So this month I decided that I didn't really want to grind hard. Games were inevitably going to be terrible on Stars.. and from everything I've heard, they have been. I've been playing a few hands on FTP but not really playing too seriously. I'm up maybe $1k or something small, but having fun and enjoying life.
On the life aspect of things, it's been good. My girlfriend is in Florida for the week and doesn't get back until Thursday so that's kind of frustrating, especially with this first big snowstorm that we got. 4" of snow or something accumulated over the weekend and made things really difficult to drive. I'm thinking about getting snow tires on my car, but I'm not sure if it's worth the effort.
Christmas is coming up as well. I haven't really thought about things that I've wanted for a long time as I usually just go out and buy anything that I want, but Olivia promises me that I have some good gifts coming. Olivia has quite a gift coming as well.. she has a full spa day planned for the day after she gets back from Florida (she already knows about it, I'm not spoiling it) and I may or may not be getting another small gift, but I'm not sure yet.
So, yeah.. life is good, I can't complain. I just wanted to give a small update in case anyone cares. I made a 12-tabling "stacking" video yesterday and I feel it turned out pretty well. You guys will have to let me know if you like the format or not.
Okay, so November started off pretty terribly. I dropped something like 15 buyins due to playing solely for getting a milestone bonus. I wasn't playing well and falling back into old habits.. combine that with running a bit poorly and I was basically breaking even after getting the milestone. It was kinda frustrating but it happens and can be overcome. I went through a really poor month with regards to how I ran in "cooler situations", example: getting AA v KK against a nit that won't stack off pre, getting QQ v AA against the laggiest FR player.. basically just getting the wrong hands against the wrong people. But I stuck it out and broke even for a bit and got out of the end of the month with a decent profit.
In other news, it started snowing today in Ohio. I had to run a few errands and drop my gf off at work and as soon as I looked out the window I just crawled back in bed and wanted to cry. I hate snow with a passion, it's terrible. There's nothing sticking to the ground yet so that's good I suppose, but it's only a matter of time before I have to put my car in storage for the winter.
Also, now that it's December, there are a lot of VPP grinders out there trying to get as many milestones as they can before the end of the year. In turn, this is making games (especially FR) really reg-infested. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be putting in many hours this month and just am gonna work on fine-tuning a few things and improving my Black Ops k/dr.
So, COD: Black Ops comes out in about 21 hours. I'm pretty pumped. It's going to completely kill my work ethic again. I hope there aren't as many cheaters as there were on MW2. I'm going to the midnight release and grinding out some kills until I pass out.
This month at poker has been weird. Pretty ridiculous start to the session. I had my pre-milestone doomswitch all throughout this week, but finally cleared the milestone today. It was kind of a nice bonus to have. Speaking of bonuses, I've played two MTTs this month, the VIP $1million quarterly freeroll and the Sunday Million, and cashed in both of them for a profit of $550ish. So, thanks to bonuses and whatnot, my month hasn't started out too bad.. but this graph is pretty damn fun to look at:
I played way too many hours and ran ridiculously bad in the middle of the week, and had grinding conditions that were less than optimal (no music, lot of distractions in my house, etc).. but I wanted to get this milestone before Black Ops came out as I knew I wouldn't grind much after it came out.
Goals for the rest of the month:
Kill some kids on Black Ops
Prestige a few times while killing said kids.
God I'm glad I feel refocused again. Feeling confidence when I sit down to play, thinking through hands instead of just clicking buttons, and no more depression. I actually like playing again, and I feel great when I wake up in the morning. Not going to type much as I don't have much to say, but here's the results for the month:
It feels good for being my first full month playing full ring, and I can't wait to see what next month brings... although next month's volume is going to be greatly hindered by the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops.
That blog title could have a few meanings. One, it's been a while since I last updated my blog. I'll get to updating that more often, sorry. Two, it's been a LONG while since I've had a hunger and drive to improve my game. Again, sorry. I'll touch on both of those points in some detail in this blog.
I haven't really updated my blog lately because I've just been focusing on improving my game and getting out of auto-pilot/robot mode. I spent way too many months opening tables, clicking buttons, and not playing well in hopes of amassing a lot of VPPs. I was blinded by how much I could achieve getting SNE, and didn't work on improving my results or staying fresh/focused at the tables. It was detrimental to not only my progress but to the subscribers who watch my videos. It's not fair to you guys, and for that I'm sorry.. but that won't happen again.
Lately I've had an influx of new ideas at the tables, and have started to be a lot more critical of my play. Complacency can happen to all of us and those who can overcome it are labeled as the "better" regulars, because they can always adapt and adjust to the current games. Complacent regulars go through the motions of grinding, but don't do any off-the-table work. They're content playing the game that they learned how to play, and don't change what they're doing because it "used to work". I was in that slump for a long time, and it feels good to be thinking about the game again and to be really focused on getting back to MSNL+.
I think what sparked the change was switching from 6max to primarily full ring. It was a learning experience for me at the beginning of the switch, but I think I've overcome it and have really worked on playing my A game, not playing too many tables and really thinking about every hand. I've been focused on everything and have maintained a good balance between poker and real life, and I think that's attributed to my recent success as well.
But anyways, words are boring, and pictures are fun.. so here's this month at 200nl FR on Stars:
Hey guys, it's my birthday. The big 23 today. I'm pretty sure I've heard "nobody likes you when you're 23" from about 12 people. I get it, Blink 182 is amazing. I feel pretty apathetic about it all though, people have asked me what I'm doing to celebrate but it doesn't really feel like a special day. I'm sure I'll go to the bar tomorrow, but that's because it's a Friday, not a birthday thing. Saturday I think my buddy and I might go see Machine Gun Kelly perform. Could be fun, could be crazy, could get killed. It's in Toledo, so I'm not sure how safe we'll be, but it'll be fun.
In other, more long-term news, I've started a business venture with my roommate. She is an avid photographer, and I love advertising and marketing and whatnot, so we're attempting to start a company. It's gonna be fun to have something other than poker to invest my time in when things aren't going well. We already have a few shoots booked, so hopefully the word keeps getting around about us and we can become pretty popular.
I don't really have a whole lot else to say I don't think, but check this video out. It's a clip from The Amazing Race and why shows a woman getting owned.
Hey guys, I have a lot of time this month and would like to get a decent amount of coaching in. As such, I'm going to be offering coaching for $100/hr for the month of July (and possibly August). I will also be running a special for 6 sessions for $500, so you will be getting a session free with the package purchase. Feel free to PM me if you have questions or if you'd like to book a session!
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On the poker front, things have been up and down. I got supernova, and haven't really been playing much since as I'm kinda burnt out. I think coaching will help get me back into the grind mindset, at least I hope so.
I made another 20-50bb video today, it should be coming out pretty soon. I was gonna make it a two-part video but there were some landscape people outside working on things and it was pretty distracting.
Congrats to Leo Murphy finally getting some TV spotlight time, crushing the Doyle Brunson Beer Pong tournament! He and Bond apparently ran the tables the whole time.
GJ guys!
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I went to Toronto this past weekend for Victoria Day, that was pretty fun. Had a great time with some great friends, shot some fireworks off in a park at 4am, had some kick-ass barbecues, and enjoyed the weather up there. The only thing that I regret is that we didn't go to the NHL HoF. Ah well. It was nice to get away from poker for a weekend and get my mind straight after not winning too much recently.
