Been thinking of writing about this subject for awhile. I may not be one of the foremost experts in certain aspects of poker, like plo, hu nl, mtts, and even 6max nl, which is my bread and butter. I am however, qualified to talk about what it takes to succeed in poker over the years, in macro terms. As mentioned before, I've been playing poker professionally since '98 and have provided a good life for my family and myself over the years, w/ each passing year usually better than the previous one (pics of house below to show our standard of living, from our successes in poker).

I'm touching on this subject because I've read a couple of instances of successful poker players calling it quits or thinking about it because they are either burned out, or just not winning like they used to. Here are two excerpts I've read about recently..

http://www.leggopoker.com/blogs/boyw...-era-7461.html

http://blogs.cardrunners.com/BLAG/bu...-me-1265853667

I've read about more instances on diff. poker forums and have seen the turnover of poker players over the years. This is a period of over 12 years. Obv. someone like Doyle Brunson can attest to how many pros and wanna be pros just never make it over the years more so than I can.

Nowadays I see a lot of aspiring poker players, thanks in large part to the poker boom during the mid years of this decade. The question will be how many will be around in 1, 2, 5, or 10 years? I can not estimate but there will be very successful poker players today that will call it quits eventually because the game will break them, as it has other successful players before. Or they may find other reasons to quit, eg boredom, lack of motivation, etc. It def. takes a certain type of mindset to make it in poker over numerous years, and this mindset is different than the actual mindset to beat poker on any given day or month, although there are similarities tied in between the mindsets, eg. emotional control and thinking about the long run.

I will discuss the mindset I am talking about to sustain a prolonged poker career (the mindset to beat the games in a short span is available everywhere, in the forms of videos, forums, coaching, etc.). I will point out times in my career to better illustrate this mindset. As mentioned in the 2+2 post about my career, one must constantly strive to stay ahead of the curve in poker to be successful. To do so, one must always be aware of oneself and his/her abilities relative to the rest of the poker world. That's why you see a lot of break even and losing players question why they can't win. They are either not aware of their actual abilities, or overrate them....based on some of the 2+2 posts, sometimes overrate themselves immensely. This is why the very successful players state that awareness is one of the most important elements in being a successful poker player..eg Phil Galfond.

When I started out, I was humble enough to know that I needed to study the game in and out if I wanted to do well. I had success from the get go and just kept improving my game. Well, during the party poker years, my wife and I did very well and we both became a little complacent. When party poker closed shop to the US, we moved on to Stars and FTP. I continued to win at a good rate for a couple of years (I'm gonna leave my wife's story out for privacy reasons). I believe I was one of if not the biggest winner at $3-6 and $5-10 from Jan '08 to Aug '08 (somewhat thinly veiled brag) having cleared $400k during this timespan. During the latter part of this timespan, my winrate began dropping and I hit a 300k hand breakeven stretch over the next 4 months(next time you think you're in a bad stretch of hands over 20k, 50k, or whatever # of hands, try imagine being in one over 300k hands).

This was due to a couple of reasons. One was that I was actually running slightly bad, and probably the more impactful reason was that due to my complacency, I fell back to, or even behind the learning curve of winning poker players. I was not a member of any instructional site, nor did I participate in the poker forums. As you know, poker kept booming and young players were swallowing up all the info. on how to beat the games via videos, forums, books, and actual coaching. For the first time, I reached a point where the game was nearly passing me by. This sound familiar to the 2 examples I showed above?

For some players, this would be the reason why they would quit poker. They lose their drive and heart. They let their egos get the best of them and refuse to think they need to improve and revamp their games. They refuse to drop down in stakes. Eventually they are just another example of a poker player letting the game beat them down (granted, there are some successful pros that just leave to pursue different careers...Jason Strasser comes to mind).

For others like myself, using the power of self awareness and observation, I rededicated to improve my game and come back stronger. I was somewhat burned out after the 300k hand stretch and played the fewest hrs I ever have in '09 (avg 13.5 hrs/wk) and even went through 3 months w/o having anything poker-related in my life. I guess in some ways this was good, as in that I came back fresh and motivated. It took a few more months to gradually get back in it full time. Along the way, I actually started to think about poker deeply, and began to watch videos, and read hhs and ensuing discussions in forums, joined a msnl study group (Hi Klink!) and even hired a coach (albeit for 1 1hr session). I dropped down in stakes and stayed there for a few months while trying to improve my game immensely. By Dec. '09 I felt like my game was solidified to compete w/ the best of them and I set out goals for myself this year, armed w/ confidence and the knowledge that I was lacking in years past. Blogging was one of the ways that would keep me motivated and stay on this path to try to achieve my goals.

So far through nearly 2.5 months this year, I have played about 220k hands and have a winrate of close to 8bb/100 (4ptbb/100) while multitabling 8-14 tables at stakes ranging from $2-4 to $5-10. Granted I am running good this year (I did run below ev last year) and my actual winrate would prob. fall closer to about 7bb/100 if I ran at actual ev, but even so, most would agree this is a really good winrate at the stakes I play, esp. w/ the # of tables I play simultaneously (so far, a poor man's Nanonoko..but nothing poor about it really). As I mentioned before as well, I am planning on moving up as I continue to win and the year progresses.

So what do I attribute to my success over the years? Well, having the correct mindset as mentioned, which I believe I have is the vital factor of it all. This includes seeing everything for the long run, being emotionally stable, having the mental strength to withstand the long break even and losing stretches, the desire and motivation to get better always, the self awareness and honesty to know where you stand in the poker heirarchy, humbleness, discipline and tbh, some degree of intelligence (I may be missing an element or two, as I'm writing this in the wee hrs and am tired). Also management of your bankroll is essential to success, which is somewhat tied to one's mindset. If you are lacking in some...

The title pretty much says it all, although as usual I haven't been getting in the volume. I've been playing mostly $3-6 and $5-10 6max nl and a little $2-4 hu nl.



I try not to show my showdown and non showdown lines, as it may give away a little something about my game. For the most part, my nonsd line (red line) hovers around zero, so my game is prob. balanced enough in that I valuebet and bluff at good enough frequencies that it's not easy figuring out which one I am doing during any given hand.

Cash game players do seem to place a high priority on your nonsd line, sometimes more so than the actual winnings line, which is funny, and absurd. I think each player should try to find the right balance to suit his/her game that maximizes his/her winnings, whether that may be having a nonsd line sloping up, breaking even, or sloping down.

I've started using RIT (running it twice feature on FTP) for $3-6 and $5-10 since the variance is slightly bigger and there is more $ at stake. I don't use it all the time...sometimes I'll forget to turn it on, or I'll just be in the mood to not do it (gamble gamble!). There has been a debate on it in forums on whether it's good or not good. They do charge extra for the feature..maybe $1/hand? It does reduce the variance and may help reduce tilt so it may be worth it to pay the extra $1, esp. when you're playing for $2k+ pots. Anyway, I got inv. in a hand the other night that we rit'ed...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?5246326

Since it's a rit hand, I wasn't sure of how to post the hh using the leggo hand converter, so I just posted the hh link (if anyone can show me how to post hhs using the Leggo converter and pasting it on a blog, I'd appreciate it). Also, the converters seem to miss out on the entire hhs where you rit, as it only shows the 1st flop here. The 2nd flop is basically one w/ one to villian's suit. So as you can see, villian made runner runner flush on both boards! I checked the equities on both hands, and he had a 7% vs my 2% chance to win (rest are ties) on any given board. So for the probability of him winning both times is very slim indeed, esp when you remove the 3 flush cards he already used up on board1. F me for paying the extra $1 to see this happen...this will tilt me more than just losing w/ 1 board. I guess when you play enough poker, you end up seeing anything and everything.

On the life front, it's quite the balancing act of trying to raise a kid, spend time w/ wife, and make monies in poker. My wife and kid have been spending the weekend at a friend of hers, so I've had the weekend all to myself and brings back memories of what it was like to be single (but not that I wish that life again, because I don't). I read the blogs here and see how "balla" everyones' lives seem to be just playing poker and going anywhere they wish w/ no responsibilities to anyone but themselves. You guys better enjoy it now and make as much money while you can, because once you get settled down, it's gonna get a lot tougher to make it through just playing poker. Obv. it's possible...just look at me (brag)...and my cars, and my homes (pix to come in the future)

Before I get to the gist of the title, I wanna talk about the night on the town my wife and I had last night which ended w/ a short session of $5-10nl live at the Bellagio. We went to see "Valentine's Day" which I actually enjoyed. I liked Garry Marshall's other hit, "Pretty Woman" so I wasn't surprised I ended up liking this film as well. Sure are a lot of A list actors in this movie. Anyway Jeannie and I decided to head over to the Bellagio to play some poker. She played $15-30 limit hold'em and won a couple hundred while I played $5-10nl and promptly dropped $1k.

I buy in for $1500 which is the max in this game and I get dealt TT in the bb. Ep limps, mp limps, I raise to $60, both call. Flop AK2r, I lead for $110, ep calls, mp folds. Turn 8 I reach an inflection pt and decide to barrel off barring the board pairing the riv...after all, the flop should hit my range harder than his considering I was the preflop raiser. I lead for $250 on turn, he thinks for a couple secs. and calls. Riv 5, I bet $700 which puts his last $650 all in and before I can get all my money in (some were benjamins cuz I didn't have all my cash exchanged yet) he has his money in. I squeamishly turn over my hand and he proudly turns over... KJ. I hear a couple of "sick call" comments and I roll my eyes. You can't be results oriented when playing for a living, so if we run that scenario many times, I'll have most of if not all his money so I don't feel bad at all about barreling off that hand. Also, I didn't give off any tells cuz I have plenty of live poker background, so I know that didn't factor into him calling multiple streets w/ mp.

The worst part about the hand was not losing the $1k. After the hand, I thought, well I can play off my image now and get paid off on all my made hands. After 5 hands, they move the guy. Turns out the table was a must move table that feeds into the main games. After a couple more laps they move me into a table w/ unknowns, so I can't even take advantage of my play of that TT hand. I did crush the table though...in terms of playing good. Managed to get about $600 up on the new table w/o showing a hand then got a guy all in on a K65 fl w/ AK vs his KJ for a $1300 pot and lost to a riv J. I didn't feel bad though...cuz I felt good about how well I played overall...and that's all that matters in the long run.

So in the online poker front, I've been falling really behind on hrs played. I don't feel that bad about it cuz I've been spending a lot of time reading poker materials, watching vids here, and just thinking about the game. I should've been doing this last year instead of wasting hrs playing video games (WOW anyone?) and spending too much time managing all my fantasy league teams, esp. fantasy football (couple friends and I did manage to beat Eric Lindgren aka Edog for $40k in one league, although it's hefty for us, prob. chump change to him.). Anyway, the lacking part of my poker game is just the fundamental/technical aspects and I'm just trying to understand all of it. If I can acquire all of that knowledge, I think I can succeed at higher stakes, cuz I have the mental, awareness, hand reading skills, and discipline part down pat (along w/ whatever else it takes to succeed in poker).

Also I've been expanding my game by playing some hu. It's funny cuz I tried to sit on some 2-4 tables on ftp and stars and almost everyone sits out when I sit. Obv. they must be ptr'ing me and don't want to play a winner (I guess this is bumhunting). I don't want to start playing too big since hu is somewhat new to me, but I think I got a decent grasp of it already. I do want to play anyone at 2-4, even the good regs, so I can get better, but it's not easy to get any matches going. I literally had to note everyone that didn't want to play so I remember not to sit down on their tables in the future. I think I got about 4-5 guys to play me after sitting down on over 80 tables total from both sites, and among the 5 guys, 3 of'em sat out after a few mins. So props to the 2 guys that gave me action, and lost. Here's my HEM in hu play this month... there may be a few hands where we were hu on a 6max table (inc all the 3-6 hands)....small sample size I know, but I think I can eventually pad my ptbb/100 stat playing more hu....



Well, there is 1 more day this month and I'm not sure how much nl cash I will be grinding tomorrow, seeing that it's sunday and I love to play the mtts. I think my total this month is around +$40k (inc. all games, mtts and rb) which I really can't complain about, esp. considering that I am gonna fall under 100hrs grinding online nl cash game, which is my bread and butter. If you guys don't know, I have set some goals this year, inc. hrs played. I've mentioned this in my blogspot blog. HEM this month...



Obv ran very meh at 2-4 (after crushing it for 100 buyins in Jan) but did well at the higher stakes. I hope to continue to get better, w/ the help of Leggo of course, and move up in stakes.

My name's John, and I've been playing poker professionally for 12 yrs. Most msnl regs know me by my sn, Nicolak. I prob. fall into a diff. group than most online regs..in that I'm in my mid 30s and married w/ a kid. More info about me (it's long)...

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/54...ht-way-368361/

My Hem since Feb 08...



Hem this year, all 6max on FTP and Stars (I've gotten better and plan on keep getting better)...



I multitable 12-14 tables for now, but may scale it down when I start playing higher. Also, I can prob. inc. my ptbb/100 by .5+ if I do cut down tables, but it may actually cut into my overall hrly earn. Also play mtts, mix games, limit games, and live poker (ft'ed the ftp double deuce other day for $6600).

I actually started my own blog this year at

http://www.nicolakpoker.blogspot.com/

but I am considering moving the whole blog over here, since it's poker oriented and I've decided to be a little more active on Leggo (just subscribed again). Anyway, I hope to make this an epic year in poker and in life