The end of the year usually is the time for the review and summing things up. Taking into consideration my goals as I saw them before this year started, I should regard 2015 as a failure. However, many events took place which were completely beyond my control and, in turn, these occurrences often resulted in huge lack of concentration, which is why ultimately I believe this year was a success. The results are pretty solid, I improved mindset-wise, despite the fact that my A-game manifested itself fewer times than in 2014 (one of my poker friends thinks otherwise, as he suggests that I’m the most consistent A-game player he’s competing with – thanks for kind words ;]). I played 800 hours, but I estimate that my A-game amounts to max. 30-40% of that time. What’s more, my C to Z-game reared its ugly head way too often. 2 most important lessons I learned this year, or more precisely two things I finally fully accepted are:
1. The quality is more important than quantity
2. You can’t always fulfill all of your objectives.
What the future holds.
I assume that no one really knows that for certain (apart from the policymakers). There are rumors that Pokerstars is planning to ban HUDs.
If it wasn’t enough, they also officially intend to remove the possibility of importing games to your HDD.
When I was starting out my adventure on Party, in the busiest hours there was 25-30 fish tables on average at NL200. Currently, the average is probably around 15 tables at NL200-NL1k. As shown, the decline is enormous.
As long as PP doesn’t go ahead and remove HH, I will most likely stay on this platform. Additionally, I want to throw in 2-3 additional softwares, in order to increase my volume on stakes 2/4+, and to be able to play the afternoon sessions with a decent number of games. For a while I considered adding NL2k-NL5k, but I rejected the idea in the end, as my mindset is not ready for such move just yet. I was thinking about the bumhunting on NL400+ on all of the biggest soft sites, but I gave up on this notion quite quickly as well. One of my strongest points is the skill of multi-tabling without losing much of the game quality. As a matter of fact my game suffers when there isn’t enough action going on – to keep my concentration on high I require the constant grind.
Coaching
2015 was the beginning of my venture into the world of coaching. For years I’ve never contemplated pushing my career into this direction because I thought I wasn’t good enough to teach other people. Furthermore, in a moment of my ego getting the better of me I will quote myself, I felt that ‘the amount of time I can spend on poker throughout the year is limited’. Taking into account that my ‘hourly’ is very decent and my conviction that the pay for coaching should be at least 2-3 times higher, I’ve never thought that it’s a good decision from the business point of view. Until very recently I based my knowledge about coaching on instructional videos. Oftentimes I was trying to grasp whether the author knowingly misleads and fools the listeners, or he’s just wrong about certain conceptions (or maybe, just maybe, he or she is on a higher level of comprehension, which I have not reached yet).
Most definitely the biggest advantage the coaching offers is the chance to look at your own game from a different angle. In addition, there are times when we’re not absolutely certain about the answer to a given question, what leads us to revising our views about the matter at hand. I believe that the main goal of coaching should be finding the aspects of a player’s game which can be improved upon and nurturing those which may bring the best results. Sometimes a gamer may have very strong tactical backbone, but his approach to poker is detrimental and his results are unsatisfactory because of it. A player with a mental monk kind of mindset who lacks any skills won’t find success, positive thinking is not enough. On the other hand even an adept person, who explodes after every little mistake or bad beat will lose a large part of his winnings. In order to proficient in poker, one needs to work on many levels.
Over the last few months I entered a partnership with my friend. I suppose I’ll come to regret the decision to undertake this endeavor in a year or so Oh well, for now the results seem promising and considering his diligence I believe he can make it big. (brag)
Before
After
After fixing up few leaks and errors in the game approach, the results showed up immediately. In my opinion, when it comes to coaching, it’s the student who should be working the hardest, and try to get the most out of coaching. If someone thinks that taking up 5 hours of coaching will suddenly turn his life around, he’s in for a big disappointment. It is possibly the reason for the popularity of all kinds of personal growth shamans. It leads to situations as shown in the clip below.
I wonder when will the personal trainers appear who would teach ‘the character’ to people?
Goals for 2016
What are my objectives for 2016? My goals include playing 1000 hours online and the constant work on my game and the mindset. Also, I would like to participate in at least 1 live event. Year after year it was always a goal which persistently I skipped. In order to treat live games as a paid work, I would have to take part in tournaments like EPT, but thinking carefully, the variance in MTT live is too great, which is why at the current state of my career and the poker economy I’m simply not ready for it. My live results by far also lead me to conclusion that I run way above the EV and the correction is unavoidable :D For now I plan on planning professionally online for another 4 years, and regard live game as a form of work retreat.
As far as my goals unrelated to poker go, I wish to improve my physical condition the most. The correlation between the body disposition and mental capability is obviously significant. In particular over the last few months I suffered from intense back pain – years of ‘playing the game’ begin to speak up. May and June were the months when I felt great physically. I can totally affirm that it was also the time when my game was the best quality. The reason for this was the fact that I played soccer once or twice a week. For years after giving up on amateur football kicking, I was trying to find a good alternative, but the gym, running or table tennis were not capable of giving me the kind of buzz the good old football did. Unfortunately, in June I ended up tearing the ligaments in my ankle and my short comeback came to quick halt. Thankfully, my leg is getting better, which is why I’m hoping that after a short preparation I will still be able to become an MVP of the local football field.
What’s more, I would like to spend more time on learning how to manage my finances more efficiently. Once my poker career comes to an end, I’d like to become a professional investor. To be successful in this field I need to acquire knowledge which would help me to smartly invest my capital – just like in poker.
Something for the soul.
I wrote about perfecting the body and the mind, now it’s time for the spirit. In recent weeks my fascination with a certain popular music giant re-awakened. The legend in question is Johnny Cash. Extremely curious figure, on one hand music genius, on the other quite an ordinary man. Cash was a brilliant individual, but also quite controversial. Despite many obstacles the man reached the top, but throughout most of his life he had to fight his inner demons. The movie Walk the Line, where Johnny is portrayed by the amazing Joaquin Phoenix, is one of the best biographical pictures I had a chance to watch.
Good luck in New Year, 6-digit wins, satisfaction out of living day by day. May the A-game be with you!
0 votes
Vanity definitely my favorite sin
1
morph1 Sierra Leone. Jan 09 2016 20:29. Posts 2352
I like your blog
"In my opinion, when it comes to coaching, it’s the student who should be working the hardest, and try to get the most out of coaching."
-what would be your advice to your/any poker student to get the most out of coaching ?
-what specifics did make the difference for your friend?
1) To ask as many questions as possible, not only accept the concept, but fully understand it
- To prepare for a coaching session, as You would prepare for a playing session. The focus is necessary in order to get the best of it
- After the session is over, think it over,over and over again. Fully understand the thought process that coach was trying to show You.
- Track Your progress, both in game theory and mindset
2. Better understanding of statistical correlations
- Improving the mindset ( removing some old habits, preparing better for the session, observing focus during the play)
- Developent of "range-oriented thinking"
- Paying more attention to metagame
Oh well, for now the results seem promising and considering his diligence I believe he can make it big. (brag)
