Aquila

Hi man,
just wanted to selectively comment on your post. With regards to being old: There is no need to rush. Take good care of yourself (Eat, sleep, train in some capacity and rest well) on a daily basis. Thats what your focus imo should be on, not worrying about your life expectancy and being too old (Just because the topic of not feeling rushed is mentioned here I link this video as well:
Mark Lewis

I would strongly recommend to get into meditation. The app I would use is called "waking up" by Sam Harris. You can try it for free for 30 days, and if you cant afford a subscription, theres a lower price or actually free version. Try to live in the presens. It makes all the difference.

I am also impressed by your effort to keep at it. Listen to this as well: Growth Mindset

I would also add, that you might want to look out for a softer pool. Why dont you play on a site like wsop.com or so? I dont know the American market, but arent there softer sites? Fuck rakeback and such, play 4 tables, focus on your game play and rinse and repeat.

--> Also, dont watch Poker stream or other shows on the site while playing! Thats not professional :)

Cheers, Aquila

Quote should be from Easy Game (Balugawhale) 👻

Jan Philippi
What would you say about:
How many things should one change at the same Time?
And how long do you think it takes to establish a new habit?

Yeah, but it also prevents overshopping (if thats the right Word)

With regards to Shopping I would add:
- always have a shopping List with you and only buy these things

The solution to everything is mindfulness :) if you master it ....

Jan Philippi
Thanks for the reply. Do you know the waking up app? There is a new series about procrastination. Quite good, might be of interest to someone like you.

Poker This week:
- practice Anki everyday so far (4 out of 4 so far)
- create new cards check
- watched only one video so far (on monday). Tomorrow will be video number 2. Today was a holiday and thus family time.

Also, in my last post I asked for suggestion on Poker videos, but didnt get any replies.
I was thinking that it might be better if I offer something in return. Thus for some advice on the poker front, I am offering advice on fitness/health and (meditation) in return. I dont have a degree in this, but I am quite the fitness enthusiast. So, feel free to dm me on RIO or contact me via skype ("nm_peregrinus") or discord (Aquila#8102).

Cheers and all the best,
Aquila

Hi Jan, thx for passing by :)

not going to write it down here, but basically:

Blue Quadrant (Goals/Values):
- Longterm winning Poker Player (consistently learning)
- become financially (more) independent
- live a life according to what I value (independence, healthy, active, being a reliable and supportive Dad, gardening, sports, good food)

Red Quadrant (Actions, that are "bad"/not helping)
- these are things I wrote down above

Black Quadrant (emotional and mental barriers)
- thinking I should be better/ have achieved more
- believing I am dumb, incompetent
- believing, I don't need to learn/study (opposite to the one above, that's an example of one where my beliefs make 00000 sense ^^)
- believing everyone is better, especially when variance shows up
- ....

Green Quadrant (Actions (preferably daily??? Jan Philippi) that are helpful/beneficial
- daily anki practice
- exercise
- quality sleep
- being patient (in many aspects of life)
- focus on one thing at a time
- eating that frog (do the difficult stuff first, stop delaying)
- studying poker and taking notes (ask questions if they arise, in the hope of getting answers...
- take relaxation serious (Sauna, Massage, Books)
- play only when time is really available and I am not fatigued or stressed out (see patience)
- think, think, think
- enjoy the challenge (chance to improve --> positive way of looking at "hard" things)/ take failure as a means/chance for improvement

thats mostly it.

So, take it serious, while seeing the positive in life (be grateful that I can go and work out, or work on topic xy at work, or play Poker when I can... (I am in a good position and life is good)

Also, I stopped drinking alcohol some weeks ago and it has improved my overall mood so much, its unreal! I do drink alcohol free beer from time to time. I like some types, which is great. Also, I cut down on red meat and instead try to eat a lot more fish. Not sure if the Omega 3-Fatty Acids are boosting my mood as well....Definitely looking forward to tomorrows barbeque with fresh sea bream (whole), stonebiter and tuna (fillets). What a life xD

Good video. I did the cheat sheet :)
wrote down some of it as well here:
https://www.runitonce.com/chatter/this-time-things-will-be-different/
At least one member followed up on your wish ^^

Thanks for your reply :)

Week:
- Watched 4 (3 Cash, 1 mental).
2 Cash were good, 1 was meh :)
Mental was good.
I watched Jan Phillipis video on long term success. I did the exercise (cheat sheet). It's funny, there are mental things, that are completely opposing. Like there is no way this makes sense. I can only do it wrong. Maybe this is common, but it was good to write it down and become aware of it. Maybe it helps me to realize how futile some off the stuff is that the mind is coming up with. I also realized that I have a shit ton of doubt about the futility of the whole process. Is it even worth it. Would I be really doing x or y. There is no doubt that working out x amount of times per week is "mandatory" to me and my health. Also, getting in quality sleep. Poker is much more murky.
Leaks (wrong actions) that were very obvious are:
- playing too much, while basically not studying
- switching game type
- cashing out and then returning and starting "fresh" (what a stupid and childish idea)
- playing when other stuff was more crucial or I was not in the right mindset/ had no time really
- Forcing action
- being impatient
- having a bad mood because I lost 30€ (while happily ordering 7.5 kg of protein powder for over 200 € or signing up for over 2.5k for a hunting license)
- not playing serious/focussed
- switching study approach (GTOw for 5 days, then back to this, then that...)
- dont stick to rules
----> theres clearly more :)(

Watching videos from 2 different players was interesting, because they seem to have extremly opposing recommendations. One is more like "shut your brain off and just follow this". The other one is like "poker is complex". I clearly prefer the second approach.
I like the puzzle aspect of poker, the way you can adopt your strategy to the playing style of your opponent and so on. But I am also quite time restricted.
For now I will continue with my study approach. And continue to put the notes down into Anki and practice them on a daily basis. I need to practice patience, learn from the videos and put the pieces together.

Maybe you can recommend some videos about SRP, 4betting preflop and just good theory videos. Would be much appreciated. I enjoyed Frankie Carsons video this week, even though I thought that shaving off his beard was a -EV play. ^^ I wish I had that kind of beardgrowth, haha :)

Cheers,
Aquila

Hi Frankie Carson

What about paired flops? I think you mentioned that these boards can be good for donking as well, or did I get this wrong?
I would assume low pocket pairs vs early position raises are best? What about the side card?
Or is it very difficult to "simplify" a donking range on these boards?

Good video, enjoyed it.

Also for future videos:
Cbetting strategy in SRP oop vs regs or rec's. Of course SPR cbetting IP with exploits vs regs or recs and general applicable takeaways are much appreciated :)

Lets wrap up this week:
Poker:
This week sucked! :) I didn't follow up my own rules/ thinks I know I should avoid (like playing tired zoom) and lost some (5 buyins or so).
Good news:
I realized that I really, really (really) suck at Poker, actually got some help pointing out my flawed assumption.
I am a nitreg and I play fucking weak!
Which means that I can improve so much. I have started to study with some good RIO videos and they already helped me a ton. I challenged myself to study for the rest of the month, to really get down certain ranges and just make the new knowledge stick in my old brain...Let's see how I feel after basically one month of study. I know Phil recommended to split study and play, but there is no reason for me right now to grind it out at NL10, when I can just study/improve and then deposit more, so that I can start at whatever the level is above (depending on site). I am also limited with time and it feels really necessary to me to take a step back, stop putting in pointless volume and not improving. It annoys the shit out of me and I really want this to work out!
I wonder how much a cfp can increase your learning curve. I just have to watch whats available and this will be allover the place in some regards / it will take time to put thinks together.

Health:
After having a bad cold, which took me out for 3 weeks (2 weeks sick, 1 week recovery), I am now back to Gym (3x per week) and cycling with Zwift. I will start a training plan on Zwift called Fondo. It's 4 weeks long and aims for cycling 100 km at the end. Usually there are 3 workouts per week. I don't want to go above 5 h of cycling per week (the fear of losing too much muscle is real!) I also want a training plan that is mostly centered on building a good base. Intense workouts are too much for me combined on a frequent basis with the gym.
Feeling much better overall and part of that is also that for my cut (6 kg) I don't drink alcohol. This really has a big impact on my recovery and overall well being. I am actually and surprisingly much calmer and more relaxed. Very nice indeed.
I tried a new natural protein powder today and it was one of the most horrible experiences in my entire life! I will try to mix it with a vanilla type and see if I can stomach it then. Otherwise it shall remove itself to the garbage bin! NASTY SHIT! ;) I was close to puking, but forced myself to drink the whole glass. moron....

Cheers,
Aquila

Frankie Carson

can you give general recommendations where 1/2 pot is good? So that I am more aware of the situations where it does make sense vs the ones where it doesnt (like the AQ77 example in the video).

If I xraise river on the Bet-X-Bet line and get called by Top Pair weak kicker. What is my takeaway/adjustment (assuming a reg)? I see people taking 1/3 betsize w TPWK a lot on the rivers. Seems similar thinking on their part (get value, don't lose too much vs better hands).

RunItTw1ce

some suggestions:
- Find out what kind of body you want to have
--> seems like you now realized that just cardio is not the style you are looking for.
If you are not the pure cardio type of guy, then I would suggest hitting the weights at least 3x per week. Boostcamp is a good app and has free good programmes. Start light, get the technique down and then slowly increase the weight. Imo the best channel for weightlifting right now is this one: RP
--> Cardio:
Swimming is great, but there are 2 downsides imo:
- It's mainly technique, you really need to have good technique for it to be a "cardio-exercise". Otherwise it will interfer with the gym. I would suggest to find a coach and really learn it. Everyone believes they can swim, but most are just surviving. There is good free content available online, but I think it is very difficult to transfer it into the pool. I found a coach to be much much more superior. (good channel on youtube: Effortless swimming)
Also, swimming takes time-- get to the pool, change clothes, swim, shower, dress, get back home-- I personally really enjoy zwift on my smarttrainer (gravel bike) at home. It is super convenient and low impact (very important if you also hit the gym). But cardio is about what you enjoy!

Training Vo2max is said to be extremly beneficial. Once you have a solid foundation, mix in some really hard sessions, but you should be quite fit in the first place. Otherwise they take up too much energy and the gym will suffer.

--> losing weight
In this video Losing weight the one thing I find to be really important is that you see losing weight as a phase. Set a goal of maybe 10 pounds, just get through with it, and then get back into a maintenance phase for some weeks. Then cut more if you need to, rinse repeat.
Most people basically think of it like an endless phase and thus feel like its only about restriction, giving up and so on. It is much easier to let go of drinks, snacks for maybe 6-8 weeks and then have some of it again for a while.
Get rid of snacks and alcohol in your house while you lose weight. Makes it so much easier :)

Also, completely irrelevant, but this trystin guy is carnivore no more. He also looks sick (bad health), I am quite sure that he will look much better in the near future, now that he is listening to Dr. Mike and Jared.

Adjustments to the pool sound good! Good luck with the grind!

I wish you much success! Sounds very ambitious and I hope you have calculated it well and do not start from too positive expectations!

Weekly update:
Played horrible on monday on GG (also forgot that rake is taken by "default").
Switched to PP on Thusday, been playing there since then. Tables are a bit hard too find, but so far so good. The amount of rake I am paying seems to be "okayish" compared to 888 and GG. No rakeback, but that's the german life! ;)

Overall good week, back on track after a severe cold. Happy to be exercising again.

I don't care about work at all at the moment, but my superiors are also on vacation and everything is very quiet.

Grilled tuna steaks for the first time and it was super tasty! I will definitely do that more often. Have the opportunity to buy freshly caught fish on Wednesdays and Fridays. Use that usually for sushi, but now comes so slowly the barbecue season rolling and there I want to grill not only steaks and sausages.

When it comes to sports, I started with Zwift and it's amazingly fun. On Sunday I start a structured program. For the gym, I'm trying out Bootcamp. Looks very good, although unfortunately it doesn't show the pauses between sets. You only see the total time. Could record that myself with my watch though.

For poker stands to study from next week at least 2 videos per week concentrated. Then transfer the notes to index cards and then repeat daily with Anki. This is my frog! (Demondoink knows what I'm talking about ;) )
Time to play I have probably only Thursday and Friday. Monday is a holiday.

Take good care!

Okay:
First week:
- played more than 10 h, because I am on sick leave and felt fine enough to play (not sure my brainfog agrees on this up until wednesday).
- up ~75 €, after being down 80 right away, then i was up around 160 or and felt like I lost all momentum from that moment on. Slowly bleeding and running into overpair or KK with AK etc.
- not happy about my mental. What a wild ride! ;(
- too much volume and not taking enough breaks.
- I consider switching over to GG, there were times where not even 4 tables were running. Rake is very high as well. Guess GG has high rake too.
- it sucks to be german in the current poker environment.
- It is so ridiculous when you have someone playing 95/0 and you get nothing for the 15 minutes he is at the table.
- players are underbluffing rivers at an insane rate, especially when it comes to big bets. I counted the ratio of river bets seperated into bluffs/value and over a small sample of something like 70 riverbets, there was not a single bluff when the betsize was over 75%.
- I need to fold so much more on rivers, its insane. The tendency is so extreme, they love to call ,but they hate to valuebet. Maybe this is different on other sites, but at this stake on this site it seems very common. You find the occasional "maniac" who just loves to bomb the river, but they are easy to spot (they are just so different). I wish I would just fold/fold/fold/fold. I am such a fish! ;(
- I overfocus so strongly on shortterm variance. I need to find a better balance, maybe with more buyins,
- take your time, breath. Take it slow. I react to quickly in many spots, it's a strategy game, not an action shooter...

Next week:
- back to work, thus less time to play.
- Play for 1 h and then take at least 15 minutes away from the table.
- got plenty too improve, but games are beatible. no doubt,
- focus more, breath more, think more. take it serious!

Good luck mate! Hope you can crush it!

you are a pro and you play with 50 buy-ins? Do you have a cash reserve?
Just curious.

What happened between those two posts? Do you need to cash out?

Cant help but post this:
Japanese Natural Farming

"Know your enough"
actually there is a chapter about this in Psychology of Money as well. Worth reading, too.

suggestions:

• books you read and your thoughts about them (I am always looking, but have to admit I couldnt finish that book about Basketball ^^) Have you read the compound effect?
• books about live tells, what you make of them. I dont think there are many new books out there? Isnt there something like Caro's Poker Tells, or so?
• Outdoor trips, did you go bird watching in Malta? :)
• casino trips
• youtube videos/channels you like or especially certain videos. Did you watch Phil Galfonds one about online poker in the US?

Another thing I wanted to mention: In some book I recently read what it is that you provide to society as a Poker Player. You give entertainment to the recreationals. You could try to work on this skill set online and live. Might be worth working on this, not only from a financial point of view, but more from one of enjoyment. Life is better if people are happy :)

How is your cooking going?

Are you an owl? Do you feel like you would benefit from waking up earlier? "Having a normal schedule"? I enjoy early mornings, but used to be a night owl. So weird, when I was young I would sleep in until 12-13. Now I wake up by myself at 5. :) Sleeping in late equals something like 8 now. I am actually feeling stressed when I wake up that late.

Any dog plans? I remember you sometimes took care of one (your parents?).

Cheers,
Aquila

Demondoink

Sad to see you "go", but one saying really popped up in my mind:
Money won't make you happy... but everybody wants to find out for themselves.

I wish you the best in all aspects of life! Good luck on your journey!

Iranian96

Interesting concept. I just wonder if it's such a good idea to worry about the quality of the game? In your case, the insufficient playing time is relevant.
How do you evaluate the quality?
Of course it's a good goal to act as high quality as possible, but from day to day, from my point of view, the focus should be on the process. Which in this case would be the volume.
I'm just unsure if it's realistic to assume that you can consistently deliver top quality. We are all only human and a day is not bad just because you made mistakes or are just tired.
In War of Art there is a very good quote about this right at the beginning.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7bFgJpNbR15rH6hNGHtxoC?si=232fbf63bfa04061

It is the beginning. I sit down, etc.

Why worry about how other people might or might not view life? You are in your own head, not in anybody elses. That thought of yours is quite weird too me.
Take responsibility for your own life, no one else. (Unless you have a family :), then things change).

How are you improving/working on your goals daily? Do you exercise enough? Do you sleep enough? Do you rest enough? Do you go for walks?
Do you work sufficiently on your poker game? Do you play enough? Plenty of stuff to improve on that have 0 to do with anyone else :)

Progress is slow, but it's a good sign if other people can attest that you have improved.
Keep going. There is no end goal, just the daily grind.

Has anything changed over the last year? Have you taken a different approach?
Is there a gap between knowing and understanding what you are writing? I am somewhat lost when I read your blogs. It all seems to be there, but are you not executing on what you should do?
What are you looking for?

Yeah, I guess I didnt execute this...
This will be whiny...but I need to write it down...hopeful it helps me!

Crossroad

This is where I feel like where I have been for a while now. I actually played my last hand of Poker roughly 3 weeks ago. Some stuff in my life have taken place that I guess I still process.
I procrastinate a good amount by putting a lot of energy into exercise.

Where do I stand? What is my plan? Why do I not move in "one" direction?
I am quite uncertain about a good amount of these things, while being 42. I feel like I should know by now. I have a kid, a family, I've been at the current job for 5 years+. I am trying to make it work, but I am also fighting against it so hard. I try one thing for a while, then I move on to the next. Then I mix and on and on and on.

You know how people tell themselves that life is great. My life is good, but in many ways I feel like a loser. I am not fighting hard, I am not giving it my best. I am not in the moment. I dream of this and that. And a lot of dreams I feel like are dreams of other people. In the last weeks I asked myself "What do you want?" and I have such a hard time to answer these questions.
I am so unwilling to give up on the life style I currently have, which makes change even harder. This starts by me not being able to work for an hour in the evening and instead have the usual 2-3 glasses of wine. I am not a poker pro, so this is not the issue. But there is only a certain amount of freetime available to me. I actually have a shit ton while working, cause I have so little to do. I often do my cardio in home office while I am officially working. Honestly I should be reading and become a true expert in my field while I am working, but when I am there in the moment it is so hard. I was watching and reading a bit from Cal Newport again and it reminded me of my exams at the end of my studies. I did well back then, because I met with a friend every day in the library. It was rough in the beginning and I was tired quickly, but after a while I was studying for extended amounts of time and then in the afternoon I could still play beach volleyball (just trying to say that even when you work hard, you still have time to enjoy yourself). Since then, and this is 15+ years ago I never worked like that again. I tried a shit ton of jobs and for some reason I actually landed in a dream position in my area of work. But it's not what I dreamed of. My dream was in the area that I work in, but with a more practical focus. I am a desktop offender (not sure thats the correct translation, sounds bad haha ^^).

Last times I was playing poker I was so annoyed for still playing micros, for not studying even though moneywise micros are irrelevant, focussing on the wrong things, not finishing a single plan, not sticking to a study plan and on and on. Playing while drinking, while watching, playing zoom instead or regular, listening to podcasts, playing when I was time pressed, playing when I should be doing X Y ....

Poker is not the problem, I am! And I am not the problem, its the wrong word. I feel very lost and I feel bad about feeling that way. I also feel a lot dumber than I used to (this is really scary)! I start meditating, I quit meditating, I start a workout plan, I quit it. I start a book, I quit it. I decide to not take the phone to bed, I take the phone to bed. I just dont think it through. I dont, I dont!

Yeah, i still feel bad ^^
Just to make this clear, from the outside people cant tell that I feel like this. My partner knows.
Work and life is good like I said at the start. It just feels like a hoax. Not like the life I aspired.
Not expecting anything, just wanted to write it down. Express how I feel, even thoughI am not a good writer :) I skip too much.

and I am in no way suicidal (I have met people of that kind), I just want to get to the next level.
Be myself!
I am at a crossroad, but I cant see the path. And if I feel like I see it, then I am too scared to walk it.

Hi Iranian96

seems like this forum is quickly dying. Good posts but very little response. A bit sad!
I wanted to comment a bit on this post as I disagree with some parts.

Example of Mr. Beast: I think his approach of reinvesting and even lending money in many cases (he talked about this on Joe Rogan, I don't know his videos and hadn't watched any of his before or after) is very extreme and is in my mind not very relatable to the average person. From a poker perspective you would probably say that every player who plays with his full bankroll at the table executes no proper bankroll management. I would say that 99% of the people would not be able to live with the "swings" he experienced. The stress he talks about to me at least sounds not sustainable in the long run. I dont care about him, but he is a typical example of these "social media" heros. Give it all, give up everything, go hard, never settle for anything but 100%. I thought what was insightful in the conversation with joe rogan was his approach to understand what youtube videos are succesful. He partnered up with some other people and they worked on it daily and analysed everything. Teaming up, studying hard, consistency, committing to a vision. Lots of good stuff in there and useful.

I don't know if you have read Psychology of Money, but I would recommend it to you. I think life isn't only about "optimal/perfect" choices, but I wholeheartedly agree with the author about making reasonable choices and not being rationale. The book is availabe on Spotify, if you prefer audiobooks.

Investing in yourself and it's absolutely nothing I disagree with, but there is this tendency in social media that you can commit to a goal 24/7. There are very very few people that can do that. Most of us really need to take it a lot slower, lower our "expectations" and then through consistency and intelligent work find our own path. The Goggins mentality is only for 0.000000001% or so :)

Another book I want to recommend is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values. It is a bit older now, but has great life lessons.

In one of Jan Phillipis video he talks about finding your own vision and I think that the vast majority of young people (I am not young :) ) nowadays all seem to chase very similar and superficial goals. You need to think for you own and be honest what you want. Most of the time it is not what society or social media (there is a big difference there imo) tells you. One also needs to make experiences, work, read, think, walk in the forest, drink a good wine with good friends by the fireplace...

Cheers,
Aquila

Thanks!