Greetings 2p2. My name is Sam and this will be my second Poker Goal thread on 2p2. My first one was last year and even though I didn't update my thread to completion. I did achieve my goal of making $30k while also working full time as a construction worker and training for my first marathon.

After reaching my goal, I quit my job and am now playing poker full time. I played exclusively on Carbon last year, even after they limited me to a max of 4 tables. Shortly after quitting my job, I was limited to only 2 tables, so I moved my action to Bovada and Full Flush poker. This is where I'm continuing to play throughout this new challenge.

I currently live in Philadelphia, and my lease is up at the end of July. After this, my wife and I are planning on going out on an epic adventure, spending a couple years moving around, backpacking, and seeing the world. We are in the midst of picking a destination right now for our initial move, probably somewhere in Europe. Anyone who has some good advice for us, please share, it would be much appreciated.

So my goal is to make $50k by July 4th so I dont have to grind as hard once we move. I play anywhere from $200NL to shot-taking good $1kNL games but mainly $200NL and $400NL. Neither one of the sites I play on are easily tracked but I do have a simple HUD. Unfortunately, this HUD does not keep the hands or show them as a graph. Hopefully, I can create a crude graph of my own so that I can give some better updates.

Outside of poker, my goals include getting fitter, writing, reading, and taking as many free classes as I can. My building has a gym, and across the street, a running path along the river by the Art Museum, so getting in better shape shouldn't be too hard. I hope to be a writer some day, because of the power that writing has. Nothing in my life has affected me, or changed me more than great writing and getting new perspective from a book. For Christmas, I received 10+ books and cant wait to dig into them. The first one I've started is Beautiful Losers by the brilliant Leonard Cohen. I actually left it on the plane on my way to Detroit for NYE, but the new copy came from Amazon today. I also will be taking Coursera and other free classes when they interest me.

So I will be very busy going forward. Wish me luck. Comments, Questions, Encouragement, and Criticism will all be appreciated. Cheers!

Here are some graphs of mine from Carbon, Full Flush, and Bovada. Please excuse the poor quality of the Full Flush and Bovada graphs as I made them myself with a live poker tracking app. The y axis is simply $ and the x axis is sessions. Im missing quite a few sessions but the numbers should be reasonably close. The Carbon graph is also missing a random amount of hands from when my Poker Copilot had to be reinstalled. But heres what I have:

Carbon


Full Flush


Bovada


Also, here is a link to my old thread if you want to know a little more about me. Will update the last few days tomorrow sometime..

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...layer-1354261/

January Update





So I had a pretty disappointing month, poker results wise but still managed to cash out some from bovada and am waiting on a check from Full Flush(PSA-been waiting since the 9th). Im still very happy with my game, and feel like I'm running pretty awful at the higher stakes. All pretty standard stuff so I wont bore anyone with that. However, I'm pretty happy with my fitness and reading so far this year. 3 books down in January, on a schedule for gym 11 times a week, boxing class once a week, play ice hockey once a week, play walleyball once a week, and also fit in the occasional short run. Also started 2 new classes on Coursera, Critical Thinking in Global Writing, and a writing class. I want to keep this thread updated more and get some interaction going so check out the next post for some freeroll information. Cheers.

Nice challenge. That's kind of funny that carbon limited your tables. If you want to track and graph your Bovada hands get Bovada card converter. GL.

Freerolls!!!!

My volume this month was also disappointing. 19k hands on Bovada, and 23k on Full Flush, which shows up as 100 hrs on the PokerJournal app. In my defense, I usually only 4 table and missed about 10 days this month because of vacation, working on my friends house, and internet being down.

Freeroll #1

If I dont play 200 hrs this month, I will give out $100 to a random poster in the thread.

Freeroll #2

If I dont update this thread at least once a week, I will give $100 to a random poster in the thread.

Freeroll #3

At the end of the month I will give out $50 to a random poster in the thread. If I make over $7.5k this month, I'll make it $75, and if i make $10k+, I'll make it $100.


I'll most likely just use random.org to select the poster, and will award winners through paypal. I reserve the right to redraw if the winning post is too low content/poster is obv just spamming for freerolls. Please give share any and all opinions. Cheers

Good luck on your journey. Question: Why did Carbon limited only your amount of playing tables? I'm not familiar with Carbon, but this seems pretty far from being 'legal'?

post hands

Good luck with your grind. I too would love to see some of your hand history.

Im going to check out your older thread but do you have any advice for some one like my self who feels stuck in the micros?

Carbon has restricted a lot of winning players to 4, 2, or even 1 tables. They have also completely banned several players for winning too much. I think it's mainly to try to keep breakeven players on the site just generating rake.

I dont have any hands in a tracker because of the sites I play on but will try to write down a couple and manually post them with updates.

Just realize that I'm probably drawing dead with the 200hrs this month, lol, enjoy the money someone.

best thing that ever happened to me was reading Matt Janda's applications of poker. Also dont autopilot when u play. Play less tables and think about what your doing, and why. Good luck to you. What site r u on?

GL OP, where are you planning on travelling?

Thanks for the advice, I just downloaded the book.

Im playing 90% of the time on Bovada.

Hey glad to have u aboard, nice avatar. Our plans are to get an apt in Prague and spend 3 months in the Schengen area, and after that expires, maybe the UK.




In other news, on major tilt here. Been doomswitched every time i get into good $400nl and $600nl games. I've lost AA aipf more times than I've won with it over the last few months. Its never the standard KK>AA in late position either. Its always some idiot 4bet shoving 55 for 125 big blinds, or someone stacking off AQo mp vs UTG. Somehow that makes it more infuriating.

Today, in an all too familiar pattern, I had 2 good sessions early on, and was up over $1.4k. Unfortunately, thats where the doomswitch came in and finished down a few hundred. It feels like I have been spinning my wheels the last few months, every upswing comes crashing right back down. I realize the sample size is small and downswings of this size are standard, but it remains frustrating. Everytime i win 10 buyins at $200nl, I lose 5 at $400nl. I do take heart that the majority of the downswings have been a result of bad beats and one sided coolers and flips. I still see and am creating big edges in the games, just gotta find a way to hold in the right spots.

For example, earlier this month on Full Flush I was playing $400nl deep and had two $1k+ aipf pots vs the same player at the same table. His AK>QQ, and his QQ>AK. This was vs the same player I had played 3k hands with at $200nl and was up a ton on. When a fish sat and the higher games ran, he wins the most important flips of the month.

I'm sorry for the negativity. I try not to complain, but I have heard recently that venting is good for mental stability, so decided to rant a bit tonight. I will be hitting the gym in the morning tomorrow and then getting back into the streets. Played over 9 hrs today which is a ton for me. Gonna shoot for 6-7 tomorrow. GL to all of you. Cheers.

Hey guys, sorry for all the complaining above.However, the poker gods apparently heard my prayers and let me win a little. I'm still way behind on poker volume (only 38hrs so far this month) but I'm keeping up with my fitness goals and feeling sharp when I do play. In my last PG&C, I had a post labeled How to Cure a Downswing, where I made a big call at $3-$6. This spot here was much more standard, but felt like a real turning point for me, and cued my latest upswing.


$3-$6 NL
BUT opens to $21, HERO in SB 3bets to $75 with AKo, BB folds, BUT calls

Flop: Th5s3d

Pot: $156

HERO checks, BUT checks

Turn: Th5s3d2c

Pot: $156

HERO checks, BUT bets $99, HERO calls

River: Th5s3d2cJd

Pot: $354

HERO checks, BUT goes allin for $417, HERO calls $417

BUT shows K4cc

This hand was the start of session 5, and things have gone pretty well since.

Fun Hand tonight

CO(first Hand) posts $2

Hero(SB) raises to $10 with KcJh, CO calls

Flop: 862r

Hero bets $13 into $22, CO calls

Turn:862A

Hero bets $29 into $48, CO calls

River: 862A6

Hero checks, CO bets $148 into $106, Hero calls, CO shows

In. GLGL

I just posted this monstrosity in another thread and thought i might as well share here too.


RE: running being boring

The fact that is boring is one of the most underrated parts for me. When running, there is the constant internal conversation of "omg, this sucks" or "omg im so tired/sore/cramped i have to stop". Then you push on, and 5 secs later it pops up again, and you push on. This struggle happens anywhere between 10s-100s of times depending on length of run, my conditioning at the time, and my mindset. However, I also think this is very good mental training for life and especially for poker.

When your playing a long session, maybe running bad, and the desire to lose focus, tilt, or quit pops up from time to time, it is very similar to the thoughts faced while running. If you can control your negative, weak thoughts while running with no other mental stimulation, it will be much easier to focus and control your thoughts while playing.

There are also periods, sometimes a whole run, sometimes only part of the run that are very enjoyable. The "runner's high" is real and can be an incredible feeling. I've find that there are several ways that running is enjoyable.

1. You are in the mood for a run, you go out enjoy running, and feel good afterwards

2. You aren't in the mood, but you go out and enjoy running, and feel good afterwards and are happy you went out.

3. You aren't in the mood, you go and struggle through and unenjoyable run, but afterwards feel better and are happy you ran.

It is also good, in some unquantifiable way, to be outside and its a nice way to get to know big parts of your city. Sorry for big derail, just thought I'd share.

Weekly Update #2



Still woefully low on hrs, total of 70 for the month, and the week hasn't been nearly as good as last week but we weathered some rough variance and have moved forward. Also have been playing a little low stakes PLO mixed in with my NL. Having fun with that.

Still hitting the gym hard and mixing in sports as well. I've fallen behind on my Coursera work however. I've started Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, but am having trouble getting into it. Very strange stylistically.

http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artifi...olution-1.html

This article, linked above, is one of the most interesting things I've ever read. There are some really crazy scenarios, in the very near future, that will literally be the biggest changes in human history. Very cool stuff.

GL to anyone out there, and I'll try to share a few more interesting hands. Cheers.

Weekly Update

Month so Far


Still not playing enough, kinda disappointing, and only have 111 hrs so far this month. Definitely should make 150 hrs for the month but 200 seems undoable at this point.

This beauty appeared at $1-$2 table on Bovada. In under 100 hands he dumped 8 buyins. Unfortunately, I only got around 2.


After studying a little more PLO, decided I'd have way too much work to do to get a reasonable skill level. That helps explain a bit of the long breakeven stretch in the middle of the graph as a lot of low stakes PLO was mixed in. Cant think of any super interesting hands to post. I'll try to be more diligent in writing down the fun ones as they happen. Cheers

subd man gl. I play on Carbon as well, and want to play on Bovada but can't as a NY state resident. I've never heard of that on Carbon yet, but it definitely sounds shady. What's your favorite site of the three? I've heard Bovada is the nuts for fishy games.

I know it was mentioned but the Bovada converter works on both PT4 and HM2 and only cost around $20. Why not get it? Then you can track your graphs better and put hand histories into weak tight for your thread

How similar is the play on Full Flush and Bovada? I've been thinking of depositing there. Cash outs good?

Goodluck with your goals!

What qualifications do you have as a construction worker? When you're done traveling around you could end with a working vacation somewhere; an example would be settling in Australia for a year on a working Visa.

I never play on Carbon anymore after being restricted all the way down to two tables.

Bovada games are pretty good, but you lose a little bit of fun by playing anonymous games all the time. No rivalry, no dynamics, no history.

Full Flush is ok. Action can get slow at times, and rarely anything above $1-$2. Payouts have slowed too, which is concerning

The issue is that I play on a Mac computer without HEM or PT4. I used Poker Copilot on Carbon and now use iHoldem Indicator for Bovada and Full Flush. I attempted to get the converter, PT4 and make it work but the combination of some Mac, some Windows programs through Parallells, made it too difficult/annoying.

FF/Bovada mentioned above.

I worked as a tile setter for 8 years. I have a little masonry experience too. Also a hodge-podge of other half-learned skills from flipping a few houses when tile jobs got slow.

I'm a teacher, and the one thing I stress to the kids I teach is that the world is changing so rapidly right now, that the technology we are using today will be obsolete in a few years. I try to stress that what we are teaching in school is how to learn and how to think, because we have no idea what these kids will be seeing when they get older. when I teach exponential growth, technology and civilization are two great examples of how things grow exponentially and how rapidly things can change. This is a great article, and quite amazing to think about.

Hey, man. No excuse with your hours. I have a full time job and have played about 60 hours live in two weeks. You need to focus and commit. Forget all that crap stuff about exercising and playing "walleyball " whatever that is.