Just played my last session of the month so time for an end of month recap!
Well February was not so great results-wise haha! The good news is it has kicked me into a proper routine of working towards my goals. Also getting absolutely smashed 6 sessions in a row in small field micros highlighted some mental game leaks that I'm glad have come up now so I know what to work on. Would much rather mental leaks now before having to deal with the same things at higher stakes where the swings are going to be wayyyyyyyy bigger!
Has also inspired me to start working on my game again, which can only be a good thing! I've always enjoyed studying preflop more than postflop and consequently have always done more work on it. I'm doing preflop again at the moment because even if my postflop game isn't as strong, being really confident preflop gives me a lot of clarity in knowing exactly what my range looks like when we go to a flop, which in turn makes life a lot easier postflop. Have spent a small amount of time glancing at some PIO things postflop this week but just a rough glance to be honest.
On the other hand, the weekly targets I set are proving to be really tough to fit in on top of having a job and a life! I'm not going to reduce the number of sessions from 3 per week, nor am I going to reduce the number of hours I want to spend on music production as that's what I want to focus on long term. So poker study is going to have to take a hit from 5 hours down to 3. This is just a minimum and if I end up with more time I can always do more. Plus even 3 hours per week is 3 hours more than I've done for the last 6 months!
Weekly goals: MTT sessions - 3 Poker study - 3hrs Music production - 10hrs
For those of you who made it this far, here's a funny February graph
Just a quick update as finally hit the 2k mark last night! Feels pretty good tbh especially after such a 'meh' February! Been playing higher ABI the past few sessions but I think basically anything up to and including £33 is probably fair game now as long as I don't swing too far back down. Will continue to play all the 5.50s and even the 1rs so my ABI won't be going through the roof anyway despite adding some higher games. Way behind pace for the year but it's a long year and heading in the right direction at least.
Been a few chat box requests from people for me to talk more about music so maybe will post something in the week
MTT sessions: 3 Poker study: 1hr (not great, but still time to catch up if I get some time over the weekend) Music production: 10hrs
Nice work Angmar and good to see that £33's are now on the menu - rumour has it that any old muppet can win those so I expect even more rapid progress now!
Would appreciate any thoughts on a hand from the final 2 tables of the Megastack.
Think there are maybe 8 remaining and other than me this table has been playing really tight approaching FT.
Have a few notes on the limper, who has all his nutted hands in his limping range as well as the usual junk. Past 4 or 5 orbits he's hardly played a hand. No notes on the other guy.
Think hand is played fine. Can either bet fold river or check and assess and probably call. Hard to know exactly what they are repping when they raise though. Are they only raising river for value or are they capable of turning a hand like a worse king or say tens into a bluff.
Thanks Matt, I guess I thought the block bet/fold would lose fewer chips than checking and having to sigh/call if he bombs it. Against better players though, it's pretty tough to balance this smaller size and find bluffs that want to bet with this sizing!
Obviously new players can be good but usually I already have notes on the better players in 5.50s so fair play to him if he managed to turn showdown value into a bluff!
Bit of an unusual update today due to everyone's favourite contagious virus!
All of my music work is on a self employed basis which means that if large gatherings of people are forced to stop for the time being, I may well have to be battling in the day time MTT streets as a 'pro' temporarily!
On the one hand, playing a tonne more poker sounds pretty fun and like living the classic dream. On the other hand, I don't know if the added pressure would completely kill the fun for me. Bit of an unknown quantity really! At the moment if I win £100 then my roll is £100 bigger; paying for things in real life doesn't come into it at all. Last week I remember the tables on my screen worked out to an ABI somewhere around £10 and I won a flip in a £2.20 and jumped up and fist-pumped If there's pressure to actually make money from the game do you still get the same feeling sending someone packing from a 2.20?
Hopefully it won't come to that though
Have only played once this week so far but made £150 which is quite good for day time stuff. Will most likely jump in tonight with a beer in hand (Friday rules - no playing without beer in hand!) and have a bash at the Mini, Mega, Reload, etc - all that good stuff!
All concerts and rehearsals are cancelled until further notice, which means right now I'm essentially unemployed. This isn't a cry for sympathy, there are many many people far worse off than me and I'm extremely lucky that I can turn a profit from a hobby (poker) to hopefully ride out the storm. As I've mentioned previously I also kept a fair amount of winnings from previous years in case of a rainy day. I don't mention this to gloat or brag, I just don't want to be posting updates (which I'm sure I will be doing plenty of) under the pretence that I'm in a worse situation than I am. If it weren't for poker though, both the fact I can play now and the playing I did in previous years, I would be absolutely screwed. The whole thing has made me think more about volunteering and charitable work. Not entirely sure what you can do in that field that doesn't involve physically going somewhere to help people, which isn't advised at the moment. Any ideas/suggestions let me know!
On the poker front, I think I'm a pretty good amateur. I'm definitely not a professional. In music there are lots and lots of very good amateurs but reaching the next level really is a different kettle of fish and people don't see the sacrifice and insane levels of work ethic and brutal hard graft. Until I can go back to working in music, I'm going to apply the same work ethic in poker because thinking of myself as 'professional' in any sense of the word other than being a profitable player is just a complete joke at the moment! On that note, time to hit the study grind for a few hours before firing some MTTs later today. Today's topic: PIO's approach to check/raise as BB defend. I have a vague understanding at the moment, but not a good enough understanding.
Anyone sees me at the tables please say hi, I always like to chat back
Sadly there will be people turning to online poker for the wrong reasons at this time, but it definitely is a massive comfort blanket to those lucky enough to make a decent profit every month - keeps things ticking over for the (hopefully) few months this lasts
Sadly there will be people turning to online poker for the wrong reasons at this time, but it definitely is a massive comfort blanket to those lucky enough to make a decent profit every month - keeps things ticking over for the (hopefully) few months this lasts
It's definitely a problem, though slots and casino-style games worry me more tbh. I was chatting about this with gf last night actually. She reckons if many people became problem gamblers out of desperation during all of this the government would have to step in. I'm not sure they would.
First off, I'm sorry to hear you've been quite so drastically effected by current events. As you say though, having another string to your bow (couldn't resist that one haha!) that allows you to bring in a little income from the comfort of home is something that few others can fall back on, so things could indeed be worse. I do hope that the forthcoming weeks and months don't prove too uncomfortable or stressful though.
On a more selfish level, I'm actually quite excited to see how this 'opportunity' pans out for you. You now have more time and a greater incentive than ever before to push on with your poker and I'm extremely confident of positive developments on this front. I really don't like to gush, but I genuinely rate you as a player (more so than you rate yourself I think). Add in your impressive work and study ethic to the time now at your disposal and I think your skill level, confidence and (perhaps most importantly right now) your hourly will grow at an impressive rate.
A couple of questions...
Will you now be adding more evening sessions to your grind schedule?
Will you be looking to grow the roll a little more first to allow you more flexibility from an ABI perspective, or are immediate withdrawals for life expenses imperative?
First off, I'm sorry to hear you've been quite so drastically effected by current events. As you say though, having another string to your bow (couldn't resist that one haha!) that allows you to bring in a little income from the comfort of home is something that few others can fall back on, so things could indeed be worse. I do hope that the forthcoming weeks and months don't prove too uncomfortable or stressful though.
On a more selfish level, I'm actually quite excited to see how this 'opportunity' pans out for you. You now have more time and a greater incentive than ever before to push on with your poker and I'm extremely confident of positive developments on this front. I really don't like to gush, but I genuinely rate you as a player (more so than you rate yourself I think). Add in your impressive work and study ethic to the time now at your disposal and I think your skill level, confidence and (perhaps most importantly right now) your hourly will grow at an impressive rate.
A couple of questions...
Will you now be adding more evening sessions to your grind schedule?
Will you be looking to grow the roll a little more first to allow you more flexibility from an ABI perspective, or are immediate withdrawals for life expenses imperative?
Good luck
I’m guessing what Dues has said is ‘music to your ears.’
First off, I'm sorry to hear you've been quite so drastically effected by current events. As you say though, having another string to your bow (couldn't resist that one haha!) that allows you to bring in a little income from the comfort of home is something that few others can fall back on, so things could indeed be worse. I do hope that the forthcoming weeks and months don't prove too uncomfortable or stressful though.
On a more selfish level, I'm actually quite excited to see how this 'opportunity' pans out for you. You now have more time and a greater incentive than ever before to push on with your poker and I'm extremely confident of positive developments on this front. I really don't like to gush, but I genuinely rate you as a player (more so than you rate yourself I think). Add in your impressive work and study ethic to the time now at your disposal and I think your skill level, confidence and (perhaps most importantly right now) your hourly will grow at an impressive rate.
A couple of questions...
Will you now be adding more evening sessions to your grind schedule?
Will you be looking to grow the roll a little more first to allow you more flexibility from an ABI perspective, or are immediate withdrawals for life expenses imperative?
Good luck
Aw shucks, thanks man!
In short, I guess I'm not sure and will have to keep taking things day by day to try and find the optimal approach. 2k is enough to grind everything running during the daytime on both sites I play on but I do want to keep on moving up the stakes when I do play evenings, especially if there's a UKOPS on the horizon. For instance, all along I planned to add the Friday Main at 3k as it's my all time favourite tourney (and also the only Main I've ever won, boooooo) so if I could get to 3k that would be nice.
At some stage I think I'll be playing more evenings but that might be like twice a week rather than once. I really like to have a routine and my gf will be working from home sort of usual office hours so it makes a lot of sense for me to 'work' during those hours too at the moment to try and maintain at least a bit of normality. That said, if things start going well, there is a huge cap on the ABI you can play during the day, plus the obvious need to get in as many bluff/shows as possible on the Duesenberg123 twitch stream!!!
Silly question, but how does paying yourself from a bankroll actually work lol? I've only ever been a no-roll blaster or been doing bankroll challenges where nothing leaves the roll until I throw my toys out of the pram and cash out the whole thing haha. Let's say it's a 2k roll. At what threshold do you take money out for yourself without risking plunging back towards 1k? And do you try to make regular payments to yourself regardless of results or do you just withdraw after big results? I know you've mostly been a cash player so slightly different.
Comments
Well February was not so great results-wise haha! The good news is it has kicked me into a proper routine of working towards my goals. Also getting absolutely smashed 6 sessions in a row in small field micros highlighted some mental game leaks that I'm glad have come up now so I know what to work on. Would much rather mental leaks now before having to deal with the same things at higher stakes where the swings are going to be wayyyyyyyy bigger!
Has also inspired me to start working on my game again, which can only be a good thing! I've always enjoyed studying preflop more than postflop and consequently have always done more work on it. I'm doing preflop again at the moment because even if my postflop game isn't as strong, being really confident preflop gives me a lot of clarity in knowing exactly what my range looks like when we go to a flop, which in turn makes life a lot easier postflop. Have spent a small amount of time glancing at some PIO things postflop this week but just a rough glance to be honest.
On the other hand, the weekly targets I set are proving to be really tough to fit in on top of having a job and a life! I'm not going to reduce the number of sessions from 3 per week, nor am I going to reduce the number of hours I want to spend on music production as that's what I want to focus on long term. So poker study is going to have to take a hit from 5 hours down to 3. This is just a minimum and if I end up with more time I can always do more. Plus even 3 hours per week is 3 hours more than I've done for the last 6 months!
Weekly goals:
MTT sessions - 3
Poker study - 3hrs
Music production - 10hrs
For those of you who made it this far, here's a funny February graph
The tougher the test, the sweeter victory tastes.
Been a few chat box requests from people for me to talk more about music so maybe will post something in the week
MTT sessions: 3
Poker study: 1hr (not great, but still time to catch up if I get some time over the weekend)
Music production: 10hrs
Av ROI clearly needs work though
Never in doubt.
Very well done The Ang.
Would appreciate any thoughts on a hand from the final 2 tables of the Megastack.
Think there are maybe 8 remaining and other than me this table has been playing really tight approaching FT.
Have a few notes on the limper, who has all his nutted hands in his limping range as well as the usual junk. Past 4 or 5 orbits he's hardly played a hand. No notes on the other guy.
Obviously new players can be good but usually I already have notes on the better players in 5.50s so fair play to him if he managed to turn showdown value into a bluff!
All of my music work is on a self employed basis which means that if large gatherings of people are forced to stop for the time being, I may well have to be battling in the day time MTT streets as a 'pro' temporarily!
On the one hand, playing a tonne more poker sounds pretty fun and like living the classic dream. On the other hand, I don't know if the added pressure would completely kill the fun for me. Bit of an unknown quantity really! At the moment if I win £100 then my roll is £100 bigger; paying for things in real life doesn't come into it at all. Last week I remember the tables on my screen worked out to an ABI somewhere around £10 and I won a flip in a £2.20 and jumped up and fist-pumped
Hopefully it won't come to that though
Have only played once this week so far but made £150 which is quite good for day time stuff. Will most likely jump in tonight with a beer in hand (Friday rules - no playing without beer in hand!) and have a bash at the Mini, Mega, Reload, etc - all that good stuff!
All concerts and rehearsals are cancelled until further notice, which means right now I'm essentially unemployed. This isn't a cry for sympathy, there are many many people far worse off than me and I'm extremely lucky that I can turn a profit from a hobby (poker) to hopefully ride out the storm. As I've mentioned previously I also kept a fair amount of winnings from previous years in case of a rainy day. I don't mention this to gloat or brag, I just don't want to be posting updates (which I'm sure I will be doing plenty of) under the pretence that I'm in a worse situation than I am. If it weren't for poker though, both the fact I can play now and the playing I did in previous years, I would be absolutely screwed. The whole thing has made me think more about volunteering and charitable work. Not entirely sure what you can do in that field that doesn't involve physically going somewhere to help people, which isn't advised at the moment. Any ideas/suggestions let me know!
On the poker front, I think I'm a pretty good amateur. I'm definitely not a professional. In music there are lots and lots of very good amateurs but reaching the next level really is a different kettle of fish and people don't see the sacrifice and insane levels of work ethic and brutal hard graft. Until I can go back to working in music, I'm going to apply the same work ethic in poker because thinking of myself as 'professional' in any sense of the word other than being a profitable player is just a complete joke at the moment! On that note, time to hit the study grind for a few hours before firing some MTTs later today. Today's topic: PIO's approach to check/raise as BB defend. I have a vague understanding at the moment, but not a good enough understanding.
Anyone sees me at the tables please say hi, I always like to chat back
Strange times, Ang. GL m8.
On a more selfish level, I'm actually quite excited to see how this 'opportunity' pans out for you. You now have more time and a greater incentive than ever before to push on with your poker and I'm extremely confident of positive developments on this front. I really don't like to gush, but I genuinely rate you as a player (more so than you rate yourself I think). Add in your impressive work and study ethic to the time now at your disposal and I think your skill level, confidence and (perhaps most importantly right now) your hourly will grow at an impressive rate.
A couple of questions...
Will you now be adding more evening sessions to your grind schedule?
Will you be looking to grow the roll a little more first to allow you more flexibility from an ABI perspective, or are immediate withdrawals for life expenses imperative?
Good luck
( I’ll get me coat...)
In short, I guess I'm not sure and will have to keep taking things day by day to try and find the optimal approach. 2k is enough to grind everything running during the daytime on both sites I play on but I do want to keep on moving up the stakes when I do play evenings, especially if there's a UKOPS on the horizon. For instance, all along I planned to add the Friday Main at 3k as it's my all time favourite tourney (and also the only Main I've ever won, boooooo) so if I could get to 3k that would be nice.
At some stage I think I'll be playing more evenings but that might be like twice a week rather than once. I really like to have a routine and my gf will be working from home sort of usual office hours so it makes a lot of sense for me to 'work' during those hours too at the moment to try and maintain at least a bit of normality. That said, if things start going well, there is a huge cap on the ABI you can play during the day, plus the obvious need to get in as many bluff/shows as possible on the Duesenberg123 twitch stream!!!
Silly question, but how does paying yourself from a bankroll actually work lol? I've only ever been a no-roll blaster or been doing bankroll challenges where nothing leaves the roll until I throw my toys out of the pram and cash out the whole thing haha. Let's say it's a 2k roll. At what threshold do you take money out for yourself without risking plunging back towards 1k? And do you try to make regular payments to yourself regardless of results or do you just withdraw after big results? I know you've mostly been a cash player so slightly different.