Staying Grounded in Realityby makan18, February 25
Staying Grounded in Reality
I think this is a very important subject, with which I've been struggling for many years. In the past, I've often caught myself on changing my goals based on the heater I was experiencing at the time. I've had a pretty sick beginning of February, made shitload of money within the first 3 days (10% of yearly goals in 3 days? Huh.. that's not bad, isn't it?).
But this time it was a little different. This time I could control the sense of immortality, so my ego hasn't gone up through the roof. I just kept on rolling, and tried to play the best poker at any given time. However, as strange as it is, I still made a couple bad decisions, based on the fact that I was running hot, and making a mistake didn't seem to be that hurtful at the time. What's interesting, I did the most bad plays on NL200. If you play NL200-NL2k stakes, sometimes NL200 seems like play money – it happens especially after I grab a big pot on NL2k.
The great technique that helps to keep it all in perspective is making hand history notes, during or after the session. I mark hands that have a big impact on the final score but aren't visible on the adjusted win-rate graph. I analyze:
- how often did I hit my equity in a 4bet pot
- how often I had a positive/negative cooler
- how often my opponents 3betted me
- how often I grabbed a pot pf when 4/5betting
- how often I won 4b/5b pot that was played post flop
- how often my opponents hit their small equity in a big pots
The ultimate goal, is trying to not attach to daily, weekly, or even monthly results. I want to achieve such mindset, that I am able to concentrate only on the big picture. I'm sure this ability would decrease the negative impact the bad periods have on my life, therefore it would increase my overall level of well being. Of course it's just a theory, and the real life verifies it all. I know there would still be periods of both bad and good variance that would have a negative impact on my mood and my productiveness.
That's why I believe the work should never stop. Quoting one of my personal mentors, Sir Richard Branson's 'Life Is A Never Ending Learning Process', 'Many times, when I was at my low, I would lose the urge to learn new stuff. Although when I'm in a positive mental period, I would like to learn something new every day, I'm hungry for knowledge.'
The main conclusion is, don't get fooled by the periods of good variance, which make you feel pretentious about how you have it all figured out. Work hard on a daily basis, and it would eventually get You closer to being the best poker player and the best person You can be. Remember, one brick at a time...
1year1mill - answering questionsby 1year1mill, February 24
...and here it is
... our first video where we decided to answer on questions we got from different forums, blogs, etc.
If you have any other questions, reply in the comments bellow and we will try to answer asap.
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I don't know man, what do you think?by RiKD, February 20
Would you rather be happy and live until 78 or live an active, healthy life until 88?
After writing that it is a bit of a ridiculous question. I think being active and healthy late in life would lead to happiness and happiness would lead to a larger health span. Both are so environment dependent. Would you rather live in Denmark or the Ogliastra region in Sardinia? The latter seems a bit extreme.
Are we all living where we want to live? I am not. Maybe that can be changed to are we all where we want to be? I really have to get moving on some things but I am at a loss in some key areas. Bummer and I do not know how to remedy this besides keep on keeping on and doing what I can when I can. I am not so thrilled about my current job which is a big one. I just can not seem to figure out where to go from here. That is where I am at a loss. I blank when searching for jobs. I do not seem to ever get anywhere when approaching further education. So, I just fill up my time with obsessing about Blue Zones and happiness and life. My weight loss might be the most interesting hobby I have going at the moment. Not good. I see friends like twice a week. I do not want to let it be but I must. Man, I am in one of those moods where I could just complain all day. Fucking spaghetti monsters.
Oh. Something else. I had an experience today that I was sure I experienced in a dream. It was really trippy. Anyone else experience this?
The current year didn't commence in a grand fashion. Possibly due to exhaustion caused by going nuts in the motherland, I caught an unpleasant cold. I felt so bad that I had to postpone my return to the UK by 5 days, which obviously resulted in a need to buy a new ticket (#Polish_badluck).
I have a strong impression that 2017 is going to be the best in my poker career. Even though the past two years were satisfactory as I managed to hit 6-digit marks, I still felt I'm not realizing my potential to the fullest. However, taking into consideration different circumstances beyond my control, I did a great job. Among many things, I learned that blaming issues which I have no way of overseeing, is first and foremost not alright for myself. I decided to set some new goals, financial as well, which I shall tick off by December 31, 2017.
Online poker goals:
- spend 1000+ hours, playing NLH Cash Games
- reach 150k$+ profit
- spend 400 hours on studying new varieties/variants
- put up a coaching offer to a wider public
Personal goals:
- put an '8' digit in front on scales
- lead a healthy lifestyle, don't get provoked by the bad people in my surroundings
- exercise twice a week in the gym
- perfect my skills in squash
- master the basics of playing the guitar
- learn how to dance
- be happy on day to day basis
I'm satisfied with work I've done in January, especially considering that I was fighting with cold for 10 days. I played 83 hours, and so I hit the first milestone out of 12 on my path to 1000 hours. I've planned to not include the game charts here as I thought that in the downswing periods it may create an unnecessary pressure on the results. But, as DS did not occur, I can boast :D
I made an ultimate decision that in the end March I will go on a long-awaited trip to Asia. It's going to be my return to that part of the world as between 2013-2014 I lived for 7 months in Thailand. This time I'm going to start my journey through the Far East in Japan, where I'm planning to spend 12-14 days. Then I will probably visit Thailand for 2 weeks, with short inter-landings in Hong Kong or Singapore. More information about my trip in the upcoming posts. Stay tuned ;]
So in my newfound wisdom we should be buying quality used cars. I've always had a fondness of Lexus after owning my first used ES250 back in highschool and recognized the astonishing build quality and attention to detail. It's a shame I ignored this for so long. I have my sights set on 1 of 3 Lexus cars priced around $3000 now:
ES300 - smaller sibling of 400, mostly just aesthetic differences
LS400 - large roomy sedan, super smooth and quiet, max features
SC400 - sports coupe. Least features, but possibly looks the best
So if anyone has kept up with me you should know by now that I done goofed. I fucked up. I didnt treat poker like a business, let some big cashes get to my head and literally spent my bankroll to the point that I drove myself out of business. I guess I cant feel too bad, I'm not the first person to get reckless with their income and self-destruct. I've never felt too bad about it because at least I didnt lose it all playing poker. So where did that leave me? Pretty dire times to be honest. In fact if I come out of all of this I feel like I should write a book. I was about 2 months away from rock bottom, and by rock bottom I mean straight up homeless, no car, no more couches to crash on, looking to take the bullet train out of town kinda thing. In fact I actually had more suicidal thoughts than I had ever had in my life. Not that I've ever been particularly suicidal, but I kept a steady eye on my firearms to make sure I wasnt fantasizing about it too much before I'd have to pawn them off to make sure I didnt do anything stupid.
Tomorrow I start my first day at my new job. It pays 50% less than my last job but by my estimates it should be enough to keep a roof over my head. My quality of life as it stands today is still leaps and bounds ahead of many others so I have no right to complain. I have a borrowed car, food in the fridge, running water, soft bed, clean sheets, and warm air when it's cool and cool air when it's warm. My checking account balance is currently $277, so you can see how bad things were getting. Actually I also have 1k on Ignition which I'll discuss in a minute.
Thing is I'm actually feeling pretty good about everything. For starters this new job looks to be painfully easy and about 5 steps back in my career title as I was before. Basically I'm doing now what I did when I first started working. Just general helpdesk tier 1 stuff. "Help my mouse isnt working!" and so I plug it back in. Thing is with each new job I got paying a bit more my responsibilities increased, and with that came a new level of stress. I was working jobs where I had to come in on weekends, had to be on call 24/7, had to be interrupted in dinner out on town, had to come in early and stay late. The jump in title and pay didnt do anything for my quality of life. Quite simply I was not happy. This might have had to do with being stuck in a broken relationship for so long too, but I still hated all of those jobs. My favorite job was my helpdesk job, so I've come full circle and am back right where I started.
Now that I am debt free I am hoping to begin saving up for a new poker bankroll, which brings us to Ignition. So right before I went busto I threw my last $800 of disposable income online just to see if I could do something, anything with it at all. I mean for fuck's sake I've played this game long enough, can I even beat the micros yet? Can 2/5 live be easier than NL10 online? Where am I? So I dilly dally'd around from NL5 to NL25 before I just suddenly up and transitioned into PLO exclusively. I still remember the moment, I was staring at the micro NLHE lobby and kind of disappointed at what I saw. Lot of 10-20BB avg pot sizes, maybe 20% of players seeing flops, and overall a lack of action in general. I know IG hides tables that are full but I just kinda got the impression there's not a whole lot going on at micros on IG. I've always been fascinated by PLO and the kind of action it brings, so I switched over to the PLO lobby. Holy crap, avg pots of 50BB, avg players/flop 40%+, and plenty of open tables at all limits. If my goal is to climb the ladder and make it to high stakes I want there to be good games going on. It's hard to find good 5/10 and 10/20 NLHE games, but at PLO they always run.
I dont consider myself an action junkie, but I do like to play loose and aggressive. My lifetime stats in NLHE have always been around 30/24/3 with probably 10% 3bet. I'm the guy with the always positive red line. At that moment PLO just seemed kind of a natural fit for me. I get to play loose, but not so loose like I do in NLHE where it can cause me problems. Playing a 30/24 style in PLO is probably golden. Most of the fish there are playing a 60/5/.9 game with 0 3bet. So I'm actually playing tight compared to them, but it feels loose as fuck to me which is right where I like it. Now I have no experience with PLO at all other than knowing the rules. I have Joey for inspiration and I think maybe 2 videos from Deuces Cracked about 5 years ago from Vanessa whereby all I remember her saying is "PLO is a drawing game". So rather than doing the smart thing and studying a bunch of material I kinda decided I'd just teach myself PLO. I think I've always had a hard time following the advice of others and seem to be one of those stubborn guys who can only learn the stove is hot when he burns his hand. My $800 roll dropped to $250 pretty quickly playing PLO50. I took a step back, seriously analyzed a lot of HH's, pitched some scenarios to some generous folks online for their advice and went back to it. I dropped limits of course and over the next 4 weeks managed to grind my $250 back to $1050. Now we're talking less than 10k hands here so probably fish on a heater, but it sure feels like I'm doing things right.
So what now? Well my goal is to keep grinding away online and let whatever happens happen. My goal either through live shot taking or online shot taking is to grind a new bankroll up to 30k and then become a pro again, and this time do things right. No more sports cars, no more paying for pussy (expensive dates), no more impulse buys on toys (virtual reality, multiple cellphones, tablets, gadgets, clothes, etc) and to just be a responsible adult with my poker job. I dont ever want to get in debt again. I dont ever want to have a car payment again. No more credit cards, nothing. I want to live entirely out of cash. I think this will be good for perspective, to make sure I always know exactly what my spending ability is, and of course it just makes financial sense to never pay interest on anything. If I become an online pro then awesome, I have my pick of almost anywhere in the world to live. If the higher limits of PLO prove to be too difficult, or I just start playing in the absolutely-balls-out-nuts live PLO games around here (40k stacks at 5/10 anyone?) then I'll obviously have to live where the games are good. At the moment I would prefer online, because I mean who wouldnt. But I still enjoy shootin the shit with live players and trying to get waitresses phone numbers. I did actually make several friends from the tables, something I could not have done if I lived like a hermit at home grinding away online.
Anyway time to iron my shirt and pack my lunch for the big day! lol.... just lol..
Hi my name is John jlost88 on stars and jfound888 on a lot of other site.
Been playing poker about 10 years now, made my screen name jlost88 cause i was a lost soul back then and didn't know any better. With a new perspective on life i decided to change all my handles to a more positive screen name.
I moved to Vancouver at a young age so i study English, french and Chinese. So what better way to symbolize the languages that i learn than in my name. J is pronounced J'ai in french or i have in English, found obviously is found and 888 in Chinese is wealth.
Jfound888 here and ready to share my positive outlook on life.
Poker has been my life for most my adulthood but it is time to get out of my comfort zone and go back to school and learn a new skill to help improve my life and others.
I want to thank Liquid poker for teaching me how to make money when i first started playing poker. I will always remember reading the beginners guide. After reading that guide i just kept printing money and played up to 25/50 at one point but mostly was a 1/2-5/10 player when the games were good.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to every single Lper. I will still lurk and post here and there
It is time to start a new chapter in my life and say au revoir, good bye, & zai jian to poker and embrace a new life.
In for a penny, in for a poundby makan18, February 05
This blog post is going to be much more personal than the previous ones. I've decided to change the way I do my blogging - I will write a lot more about things which inspire me, and those which are of great importance to me. 2016 turned out to be quite crucial for a variety of reasons. Finally, I emigrated to the UK, which I believe is an optimal solution for a guy like me, a professional poker player. I dealt with the health issues, which had pestered my body and my mind for many years. I achieved the financial goal I was aiming for, despite having played only 713 out of 1000 hours planned. I drank little alcohol, ate healthy, and exercised regularly which allowed me to gain 7 kg. Physically, I haven't felt better in ages, and without a doubt this is my biggest achievement of 2016.
After few years of what-ifs, doubt and plenty of scenarios considered, I ultimately decided to emigrate to the United Kingdom. In the late August I packed some of my belongings, miraculously fitted my 32 in desktop into a 33 inches wide suitcase, and I set off to carry on the road of the professional poker player in the land of Monty Python.
Until the very end I did not know what's going to surprise me in the new place. I certainly wasn't relaxed with the topic of Brexit coming up, and even more so by the news about increasing number of attacks on the Polish people which accompanied the decision of Brits. A local grinder with Polish roots suggested that I should start looking for a place to stay before flying to England, but I decided against it, as I assumed this is no challenge to me. It probably wasn't the smartest decision I undertook. I spewed tons of $ for hotels, lost few precious hairs, and several gaming sessions. The emotional state I was in called for hitting my head against the wall rather than solving logical riddles.
After tens of hours spent on browsing apartment ads, sending emails, going from the office to office to talk with realtors, who despite having a smile straight out of a TV commercial did not give a fuck about me at all, I finally managed to find a place. Generally speaking, after the initial culture shock I was in, I can reintroduce the term 'good life' back in my dictionary.
In November, a good friend of mine who just like me fights against the odds on the Party Poker platform paid me a visit. This occurred around the long-awaited excursion to see Ludovico Einaudi concert. However, as the maestro was performing in Glasgow, we were faced with a dangerous trip up north. At the beginning I planned to make a trip by British rail, though I missed driving a car too much, so I decided to rent a vehicle. Additionally I wanted to see the Lake District, a popular touristy region, abundant in hills and lakes (go figure). What's interesting, this area was visited on many occasions by the 28th President of the United States - Woodrow Wilson. These stopovers have been even included in a book entitled 'A President's Love Affair with the Lake District'. Lake District made quite an impression, with its small, captivating towns which went way beyond the image of England I had in my mind. The concert was a part of a tour called 'Elements'. It was the first, but definitely not the last time I've seen the maestro at the concert. (For years I held a deep conviction that Mercedes is a car for the people over 50. I think I've never been so mistaken. Driving a c200 is a pure pleasure, 8-hour-long journey was almost like a spa visit).
Poker-wise, December was the breakthrough month. I choose to not wait until January with starting out on NL2000 (ultimately, I even timidly looked at NL5k). It was a kind of symbolic decision. When I was taking my first steps in poker back in 2007, NL1000 was a magical border to me. At that moment the perspective of playing on NL1k was but a pipedream of a greenhorn who wants to be the greatest in the world by playing a card game. Looking beyond the wall which goes by the name 'NL1000', was I have built myself in my mind many years ago, once again convinced me that most of limitations exist only in our heads.
After earnestly working for a month, the time for relax came, and I could return to my hometown for Christmas. Meeting people close to my heart was the main theme of that visit, people whom I knew 10-20 years. It's the element I miss the most. I look back at the time I spent in Poland with quite a sentiment, as during the dozen or so days there was never a time of boredom. Unfortunately, the gambling bill which is going to be introduced soon will prevent me from visiting my home country all too often.
The next piece coming very soon. It`s gonna be about my goals and plans for 2017, and my trip to Asia I`m very excited about.
Poker never went anywhere for me but I've continued visiting this site for the past few years (yay MMA threads). It's funny to see that my last blog post was in 2010...
I got a job about 1.5 years ago with an American company (still working in NZ) and finally pestered them enough to visit their HQ in California with paid flights and accommodation. I'm now on holiday on my own and where else am I but Vegas, woo.
It's pretty surreal to finally visit this place and do stuff like checking out the Bellagio fountains. I've got a ticket to O and I'm hoping to go to the Spearmint Rhino at some point to check out the place where LP legends blew their winnings. Longtime girlfriend said no lap dances tho
But yeah, cheers to visiting places from my memories of reading LP threads
(live poker) looking sublet in vegas.by hiems, January 27
Hi,
I was wondering if anybody was interested in subletting my place in vegas. It's at the veer, which aside from the vdara (cheaper than vdara) is imo the most convenient place to grind live cash in las vegas from (>panorama, martin, meridian, etc). It's not super furnished but there is a sofa bed + additional mattress, and new dining table which i picked out that I double as my computer desk, and a sick 72x40 double sided rolling whiteboard (lol). Its a small space (studio) but <3 it and its very nice/modern.
Lease goes through August 1st so you are good to grind from start to end of World Series of Poker. Also you will be able to grind the games in mid march during march madness which are the nuts.
You can stay for a couple months. Only thing would be that since I am just gauging interest on here I am not going through the landlord so I ask for some sort of discretion with that.
I'm paying $1,350 and would be willing to sublease for less as I am not really looking to make a profit margin or anything. I'm willing to go lower depending on the length of your stay.
First month of poker in a whileby Bullshit, January 22
Besides 3-4 months in late 2014/early 2015 I had not really played poker since 2012 and pretty much none at all live or online since feb 2015 till last month. I felt a little lost in my life and really didn't know what to do and still pretty much dont which I guess is fairly common between former and current poker players. I've won a lot of money in poker but spewed off most of it on non poker related stuff over the past 4 years so I don't have much to show for it besides some valuable life experience which I suppose has been good. Last month I decided to hop back online and make a deposit on stars to see if I can still win at poker. I felt a bit confused the first week but got back into pretty quickly and the first 40 days grinding starting from dec 10th has gone pretty well. Theres not any consistent games above 2/5 on stars unless you want to play on multiple sites and play a table here and there which I plan on doing as soon as I feel confident I'm playing well all the time. I also plan on playing some higher stakes live games so hopefully I run good in the 10 hands/hour I'm gonna get. I guess my plan is to play poker and get whats left of the online money while trying to figure out what to do with my life in the meantime. Good news is it appears I can still win at poker and I just turned 25 a few months ago so I have some time.
Heres the graph which is mostly 1/2 zoom with some 2/4 - 3/6 on other sites and some 2/5 zoom on stars http://imgur.com/a/CbhXh
Ive made a decision to travel once again. Been to asia, this time im going South America. FUCK YEAHHHH!
The plan right now is to work until about April/may and then when winter starting to kick in in australia, piss off to brazil.
Planning to go for like 6 months.
Thinking to start in brazil, see how I like it there and then go to Colombia or Ecuador. For obvious reasons! + Show Spoiler +
Anyone living around those places? I mean i dont have a solid plan yet and may change my mind about the countries.
But Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador are what I have been reading about and it sounds sick.
Ive saved up enough money to spend 6 months on a budget kind of travel.
Anyone out those places?? ANy recommendations?
I am looking to possibly be near the beach so I can learn surfing. But beach is not a must if I really like a place.
Maybe something like Bogota.
I will bring a laptop as well and maybe donate some money to you regs at the tables.
And I have zero spanish knowledge which will be a bit shit but I think I will get away with some sort of app on the phone which will translate shit for me.
I haven't torrented in a while but couldn't find that many solid music torrents on piratebay anymore. It seem's like it has become increasingly difficult to find high quality torrents.
Could anyone recommend me a site for torrenting? I am primarily focused in music. Any private tracker invites would be appreciated.
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