Hey TPE Nation!

So for anyone who hasn’t seen the video series or read my previous thread, TPE pro Matt Hunt did a video series based on a number of coaching sessions with me, called Zero to Hero and I started a thread in the PG&C’s here by the same name, which was originally intended to follow my progress as I strived towards what for me has been a long time goal, to play poker professionally full time.

I started out with a big list of things that I was going to do regularly in terms of volume levels and study habits and set off on my adventure like an energetic puppy full of naivety and optimism. But of course a few things went wrong and I bombed hard in my first attempt-

1. I bit off way more than I could chew. I am working full time, and trying to find time to do something with this shiny new degree of mine, in addition to making time for my beautiful wife to be and get back into sport. While I think I had some good ideas, the execution was pretty poor, and I set out with an unrealistic work load for the amount of time I had to work with. I set out to do a number of things that never got done, and the things that did get done got done inadequately as a result of being spread to thin. This time round I’m going to be keeping things much more simple. I’ll start with one or two habits to my poker regime (in addition to actual game time), and gradually add/remove to it as seems appropriate.
2. Life has thrown me a few curve balls as of late, I have much to be thankful for but recent times have been challenging. I was well into rehab for one major surgery prior to commencing the video series with Matt, but I am now looking at going back under the knife again for a two level neck fusion. So that’s been a distraction, and that among other obstacles in my way, has taken some time away from grinding which attributed to minimal time at the tables.
3. And last but not least, I grossly, GROSSLY, underestimated the curious, and bastardly world that is MTT variance. It’s a fickle monster. I haven’t final tabled anything since October last year, and for a good long stretch there I wasn’t even min-cashing almost anything, despite being confident that as a whole I was playing quite well. There was a patch where I feel I played a bit average but for the most of it I have improved my game in leaps and bounds, in large part due to my work with Matt but also subsequent work on my own using the tools his coaching gave me, but unfortunately poker is a game that frequently does not provide the positive re-enforcement we’re hoping for when we make good decisions. So the sad news is that my bankroll is toast.                                              

But there are some positives  

1. What seemed like a relentless barrage of two outers, back door gut shots, and flips that didn’t go my way, the reality is in the grand scheme of things it’s a pretty small sample size. My whole database, for a reality check is a pretty small sample size. It provided a good sample of hands for Matt to work with in terms of accurately gauging where I was at with my game, but in terms of realising my an aspiring pro, my little collection of MTTs is minuscule, and the volume I was putting in at the time was woeful in terms of having any real hope of overcoming a down swing.
2. I have been working harder on my game than ever, which I probably wouldn’t have done if I had instead gone on to crush final tables left and right, and I feel I am a better player for it. I took some time off playing for a while to deal with life stuff, but kept studying and having gotten back to playing a bit over the past couple of weeks (aside from blowing off a little steam in a $2 rebuy yesterday) I feel like I’ve been playing some of the best poker of my life, even if results haven’t appeared in the form of a long string of zeros on the end of my bank balance just yet.
3. I have learned the art of how to truly not give a fuck, I’m like the tilt muthafucking master. Variance is not my enemy, it is not even bad or good, it just is, and I no longer care. I don’t feel like tilt has been a massive problem for me for a while, but I have a better perspective on things now after being exposed to a long (short really) stretch of run bad, and it no longer concerns me. I’m not playing for results I’m playing because I love playing and I want to be awesome at what I do, and losing over and over again forced me to focus on what my real motivations are. The money’s just there to keep score. And eventually buy me shiny things. To quote one of my favourite movies “It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.”

                     I tried to embed an appropriate video here but the forum hates me, so here’s the link instead. 

So the Zero to Hero challenge is back on, however my focus is a little different now. I want to become the best poker player I possibly can be, a goal which has no deadline, because perfection is unattainable, and self improvement is an ever moving target.

Overtime I’m going to construct a process of things that work for me and discard the things that don’t, with the intention of using it to get as good as possible, as quick as possible. My main focus is going to be on boosting my ROI, and working hard away from the table to make sure I make the best decisions I can at the table. For the sake of having some fun goals to work towards for the sake of the challenge though, I have some fun milestones to tick off on the path to poker greatness.

1. Get ranked as the number 1 player in my country on the Pocketfives leader board
2. Build up a bankroll of $10 000 (starting as of right now, at ground 0, and don’t forget I grind micro stakes)
3. Win a triple crown (sure Dave doesn’t everybody?)
4. Develop an ROI of > 35% at my typical stakes over a respectable sample
5. Position myself to look at going pro full time some time in 2017

Presently I’m sitting at 34th place for Brisbane, and 70 something for QLD, and 376 for Australia, though I expect to jump a few places in the next update. I haven’t had any major cashes but have consistently been falling just shy of the final table in my last 10 cashes, so relative to my buy in level I have some decent points for the week and can feel a big cash come soon. I can feel it in my bones 

So for my weekly study habits-

I want to watch 2 video’s a week, review my hand history twice a week, and read some form of poker literature be it a book, blog or strategy article three times a week. My job allows me the luxury of reading at work so that one will be easy, the other two are just a matter of not letting myself get tempted into spending that time I allocate for studying, playing instead.

As for actual playing, I’m not setting any volume goals, which may at first seem daft, but I am really enjoying the grind at the moment and playing whenever I have the time to spare, whereas if I fall short of any volume goals that I set due to life stuff that I have little control over at the moment, then I know from my previous attempt I’m just going to get down on myself. I think volume goals are probably pretty important for someone playing full time, or someone trying to crack Supernova on Stars, but for someone with a full time job and additional commitments I’m not sure they’re all that effective. But if I catch myself procrastinating with time I could be playing I’ll reassess.

That’s it for the to do’s for now, as I said I’m going to start off with a modest list to get off on the right track and gradually add to the list once things become regular habits of a manageable routine. I also want to invest in some further coaching in the near future, but I’ll look to that at a later date.

As for right now it’s late March, and I have until December 31st, and have some lofty (but fun) goals to try and tick off on my path to poker greatness. I plan to update this thread much more regularly than the last one, and I think a focus on the process over results or the destination, will make doing so much more enjoyable. I started out with that intention last time round but like I said the execution wasn’t there. Anyways to hell with last time-

Let’s do this! I’m going to hit the grind again tonight to try and climb that leaderboard 

Oh for anyone who’s interested the video series I did with Matt can be found here– it’s a 10 part series and I highly recommend it, there’s a lot to take away from the series on analysing your game, it gives an insight into the benefits of poker coaching, and the feedback in the comments has all been pretty positive in terms of the content so make sure you check it out!