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
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