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Release Yo' Delf!! - 60k in 1 year

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  1. #1

    Default Release Yo' Delf!! - 60k in 1 year

    Hi, my name is Janez, born in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia 34 years ago. Well, at that point it was actually still Yugoslavia, but that didn't end that well, as you might know.

    Until a week ago, I was living in Ljubljana, with my girlfriend, but on Sunday evening we moved for warmer and happier climates, our destination being the sunniest country in Europe - Malta. That's one major event in my life that happened recently, and another one is the reason for this thread - the *** coaching for profits program! Opaa! I saw all those *** success threads on the forums, and thought to myself, hey, man, that’s the real deal. If I could just get in, learn from these people, and replicate their rise, wouldn't that be great??! So, I applied at the end of August, and, to make a long story short, I’m in, and going with it since September! So, what's the story?!


    Well, here’s the deal:

    Game: HU NL, cash.

    Experience level: some.

    Start: 50 NL HU.

    Target: 60 000 EUR.

    Time frame: 12 months.

    Why you might care: Because, if I can do it, so can you. Maybe you already did. Awesome. What one man can do, another can do. I’m not going to be the first to make it, and not the last either. But I will make it. And, I will have some fun with it, and you may find it interesting yourself, after all, we all love this game, and you might have some laughs with me along the way.



    Yeah, as you can see, I also opened a Youtube channel, sort of like my video blog, connected to the challenge: Janez ***. I'm not allowed to post the link to it here, it seems, but you can search it on Youtube, or just find it via the vid I posted above.

    Anyway, first I want to record some background information to the 60k challenge, so this way I can later compare the progress, and see what changed, and in what way.

    So, here are my results prior to joining *** program; I only included HU hands, some of them were played at 20bb CAP HU, and most on 100bb HU regular tables, played over the past 2 years. Before my HU days, I was a 6 max 20bb CAP player, and before that I played Sit'n'Gos, 6max, and 9max. I have been playing poker for 6 years now, and making a modest living from it for 4 years. But anyway, the HU history is what is relevant here now, and I think this is most of my lifetime HU hands; though there are probably some 15% missing from the DB, for one reason or another.

    Obviously, 5/10 CAP is my favorite stake, and there I also have what I feel is my true winrate - because, you see, at lower stakes they just don't respect my raises, man...


    Ok, so that's the context, that was me, there I was, playing my poker, and then I decided to step up my game...
    Last edited by Keith; 11-12-2014 at 05:52 AM. Reason: advertising removed
  2. #2
    Eee, where was I... Right, stepping up my game.

    Yes, you've seen my my starting point and standard to compare myself to later on. Ss you can see from my graphs above, the winrates I would say are ok, but the production really wasn't there. And I was susceptible to periods of non-playing, mostly for fear of losing during my downswings.

    So, that's one major thing I really want to change, to realy stabilize and increase my output over the long-term. Basically, I'm stepping up my game, and my life in general, you could say.

  3. #3
    So, that was a few weeks ago, and by now I had played for 3 weeks already, and the results so far, you can check out on – you guessed it - my video blog:



    And, here's the set-up, where I was playing these hands at, in my cosy office corner, which I left behind a few days ago:


    I had actually a different chair before that, more cosy, like an armchair, but it slowly disintegrated, and ended up in the trash bin, cut to pieces. For the last weeks I used one of the kitchen chairs, it was not the most comfortable for hours of grinding, but hey, I wasn't gonna buy new stuff when I was about to move. As said, I left all this behind; I sold my desk, monitors, speakers and the board on the wall to my landlord. And the chair was his anyway.

    Anyway, now I am on Malta, having arrived on Sunday, with nothing but a suitcase of clothes, and a duffel bag with my desktop in it.

    I’m now in a temporary apartment, and yesterday I got a cable to connect my desktop to the LCD TV in here. The guy in the repair shop sold me a VGA cable for 7 EUR, like I’m some ignorant foreigner, which, yeah, I guess I am at this point. I think he just made up the price on the spot, the cable was not packaged or anything, probably a used one. Hey, but what can I do, I couldn't find any electronics shop around, so I just took it. I got a working set up now, it’s not perfect, but at least I can do some productive stuff, like writing this, for example.

    The last week of Ljubljana was crazy hectic, selling stuff, dealing with my landlord, who was cool about everything, but still when many little things need to get sorted out, it takes time, always. I sold most of my possessions, and the rest I gave away in the last day or two. It is amazing how much stuff you collect and gather, mostly not paying too much attention to it, until you move or have a clear-out. I got rid of everything, many clothes, books, kitchen appliances, my car, electronics, everything was out the door. I did get some cash for it, but mostly I was giving it very cheaply, just to get rid of it. I was happy somebody is taking it that will use it, instead of me dumping it, or shelving it in someone’s basement. At the end of it, I went on a plane with a suitcase full of clothes, and a duffel bag with my desktop in it; and that’s everything I own now. Once I decided not to go by car, that was the plan – to strip down my possessions to the bare minimum, to have less hassle with the move. And, I guess, also keeping an eye on the future; I don’t know what my final destination will be as years go by, once you’re out the door, you've got momentum, and it’s a big world out there.


    The first two days here I spent just getting my bearings around the place, looking out for shops, and so on. As of now, we’re still living on supermarket food, and some fast food and restaurant food, which is not ideal, in fact it’s pretty far from it. I’m not used to this food anymore, I do take care of what I eat, and more than 2-3 days of junk food… Well, let’s not get into the details . In Ljubljana, I was buying 90% of my stuff on my local market, fresh local vegetables from the farmer a few kilometers out of the city, and local meat from the butcher. I went to the supermarket for cleaning products and stuff like that, and very little food. I mean, there’s very little food to be found in a supermarket anyway, unless you call that processed garbage food. I wouldn't feed it to my dog, man. Here’s how proper fridge content should look like, this is my old Ljubljana fridge:


    I had a good laugh in the supermarket yesterday, I mean, all the supermarket vegetables here seem to be imported. Tomatoes from Holland in Malta, that’s the world we live in, it’s insane! Maybe Malta can export some ice to Canada, make some good bussiness… Anyway, that’s my little food rant, untill I find sources of good vegetables and meat, fish here, which is not as simple as it sounds. They do have these vegetable trucks here, and I’ve been told fish trucks as well, I just have to figure out the locations and times, there’s also a local farm I found, so slowly we’re getting there.

    Anyway, that’s the recap of my last few days, I’m walking around trying to find stuff, and dealing with the basic needs first. My girlfriend started working the day after we arrived, so she’s at a new job, getting training/introduction to the company, very busy days for her, so basically I’m stepping up here and trying to organize the living conditions (hence the nicely organized room and tidy kitchen, see below). Days are flying by since my last blog, there’s a million things to do, the next step is securing a long-term flat here, I’m working on that already, should be sorted out by the end of the week, so I’ll let you know how that goes.

    For now, here’s our baller place we have until Monday, with my super PC setup as well:


    So, that's it, that's my story. I realize it's a long introduction, but hey, now the context is presented, you know what the story is, and you can decide if you find it interesting to follow or not.

    And, honestly, I put a bit of a compilation here, as I decided to open a blog here a couple of weeks later that with the other blogs. So maybe I should have opened the blog here 4 weeks ago, to really make it on the day I started the project, but, better late than never, and the project really starts now, actually, the 3 weeks before the move were more like training, let's say. But now, it's game on!
  4. #4
    a cynic may think that posting this blog across all the major poker forums may be a way of advertising Gordons video courses. i.e look how succesfull this guy is following the strategy i'll sign up for the 500 euro video course.
  5. #5
    I'll be deleting the whole thing if he doesn't come back and post updates or answer questions posted in his thread here
  6. #6
    I agree. Janez you'll definitely have to show more involvement in this forum or others on FTR, to view this blog as more than just advertising.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jay-Z
    I'm a couple hands down and I'm tryin' to get back
    I gave the other grip, I lost a flip for five stacks
  7. #7
    Hey guys, I'll be updating the blog 2x per week minimum, more if there is more interest. I'm glad to answer any questions, in fact that's the good part about it, to interact with other people.

    For sure posting on forums can be seen as a way of advertising, I don't see what's so bad about it, or what's cynical about it. Everything can be seen as a way of advertising. But it's much more than that to me, and the real cynicism would be reducing my project to nothing but *** advertising. That's like saying a tournament player is nothing but advertising, since he is wearing Pokerstars logo on his T-shirt, or whatever. Or, let's say I watch a football match. A cynic might think it's just advertising, since teams have company logos on their shirt, right? I'm no different. Yes, I joined the *** program. Yes, I'm telling everybody about it. And yes, it's my sweat and blood that go into it.

    My project is real, and has to be done; and it's pretty clear that it's a very difficult one. I will be writing about it as I go, and yes, I will try to be entertaining about it as well. And if I make it and then in the future somebody wants to repeat it, well, that's great. In fact I did get inspired by the other success threads to join the coaching program, and so far it's working great, and I'm glad I did it.

    So that's all I have to say about it; if you don't like it, that's your right, but I don't see any problem with doing my thing the way I am. So far I've gotten good feedback, and the people seem to like it. If you want to delete it, then delete it. If you find it of value to community, then let it be.
    Last edited by Keith; 11-12-2014 at 05:53 AM. Reason: advertising removed
  8. #8
    Now I've got everything set up, and I'm returning to the tables today. It took me two weeks to complete the move to Malta, all together, I think that's pretty fast and I'm satisfied with it.

    I have my new apartment now, it's for the next 12 months, my internet is fast, basically I have what I need. We arrived on Sunday evening, found the flat on Monday evening, liked it immediately, contacted the agency right away, and basically 1 hour later it was ours already. Then it took some time to sort out the papers, get it emptied and cleaned, and so on, and we got the keys on Friday. So, again, when you think it's all done, but there are many little things to be done, it takes time.

    But, anyway, I'm very happy with the flat, it's smaller than the previous one in Ljubljana, but it has everything we wanted, and to find it on the first day, basically, is running good, I would say.

    The flat had to be small, with a working desk for me, and an LCD TV because then I don't need to buy monitors. We didn't want a big living room with many couches and chairs, and so on, as we don't watch TV, and it's just a waste of space to me. A small couch is fine, to read a book or chill out, or take a nap or whatever, once in a while. Then, yeah, we didn't want old furniture in it, since mostly it looks pretty ugly, at least to us. Basically, we were looking for functionality, and some trace of style, and we got this one:




    The flat is 3 minutes walk away from the coast, so technically not quite on the beach, but I'll take it anyway . It's also 10-15 minutes walk to my girlfriend's job, which was another major factor in making the decision, as it's a completely different story if you can walk for 15 minutes to work, or you have to take a bus for 30 minutes, let's say. Because, then you have to get to the station, wait for the bus, get from the station to work, etc. 30 bus ride is actually closer to 1 hour trip, all together. And doing it twice per day, yeah, that's 2 hours instead of 30 minutes walking; not to mention she is walking along the bay, which is pretty cool as well, and a nice walk.

    Basically, we hit the nuts, we acted quickly to get it, and we got it, end of story. We moved things over the weekend, and set up the place, and tomorrow, like I said, I can continue with playing, and the rest.

    I can't wait to hit the tables, to be honest, I do feel a bit rusty, so I don't expect much in the first few days, just focusing on getting back into the rhythm, and not making any major mistakes, that's my first goal. I played for 3 weeks before, and now had a 2-week break, so I can't expect to just jump into it like it was yesterday. I shouldn't have many distractions lingering on from the move, I took care of everything, and now also have a pretty good idea of where to find stuff I need, I'm already cooking in this flat so I'm eating what I like, and feel better because of it as well. I will need to get back to exercise, I did zero in the last weeks; well, basically I did almost nothing for the whole summer, I sprained my ankle pretty badly playing basketball in June, and it was swollen for weeks and weeks, so I was almost immobile, and certainly useless as far as sport activities go. Anyway, I'm looking into options here to start in the next 2 weeks or so. I will be slowly increasing my work rate more and more, and I need to be in a good shape to be able to perform better and better.

    Other than that, I'm ready to dig deep, and push hard in the coming months, and the results will no doubt follow, sooner or later.
  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Janez View Post
    Hey guys, I'll be updating the blog 2x per week minimum, more if there is more interest. I'm glad to answer any questions, in fact that's the good part about it, to interact with other people.
    so you have no interest in participating in other threads throughout these forums?


    For sure posting on forums can be seen as a way of advertising, I don't see what's so bad about it, or what's cynical about it. Everything can be seen as a way of advertising. But it's much more than that to me, and the real cynicism would be reducing my project to nothing but *** advertising. That's like saying a tournament player is nothing but advertising, since he is wearing Pokerstars logo on his T-shirt, or whatever. Or, let's say I watch a football match. A cynic might think it's just advertising, since teams have company logos on their shirt, right? I'm no different. Yes, I joined the *** program. Yes, I'm telling everybody about it. And yes, it's my sweat and blood that go into it.
    And a lot of the time you'll see those patches blurred out so that the site hosting the image/text isn't providing a free advertising medium to the badge supplier. Will you still be updating this blog if the references to Gordon's site are removed from your blog.If you continue then it shows that you are here to share your poker experience, if not then the primary purpose of your blog is advertising for Gordon.

    My project is real, and has to be done; and it's pretty clear that it's a very difficult one. I will be writing about it as I go, and yes, I will try to be entertaining about it as well. And if I make it and then in the future somebody wants to repeat it, well, that's great. In fact I did get inspired by the other success threads to join the coaching program, and so far it's working great, and I'm glad I did it.

    So that's all I have to say about it; if you don't like it, that's your right, but I don't see any problem with doing my thing the way I am. So far I've gotten good feedback, and the people seem to like it. If you want to delete it, then delete it. If you find it of value to community, then let it be.
    this is pretty much admitting that the purpose behind the blog is to get others to sign up in the future.
    Last edited by Keith; 11-12-2014 at 05:55 AM.
  10. #10
    Jeeez, you're a tough crowd to please

    Delete/blur whatever you want, man, if it's not complying to the policies of the forum. I don't know the rules, you do. I'm here to share my blog with people, that's why I have it on more forums, to reach more people. The purpose of the blog is to make myself publicly accountable, sort of like putting myself out there. Which, apparently, also means receiving comments like this.

    There are no links to anything, but my Youtube videos, and my thread here. I never mentioned Gordon, or his courses, you did that. If I never planned to comment on other threads, why would I put the link (ok, not a link, but a reference) to this thread on my signature? Of course, now you can say, "aha, you just will comment on other threads to advertise this thread", and so on, and so on. There is no end to this debate, if we don't want to let it go.

    I tell you I'm here to talk about me, and not advertise anything. You do what you have to do.
  11. #11
    Just out of curiosity - What does "Release Yo' Delf!!" mean?
  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by BigSlickBaby View Post
    Just out of curiosity - What does "Release Yo' Delf!!" mean?

    It's the title of a Method Man song, means Release your self, ebonics, I guess
    Basically, it's a power song, something to pump yourself up for the sessions, or a project like mine, so I took it for my theme song, let's say...

  13. #13
    And I swear, I'm not paid by the Wu Tang Clan collective to advertise their songs to poker players!
  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Janez View Post
    And I swear, I'm not paid by the Wu Tang Clan collective to advertise their songs to poker players!
    LOL...I'm enjoying the blog so far. GL!
    Explain...what I do for a living without saying "I make monies in da 600 enels by pwnin' tha donk bitches". Instead I say "I'm a online financial redistribution broker". - Sasquach991
  15. #15
    Cheers, mate! Thanks for the support.
  16. #16
    reading up on the coaching program 1 thought of some questions....

    1. how much bond money did you have to put up up front.

    2. Which site/network are you playing on

    3. if you have to do 50 hours a week, and the 60k is split at the end ...how do you support yourself until the profit is split?
  17. #17
    These are not the sort of questions I can answer, Keith, you're asking me about the contents of the contract between me and ***. That's private. For anybody interested in more details about the program itself, I suggest to contact ***, I can't answer for them.
    Last edited by Keith; 11-12-2014 at 05:56 AM. Reason: advert removed
  18. #18
    these are some pretty fundamental facts about the coaching program that you are promoting.

    The bond money is particularly scummy in my opinion. THe reasons for it that Gordon mentions in his promotional video to deter uncommitted people and and filter them out is bullshit. If he has confidence in his abilities to coach people to success he wouldn't need the bond money, people would be making money and that would motivate them to continue studying and stay with his course.The bond money is effectively a means of locking people in so that they can't afford to leave otherwise they kiss goodbye to their bond money. read this thread which sidetracks into discussion about the coach charging a bond and never paying it back http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=327 . Not saying that Gordon does this but it is a risk with any coach charging a bond.Through the video Gordon says that they make it hard on players to make sure they study and set tasks for students to complete. Is one of the tasks to advertise his program for him or recruit new students?.

    The 50 hours per week seems to be designed to make sure that people play as much as possible and can't maintain a job alongside the coaching program. This leads back to the 3rd question i asked. If people aren't getting any income from poker until the end , and they are not getting the time to do a job , eventually they are going to meet a funding crisis and may have to leave and that then leaves them open to kissing goodbye to their bond money.

    As for the sites/network that you play on , it would be obvious that Gordon probably has you playing on one of his affiliate accounts so that he is getting a sizeable cut of your rake.This can then lead to a conflict of interest, he can teach a style aimed at maximising rake , which then earns him a sizeable income whilst you are on the program and if it depresses win rate it can prolong the time that you are on the program and therefore increase his rake income.

    Gordon also says that he doesn't worry about students past results as he is confident in turning them into winners and that big winners arent suited to his course.Cynics may well think that of course he doesn't worry about past results , he is going to get people to grind huge volumeand if they can't afford to continue he keeps the bond money.You want to promote his course, i'm going to point out the potential problems that people can walk into.
    Last edited by Keith; 10-08-2014 at 04:16 AM.
  19. #19
    Well, I see you have many questions about it, you can of course contact ***, they would be the address for that.

    Or, alternatively, you can follow my blog, and see how it works out for me in the next 12 months or so.

    I returned to the tables a couple of days ago after the 2-week break due to my move to Malta, I feel a bit rusty right now, but I hope to get back into my routine as soon as possible. I am making a video blog for my Youtube Channel, for anybody interested in how my transition went.

    Other than that, I intend to write more actual poker stuff in the future, more session reviews and HH, and stuff like that, now that I've introduced myself, and my project. It is, after all, a poker challenge blog. I am still making up the baseline of my blogs as I go, I'm new to this, and like to experiment. I don't know how much people are interested in the personal stuff rather than poker strategy, for me it's fun to make, and in the end, like I've talked about in my videos, the two are inseparable at the tables. I do try to become a poker player, and not just a guy who also happens to play poker, if that makes any sense.
    Last edited by Keith; 11-12-2014 at 05:57 AM. Reason: advert removed
  20. #20
  21. #21
    YEAH! RELEASE YO 'DELF, SON!!!! BUST OUTTA 'DEM FINANCIAL SHACKLES 'DEY BE PLACIN' UPON YOU!!!!
    Last edited by BigSlickBaby; 10-09-2014 at 07:53 AM.
  22. #22
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    8,697
    Location
    soaking up ethanol, moving on up
    what sites are you playing?
    how many table-hours normally occur during the 35hrs you're sitting and waiting?
    are you prepared to play regs, or are you purely bum-hunting the HU lobby?
  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by BigSlickBaby View Post
    YEAH! RELEASE YO 'DELF, SON!!!! BUST OUTTA 'DEM FINANCIAL SHACKLES 'DEY BE PLACIN' UPON YOU!!!!

    Cash Rules Everything Around Me
    C.R.E.A.M.
    Get the money
    DOLLAR, DOLLAR BILL Y'ALL!!!
  24. #24
    @daven

    I play pretty close to 35 hours, maybe 30 hours or more. I have very little down time, play-play-play all day... And my plan is to increase slowly, but surely as the months go by, and I get more trained, skilled, and consistent. I'm prepared for anything that takes me to my goal, I don't care for the reg vs. bum-hunter debate, it's all poker to me. Know what you're doing, make your decision, play whoever you want.
  25. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    8,697
    Location
    soaking up ethanol, moving on up
    Quote Originally Posted by Janez View Post
    I don't care for the reg vs. bum-hunter debate,
    fair enough, do you play regs though?

    Quote Originally Posted by Janez View Post
    play whoever you want.
    agree

    what sites are you playing?
    how many hands are you typically averaging per hour?
  26. #26
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    8,697
    Location
    soaking up ethanol, moving on up
    just had a thought
    if the bcp guy has enough minions then he can have the HU lobbies on small sites completely saturated with players he has a stake in...

    do you have a list of minions who you are not allowed to play against, irrespective of how bad they seem?
  27. #27
    but 2 students playing headsup is a coaching for profit affiliates wet dream, he's getting a big cut of rakeback and affiliate income on every hand paid and it locks the students in for longer grinding back the rake generated
  28. #28
    Song of the week...
  29. #29
    The first week of my return to the challenge is over. After two weeks of break it was quite hard to get back into the rhythm. It’s not just that I simply had 2 weeks of break, but in this period I made a major change in my life by relocating to Malta, getting rid of all my stuff, and so on. So my mind way distracted by this during the break, and coming back to poker took some getting used to.



    On top of that, I installed an SSD disk to my computer to persist with using HM2, which caused me to re install windows, and then complete poker software package, and also all of the poker rooms themselves. This process didn’t take that much time, but the devil lies in the details, and the main issue turned out to be all the little settings in all of these programs that I have customized over weeks, months, and years of usage. You don’t really think about it, until you’re back using the programs, and all the time there’s a little thing missing which you were using here, and the postflop bet sizing is not set there, and so on. So, it adds up and creates an unwelcome distraction.



    So it was a similar process than at the beginning of the September, when I started the challenge, and again it made me think about this unspoken part of poker – or anything you do in life. Efficient table positioning, knowing how to quickly access the software settings that you’re looking for, having other things in life taken care of – is a part of poker professional’s skill set. If you don’t have the right monitor for your games, if your HUD is crashing, if you don’t know how to filter out hands in HM, well, then you don’t even need to think about which hands to 3B preflop, or how to design calling ranges. You won’t need them, you’re out of the game already. So, is it a part of the game, or not? To me, it is.



    Anyway, the week is over, I adapted back into a poker player’s mindset, and I feel I’m back on track where I left off. My introductory period is over, things are now familiar to me, and it’s becoming more and more fun to improve them, rather than being overwhelmed at the tasks at hand, which in the beginning I definitely was a little bit. I have been playing for 4 weeks now, and they say 3 weeks is enough to create a habit for anything. Indeed, my outlook on poker as a whole is changing, I’ve noticed that, and that’s quite interesting to observe. I will write more in the future about this, as I think for me this is the most important aspect of being a poker pro. The point is to become a poker player, don’t just be a guy who also plays poker, if that makes any sense.
  30. #30
    Poker site you play at??? I love Omaha hi/lo ring games. Recently, I have been pleasantly surprised to see some Omaha hi/lo ring games running frequently when I play on the Winning Poker Network. A lot of other networks either have empty Omaha hi/lo tables or do not allow players like me from the U. S. to play on their poker site. Winning Poker Network includes Bookmaker, America's CardRoom, and BlackChip Poker. I do not know if TruePoker is still in existence.
    It takes 2 years to learn to talk, but a lifetime to learn when to shut up.
  31. #31
    Interesting blog, i watched some of the videos and i laughed about the joke about the many fishes in a mediterranian environment LOL.
    BCP sound like Black Chip Poker, but it must be a euro site (more traffic) and you talk about euros profit (in malta).
    For a yugoslavian guy you speak very good english, im envious
  32. #32
    I'm glad you enjoyed the vids, man

    As far as my English goes, I spent a year in England doing my Masters degree a few years ago, so that didn't hurt. Other than that, I think it's just from all the american sitcoms and rap music I used to be tuned into back in the more or less pre-internet days
  33. #33
    The second video is deleted now, or is it only my kraut Country
  34. #34
    videos are all up for me
  35. #35
    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel72 View Post
    The second video is deleted now, or is it only my kraut Country
    It's blocked in Germany, because I used Stereo MC's song. I wasn't aware of these things at the beginning, so unfortunately it happened.
  36. #36
  37. #37
    Another week comes to an end, that means 5 weeks of playing behind me so far. The results are ok, you can see in the above video(s), but I'm still making many mistakes. Usually I'm careful, so I don't make many big pot mistakes, but more medium ones. Playing many different opponents, and sometimes changing them fast as they leave, makes it hard to deal with unusual lines from them, as you don't really know what to expect, so that can throw you off.

    I think one of my main areas for improvement is more aggressive value betting in certain situations; sometimes I come to the river with a strong hand which is not the nuts, and don't bet it or raise it, probably for fear of getting raised or that if I bet and lose, I will lose a bigger pot, or something like that, I don't quite know. It's irrational, perhaps on some level I remember the lost pots when I made a big river bet or raise more than I remember the pots won when I was called by worse hands. There is a bit of »feeling stupid« when you make a big bet and are called by a better hand. It's as if I don't understand in the moment that I only need to get called by worse hands 50% or more, to make it a good value bet. As if part of me wants to have it 100%.

    But anyway, there is much room for improvement, which I can see already on my own; which means that in reality, there is even more room for improvement, which I can't even see yet. The »unknown unknowns«, as they say. But that will come in time, the mission for now is to cut down the number of bad moves every day, little by little, and improve consistency, focus, patience. Auto-pilot is the worst, insta clicking buttons takes all the fun out of poker, yet there come many moments what you just do it, aha dry board, CB, boom! Aha, missed turn, give up. Click, click. And ten minutes later you are into insta-clicking everything, until you find yourself in a tough spot for many BBs, then you wake up. It's sort of like driving a car, and realizing after a few minutes, that you were completely caught up in your thoughts, or something, and couldn't even remember what color car was driving in front of you, if somebody asked you...

    I got some fish from the fish shop today, they are really cheap here, and fresh from the sea. 3 euros for two decent sized lampuki fish, unbelievable.


    I was thinking about getting some fishing gear in the near future, but if they are so cheap, it's almost too easy to just go and buy them! A but I might start fishing anyway, just for the fun of it.
  38. #38
    Week 6 of my projetc is over, here's a quick report:

  39. #39
    I'm deep into week 7 by now, and at the moment I'm having a bit of a rough patch. I had 3 break-even days in a row, which is a bit frustrating, feels like I can't win any pots, and the one's I do win, slowly grinding them up, are gone in one big cooler, or suck-out, and then the process repeats... But, I guess we all know that feeling.

    You can’t win every day, but it’s still hard to take a loss, or not winning for a few days in a row. I hate losing, to be honest, I really do. I still didn't hit any stop-loss days so far in the first 6 weeks, I don’t know if I’m being lucky or what, but the truth is I also try to play carefully. Which doesn't mean I never spew, I can remember some bad calls in the past weeks. But in general I’m happy with the was things are going. Sometimes I just want to win everything in one day, but really, slow and steady wins the race. The problem for me is, when nothing is going my way for a long time, I'm in danger of going on auto-pilot, and not really digging deep into the match in front of me. So that's something I have to keep an eye on, for sure.

    I also started doing equity calculations, will do 10 per day, and see where it gets me. Comparing equities of two different hands on a flop. I decided to make the flop the same each day, and change the hands, to see how strong different hands are on a given flop
  40. #40
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    8,697
    Location
    soaking up ethanol, moving on up
    breakeven patches and downswings happen. How you respond to them is key.
    Also, a suggestion of the equity calculations, see edit below ranges vs hands

    Quote Originally Posted by Janez View Post
    I also started doing equity calculations, will do 10 per day, and see where it gets me. Comparing equities of two different RANGES on a flop. I decided to make the flop the same each day, and change the RANGES, to see how strong different RANGES are on a given flop
    fyp cos ranges >> hands
  41. #41
    You're right, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Now it's also easier for me, since I have a coach, I have feedback on my play, so that I know where I stand. I have a coaching session yesterday, and I piled up all the bigger losing hands from the last week or so, and we went through it. That's a massive relief for me, to get a very good player comment on the hands, I can rely on the feedback and keep my feet on the ground, instead of starting to doubt everything, and wondering what I'm doing wrong. There were basically no mistakes in big pots that we checked, now there are probably some in the small "standard" pots, since frustration can have impact on the little things you usually do well and more focused, when not to make a turn stab against somebody, or which sizing, and so on.

    As for the range advice, I also agree. But I'm starting from the basics, and will progress to ranges later. For now, my practice looks something like this:


    Flop of the day: 8c 6d 3s

    Equity comparisons: (my guess before checking real equity is in brackets)

    OVERPP(AA) : 2P (86) – 25:75 (30:70)

    Top 2P (86) : bottom2P (63) – 92:8 (90:10)

    TPTK (A8) : bottom2P(63) - 25:75 (30:70)

    SD+bFD (9c7c) : bottomP (A3) – 52:48 (50:50)

    GT+bFD+overs (Tc9c) : TPTK(A8) – 42:58 (35:65)

    bFD+bSD+OVER (Ac7c) : OVERPP (JJ) – 21:79 (30:70)

    OVERPP (AA) : TP+bFD+bSD (8d7c) – 73:27 (65:35)

    SET (33) : SD+bFD (5d4d) – 72:28 (70:30)

    TPTK (A8) : bottom 2P (63) – 25:75 (30:70)

    SD+bFD (9c7c) : bottom 2P (63) – 35:65 (45:55)


    I will improve and expand the exercise with time, as I get better with it, and get more ideas, etc. For now, the first step is just to get it into my daily routine, so I don't want to start too big.
  42. #42
    So, week 7 didn't go so well, I had some troubles at the tables. I talk about it a bit in my weekly report.
  43. #43
    Week 8 is in full progress, and things are going ok. I decided, together with my coach, to mostly drop the NL50 levels, and focus on NL100+, as the rake at the lower level is a true killer on many sites. Also, psychologically I think it will help me deal with higher stakes, it’s a bit uncanny playing NL50 at the same time as NL200, let’s say, if you have action on 2 tables at the same time.

    You call a preflop raise and a CB at NL200, and it’s basically one third of a stack at NL50. So then the danger is that you can become either nervous in big pots at NL200, or a bit careless and automatic in small pots at NL50.



    Otherwise, I’m still thinking about how to organize my learning better. There is a lot of information piling up, which is great, but you also need a way to take it all in, repeat and drill the basic. I’m going to go for Onenote, I like the program and it’s great for organizing stuff like this in one place. So far I have some stuff organized and collected, but there’s alot of sources of information, from coachings to videos, experience, and it’s quite a challenge putting it all together. Basically, the idea here is to bring all of it into one coherent strategy, as opposed to having a lot of different bits of information for different situation. It sounds obvious, but it’s really a challenge to put in practice.
  44. #44
    And, week 8 is done, here’s the report:

  45. #45
    why can't you show you're HEM graph to verify that your claimed winnings correspond with the custom graph you are posting?Why do you find it impossible to post in any other threads on this forum or other forums.
  46. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by Keith View Post
    why can't you show you're HEM graph to verify that your claimed winnings correspond with the custom graph you are posting?Why do you find it impossible to post in any other threads on this forum or other forums.
    Hi Janez,

    These are two very valid questions in my opinion.

    I'm all for poker players being successful and finding unique ways to promote their play, but this is a community/forum based on contributions and camaraderie. Aside from this thread, you have not formed any part of FlopTurnRiver and this thread is self-promotion/advertising that's cross-posted on several forums.

    If you are not interested in contributing in some other way, this thread may be deleted and your account banned. This decision won't be anything personal, but a step to ensure our boards aren't used solely for the means of advertising & self-promotion.

    Either way, I wish you the best of luck with your endeavors at and away from the tables.

    -David
  47. #47
    Hi, David!

    Yes, I have my blog updates on more forums, I was open about that since my first post. I don't see it as anything bad, quite the opposite, I just want to entertain more people, some read one forum, some read other forums, so I cast a wider net. I get positive responses in general, and people like it; but like I said above already, I don't know the terms and conditions of this forum, so if my thread is violating them, or you feel it's not worth having it on FTR, do what you have to do. If you feel you have to delete it and ban me from FTR for just focusing on my thread, who am I to stop you.

    As far as Keith's questions go, if they were framed in a genuine way, I would be answering them, like I am on other forums if asked, and like I was answering him in the beginning, you can read up the thread. But as they are always nothing more and nothing less than insinuations, accusations, and passive aggression, always framed in a way as to make me defend myself rather than share and communicate about myself, I'm done with him, and will ignore it.

    I do what I feel is right for me, and you of course will do the same. I don't take it personally, why would I, we're strangers.

    In any way, thanks for the good wishes, I do appreciate that.
  48. #48
    Answer Keith's questions or I will ban you in the next 24 hours and delete this entire thread. And in case you are wondering who I am, my name is in yellow which means I can do whatever the hell I want.
  49. #49
    well given Janez's attitude lets blow this shit apart. Back at the start i asked a load of question that Janez refused to answer . with a bit of research i've come up with some of the answers.

    for example which sites are you playing ..... well another of the coaching programs stidents supplied this info on 2+2
    hi guys,

    so since friday when i started the coaching for profits programm, i setet up a lot of stuff and did more organizing stuff than playing.

    i structured my month in working, playing poker, learning, family time. my wife is really in love with this idea because now i dont have no more excuses not sharing time with family . i personally also believe this will have a positive influence on my life. after getting used to this structure i will add also doing sports as a fixed element in my agenda.

    i have a starting bankroll of 5k dollar, which i splittet now to 7 diffrent networks. off tomorrow i will start grinding regularly. my goal is to play 100k hands a month. my feeling for this right now is that i wont bring this volume, since waiting on multible talbes brings less traffic. i was used playing pokerstars zoom, this was great to that time, because i could play like start and stop. but for now no zoom, we ll see how things work out.


    so the students have their bankroll split across multiple networks and sites. What this means is that gordon can probably monopolise the major sites so that when his current and ex students play their they continue raking affilliate income. By spreading it so wide he can make sure that even after the student leaves the program , gordon keeps earning from the student.

    little later the same guy then posts

    good morning guys,

    my bankroll is now almost 6K. That means since starting the CFP programm i generated 2k profits. my coach gave green light for nl100.

    and i already had my first session on nl100 which went out verygood. at least in EV and not in money. but im looking forward to it.

    Next stop to go is nl200 means earning another 20 buy ins.


    so he's made 2k in profits , started with a 5k bankroll (from previous quote) and now has 6k bankroll. This implies that 1k of his profits have been transferred to gordon. This is partly explaining the how and when does gordon get his cut questions i asked that Janez wouldn't answer. The reason you are being asked the questions is so that this forums members don't get sucked into a coaching program based on people advertising it with their own hand produced "impressive" graphs. THats why i asked why you don't back up your graphs with your HEM graph especially as saving your hem graph and posting it is so easy to do. You and gordon want to advertise his program for free , i am providing the checks and balances and your attitude and lack of response to my questions indicate that you and gordon have something to hide. If something stinks , there's usually a reason.
  50. #50
    Shocking expose, man. It's all a big conspiracy. To recap:

    1.There's a guy who plays on more than one site. AHA! That proves... Well, something, I guess.
    2. Affiliates make money from rakeback. Shocker. I'm no expert on the topic, but as far as I know, anybody can change rakeback affiliates any time they want.
    3. There's 1k missing from this guy's bankroll, according to your calculations. Maybe he cashed out for living expenses, maybe he paid the coach. Maybe his dog ate it. Who knows, I don't know the guy. You can of course ask him, in his thread, if you want the answer.

    If you think I'm manipulating my results to falsely impress people, well there's really nothing I can do about it. If I post HM graph just for you, you will just say that it's not mine, or that I deleted the losing hands, or something. It's not hard to manipulate a HM graph, if somebody wants to manipulate his results.

    I post my results the way I do, because that's how I track them. For me, not for you. HM doesn't support all networks, and doesn't add in the bonuses and/or rakeback. So this is my method to get the whole picture.


    I don't care what you think and believe.

    I came here to post my blog. I thought people would be interested. If you don't like it, fine.

    I told you delete whatever you want. You deleted nothing. The forum participants seemed to be supportive of my project. Yet there's various moderators or guys with yellow names or whatever insulting me and threatening me periodically in this thread that they are going to delete it. Go ahead, do what you want.
  51. #51
    Quote Originally Posted by jyms View Post
    Answer Keith's questions or I will ban you in the next 24 hours and delete this entire thread. And in case you are wondering who I am, my name is in yellow which means I can do whatever the hell I want.
    That's just plain ridiculous. No I wasn't wondering who you are, why would I be?
    You're just some guy on an internet forum.

    Ok, now I know - you have a yellow name and you can do "whatever the hell you want".
    That's great, good for you.
  52. #52
    Quote Originally Posted by Janez View Post
    Shocking expose, man. It's all a big conspiracy. To recap:

    1.There's a guy who plays on more than one site. AHA! That proves... Well, something, I guess.
    yeah , its a program ...therefore everyone will be following a similar pattern and starting with the same bankroll and playing the same networks.
    2. Affiliates make money from rakeback. Shocker. I'm no expert on the topic, but as far as I know, anybody can change rakeback affiliates any time they want.
    ANd by signing you up through his affiliate link on the sites that the best rakeback affiliates provide deals on he is preventing you from moving onto one of their deals at a later date. so you either continue with gordon or have to play on inferior deals in the future.
    3. There's 1k missing from this guy's bankroll, according to your calculations. Maybe he cashed out for living expenses, maybe he paid the coach. Maybe his dog ate it. Who knows, I don't know the guy. You can of course ask him, in his thread, if you want the answer.
    don't you remember i asked at the start how players get to fund themselves and you refused to answer since the terms don't provide time for someone to work a full time job as well.As for not knowing ythe guy you commented on his thread several times. You know the only threads that you seem to comment on are other guys in the program .
    If you think I'm manipulating my results to falsely impress people, well there's really nothing I can do about it. If I post HM graph just for you, you will just say that it's not mine, or that I deleted the losing hands, or something. It's not hard to manipulate a HM graph, if somebody wants to manipulate his results.
    it's even easy to manipulate a hand drawn graph.Glad you mentioned the graph manipulation though cos the other guy started his thread at 2+2 on 22/8 and on 5th of november posted his results for first full month and then a post or two later said he'd been on the program for 2 months. so although it was a hem2 graph the hands played compared to hours he was supposed to put in didn't tally.
    I post my results the way I do, because that's how I track them. For me, not for you. HM doesn't support all networks, and doesn't add in the bonuses and/or rakeback. So this is my method to get the whole picture.

    I don't care what you think and believe.
    the feeling is mutual
    I came here to post my blog. I thought people would be interested. If you don't like it, fine.

    I told you delete whatever you want. You deleted nothing. The forum participants seemed to be supportive of my project. Yet there's various moderators or guys with yellow names or whatever insulting me and threatening me periodically in this thread that they are going to delete it. Go ahead, do what you want.
    You didn't come here to be part of the community . you came here to advertise the coaching program. You have done nothing to interact with the other members of the forum outside of this thread. Since the sole purpose of this thread appears to be to advertise the program , as moderators we have to make sure that the forum members are made aware of the potential pitfalls of joining the program. If the program is so wonderful that you advertise it , why do you get so defensive when asked about the detail? It reeks of having something to hide.

    whilst HEM doesn't directly support all networks , 3rd party hand converters are available for a lot of the unsupported networks hand histories allowing huds to run and results to be tracked in HEM or PT4. Bonuses can be entered manually with a date and screename and bonus amount and rake back is calculated on the go in the rakeback section of HEM allowing results including rakeback and bonuses to be graphed.and results from all networks can be collated into one alias to show overall results graph.
  53. #53
    Quote Originally Posted by Janez View Post
    That's just plain ridiculous. No I wasn't wondering who you are, why would I be?
    You're just some guy on an internet forum.

    Ok, now I know - you have a yellow name and you can do "whatever the hell you want".
    That's great, good for you.
    Internet forums are a big deal to some people, Janez... especially veteran posters who have made them what they are with thousands of contributions.

    As for your ad campaign, we get it. You do not see any value in communicating anything other than your program on the forums. In that case, there is zero value that you add to the FlopTurnRiver community aside from what you perceive from the viewpoint of a salesperson.

    The two members who are requesting most of the feedback in this thread aren't two randoms. Jim (jyms) and Keith have approximately 11,000 and 4,000 posts respectively over the course of several years. Attempting to belittle them by treating them as unknowns is an incorrect move in my opinion, even for your sales pitch purposes. Their tones may be direct, but they have earned that privilege through their contributions and are well known within the poker community in general, and icons within this particular community.

    You can write, you enjoy poker, and I think you'll have a bright future either way. With that said, upstanding members of this community invited you to become a part of it (in some way other than spamming our boards) and you declined.

    Best of luck to you in the future.

    -David
  54. #54
    Ok, got it. You don't want me to write here. If I knew you'd get so annoyed about it, I wouldn't mention any coaching in the first place. I told Keith in the beginning - when he proposed this - to delete or blur any reference to anything he finds suspicious, that I don't care and would continue my blog. That could have ended the whole »advertising« debate right there, and that was his claim - that if I agree, this will show I am here simply to share my poker experience. Well, I agreed immediately. But it didn't change anything.

    I don't want to answer questions about the financial details of the program, about how and why they do it the way they do it, as it's not my program. I told you don't ask me, ask them. I don't know, and/or it's not my business. Believe it or not, I'm just their customer, like many other guys out there.

    I mean, look to what it has come, now Keith is asking me about some other guy's HM graph on another forum, that it's suspicious and so on. And I'm supposed to debate and justify this guy's graphs now, or what? Jesus, man, I don't know how to tell you. I play poker and study poker. I'm just a guy writing a blog about getting coaching and trying to make a living in poker, working my ass off, day in, day out. That's it. But you don't believe that, you think I have some hidden agenda to sucker and deceive somebody, and that has been the case since post #1 from you guys.

    So, I'll take your good wishes for the future, and stop »spamming« you here. GG, GL.
  55. #55
    "Obviously, 5/10 CAP is my favorite stake, and there I also have what I feel is my true winrate - because, you see, at lower stakes they just don't respect my raises, man..."

    Glad you guys locked this up.... this statement makes me sick and shows nothing but a lack of integrity (or just pure ignorance about how these results are not sustainable) in marketing his coaching program.

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