Up Swings, Down Swings & Motivation

Some of my students have asked me how I handle a down swing, and the answer is simple... Play through it. This was tough for me at first, but providing your play doesn't change, meaning you don't tilt or play "scared", your best option is to always play through your rut. Variance is a bitch, but you can control it simply by putting in the volume.

It was a pretty good weekend, only played Friday and Sunday, put in 171 games and made just over $1,900.

Sunday however is where most of the profit came from. I started the day off with a shiatsu massage, which really helped set the tone for the day. I came in to the session nice and relaxed, but more importantly, focused. Only played 13 games on Full Tilt to get my 200+ points to maintain my "Iron Man" status and was able to take down a $48 90 man in the process.

I wanted to put most of my focus on the 180 mans on Stars today, as I normally split half Fullt Tilt & half PokerStars during a session. This as you can imagine can get a little confusing at times as I am playing 45 & 90 mans on Tilt and 180 mans on Stars. There are different strategies for each game and sometimes it can get a little overwhelming trying to implement 3 different strategies at the same time while trying to keep track of player tendencies as well.

So just focusing on the $12 & $36 180 mans today was great, I was able to get in the groove, playing my best game and just feasting on the fields. I was able to take down a 1st, 2nd, a few 3rds and a bunch more final table finishes for a profit of $871 for the day after playing 80 games.

It's been a really good month so far and I look forward to to finishing it strong. I want to finish with over 10k for the month, and I am currently at $7.5k.

Now a quick student update, my boys are crushing it, currently 9 students, 6 are profitable for the month so far, and so the plan is to have everyone in the black by the end of February. Here is a shot of their results for the month of January so far.





Like I said CRUSHING IT, keep up the great work boys!

Now for motivation, I try to listen to this video on every break that I can. It is a compilation of clips of Will Smith talking about his outlook on life and the path to success and happiness, enjoy...



See you at the tables.

PS: For those of you that are asking to become future students, email coaching@rainmanpoker.net and say you were recommended by me, also leave your screen name for Full Tilt or PokerStars and a brief description about yourself and why we should consider you for our coaching program and we will see what we can do. There is currently a wait list so if you do not hear back right away, don't worry, we will get back to you.

Wrapping Up The Weekend

I didn't play as much poker as I would have liked this weekend. Had hockey on Friday night as well as Sunday afternoon, we won both our games again the 1st and 3rd placed team in our division and was able to pocket a couple goals in the two games as well.

I loaded up my only session for the weekend at 6:30pm tonight and all in all it was a good session finishing up at 1:30am. I feel my game is getting better and better everyday and with that comes confidence in making the right decisions each time and not focus on the money.

Stars wasn't my friend today as I'm down around $500 for the day playing the $12 180 mans, but I felt I played really well, just lost some key pots in key spots. But I always say "short term pain, for long term gain!"

I was able to make a decent profit on Full Tilt to make the day a profitable one. Up $1,194 on Tilt, so for the day I'm up $673. Thanks to a win & a few deep runs in the $24 90 mans, and a 2nd & 3rd in the $75 45 mans.




Going to watch the latest episode of 24 and then head to bed.
See you at the tables!

Back Up Internet & a German Slow Roll

So it's just pouring rain here in Vancouver and this is generally the time when my ISP decides to crap out, so I finally invested in the Rogers Internet Stick. This will allow me to keep playing even if the internet goes out or their do their late night upgrades where they just turn off your internet! As I like to playing evenings into the early morning this was an investment that needed to be purchased. $35 a month to potentially save me thousands of dollars left in open tables = good investment.

Quick update, I have been on a bit of a downswing lately, but continue to play my same game knowing that variance is a pert of the game and I'm going to go through ups and downs, so just have to be persistent. Still up around $2.5k for the month between Stars & Tilt so not horrible, glad I ran good in the first few days of the month.

Also, quick student update, everyone is doing awesome! We've even moved a couple students up in stakes and they are crushing it, it is great to see their progress, and there are a few that are still learning the ropes, but will be crushing it very soon, keep it up guys!

Ok lastly, I was told by a student of mine that Canada got slow rolled By Germany at the World Cup of Poker, so I had to take a look, and OH MY GOD, this was just terrible.

Get this, Germany gets AA on the button and min raises to $8000 and Team Canada's Darus Suharto gets dealt KK in the SB and puts Germany all in. This next part is where it will really hurt Germany's sporting reputation in my mind... they called a timeout! Are you SERIOUS, I think they thought this might be funny???

Check it out for yourself, unbelievable!




Alright off to bed, Hockey tomorrow night, then a weekend of hard grinding, see you at the tables.

2010 Goals

It's that time of year again.
I'm not a big "resolutions" guy as they never really pan out, I'll do something for a few months, then it will fizzle out, however defined goals on the other hand for me are much more powerful.

So here are some of my poker goals for 2010.
Make $100k this year ($8333 per month, $278 a day)
While playing the $12 & $36 180 man turbos on Stars, with a few MTT's thrown in the mix.
Also playing the $24, $48 & $75 45's/90's on Full Tilt also with a few MTT's.
Play a minimum of 10 hours a day 6 days a week starting in March once I go full time, 15-20 tabling.

Doing this while still maintaining a social life. I am also planning on moving to a new place in the next couple months where I can have an office to focus.

I have been fortunate enough to be brought on by Nick "The RainMan" Rainey to be one of the coaches for his coaching program. I have learned a lot from Nick over the past year and was honoured when he asked me to join his team. I currently have 9 students and my goal is to help them all become the best 180 man players on Stars. It has been a fun experience so far as I have students starting at all different levels and it has been a great way to improve my own game by reviewing HH's with them as well.

Bring on 2010!

WBCOOP

Ok, so just found out about the WBCOOP today, the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker. Since I have just launched my blog a few days ago, I hope I am eligible to play in this!

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 74433

Resignation Letter

Ok, so I have finally put in my resignation letter into my job!

Wasn't a tough decision, I know I needed to make a change in my life, and a dead end job was not going to get help me achieve my life goals. So as of March 1st, I will become a full time SNG/MTT grinder, and I looking forward to pushing myself to the limit.

2010 is going to be a great year!
Keeping this first post short and sweet.

Till next time...