Hey guys, I hope all of you are doing just fine, at least I am.
My last blog post as some time ago, so I got some stuff I would like to share with guys, let’s start from beginning.
Barcelona :
Day before leaving London I got cold, was spending my whole day in the bed, drinking teas and doing bunch of other things that may recover me. So the next morning I was feeling little bit better, then we came to Barcelona and my girlfriend and myself decided to take spend some time at the pool few of my friends also joined in, so yeah I jumped in the pool totally forgotten that I am little bit sick and spend there a good half an hour (It was quite cold / refreshing) and in the evening I start feeling really bad. The next day I had to play Estrellas Main Event, I woke up feeling really terrible, so I took some pills/teas hoping that it might help little bit, but it was useless, also air conditioning in tournament area was way too cold. So I forced myself to play the best game I could, but got busted in the end of the day, got my chips on the Flop :
7c 7x 6c with AcTc vs QcJc.
Turn is Jx / River is blank and I’m hitting showers.
The next day I was feeling little bit better and were continuing to recover, so had a really great time there, was spending most of the time with my girl on the beach and the evening with my poker buddies, definitely will be thinking about coming back there next year.
WCOOP :
The series that all of us waiting all year long. I was grinding really hard, playing 10 days straight, but then I had to fly to Lithuania for two weeks so back there was playing only 3 or 4 days.
Really happy with my performance I had five 70-100th place finishes, which is a little bit disappointing, but knowing that in all situations I put my chips in good, can’t be upset too much. My titles are coming and I know that.
Looking forward to FCOOP (French poker series) the schedule is looking really nice, will be playing most of the events, because Buy-Ins isn’t that huge as it is in WCOOP. FCOOP starts from 27 October and will be running for two weeks, so be sure following me up on twitter, I will be sharing my deep runs on it.
This time I want to speak about the most important thing for poker players or any people that taking their career seriously in my opinion that thing is Motivation.
Every individual has something that motivates it to do things, for me it’s my personal goals. Others may dream about new car, new house, money or some other stuff. The thing is when you got that goal list, wishes list… you may called whatever you like, but the minute you wrote that, it isn’t dream anymore – it’s a goal and you will not achieve your goal – watching TV, refreshing Facebook homepage or checking some random silly stuff on internet, you will manage to complete your goal list by working hard.
Working really hard doesn’t mean that you have to jump in, launch 24 tables and click some buttons, you got to have a plan which will drive you towards your goals, in my opinion it’s a step by step process. Here is some suggestions how you can improve your game or daily routine which will automatically result in achieving your goals faster.
Daily Routine:
- Plan your time. (Sleeping schedule, daily ‘To do list’ etc.)
- Improve your game. ( Spend at least 2-4 hours/week doing your hand history reviews, watch some strategy videos, talk with players which are better than you, post stuff in forums)
- Eat more healthy food & drink water. (If you start more healthy lifestyle you will have more energy than you had before, will you be feeling better and be feeling that way you should be playing better)
- Exercise. (Sitting on the computer to play 10 hour sessions isn’t healthy, so you have to force yourself to do some exercising, it will result in having more energy, clearing your mind, negative emotions release.)
Suggestion: Put jogging few times a week in your schedule, start going to a gym.
- Separate yourself from losers. (If you have people that discourage you – separate yourself from them, you don’t need this type of people in your life. You have to be surrounded by the people which is motivating you, thinking like you and might teach you something.)
Work Ethics:
- Clean room/office. (Playing in clean room, where you feel comfortable will result in good game quality, don’t be lazy, get up your ass and spend 15minutes a day to clean your room, it’s not that hard…)
- TV/Facebook/Twitter/YouTube – OFF! (You want to succeed? So don’t waste your time on these worthless things, they are stealing your focus. “But I’m only playing 4 tables, I have some free time” – Then put some more tables, it will increase your hourly $.
Add-on for browsers: Leech Block – will block the websites you wish to block when you starting your working day. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/leechblock/
- Play when you feeling good. (It means playing when you really want it, if you are making robot decisions and not taking more focused look in to your tables it will result in poor hourly $ or you might even start losing.)
- Setup working hours. (Try to make your session schedule, when to play and how long to play. This will allow your body to adapt and play without tiredness, usually it takes 1-2 weeks.)
- Game selection. (Spend some time analysing in which games you are making the most profit, play only them and if there is a game which you want to play in your schedule, but you are losing money in it, run some hand history reviews and talk with your poker buddies.)
- Productive table count. (If you are capable of clicking buttons while playing 16 tables, it doesn’t mean that you have to play that amount, it’s all about productivity – you must play the amount of tables in which you are making the best of it, having some time on decisions etc.)
- Coaching. (If you are struggling with your games and if you don’t have higher stakes buddy which may help you to improve your game, then you have to invest your money on coaching 100-500$ isn’t that much, comparing how serious Mid-Stakes grinder invest in Buy-ins in one month.
Motivation:
- Dream BIG! (You need your goal list, it will drive you even you are not getting results, when it’s hard take that list and say to yourself “I Can Do it!”)
- Nobody cares about your bad beat stories. (Stop crying! Seriously, if you are still tilting and whine about your bad beats then you are nowhere near your dream. PLAY THE BEST YOU CAN & YOU WILL GET THE RESULTS / FOCUS ON MAKING THE BEST DECISIONS EVERY HAND )
Suggestion : Read ‘The Poker Mind Set’ & ‘The Mental Game Of Poker’.
- Read inspiring books. (I’m a big self-education book reader and those books made a really big influence on my mind set and my lifestyle.)
Few books that I liked:
Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
Three Feet from Gold: Turn Your Obstacles Into Opportunities! – Sharon L. Lechter, Greg Reid
Soaring with Eagles – Bill Newman
Positive Action Plan – Napoleon Hill
The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
- Motivating media. (I really like watching inspiring movies : Rocky / The Pursuit of Happyness / Beautiful Mind… The list would be quite long I believe, after these movies I always feel pumped up – ready to crush! Also I really love watching ‘Eric Thomas’ videos, this guy is really the top motivational speaker. Watch these videos when you are feeling bad, it will recover your will, at least it does that for me.)
Motivational /Inspiring Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmVOuLgFB0&feature=c4-overview&list=UUnJ-KJLPlRw90rGs_6XfmmQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z4Kft47kBM&feature=c4-overview&list=UUnJ-KJLPlRw90rGs_6XfmmQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-jwWYX7Jlo&feature=c4-overview&list=UUnJ-KJLPlRw90rGs_6XfmmQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TEc_qyKQ0c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJPRj19OU-w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b7bgtu2O4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsSC2vx7zFQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTFnmsCnr6g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJcZBoxiFOY
Eric Thomas: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1d28mrBqCQliL_N48tZZiw (Thank God It’s Monday! Weekly show, highly recommended)
For me this is pure gold, watch one video/day I really hope you’re going to like it.
- NEVER GIVE UP!
I hope you liked the material I shared with You. Never give up, spend time with yourself, improve your personality, improve your game, improve your lifestyle, work hard, trust yourself, stop making excuses, don’t be average person and let’s complete our goals!
Thanks for reading I’ll catch up with you sometime soon, I’m having really busy schedule these upcoming months.
Your comments are very welcome, also hit me up with private message if you want to talk about some things.
Follow me on Twitter: @MerfinisStars
Arvydas “Merfinis” M.