Wednesday, December 31, 2008

I got a lot of work to do.

I played terrible. Maybe I was a bit rusty but I still feel like something is lacking and I am just playing so level 0 with sprinkles of level 1. To add to the fun I lost my 1st flip AK vs QQ when I out flopped him only to see a Q hit the river. Anyways like I said fuck results my focus is more on my poor play really. I played very loose which wasnt terrible but my hand reading was near non-existent. I honestly think I am going to start talking out loud to myself while playing in an attempt to focus 100% on hand reading development. Here are 3 hands which I was lost in.

Hand 1-53/11/2.2(47)  small sample but he posted OOP so I assume he is a bad player. I think to the river is standard though I maybe should lead evaluate river rather then c/r. Now that we c/r and he ships is this a fold? I feel liek a donk at 100NL traps with a flush alot but is it always better then 3rd nut?


$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
UTG ($180.05)
UTG+1 ($263.13)
CO ($206.60)
BTN ($207.80)
SB ($98.00)
Hero (BB) ($136.60)

Pre-flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is BB

2 folds, CO calls $1, 1 fold, SB calls $0.50, Hero checks

Flop: ($3, 3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3, CO raises to $6, SB folds, Hero calls $3

Turn: ($15, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($15, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $15, Hero raises to $42, CO raises to $141, $87.60 to Hero ($87.60)?


Hand 2- This is vs my good friend who claims to be the man. 28/21/2.5 (250) I was real fucking lost on this river. I called preflop to keep the fish he isoed in and my hand plays well vs his range i felt. The flop is huge for my hand but then again not so much if the money goes in. Now that the turn is gin and the board is like uber wet I decided to overbet for value. He snap called and then shoved the river pretty fast. Easy fold?

 $0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
UTG ($209.38)
UTG+1 ($380.20)
CO ($212.80)
BTN ($95.20)
Hero (SB) ($113.05)
BB ($179.75)

Pre-flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is SB

1 fold, UTG+1 calls $1, CO raises to $4.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $4, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $3.50

Flop: ($14.50, 3 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, CO checks

Turn: ($14.50, 3 players)
Hero bets $16.50, UTG+1 folds, CO calls $16.50

River: ($47.50, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $190, $92.05 to Hero ($92.05)?



Hand 3- 36/20/2.2 (241) Villain was a lag tard whom up to this point I had been tangling with some what. He bet 3bet vs me once in a blind battle and I folded. He also c/c bet river in a similar spot to this. I decide to check the flop for deception and because I doubt he folds often. Is this just a cooler or should I be getting away from this when he min 3bets. His other 3bet was not min may I add.



$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
UTG ($188.61)
Hero (CO) ($110.90)
BTN ($97.40)
SB ($215.70)
BB ($40.00)

Pre-flop: ($1.50, 5 players) Hero is CO

UTG raises to $3.50, Hero calls $3.50, 3 folds

Flop: ($8.50, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($8.50, 2 players)
UTG bets $6.25, Hero raises to $24.50, UTG raises to $49, $24.50 to Hero ($82.90)?




And one for fun vs the man from hand 2. Again I have no clue what his flatting range is here though I know he knows I am decent and can 4bet bluff thus he may slowplay a big hand to try and get me to bluff my stack off rather then shipping and having me fold. I bet small on flop with intentions of calling though that may be terrible. On the turn should I just ship?

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
UTG ($331.26)
Hero (UTG+1) ($112.81)
CO ($45.45)
BTN ($307.01)
SB ($101.00)
BB ($222.55)

Pre-flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1

1 fold, Hero raises to $3, 3 folds, BB raises to $11, Hero raises to $26, BB calls $15

Flop: ($52.50, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $26.25, BB calls $26.25

Turn: ($105, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($105, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: $105
BB shows:
Hero shows:

BB wins $101.50 ( won +$49.25 )
Hero lost -$52.25

Da future.

The Poker Mindset is read and highlighted for revisiting and I am just about ready to embark on the rebirth of my poker career. Now comes the plan. I plan on looking back into college which will either be for Summer 09 in May/June or Fall 09 in August. In that time I will be plowing away at poker and will become of aware of my future as a professional poker player. 

Daily
-Morning study
-Afternoon and evenining play.
-N0 less then 1k hands on poker days.
-No more short term results or EV.

Weekly
-Thoroughly study two videos.
-Thoroughly study two opponents.

Monthly
-50k hands.
-Withdraw 3k.

There it is in rough draft form. I plan on creating a bit more detailed plan for my day's as well as weekly plans.

FUCK RESULTS!!!


Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Why...

do I waste so much time on the internet? Seriously, I cant even estimate, or rather dont want to estimate the amount of time I have wasted reading blogs and forums in 2008. My 2009 resolution is to not waste my time on the internet anymore. If I am infront of my computer and I am not playing the pokers it will be for a reason. I do apologize for those who took my earlier remark the wrong way. I do not mean to offend by saying reading blogs is a waste of time I do in fact genuinley enjoy a few of the blogs I read it is the people whom I have no connection with what so ever that are totally meraningless. 

I will continue to check in on the blogs on my roll but that will be all. For those of you whom read this blog and have one of your own which I dont have listed please leave a comment so I can get me a link. Also poker forums are the shit but at the same time can be the biggest waste of time. I plan on spending 30 minutes a day posting to forums by responding with in depth analysis using poker stove to help me develop sick range reading abilities. At night before I hit the hay I will post 1-3 of my hands for analysis from others as well. I still am undecided where I want to post them and would love some suggestions if you post hands on multiple forums.

Lastly, I plan to return to the tables tomorrow after a nearly 2 week break. I still have 2 chapters in the Mindset and would like to write out some form of plan for the next 6 months as far as poker goes. After those two tasks are done 100NL is going to be my bitch!

Brainstorming

So I am not sure exactly what I want from 2009 so I feel like brainstorming a bit here before i finalize a plan/goal.

This summer I decided to postpone my college career to focus on poker and basically failed misrebally from that point on which means I have some choices to make. I quite enjoy the freedom which poker allows me and after not having a boss for some time now it will be real hard to return to the real working world. I also dont have much drive to go back to college except for the fact that I have done so much already it is kinda moronic to quit now. I think I will look into apllying for the spring 09 semester and look at a few of my options. I am considering a business degree which focuses on the wine industry as I live in wine counrtry or I may look at getting my teaching credentials. I think teachers have the best schedules and I enjoy interacting with youth. I would probably go for PE. Basically I need to have a one on one with myself and think about what I want to do in life. Is poker the end for me or rather will poker be my lifelong source of income? 

I know I said I was going to make a decision by the end of 08 but that isnt going to happen. I think 09 will be the year where I sort it out. One bit of good news is the wifey got a sweet promotion and will be contributing a bit more to the finances. Also I have never been one to worry to much about money as I know I will always have enough. Basically I have a awesome skill in knowing how to deal poker and I am sure i can get hired if need be. But truth be told I have some pretty good playing skills too.

Well this was an insane rant that really amounted to nothing. But it got the wheels turning. later!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Official weigh in.

231lbs only 31lbs to shed. My plan is to follow a circuit workout for my the 1st 6 weeks which I got out of this book which is a great "diet" book. Actually I will also be eating very close to the Ab's diet as it is not restricting and very easy to follow. Basically I will be eating lean proteins, complex carbs, and a shit ton of fresh fruits and vegetables. The smoothies rock too! I will allow myself one cheat meal a week as well as 1 6-pack of Coors Light. To be honest I am quite excited to be back at the gym as it makes me feel great and gets me out of the house. 

DAILY QUOTE
One need not travel to distant lands, seek exotic mystical experiences, master esoteric mantras and treatises, or cultivate extraordinary states of mind in order to experience a radical change of heart and inner transformation. Spiritually speaking, everything that one wants, aspires to, and needs is ever-present, accessible here and now-for those with eyes to see. It's the old adage all over again: You don't need to see different things, but rather to see things differently.

DAILY THANKS
I am thankful for my Mom. She tryed her best to be the best and to me she is.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Still no poker


I think he likes the big wheel.


So I believe my last hand was played on 12/18 so it has been 10 days since I saw two hole cards. Sounds crazy but it feels good. I really want to get back but I feel like this time to regroup has been productive for my mental game as well as my happiness in general. I still need to work out a rough plan of where I am headed in poker and I plan on doing that in the next two days. I finally watched a video and have been back at the forums. Speaking of which I know I waste way too much time unproductively watching videos and reading the forums and that will be a focus of my plans. I want to manage my study time very effectively so that I can get the most out of it. 

In real life news the Diet will start tomorrow. You can click the diet log in the top left to catch a glimpse of fat Noel. Also I am without my better half for the week and me and my boy are flying solo. Should be fun!


Saturday, December 27, 2008

News

Hey yall I decided I wanted to start some form of Diet & excercise blog but realized that would be lame. Instead I found a way to just label blog posts and show them on the left. Basically I will only be labeling my diet posts and dating them older so that the only way you will have to read them is by choice. I understand all of this is by choice but who wants to click on my blog and see pictures of me with no shirt on? Only the real brave. Anyways that being said here is a pic of me last August after I went hardcore. I want to return to this shape again. Currently I look like I am excpecting. I will be posting some scary pics in the near future and outlining some plans/goals for how I will shed this extra layer.













Friday, December 26, 2008

Reality

Realisticly speaking I need to withdraw 3k a month to sustain my family. I feel like withdrawing 7.5-10k a month bythe end of March is a realistic goal. If someone who is math savy can look over my numbers and confirm them that would rule!

100NL 4BB/100 winrate I would need to play 37.5k hands to make 3k a month.

200NL 4BB/100 winrate I would  need to play 40.7k hands to make 7.5k a month.

Truth be told I am not sure I can play anything more then 40k hands a month. I would like to but I dont know if I will be able to given my family life and my desire to get my ass in shape. My goal is to play no less then 30k hands a month and find the most efficient way to balance study and play with my family and gym. I realize that scheduling is good but I dont want to be rigid thus I rather not go crazy with I will play at x time for x time. I prefer to plan my time away from the tables and allow myself to play whne I feel good. Though I will need to se some form of daily, weekly and motnhly goal in order to stay on tract and reach my target. Currently 4 tabling gets me about 300 hands an hour which means I will need to play 100 hours a month to make 30k hands. 

Though I have been completely away from the tables and thinking about the game I have had some ideas over my break and I plan to do a lot of adjusting and theorizing in the coming weeks. My biggest leaks are preflop balance mixed with poastflop balance. The two go hand in hand in a sense. Basically I feel like I am very predictable postflop based on my preflop action.

I plan on setting some big goals to strive for in the next week. Also though my break is up I dont think I will hit the tables for a few more days as I want to spend the next few days with my family and preparing for the new year. Also I am not done reading The Poker Mindset.

Hope you all had a great holiday and have a safe New Year celebration!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

More mindset

My biggest hurdle as I mioved through the stakes has become tangling with regs. I literally take offense when they continually get involved in pots with me. Taking offense means I am allowing emotions to play a factor in my decision making wether that be very minimal it doesnt matter. Basically my approach from 220NL and up has been all wrong. I vow to no longer table select. I will seat select. What that means is if the villain on my left is making my life hell I will switch tables. If there is one mark and no one making my life to difficult I am grinding end of story. I want to be the best which means playing Vs anyone.

Here are two more keys from The Poker Mindset:

1-Average is not an acceptable standard in poker
2-Riskneutrality is the only acceptable attitude towards risk

I am beginning to grow excited about playing poker again though I still have a lot to get done before i sit again. 1st I plan on watching a few videos especially both of the new Leggo additions (Patonious, The_End). 2nd I will be putting in 20k hands at 100NL when I do come back. Stay tuned for more.

DAILY QUOTE
Its X-mas smile even if you dont want to and tell someone you love them!

DAILY THANKS

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Poker Mindset,...

makes me want to play poker. The problem is that I haven't been in a poker mindset for many months now. I lost the work ethic which I used to approach the game with and became complacent. I thought I could just play and win without putting time and effort into improving my game. Unfortunately the other players were doing just that and I got owned. The book lists 7 essentials of the poker mindset and I can definitely identify 2 or 3 which I forgot. 

1-Emphasize correct decisions over making money.
2-Leave your ego at the door.
3-Dedicate yourself to a continuous cycle of analysis and improvement.

Actually I am guilty of forgetting them all. Good thing I am dedicating myself to finishing the book before I begin playing again. 

As for X-mas shopping goes I found some joy in it yesterday and got some things for people. I am super stoked to see my son go bonkers on X-mas morning when he sees all the presents under the tree. It is freezing here which is lame. I really want to get outside and ride my bike but I just cant find the motivation to do so. My plan for the end of the new year is to actually devise a plan for 09. I feel like I succeed when I set goals and revisit them frequently. I plan on actually making my goals my background. 

DQAILY QUOTE
"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity, The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty."

DAILY THANKS
I am thankful FTP shipped me a digital camera which I will be using to photograph/video my son on X-mas morning.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

I did absolutely nothing today.

Well I did get out of my house but as far as anything worth a dam I did squat. Basically was a lazy sack as i was recovering from drinking insane amounts of liquor. Hope everyone is well. I will blog more tomorrow.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

F-ing finger jab!

Pretty LOL if you ask me. Anyways been reading that book I spoke of a bit and really looking to get back into some feel good vibes and get my energy flowing in the right direction. Breaking from poker is going well though I still degenly click on leggo and CR 3-100 times a day. I have read a few Leggo blogs and frequent CR off-topic. Besides my mind thinking througha hand occasionaly and my dreams I havent spent any time thinking about poker. The truth is everything happens for a reason and i think this long filthy stretch which lead to a complete melt down has a purpose. What you ask? Fucked if I know. Another thing I want to try and do is make a concious effort to remove all negative words/energy I use. Not sure if it is possible and not something I am going to do this year. 

On another note my health is terrible. I eat like crap every day and havent been excercising even though I got myself a bike and a gym membership. I am goijg hardcore again in January. I will slim down to below 200lbs again, I think I am nearing 230. 

I thin X-mas is great but at the same time it is just a big pain in my backside. I am not a very religious person so I am not ion touch with all the baby jesus shit behind it but I am aware of the gift giving part. Shopping is lame and I strongly dislike having to find a gift for different people. Even shopping for my son wasnt fun. The truth is I choose what it is so I just need to WAKE UP!

We got Marcello a big wheel. I am stoked to see him rip it open X-mas day and go shredding on it. We are going to have to get him a helmet I think. 

Tonight is a X-mas party with some friends which should be fun. Hope all you grinders are enjoying yourselves. I dont miss it yet!

DAILY QUOTE
"To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

DAILY THANKS
I am thankful for the trials and tribulations that have lead me to the place I am today.

Friday, December 19, 2008

AWAY

After writing my last spaz out just lost a BI blog post and saying I needed a break I decided that I in fact do. I am doing my best to avoid the game 100% which is a challenge after it being a part of my life since I turned 19. Anyways I will not be watching any vids or reviewing any hands. I wont play a single hand either. My plan is to just relax and get in touch with myself and figure out what the future has in store for me. I will be reading one poker book by recommendation from my coach. The Poker Mindset. Bye bye poker see you in a week


Anyways I will still be blogging. Happy holidays all!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

LOL 2008 goals

To conclude 07 hasnt been too bad, but life can only get better. 08 will be the best year of my life. Poker will continue to be my profession as I pound the books. I will have my 08 goals posted soon. Stay positive know and feel what you want and it will become. Everythign we dream is possible IS.

As promised I will outline my goals and desires for 2008, in no particluar order.

  • Transfer to a four year college.
  • Get in the best shape of my life.
  • Move in with the love of my life and our son.
  • Continue improving my poker game while steadily moving up the stakes(see poker blog).
  • Enjoy every moment of every day.
  • Reduce my alchol intake to next to nothing.
  • Travel.
  • Learn to surf.
  • Eat and live healthy.

I probably could come up with a few more but this looks pretty solid. I may examine each goal and discuss how it will be achieved later. Today is my last day of being a drunken bum so i am sitting here drinking beer. I am very excited about 08. This is going to be a great year. May you all have an awesome New Year!!!

P.S. Be safe, dont drink and drive



This was my last blog post of 2007 what a let down 2008 was. I mean I achieved some of my goals. Lets take a look.


Transfer to a 4 year college-I did but then I decided to take time off to play poker.

Get in the best shape of my life- LOL I was everywhere diet and excercise wise. I think at the current moment I am actually in the worst shape of my life. 

Move in with the love of my life and our son- I did this and it rules plus we are engaged.

Continue improving my poker game while moving up the stakes- I did this too but now I am reversing it.

Enjoy every moment of every day- Definately failed here and need to work hard on this. The truth is I need to improve on finding joy period.

Reduce my alchol intake to next to nothing- AHHHHHHHHHHH, fail!

Travel- Made it to Hawaii but that was all. TBH I dont like traveklling all that much.

Learn to surf- AHHHHHHHHHHH, fail!

eat and live healthy- Again I was everywhere in regards to this goal. 


I guess all and all I made strides forward except for alchol really. Truth be told this is the biggest hurdle in my life. Hopefull 2009 will be full of success in regards to the goals I set. Look for the blog post soon.

WHY?


Why cant I win? I have no clue what it feels like anymore to have multiple winning sessions. Won 2 out of 10 sessions this week and just continue to run into fucked spot after fucked spot. It is like everytime I think how nasty if villain c/r here he does or if he leads this is just gross and he does. I log session after session setting up an image that will allow my big hands to get payed but it feels like I never get any. I mean seriously. The gayest part of a session is grinding for like 90 minutes to lose a stack right as you are quiting. Look at this hand. Is this bad poker? Do I c/f turn or is it just a b/f even though I has the nut redraw?

Villain at question is a 25/2/1 (161) Whats your play?




$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
UTG ($196.50)
CO ($163.50)
BTN ($402.00)
SB ($210.90)
Hero (BB) ($302.44)

Pre-flop: ($3, 5 players) Hero is BB

UTG calls $2, 2 folds, SB calls $1, Hero raises to $12, UTG calls $10, SB folds

Flop: ($26, 2 players)
Hero bets $20, UTG calls $20

Turn: ($66, 2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $66, Hero raises to $264, UTG calls $98.50

River: ($494.50, 2 players)

Final Pot: $494.50
Hero shows:
UTG shows:

Hero wins $99.50 ( lost -$196.50 )
UTG wins $391.50 ( won +$195 )
SB lost -$2.00

I know I posted last week how I was going to turn it around and yada yada but I am starting to think that I just dont have what it takes to be succesful at poker. My emotions are everywhere while playing which is terrible. I know they shouldnt exist but i cant help it anymore. Over my last 200k hands I am up a whopping 2.4k from poker running at 0.26bb/100 thats not PT BB thats bb. What happened? I dont know if the whole EV graph means anything but I am like 11k below EV. That doesnt really help me.


The truth is poker is a game of skill which involves luck. The skill and luck seem to be very closely related though. The skill is extracting max valuewhile losing the least value. In both cases hidden random luck plays a role. I mean yes we all know if I have AA and my opponent has KK the money goes in and long term speaking no money changed hands but what is long term? 200k hands is a long fucking time. I dont know where I am going with all this but I do know one thing. I am growing impatient. 

The honest to god truth is I need to take a break. I think I am just going to take a week off from poker. Seriously I mean I can afford to do it and it is probably the best thing for me. I am just going to read a shit ton of non poker books and do some yoga and shit and just think about what I want from life. 


Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Is it hopeless?

My search for an office chair that is. I have now bought and built only to return twoo chairs. I am sitting here typing on a busted ass hand me down that is stuck at the lowest it goes and wont go up. It isnt nice. I need a chair. 

OK so I pulled my head out of my butt and logged a winning session only to follow that with a loser to even things out.


WARNING!!! Weird happy rant follows.

 I really love this game and love running good and love flopping sets and owning souls. It is so sweet when every time you have the nizzles you get to sqz and people just dont believe you when you sqz anymore so its like ship the cookies. Or when douches have big pockets and i flat IP with 55 and the poker gods set them up get it set them up. Ship the monies. you know what else owns? Pretty graphs. Pretty graphs where it seems like all the thing does is shoot to the moon. Ship the monies right? i mean seriously how nasty is it when you ship AK vs some guy you had mad histopry with and he shows KK and you bink the river. I love this game. I click a fucking mouse in  between watching porn and reading blogs and make money to eat. i cant even remember the last time I was like oh fuck how will I pay for this. I know how here is my card sucker. 

You know what they say fake it till you make it.

DAILY QUOTE
"Dont worry be happy!"

HAND OF THE DAY

For those of you who know this came vs the ever popular PAPAGENIUS

Is my flop ship bad? I know I have a fold button so I obviously can fold but can I?


$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
4 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
CO ($794.50)
BTN ($112.97)
Hero (SB) ($211.00)
BB ($640.56)

Pre-flop: ($3, 4 players) Hero is SB

1 fold, BTN calls $2, Hero calls $1, BB checks

Flop: ($6, 3 players)
Hero bets $6, BB calls $6, BTN raises to $26, Hero raises to $90, BB folds, BTN raises to $110.97, Hero calls $20.97

Turn: ($233.94, 2 players)

River: ($233.94, 2 players)

Final Pot: $233.94
BTN shows:
Hero shows:

BTN wins $231.44 ( won +$118.47 )
Hero lost -$112.97
BB lost -$8.00


DAILY THANKS
I am thankful a new year is right around the corner.