Greetings,
esm_z here, I`m quite new to blogging etc been more of a lurker since i can remember, but there comes time for everthing, and today is my time to change my life. I am a 28 year old latvian, with bachelor degree in business management, and i love poker! I cant stress it enough, i enjoy every minute I am at the tables, live or online.

But i have never had a chance to make poker my proffesion (or i did not want it hard enough) but once i heard about CFP programme i knew it was my chance - my type of deal to finnaly take a life changing shot in the dark.
You know the saying if the door is closed to a place you want to go – Get in through the window. Maybe it is not a saying and I just made it up, but what the hell it fits our story nice. As first i wanted to join the 6max club, but the door remaind closed but i was still eager to join CFP and fullfill my dreams, so i used the window to get in joined the elite HU squad as soon as got the email i had been waiting ever since end of august. One more funny story i would like to share, i had planned my 2k15 to look bit different was going to make a marathon grind it up / streaming the whole thing, I even wrote a blog and just as i was about to hit enter to post it i got the email – I was omg it must be a sign


Anyway that was a bit of story now to main part
I am still going through all the new media / poker site sign ups / getting everything sorted to get started with maximum efficiency, as well as waiting for my BR to transfer from my UK bank to Latvia – should be available next week. I have to say I am very very excited, and ofcourse bit overwhelmed with all the info and preperation but it is for a great cause! And i know the goal we want to achieve!

The aim of the blog

Well this will be where i document my path from a total HU nub! a poker enthusiast to a POKER PLAYER a winning POKER PLAYER!!
We will chat and share opinions here, discuss matters and laugh at crazy UP streaks, and overcome and solve downstreaks.
We will make the journey interesting and epic. We will see here that hard work pays off!

What we will play ? HU NL, cash
Our Goal ? 60`000 euro
Starting BR - 1250 euro
With all this said, i welcome you once again, to my blog and thank you all for reading this thus far let`s get rolling!

Hey, a little update, have been learning hard last few days, doing loads of offtable work.
Replaying to hands, watching videos making summaries and taking notes. I have to say it feels great to learn smth you actualy like! Cant wait for my BR to clear and i can finaly start to play some.
We are almost ready to start.

Hey guys,
Still in an anoying state, Banktransfer has not come through yet.
On bright side, had a talk with my coach - very nice fellow with very good results and plan how to make this most efficient. Also had a group coaching / meet and great with rest of HU guys in the BPC, very cool experience and felt like learned a lot in that 1.5h , will do a summary of the session to get everything written in stone ^_^

Looking forward to finaly start playing. Must hang in there and work on other stuff while i wait.

Gordon is going to finally finish off heads up, adding new bumhunters daily.

Hey guys,
Been 3 days as i hit the tables, first 2 were super good, heck even mid 3rd i was still happy, but then at the end i hit my first stoploss after 5h of grinding, still up 3 buyins in total, but i would lie if i said i am happy about it.

On brighter note, had my coaching 1v1, we went through hands, where i lost and where i won, recieved very valuable notes and things i should focus on more. Will review the session tomrrow and make notes of all of them. Other wise i am realy happy about everything in CFP thus far. Even tho the road has just started, i know where we are heading ^_^.

Will let you know how tomorows session will go,

Stay safe and good luck at tables.

Hey guys,
A little update, have moved to NL50 to start first real euro grinding. Have to admit at first 20, 40, even 100 euro pots were abit stressfull, i have played tournaments with 50, 215, heck even 530$ buyins, but as for cash games these are new limits, but day by day i get more confortable with them. It takes a bit longer to find someone to play with, but I get more time to post on forums, and do other stuff related to CFP. I liked my coaching, overlooking the hands, and get them analyzed by someone better, gives you new insight and makes you look at things from other perspective.
A little graph of my adventures at NL50

Morning,

Time for a little update, last few days been full with lots of things happening poker and not poker related, i will let you know about poker ones
I can say i have got used to playing NL50 now, and i feel way more comfortable in making 20 – 30 euro bets / calls etc, i have increased the number of sites i play on, as told by my coach, I start to see my self as a poker player – no longer i am a dude who just plays cards as hobby, and i love it
Action could always be better, we will see what sunday brings, we are still going up BR wise, i do make mistakes now and again, but thats normal, i still have mountains and mountains of things to learn, i do feel my game is getting better. Had a very valuable coaching, a live session with my coach, i knew to gain maximum from it, i had to play my standart game, so he can see that, and not try to improvise just because someone is judging everymove i make I learned some things, had i chance to see him in action as well for a bit, poor fish who faced him, had no idea what hit him :P
As for daily plans and weekly goals – i failed to make them and there for failed to reach them. This will be my priorty next week. I feel like i am wasting a lot of time during day on BS, i know when i will grind, but rest of the daily activities are random, have to fix that. All in all a decent week, Looking forward to sunday grind and next week!

Hey,
Just a little update. Yesterday hit my first stop-loss at NL50, have to say that was a very bad experience. Well to be fair, running 80b+ under EV did not help to this cause, but i had some missplays/tilt moments most likely as well. What can i learn from this ? First of all, we all have our bad days, I have to learn to accept it, but most important, is to learn from mistakes that led to stop-loss. Fine you loose KK vs 76 and your AQ run into QQ, and the fact that everyone you play against that day seem to hit every flop or spike that magic river. In other words, when things dont go your way you are more likely to stress, make bad plays, over play your cards, blow up pots in spots where you should pot control – just because you want to get back to brake even for the day. Dont chase your losses!!! Next time i will see i`m doing bad, running under EV, feel that i dont play my A or B game, i will stop for an hour or two. Relax, have a meal, or just take a nap, rather then play bad and burn your profits.
All in all, every experience is a good experience, as long as we learn from it.

Good luck at tables

Hey guys, little update.
Last few days where crap. Nothing to hide, 2 spotloss days and one close to it, cut our profits into half, not that loosing 7buyins + is a big thing, i felt that my game suffered as i kept making bad decisoins and tilting plays. its ok to loose a flip, its not ok to call river raise with bottom end of straight on paired board with FD possible – that is just burrning money and hating your self. One thing i learned, if i had a bad day – even if it was not a stop-loss day, and next day starts unlucky – i get extra woried, as i dont want to hit stop-loss 2days in a row, and every decision i make i have a thought in back in my head, we cant loose ! we must win… That is something i have to work on, previous session resaults should not effect my play next time i hit the tables. I have rules to follow and lines to take – improvising leads to losses more often then not.
Pluss to running bad / playing as nub, i managed to catch a cold as well. Probably beign stressed about loosing days made my body weaker and i gave in to the sickness.
But it is ok, i have armed my self with chicken soup, hot tea, pills and warm blanket a little cold cant stop us !

Good luck at the tables my friends,
SickSadGrumpy

haha some of my sites i can't even sit at my daily HU table while i play 6max because they have filled all the seats these past 2-3 weeks.
Most are doing pretty bad on datamines so its alright. Fishes have more monies. Im not sure if they're all CFP but HU players seem to have really low winrates nowadays

Hey guys little update,
After 4 days of playing mega bad, and burning my profits to the ground, i have worked on my game a bit, thanks to coach, and things are starting to look better again, we are climing back to the top. Have to say i expected more out of this weekend, but did get the best action, way to many aggro monkeys, and when you have little action you are more likely to play the games you get. That is something i need to work on!! My game selecting has not been top noch, its like a vicious circle, you are having a bad day you want to brake even, you play the games you should not – you end up even more in the red. GG. Disciplne mothefu**! Work on it! – These were my thoughts after another bad day. Like i was 3 buyins up, and then got my self into a tricky spot, villain comes, plays like a ultra donk, we take his 60bb stack, he rebuys, and we somehow end up giving him 2 buyins. Yes he did hit trips with a better kicker then us, then rived Flush vs 2p and crushed our AA with a set. But all those hands could have been avoided or pot controled better. Emotions cant take over bro!
Good news – those who watched my youtube video this week, knew i managed to catch a cold – man flu bro :P Well its gone, medicine for the win! Im feeling better and it reflects on my game as well.

Anyway here`s to a good week guys!
Good luck.

Hey guys,
Just a few words to update you.
It is all going good, i have worked on some mistakes thanks to my coach! and i can see, that my resaults are going up once again, and it just proves that if you work on your game you can see resaults change and i feel better and better at the tables.
Real life has been super busy last 4-5days, i had to deal with quite a few emergencies and other stuff, you know when you get used to one certain daily rutine, and then something forces you to change that. it realy leaves a mark on you, at least for me. I dont want to go into detail too much, but have to say that some people will never change no matter how many chances you give to them. I think i have to learn how to cut out people from my life that drag me down, or have negative effect on me, after all we all have only 1 life to live, and we cant solve everyones problems, leaving us on 2nd plan, and if someone only calls / writes to you when they need help – dont think that they are the best people to keep around.
Uhh so much crying from me sorry just had to get it off my chest :P
I am realy looking forward to this weeks action!!
See you all at the tables.

Hey guys!
Those who read my blog more or less, might have noticed that last few weeks i been extra grumpy Real life been testing me, but i had a little chat with Mindctrl and checked out his blog, have to say he calls things in real words – no need to sugarcoat smth when its BS its BS – i love his attitutde, and honestly i can take him as role model on how to prepare your self mentaly not only for game but for RL as well!
It`s time to put my **** together, and start working like i have not worked before! Im done beign afraid what will other think etc, if someone wants to judge me F*ck Them.
As for game it self, i wish i had more action time to time, but due to my work on game select, i have quite some time with noone to play, talked to coach about it, and we have found a solution, will work on it first thing next week.
I feel like my game is getting better, not as fast as someone else, but i am getting there. I tend to see better spots where i can get value, but have loads of mistakes still as well. Mostly overplaying hands, and not playing as told to, by coach.
What am i looking for from next week ? Work hard, and then work some more, no more excuses.

Hey guys,
Just a few words on how I am doing,
To sum up in few words – Very ok :P
I am making profit, not as fast as someone else, but i am getting there, last weekend was nice, made like 3-4 buyins, which was a nice change for once.
I have new goal in mind – build up my BR to move up limits, i have seen few ppl already making the jump, and i want it as well!!
I am working hard on my homeworks and offtable stuff, going through hands etc. I have changed my playing times a little, because i had some issues with lack of volume, and have to say i prefer my new daily plan better. Maybe it is because i managed to show better resaults, but i will stick to it for now, and see where it takes me.
Tomorow is day off, and im planning to head to summer house, and see how`s stuff there. Anyone has a good tip how to catch a mole ? The little bastard keeps destroying all the lawn!!

Anyway good luck at tables

Hey Hitfukn stoploss today. But i will pretend its still saturday and i am all happy and stuff , tho i had to cut my session on saturday mid way due to family issue, i think it had affect on my game to day as well. or its just an excusse….So first about the happy stuff untill sunday i had a decent week with steady profit and okish volume, but still want to double it. I was feeling fine, and ran ok when needed, felt like i was not making lot of mistakes, and due to game select did not have too much tough spots, tho not always. Sometimes need to play and lack of players took over and i spend odd 30 min playing ppl i should not play. I still have same aim in my mind – reach BR needed to allow me the jump to next limits, and even a **** ass stoploss wont stop me, you won today random internet people but tomorow i will be back even stronger ^_^
As for personal goals out side poker – i should realy get back to gym. I am getting out of shape too much, and i dont feel as full of energy at evening like i used to, pluss it is just another self discipline training, and that is what poker is all about !!! Atleast i think so
Here`s for better tomorow !!
Gona make some tea and look through what happend today.

Hey guys,
Like usual, a little update.
As you might understand by my few previous posts, last week started with ****-play and 2 stoploss days and 1 little lossing one. i was mentaly in a bad place, and my game was far from top, but a day off, and coaching session where we went through hands with my coach did the trick. Next day i sat at the tables with one thing in in mind to crush them. Tho crush is load word, but we did manage to turn the week around a win back all the ~400 euros we were down for the week, and it was a good feeling, not only money wise (remember we are still building BR for the limit jump) but mentaly, i dealt with bad days and did not let them effect me after day off. Still make mistakes, but different ones as before. I think i have improved my preflop game, there are still things to look at, but my mistake count preflop has realy decreased, and it helps me make better / more easy decisions on later streets.
As for my personal life out side poker, still have not been to gym i am realy good at finding excuses not to go. But it will change very very soon. Dont get me wrong, i love sports, just last week i went to play squash with my 2 brothers and father, and i crushed them all at one point i thought maybe i should give up a little, but then the more competetive side in me said screw it! and i crushed them even harder It was a fun morning.

Keep up the good work guys,
And good luck at the tables.

Ahh Spring is here, the birds are singing, the sun is smilling and life is just wonderfull ……..unless you playpoker and have 3 ****y days in a row. To hell with spring and annoying birds, when you get your KK beaten 6 times in 2 days you dont feel that great. Once again i cought my self beign too resaults orientated – me wanting to get to next step so badly and then experiencing such bad days – its not easy to cope. I have a feeling that i let down not only me, but my coach as well, im sure he would like me to succeed just as much as i would. One of the CFP members sent me a poker book on mental side of the game, looking forward to read it and see whats up.
Ps. Do you believe in badluck after withdraw ?? Ofc it should be BS, but loosing 3,5 buyins in 2h the next day you make a withdraw to super coolers makes you rethink life
Anyway thanks for reading my crying post, lets see what the next 3-4 days bring us this week!

Hey guys,
This week has been full of weird experiences, got one of my accounts suspended, and first time in 3 years my internet failed me during session. I`m working to make sure none of this ever happens again. Poker wise i think i wont be able to reach the goals i set for my self for this week, but as long as i learn from what went wrong, i know what to do to avoid same mistakes / errors that kept me from reaching my goals of the week.
As for off poker related things, i started to gym again + took up an interesting diet plan – its a 4 week plan we will see the resaults soon enough, im well in first week day 5 today, and so far its been interesting – one thing i can say – i start to hate boiled eggs as it has been my breakfast for this whole week, other than that its cool, i do miss suggar
Anyway time for saturday / sunday grind and lets make some money!

Good luck at tables.

Hey hey,
I owe you guys few words about last week.
Poker wise, not the best week, i did not realise how much of a effect not beign able to play one account can influence my weekly volume, will need to take a look at this at end of this week as well. There is nothing worse then putting a lot of hours in for playing and still have **** volume / resaults. Me and my coach, we started to use new learning process, that both of us find more effective and usefull, im sure we will be able to find leeks and mistakes and fix them in this matter. Im not playing that bad, tho i did make few spew plays and **** hero calls – noone is perfect but we are working to be as close as possible.
As for off table things.
Its 2nd week into my diet – and i can honestly say i hate boiled eggs… having them for breakfast, and sometimes lunch and dinner in same day for eem 9 days now, makes you wana puke as soon as you see one. Resaults tho are somewhat ok for first week, im down around 6kg, im sure gym + squash helped a lot as well. I`m having a better night sleep, and i wake up with more energy then before, that helps me start my day more effective, im loving that.

Thanks for reading, and good luck at tables friends.

Hey guys,
Had a day off yesterday, and did a lot of thinking.Its been 3 month in CFP and even tho i have made profits and learned a whole new game (never played HU before CFP) to a level where i feel comfortable at NL50, i still think my progress could be way way way better. What i lack the most, is time management skills, i feel i waste so much time by not doing things in right order, or when they need to be done, i dont live alone, and sometimes other ppl effect my time management as well. So how do deal with it ? Easy – we need a fukn discipline and order, i already started to go to gym again and this time i aint stopping, after a week (i went 5 times) i start to feel better and better, i have more energy, i have one more reason to get my ass up at 8-30 and start day like i want to. Once back from gym its breakfast / homework time – and then load up the tables baby. No fukn excusses.
Poker wise i made first missclick for 100bb stack, felt so stupid, never before i wanted to hit my 10% so badly, then i that hand. Loosing with QQ 2times in 5min did not tilt me at all, but that missclick just made me so angry with myself, had to take 40min brake to call down and regain focuss.
I`m happy i have sorted all my other issues – poker accounts etc, so now i can just focus on playing, im super happy about that. I keep practising equity, and resaults show i still need a lot of work on it, so we will do it everyday till im perfect.
Anyway, congratz to Rylan on finishing CFP, well done Sir,
See you at tables.

Hey,
As im drinking my fruit / ice smothie, home after gym, Jay-z remix is playing in background, and I am feeling top-of the world. At CFP we had very interesting group-coaching on monday – about Mental state of mind, it spoke to me in a very impactfull way, we did some mental excercisses, I was tought a new way to make goals – plan my way to achieve them, and how to get back to my “happy place” when things dont go your way. Looking forward to next session I have set a clear goal for next 3 month and wrote down what i have to do to achieve it, and what is the resault or reasoning why I am doing it!!!!
Game wise – I had a little ****up with one account again, but only for 2 days thanks, we got it sorted, and im back and running at full force Had interesting sunday – afterplaying all day and grinding hard, to be 4-4,5 buyins up, i end up beign half a buyin down when i went to bet at 2am. What did we learn ? Things changed fast in poker, money comes and goes and all your hard work can be swept away in 30mins, all we can do is make sure we play right and keep on grinding. I did tilt a little i would be lying if i said it did not effect me, but hey next day – new day. Monday we got back what was taken away few hourse before. Had very good coaching session last week as well, we managed to find super important leak, now its my job to work on it and fix it.
Anyway here is a graph of how my road so far has looked.

Hey hey,
Few days have passed since last update, so just droped by to let you know how I am doing and whats up.
Well to be honest nothing special. Learning / Practise / Playing – and i love it. Im still working on my problem Nr.1 volume – i have added even more sites and faced a new problem pc started to lag a bit with all the sites PT4 + other stuff open, my hard drive cant handle it, i will get SSD drive sometime soon, rest of pc is good i5 proccesor, 8gb ram etc. Was thinking to change my playing hours as well and play longer at night/early morning will give it a test next 4 days and see hows the action at those odd hours.
As for not poker related things – i started to slack on gym a bit – been only 1 time this week, and i can feel the difference in my mood, i get angry more easy, i sleep worse, harder to wake up in the morning. Thats why i want to give night hours poker a try, and if action is better over the next 4 days, i will rework my daily schedule, Currently beign up till like 1-00 am, and waking up at 8-30, i feel like i miss out on someaction. So much about non-poker topics well thats what you get if poker is your life – all conversations in the end somehow end up beign about poker If anyone has suggestions about most efficiant schedule and wants to share will be happy to listen to.
Goodluck at tables, unless you play me ^_^

Hey,
Just few words for last week, im doing better in offtable work im way more dedicated and focused on my homeworks and i have started to rewatch CFP videos a lot more, there is no way around it. If you want to see resaults you have to work fukn hard. Its sad it took me 3 month time to realize it, that joining the CFP was the easiest part of the programme. I love playing poker, but i never had real love to learning it, its funny but this is exaclty what Gordon said in one of his videos, there is no way around it you either learn what they tell you in 1month or you will learn it after 4-5month but in the end you will have resaults when you do as you are told.
On the bright side, i have learned not to tilt when i know i played right, and still loose the pot, had a chance to proove it over weekend more then once lol
Anyway here`s to a new and better week!
Good luck at tables boys

Yo, not much to report, not in the best mood atm. Crap weekend, i dont think im playing as bad as the resaults show but things just dont go my way this week, at all.
I have one more week to turn this month around and not look like a total fish compared to other CFP members. hard work has to pay off! Seeing as my coach is going for best month ever score – it just motivates me even more !! Character building week ! Wake up – learn – play – go to bed. thats pretty much how my last week looked like.
Im gona play even more this week. I have 7 days to make may a decent month lets fukn do it.

Hey just a few words,
Learning / playing / sleeping – My daily routine goes on, had good coaching, where we decided that this BS breakeven / slighlty loosing play has to stop.
All **** ups come from not following STD lines and making BS reason to step away from them. No more. If i dont pick my **** together i will be to ashamed to look at Nubson in the meeting lol.
On none poker ralted things – had emergency on friday – fukn dishwasher broke during night and i flooded neibours 2 storys down. Landlord said my dishwasher – my fault. **** that guy. Anyway will see how we resolve this. Been sleeping realy **** all week long. My **** play = **** resault = **** sleep = still tired in the morning.

here`s to a better week, and best month ever to come !