Session Focus: 4/5, This morning my focus was average to above-average, and this evening while playing heads-up my focus was really great
Poker Development: 4/5, Something clicked today and breaking down my opponents’ games suddenly seems much easier and clearer now
Personal Development: 1/5, I didn’t get up on time, meditate, or play my second session when I was supposed to
Happiness: 4/5, I’ve been pretty happy today, despite not feeling so well this afternoon
Stress: 2/5, Would have been a 1/5 but I had a really bad headache this afternoon

I’ve been getting a lot of my thoughts together and organized on mental game topics and I might write more about them later to help solidify some of the connections I’ve made. In general, there’s a model for the long-term process of learning that I was exposed to at an early age (it’s similar to the one Jared Tendler uses if you’re familiar with that), and a lot of my ideas on the mental game center around that.

Basically there are five stages that we can be in while learning some specific concept, which means four transitions we can go through. These stages are based on our level of skill, whether our action is mostly conscious or unconscious, and our ability to bring out a high level of skill in others (ie: teaching). Each stage and each transition has specific characteristics, and we can study all 9 “parts” of the whole, etc.

If you’ve familiar with Josh Waitzkin’s courses for the Chessmaster software series or his books, or if you’re familiar with Tommy Angelo’s material, or if you’re familiar with Jared Tendler’s material, or if you’re familiar with the big ideas in Buddhism, then you’ll easily make connections with the parts of this model.

On a slightly different subject, getting up (though an hour or so late) and immediately taking a shower helped to wake me up again this morning and I was able to start getting things done soon after. I wonder what it is about that routine that gets my excitement/emotional level/motivation up?

Biggest Losers:

1. I called a 5-bet shove in LP v BB with AQo, ran into AK, -$50. I think planning to stack off was a mistake since I was acting off of stats from a really small sample.
2. UTG opens, I call in UTG+1 with KK, it folds around. Flop comes 974r and I call a bet, turn makes the board 9745r and I call a bet, and he check/calls a 9 river with AA, -$35.
3. KK loses to AA aipf, -$30.

Biggest Winners:

1. AK v AT ai on 74AJ, +$52.
2. AK v AT aipf, +$40.
3. Flop 44 v 22 on 742, +$35.
4. Monster suckout, 66 beats TT all-in on 5KT6 via 1-outer, +$27.

Session Focus: 4/5, I stayed pretty well-focused today except during my donkaments this evening
Poker Development: 1/5, I didn’t study or anything today because I spent half of the day playing taxi
Personal Development: 4/5, I did a lot of reading and a few things fell into place today
Happiness: 3/5, About average, stayed fairly content while spending about 5 hours straight in the car reading
Stress: 3/5, Below average for most of the day, then Michelle had an episode during her ballet class

Recently I’ve had trouble getting focused in the mornings when I get up, and I realized that every time I’ve went a long period where I could get up early and get going and play poker in the mornings on a regular basis the first thing I always did was take a shower. I tried that this morning, and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t wide awake after I got out. I’ve been getting sleepy in the early afternoons as well, so I’m allowing myself an extra 30-60 minutes of sleep or so to see how that does.

I’m putting a lot of the mental game pieces back together. The strongest I’ve ever been mentally from a performance perspective was when I was 16 and was really serious about getting stronger at chess. It sort of fell apart on me in the year after that since I had to basically stop playing because of life stuff, but I think I’m starting to get it back together now.

Today I started playing slightly longer sessions, though the second one was interrupted and this evening I didn’t feel like playing cash games. Every 2-3 weeks I’m going to increase the length of my sessions by about 200 hands. Until today I was aiming for 800 hands per session, and now I’m aiming for 1000. When 12-tabling full ring with no fast tables, that comes to about 1.75 hours. My goal with this is to get back to being able to hold my A game for 3-4 hours straight on a daily basis using incremental progress.

Session Focus: How well I focused during my session
Poker Development: My development as a player
Personal Development: My development as a person
Happiness: Overall measure of happiness
Stress: How stressed I feel

So here we go with the biggest hands from today:

Biggest Losers:

1. Tight EP opens, I call QQ in EP, three other guys call. Flop comes TT7, I end up stacking off against JT, -$50. I probably shouldn’t have been aggressive at all in this hand because of how many players there were to the flop.
2. I run trip Aces into a boat, -$50.
3. I 3-bet a guy with KJs oop, he calls. Flop comes Jxx, I check/call. Turn comes a 3 putting two flush draws on board, he shoves slightly more than pot, he’s kind of nut so I call, he has AJ, -$49.
4. I call EP open with JJ, board comes 64823 and I get taken for a few streets of value against AA, -$32.

Biggest Winners:

1. I make a runner nut flush against a guy who flopped middle pair with T3 on KT8 and turned a 3, +$37.
2. I make a runner straight against a guy who slowplayed top set, +$28.
3. I get two hard streets of value with a set against what I’m assuming was a missed flush draw, +$27.

Session Focus: 3/5, About normal, no real distractions
Poker Development: 5/5, Found a decent-sized flaw in my thought process in a relatively common spot
Personal Development: 3/5, I did a lot of thinking about my thought processes in general today, but didn’t meditate or prepare my sessions like I should have
Happiness: 2/5, Felt pretty crappy today
Stress: 4/5, Above-average stress levels, almost snapped at Michelle a couple of times

I’ve been really bad about playing three sessions each day. I’ve only played two a day so far everyday this week, though I guess that’s about the same as playing three on Sunday and Monday then not playing at all on Tuesday like I did last week. I’ve been pretty good about getting out of bed when my alarm goes off for two days in a row now, but I have a hard time focusing on my session during the morning hours when I get up so early, so I’m trying to figure something out for that. Along the same lines, I’ve been going to bed earlier as well, by 12:30 am or so at the latest.

I’m on pace to do a little over 50k hands this month, which is fine with me since I’ve only been 12-tabling. After AIEV, I would be around 2.5 ptbb/100 for the month, and my non-SD after 17.5k hands is down about 1/3 of a BI. I’m okay with $18-20/hour while I play lower stakes than I should be to get my mental game back together.

Biggest Losers:

1. Open KQs in EP, semi-loose crazy in LP guy calls. I c-bet KJ2 two-tone, he raises and I decide it would be a great idea to stack off against 22, -$52.
2. AK loses to AA aipf, -$50.
3. EP opens, MP calls, I 3-bet KK in LP, both players call. The flop comes QQT, check through flop, turn comes a 4, EP bets, MP folds, I call. River comes another 4 and I call a bet, EP has Q9s, -$31.

Biggest Winners:

1. I 3-bet AA in BU, BB calls, PFR calls. Flop comes T75r, we check through. Turn comes another T, BB checks, PFR thinks a minute and bets, I call, BB calls. River comes a K, checks to me, I bet, BB calls with AK(?!) and PFR folds, +$54.
2. AA v QQ in 3-bet pot, +$53.
3. Flopped set stacks off on the flop against a gutshot + FD, +$50.
4. I 3-bet AA IP and Villain calls. Flop comes QQ6r and Villain check/raises to about 2.5x on the flop and I call. The turn comes a 5 and I call a bet. The river is another 5 and Villain check/calls his last $20 with TT, +$48.

I got out of bed early like I’d hoped to, but my morning session was pretty bad. I had a really hard time focusing and my thoughts were constantly scattered. I’ve got some ideas on why this happened but it’s not particularly interesting. I also did another video today (with working audio, yay) showing how to do the advanced color-coding stuff in PT3 (link).

After you have practiced for a while, you will realize that it is not possible to make rapid, extraordinary progress. Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little. It is not like going out in a shower in which you know when you get wet. In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little. If your mind has ideas of progress, you may say, “Oh, this pace is terrible!” But actually it is not. When you get wet in a fog it is very difficult to dry yourself. So there is no need to worry about progress.

Biggest Losers:

1. I call a small 4-bet in the SB oop with AK, flop comes AQ3 monotone, we get it in and he has T9s for the flush, -$49.
2. QJ runs into quads on 488T9, -$23.
3. BU opens 4x, SB calls, I call in the BB with 99. Flop comes T42 and it checks around. Turn is a 9 that puts a flush draw out there. SB bets, I raise, BU calls, SB calls. River completes the flush to make the board 4T293. SB shoves for slightly less than half-pot. I fold, BU calls. The SB shows a flush, the BU shows TT, and I saved half a buy-in, -$19.
4. I open UTG with KK and get 3 calls. The board comes QJ3 with two hearts, I c-bet, and a short-stack calls. The turn comes a Q that puts two spades on the board and my opponent has left than half the pot left. He check/calls with KQ, -$17.

Biggest Winners:

1. AA vs 77 vs 44 all-in on A74, +$98.
2. AA vs KK vs AQo AIPF, +$98.
3. A tight guy opens in MP, I call in the blinds with QQ. The flop comes 664 with two hearts, I lead about 3/4 pot and he calls. The turn comes the Qh and we get it in, he had KK, +$48.
4. I open KK in the SB, the BB who is a loon calls. Flop comes 763 with two spades, I bet, he raises, I 3-bet, he calls. Turn comes a 6 putting two hearts on the board and I shove for half-pot and he calls with 98o, +$45.

First breakthrough: I remembered something that happened to me when I was studying chess when I was 16/17 and I decided that I need to adjust my sleeping schedule so that I go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. I think this will make achieving a higher volume much easier as well as helping me maintain my A-game more often. Second breakthrough: The way I think about poker while I’m studying is entirely different than when I’m actually playing. I’m going to start making a more conscious effort to think the way I do during my study at the tables.

Biggest Losers:

1. I open UTG with AsAh, crazy guy calls in LP. Flop comes 5h4h2s and I get it in against 44 and lose, -$54.
2. Three limpers in EP (literally UTG, UTG+1 and UTG+2), I raise in LP with KQ and one of them who is really loose on the limp/calls calls. The flop comes KT8r and he bets about one-third pot and I call. The turn is a 3, he again bets about one-third and I call. The river is a 7 with no flush possible or anything, and he has about a pot-sized bet behind. He bets something like $4 into $20 and I put the rest in. He calls with T8s and takes it down, -$32.
3. Unknown half-stack calls my LP open with AQ in the BB and the flop comes 865 with two clubs. He checks, I check. The turn comes a Q putting two hearts on the board. He check-raises to about 2.5x, I 3-bet and he shoves with KK, -$31.
4. Flopped set under set, -$30.

Biggest Winners:

1. UTG opens, I call in UTG+1 with AKo, unknown UTG+2 shoves 60bb, it folds to UTG who shoves over, I call and win AK v 99 v JJ aipf, +$78.
2. SB opens, I 3bet AhAd, he 4bets, I call. Flop comes 943 with two hearts and he bet/calls with AsKs, +$48.
3. AQ v AJ on AQ4K5 gets three streets of value in a raised pot against a short-stack, +$20.
4. EP opens, I 3-bet with AA, BB shoves about 30bb, EP folds, I call, AA beats ATo aipf, +$18.

I did another PT3 video, this time about how to color-code HUD stats based on the value of a different stat (link). Unfortunately the audio didn’t work and I don’t feel like recording another one. You don’t really need the audio, but it probably makes it easier to listen to. Additionally, I made a small PDF that shows a step-by-step on how to get an NES emulator set up on your computer (link).

I would go to sleep already but I’m waiting for the results of Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin. I hope Griffin takes it down.

Biggest Losers:

1. Nut flush loses to a set all-in on the flop, -$51.
2. Set under set in a raised pot all-in on the flop, -$50.
3. I call a 3-bet with AJs in position. The flop comes A96r and I call a bet. Turn T hit his TT and I get stacked, -$50.
4. A guy limp/calls and I fire two barrels in position with QQ on K6J6 with two spades on the flop. He had KT, -$21.
5. I turn two pair against a flopped better two pair that checked the flop in a raised pot, -$20.

Biggest Winners:

1. I 4-bet with QQ and the guy from losing hand #3 above calls with AQo in position. I bet like $13 into a pot of $33 on a flop of 752 two-tone and he shoves, +$52.
2. Turned flush over flush, though to be fair he called a raise preflop OOP with 63s, +$52.
3. I 3-bet bluff a guy in position with K5s, he calls, I flop a flush, he c/r ships with QQ + fd and is drawing slim, +$51.
4. I call a raise IP with AQs, flop a flush on Kxx, call flop bet, turn is a blank, I raise his 2nd barrel and he stacks off with TPTK, +$51.
5. Villain limp/calls OOP against my KK, calls two streets on 6TQ3, shoves 5 river for about 1/3 pot, shows 64o, +$29.

I recorded the majority of my first session for an hour-long video that can be downloaded via Megaupload here. Additionally, I did a lot of reading today, and also found a potentially dangerous bug in [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-PokerStars.php]PokerStars[/url]’ client (which I reported obviously) that I was a bit surprised hadn’t been found/exploited/fixed yet.

Biggest Losers:

1. I called an LP open with 66 and decided it would be a neat idea to check/raise the flop and fire the turn and river on T84TJ, -$52. I think the river was misplayed, but I was okay with the rest of the hand I think.
2. I flop a set and pot the flop and the turn, guy called down with a gutshot and hit on the river, where he had about the pot left or so, -$25.
3. Ran 99 into JJ on an undercard board, -$22.

Biggest Winners:

1. KT beats K3o (guy called my LP open in the blinds) on 3T4K5, +$47.
2. A guy who had been shoving about 40bb repeatedly preflop ran A5s into my AQs, +$22.
3. I triple-barreled a missed AK and took it down on the river. I was really thrilled about my focus and clarity during this hand and didn’t really care about the result, +$21.

That’s really about it for today. Tomorrow I’m back to my regular schedule.