2017 Review & 2018 Goals

Happy New Year. What a year it's been! I started writing this blog post in the U.K whilst resting up after the biggest burnout period I've ever suffered in poker. By the time this post gets published i'll have taken an international flight and i'll be back home in Los Angeles California : )

2017 Reviewed

I logged 1360.75 hours at cash games which was 134.25 hours more than last year. My goal of 1000 hours was surpassed and over 64% of my target volume was at 2/5, 3/5, 5/5 and 5/10 games. My hourly increased by £8.40p overall which is obviously because i played higher stakes. It's too tricky to work out what my winrate at 1/2 was for the year but i know it increased tons. I think i ran really well and improved. If i ran normal i still would have seen an increase of around 1.3BB/hr which is really good. Basically i must have ran ridiculously good because i absolutely rocketed my 1/2 winrate over 690 hours or so. 

After i had visited Los Angeles, California in March/April for a month i was convinced this looked like a good place to relocate to. Then in August i had a record breaking month thanks to the 5/10 Barcelona games. When i got back to the UK it was in a race against time to to finalise plans to move there as soon as possible after the Barcelona trip. It was hard keeping on track with my schedule, making arrangements, putting stuff into storage and getting rid of my UK apartment but am glad i made it happen. It's not all been plain sailing last year though. I actually had a few tough months but that was battling at 5/10 so that could be expected. I had relocated to be around higher games and despite not having great success at 5/10 i'm still on the right track. I have a prop bet that i'll be a 10BB/hr or higher winner at 5/5 and was on track until a really bad patch in December. I'm still not far away though and confident i can achieve this although the results could go either way because the sample is only over 750 hours in LA games.

I ended up only playing 3 MTT events and lost -£286 over 13 hours during an £88, £78 and £120BI. The latter i had the most success but failed to make Day 2. I lost 88 v 66 where i jam 25BB co v bttn call for 22.5BB effective. I'd been jamming tons but still this illustrates how lucrative MTTs are because of mistakes like this. Again i just need to find the right mood and motivation to play more and profit. 

My study of the game has been normal but i need to implement new methods as i'm falling behind the curve when it comes to advanced study. I ended up playing 36% more volume than i'd planned and i feel that although getting volume in is vital, so is study and i'd sooner improve more than surpass annual hour targets so i'm even more committed to improving this year.

My sleep was great all year but because i played more in LA i lost a lot of sleep and disturbed an already imperfect sleep cycle. I'm confident i will correct this during 2018 and improve my sleep greatly. I used ear plugs and an eye mask when appropriate and tracked my sleep with a FitBit app.

My exercise exceeded my targets and i felt really great all year but because i played more hours, lacked sleep and struggled a few times with jet lag i struggled for a few months of the year. All the adjustments together in my macro game will strengthen every area of my goals so i'm again highly motivated to stay healthy, eat good and exercise lots.

I travelled to Los Angeles, California twice and Barcelona once. I spent almost 4.5 months out of the UK so although i didn't visit 5 countries i'm more than happy with my travel. Although i need to explore more in new locations rather than just grind a bunch of hours. LA is huge so i have lots of exploring to do.

Overall I've managed to progress further, stay ahead of the curve and continue to improve my win rate. I've met lots of new people last year and gained some cool new friends. I've become much happier but there's still room for improvement in 2018 : )

2018 Goals

Live Cash Games: Play 1250 hours. Play 50% of these hours at 2/5 to 5/10. Continue researching bigger game locations and look at all options available.

Study: Talk with other players and continue building a network of players to discuss more advanced concepts with. I'm going to start using CREV or PioSolver or possibly both. Invest more time studying the game.

Sleep: Lock down a more regular sleep pattern and continue use of ear plugs and eye mask when appropriate to improve the quality of my sleep. Continue to track my sleep using the FitBit sleep app.

Exercise: In addition to 7-10.5 hours of Yoga and Walking a week complete 2.5 hours of Cardio and Strength exercises.

Diet: I want to be between 74.5 and 75.5 kg. It's probably better for me to be at 75 kg because i tend to be able to play more hours without fatigue at this weight. Make sure my dietary intake is clean and wholesome. 

Social Life: Continue to make new friends and spend 4-8 hours a week doing social activities. 

Travel: Visit 5 different countries.

MTT: Play when I'm motivated and in the mood for the tournament grind. Continue to record MTT stats separate to cash games stats.

GL Everyone

Mat : )

P.S 

If you want to follow me on IG send me a message and a request. I update much more frequently on there. 

2016 Review & 2017 Goals

Happy New Year. I'm a bit late with this entry as i would have liked it to have been in early January but the games have been taking all my time. It always seems hard to go that extra mile with motivation to write after all the effort which i make, but today is the day.
I was going to travel January and take all month off as i sensed being burnt out. After 2 weeks off i returned to the tables and put in a record breaking January. Incredible start to the year with only half a month in the games. This month looks like it could be a record month too, the games have been really good plus i'm on a nice upswing.

Lets look at a recap of my 2016 Goals:

MTT: Play more live MTT when I feel motivated. Play more online satellites to reduce MTT costs. Record MTT stats separate to cash game stats.
Live Cash Games: Play 1000 hours total, at least 200 hours of £5/£10, and 500+ hours of £2/£5. Research bigger game locations in London and other cities. Look at options for relocating once bigger game locations and sustainability of these games are more clearly known to me.
Study: Keep on running simulations to compare the EV of different lines and continue to improve my game.
Travel: Visit 4 Countries.
Exercise: Exercise 3 hours per week, running, swimming, biking, and weights in addition to my average of 3.5 hours Yoga and 6 hours walking per week.
Sleep: Strive for much more sleep by improving my sleep pattern and get a better sleep cycle. Track my sleep with a sleep app.
Social Life: Continue making new friends and increasing my non poker and poker social circles.
Increase Blog Updates: Continue the blog updates and look into other media such as Instagram and Twitter. This will help meeting and maintaining new poker social circles.

2016 Reviewed

2016 was a great effort. I logged 1226.5 hours at cash games which was 198.25 hours more than last year. I played some £1/£2/£4, £2/£5 and 5/5 & 5/10 Euro games in Barcelona rougly totaling around 85 hours so no where near the volume i wanted in bigger games. My winrate increased by £0.89 in 2016. Even though that's almost a 0.5BB/hr increase i still think i can do better at the £1/2 level. I'm hoping i don't get chance to prove my theory correct as i'm currently making plans to log allot of volume at $2/$5 and some $5/$10 in the United States. One plan fell through for a long stint in Miami/South Florida which would have seen me fly out last week. Disappointing that the person i was in contact with didn't seem to come through on our plans for whatever reason, i'm hopeful i can find other accommodation shortly. I have a few contacts in LA now and the games are good there too. It would be nice to visit both places but i may adjust my plan and grind there though if i don't get to go to Miami/South Florida, we'll have to see.

I actual won money in MTTs last year. I only played 13 MTTs. 8 Events, 2 Casino small MTTs and 3 Satellites(2 of these were online). In total i logged 59 hours in all forms of MTTs. My hourly was considerably lower than cash games but still would be classed as a good hourly in a job. I bubbled a final table where £10k was up top. I busted out AQ v AJ all in preflop for 33BB pot. That was the closest i came to a good score all year. £550 there seemed a kick in the teeth for 2 days of MTT poker. That's the thing i hate about Tournament Poker, huge variance and i don't log enough volume to see the sunny side sooner.

My exercise targets were again exceeded. Like last year though i became very drained during the last few months and after my return from Barcelona in September i went from training 15-20 times a month to just 4. I plan to get back on track as i believe it's very important to be super fit playing so many hours of poker a month. It really helps me reduce mental and physical fatigue and vastly improves my ability to stay focused for longer at the table.

My study of the game could have been better but due to more hours logged that suffered a little. I still put the work in but not as much as i would have liked. My winrate reflects an increased ability so i know i'm on a good path. Extra effort is always going to increase your chances of greater success though. I discuss hands now and all other poker things with a very like minded guy from the US. We are from a similar school of thought, although i'd say he is maybe has a stronger grasp on GTO.

My sleep again needs tweaking. Since late September now my schedule has been all over which makes for really turbulent sleep cycles. I monitor my sleep using a FitBit and have taken measures such as wearing earplugs and an eye mask which has had positive results.

I signed up for a twitter and follow all the big card rooms in London. They are very good at updating the game status. I find that roughly every 15 minutes they update their twitter to reflect the game status. I didn't play any games in London, but signing up for Twitter has shown it can be used as a useful tool for information.

My social life has been better but more of an effort needs to be made on my part. It's harder as you get older and having a very odd job and irregular schedule makes it even more of a challenge. 

Although 2016 was good i'm still very hungry for more success. I have thought long and hard about my main aim last year, which was trying to establish myself into bigger games. I still have the same view as last year, that i'm not willing to grind for a maximum of £20 an hour at £1/£2 and sacrifice sleep, social life and health by playing and traveling so much when i could be sat playing £2/£5 or £5/£10. I have confided my deep feelings to a few people very close to me and it's helped me gain clarity of what i must do. There is no question about it, i have to travel to play and potential relocate. I think LA and Miami are great starting points to get a good reference point into the profitability of bigger games. 

2017 Goals

MTT: Play more live MTT when I feel motivated. Play more online satellites to reduce MTT costs. Record MTT stats separate to cash game stats.
Live Cash Games: Play 1000 hours total. Play at least 500 hours of $2/$5 and £2/£5. Play in LA & Miami. Continue to research bigger game locations in London and other cities. Look at options for relocating once bigger game locations and sustainability of these games are more clearly known to me.
Study: Keep on running simulations to compare the EV of different lines and continue to improve my game. Keep on talking with other players.
Travel: Visit 5 different cities for poker.
Exercise: Exercise 3 hours per week, running, swimming, biking, and weights in addition to my average of 3.5 hours Yoga and 6 hours walking per week.
Sleep: Strive for much more sleep by improving my sleep pattern and get a better sleep cycle. Track my sleep with a sleep app. Continue to use ear plugs and an eye mask when appropriate.
Social Life: Continue making new friends and increasing my non poker and poker social circles.
Increase Blog Updates: Continue the blog updates and look into other media such as Instagram. This will help meeting and maintaining new poker social circles.


GL Everyone
Mat : )