Action

It's sweet being a professional poker player. You can keep your own hours doing whatever you want - whenever you want. The only problem is that you usually end up doing a whole lot of messing around and not enough of the things you actually want to achieve.

I've come to realise that routine is important to those who excel in their career, life and pastimes. I've always been resistant to routine but a lot of sources have led me to believe that I'm missing out. I'm now settled in Brooklyn, the first time I've settled anywhere in over a year... I've got a workspace set up, a gym membership. It's time to make this work.

My challenge is to stick to this schedule for the week, I can then revise and adjust it or even dump it completely. I'm sure a lot of the scheduling will need tweaking but I must complete this week before making any changes.

What I want my new routine to achieve
A base of high-quality poker hours while balancing with the rest of my life. I don't want it to be restrictive, in fact the whole point is that I schedule everything that I want to get done. I want to available to go out every night without feeling restricted by poker or guilty about not logging hands. I want to schedule time to work on areas I'd like to develop; like music, learning languages, online business ideas, etc.

Next 5 days
10:00 - Wake, rise immediately, open blinds, eat healthy breakfast while responding to emails, clean and organise workspace to declutter mind.
10:30 - Poker study. Analysis of marked hands from the day before and/or analysis of a reg using HEM.
11:00 - 90min poker session.
12:30 - 1hr at the gym, shower, dress.
14:00 - Lunch
15:00 - 90min poker session.

I've then got a bunch of other separate personal development things mapped out which aren't really related to this poker blog. The idea here is to get down a solid schedule for putting in high quality hours or poker.

The poker sessions
Each 90min poker session roughly equates to 600 hands. In the average month knocking out 24,000 hands during weekdays isn't going to be enough but these will be my base hours. I'll be aiming to grind more when I'm available on weeknights and weekends to take the hand count past the 30,000 mark.

The point here is that I don't feel guilty when I don't work on weeknights/weekends and instead feel accomplished that I've worked effectively that day. You know the feeling you have when you get a good amount of work done combined with a workout that day... you go out at night feeling awesome. I want that every day.

At the start of each poker session I'll prepare by outlining goals for that particular session - mostly related to mental game. This is something I've covered a lot with Ben and we both feel is really important. During each session I'll be logged out of all messengers, my phone will be on silent and won't allow myself to check email/fb/etc. It'll be pure poker play focussing on practising awareness throughout.

So that's it... Outlining the details here will act like a contract to myself and I'm telling a bunch of friends in real life too so I have more people to call me out if I don't put enough effort in. I'll post back at the weekend with my thoughts and how I've done.

Louis CK rocks!

Ivey on ESPN E:60

Or watch it bigger here.

Hoboken, NJ

NY Apartment Hunting
I've had a lot of fun apartment hunting in over the last week. The variety of people and apartments here is just really amazing. I've viewed custom lofts with bedrooms suspended from ceilings in Brooklyn, places 2 blocks from Central Park in Manhattan, sick rooftops with panoramic views of the Big Apple in Queens. Not to mention a basement apartment in Brooklyn next to a Rounders style illegal card game that recently got busted by the cops!

I loved Williamsburg in Brooklyn I immediately decided I had to live there. It's really chilled, massive indie-rock scene with loads of live music, lots of cool restaurants/bars and only 3 subway stops to downtown Manhattan. I'm moving into a big 2-storey loft apartment this week, huge room with lots of space for my poker/music setups. Roommates seem great, girl studies psychology, guy is a nurse and comedian by night. Looking forward to getting settled there for a while.

Hoboken
Hoboken has been sweet. Good times staying with Mark and his roommate Justin and awesome of them to let me crash over here and sort my shit out. Great having a bunch of buddies around in Hoboken too. But I am looking forward to moving somewhere new and being forced to meet a bunch of new people, it's always exciting.

VISA
Oh, I found out my visa only lasts 6 months, which is kind of gay. Then I found out I can't visa-run to Canada; where I was planning to visit this summer. Supergay. So I guess I'll figure something out closer to the time depending on what's going down. Checking out Costa Rica could be cool.

Poker
January was shit, I just didn't manage to get much volume in due to being in France then coming back seeing family and the move over to the USA. The start to this month has been poor too, I'm just struggling to get in the zone grinding without a good desk, chair, exercise and schedule. I'll be setting up a routine involving set hours of poker, working out and study over the next few days.

I've decided to stop playing until I get moved over to Brooklyn; got a lot of other things to work on anyways. Mainly girls, beer and study... in that order of priority.

Reading
Finished Leatherass's book, Treat Your Poker Like A Business. I didn't agree with a lot of it, but the few chapters on routine and getting in the zone to grind were worth the read. It's only a few hours to get through if you skip the terrible strategy section. Jared Tendler's chapters on mindset are fantastic too.

Got a bunch ~ of ~ other ~ books I'm reading at the moment, so will give quick reviews of them if they turn out to be worthwhile.

Staking
This month is the first time I've backed a player for cash games which is pretty fun. Not something I normally do, but this was a cool spot. I think it's gonna work out awesome for both of us.

Finally...
You might think you run bad, but you don't run as bad as Brian Townsend...

Frustration
The past two months have been incredibly frustrating for me. Below are my PLO results from the past two months.

As you can see I played 36k hands and in terms of all-in EV I should be up 440k but instead I am stuck 2.75 million dollars. I noticed this yesterday and was feeling pretty sorry for myself.

- Wow!

Post cover new routine and review of my poker plan to come...

Delayed in London = RUSHPOKER!

Waiting on the gate opening on my flight to JFK, playing some Rushpoker on FTP. It's perfect for messing around with in this type of situation, wouldn't like to grind it though. Having a gameplan to stick to and not adapting to the table/players just isn't anywhere near as interesting to 'real 6max'. I'm constantly thinking is it even worth my time playing this hand? where I clearly have some small amount of EV... which feels kind of leatherassy and lame. Real 6max is just way more intersting but this is definitely a cool alternative for quick poker - a quick/easy blast.

So yea, will arrive in NY around midnight tonight and taxi it over to Hoboken where the yearlong American adventure begins. Looking forward to hanging out with Mark, Dan, Dave and co. See you at Christmas, UK!

Last weekend in Edinburgh

Poker Education
Had coaching with Ben for the first time a few days ago which went really well. He's doing a great job of finding the biggest leaks in my game and helping me work towards plugging them. I feel like I've got a long way to go again, but that's a good thing. I have a lot of drive to work on my game at the moment and am enjoying having a coach to give me focus on where to improve.

For me right now coaching coupled with hand analysis is just so far ahead of any other form of poker education. I think it's almost a waste of time for me to watch poker instructional videos. I watched the latest aejones video last night and got very little out of it. Not a knock on anyones videos - especially not ae's! - but I'm hoping to pick 1 or 2 things out of a video when I watch it which just isn't worth the time compared to hand discussion on areas of difficulty.

I'd say that once you know how to play really well preflop there's almost no point in watching sweat videos, as that's the majority of what comes up. Postflop spots don't come up often enough and when they do instructors generally aren't good enough at explaining their thought process (Bobbofitos and DrGiggy are two of the best at this).

I think poker videos are fantastic to take you up to the point where you can play preflop really well. After that discussing postflop spots that trouble you with a more experienced player is by far the fastest way of improving. Either that or being a genius and working everything out yourself.

The next time you go to watch a poker video - if you don't have any of your own hands to review - open Holdem Manager instead and spend 45mins going through shown down hands from regs you play a lot with. Think about lines, if you like some of their plays, if you don't, discuss spots with a more experienced player. If you don't know a more experienced player hire a coach or even use forums (higher levels than you currently play at). But even without those you'll be amazed how much you can figure out yourself and how much you learn about other regs games (how bad they all are).

Sites
I've been looking to split money across sites recently as traffic on Cereus can be poor at times and irritatingly iPoker doesn't work in the USA. I'd recommend pokersites.com for anyone looking to branch out. I wound up sticking some money on Bodog as it feels pretty similar to Cereus, I'll play a couple of tables on each when traffic is low.

Beer o'clock
Last few days before leaving are pretty packed, I'm excited. Got a table booked at a Japanese restaurant in Edinburgh tonight for food with friends then beers and a home game. My bro is coming down to Edinburgh on Sat night and heading out on the rage, hoping to catch as many of my friends as possible. Family dinner at my aunts on Sunday, then fly out to NYC on Monday.

Online poker sites matching donations to Haiti

Mark Doyle, BBC News, Haiti...

The scene an hour's drive west of Port-au-Prince is apocalyptic. Almost every single building on the road I'm driving on now has been flattened.
The destruction here is even more dramatic than the dreadful conditions in the capital. People have fled to the surrounding sugarcane fields or into mangrove swamps - anything to get away from the nightmare of the falling buildings.
I've seen a long line of people queuing up at a single working water tap. Tens of thousands are living in the open in church compounds, school playgrounds and marketplaces.
The population here are in profound shock. Many are wearing handkerchiefs over their mouths to keep out the dust and ward off the smell of dead bodies.

David Orr, a spokesman for the UN World Food Programme...

Many thousands were feared dead.
"Nearly every house was destroyed here. The military are talking about 20,000 to 30,000 dead."
Many survivors have been leaving quake-hit areas in search of food, water and medicine.


Quoting boywonder's Leggopoker blog...

Guys,

Stars, Tilt and Cake are making you an offer you can´t refuse. Any donations made to help ease the terrible struggle of the people in Haiti will be matched dollar for dollar.

If you are going to give another cent to charity in your life, let it be this time when Lederer and the boys match it.

I shipped 1 buy-in to "Aid for Haiti" on Fulltilt. 1 single buy-in. In fact, I should be ashamed for not giving more, and hopefully I will shame myself into giving another buy in. Unfortunately I already gave some today earlier before I found out about this amazing opportunity. However, by the time I wake up tomorrow, I won´t even remember having done that.

Leggo and the rest of the poker-community, let´s show the world that we are not the bumhunting nits everybody thinks we are, and donate 1 or half of a buy-in of your regular stake, and inspire others to do the same. Encourage your friends and family to help through you, so that they too can get 2:1 on their money and benefit from this bargain deal.

Within 24 hours, you will forget about it, and the effect it will have on your life will be completely insignificant. However, a child may have clean drinking water or hospital aid due to your generosity.


Donate a buy-in now!

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/aid-for-haiti

http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2010/pokerstars-sets-up-haiti-earthquake-appe-063299.html

Back in Edinburgh for a couple of weeks

Travelling
After a trek down to London and a visa interview involving me carefully navigating around the fact I play poker professionally I somehow managed to come out with a yearlong visa for the USA! Flying out to NYC on the 25th, thanks to Mark for hooking me up with a place and will sort things out from there. Vague plans to visit Montreal and Toronto closer to the summer but I'm gonna make NYC my home for early 2010.

Coaching
I'd like to welcome Steven from NY to my coaching, we get started over the next couple of weeks. Looking forward to working with you dude.

I've also decided to take on a new coach myself, next week I'll be starting work with Ben a.k.a. Boywonder from Stockholm, Sweden. It didn't take much thought to hire him after having previously checking out his epic 2p2 posts and more recently watching his new Leggopoker video. I've got a good idea of what I'd like to get out of the coaching and I'm confident Ben can help move me up to the next level as a professional.

Pokering
After a full month off from poker I got back to the grind down in Manchester and things just didn't really go well. I struggled to get motivation for a bunch of reasons and with my mind elsewhere a lot I just wasn't on my game. Back in Edinburgh now with a good desk setup and a bunch less tasks on my plate so I'll be kicking it off again tomorrow night.

I've been thinking quite a lot about where poker fits into my life priorities right now. I feel like it's considerably lower than last year with other things increasing in priority. Given that I got so little grind in last year and want to increase that this year it's not working out too well at the moment, so I'm going to have to do some work on balancing my time. Not sure in which way yet, we'll see... and we'll see how coaching changes this too.