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Nqon going Pro Journal/Report
Nqon
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December 31, 2012 - 2:24 pm
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Nqons Pro Poker Player Journal

Hi and welcome! I will use this thread to journal my attempt at playing poker for a living (will move this over to a blog if TPE gets around to having one, until then this is where I will post).

 

Poker History:

I started playing poker when I joined the army in 2006-7. I had some success there and decided to deposit some money online and I quickly binked a turbo tourney. From then on I played casually on and off while i finished my army year, education and althought drasticly less, while working. Over the years to 2012 I made somewhere around $70 000 in profit, I was a member of cardrunners 2008-2012. I decided to join TPE since I found Cardrunners MTT discussion and videos lacking, and it seemed like my tournament results was what brought in most cash (it makes sence since I rarely had the time to grind out cash, and I generally play with proper bankroll management so making huge paydays in cash wasn't bound to happen). When my freelance editing contract ended in November/December 2012 I finally decided to see how I would do playing fulltime instead of pursuing a new editing contract.

 

Safety net:

I have approximently a half year of all rent/food and general living expenses saved up, althought I do not think I will continue for that many months if my poker income cannot sustain my general expenses.

 

Goals:

– A yearly profit of at least $100 000.

– Average 5 days a week and between 10-15 tournaments each of those days (that number might go up if I see it profitable to do so).

– Improving and moving up my cashgame to $400NLHE and $200PLO for those days the tournament schedule wont fit. I'm rolled for those games but i'd like a fresh decent sample size to prove my ability before moving up. I wish to be beating those levels by the end of february.

– Play tournaments up to $215 tournaments that fit in my schedule (excluding some of the higher buy-in turbos, althought I'm planning to play most of the TCOOP events).

– Actively improve my game by watching videos, discusssing and posting hands, reviewing my own game and posting progress rappports.

 

Progress Reports:

I will do detailed monthly progress rapports that will will include following topics:

 

1. Holdem Manager stats and graphs for month and alltime (tournaments played, ITM, ROI and you name it). Some general thoughts about those charts and numbers.

2. Leak of the month (thoughts as to what area that needs the most work, with some discussion of hands that illustrate the points).

3. Edge of the month (thoughts as to what area I improved the most, with some discussion of hands that illustrate the points).

4. Month in review (focuses on the personal part aswell as the poker part, general mood and how I keep my social life and workout schedule in check while playing poker for a living).

 

I will also do short weekly updates on mondays, these will include profit/losses and a short week-in-review.

 

 

Comments and tips for other things to include is welcomed. December progress rapport will be posted tomorrow.

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

Click here

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Killingbird
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December 31, 2012 - 3:37 pm
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awesome!!  Cannot wait to keep up with this.  GOOD LUCK!

bennymacca
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December 31, 2012 - 9:23 pm
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goals seem pretty awesome, good luck! will definitely be tracking your progress

Nqon
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January 1, 2013 - 6:56 am
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December 2012 Progress Rapport

I will preface this by mentioning that I'm also including the last week of November in this rapport as thats when I started playing fulltime.

 

Holdem Manager Stats and Graphs – Tournaments

Image Enlarger

 

Tournaments Played: 195 (22 723 hands)

Winnings: $22 345.17

Net Winnings: $15 801.30

ROI: 241.5%

ITM: 21.5%

 

It has been challenging to get the time in to play the last half of December. I have been visiting my dad for the holiday and playing while living with family is potentially distracting and it's just harder to get the time in. As you can see from my graph almost all of my earnings are from three cashes. First jump is a fifth in The Big $22, second a threeway chop of a $20 rebuy and third a second place in The Hot $16.50. I have made a decent amount of semi-deep runs althought finishing 11-25 doesn't really show up much in the graph. Overall I'm quite happy with my results this month, althought I would definitely like to see more than three significant cashes and more than 195 tournaments played. I do however play mostlye 2000+ fields, so I guess the graph is going to look kinda schitzo on a month to month basis.

 

Holdem Manager Stats and Graphs – Cash

Image Enlarger

Hands: 7 348

bb/100: 22.4

Net Won: $1 146.99

 

I won't talk too much about cash. I have been trying to get hands in, but I find it hard to put in NLHE time and almost always default to PLO althought my NLHE game has shown to pay off better and more consistently than my PLO game. But PLO is a lot of fun. As it's a couple of years since I actively grinded cash I have been taking it slowly from 25NL/PLO to 100NL/50PLO. Have been putting in some 2-7 Triple draw and some 7 card stud hands with decent results aswell- but those hands aren't tracked by HM. Anyway, still a small sample size. Looking to get in something like 10 000 hands of $100NL and 5 000 hands of $50PLO in january and moving up to $200NL and $100PLO by february first if my results still indicate that I'm beating those stakes.

 

Leak of the Month – Late mid-stage chip accumilation

I'm kinda hung over from new years so this is going to be short and sweet. But lately I find myself going into the bubble with a shortstack. I generally get a decent stack early by taking advantage of the poor players at the table, but as we go into middle stages my chips dwindle away. I should be getting into more spots in the middle stages in order to have a stack to properely take advantage of the bubble. I think it's going to hurt my ITM a bit, but it can take it and I believe I will increase my profits by doing it.

 

(Sidenote: Just this very second lost quad tens to quad aces in the big 33 (ATAAT board), worst of all it was the only hand he could have and I still shoved AI, just calling when you river quads seems wrong).

 

Edge of the Month – Shortstack play

I have been working on improving my shortstack play in preperation for TCOOP. Playing more tourbos etc. A handy exercise that i've done (only once tho, going to do it again) is going through tourneys where you are short for a long period of time in Universal Replayer and checking each shove spot with holdem resources: …..shicm.html. (remember to change the payout to 1, so as to replicate a winner take all (unless you're on the final table, up until that point most shove spots should be treated as winner take all). I discovered that I was waiting to get too short before shoving A2-5s, I should be shoving pocket dueces and threes from UTG and UTG+1 a bit earlier (i usually wouldnt do it before i had less than 12-13bb). And the fact that A5s is a better shove than A6-9o is something I really hadnt internalized. And I think I was shoving A9 a bit to early and freely, and perhaps folding some suited kings where I shouldnt etc and shoving a coule of low suited connecters where I shouldnt. Anyway, I do advice everyone to do that exercise. There is no spot where math is more helpful and absolute correct in poker than shortstack openshoving play, so everyone thats serious about tournament poker should learn those ranges correctly by heart. 

 

Before I was very confident in my shortstack play, I still am but I have learned that it's not perfect and it's definitly an area where I will continue to put in work.

 

December Review

So december was my first month playing poker fulltime. I've been kinda lucky to get off to such a good start, but again, perhaps just lucky to not be unlucky as I feel I have proven myself to be a profitable player over the years of casual play. My motivation for playing is also really good and I'm enjoying the grind, something that I was afraid I would tired of quickly. My parents are kinda in denial about me playing poker for a living and are thinking I will go back to work once I get new offers in january- But I will play atleast untl I will definitly play at the very least all of january, probably february aswell regardless of results. One of the things I find a bit challenging is scheduling my social life to work with poker. I basicly have to take the day off from tournaments to make it work. So I will grind cashgames those days instead of being unavaiable to hang with friends.

 

On another note I will be hitting the gym before the tables now, there is no ****ing excuse for not being fit and well exercised when you control your entire day. I played squash twice a week for december and will continue doing that, but I really need to get a couple of days a week in at the gym for varience and because ****, it feels good and keeps you sharp. Continueing that note I need to figure out something smart food wise. 5 minute breaks doesn't leave much room for food making, so I need to start preparing stuff so I can eat somewhat healthy and varied.

 

I feel like getting the workout/food and social stuff working smoothly with poker is really important, if I can't do that right this won't work regardless of how well I do at the tables.

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

Click here

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Carlos
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January 2, 2013 - 9:16 am
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I like this idea. I will do the same. Good luck in 2013 friend.

Turbulence
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January 2, 2013 - 10:16 am
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i will be following with interest. Good luck at the tables.

aka Prophead340 aka Prophead2000 aka Turbulence_1

PocketFives Profile: .....urbulence/

Nqon
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January 7, 2013 - 10:26 am
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Week 1 – 2013 Hard numbers

Tourneys Played: 129

Winnings: $10,132.57

Net Winnings: $5,580.13

RIO: 136%

ITM: 15.5%

 

Noteable Scores:

$54 Turbo Knockout: 3rd of 670 for $3,685 (3-way chop)

$11+R: 1st of 371 for $2,694

$11+R PLO: 1st of 160 for $980

$54 Turbo Knockout: 5th of 262 for $753

$215 Sunday Million: 417th of 7,613 for $518

$215 Weekly Turbo: 51st of 534 for $395

$11: 15th of 11,149 for $413

 

Week in review

I have been hitting the tables hard this week, perhaps a bit too hard (100 of my 129 tourneys was done after just over 3 days). I definitly need to cool down on 8-9-tabling, massive -EV for me to play that many tables. I think I need to stick to my original goal of 10-15 (perhaps 15-20 is good, no more) tourneys a day. Still not getting in my workout before the tables, (just one day), so need to actually do that. I'm definitly getting a feel for the $215 buy-ins now, so that's pretty nice. My turbo play is also getting some nice results, and they're quite enjoyable when they're not shoot-my-head-off brutal. Anyway, really frustrated that I could bring The Big $11 down, probably the biggest let down of the week as it really was mine for the taking, but you know, poker. 

 

I'm really happy that I' doing well in the smaller (700 and less) fields aswell as I felt that was kinda lacking from my first month of play where I basicly had only 3 big scores. So yeah, feeling great, I do need to continue to work on my game quite a bit tho, especially two barreling OOP when my image isn't the best, I should also learn to let a bit more pots just go when my stack is awkward and i totally wiff. Focus of this week is bringing my # of tourney down a bit and get my ITM up. I don't really mind a low ITM, it's just that's it's an indicator of a larger problem of not playing my A-game i think. And more importantly I think multitabling alot actually hurts my progress as a player, if I wan't to get better I need to have time to think deeper and be aware of more details.

 

Oh, and cashgames, only one short session, less than 1000 hands. Down less than a buy-in, played superagro and pretty well, but ended my session down after I shoved on flop with T8 high (no redraw, no nothing) that got herocalled with JJ and 5-bet jammed JJ for 130bb after 3-betting CO opener from BB 3 orbits in a row running into KK, definitly no need to try to own like that at 100NL. I really want to be able to just fire off some cashgames those days I can't play tournaments, and grind some bucks that way, but I just can't find the motivation. Meh.

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

Click here

NBG
Melbourne, Aus
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January 7, 2013 - 10:38 pm
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Damn sounds like your off to a decent start, I’m insanely jealous, I’m not even close to a level where I’m even profiting much casually playing online and all I can ever think about how my dream would be to quit my shitty job and live from poker.

It’s awesome that you are focussing on this like gym friends and diet, I have a mate who moved out of home to play full time, he ended up moving back home cause he never did washing and never ate properly, I can only imagine having balance and good diet/fitness levels would definitely pay off on the tables.

With the days you don’t have the time to grind massive mtts, why not grind sng’s? I’m sure your short stack game would give you a huge edge, 45 man turbos generally take round an hour I think? I am playing smaller stakes than you but watching bigdogs videos on them at higher stakes, they still seem very profitable.

Looking forward to future updates, good luck with it all.

Nqon
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January 7, 2013 - 11:42 pm
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Wow, it didn’t even occour to me to play those. Gonna try that out for sure! Thanks 🙂

I’ve been lucky enough to get a great results from the get-go, so really motivated to keep em up. When you’re talking about it I should defenitly clean/wash my appartment. Haha 😛 But yeah, workout, clean, proper food, then tables tomorrow.

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

Click here

mcgcanwin2
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January 7, 2013 - 11:43 pm
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Will be following with interest,best of luck sir

Nqon
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January 13, 2013 - 10:30 pm
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Week 2 – 2013 Hard numbers

 

Tourneys Played: 119

Winnings: $1,929.11

Net Winnings: -$1456.89

RIO: -43.03%

ITM: 20.5%

 

Noteable Scores:

None. Alot of deep runs and min-cashes, but no finaltable in anything 100+ players 🙁

 

Week in review

So yeah, first red week. It's been frustrating seeing my roll decrease, but I guess it's gonna happen every once in a while. My game has overalll been pretty good, sometimes amazing and other times a bit callstationy but overall I'm happy with it. My scores could quite easily have been 5 figures pluss instead of red as i'm regurarly getting so close to big scores that i can feel them, so I just gotta keep at it and not get unlucky in key spots.

 

My HH manager har me running $3 500 under EV this week ($11 500 under EV since I started), does anyone understand how this EV calculation works for tournaments? I haven't quite wrapped my head around it yet. Either way, im looking forward to a new weeek and 

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

Click here

duggs
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January 13, 2013 - 11:18 pm
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itl happen keep up the grind

PsyK1ck
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January 14, 2013 - 1:34 pm
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Yeah mate.. all good still, I've been railing and you have been playing very solid poker. You;ll get back into the green in no time

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Carlos
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January 14, 2013 - 8:03 pm
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I agree. Everything I saw looked good to me although you play above my stakes. IIRC you got coolered a number of times. That just means you're getting it in good.

Nqon
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January 20, 2013 - 7:01 pm
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Week 3 – 2013 Hard numbers

 

Tourneys Played: 102

Winnings: $3 076.67

Net Winnings: -$65.77

ROI: -10.8%

ITM: 25.5%

 

Noteable Scores:

$55 PLO – 1st of 78 for $1,187.15

$3+R PLO 6-max – 5th of 317 for $208.26

$27+R TCOOP Event – 227th out of 8,086 for $241

$24 MiniFTOPS Event – 150th out of 14,832 for $201.71

$22 NLHE – 15th out of 1,170 for $161

$55 PLO – 11th out of 98 for $113

$5+R NLHE – 30th out of 1,506 for $46

$22 NLHE – 180th out of 5,464 for $71

 

Week in review:

Yeah, yet another loosing week, althought considerable less than last week. I keep doing deep runs in big tournaments but not quite getting to the money that matters. I don't really feel there's a whole lot wrong with my game, i actually feel it's mostly solid, but I do feel i need to learn to fold decent holdings preflop a bit more often, aswell as I need to  stop making crying calls on the river when I know I'm beat. On the bright side i've been playing a bit more of the 45-mans sit and goes and I'm getting quite good results there and I'm starting to really see some creative spots in tournaments every now and then. Also, i'm really not that bummed out when I bust anymore as I feel quite confident that my play isn't bad and that I will get the scores I'm going for if I just continue playing and continue improving.

Anyway, good luck at the tables and thanks for reading 🙂

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

Click here

CAT70K
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January 21, 2013 - 4:34 am
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Nice update, good to see you can feel good about your game and not be affected by short term results.

NST
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January 21, 2013 - 5:25 am
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Nice thread and good writing skills, will start following this!

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Carlos
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January 21, 2013 - 9:16 am
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Hang in there buddy. Im right here with you. Week in and week out. Stay strong.

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Carlos
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January 28, 2013 - 7:46 pm
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Hey Nqon, get in here and update this thing. I am depending on you to keep me going so I am returning the favor. I wanna hear about that personal best you had in the Sunday Million.

Nqon
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January 29, 2013 - 12:58 am
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Yeah, took yesterday off so its a bit delayed. Gonna do the update later today! Thanks for the reminder 🙂

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

Click here

Nqon
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January 29, 2013 - 4:11 am
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Week 4 – 2013 Hard numbers

 

(HM2 does not track my HORSE tournies, so i have added them in perhanteses)

Tourneys Played: 79

Winnings: $1 009.71 (~$1 602)

Net Winnings: -$1054.08 (~ -$690)

ROI: -51.07%

ITM: 12.7%

 

Noteable Scores:

$215 Sunday Million – 338th out of 7686 for $599.50

$33 HORSE – 2nd out of 74 for $420 (3way chop)

$11 HORSE – 4th out of 101 for $93

 

+ five Top 5% finishes

 

Week in review:

Another week in the red. This weeks the downswing has been kinda getting to me I think- I'm starting to reevaluate my game and doing a lot of second guessing of my ability. I excpect that's just natural and should not really be considered all too much. I have after all had downswings before and I know they are just a natural part of the game, but still, it's getting harder to quiet the voice that asks me if I'm really good at this or not.  I still feel my game is mostly solid althought I would be silly to think that the lack of confidence that comes from downswings are not in some way affecting my game. My daily routnine is also really lacking, I've been sleeping at very odd hours and really not been very social at all this last week. I took yesterday off, mostly because i just didnt feel like going to bed after i busted my SM run and stayed up all night and next day in order to try to get my sleeping schedule back on track, but also since I needed a day off, but not like that, i need to take days off and make something out of them, because taking a day off to be tired and watch tv is not ideal in any way.

 

My monthly review is coming up later this week, so I'll write more then, but I feel that I should be making a decent amount more money than I have, I have had so many very good runs these last three weeks without any final tables (in anything of decent size) that it's kinda sickening. I'm not quite sure if I'm playing bad late or getting unlucky. Or if im just getting in positions where I leave it up to luck to often. My brain tells me that I've done my share of deep runs but that I've gotten coolered or sucked out on more than I will in the long run. But I can't help but have a sliver of doubt of my late stage game, have I really gotten unlucky in all those spots? Surely not. But perhaps? I will take a look at all my deep runs for my monthly report and re-evaluate what I could have done better. Thanks for reading 🙂

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

Click here

Turbulence
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January 29, 2013 - 5:28 am
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Hey Buddy,

As you know I too have recently been in a downswing and it was also starting to effect me. What I realised was that 'yes' i was getting coolered or bad beat a fair amount, but also I had started to push some high varience spots out of frustration (without realising it at the time). As soon as i realsied this I backed it off a bit and bingo back in the top 3 and a few more deep runs, all be it in fairly low buy-in tourneys.

 

From being in Chat with you and reading your responses to the forum post ect you have a v solid game and (until recently) solid and positive mental state. You'll come through it. Get some exercise, get some solid sleep, schedule some time away from the game every week, and try not to 'expect to win' but rather just play to win, the rest is out of your hands.

 

And finally (and I need to take my own advise here) dont forget to try to enjoy playing! Look for new lines, try new betting patterns/sizings, get creative in spots – DONT BE A GRIND-BOT!

aka Prophead340 aka Prophead2000 aka Turbulence_1

PocketFives Profile: .....urbulence/

Nqon
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January 31, 2013 - 8:43 am
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Thanks for the post Turb. Loads of solid adivice, i have been taking way too many marginal spots for sure. I'm glad to hear things are going good for you again:) Okey, on to January Progress report.

 

January 2013 Progres Report

This month had a very good first week, but has been all kinds of brutal since then. But lets get on with it. I've come up for a new catogory for this and future report that is Goals for <next month> in order to have them a bit more neatly presented and easier to focus on and review.

 

1. Holdem Manager Stats and Graphs

Image Enlarger

 (this month bold, last month red, total blue)

 

Tournaments Played: 440 || 195 || 711

Winnings: $16 267.69 || $22 345.17 || $39 757.04

Net Winnings: $1 847.54 || $15 801.30 || $18 183.84

$EV Winnings: $14 797.20 || $22 544.40 || $37 343.00 (What is this number? I do not understand how HM gets it, can I really be running 20 000 below EV?)

ROI: 12.8% || 230.5% || 84.3%

ITM: 18.4% 

 

So yeah. I've got my volume up to about where i want it to be this month, but if I'm being honest I think I played too many tables a bit too much early in the month, and I've been playing fewer tables the last weeks but I haven't really been focusing properly, at least for the last week. My mind travels and I get impatient and lose focus. Also, a decent number of these tournies are late at night, when I sort through my tournies by starting hour I see that I do best in tournies starting at 1800 1900 2000 and 2100 (Big22 starts 1800 my time if you need reference point). Tournies that start after 2300 im burning money (mostly) when I play. I need to work on my schedule so that I'm fit, awake, and ready to play at those hours and stop wasting so much time playing when I'm tired and not fit.

 

As you can all see I've have experienced quite a downswing the last 3 weeks of january. I will talk more about this later. I will not do a cash results this week as i have moved away from that and I rather play 45-man turbo sitngos. So far i have had decent results in those, i will perhaps do a section with those results later if I happen to be playing a lot of them.

 

2. Leak of the Month – Late stage closing, mental health, game review and hero calling

So as I mentioned earlier I have been getting a decent amount of deep runs, but really few final tables and top position scores. I've been looking over a decent amount of my late finishes, and my busts are mostly coolers or suckouts, but I do have a tendency to get down to the shove stack by getting in some tricky levelling wars. I mean, even if I know his he is 3-betting me light it doesnt mean i have to take the battle every time. I think I sometimes call 3-bets in spots where 4-bet folding is more appropriate and I think I waste my chips in some battles a bit to easily, sometimes giving up is okey and you need to be okey with getting bluffed off your hand every now and then in order to not get into too many marginal spots.

On to mental health. I started this journal talking about the importance of me managing to combine a good lifestyle with poker. That has totally been shut out the window this month. I have been playing at all weird hours, barely had any workouts (like once a week on average) and have eaten shit food and overdosing on energy drinks and coffee. I need to seriously improve on this aspect. It's going to be late a few nights, that's just the nature of the game, but I need to be able to not completely f over my sleep schedule. Getting up around 10-11am at latest every day and getting a workout and some stuff done before I start my day should really be a goal. It will clear my head and I will feel better and I'll be more clear at the tables, there's no doubt in my mind about it.

I have also totally gone away from game reviewing this last month or so. Usually I would quickly review my deep runs the day after in order to see where I made mistakes and where I could improve. This is something I need to go back to. Almost every session should start with a quick review of a tournament from your previous session. This is one of the best ways to improve and I'm going to start doing that again.

Now for the last point, hero calling. I have a tendency to look up players a lot when they represent an extreemly narrow range, but what I often fail to do is evaluate how likely it is that they would try to rep this hand without having it. (like repping a rivered full house or twopair or AK specificly) I do think I very often do good calls versus players that I know are likely to try to bluff those spots, but I also do way to many calls versus players who would never turn their hand into a bluff and would never try to rep that hand without having it.

 

3. Edge of the Month – Mixed games

I've been experiementing a bit with different forms of poker like HORSE and Badugi and 5-card draw with a decent amount of success. I think having a broad game is important and can sometimes renew intesrest and keep the game fresh. I think I will continue and start trying out some 8-game and 10-game aswell as continue playing horse. The disadvantage is that it steals focus from my other games so I need to play fewer tables when I do it. Anyway, loads of fun and I'd recommend people to try out some HORSE tournies for a change of pace.

 

4. January 2013 Review

This month has been a test in dealing with a downswing. Downswings are a sure thing in poker, anyone telling you anything else hasn't been playing for very long. How you deal with them is what matters. I'm still not really sure if I have handled my downswing very well. I really do feel like im behind and chasing a win instead of you know, just playing to win. I think doing the correct things away from the table is really important when you're on a downswing in order to keep your head clear and your game on track. I think my reaction to my downswing has basicly been play more and then play some more and then be upset that you're still in a downswing.

It's been a trend earlier when I just played casually aswell. I would do good, withdraw a decent bit, play for a bit, go on a downswing, say **** it, withdraw the rest of my bankroll and not play for the next couple of months. And when I return and get the motivation to play again I would usually do very well. But I'm not really a position to do that now (or, I could of course do it, but it would kinda be like giving up and I don't want to do that). So yeah.

I don't really feel like i've been playing all that bad. Sure, I've made a couple of mistakes and bad plays and bad calls, but not really a big amount, and I don't really think I've tilted away a lot but I haven't really done many game reviews so I might have. I think I really need to focus on doing the goals I've set for myself and focus less on just volume.

On a good side I did mention my leak of the month in january was mid-late stage chip accumilation in last months report, I feel like I've been improving in this aspect, and even tho my ITM is slightly down I think I've given myself better shots to go deep and my bubble abuse play has been getting better. So that's something to be happy about at least 🙂

And when all is said and done I am up this month, so it's not like it's been a really really terrible month, it just feels that way 🙂 

 

5. February 2013 Goals

– Eat healthy

– Get a consistent sleep schedule

– Do my workouts

– Do fewer Hero calls vs opponents that I have no reason to suspect to be doing big bluffs.

– Do fewer 3-bet calls when I suspect opponent to be light and rather 4-bet fold or just give up.

– Focus more when I play and take more notes on players.

– Experiement more with creative lines vs regulars.

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

Click here

Nqon
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February 2, 2013 - 4:43 am
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Doing a little bump here as I just finished editing in my full January report in the post above.

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

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Nqon
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February 4, 2013 - 11:13 am
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Week 5 – 2013 Hard numbers

Tourneys Played: 53

Winnings: $11 237.75

Net Winnings: $9 603.99

ROI: 587.8%

ITM: 20.8%

 

Noteable Scores:

The Bigger $5.50 – 1st out of 13 555 for $9090

$11+R Action Hour – 3rd out of 272 for $1138

$11+R Action Hour – 5th out of 256 for $581

The Saturday Eliminator $27 – 81st out 4 254 for $123

 

+ 3 top 5% placements. 

 

Week in review:

Boom said the dynamite and downswing no more. Feels ****ing great to get back up again. I have just typed up a whole deal in the month evaluation so I will keep this one short and sweet. I'm really proud of my bigger 5.50 finish, when we where threehanded we talked about a deal but one of them got gready so had to take it down the proper way. 

My volume is down this week since, A: i took monday off. B: I had my dad visiting me so couldnt play wednesday or before late on thursday. It is very interesting to note that my results got a lot better after those two days off, could be a coincidense, but I think it's quite likely it's not.

Anyway. Feels f-ing great, and what a way to rocket out of a downswing if i can say so myself 🙂

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

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Carlos
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February 4, 2013 - 11:42 am
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nice win. way to keep at it Nqon.

Zhengix_Khaan
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February 4, 2013 - 12:29 pm
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damn it i had to log off yesterday.. nice take downs..

 

definately following this thread… GREAT self analysis

NBG
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February 4, 2013 - 8:15 pm
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Wow, amazing week man, good to see you pull through that downswing. Totally agree with the positive outcomes of a break during a downswing. Some players I know just smash out more volume when they are In a downswing, but I find myself getting in a really negative space. I played a session last night after taking the last 4or5 days off, no huge cashes but ran deep in a couple of 2000+ fields and 4th in a 180sng, but I just felt so much clearer, I didn’t wanna punch a hole in my laptop when I got coolered, and just loved playing more.

Keep up the deep runs man I’ll be railing for sure

no1hf
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February 5, 2013 - 8:02 am
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Congratulanion Nqon, great score!!!

Winning The Bigger $5,50 is something amazing because field in this tournament is so huge.

I’m glad that your downswing is ended. Unfortunately I am having the same problem. Since the beginning of new year I’m totally crushed by worst hands, so it is nice to hear that someone who also had downswing, was able to fight and win.

P.S. I would love to see session review from this tournament. Maybe one of TPE pros will do it? 🙂

Nqon
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February 11, 2013 - 4:33 pm
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Week 6 – 2013 Hard numbers

Tourneys Played: 42

Winnings: $1 823.44

Net Winnings: -$88.56

ROI: -4.63%

ITM: 23.8%

 

Noteable Scores/Runs:

$11+R – 12th out of 1 735 for $432

$8+R – 12th out of 1 093 for $269

The Hot $16 – 12th out of 1 999 for $255

The Big $109 – 28th out of 1 369 for $479

The Big $11 – 136th out of 10 043 for $64

$2+R HOSE – 1st out of 56 for $82

 

Week in review:

My volume is slightly lower this week since i went on a trip for the weekend, but yeah, this week had a decent amount of almosts as you can see above. 

I also think I've played some of my weakest poker in recent memory on thursday and on sunday this week. When I play when I'm tired i tend to not be able to fold anything semi-decent even when it's obvious that i should. I really need to start trusting my gut to fold more often. Another trend I see myself doing alot is only semitrusting my gut when I feel im being played at. If I feel strongly that I'm being played at I need to trust that feeling and play optimally, or decide that I don't feel the spot is good and let go, none of this halfway weak semi-play back.

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

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CAT70K
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February 12, 2013 - 9:30 am
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Wow I missed your post last week!!! Congrats on the bigger $5.50 score and coming out of your downswing in fine style!

I am downswinging myself right now and your posts are very inspirational, thanks and keep up the good work 🙂

Turbulence
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February 12, 2013 - 4:42 pm
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Kepp it up Buddy, it's been great railling you through the Highs and Lows.

When you've been on a downswing it's v easy to slip into a weak mode of poker (results make us confident and play more confident), but its good you have recognised it.

aka Prophead340 aka Prophead2000 aka Turbulence_1

PocketFives Profile: .....urbulence/

Nqon
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February 13, 2013 - 7:48 pm
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Just wanted to make a post to thank everyone supporting me here in this thread! Thank you! Knowing you guys are following my progress helps keep me motivated. And thanks to everyone who frequent the chat and rail my runs, it helps keep me sane 🙂

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

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duggs
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February 13, 2013 - 7:53 pm
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keep up the good work mate

mcorbett79
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February 13, 2013 - 10:27 pm
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Great post! Thanks for the free shortstack advice in the chat.  Wish you all the best and can't wait to start my own “I'm going pro” post.

Nqon
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February 17, 2013 - 8:47 pm
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Week 7 – 2013 Hard numbers

Tourneys Played: 80

Winnings: $4 621.51

Net Winnings: $1 741.87

ROI: 60.5%

ITM: 18.8%

 

Noteable Scores/Runs:

The Hot $33 – 6th out of 1 538 for $1799

The Weekly 8-Game ($215) – 5th out of 80 for $1120

The Big $109 – 35th out of 1200 for $444

VIP $1 000 000 Freeroll – 612th out of 5200 for $400

The Sunday Million – 1138 out of 8024 for $320

The Big $22 – 56th out of 3591 for $129

$11 HORSE – 3rd out of 78 for $109

 

Week in review:

A week in pluss is a good week, but it feels a bit brutal as i've burned over 1,3k in buyins this sunday and only had a small min-cash in the million. Anyway- Got my number back up to 80 tournies, which is about where i'd like it to be. Overall I'm quite happy with my game this week, i've probably been taking too many high varience postflop moves, but getting creative and trusting my read is going to get me further so I don't mind it all that much. I'm also proud of my 8-game result 🙂 But when that is said it takes too much brain capacity to play (i tried to play the weekly HORSE today, and that went terrible as I had several tables up, i need to play very few tables when mixing in those limit games that I'm not that experienced in). I haven't really been studying my game a lot lately, altho we might be getting together a skype group to do some reviews together, that could be quite interesting.

 

I've done a decent amount of overbetting this week for some reason, with not too great results. Basicly I do it alot when i feel they are bluffcatching with a marginal holding, but it has really not paid off at all so far, i've been called a decent amount when i've done it as bluffs and gotten way to many folds when I've done it for value. I'm probably going to tone it down a bit until i get a better feel for it, I don't really think it's needed vs most of my opponents.

 

Btw, i'm still eating shitty, have a shitty sleep schedule and I'm missing my workouts; I've put on like 3.5kg (and lost muscle mass) since i started playing fulltime. This is an issue I need to address. I have to head to the gym tomorrow before I start my sessions. No excuses.

Check out my "going pro" poker journal, updated weekly with wins, losses and my progress as a player:

Click here

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Carlos
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February 19, 2013 - 3:02 pm
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Nice work

Sen
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May 29, 2013 - 9:46 pm
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This is amazing. Really nice to follow your progress. GL at the tables and keep it up!

ttwist

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September 3, 2013 - 3:29 pm
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