mike

I am not a big Dnegs fan but in his WSOP vLog he has an "Oppsie counter" I like the sort of fun and not big deal vibe of labeling our mistakes just another "Opps".

GL on the felt

Results

Since this is a training journal a good analogy might be - I am a in-season poker athlete. I have been getting in good volume and my playing A-game the last two weeks. Study is more like watching the game film as I just review any interesting spots and make Anki cards so I can review it at some future date.

I have been thinking about mental game and how to incorporate "intuition" into my live poker play. I don't have any answers on exactly how to do this. I am reading The Joy of Poker so maybe it will help.

It is funny how everything is going right as I am running good and playing good - but I have this minor creeping dread feeling as I am due for the poker gods to kick me in the face :)

I gave up on the only reading at night as I am often just too tired and my sleep has been pretty good.

Plan

1)keep up playing volume with 4-8 hours 6 days per week.

2)keep up the physical training, and getting out into the mountains twice a week to clear my head.

Results

Study is now in the back seat as WSOP in town and I have switched to the live poker grind. I will still do some Anki cards, HH review, and watch the DWD live poker videos when they get released.

I was a little concerned about how I would feel switching back to live poker after over 6 months away from the felt. To my surprise it was super easy and I felt relax/calm/focused my first few sessions. I din't do so well with the late night TV as I just felt like I wanted to zone out and wind down after playing poker all day. I need to do better with this as good sleep is so important.

Plan

1)night time reading in place of screens

2)work on getting the live hours up while still playing A-game

GL on the felt

Nice job with your YT mental game video.

Yeah I have also read EOP a few times but it has been awhile so maybe I will reread it. I also really like his RIO videos.

I read the Qureshi book when it came out and don't remember much other than it didn't grab me. He admitted to parts of the cheating, lost his job as a Cardrunners coach, and then "retired" from poker.

Good to hear as I just started reading The Joy of Poker, and EOP is my all time favorite poker book.

Results

I had a frustrating week as I lost a little playing in great games. Of course this is normal but for some reason it really bothered me this week. I think my expectation just got out of line with the reality of the game as I don't think I had a losing session on this new site prior to this week. It is funny to write this now but I was annoyed at myself for letting a few losing sessions bother me.

I also didn't get the study grind done I was hoping, and to top it off I got sic. I am getting better and hoping to get back to the live poker grind with the WSOP starting this week.

Plan

1) No late night screens

2) Start to ramp up the playing volume as I feel better

not yet

Google pomodoro technique for more details but the cliff notes are focus for 25m then take at least a 5m break. In my case this is generally on laptop with cup of coffee. I will also sneak in some extra Anki study time with the phone app at random times.

I have some cards that I got from Freenachos but I have been making many of my own cards. I am trying to switch my poker study note taking towards more Anki and less just taking notes out of habit. If I think it will be worth remembering I just make Anki card. I also make cards for specific mistakes I find after GTOW drilling or from HH reviews.

Results

This week just flew by. I didn’t get in the amount of study I had planned but it was still a great week for several reasons.

I stuck with my Do Learn Repeat by taking a shot at 200nl which went great as I found a few very good tables and the deck ran over me. I learned that these games aren’t completely full of REGs and that some of the REGs just aren’t that tough. This was only one session but somehow this felt important.

I killed the evening TV/screens and switched to reading kindle in bed. This plus turning off power strips in room to make it dark has really helped my sleep. This really helped my overall energy levels.

I started playing on a new(for me) game with antes+straddles. Because of this most of my study time this week went into trying to figure out preflop strategies. I was doing the post session HH review until I switched to the new games. I don’t get HHs, and can’t review hands after I close a table.

Plan

1. Stick with dark room/kindle in bed night time routine

2. Continue studying/drilling new preflop ranges for straddle+ante games

3. Get one 25m Anki study session every morning

4. Use phone to record audio notes on HH that I want to review will grinding

Great post - keep that wheel spinning!

Results

I got a little burned out which isn't surprising as I spent a lot of time studying poker the last 2 months. I got through most of my goals from 2 weeks ago but I feel like I need to find a more sustainable system.

I want to try and improve my generally energy levels. I find than I am often too tired to be productive. I think the logical first step is to improve my sleep. Rather than watch dumb Netflix shows until I feel tired I am going to set an alarm and read at night before bed. I have read that avoiding screens is supposed to be good for your sleep.

I am pretty good at planning and preparing, but sometimes delay doing. I realized I have this pattern in other areas of my life. I wonder if my failure to move up in stakes is at least in part about not feeling ready or fully prepared. This desire to optimize and perfect things can also take me down some poker study rabbit holes that while interesting aren’t the best use of my time.

My new mantra is - Do Learn Repeat!

In my workout journal I track all kinds of metrics. Ie faster time, more weight, harder climb, more hours trained…I am not sure how to make this work with poker training but I will begin tracking the number of Anki and drilling Pomodoro this week. The Pomodoro Technique is just 25m of focused work with 5m break. I will also track the number of HHs reviewed. This week I just want to focus on building the habit of always doing some kind of post session review.

Plan

1)set evening alarm and read before bed in place of TV

2)Anki and GTOW drilling everyday for at least one pomodoro each

3)Review at least one hand after every session I play

GL on the felt!

go go!

Results

I got in 4+ hours of poker study everyday, but still didn't finish all items on the list. I am 95% done with DWD videos and the framework for my playbook. I nailed the new coffee+Anki habit with one 25m Pomodoro block but I think I need to spend more time on this as there is a lot of forgetting. Maybe studying before the coffee kicks isn't the best.

I did some GTOW drilling and practice with range builder. All focused on SRP IP PFR b125 spots. I created some heuristics and for CB and probe defense and then drilled it. This felt like real progress but it was very time consuming.

I didn't add any new Anki cards this week. I did some other more random study - tweak some preflop ranges to exploit the pool, review some hands I played in solver, talked MTT strategy with a friend...

Plan

3-4 hours of poker study 6 days

1)Establish new am habit of 25m drilling with first cup-o-joe and then 25m Anki drilling. I am curious to see if letting the coffee kick in before Anki cards will improve my recall. I want to start poker study first thing before I get sucked down some random YT rabbit hole and the day gets away from me.

2)Finish watching the DWD video(just 4 or 5 on 4B pots) and add that to my playbook.

3)Finish deep dive into SRP IP PFR b125 spots. I will create some heuristics and drill them for B-B, vXR, B-XX-P, and B-XX-B

I will do some other things like DWD group call, some HH review... but I want to make sure I compete the above top 3 goals for the week!

Thanks DM sent

Thanks, and I have a chess clock like you suggested so "Easy Game". I hate to admit it but putting in a real 8 hour work day is not easy.

Thanks

I too suck at poker - but so does everyone else :)

I can also relate to the stress/anxiety that comes from all the unknowns of poker. It is a game of imperfect information and complexity so this seems normal. Still, some days I feel like a poker genius and other days I feel like a poker idiot.

GL on the felt

Hi

I just speed-read your blog :)

You seem pretty stressed. What do you do off the felt to recover from poker stress? Meditation, exercise, and time out in nature always help me.

GL on the felt

Thanks for the blog, and safe travels :)

Thanks for sharing a little of your process. Enjoy your vacation!

I just ordered a chess clock :)

Thoughts/advice on poker coaching? How to find a good coach or maybe CFP program to help a winning low/mid(100nl online and 2/5 live) stakes player move up?

If you are playing 6m and start defending LJvBB like EPvBB(FR) you are exploiting. And you will accidentally exploit by getting more walks in the BB.

I am assuming you mean EP for 6m or LJ. If you are in BB facing a min-raise with a very tight range(~10%) I would just look at some FR preflop solutions vs MR. You can find them for free on GTO wizard and other places.

Lots of interesting spots. It took me over two hours to watch as I kept hitting pause and running sims :)

At the end, you mentioned you would make a turn double barrel theory/framework video next. I hope this is coming soon.

@34:00 where you 3B BBvBTN 89s and go B25-B75-jam on 3JT Q A

I put it into the solver and it prefers to bet/fold river with a small size which I thought was very surprising.

https://gyazo.com/69c9f76c83c1d0cf058227449633ae76

@3:30 you mention that high rake environment incentives using a range check strategy? Can you please explain why? Thanks.