About me

I am a 32 year old pharmacist based in the US with a passion for poker. While I do love the technical aspects about poker, I am hoping to bring in a nice side income with it as well. Graduate schools in the US are very profitable so I am one of the post-grads sitting on $200k+ in debt. In addition, my wife and I have started saving for a house, but being in Southern California the prospect of owning a house here in 2019 is daunting so that's another six-figures to account for. A big task, but I strongly believe we will get there. Currently, I mainly play 100nl and sprinkle in some 50nl when no good tables are going, and have recently failed shotting 200nl several times. My main goal is to become good at poker, and the monetary goal will come within that process whenever that is.

I wanted to start this blog mainly to keep myself accountable due to the difficulty of balancing between working full-time and finding enough hours to put in volume, PIO grind, and studies for poker. This would help me document what worked, and what hasn't worked going forward. Previously, I had been putting in about 20k hands a month. A very reputable player had told me last month that if I really wanted to get to midstakes and improve at the rate I wanted to, I had to put in at least 30k+ hands per month. I want to reach midstakes so I took that advice to heart. I made a schedule to stay disciplined with and will update it monthly according to leaks and areas of study. The hard part is going to be finding the right amount of hours at the right times to put in volume while refraining from clicking buttons (mental game). This means putting in effective meditation to have my body and mind reset before every session to ensure minimal spews particularly after a hard day's work dealing with difficult patients.

On the side, I have started to enjoy playing golf every weekend with some friends and my current goal is to consistently break 100. I have hit in the 90s several times, but if I fix a few duffs here and there especially in my approach/bunker shots then it'd help a ton. Also set up a small practice area in my house and have started recording my swing. Feel is definitely different than real. Some other areas of interest that I am wanting to improve on is investing, and speaking Spanish.

Short-term February Goals

• Put in 30k+ volume (~80 hands/hr reg tables = ~63 hours grinding => 16 hours weekly). Being that February's a short month we're looking at ~2.5 hrs per day.
• Solid grasp on XR SRP, Probing, Turn Play, Overbetting
• 4 hours of PIO per week with above subjects and any questionable HH
• 2 hours of general HH Review per week
• Hit 50 balls twice per week with golf swing recorded for analysis
• Meditate 10 minutes before each session after work, and after each session that displayed any signs of tilt

Long-term Goals

• Become a crusher
• Decrease 33% of my school debt ($80k)
• Attain 25% of a house down payment ($37.5k)
• Break 100 in golf
• Speak enough Spanish to get by (not sure how to measure this lol)
• Understand basics of investing

Good luck man!!! I love your structure and goals. I, myself, am a very goals-oriented, structured thinker so I find things like this are very helpful in the journey of attaining said goals. I recently started a thread similar to this with some small differences/end goals. Side note, do you only play online?? I have heard live poker is Cali can be very profitable. Cheers!!

I'm intrigued to follow

Will follow. GL sounds like you have a lot on your plate.

Thanks man! My volume is only online. There are a couple card rooms close by, sometimes I get the itch to go; however, the thought of playing 20 hands per hour and 45 minute drive always keeps me home. Maybe I'll get myself to play live soon since I'm looking to play a couple WSOP events this summer.

Appreciate it!

Thanks bro! Hoping to conquer it head on.

Short-term February Goals

• First week of February down, and a solid start to our goals. The majority of the week has been monetarily dull. Overall I am happy with the productivity.
• Satisfied with volume, we're at 7.5k hands which is the most I've grinded in a week's period in a while. Need to pick it up a bit to reach 30k mark by the 28th. Took a peek at my redline, needs work.
• Took my first Sunday off to play some MTTs to prep myself for WSOP. Overall the MTT pools felt soft. I was able to build a solid stack in most of them. As the tourneys went on to the middle stages, I wasn’t confident in the shove/call ranges. A few questionable shoves and calls dwindled my stacks and I didn’t do a good job of preserving my big stack. We did make a couple deep-ish runs, if we learn a bit of 10-25bb poker then I think we can maybe make a some noise next time. Cashed in 3/7.

• Main focus of study this past week was XR SRP, and it left me wanting to learn more. I think I built a solid foundation, will chizzle it out as time progresses. This week will be dialing in more on probing.

• Short of the PIO goal with ~2.5 hours for the week, could use improvement. Working in this new routine where I type up questions during the session on specific spots where I am not totally confident on. Found some relatively common spots where my combos/lines were off. Anyway, going to work in these questionable hands with the topic of the week and that should get me to the weekly PIO goal easily.

• Played a round of golf and scored a 103. I usually hit between 93-105. I recorded my swing and it turns out I had this problem of shallowing out my swing arc on the back swing, which cause me to go over the top and almost chop down on the ball during my downswing. Leads to a lot of inconsistency as the score suggests. In my head I always thought it flowed in a smooth motion, recording told otherwise. Heavily considering if I should get a coach. Rates vary from $30/hr for a Groupon coach or ~$100/hr for a reputable coach. Steep.

• Felt solid with my discipline here, meditated everyday. Had one session where I spewed a stack, or two. Was able to recognize it and end the session early. Firmly believe that if I wasn't mindful, it'd turn into a 3 hour session chasing losses and forcing hands.

• Check! A couple of fun hands.

Putting our XR study to use, and failed
WPN, $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $95.50 (95.5 bb)
Hero (BB): $101.50 (101.5 bb)
UTG: $124.27 (124.3 bb)
MP: $134.98 (135 bb)
CO: $127.48 (127.5 bb)
BTN: $82.15 (82.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 4 8
2 folds, CO raises to $2.50, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($5.50) K 4 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $3.45, Hero raises to $10.12, CO calls $6.67

Turn: ($25.74) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $18.34, CO calls $18.34

River: ($62.42) A (2 players)
Hero bets $70.54 and is all-in, CO calls $70.54

Results: $203.50 pot ($3 rake)
Final Board: K 4 6 7 A
Hero showed 4 8 and lost (-$101.50 net)
CO showed A A and won $200.50 ($99 net)




Clickback war vs fish, wasn't mad either way
Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $176.93 (176.9 bb)
BB: $98.88 (98.9 bb)
Hero (UTG): $101 (101 bb)
MP: $120.15 (120.2 bb)
CO: $100.76 (100.8 bb)
BTN: $17.28 (17.3 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A Q
Hero raises to $2.25, 4 folds, BB calls $1.25

Flop: ($5) 6 A 5 (2 players)
BB bets $1, Hero raises to $4.71, BB raises to $8.42, Hero raises to $23.48, BB raises to $38.54, Hero raises to $53.60, BB raises to $96.63 and is all-in, Hero calls $43.03

Turn: ($198.26) 6 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($198.26) 6 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $198.26 pot ($4.00 rake)
Final Board: 6 A 5 6 6
BB showed 5 5 and lost (-$98.88 net)
Hero showed A Q and won $194.26 ($95.38 net)

Week 2

• Studied 4 hours of probing in PIO, 1.5 hours of HH, and one video on short stack MTT play
• Meditation on point; was able to recognize tilt during a session after a long day at work. Insta-quit to prevent any more EV loss.
• Read ~45 min on investing
• Didn't hit any golf balls this week. Played a par 3 course and shanked 3 balls in a row into the water. Insta-booked those Groupon lessons after.
• Made another deep-ish run in an $80k GTD finishing 85/6k? total entrants. Need to plug in some hands into ICMIZER.

Week 3 *through today

• 1 hour of PIO study on OB, 2 hours of HH review. Mainly need to commit more hours to PIO for the rest of these days.
• Meditation streak is at 10 days
• Read ~15m on investing
• Range on Tues to regain some confidence in my swing. Trying to think of goals to present to my first golf lesson to get the most out of it.

Happy with the work I've put in the past two weeks given a full 40 hour work schedule. We have one more week to go and we're at 18k hands. 99% of my volume is reg tables. I will probably have to add some zone tables to meet the 30k goal. Relatively big volume for me, but we're going to get this done... so letsss gooooooo.


reg scared to play postflop??
WPN, $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 3 Players

SB: $102.75 (102.8 bb)
Hero (BB): $139.75 (139.8 bb)
BTN: $101.50 (101.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7 T
BTN folds, SB raises to $3, Hero calls $2

Flop: ($6) 7 8 T (2 players)
SB bets $99.75 and is all-in, Hero calls $99.75

Turn: ($205.50) 9 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($205.50) K (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $205.50 pot ($1 rake)
Final Board: 7 8 T 9 K
SB showed A A and lost (-$102.75 net)
Hero showed 7 T and won $204.50 ($101.75 net)



one f'in combo lol
WPN, $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players

Hero (SB): $69.91 (139.8 bb)
BB: $50.75 (101.5 bb)
MP: $59.23 (118.5 bb)
CO: $168.62 (337.2 bb)
BTN: $51.08 (102.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9 9
3 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, BB raises to $4.50, Hero calls $3

Flop: ($9) J J 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $3, Hero calls $3

Turn: ($15) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $10.68, Hero raises to $27.25, BB raises to $43.25 and is all-in, Hero calls $16

River: ($101.50) 3 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $101.50 pot ($3 rake)
Final Board: J J 2 9 3
Hero showed 9 9 and lost (-$50.75 net)
BB showed J 9 and won $98.50 ($47.75 net)

February Goals

• Put in 30k+ volume (~80 hands/hr reg tables = ~63 hours grinding => 16 hours weekly). Being that February's a short month we're looking at ~2.5 hrs per day. BIG CHECK!
• Solid grasp on XR SRP, Probing, Turn Play, Overbetting. CHECK!
• 4 hours of PIO per week with above subjects and any questionable HH Fail
• 2 hours of general HH Review per week CHECK!
• Hit 50 balls twice per week with golf swing recorded for analysis CHECK!
• Meditate 10 minutes before each session after work, and after each session that displayed any signs of tilt Fail

Hit our 30k volume! Super stoked about that - can't remember the last time I played that much. Understood the above topics more, left me with more questions than answers; however enough info to gain EV from pool. Easily met my HH review goal.

Two weeks where we didn't meet hourly PIO goal. Definitely need to stick with this as I think it is imperative to improvement. And had a hiccup in meditation this past week and results showed - see below.

From the 1st until the 22nd:


Brutal last week of Feb:


Not very results oriented but two very different graphs which led to a breakeven month. Last week I got absolutely owned where it felt like none of my XR, 3b/4b bluffs were getting through. Everyone folded when I RFI with AA. When they did play, my KK<AK,AA,QQ etc. (fish mentality? ) Missed meditation sessions on the 23rd/24th which is where the dip began, not sure if there is correlation there but could've better optimized my sessions. Also might've felt the heat of completing 30k hands as I was firing 8-9 reg tables, more than my comfortable 6 tables which probably led to more autopiloting.

Overall, redline shows I am not fighting for as much spots as I should. When I was going over the XR and turn spots, found I am still misplaying some common, tricky SRP flop textures so looking to make that the main focus this month.

Recorded my golf swing. Hesitant to post it here as it is that terrible. "Chopping down" on the ball, overextension in the back swing, head not stable, and minimal shift in body weight to lead foot which may the main cause of my ultra hooks.

Good learning experience to start off. We're still going to achieve our long-term goals. Working in more zone hands to comfortably make the volume goal without having to fire more tables than what I'm used to. First golf lesson tomorrow, looking forward to that.

March Goals

• 30k+ volume
• 4 STRICT hours of PIO per week. Tricky flop textures and have better vision on combos
• 2 hours of general HH Review per week
• Fix swing. Looking for confidence in the swing in order to increase speed for longer, straighter shots
• Meditate 10 minutes before each session

March Goals

• 30k+ volume Fail
• 4 STRICT hours of PIO per week. Tricky flop textures and have better vision on combos Fail
• 2 hours of general HH Review per week CHECK!
• Fix swing. Looking for confidence in the swing in order to increase speed for longer, straighter shots. CHECK!
• Meditate 10 minutes before each session Fail

Poker



No easy way to put this, but March was a big fail. Work got the best of me this month due to increased hours from a coworker taking vacation half of the month. Fatigue got the better part of me and routines fell off.

Forced to put in sessions to catch up with volume (fell way short of 30k goal), skipped meditating, PIO sessions were rushed, and did take some very aggro BR shots at 200nl/z. To no surprise, it resulted in a losing month - overall could've been a lot worst considering most of it was from the shot taking (lost 5-6bi at 200). On a positive note, I did not feel overwhelmed by the regs there. Thus far, most of my volume was split 60/40 between Ignition and WPN. I noticed I reg battled too much on WPN. Going forward I will be splitting up the volume to 90/10 and only play on WPN if there are at least two fun players at the table, instead of sitting vs 4-5 Eastern Euro regs which is already questionable in itself.

Eyes are set solely on 100nl and refocusing my studies this month unless there are really good games to shot take. With a consistent work schedule again, we need to get this train back on track.

Golf
Lessons have helped me identify two fatal flaws that have led to the inconsistency in my swing.

1. On my back swing, I have a tendency of bringing the club behind me and under the plane. Which explains why I have either had either pulls (when I come over the top) or really bad hooks (when I release and close the face too early).



2. Reverse tilt - spine angle at the top of back swing. Right hip slides laterally leading to hitting it fat, weak, and duffing it.



These lessons from Groupon were great value for the $ (3 for ~$90) and my skill level. Found that my natural swing is a slight draw, and I was able to slightly shape my shots on command and according to instruction. Of course when I went to the range to do these myself it led to shanks lmao. Strongly considering continuing with this coach. Can't beat the value when other coaches are easily in the $100+/hr range.

Investing

Almost done reading "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing." Pretty much the main theme is to invest in low-cost index funds with a bunch of examples and historical patterns.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book so far:

"Before costs, beating the market is a zero-sum game. After costs, it is a loser's game" ...Damn rake.

"The great Enemies of the Equity investor are Expenses and Emotions"

Very similar to poker as there are population and psychological trends to where the majority are very short-term, results-oriented rather than looking at the big picture.

Spanish

Hola.


April Goals

• MUST 30k+ volume.
• 4 hours of PIO, and be able to teach someone a spot.
• 2 hours of general HH Review per week
• Work on drills to fix plane issue, reverse tilt.
• MUST Meditate 10 minutes before each session