hours of poker
• No theory
• 2.5 hrs of writing

Let me clarify what I am aiming for so that you can root for me.
This year, getting the bankroll to 500% is my main priority (It's at 319% right now). We're on pace to achieve this by late summer, but let's make it by July.

Building a coaching business comes next.

By that point, I want to start cashing in on my proven methods and skills. Look forward to a new podcast and strategy or mental game videos on some reputable site like runitonce. This may not happen this year as I think it's much more important to keep grinding out great results than to talk about how to get them yourself. You can always contact me for coaching anyway.

The reason for that is simple:A good proof of concept that I know what I am talking about is that I can continually improve my own mental game and that I am disciplined enough to generate steady progress. Me grinding up a bankroll from small stakes to high stakes within a year should prove this beyond a doubt as this is something that I have never done before (few people have). Last time around it took me much longer and the 2-3 year break that I took from early 2017 to late 2019 hasn't made my comeback any easier.

So look for that magical number: 500% in my weekly updates. Because then I'll reveal what stakes I am at, and I am going to take it more seriously to produce some quality content for you guys.

Also keep an eye out for those free sessions that I'll offer from time to time. What do you have to lose?

Have a great weekend guys!

i really enjoy ur blog especially during rough times!just wanted to say thnx for that.

Anything you'd want me to write more about? Feel free to PM.

Goal oriented playing



Poker players need to focus on their goal in a hand… as part of their focus on a single hand they begin by zooming in even more: As you maginify what you’re doing right now you become aware of the purpose behind each action and you slow down automatically if you simply try this: With each in-breath, you can silently say your goal: “Get him to fold” “Get a street of value” “Induce a bluff” or simply remind yourself to “focus”. The more precisely you clarify what your goal is when taking a single action, the more precision you’re developing in your game while you’re playing which means that you learn to play more precisely as you play your normal session. “Catch a good turn card”, “Use my blockers”, “Move on” - because folding gives you a chance to be mindful of a new situation that may be going on already while you’re playing multiple tables - making sure to become aware of what the predominant goal is, the tip of the iceberg so to speak. You’ll still see the iceberg because it’s that big. You probably have many little goals that are second nature, certain value bets, certain semibluffs and certain folds, when you take certain actions, but making sure to zone in on the most important one is how you develop your deeper focus, that focus that you remember favorably because it makes you feel good, too. “Focus”, “focus”, “focus” which each in-breath and get clarity on the next milestone that’s just one action away.


Which sort of makes you realize how many ways of playing poker there are... there truly is a lot of flexibility to your subjective experience of even a single decision point.

"Slow progress is better than no progress." is what I want to remind myself of today, because it was sort of a lazy day for me. Happiness, it turns out, isn't a thing... it's a side-effect of getting something else. Who would have thought...

Keep going strong!

Hey guys.
I took a sort of unplanned break. Because I missed posting twice it's your chance to grab one of two free sessions. You can choose between a mental game session and a strategy session for no limit hold'em. The first one makes most sense if you're a pro or close to it, the second one if you're a beginner or close to it, as I believe in the importance of good learning strategies and most pro's are already excellent at that.

So what do you need to do?

Simply send a PM and let me know...

... why I should award that free session to you.
... what you're hoping to gain from that free session.

Past free sessions have been a lot of fun and the feedback has been very good. Don't miss your chance, I will stop offering these at some point.

Back on schedule!

Keep those PM's coming, I'll let the winners know towards the end of the week that they've got it. And really don't be afraid to contact me, because as a wise man once said (quite recently...): Reaching out and admitting that you've got mental issues is already a big win. And you know what? Maybe you're not the only one...

As far as my own progress goes, I am getting back on the horse, and things are looking brighter than in these past months which begins to lighten my mood every time I make myself aware of it. But no reason to get lazy, so I've got a new project:

I am in the process of creating a sort of Mental Map for myself consisting of the types of terrain that I encounter on and off the tables on a regular basis. Some examples:

- Getting three bet by the same player three times in quick succession and having to fold preflop or on the flop each time
- Getting called three times and losing to a sort of standard/above average hand that's somewhat rare in a (too) wide range.
- Facing a turn barrel after having called a stab with a sort of face up range

Those outlines of little moments or small stretches of time that I find challenging mentally are the first of two steps that help me perform better mentally and the big question is: What to do when that happens? What sort of system or ritual should I introduce in order to get back on the horse reliably and more and more effortlessly the more often I do it (which is one of the hallmarks of competence)? That is the big one.

Rich Franklin, a former UFC middleweight champion put it like this:

"[T]raining for a fight is about 90% physical and 10% mental, yet when you enter the octagon it becomes about 90% mental and 10% physical because all of the physical preparation is done. [...]There are so many things that can distract you."

So apart from preparing your strategy, preparing your mental strategy is a good thing to focus on every couple of months as well. Because in poker, there are so many things that can distract you already. Make an effort to keep that list as short as you can by beginning to create awareness around it, but be honest when you tally it up... because if you're human then there are embarrassingly small distractions in your game, too.

Talk to you soon, and stay humble!

Bankroll @ 338% (+19% )

• A couple of hours of poker
• No theory
• Some writing

Excuse the laissez faire attitude, I'll promise to get better Mom.

Solid week for the BR! Talk soon man

I've wondered about the title of this thread many times... why did I choose that title? The answer lies hidden in a shallow part of the ocean of my mind...

Imagine the part of my mind that determines my path through the poker community as that stretch of shallow ocean. On the surface, there are thoughts about productivity and things that are useful in order to advance. Some of them make quite a splash and for all those little ripples and waves, often you can't even tell what's underneath. "How can I squeeze even more juice out of my work hours?" ... "How can I make my coffee breaks a couple of minutes shorter?" ... "How can I be in the zone more often?" ...

Are you noticing something? If you thought "Those are the thoughts of a high performer" then you'd be right. Let's not deceive ourselves, though...

Because this is where the underworld comes into play, as once you dive deeper, you may notice different thoughts:

"Let's take a longer break this time" ... "I don't want to get up. It's fine if I start working at 9:30 today" ... "I can watch a video now" ... "Let's have a beer tonight" ...

I could talk about these thoughts all day. How throughout my life I never had to try really hard in order to get good (enough) results. How I saw myself as a victim of circumstances many times. How I applied crippling pressure for months at a time, allowing myself no breaks. In short: I haven't done this before. I haven't lived the day to day life of a high performer before. What I am used to is living the life of a mediocre mind. And while a part of me wants to break out of that mindset, no part of me is aware of the resources that would get me there, because what I keep realizing is: "I haven't done this before".

To be continued...

The point of these Friday-posts is to track my journey. In the last couple of weeks, that hasn't been easy.

[x] 11hrs + of poker
[x] some coaching conversations

I want to note this as a transition phase. My volume dropped, my energy levels dropped and my productivity dropped. If you read this, future Simon, you'll remember how and why... I think I am doing my best, in my own way.

I also think that I am beginning to make new plans, to set up new ways of helping myself achieve more by first and foremost being brutally honest with myself and then gently finding ways to move on. I may be too gentle, in a way, and to harsh at the same time, but I don't know any better right now. Through dark clouds I can sometimes see the sun peek through, but at the same time I've been longing for it for so long that I can't be sure whether I am imagining it. That wouldn't be the first time... There's promise though, and there's hope and much has been written about that. So I keep my head straight, chin up and shoulders back. "You may live in these clouds for the rest of your life", a gentle voice says and it almost makes me smile.

I'll update the BR soon. It's pretty healthy, which is good, and my level of play is very good. I can't explain how, but I've improved a lot through this and a cornerstone of that has been being as shrewd at the tables as I can manage.

Stay humble, and stay strong!

Think of the guy who made the connection that him winning at poker had something to do with him wearing his lucky shirt, when the connection that he should have made was that people stopped talking to him when he was still wearing his lucky shirt on day 6 of the tournament…

The sense that’s different for everybody but that if it was asked to describe itself would say: “I don’t know much about this”, that sense, that feeling of confusion and that sort of nebulous state of mind, that which people call a lack of clarity, which through concentration and focus on one thing at a time leads to a sense of clarity beginning to emerge in the form of a good feeling or two or three small take-aways about a specific situation - that’s called learning, and it leads to you being able to spend more money on things and activities that you love, which I call freedom. To put it simply:

Working on your game in a way that's hard for you has something to do with you improving your bottom line!

Feeling good and being focused at the tables is connected to certain outcomes, too… like more and more freedom that you can see in the choices that you feel comfortable making and a sort of abundance both in opportunity and in choice, or to put it simply: You’ll be able to do more and to buy more when you see yourself playing higher stakes as you feel good and focused, even immersed until a couple of hands, or a couple of sessions later you feel proud of yourself for clicking call against a good player as you see yourself scoop that large pot (which is when I hear a sound in my head: “Ka-ching!”). Feeling good about knowing with confidence that you just made a good decision (“Ka-ching!”) is a habit that turns into golden opportunities… especially after working on your game with concentration and determination, which means that you see the pot being shipped your way in close situations more often (“Ka-ching!”) in the next hour of play, on the next day of play or in a session a week later. That feeling of being focused, when you just see one thing at a time, which many people only do when they work thoroughly and with determination, being confident about a decision that you made with clarity on the situation, feeling pressure in a good way, that’s what leads to you experiencing good things those times that you’re open for the opportunity… so be open for it! Easier said than done, right?

What sorts of unconscious connections have you made when it comes to poker that you’ve been reinforcing unconsciously ever since? If you stop and think about it, it might explain parts of your experience that you’ve been trying to explain for years: For example, have you decided that feeling bad about losing a big pot leads to you often winning a big pot just a couple of hands later which has lead to you still feeling bad about losing big pots (after all those years… and you’ve often thought: “Why does it still bother me?”) ? Have you decided that seeing more cards more often means that you’re making more money and has that made you make hundreds, even thousands of terrible river calls? There are many connections that you can make in poker that just lead to your play deteriorating… have you won especially many hands with the ace of hearts so that you feel good now every time you see it? And yes, I am saying:

Get rid of your lucky shirt, or at least wash it for crying out loud!

If you’d update your mental structure, you’d end up having a much better time and the real connections would become clearer and clearer: Do you play with more confidence when you’ve learned more about a situation? Is there the experience of a greater sense of clarity the times that you notice that you’re focused instead of falling back into that old pattern of not being very focused? You certainly know what that leads to… and can you make a more informed decision right after you let go of past hands?

Beginning to make those connections that serve you, that get you closer to your goals, while making sure to disregard noise and those random patterns that you know have nothing to do with your success at the tables, with you remembering the times that you were able to make great decisions... that's also connected to very specific things, good things, even great things:

You could prepare well so that you play with confidence. You could focus, so that your decisions are informed. You could take breaks, so that you experience the third hour of play with that same open mindedness and sense of being fresh and immersed as you often do right at the start of the session.
You could do so many things... why don't you start by making just one thing that you know is good for you a habit, starting today?

Imagine who you would become if you made all the right connections so that you could feel good about the right things!

Stay humble, friend, and keep doing what you're doing. Or make a change now.

Was a good week and a loong stretch of playing poker in general which means that I need a sort of break, or at least a change of pace. And I've got just what the doctor ordered because next week, I'll do no playing and just work on my game. I've done a lot of that this year, but I haven't done much of it recently so it's about time because as a friend once told me: "The most valuable asset that you've got as a player, even more valuable than your bankroll, is your game."

BR is at 363%.

Take care and have a nice weekend!