Thursday 16 August 2012

Focus At The Tables

One aspect of my online game that I'm making it my mission to work on over the next month or so is my focus while playing.  Since I stopped mass multitabling (which I did to give me more time to think about my plays) I find myself making decisions in the same amount of time as before, then clicking over to 2p2 or watching TV, making the whole exercise pointless.

To combat this every time I fire up a session for the next month I'm going to close everything else, turn my phone off and just play.  I think at the start my attention will wander so sessions will probably only be 30 minutes or so but hopefully they will be more intense and productive.  I want to take better notes and to learn from action that I'm not involved in.

This comes directly from my reading of Treat Your Poker Like a Business where Dusty and Jared talk about focus at the table, having read most of this book there are many aspects of my game that I realise I need to work on.  This is the first!


In other news I should probably fill you in on how the mixed game challenge is going, more specifically at the moment 2-7 Triple Draw:
As you can see, less than stellar results at the moment but I'm going to turn it round.  I've been playing more since these numbers but I'll update here less frequently than my PGC thread.

2-7 TD --- 1972 Hands --- $23.69 Profit --- Currently Playing .1/.2
2-7 TD --- 750 Hands --- $8.83 Loss --- Currently Playing .25/.5
Razz --- 16 Hands --- $0.55 Loss --- Currently Playing .04/.08
Stud Hi --- 80 Hands --- $1.62 Loss --- Currently Playing .04/.08
Stud 8 --- 0 Hands --- $0 Profit --- Currently Playing .04/.08
FLHE --- 952 Hands --- $2.95 Loss --- Currently Playing .1/.2

Total Cash Mixed Game --- c. 3770 Hands --- $9.74 profit

As you can see, less than stellar results at the moment but I'm going to turn it round.  I've been playing more since these numbers but I'll update here less frequently than my PGC thread.  Back to the tables, hopefully with more focus!

Monday 13 August 2012

A Honest Reflection

I started this blog a bit over a year ago and I wanted to have a look at the last 12 months and look forward to the coming year.  I haven't worked nearly as hard as I've wanted to at poker, I put my hands up to that right now, I don't deserve to be any better than I am now.  In other ways I think I've had a good 12 months; I'm on for a 2:1 at university, my skiing has improved and I guess most importantly of all, I spent 2 months on a very competitive work placement in London and have been offered that chance to go back when I graduate.

I try to keep this blog mainly about poker but as everything in life tends to affect everything else, going forward more structure and a better handle on the rest of my life will certainly help with poker.  Since I've finished this work placement and had the feedback I did, its given me a fresh drive to be the very best at everything I do, including poker.  Over the next 12 months I have three goals and they are going to be the be all and end all of every waking moment of my life, I have one year left of university which is really the last chance I have to set my life in the direction I want it to go in.

1) Graduate with a 2:1 degree or better

This should be for obvious reasons, the better I do here, the better things are in the future.  I feel this is well within my grasp and I will be incredibly disappointed if I fail.

2) Get into the best shape I've been in since leaving school

I intend on competing at the UK Ski-cross championships next April, in order to have a chance of even making it I'm going to have to get back into that shape I was when I was training every day.  This is something I've wanted for the last year or so.  I'll probably outline my plans in a separate blog post.

3) Poker

My desire to be the best possible poker player is at an all time high.  I still don't want to be a professional, but that doesn't mean I can't aspire to be good enough to be one.  While I've been working in London I've started learning mixed games, I've had a PGC thread where I update my progress daily:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-challenges/loldonakmentzs-mixed-game-min-bet-mission-1227664/

Its been going pretty good so far, I've bought a DC subscription and am making my way through learning 2-7 TD.  The aim at the moment is to be a competent mixed game cash player,  from what I've heard the edges are bigger at micro mixed cash than NLHE so hopefully I can build a bankroll there and then work on my NLHE game without having to worry about depleting my BR.  I realistically see myself having 12 months to sort out my poker game, once I get into a full time job my time that I'm going to be able to put in will go right down.

These next 12 months I have to focus and work hard; I will succeed.