Goals 2018

1. Positive EV win rate at PLO200 (preferably higher); [ ] Just a couple of hands at PLO200. Would have played more, but my Stable fell apart at the end of August, and from there I just wasn't rolled.
2. Move around the Globe starting from October (lenght of stay depending on visa policy); [X] I'm not moving around much, but I'm spending my winter in a very nice and warm place!
3. Learn to cook 2 new meals a month (or TOT 24); [ ] No
4. Attend 1 clultural event a month (or TOT of 12); [ ] Probably reached 1/2 of that.
5. Learn my 4th language (Spanish seems a decent pick regarding goal number 2); [ ] Huge fail. I didn't even try.
6. Read 2100 pages of non poker related literature. [X]

As you can see, I didn't hit most of my targets there. I'm pretty sure that I'd hit "1" if my stable would be operational, especially with table selecting soft games. "3" is whatever, I don't really enjoy cooking, but failing on "4" is just due to my laziness. I still want to learn Spanish, but the idea of moving around from country to country just was too expensive, and therefore I have to postpone my Latin American experience. But it will happen sooner or later I also think I set up those goals just for a purpose of setting up goals, not that I really wanted to reach them.

2019?

- Positive EV win rate at PLO200 or higher;

Realistically I can start shooting at this stake just in 3-5 months, depending how I run and how much I spend. I'm pretty sure I can show profit in softer line ups there already, just a matter of BR.

- More effort in making new friends / do not neglect existing friendships / be more social in general;

I'm doing a really poor job at this since I started playing poker full time. I haven't made that many new friends, lost contact with bunch of people from my past. I'm not sure how to approach it, I guess I just have to force myself into situations where I have to interact with more people.

- Gain weight, 75kg by the end of 2019;

I've already started attacking this point. I've been endurance athlete for most of my life with a body that's just made for long distace running and I have a very fast metabolism. I'm 182cm tall, and 64kg is the heaviest I have ever been. After I quit "pro" sport, I lost 2-3 kg of muscle weight and didn't gain any fats. And lost even more weight since moved to Philippines, so I was just around 59kg 2 weeks ago.

Gym is way too boring for my taste, but my girl introduced me to something else that might become my new passion - boxing / kickboxing / mma! A boxing gym with bunch of coaches here costs like 2 eur per visit, and I get special attention and more effort from coaches just because I'm white, and I'm not going to a comercial gym, so it's very likely I'm the only white guy going there. Right now I'm learning just boxing (lil bit of kickboxing), but I want to move to mma eventually. Every training there includes circuit / abs workout, and I'm very out of shape as of now.. It's a bit weird to get used to it, cos my ex coach (when I was a runner) had PhD in sport science, so we never did anything just for the sake of doing it, everything was into a bigger picture, but now I have to adapt to this "no pain no gain" approach, which is not very effective and far from optimal, but that's the best I have right now.

Back to gaining weight topic - I haven't researched it almost at all, but I don't think it's a rocket science. I bought a mass gainer and I'm taking extra 550 kcal in the morning after eating my regular breakfast, and another extra 550 after gym / before sleep. I read that it's very important for my body type / metabolism to eat up right before sleeping, so drinking this helps. Also, I'm lucky that my girl is living in the same building and works from home too, and she's brilliant cook and keen for me gaining weight, so she cooks 1-2 large meals a day that I like (note - overall diet in Philippines is so bad, rice + pork 3x a day, **** the salads). Therefore I'm very optimistic about this!
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January started pretty slow. I already wrote that I was being somewhat depressed during the holidays, so my poker volume and everything else also suffered from it. Now I'm back on track! Also, I booked a 9 day trip to Japan at the end of March. I've never been there, and it would be a shame not to take advantage of being so close to it.

Been running amazingly bad this week, like 1.5-2k eur below EV, so gonna do this MINI CHALLENGE to keep myself motivated for the rest of the month.

1) 27.5h play time;
2) 10h of study time - work with my HU database for the first time and look for explotation points vs population;
3) 3x boxing gym + 3x strength / core / abs workouts at home;
4) Post update here at the end of each day.

Six days to go, bring it on!

My gf left for Hong Kong until 1st of Feb, she cooked tons of meal preps for me, so if I fail, it will just show my weak character. So failure is not an option!

First day in the books. Ran dog ****, not much I can do about it. Went to boxing gym at 20:30 just to find out they are closing at 20:30 on Saturdays, so did a workout at home.

50 eur pot that I won w/o SD is missing.


Lost 90 eur on another site, 80 eur below EV + this cooler I'm gonna post;



2) So lost in this spot when it's multiway. Any chance I can check turn too to fold on river? Or b/f turn 1/4 vs sb and call off BB as he's a whale who had dropped some 6 stacks already?



3) This guy was the reason for roller coaster at the end of that graph.. 3bet 90% is always fun

cool thread. keep it up.

What are some of the biggest things you've learned from the beginning? 10/25PLO when you started the thread, until now?

I think learning solid PF ranges was the biggest thing in the beginning. Apart from that, I think it's just improving everything little by little. And gaining experience allows you to deviate a lot from standard plays, like there are lines that are never a bluff, so you can fold every bluff catcher etc.

Got some study time left to hit, gonna update after that. Hint - busted 2 of my accounts (have 3)

Day 2 done.

Busted my iPoker account early on. I suspect I've been playing bunch of bots HU there lately. Different names, but same style. Buys in some fishy amount around 50bb's, plays loose / gambools a bit until 100bb, and then switch to this nitty style where playing tight pre and not overfolding post flop and underbluffing. Ehh. Reloaded there anyway. -285 eur or so there today (120 below EV).

Anyway, ran good at my main room, but everything went ****e when I decided to add 1 table of Chinese PM while there was no action elsewhere. I don't think I'll play there anymore tho. I'm down ~350 eur after some 7-9k hands there, but that app just gives me more trouble than it's EV. Not that EV is higher than other rooms due to all the colluding going on. First I ran good there when started out, was up 1.2k or so (bunch above EV), but lately been just losing, and if winning, just tiny bit. ****load below EV (not that I have tracking). And games play so loose passive, with 2-4 guys having same stats, so possible colluders. All in all I just don't think it's worth to play there while worrying about being cheated constantly. Anyway, lost like 425 eur there (4 BI's) today (maybe 150-200 eur below EV).

Ran good here tho



So, I finished +70 eur While ~300 eur below EV. Not bad!

This concludes this week, one of the worst ones I've had in a long long time, the most below EV a week I've ever been, ~2.5k. But then again, it's just 25-50 BI's and it's PLO, just gotta deal with it.

Found some really valuable stuff in my DB today, gotta keep digging for more!

1) Ughh pretty sure this one is a spew





BTW - I usually take Sat/Sun completely off, so this has been overtime these two days.

where about you staying in cebu? i.t park? thinking of moving there for a quieter life compared to manila in march.

Has the nightlife picked up much there? last time i went, people recommended mango but it was downright terrible and dead. seemed like some of the nightlife was slowly moving to i.t park whch is good

hope you enjoyed sinulog. gl

Nice win despite the run bad

Were you playing Omaha on PM as well?

Yeah IT park, Avida towers. Pretty much the nuts location. IT park is somewhat similar to BGC, but much better version of it and not so overpriced, at least that's how I feel about it. Can see myself staying here for a long time actually.

I don't do much of nightlife, Mango is still the red light district, but fancy clubs are near SM city. I don't believe there is a clubbing scene in IT park, just tons of resto bars with live music, theres always lots of people here. Yes sinulog was fun, just the rain ruined the parade a bit.

Gotta appreciate the small wins haha

Yep, only played 2/4 HU a bit and 2/4/8 6max PLO on PM. Maybe I just ran bad with clubs, idk. And 3 blind structure is pretty bad for action actually as it forces you to open even tighter, so I didn't enjoy that.

OP and gotgot123 r u guys filipino?

nah im not. been in philippines for 4/5 years though

ah i see

I'm from Baltics, in Philippines since October 2018.

Day 3 in the books. Powering it through!

iPoker - same old story, dropped 120 eur while 155 eur below EV. Oh well. It's weird that HUD won't work there. All the hands are saved tho, but results are incorrect by huge margin. Probably as I'm using old version of HM2 as new versions won't work with my main room. EV difference is correct tho.

Main room still running good.



So I won 167 eur while being 140 eur below EV. I'll take that too

Overall it was slow day, with lots of 1 tabling HU or 3-4 handed games.

Went to boxing gym 20:30.. turns out they close at 21, not 22. Had 30 min intensive session 1 on 1, then abs at home. Gonna go back tomorrow, earlier this time. Time to sleep and repeat!

Day 4 - here we go again..

Lost 400, won 500, lost 500

iPoker - Lost 310 eur while 12 eur above EV. Played some hands badly, but nothing else went my way as of lately.

Main room - gotta win that EV!



So, I lost 390 eur while 210 below EV.

Did a long workout in boxing gym, making new friends there, so I'm really enjoying the process. Also helps to forget about this downer at work.

I planned to study for an hour after gym, but I'm way too tired to have a meaningful session, so gonna catch up tomorrow when I'll work out from home.

Some hands, really butchered couple of them..

1) This is just a turn fold.. I didn't even think, apart from flashing a thought that "he could pot some JTXX hand or whateve", but it's QJ every single time, especially when they pot. People don't expect to fold out set, which I represent, so they just take a free card with all those semi bluff hands they could be betting.



2) River raise is fine imo - villain was potting rivers with his nut hands before.. bet when he ships this deep - they don't bluff. He even typed in chat "give me ur money" in chat before jamming lol. Maybe even a fold pre, but you can get away with a lot off stuff in HU PLO

Day 5

Played just one long session today (apart from 20 min on app later). It's hard to quit and have a break / lunch when rec is giving you action HU.

iPoker - won 80 eur 4 above EV.
Main room



App - tried out a new one today on agents acc as he had some 55 eur left. Tried ~PLO50, ran it up to almost 80 eur, but then lost with A2XY vs A2NM on AA22 board. Will give 10 bi shot there anyway as action is so bad mid day here. I'm actually considering adding PS to play zoom games when I can't find no action elsewhere.. but fk PS as rake is so high anyway and no RB.. So I'll give the last shot to Chinese.

So in total, we lost 150 eur today, while just 50 below EV.



Looks like gonna smash play time target easily. Lot's of studying to do tomorrow. I think I'm done with DB review, so will play with PPT tomorrow for the first time in a long long time. Watched MMA's video today and somehow it really motivated me. Can't wait to play my best tomorrow!

Final day!

Poker went pretty smooth up until last session where I dropped stacks but won EV. I hope this trend would stop as the new month starts

iPoker - won 90 eur, 11 below EV.
App - +165 eur (PLO50). Lost 60 eur pot vs 2 outer, but won some flips. Not sure about EV, might be around neutral.
Main room, rip final session.. won 10 eur of EV in that one tho.



So I won 255 eur, while 150 eur below EV.

1) Got a full timebank slowroll on the river





I hit all my poker goals. Missed 1 boxing workout - not because I was lazy, but because my body needed a recovery day. Maybe if I hadn't messe up with gyms working hours, I'd be fine if had done boxing on Sat instead of two days in a row. Still satisfied tho.

Result wise? Lost 388 eur in this challenge, while 1437 eur below EV. So, I won 1099 EV euros

My gf gets back tomorrow, and I think I'll have a day off finally (had last day off on 20th).

Not sure if I'll continue updating this thread in the old manner (1-2x a month) or do it more regularly. This challenge was kind of fun and actually pushed me to hit targets even tho monetary results were diappointing. So I think you'll hear from me more often

Update for January will follow.

Looks like you ran bad with coolers too.



Good job completing those goals

Thanks! Yeah last two weeks were quite brutal. Still a winning month, and even bigger EV winning month

I actually ran really good that this downer happened/happens now, instead of when I just came to Philippines. Now my roll can take it, while back then I was totally underrolled.

January

Main room:


iPoker: -772 eur in 7.5k hands;
App 1: -428 eur in ~5-7k hands;
App 2: +150 eur in 150 hands.

Toatl +1560 eur while ~1.5-2k below EV.

Hand count is just ridiculous, a lot of the time I was just 1 tabling HU. ~25k hands total. I plan to keep playing bunch of HU, but the app on the side can help with getting more hands, especially if I add 2nd table when there's no action at all on euro sites. The problem is, my laptop can't really handle it.

Weight gain is going in the right direction, last time I stepped on the scales it was +2kg already.

Sucks that I spent a lot this month, due to donking 600 eur for Japan trip that will happen on March. So I didn't add anything to my roll, dropped 100-200 eur actually I'll be accounting my poker winnings in each room and spendings / net worth very precisely every month. Both for my own curiosity as well as for tax purposes. Last year was the first one that I'm supposed to pay tax, 22% for winnings over 3k in each room. And I have no clue how much I'm actually supposed to pay

Completely destroyed fellow regs soul today.. I could sense his anger when he snap Alt+F4.

1) Build up hand:



2) And the very next KO hand:



Ye I ran good today

Btw, reached 65kg for the first time of my life few days ago!

Idk why but hitting the 9 for quads instead of hitting the straight makes the suck out so much better. Nice hit.

I'm alive!

First 10 days of month went well, but last week was pain in the ass. I lost just few hundred overall, but I was so angry / frustrated in almost every session I played. Needed a break so went to beach/island Sun/Mon, but after all the travel / sun burn, I've caught some sickness, might be flu. This always sucks, didn't play today, hopefully can do it tomorrow. I think I'm up 1-1.2k eur so far this month. I think I will drop iPoker as I really suspect I'm battling bots every day there. I think it also worsens anger / frustration issue, so it's not worth it.

Been going to boxing gym 4-5 times a week now. Adding more kickboxing / Muay Thai. I never thought I would, but I'm really enjoying these sessions! Small goal - I wanna be able to throw a roundhouse head kick by the time I go back home in May! I need to increse my flexibility a lot for that.

What site you gonna focus on now?

GL!

iPoker was never my main site.

Basically I spent all this week in my room (made 2 trips 3 floors down to gf's unit) dealing with flu. Played a bit of poker yesterday evening, grinded 3h today (didn't go well haha). All in all - I lost a week. Disatvantage of being a poker player - no paid sick leave.

Leaving to Japan in ~1 month, gonna grind really hard until then. No beach trips too. Eat, sleap, grind, gym, fvck - all I'm gonna do for a while. 1/6 of year has passed and I haven't made any progress regarding moving up, so I gotta turn it up!

**** the ****ing Chinese apps! Busted my roll there today, so I'm done with that bs.

1) Beauty... oh wait



February isn't that great so far, but there is still a chance for +1k day that would save me