So it's been over a month since I last blogged anything meaningful and I think it's time I get back into the swing of blogging and other things that I'll go over later. It was a rough summer with all the family issues, but it has definitely gotten a lot better. There is no such as normal still and there are a lot of ups and downs, but things are slowly getting easier to deal with.
I went on a trip out west by myself, driving straight out to Edmonton in 13 hours and staying there for a few days with my aunt, uncle, and cousins who I haven't seen in years. After that I drove the 3 hours to Calgary and caught up with a lot of old friends. They've all changed, most for the better, but a couple for the worse and it's sad to see those who have kind of strayed but I guess that's life and it just gives me more motivation to keep myself focused. Finished off the trip in Regina with my sister Amanda for a night. We got some time to get to know each other and talk about what may happen in the future for our family. That's the basics of the trip and like every time I go on a trip by myself, I come back with a renewed perspective on life and what I want from it. I wasn't excited to come home because Calgary is just such a great place to be and potentially live in the near future, but I do feel that I have lot more motivation now, which I was lacking the last fews months while dealing with the family matters.
Anyways, the first thing I want to do is get back into poker. I've been playing randomly throughout the summer but nothing to where I could get back into a habit but I KNOW I'm ready to go now. It just comes down to taking the first step and playing some hands. Tomorrow is September 8th and I want to get in at least 10k hands the rest of the month and with all the time I have now that school is back on, that shouldn't be too hard. The biggest thing is to get my buddy to sweat on quite a few sessions so I can really start feeling comfortable at 25NL. I have the basics down but I just need the confidence and the ability to know that I may have made the right play long-term, but it didn't pan out for me this one play. I look at the BR way too much and I focus too much on the short-term too much.
Secondly, I want to learn how to play acoustic guitar. I've always wanted to play the guitar but I just haven't had the motivation to get on it...taking the first step always seems the hardest for me. I already have a really nice Fender guitar in the house, it's just a matter of taking weekly lessons so my goal is to get that going by the end of the month.
Lastly, my working out has been going pretty well considering that I was out of town for 11 out of the past 16 days and now it's time to move to the next section of my workout schedule. Instead of doing 3x12 for each exercise and having a break in between each one. I'll be doing 4x8 with heavier weights and a break only after every second set. Keeps my body guessing and thus allowing to gain muscle a lot faster.
In summary:
1) Play AT LEAST 10k hands this month
2) Start taking guitar lessons this month
3) Continue with working out while not missing any sessions this whole term.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
A.D.D.
To start this blog off, I played 2000 hands in July and finished down 3BI. I played solidly over this small sample size but that bitch variance got me in the bum, especially over the final 500 hands. Ran KK in AA, set over set, and lost a 3:1 and 9:1 to take away any profit that I had. Bankroll is back down to $675, which sucks, but I'm still properly rolled for 25NL.
I can blame not playing at all due to the family stuff that's been going on the last month or so, but that's only a partial culprit. The other is that whenever I seem to get my roll up to a respectable amount, say $850, it seems to collapse right back to where I am now. It's been a yo-yo and I'm scared to play as the swings definitely hurt the confidence in my play, especially when I make a sizable mistake. To get over this I need to be sweated a lot more from the nothing that I've had at 25NL, which has been my own fault I haven't been around. Of course I also need to put in a nice sized amount hands this month to get back into the swing of things.
On other news, I have been really frustrated lately with my workout routine and my lack of motivation to do it. It feels like I've just been going through the motions and although that is better than nothing, I'm not realizing my true potential by simply going through the motions. Today I started a new 6-week routine that I got from a workout book that I've had forever. It's in two week segments and each segment becomes a bigger challenge, building off the last segment. I'll be recording the weight I'm using daily and I hope that by having a visual to focus it will allow me to push myself and beat my last workout's weight for example. Here's the first two week segment I'll be doing:
Day 1
Modified Compound Superset #1
Back-dumbbell rows 3 set of 12-15
rest 90seconds
Chest-Incline dumbbell press 3 set of 12-15
rest 90 seconds
Modified Compound Superset #2
Back-dumbbell pullovers 3/12-15
Chest-Chest dips 3/12-15
Modified Compound Superset #3
Back-Wide grip pull-ups 3/12-15
Chest-Incline dumbbell flys 3/12-15
Modified Compound Superset #4
Shoulders-Bent over lateral raises 3/12-15
Calves-Seated calf raises 3/15-25
Day 2
Bicep-dumbbell curls
Triceps-lying dumbbell extensions
Biceps-Concentration curls
Triceps-kickbacks
Biceps-reverse curls
Triceps-dips
Shoulders- shoulder press
Shoulders-upright rows
Day 3
Thighs-barbell squats
Hamstrings-dumbbell lunges
Thighs-leg extensions
Hamstrings-stiff-legged deadlifts
Thighs-leg press
Hamstrings-leg curls
Calves-calf press 3/15-25
Calves- standing one-legged calf raises 3/15-25
So you get the idea that each group of two is a superset where you take a break between each one and then as the weeks progress, the reps go down, weight goes up, and breaks go down to eventually none. This will keep my body from adapting and constantly keep it challenged and thus, build more muscle. Oh and this 3 day set is done twice a week so i think my break will be Thursday most likely.
I haven't weighed myself lately but I'm assuming I'm still around 145-150lbs and that's fine, but I've been in that area since January. Since I've never done legs before in my life, my legs can do nothing but gain mass so especially in the first couple months I think I can gain anywhere from 4-6lbs just from the legs alone. I'll weigh myself tomorrow when I workout but my goal for this first 6 week segment is to add between 3-5lbs, which is a challenge for me as I can't really add anything but lean mass to my body as fat doesn't seem to like me lol.
This has been a long blog but it was needed yo. I'm looking forward to these new challenges in addition to my business challenges and will look to update this soon with my progress.
I can blame not playing at all due to the family stuff that's been going on the last month or so, but that's only a partial culprit. The other is that whenever I seem to get my roll up to a respectable amount, say $850, it seems to collapse right back to where I am now. It's been a yo-yo and I'm scared to play as the swings definitely hurt the confidence in my play, especially when I make a sizable mistake. To get over this I need to be sweated a lot more from the nothing that I've had at 25NL, which has been my own fault I haven't been around. Of course I also need to put in a nice sized amount hands this month to get back into the swing of things.
On other news, I have been really frustrated lately with my workout routine and my lack of motivation to do it. It feels like I've just been going through the motions and although that is better than nothing, I'm not realizing my true potential by simply going through the motions. Today I started a new 6-week routine that I got from a workout book that I've had forever. It's in two week segments and each segment becomes a bigger challenge, building off the last segment. I'll be recording the weight I'm using daily and I hope that by having a visual to focus it will allow me to push myself and beat my last workout's weight for example. Here's the first two week segment I'll be doing:
Day 1
Modified Compound Superset #1
Back-dumbbell rows 3 set of 12-15
rest 90seconds
Chest-Incline dumbbell press 3 set of 12-15
rest 90 seconds
Modified Compound Superset #2
Back-dumbbell pullovers 3/12-15
Chest-Chest dips 3/12-15
Modified Compound Superset #3
Back-Wide grip pull-ups 3/12-15
Chest-Incline dumbbell flys 3/12-15
Modified Compound Superset #4
Shoulders-Bent over lateral raises 3/12-15
Calves-Seated calf raises 3/15-25
Day 2
Bicep-dumbbell curls
Triceps-lying dumbbell extensions
Biceps-Concentration curls
Triceps-kickbacks
Biceps-reverse curls
Triceps-dips
Shoulders- shoulder press
Shoulders-upright rows
Day 3
Thighs-barbell squats
Hamstrings-dumbbell lunges
Thighs-leg extensions
Hamstrings-stiff-legged deadlifts
Thighs-leg press
Hamstrings-leg curls
Calves-calf press 3/15-25
Calves- standing one-legged calf raises 3/15-25
So you get the idea that each group of two is a superset where you take a break between each one and then as the weeks progress, the reps go down, weight goes up, and breaks go down to eventually none. This will keep my body from adapting and constantly keep it challenged and thus, build more muscle. Oh and this 3 day set is done twice a week so i think my break will be Thursday most likely.
I haven't weighed myself lately but I'm assuming I'm still around 145-150lbs and that's fine, but I've been in that area since January. Since I've never done legs before in my life, my legs can do nothing but gain mass so especially in the first couple months I think I can gain anywhere from 4-6lbs just from the legs alone. I'll weigh myself tomorrow when I workout but my goal for this first 6 week segment is to add between 3-5lbs, which is a challenge for me as I can't really add anything but lean mass to my body as fat doesn't seem to like me lol.
This has been a long blog but it was needed yo. I'm looking forward to these new challenges in addition to my business challenges and will look to update this soon with my progress.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
I'm back.
So the last month has been pretty rough with family stuff and what not so I haven't played since late June, which sucks, but it would have been -EV to play. Sorry to my millions of fans who read this blog daily. Get a life geez.
Anyways, I played about an hour so far today while only focusing on two tables. It's been slow but I think if I jumped right back into 4-6 tabling it would be pretty overwhelming. My plan is to 2-3 (maybe 4) table during this coming week to get back into the swing of playing poker and to focus on the fundamentals. Not much time left in July so my goal is to hit 5k by the end of it and start anew in August. I'm currently 30BI deep for 25NL which is a nice place to start again and I'm just going to play some standard ABC poker and value-bet the made hands. Towards the end of June, I think the grind was getting to me and I was playing a little too robotic, a big no no.
Not much else to report on the blog today but I'll probably update it at the end of the week after hopefully 1500-2k hands.
Anyways, I played about an hour so far today while only focusing on two tables. It's been slow but I think if I jumped right back into 4-6 tabling it would be pretty overwhelming. My plan is to 2-3 (maybe 4) table during this coming week to get back into the swing of playing poker and to focus on the fundamentals. Not much time left in July so my goal is to hit 5k by the end of it and start anew in August. I'm currently 30BI deep for 25NL which is a nice place to start again and I'm just going to play some standard ABC poker and value-bet the made hands. Towards the end of June, I think the grind was getting to me and I was playing a little too robotic, a big no no.
Not much else to report on the blog today but I'll probably update it at the end of the week after hopefully 1500-2k hands.
Monday, June 16, 2008
8 Days left...
So as the numbers of days dwindling down to my deadline of hitting 25k hands before the 23rd of June, I'm actually slightly ahead of schedule believe it or not. Played 1400 hands, with a nice 2BI win, last night to bring to just over 14k hands for the month, which means 11k to go over the next 8 days.
I can't say that I've been running "hot" as of late, but I've been beating 25NL over the past 8k-9k hands at about 4.5BB/100 hands, which has been great considering my breakeven performance up to this point. With my solid winning rate, I have managed to get on a current upswing of 8BI and erase my 5BI deficit and lock in a 3BI win so far for the month. Looking back, I definitely regret not being able to control my emotions and getting into sticky situations early on in the month as I would have been up a respectable amount at this point otherwise. Oh well, it's funny that I'm only halfway done the month in both days and hands, I think I should be able to hit 30k for the month, which I think is absolutely crazy and would have never thought possible.
Helping this out of course is the fact that I am now a 6-tabling regular and can play around 550-600 hands an hour and have hit over 2000 hands in a day three times in the last week. I have also found that 6-tabling reduces the volatility of a session as I may be down on one or two tables...but on the other four or five tables I'm breakeven or up. Helps with the tilt management and the constant attention I have to pay to each table reduces the chance of me getting 3bet a lot, which I used to take personally lol.
Not going to post any hands today as there have only been a couple of note in the last few thousands hands that I will post in a later blog, but I will detail my plan to finish the last 11k hands in. I've noticed that I really can't follow a set time schedule for playing poker as it is just too player dependent based on how I am feeling at the time (tired, pissed, bored, etc) and the quality (or lack thereof) of tables so here is just a lose breakdown by day:
Monday: 1 000hands
Tuesday 2 500hands
Wednesday: 2000hands
Thursday: 2000hands
Friday: 1500hands
Saturday: potentially going the lake...
Sunday: 1500hands when I get back
Monday:1000+hands
Expected hands by June 23rd:25 500hands?
Easily a reachable goal and the rake over the next 12k hands roughly should be close to about 3-4BI on top of the 4BI of rake I already have.
Hands to date: 14 145/25 000
I can't say that I've been running "hot" as of late, but I've been beating 25NL over the past 8k-9k hands at about 4.5BB/100 hands, which has been great considering my breakeven performance up to this point. With my solid winning rate, I have managed to get on a current upswing of 8BI and erase my 5BI deficit and lock in a 3BI win so far for the month. Looking back, I definitely regret not being able to control my emotions and getting into sticky situations early on in the month as I would have been up a respectable amount at this point otherwise. Oh well, it's funny that I'm only halfway done the month in both days and hands, I think I should be able to hit 30k for the month, which I think is absolutely crazy and would have never thought possible.
Helping this out of course is the fact that I am now a 6-tabling regular and can play around 550-600 hands an hour and have hit over 2000 hands in a day three times in the last week. I have also found that 6-tabling reduces the volatility of a session as I may be down on one or two tables...but on the other four or five tables I'm breakeven or up. Helps with the tilt management and the constant attention I have to pay to each table reduces the chance of me getting 3bet a lot, which I used to take personally lol.
Not going to post any hands today as there have only been a couple of note in the last few thousands hands that I will post in a later blog, but I will detail my plan to finish the last 11k hands in. I've noticed that I really can't follow a set time schedule for playing poker as it is just too player dependent based on how I am feeling at the time (tired, pissed, bored, etc) and the quality (or lack thereof) of tables so here is just a lose breakdown by day:
Monday: 1 000hands
Tuesday 2 500hands
Wednesday: 2000hands
Thursday: 2000hands
Friday: 1500hands
Saturday: potentially going the lake...
Sunday: 1500hands when I get back
Monday:1000+hands
Expected hands by June 23rd:25 500hands?
Easily a reachable goal and the rake over the next 12k hands roughly should be close to about 3-4BI on top of the 4BI of rake I already have.
Hands to date: 14 145/25 000
Friday, June 13, 2008
Ten days left...
So with the 23rd of June coming up fast, it's time to update my progress once again. My goal is 25k hands by said date and I'm almost halfway there so I'll definitely be pressed for time, however, I've played over 10k hands in about 7 days...most I've ever done. Last night I played the most hands I've ever done in one session, playing just over 2300 hands. It was a late night lol. I finished up about a BI and paid over $50 in rake...crazy yo, but nice knowing I'll be getting some back. I noticed that PT undervalues rake compared to my rake site as PT shows I've only paid about $150 compared to $230 on the rake site. Not going to complain obviously as this month alone I've earned 3BI in the first 10k hands which I'll cash out at the end of the month. Quite a compact paragraph of thoughts here so I'll just go right to interesting hands from last night.
Hand 1
Don't usually post coolers but this was ridiculous lol. I probably would have folded had there not been a cold call by the random guy to my right. I hit gin on the flop and get it in as a 3:1 favourite...and he sucks out. Ah well, like 2 hands later I get AA and 3bet him pre with 88. flop is xxJ and he shoves over me and I happily call and get my money back from him.
Hand 2
Was not happy with my play here. I played it fine up to the turn and then that's where I should have slowed down but instead got in. Now against a guy who is playing 36/20 over 200 hands I think I'll be seeing a lot of weaker aces, but then why not just call here so you're not folding hands I beat. However if I called on the turn, there wouldn't be much left behind so I'd probably be committed on the river. Tough hand as i think I'm good here a lot...but he showed strength and my hand is so easily dominated.
Hand 3
This hand hurt, I think the only thing I didn't like about my play here was bet sizing, but I think betting any stronger I would lose a lot of hands that I beat. When the 4th straight card on the river hits, I think it definitely hits his range...but he SNAP called flop and turn, making me believe he had a pair of tens with a random kicker as he calls everything. His shove on the river is pretty easy to call as it's only $6 50 more, but it hurt when I saw he didn't even have the A...ugh.
So those were the major losers of the night, nothing too horrible but I probably could have saved a BI in mistakes..but again not bad over 2300+ hands.
10 623/25 000 hands.
aka around 1400 hands/day until the 23rd
Hand 1
Don't usually post coolers but this was ridiculous lol. I probably would have folded had there not been a cold call by the random guy to my right. I hit gin on the flop and get it in as a 3:1 favourite...and he sucks out. Ah well, like 2 hands later I get AA and 3bet him pre with 88. flop is xxJ and he shoves over me and I happily call and get my money back from him.
Hand 2
Was not happy with my play here. I played it fine up to the turn and then that's where I should have slowed down but instead got in. Now against a guy who is playing 36/20 over 200 hands I think I'll be seeing a lot of weaker aces, but then why not just call here so you're not folding hands I beat. However if I called on the turn, there wouldn't be much left behind so I'd probably be committed on the river. Tough hand as i think I'm good here a lot...but he showed strength and my hand is so easily dominated.
Hand 3
This hand hurt, I think the only thing I didn't like about my play here was bet sizing, but I think betting any stronger I would lose a lot of hands that I beat. When the 4th straight card on the river hits, I think it definitely hits his range...but he SNAP called flop and turn, making me believe he had a pair of tens with a random kicker as he calls everything. His shove on the river is pretty easy to call as it's only $6 50 more, but it hurt when I saw he didn't even have the A...ugh.
So those were the major losers of the night, nothing too horrible but I probably could have saved a BI in mistakes..but again not bad over 2300+ hands.
10 623/25 000 hands.
aka around 1400 hands/day until the 23rd
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Update time.
So things have been pretty swingy to start off the month, but I have been really happy with my play...except for about 3 BI that I spewed due to random tilt issues. It's been a rough start, currently down 5BI this month and the BR is down to $605, or $650 with rake that I can cash in. Frustrating but I only have myself to blame.
Played 1800 hands today, which is the most I've ever done in one day and was playing great...up until the last 300 hands. Bah. I flop the set on a drawy board. I c-bet and get called. Turn is an A which I think is fine to bet again so I did, get snap-called again. River is another A which gives me the boat. I bet river, and get shoved on, easy call by me. Guy shows with with AAAJJ to my 999AA. That tilted me and shortly after I threw another BI away from a guy who was being super agro with me for the session. What was once a profitable session turned into a 2BI downer at the end of it. Frustrating stuff. On good news, I felt really comfortable 5-tabling and might try 6 tomorrow so I can get more volume in. That's all for now I guess, I'm frustrated that a cooler and a bad call ruined the night...but I still feel I'm playing well overall.
5 836/25 000
Played 1800 hands today, which is the most I've ever done in one day and was playing great...up until the last 300 hands. Bah. I flop the set on a drawy board. I c-bet and get called. Turn is an A which I think is fine to bet again so I did, get snap-called again. River is another A which gives me the boat. I bet river, and get shoved on, easy call by me. Guy shows with with AAAJJ to my 999AA. That tilted me and shortly after I threw another BI away from a guy who was being super agro with me for the session. What was once a profitable session turned into a 2BI downer at the end of it. Frustrating stuff. On good news, I felt really comfortable 5-tabling and might try 6 tomorrow so I can get more volume in. That's all for now I guess, I'm frustrated that a cooler and a bad call ruined the night...but I still feel I'm playing well overall.
5 836/25 000
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
'Tis the beginning of June
So May ended up being a pretty rough for me as I just couldn't get anything going and whenever I did get any kind of run, it would fall apart shortly after. Stopped playing around the 27th as I was on a 6BI downswing with about 2BI due to bad play and the rest I just couldn't get anyone to bite at my big hands. I ended up playing only 16k hands and finishing down 1BI for the month, which really isn't that bad I guess, definitely could have been worse.
Obviously didn't meet any of my goals lol but I guess it happens and I'm looking forward to June where I can hopefully get back on track, especially with so much time on my hands now that I'm done working until the 23rd. On that note, a prop bet has been created with my bud JB (with the consequence to be decided soon) for the number of hands I should play up until the 23rd. He suggested 30k, which I thought was a little excessive, and I brought up the number 20k and we ended up settling on 25k hands by June 23rd. I'm pretty nervous and not sure if I can make it...but that's what prop bets are for, to push you into doing things you might never have thought possible. With 19 days to go, it's going to be tight, however here is my schedule to get'er done:
Weekdays
4 00pm-5 30pm
8 00pm-whenever I stop playing my A game.
Saturday
Never really know what's going on Saturday and frankly I have never played during the day on Satuday so it'll be interesting to see what the tables are like. Either way, I hope to get 2-3 hours in.
Sunday
Other than working out, running, and the odd family dinner, it is usually a quiet day and obviously everyone plays poker on Sundays so I might try to get an hour or two in the afternoon and then another couple in the evening.
I need to average about 1300 hands/day to reach this goal lol, which is more than I usually ever play but I can do it! I'll probably miss a few days over this period due to some random time constraints so they'll have to be made up on other days, which is fine I think if I just spread the sessions out and take steady breaks.
Poker and improving my conditioning are my primary goals this month so because drinking usually dulls my mind and body the next day, I am abstaining from major drinking this month in order to reach my desired goals. This isn't a horrible thing I guess, just means those average girls won't look so great anymore. ZING. Anyways, not much else to say other than that I'm pumped to get back into poker after a short break and look forward to hitting my 25k goal. I'll be looking to post every 2-3 days to monitor my progression so far and to report on any interesting hands.
S
356/25 000 hands
Obviously didn't meet any of my goals lol but I guess it happens and I'm looking forward to June where I can hopefully get back on track, especially with so much time on my hands now that I'm done working until the 23rd. On that note, a prop bet has been created with my bud JB (with the consequence to be decided soon) for the number of hands I should play up until the 23rd. He suggested 30k, which I thought was a little excessive, and I brought up the number 20k and we ended up settling on 25k hands by June 23rd. I'm pretty nervous and not sure if I can make it...but that's what prop bets are for, to push you into doing things you might never have thought possible. With 19 days to go, it's going to be tight, however here is my schedule to get'er done:
Weekdays
4 00pm-5 30pm
8 00pm-whenever I stop playing my A game.
Saturday
Never really know what's going on Saturday and frankly I have never played during the day on Satuday so it'll be interesting to see what the tables are like. Either way, I hope to get 2-3 hours in.
Sunday
Other than working out, running, and the odd family dinner, it is usually a quiet day and obviously everyone plays poker on Sundays so I might try to get an hour or two in the afternoon and then another couple in the evening.
I need to average about 1300 hands/day to reach this goal lol, which is more than I usually ever play but I can do it! I'll probably miss a few days over this period due to some random time constraints so they'll have to be made up on other days, which is fine I think if I just spread the sessions out and take steady breaks.
Poker and improving my conditioning are my primary goals this month so because drinking usually dulls my mind and body the next day, I am abstaining from major drinking this month in order to reach my desired goals. This isn't a horrible thing I guess, just means those average girls won't look so great anymore. ZING. Anyways, not much else to say other than that I'm pumped to get back into poker after a short break and look forward to hitting my 25k goal. I'll be looking to post every 2-3 days to monitor my progression so far and to report on any interesting hands.
S
356/25 000 hands
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