General Discussion Poker Forums

how many hands in 2008? ÷]

85k or so (took most of the summer off traveling on weekends)

I am an analyst on Wall Street, have studied nutrition, fitness, the markets and personal finance along with the obvious, poker - I can probably add value to answering questions in any of these areas.

I run a business then grind part time, sounds like you have a similar workload.
Any pointers or suggestions towards what kind of diet is best to keep someone prepared for long days or sessions?

Poker-related:

Last two days: http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/6519/1230km1.jpg

I will be putting in a ton of hands next few days having free time.

I run a business then grind part time, sounds like you have a similar workload.
Any pointers or suggestions towards what kind of diet is best to keep someone prepared for long days or sessions?

What type of business if you don't mind me asking? (workload required for that? # of hands you typically play?) Want to get an idea of how you balance both.

Nutrition: Simplistically - High in lean protein, vegetables, healthy fats and low GI carbohydrates. It is important to get both resistance training and some type of cardio/aerobic exercise during the week to keep energy levels high and maintain balance. Ask more specific questions and I will be glad to help.

Here is a sample of what I generally follow:

Meal structure: You want to be eating 5-7 smaller "meals" a day to keep your metabolism high. Here is a general structure

MEAL STRUCTURE:

1: Carbs + Protein + Fruit
2: Carbs + Protein + Fruit
3: PreWO (Whey + Oats + Fruit)
4: PostWO: Carbs + Whey + Protein + Veggies
5: Protein/Veggies/1 Tbsp healthy Fat
6. Protein/1 Tbsp healthy fat

Fruit = 1 serving of fruit (medium banana, apple, cup berries, etc..)
Fat = 1 Tbsp fat (PB, Almond Butter, flax oil, small handful of nuts, etc...)


SOURCES OF CALORIES (Examples):

PROTEIN

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
Tuna (water packed)
Fish (salmon, seabass, halibut, sushi, mahi mahi, Orange roughi, tilapia, Sardines)
Shrimp
Extra Lean Ground Beef or Ground Round (92-96%)
Venison
Buffalo
Ostrich
Protein Powder (Whey, Casein, Soy, Egg)
Eggs
Low or Non-Fat Cottage cheese, Ricotta
Low fat or Non fat Yogurt
Ribeye Steaks or Roast
Top Round Steaks or Roast (stew meat, London broil, Stir fry)
Top Sirloin (Sirloin Top Butt)
Beef Tenderloin (filet mignon)
Top Loin (NY Strip Steak)
Flank Steak (Stir Fry, Fajitas)
Eye of Round (Cube meat, Stew meat, Bottom Round)
Ground Turkey, Turkey Breast slices or cutlets (*no deli or sandwich meats)

COMPLEX CARBS (nothing enriched, bleached or processed)

Oatmeal (Old fashioned, Quick oats, Irish steal cut)
Sweet Potatoes, Yams
Beans (Black eyed, Pinto, Red, Kidney, Black)
Oat Bran Cereal, Grape nuts, Rye cereal, Multi grain hot cereal
Farin (Cream of wheat)
Whole Wheat frozen Bagels, Pitas
Whole wheat or Spinach Pasta, Whey Pasta
Rice (Brown, white, jasmin, basmiti, arborio, wild)
Potatoes (red, white, baking)

VEGETABLES

Green Leafy lettuce (red, green, romaine)
Broccoli
Asparagus
String Beans
Spinach
Bell Pepers (Green or Red)
Brussels Sprouts
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Celery
Cucumber
Carrots
Eggplant
Onions
Pumpkin
Garlic
Tomatoes
Zucchini

FRUIT
bananas, oranges, apples, grapefruit, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, lemons or limes

FATS

Natural Style Peanut Butter
Olive oil, Safflower oil
Flaxseed oil
Fish Oil
Nuts (peanuts, almonds, walnuts)
DAIRY (may result in bloating, if so avoid)
Low of Non-Fat cottage cheese, Ricotta
Low or non-fat milk
Low fat or non-fat yogurt

CONDIMENTS + SPICES
Diet Soda
Crystal light
Fat free mayonaise
Reduced sodium Soy Sauce
Reduced sodium Teriyaki Sauce
balsamic Vinegar
Salsa, Jalepenos
Hot peppers and Hot sauce, Cayanne pepper
Chili powder and Chili paste
Mrs. Dash
Steak Sauce
Sugar free Maple Syrup
Mustard
Extracts (vanilla, almond, etc)
Low sodium beef or chicken Broth
Plain or reduced sodium tomato sauce or paste

With this general guideline you should be able to structure a diet around your schedule and with the foods you will enjoy most.

^
Ty for that, printing out to follow.

I run an electronics design company so its 90% mental work. Probably comparable with grinding hands.
I probably work 50-60 hours a week and play 25-40k hands a month (small stakes) depending on workload.
What Id give to relax all day to get into a frame of mind for playing!!!

Toward the end of the year it was really taking its toll and I found it difficult to get up in the morning etc.
I didn't have any proof but I'm fairly sure my diet was part of the problem, often Id have to leave the workshop for a callout/meeting at short notice so Id skip lunch and pick up junk food - leaving me crashing later in the day (so I assume).

Plan for 2009 is to cook more and make fruit shakes and soups that I can take to work therefore I cut down on all the junk no matter where I'm at.

Thanks again, great well.

you mention quality over quantity when it comes to playing poker.

i work a day job and only get to play 12-15k hands a month since im only comfortable 4 tabling. do you think the lack of volume will hinder my development? or are 12k quality focused hands > 40k mass tabling hands.

tks,

tg

Adding to what Sounded Simple said, what kind of sleep routine do you usually follow to keep energy levels and mental clarity high? Do you just get in 8 hours straight, or sleep less but get in a 20 minute powernap or something during the day?

you mention quality over quantity when it comes to playing poker.

i work a day job and only get to play 12-15k hands a month since im only comfortable 4 tabling. do you think the lack of volume will hinder my development? or are 12k quality focused hands > 40k mass tabling hands.

tks,

tg

No I do not think the lack of volume will hinder your development. What I suggest is after a long day you want to play poker but aren't in the correct mindset or are tired, fire up HEM/PT and do some self-analysis of your statistics and hands you have played. Do not force the issue and end up playing poorly/losing and it taking X more sessions/hours to win back what you just lost, which should have all been profits if you weren't playing tired.

Adding to what Sounded Simple said, what kind of sleep routine do you usually follow to keep energy levels and mental clarity high? Do you just get in 8 hours straight, or sleep less but get in a 20 minute powernap or something during the day?

Good question.

I honestly do not know but it is something I am very interested and would like to study/research as my mind is racing during the day and coming home to play poker or coach does not give it a rest. Given that, I do not sleep too well.

If anyone else has expertise or can direct us to articles/books in this area please chime in as it would probably benefit many of us.

ty for this well MESSIAH.

Im about 10 pounds overweight and have trouble sleeping. What is a good diet for me to lose fat?

Vilain is 19-16-4 37% bet river over near 1k hands sample

Too nit for a fold ? raise turn ? I really feel like he have something strong when he bet this river card^^

BB: $98.50
Hero (CO): $116.20
BTN: $112.70
SB: $99.95

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with Q A
Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, SB calls $2.50, BB calls $2

Flop: ($9.00) 4 2 5 (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($9.00) A (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $9.00, Hero calls $9, SB folds

River: ($27.00) Q (2 players)
BB bets $20.25, Hero folds

Final Pot: $27.00
BB wins $25.65
(Rake: $1.35)

Messiah, what are your future plans (if any) for your blog?

I enjoyed reading all the archives before I met you and was disappointed when it suddenly ended in February.

Messiah, I have recently made a prop bet of sorts with danzasmack. If I am able to reach some fitness goals I have set he is going to work with the recently formed Micro/SS LHE team (of which I am NOT a part). It is very important to me to achieve these goals as I would very much like to see the team do well and I think getting some free coaching from someone as good as Chuck will help them greatly.

The goals are:

6 minute mile
< 8% body fat
one arm pull up off each arm
50 pull ups
hangboard routine

The pull ups don't have to be done without stopping, but I cannot come back to the ground until I'm done.

The hangboard routine is at my climbing gym. Basically it's 10 minutes long - you have 10 tasks, and one must be completed in each minute (then you get to rest for the remainer of the minute). An example would be: 'hang for 15 seconds on the small ledge, 3 pull ups off the rounded sloper.' The routine I have chosen is hard. It's fairly continuously challenging, consisting of maybe 3-4 minutes of dead hangs and ~30 pull ups over the 10 minutes.

I will NOT have to complete all the tasks in one day, but would like to do all of them in a reasonably small number of days overall. We have not set a deadline for when I must complete everything.

I'd like to get your thoughts on this:
1) How likely do you think I am to succeed?
2) How long do you think I will need to train to reach this level?
3) Are there any particular things you think I should be doing training / diet / other to train?

I realize that a lot of your response may hinge on my current fitness level but I'm not sure what you'd want to know. As this post is already long enough, please give me an idea of what you'd need to know and I will give you the information.

Or if this is just entirely too long and obnoxious, please ignore.

If you had to convince me to switch from LHE to NL, how would you do that?

BANANA THIEVES!!!!!