I have decided to log my grind in the form of a PG&C.

Why?
I want to peer into my grind from the outside in. It gets very intense grinding full time. When I FT something or when I run deep, I want to log it here for motivation. For example, instead of looking back and thinking "what if" if it doesn't work out, I hope to look back and think "I am making tons of runs". As I am sure you know, putting in volume consistently is tough and playing well consistently is tough. Doing both together, consistently, is even harder. Long hours in front of the PC is a lonely proposition so I'd like to just get a little involved with the community

Who am I?
I am an English guy living in Finland. I moved out here because I met the girl of my dreams and we are getting married this summer. I am a very lucky man on many levels but her continued support of me doing this for a living is another reason why I am able to grind hard. I am 29 and have been playing poker professionally for about 5-6 years.

I am passionate about poker and love the grind which is not the same for all pros so I am grateful for that. I love the theory and relish any opportunity in which I can improve. Studying is really fun for me.

I am also passionate about health and fitness. I love hitting the gym and I have just ordered the Buff Dudes' Cutting book. Obviously, I have to get shredded for the wedding! About 1 year ago I was playing with a semi-pro football team here in Finland called TKT due to a lifelong goal to get on Champ Man We trained 2-3 times per week and it was just so much fun. The training probably took about 12-18 hours out of my week and unfortunately I haven't found the time to continue with it this year.

I love: anything with a guitar solo, Family Guy, Peep Show, cinnamon buns, snow, Christmas, films, not being on a plane, AOE2, Spotify and jumping in cold lakes.

Goals
Nothing is set in stone yet so maybe this is something I should look to rectify? I would like to give at least a very brief summary of all my significant sessions here ITT. Volume wise, if I play MTTs all year (which is highly likely) I would like to hit 10k.

• Get as ripped as I can for the summer for obvious reasons
• Get my 2 rep max on Deadlift to 2x bodyweight (Currently 1.7x)
• 10k tournaments
• Improve my Finnish

So I think that is about it for now. I hope over the course of this year I can see the improvements I have made. I wish everyone a good year on and off the tables and I hope you enjoy this thread. 2018 is going to be a big year for me and I look forward to sharing it with you. I am incredibly determined to give my absolute all so... here we go!

"Se ei pelaa, joka pelkää."
"Kyllä jokainen on kippari kauniilla säällä"

Here are a couple of pics with my good friend and former housemate (me in green shirt) and couple pics I took near my house:

So iiiin for this!!

Sick landscapes in Finland. My cousin just visited for holidays and his photos were amazing!

Please let me know what do u mean with AOE2 as it would be so sick if thats the obvious thing i am guessing

I am only 70kgs bodyweight but proud to say i hit that precious 2x bw 2 reps on deadlifts last week ^_^

As its obvious i am excited to follow this journey as we share some passions (big football fan/"player" as well )

Cheers man best of luck in 2018!

I'm so happy you're back on the pg&c grind mate. Loved your previous thread. Glgl!

thanks a lot
Hey great work with the 2x bodyweight DL! That's awesome!
by AOE2, i mean age of empires hehe

hey thanks mate!! I hope your grind is going well

So this isn't the ideal first post because I couldn't make any FTs today, but thats just how it goes sometimes. Session had a cracking mid section where I had stacks in everything but yeh fizzled out a bit in not very exciting fashion.

Idk what you guys think about this hand and whether I can do anything else OTR.
https://www.boomplayer.com/26805453_25C57083A7

Had to show a bit of heart here as I decided I wanted to win hand
https://www.boomplayer.com/26805713_AE98C9C029

This hand is pretty ridiculous, so I will call it "the Carrel"
https://www.boomplayer.com/26805946_3018FA3A42

Some aggro line by some reg
https://www.boomplayer.com/26806377_00D4981ECE

Will be grinding Wed and thurs night, then Sunday so back tomorrow to win some stuff

Hehe was an ez thing i shouldnt double guess myself

I used to grind sick hours playing AOE2 back in my teens, when "zone" existed i just adored this game Have found couple of years ago some online AOE2 players who transitioned to poker as well!!

QQhand: pretty much growse.

Q8hand: i guess i am check/calling turn and river readless. Share some thoughts about the turn c/r?

Cheers buddy!

Gl man, following!

GL mate

haha so u love AOE2 too then! we should have a game sometime! i play on steam, my ELO is like 1555 ish.

so yeh - the Q8 hand - i may have butchered it and it potentially should never go down like this... but my gut says that x/c turn is not a good proposition. I don't think the hand is clearly value or bluff or semibluff, so it is probably just some kind of merge where the line is potentially better than any other line. OTR i dont think that villain has many 2pair+ hands and im getting a decent price soooo i cawl. anyway i gotta live up to my logo sometimes of "turning bluffs into bluffcatchers" right?

thanks Shelly! I opened the hatch! I will be clicking away down here for a while. Hope your well

ty mate, you too!


Pretty decent winning day today, decided to go with the oldschool 75% SNGs and 25% MTT day. Absolutely ran over the sngs which made me feel good cos they are what I do best.

Got a 15th I think in a 22$ and did get a 9th in a 4k GTD afte running JJ into AA. I already closed stars so no screenshot of the glorious 90$ or w/e.

But yeh, up about 1k today so feels nice. Back tomorrow to play just SNGs because of an earlier planned grind schedule Actually, now I write it down, i'm really looking forward to grinding the SNGs DW tho, its just one day, I have 90k going into Phase 2 on sunday so im planning on winning that.

Also, does anyone know if there has EVER been a PHASE 1 which has ran down to HU or even completion the idea of that is really satisfying and how cool would it be to crush someone HU for a big stack in an MTT?

have i just stumbled across a genius idea? Can I patent of copyright this?

gl all

The phase thing is actually very possible in off peak phase 1s, I`ve done it and my roommate too (bargs) not sure how often it happens it might just be pretty common. In the peaktime ones don`t see it happening, might be interesting to look up what the biggest entry phase 1 is someone `finished` but I guess we`ll never know (fwiw finishing the hu in phase 1 did not give me the chiplead in phase 2)

Nice day, keep it up

Yeap pretty much this. I also had a HU match which didnt finish, but with quite big difference between me and other guy. (Sth like 85 -15).

Not even close to CL on phase 2 though

Gg on the day, keep rolling! Cheers!

PS: Should be EXTREMELY fun to have an AOE2 match some day, but i guess i 'd be rusty AF!! Also my game has always been DM and the only format/map i was actually quite decent. (Best rank 1800-ish ).

I'm good thanks mate. Glad to see you're living the good life. I love winter so Finland looks heavenly to me, what are the summers like?

Is that a Lost reference btw??

GL man. I hope you survive the MTT grind.

thanks! haha ok nice work, had no idea it could happen!

everyone crushing the phase 1s wow ur elo is pretty damn good! add me on steam im "slaveaway". a game would be fun!!

yeh its really nice, and the summer is great too! temperates hitting UK levels almost and A LOT of sunshine and light it really looks amazing

ofc it was a lost reference! i still remember your avatar

I rather hope I do too... thanks lol


Yeh today was quite something and did not manage any FTs, but wcyd. I'm not gunna dwell it, rather just get on with it. Sooo, i'm gunna open a beer and play some AOE2.

The good news is that my Buff Dudes cutting book just arrived so tomorrow I can start getting into good shape. I had a really damn healthy January, lost some fat and gained strength, but then I had a wisdom tooth out.

BOOM

put me right right on my ass for 2 weeks. Hardly ate anything, lived off water and orange juice for 2 weeks and lost a lot of weight and unfortunately a lot of muscle. If anyone is wondering why I lost muscle - essentially, being in a calorie deficit with regular eating (orange juice etc) spikes insulin like hell and you burn muscle like crazy. (The quickest way to lose muscle is to do a juice fast) Obv, it was super hard to get in much protein as I barely ate any meat for 2 weeks and didn't have the heart to live off protein shakes for 2 weeks. Only 2 days ago did the stitches fall out and I started to feel almost normal. So right now I am pretty damn light at about 71/72 kgs. That concludes my 1st nutrition blab of the thread.

Tomorrow, i will hit the gym, eat well and try and grind MTTs but not grind into the night. I am hoping to grind morning MTTs on Tuesday

Hope your all running well.

After 6 hours of sleep I managed to wake up for a transitional shift of day time MTTs. Was actually pretty fun and ran up some nice stacks. even made one Final Table

last hand I showed down 9 high and won haha


had this interesting hand, not sure what ppl think(ended up running stack up to ever 10k after this too which was nice:

https://www.boomplayer.com/26868593_F2BDD4749F

had this grim hand:
https://www.boomplayer.com/26868593_F2BDD4749F

but overall was a fun grind.

THEN I OPEN SOME CHESTS.

opened this:


then next box I opened this:


Tomorrow I will get up as early as I can, hit the gym then hit the tables and crush.

GL all.

Nice one mate! Could you give us some details about how life in Finland is different to the UK?

Hmm, firstly it is a lot more relaxed. Peoples lives don't appear to revolve aroud their jobs like they seem to in the UK. People are quiet here and reserved, but I've found them to be extremely friendly! I would consider the UK public to be polite and rude at the same time. As in, we say please and thank you, but it is a formality, people can often be rude at the same time even if they choose to utter these words. This is probably why brits are considered SO polite here, because when you say thank you in Finnish, they are not always expecting it.

The seasons are varied, so in the winter time there is a lot of winter sports going on but many Finns long for the summer as the weather is so pleasant. In winters people are potentially even more sociable because they can't enjoy the outdoors alone. This pushes ppl into the bars and gyms etc. In winter time bars are deffo more packed and so are gyms. Everyone drinks outdoors in the summer. I will go on record now and say this (and my flatmate backed me up) 20 degrees in Finland on a clear day feels like about 30 degrees in the UK. I don't know why but it feels HOT HOT HOT. Even after a trip to Thailand, he got back to 21 degrees in Finland and said it was hotter here than over there where it got over 30 degrees. We even said it was too hot haha.

Ice hockey in Finland is like football is in England. Everyone has a team and everyone is totally cuckoo for Ice Hockey (in the same way SuperHans is for crack).

Fins also love kareoke and the Moomins (they invented the lovely moonins <3)


Fins also love a candy/sweet called Salmiakki which is black and tastes, to a non connoisseur, like licorice or aniseed - but don't EVER say that to a Finn because they will assure it is a completely different thing

Finns also love coffee. According to this website Finns drink more coffee per capita than any other country in the world!

Ok, thats all I can think of for now and I am getting tired (coffee wearing off i guess).

Poker went pretty damn well today I managed to win 2 MTTs outright.


also won a smaller one on party.

I think the year is heading in the right direction. Today I hit 100k hands for the year! ABI is about $45 and playing anywhere up to 18 tables. EV bb/100 is 6.89 overall which I think is good and I know by 200k hands it will be higher

Then hit the gym in a good mood and hit a really fun full body workout. I decided in the gym that I will have a short term goal of staying on the "prep phase" of the work out plan until I can get 10 reps on 100kg on deadlift. Today I managed:

5x90
5x90
5x90
5x90
3x90

So shouldn't be too far away. If I am not there in 1 month I will move on with the plan anyway but I am hoping i'm there in 2 weeks.

Was a really good day Back tomorrow for one or two small sessions then going to a party

goodnight everyone and GL

Another good day today!





was 5/5 but got the job done which makes it 3 wins in 2 days!!

Now time for some well deserved beers. Cya sunday

Have a good weekend everyone <3

Great results!!

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G925F met Tapatalk

thanks mate!!

Tried to make it 4 MTT wins in 4 days on sunday but it wasnt to be. I did however run up monster stacks in everything! The grind felt amazing because of it Had enough deep runs to have a BE sunday! BINK!

Today had this decent "almost" result


So yeh, in the last week my EV has GONE THROUGH THE ****ING ROOF and the grind is not only feeling enjoyable, but I can see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Got back into the gym today which felt nice. Future wifey joined me for the session and we smashed out some front squats and some other good stuff.

Will keep it short today cos I wanna get to bed soon as I wanna be at the tables in less than 8 hours again, because I have SO MUCH HEART


Anyway, had winning day cos I ran well at a few HS SNGs so happy days. Gn all and gl.

I don't know why but I only slept 3 hours last night. Anyway got up, loaded games and within 3 hours I had hit quads 3 times.

Ended up with 3 Fts - 2 3rds and one second. Was a nice profitable day. I'm not even tired now, idk whats wrong with me. All i wanna do now is play zoom...





back on it tomorrow ofc!



See you at the Final Table

Getting used to this heat!

Was down to 1BB with about 20 players left: and then this happened!



Was really satisfying to see that after all this time ppl still have no idea what they are shoving at FTs.

Another great winning day and now off for beers and burger(s) with my friends. A Scottish legend has just arrived in Finland to visit us with his gf for a few days, so im taking a few days off to hang out with them. Holiday well earned!

gl all

Nice results of late man!!

Haven't updated for a while mainly because I feel so short of time. When I get up I'm trying to get grinding as quickly as possible and then after sessions I am prioritising study over this I guess lol.

Poker has been pretty boring in terms of results so it's boring posting 18th place here etc but don't you all worry my cEV is ****ing high.

Did this recently! (im 2nd on left)


It was -15 degrees outside when we went in, we went for for 5 dips and then warmed up in the sauna in between. Tbh..... it was ****ing cold. Walking back wet to the sauna (about 10 metres) was pretty hellish. I could stand out in -15 all day nude, but being in that water was a little chilly.

The most exciting thing for me at the moment is working out! Progress is coming along hard now I'm eating properly. About 3 weeks ago I did:

90x5
90x5
90x5
90x5
90x3

on deadlift and about 1 week ago I managed 10x on 100kg weighing the same 72kg. So now I'm moving on to "phase 1" of the buff dudes plan. It's so much fun.
Here is the deadlift:


Yesterday I PBed pullups with 10kg plate attacked, managing:

8
8
8
6

I will back back sunday to win things. Hope you are all good.

Time for a protein shake before heading out for beers with the lads. cya later

just saw this, in and gl

A hearty 10 hour grind today.





was a super tough day though and had to really give it 100% to put in the volume I did.



that aint fun!

Down 2k$ in last 2 days but just part of the game so w/e. One thing I noticed again was I am possibly slipping a tad behind my goals so I wanted to do a post to keep my accountable for that. 10k tournies for the year is still the goal and I might have to stick in a few more 12hr + crazy grinds where I just reg everything to do it. Anyway, I'm pretty damn proud of how hard I worked today and yesterday, and I will be grinding tomorrow too before taking wed off.

IDK what u guys think of this hand V reg in BB:

https://www.weaktight.com/h/5aa6e7d2d39043d7608b476b

Gym and everything is going amazing atm and I'm proud of that too because without something regular and constant like the workouts i'd be a little lost.

Hope you are all well.