Regrouped and Ready (5.4.2010)
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 2:33PM I still have yet to log a hand since a session last Wednesday or Thursday (I honestly can’t remember the specific date). The entire weekend and Monday night I spent doing some pretty intense analysis on my game. I think I’ve found some massive areas where I can improve, and I’m now looking forward to playing during May. That being said if I ran average EV during my horrendous March/April stretch I would have had a slight net loss, and with bonuses a net gain. And the EV doesn’t tell the full story; I really know it was a lot worse because of coolers. However, I need to be playing with a MODERATE NET WIN at least. And I feel the work I put in over the past 4 nights will help get me there.
Somebody asked me how poker went this weekend, and I said that it went great, even though I didn’t play a single hand. This would be confusing to most until I handed them an 11-page analysis report that I wrote (which deeply probed into my play from each position in comparison to the top winners at my stakes. I believe the report was complete by Saturday night. Some of the findings were slightly modified Sunday and Monday night to form a final strategy and game-plan going forward.
In a way maybe it is a good thing that I ran so bad recently, it forced me to regroup and seriously look at my game. If I ran like a God I may have kept chugging along, with an inevitable down-stretch pending that I wouldn’t have been prepared for. I’m happy to say I’ve completed the focus of the 7 areas mentioned in my last post. I even found a two-headed dragon magic the gathering card (variance) and put it on my desk. I won’t probe into every area for the entire world to see, but it certainly gives me confidence and focus going forward. I will say the area “pre flop opening range adjustments” based on analysis was the area that I spent the most hours on.
At first I won’t be able to play 12 tables at once because the changes I am making are that drastic. I’m hoping to get to that level as fast as I can (within a week), but I’m not rushing into it. I am planning on putting in a 3 hour session Wednesday night. A few more things going on:
I will be a quarter of a century old sometime next week.
This is scary. I’m certainly not saying “OMG I’m so old”. But this ultimately irrelevant date reinforces in my mind the fact that it’s time to make a move in my life very soon. Also 20 year old girls now seem strangely out of reach, which just isn't even fair. Maybe I'll just say I'm 24 for a while.
I love my day job.
Why wouldn’t I? It’s providing me with the money I need to take a shot at my goals.
I requested off work the entire 2nd week of June.
I will be playing poker full-time that week, and I want to see what it feels like. This is also going to be a very important week to gauge my progress. It’s tough to put in the volume cramming every session in on weekends and the occasional week-night. I can’t stress enough how important it will be to get a full 40-50 hours in during this week. So I have over a month to get myself in the best position to make the most out of that week.
Conversation with My Dad
Also, I had a conversation with my father about my plans (putting it nicely). Ok it was more a forced conversation that he initiated out of nowhere. He had obviously been planning the border-line attack. I wouldn’t say the "conversation" or "me defending myself session" was completely logical, but it’s getting somewhat closer. Maybe I will post the hilarity of this conversation in the future. It was basically him trying to attack from any possible angle to try to make me question myself (while acting supportive at the same time). It was a contradictory mess, but I felt like it was quite an improvement from any talks from the past.
-bag
Reader Comments (7)
Bags, regarding your father, even if he disagrees with you, he probably has your best interests in mind (although that does not automatically make him right). Which doesn't mean you should do what he suggests but you should definitely hear him out and at least consider his advice.
I have two young sons and I am (obviously) not always right but any advice I ever offer them is definitely given with their best interests in mind. No one will ever care about anyone more than a parent cares for their children. As an adult, it still amazes me how often I remember something my father told me that I rejected at the time but I now see was good advice. Choose your own course and disregard advice as you see fit, but at least listen to what he is trying to say.
My two cents since you mentioned it in your post. Good luck.
Lucypher,
Thanks for the comment. He definitely has my best interests in mind, and I respect my father a lot. And I really can’t blame him for not getting it, I understand where he is coming from. It’s not something that a lot of people can really understand and rightfully so. How can you explain that your goals are to play poker full-time if someone honestly believes poker is a game of complete chance and not skill? Yes any one hand could be 100% luck, but in the long run I see it as 100% skill, or I wouldn’t be playing. I’d just heave my money at a slot machine or something.
You're a lucky man, how old are your children?
I might put a full post on the conversation in the future, but I haven’t decided yet.
-bag
Sounds like you've got the right attitude going forward. This line
"Somebody asked me how poker went this weekend, and I said that it went great, even though I didn’t play a single hand."
literally made me lol!
I can relate 100%. Anyway to answer your question, I'm playing 24 tables at once, and getting in 1700+ hands/hr, including bathroom breaks and start-up/wind-down time. My goal is about 3k VPPs/day, one way or another. If that means playing 20k hands in a day, so be it!
-SS
I'm a daily reader of the PocketFives website and one common theme I see on there is this:
All the ranked players, when asked what their parents thought when they decided to quit school/work and go pro, said that their parents were skeptical until they were shown just how much money these players were making.
Such is life. Good luck with it, man.
SS,
That is some sick volume my friend. Sounds pretty good, I mean even running terrible I don't see how you could lose with rake-back, that is a hell of a grind though. You earn it.
FK,
Good to hear from you. Yes I've had nice wins live, but I've yet to have any online success whatsoever the past month. It would be a lot easier if I could just run ok a month. I guess with me it's how much I know I could make committing full time to poker.
-bag
My boys are 5 and 2 so we haven't talked about poker just yet.
Lucky man. I want to have a family one day, but I really have no idea when! I feel like I need to accomplish a lot before that phase.