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Poker Video: No Limit Hold'Em by sthief09 (Micro/Small Stakes)

This goal seems bad though because it is based on results.

I think of things like this as process and results. The process is putting in the hours/hands. The results are obviously the results. As long as you set goals for the process over the short-run, I think it's reasonable to have a goal for the results in the long-run. As long as you're not trying to win $x every week or even every month, it should work out fine.

It's analogous to dieting. My fiancee wants to lose weight (like mostly every other female). I tell her it's fine to have a goal weight as long as it's not a daily or weekly thing. If she eats right and works out the results will be there in a couple of months. Weighing herself daily is pointless and she'll get caught up in the highs and the low.

What would you suggest I do for my goal/reward system?

This is where you really have to know yourself. Do you respond more to punishments or rewards? What are some hobbies you have? I'm trying to set it up so that me being productive is the path to getting to do the stuff I want to do.

So how's everyone doing? Any updates? I'd love to see them.

Anything in particular any of you would like to see in future videos? I know the things I personally need to work on to make myself a better poker player, and I think they mostly apply to the rest of you. But I bet some of you have some ideas I haven't thought of.

Although I've been running pretty bad since starting this and not turning a profit at 25nl yet.
I feel like I've been doing pretty good.
I've played less tables on average than before, and more focussed overall. Which were the 2 biggest points to focus on.
Problem is that often times I'm thinking I can get players to fold hands, that they're not folding aparantly.
Guess it's just some adjusting to 25nl.

I still need to spend some more time studying the game instead of playing though. I am going through the forums every day to read the hands and comment on some of them, but I feel like I should be doing more.
I find it pretty hard to do a session review myself.. All the hands are still engraved in my mind from the entire week, I know what I've done, and I know the reasoning behind it. Seems hard to correct myself.
It's usually just going through the hands thinking "yeah, this seems fine".


http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/256/week1compleet.jpg/

Anything in particular any of you would like to see in future videos?

Whenever things start to go bad for me in projects like this I tend to "start fresh" (deleting DB, restarting goals from tomorrow, etc) and think "this time it's different!"... which it obv won't be, rather than pushing through it and actually growing/achieving. I guess kind of like how people make new years resolutions, although they just stop and don't start again.

So talking about that sometime down the track would be cool, I suspect some people will start to hit walls a few weeks in and feel like giving up.

My girlfriend and I just moved into a new apartment yesterday I was waiting to find a place before starting this challenge.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/341/freshstartsheet.png/

Lacking a few long term goals/punishment as well as short term goals, but I'm not really sure what to put hey. I'll update it next week with further goals/punishments as well as updates.

Great idea for a series as well, pretty much exactly what I needed to pull myself out of my downswing.

I answered some of the questions in here in episode 3. Please keep em coming and keep posting progress, either here or in the current video thread.

such a great idea sthief thanks alot. This is exactly what I need. Since I moved down from 200NL things were going really bad for me in terms of poker and reallife also. Reading the weakneses your wrote down is like looking in a mirror =) hope this series will help me.

I've been refining my goals a little since this episode. My main issue is autopilot and focusing when I play.

I find sessions where I do this an I'm near my A game I am taking tons of notes. C game sessions where I autopilot a lot I may go a whole session without taking more than a couple notes.

Anyone know of a good way to track that? I'd like to set myself a goal of x notes per session just to monitor how I'm doing. Is there anyway to extract that from HEM?

I've been refining my goals a little since this episode. My main issue is autopilot and focusing when I play.

I find sessions where I do this an I'm near my A game I am taking tons of notes. C game sessions where I autopilot a lot I may go a whole session without taking more than a couple notes.

Anyone know of a good way to track that? I'd like to set myself a goal of x notes per session just to monitor how I'm doing. Is there anyway to extract that from HEM?

Are there distractions that cause fewer notes to be taken? I assume fewer notes being written is just a sign of C game but it includes worse play as well. Maybe when you catch yourself, take a break and reset. It's incredible how much a 10-15 minute break and help re-focus and change the trajectory of a session.

If you're into negative re-enforcement, you can just force yourself to do a session review afterwards and make notes. Then at least subconsciously you know your lack of focus will force you to do something you don't want to do (which also happens to be productive).

There is a way to export notes from HEM, but I don't think you can trade when they were created.

Anyone want to be on a future video? It's basically like free coaching.

Something I'd really like to do is get a couple of you on a video discussing hands and ideas with each other. Having a solid group of friends to bounce ideas off is huge.

Are there distractions that cause fewer notes to be taken? I assume fewer notes being written is just a sign of C game but it includes worse play as well. Maybe when you catch yourself, take a break and reset. It's incredible how much a 10-15 minute break and help re-focus and change the trajectory of a session.

Distractions are a big part of it.

Some little distractions that I'm working on. I have a tendency to web browse etc when I'm on my C game. Been getting better at it, but not great.

Some are tougher and honestly probably going to be things I always deal with. I've got a pretty awesome, but at times very stressful job that makes it hard to just sit down and completely unplug and focus. Also for various reasons I rarely get to play under ideal conditions. For instance there is pretty much always a TV playing in the background when I'm playing. I block that out pretty well, but at my worst it's a distraction. I know I should make sure the conditions are better, but it's really a choice between not playing or playing like that.

Taking regular breaks is a good deal. For a while I actually set a timer and made myself at least get up a walk around for a minute every 20-25 minutes. The timer started to be an area of focus though and almost a distraction. So now I just try to make myself sit out every once in a while and get up walk a little, maybe get any web surfing urges out of my system and then get back to it.

If you're into negative re-enforcement, you can just force yourself to do a session review afterwards and make notes. Then at least subconsciously you know your lack of focus will force you to do something you don't want to do (which also happens to be productive).

Session reviews are something I'm trying to do a better job of so it seems kind of counter to that to make it negative reinforcement.

There is a way to export notes from HEM, but I don't think you can trade when they were created.

I think you are right - would be a pretty good metric for me though to measure my focus. Out of curiousity on a scale of zero to Grindcore what do most people think they average for notes per hour 100 hands (or something like that).

Hi. I havent posted yet in this forum although i am a member of DC for a couple of years. This series pretty much describes my situation with poker and already i am feeling motivation to restart. To give you a short description of my poker career lets say this: After i had found my main game, NL6max i played NL200 and was really winning a lot.Transitioning to NL400 never worked out for me because of a combination of not beeing good enough, bad luck and simply not investing more time in studying the game. For some reason i wasent playing much poker at all the last year but know i restarted with NL50, winning "pretty big", if thats possible at NL50. Know i am trying NL100 but i find it more difficult than back in the days. Also i have a big problem with autopiloting and playing too many tables although i am starting to fix that.
So i am looking forward to talk here to more people because not talking to others is probably the biggest leak i have. (I am from Germany if that matters but i think you can notice that my english is not perfect)

I am in such situation: I feel like I didn't improve past few months, so this series should fit me. I filled the first Excel chart:

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/953/week1goals.png

I filled in the chart yesterday and think I'm ready to start the BR challenge tonight. Well, as soon as I decide which site to play on. What do people think the best value is at the moment for the fish/rakeback balance?


Cheers sthief, great series for me right now.

Filled in my first fresh start form and ready to go, this series is great!

The "plateau buster" seems a little too aggressive though, I'd say 15 buyins is the very minimum for me to take a shot at the next stake. Who knows hopefully I'll run like awesome when I next take a shot

Josh, questions about your move up rapidly srtat? Currently playing 10nl winning enough to cash out 200/week and keep 400-500 roll.Like 13bb/100 with some pretty shitty day mixed in However, since I've never swung down more than 8 bi's in a session over the past 120k hands, assuming since games are relatively soft and usually head back up- most lost at end up session was 4.4 bi's.

Question, I seem to be way to nitty in my approach and should be taking shots as outlined by your system above. Even so, maybe not to get to 100nl atm because games look to be worlds apart from 10 and 20, but even 50 doesn't seem bad. Kicker is, put myself in super cheap situation and country to try this poker thing seriously to succeed but busto equals no bueno. Have managed to grind out and improve and play well, but its about damn time I move up, Assuming I can get over the mental issues of having just grinded 120k at 10nl and now bet sizing and bi for 20nl are basically 2 bi at 10nl so a little more mentally challenging Thoughts or advice if you don't mind?

I'm a bit late but process strted for me

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/228/freshstartform.jpg

Finally back from Asia! Starting this right away!

My sheet : http://i40.tinypic.com/2wpmc9j.png

Might change it later! First session on the new BR challenge incoming!

mesch_pkr decided to start a thread if anyone is interested. I know I've received a bunch of PMs since this came out. I find it's easier to stay motivated when my goals are shared by others.

http://deucescracked.com/forums/13-Videos/topics/512121-So-fresh-and-so-clean-pro?#post_4496281

Just what i need, a fresh clean start.Getting to work pronto, great concept.