SplitSuit.com

What an odd month. Spent the first third in Boston just eating seafood and relaxing. And spent the rest digging myself out a of a decent sized hole. Good news is that the month was in the green, though my worst financial month of the year if I am not mistaken. But when my worst month is still breakeven given cost of living…it could be a lot worse. So no real complaints…and it just keeps me really hungry for next month, and the rest of the year.

So my wrists are fucked. I have been wearing my brace for my right wrist ever since the weekend when I hurt it in the first place. Then felt lazy yesterday so went to play racquetball, but decided to use my left hand instead the whole time (I am semi-ambi….so it wasn’t the hardest thing…but my shots lacked a lot of speed, lol). After an hour of that my left wrist was killing me, so I called it quits. I think my wrist are just insanely weak…probably just early stages of CT, which I will inevitably get full-blown at some point. Today I decided I would try again, but with my right wrist, which was feeling a bit better. So I went to the store and got some tape, taped it up, and after a 1.5hr session I felt amazing. My shots actually felt stronger and a pinch more accurate…so tape it is. Fingers crossed that is all it will take. And it really shouldn’t be bone degradation as I drink a ton of milk and take my multi-vitamin daily…but I will keep a close eye on it.

Decided to take today off from poker as the day started poorly, but look forward to hitting back again tomorrow. I have been staying very consistent in my grinding. I have been grinding either 5hrs OR until I hit my daily goal. Since doing this I have been feeling very little stress, have been hitting my goal in 500 or less hands on most days, and have sky-high confidence atm. I think I may increase my goal for Oct (for Sept I was just doing 2BI/day…may jump that to 3BI). For some odd reason it just works for me…and it is really helping me focus on good spots, not the nEV spots that don’t do much for me. It also keeps me from anchor pointing (nothing worse than hitting your “goal” then sitting down and losing, regardless of how much you lose)…which is feeling sexy good.

I have been doing more and more reading on stock and market stuff. Found a very cool piece of software that is allowing me backtest some strategies. So far my best strat (albeit this is swing strategy stuff (based on a $100K bankroll)…strategies that I will not be using) has been able to make ~$500/yr/investment. My favorite strategy was able to lose $15K/yr/investment. I am having so much fun with this…and also trying to get better with the programming side of it, and figuring out how to make the software run how I want it to. But always more and more reading to do on this, and just trying to approach it like poker…which so far has been easy because investing and poker are so closely related.

I’m going to get back to working. Hope all is well, and good luck in October

*SS*

Feels so good to be grinding again. Also feels good to have fully snapped that downswing I mentioned a post or so again. It hit -9.5BI I believe, and I finally killed it a day or so ago. I feel like my game is really starting to get sicker. I am spending a lot of time still trying to find those pressure points on certain players, and the results have been quite solid thus far. I will just continue grinding on. I am doing my best not to focus on stats (something most of us become guilty of from time to time) and just focusing on keeping the best stats given the situation.

Coaching has actually gotten a small kick in the pants which is nice. The coaching cycle is so random sometimes…I will go from like 1-2 sessions per week to randomly 8-10. No complaints from me though. I have been having a lot of fun with it, and got to do some hyper-LAG sessions with students, did a 100%vpip session, did some intro-sessions…all good stuff. I swear coaching is my best medicine…so much so that when I feel my game may be off I spend every playing session like a coaching one (I will actually narrate all of my actions and reasons). Very good idea for those that don’t do it already. It forces your brain to process information twice (once when it makes an action, and twice when it hears your reasoning)…and it will catch mistakes more often. Good exercise for sure.

My wrist is also in a ton of pain. I think I did something to it during racquetball the other day (I guess doing a 2hr session was a silly choice, lol)…and it has been throbbing ever since. I have been wearing my wrist brace again with varying levels of pain relief…if it gets worse I will just go get an X-ray…better safe than sorry. Though it is nice that I have options if my wrist is busted…I can always set up my Dragon software and play poker with my voice…would be a pain…but options are always good =)

I also got my Google shit all set up the other day…so fingers crossed my sitemap is actually being read. I have been indexed very minimally because of it, and thus people have not been able to find this blog through search engines easily. So hopefully this should help, and maybe increase traffic a bit. Although I suppose I should be happy that I get 100views+/day…I would just like more. Although I guess that just means I will get more spam comments (I am at 450+ spam comments, *sigh*)…but O well.

Shit is going pretty well, so no complaints. Meeting my daily goals met, exercising more (and feeling great (other than the wrist, ldo) because of it), eating decently…hoping it all continues

Hope all is well with everyone

*SS*

So in a continuing effort to work out and exercise more, my roommate and I started playing racquetball. Went to the store yesterday and I got some new racquets/googles/balls (as I lost the set in one of many moves that i had from college) and hit the court. What an amazing game (and tbh, we had to look up the rules because I had completely forgotten how to play) and work out. Was struggling hardcore yesterday to breathe, but the session this morning went much better, and a 40minute session wasn’t nearly as bad.

Had a student this morning, and then started grinding. Grinding has been going well. I got a nice shipment of $0.03 from Rusty Nails (thank you again good sir!) which generally seems to strike a run good match…and that it did. I am actually more aggro now than I have been in quite some time, but super balanced in aggression application. Playing very well, avoiding coolers, and actually hit a 2 outter! (KK v a 1/2stack idiot’s A9 on 998). Hopefully more of this to come!

So finished up sessions today, and went to put in another racquetball session. Did an hour this time and again was breathing much better…but holy shit am I sore. My entire lower back feels like I got ran over by a motorcycle. I think I will take tomorrow off as almost 2hrs of exercise when your body is used to like a 1/2hr at most might kill you. Feels really good though, getting myself into more of a routine, and a healthy one at that.

I did actually laugh the other day that people on FTP seemed to have not forgotten me. I was over there trying to get my HUD set up and also get some software stuff working (mouse scroll wasn’t working correctly) and had a few people say hello. Meant to put in some sessions over there but the games are fucking infested with shortstacks…like…to the point where the shortstackers are all losing money LR (but making a few bucks per hour thanks to RB). So sad to see people that dumb…though even sadder to see the regs that stay at the tables and get chewed up by it.

Other than poker and work out stuff, nothing is really new. Just grind grind grind. Hope all is well!

*SS*

It has been a little while since I did one of these, and this odd hand felt like a good one to review. Here is the hand:

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HAND 1
——————–

$0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold’em Cash Game, 7 Players

SB: $97 (194 bb)
Hero (BB): $52.70 (105.4 bb)
MP1: $51.20 (102.4 bb)
MP2: $57.85 (115.7 bb)
MP3: $50.75 (101.5 bb)
CO: $41.30 (82.6 bb)
BTN: $69.35 (138.7 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with A Q
MP1 raises to $2, 2 folds, CO calls $2, BTN calls $2, SB folds, Hero raises to $7.65, MP1 calls $5.65, CO folds, BTN calls $5.65

Flop: ($25.20) 5 A 2 (3 players)
Hero bets $14.35

So let me first give you the needed details. MP1 is a very reggy player. Usually plays 100NL, is well known on the forums, etc, and runs 13/9 over my 6K sample. He opens around 8% of hands from EP…he also has some pretty big leaks in his game (betsizing leaks like woah), and seems to be very face-up at any and all times. CO is an idiot, 23/2 over 70 hands and seems to be a little spewy. BUT is another reg player at 15/10 over 500 hands…again, nothing special. Which brings us to HERO…who like usual, is running a springy 19/17 with an aggro 3b%.

With the early raise, and then 2 callers, I think I can squeeze this out almost always. MP1 opens 8% of hands from EP which will look like 55+/AK give or take. If I fold out 55-TT and AK sometimes, then I am doing very well here. Also, I make CO or BUT play with their hands face-up in a bloated pot (so my CB will work often and fold out their pairs). There is also $6.75 in dead money in the pot, and flatting with AQ OOP in a 4way pot is a recipe for making amplified mistakes. So I squeeze here to $7.65, a pinch smaller than I would normally squeeze to. This size means it only has to work ~53% of the time outright to work, not even including the times I am called and pick it up with a CB. It also applies a lot of pressure, and the size of it allows me to play perfectly against MP1, who if he shoves, he obvi beats me and I lose the least amount I could.

The plan doesn’t quite go as planned as I get 2 callers, though luckily for me, from the 2 people that now have their hands face-up. MP1 really only has JJ/QQ/KK, and sometimes AA (he most likely shoves AK as a 4b…though being he has leaks, he COULD make a huge mistake and flat it here…but I will assume he is good enough to shove it and discount it from his range). And BUT has 22-JJ and is over setmining (btw, greeeeeeeeeeat job putting in ~15bb to setmine preflop!).

The flop is a very interesting Ad5d2d, and I lead out for $14.35. In retrospect I think this bet should have been smaller, about $12.85 or so…but I am a betsizing nit =) My lead here is as a semi-bluff. I want to pick up the pot now (that would be lovely), but don’t mind a flatcall from MP1. If I get any action from BUT HU, I will have to feel it out very carefully (meaning I bet, MP1 folds, BUT calls). My plan is to stack it in against MP1 (if he raises (1 combo of AA, 6 combos of KK with a diamond, say a discounted 3 combos of QQ with a diamond, etc) , and BUT folds) now…to fold if I bet, MP1 folds, and BUT shoves…to feel it if I bet, MP1 folds, BUT calls…and fold if I bet, MP1 calls, BUT shoves/raises. All of these are very logical and come from how these players would react to the other’s action. And notice my betsize carefully, I open myself up for nothing…I do not trap myself to the pot, I do not bet so little I offer a cheap bluff against me…I threaten stacks with minimal investment.

As played MP1 calls, and BUT comes over the top. My line was to bet/fold if that happened, and thus I did. I think I played the hand very well, applied a ton of pressure during the entire hand, and risked very little to create a very mistake rich environment.

MP1 calls $14.35, BTN raises to $61.70 and is all-in, Hero folds, MP1 calls $29.20 and is all-in

Turn: ($126.65) 9 (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: ($126.65) 8 (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results:

Spoiler:

$126.65 pot ($3.00 rake)
MP1 showed K K (a pair of Kings) and lost (-$51.20 net)
BTN showed 2 2 (three of a kind, Twos) and won $123.65 ($72.45 net)

*SS*

The weekend was pretty laid back as far as stress levels are concerned. Being I am back to grinding more hours I am spending a lot of time with my mental game. Rewatched a bunch of Jared Tendler vids from Stox and focused heavily on the tilt control video. It amazes me how this little 13 minute video has helped me time after time when I begin to slip back into a bad tilt routine. So I am back to deep breathing after certain pots and also asking myself “why am I mad and what about that can I ACTUALLY control?”…working out well so far =)

My new goal is 5hrs/day of poker work (coaching included) for 6days/week. This should come out to about 75K hands/mo (9tabling, ldo) which is plenty fine. I feel I have been way too lazy, so it is back to grind time. On top of that, I also need to do at least 2 gym sessions/week and continue along with my diet, which has stayed very solid. These should not be difficult things to do…but will help me with my discipline again.

On top of all this I am spending a lot of time learning the stock market. My friend got interested in it and has shipped me over a bunch of reading to get started on it. It is scary how similar to poker the market is. The mental game is almost all the same (and one of the biggest factors that effects novices from what I can tell) and it is all about finding a strategy, implementing it, and tweaking as necessary. My ADD is making it difficult, but I am learning the way I would learn poker now: reading + playing + pattern searching rinse/repeat. It is kind of odd how quickly my brain is picking up to certain patterns, so I might start doing some paper trading over the next month and seeing how I do. I eventually want to get a prop job when I get back to east coast because the increased leverage will help me get a quicker start and make it scale faster.

That’s it for today. Back to reading and looking at charts =)

Hope all is well

*SS*

“The flip” is the peak of a downswing. The second that the downswing has snapped. I’m pretty sure I hit it the other day…and I will say, it feels lovely. Changed it up a bit, cut down some tables (back to 9 tabling) and started running looser again (~19/16 @ FR) to really utilize my strengths. Also noticed that I changed up “how” I session, and that I have just been bookmarking wins to get some confidence back again. I’m pretty sure I am at 85% winning sessions since, and even though slightly manufactured, it stills feels good.

Something the last few weeks have taught me is the importance in protecting your mental at all times. It is so easy to get drawn into tilting, and to make your tilt behavior your standard behavior. Or even to just change your outlook and game and have your A game degrade to a constant B game. Although I have no interest in manufacturing wins long run, I think it can be important to do occasionally, especially when losing could easily over affect your mood. For instance, I have daily goals, a certain amount of money I feel I can easily make. Yesterday I hit that after 2.5hrs of work, and decided to call it quits for the day (rather than putting in my 2 night sessions)…reason being I didn’t think I would handle a loss well and the risk/reward wasn’t good enough for me. Again, these are shortrun fixes, but should still be considered if you could mess up your mental.

That being said, I am feeling quite good about things right now. Went out tonight and grabbed dinner with Tao Of Jon from 2p2. Had some good conversation about poker as a profession and life shit in general. Always nice to get some insight into other people’s lives and see how poker fits into it. Also nice not to have the standard poker player convo over dinner (how much you make, the vacations you went on, and some insanely tough hand from 2yrs ago) =)

And on that note, I’m off to sleep. Need to hit the gym and grindcore tomorrow. Hope all is well, and enjoy the new playlists!

*SS*

This month has nooooooot been fun thus far. I am putting in more volume than I normally do and it is kicking my ass. I really cannot find many spots where I am leaking, and trust me, I have been looking. I am spending an insane amount of time checking, double checking, and triple checking every spot I play. So much to the point where I would say I am about 4:1 review:play. Most all of this stint is just spot-dead nonsense. I am hitting a slightly less than average amount of sets, but I am hitting in spots where stacks aren’t going in. So I will just continue to grind grind grind…and hope to work out of this sooner than later. The peak thus far was -9BI…but it seems to be simmering down and starting to work itself out.

Other than that, not much has been going on. I am improving my diet quite a bit actually, and it’s not so bad. Eatting at least a salad per day, and enjoying some sort of fruit. I am also starting to eat more times per day in an effort to increase my metabolism. I have been eating like 2 or 3 large meals per day which isnt the greatest for metabolism…so I finally decide to change that. I am doing about 5-7 small meals per day, and it’s feeling quite good.

Also starting to do the gym more, more yoga, and also sleep better. I have been keeping my sleep schedule at 9p-11p and up around 8a. My body appreciates it, and it’s also good to be able to enjoy so many hours of sunlight (a very important thing to help control depression for those unaware). My goal is also to be doing 2, at a bare min, gym sessions per week. The gym at this apartment is kind of weak, but it has a treadmill and some upper-body equipment (no free weights sadly). I am actually still sore from my session on Friday…but sore never really feels better than when you havn’t been in awhile.

I am also doing a lot of work on focusing on a positive attitude. I often times suck at doing this for myself, but esp while grinding the way i am now…it’s imperative that i focus on keeping my head on right. I am constantly evaluating my work, making sure it is the best I can do while making sure I cut myself some slack as mistakes will always be made. And also reminding myself that swings are standard, they will always happen, and that everyone will go through them (even the people that seemingly run like jesus for long periods of time).

So that’s whats going on here. Hope all is well with everyone, and fingers crossed for a better end of the month =)

*SS*

So I landed back in Vegas yesterday afternoon. Fairly uneventful flight which is always nice. Ended up laying over in Chicago a little early, so paid for wireless internet (which i will say, seems absolutely ridiculous) in hopes of getting some poker in…but sadly the games were pretty dead (which I probably should have expected being it was 8a). O well…bummed around in the 2p2 chatroom and then caught my flight with no hassles.

Got home and got some hours in, which felt good. I am running absolutely awful at HULHE right now, just running top side of everyone’s range, and LOLing at how many made hands ppl FLOP while I can’t even hit them by the river. O well. FR isn’t going that much better tbh…went on a 5BI spiller the other day, but when you only hit 3 sets, and 2 of them get stacked…it’s going to make for a not fun session. Games were good, my spots/luck were not…just another day at the office.

Had a fun session today. My student wanted to sweat me for an hour, so we did that. He wanted to experience a LAG game real-time…so I LAG’d on about 6 tables while we just chatted about whatever. Was a really nice and fun session…though sadly I couldn’t LAG very well given the table conditions (so i ended up only doing like 22/18). Had a ton of interesting spots given the forceful 3b/4b game I was using…but I think my student appreciated it all the more. Then did a LeakFinder session a little while after, and decided to call it quits on the day for poker. Also, in the rare event anyone has been paying attention to me on PS, I have begun SSing again…I just want to burn through some hands and I haven’t 20-30 tabled in quite some time…so SSing it is. If it makes you feel any better (since I can rightfully assume that 94% of you reading this hate SSrs) I feel gross after each session =)

I have been getting so tired lately which feels nuts. But I will probably go to bed right after I finish writing this. It does feel very good to wake up at like 8a though…so I think i will keep this schedule for a bit longer. I feel like I have so many more hours per day. And on that note…bed it is. I added a new playlist for those that are interested…I love this song so much…and the covers that people have done on it are just so creative. Enjoy!

*SS*

Got a few compliments this week that I wanted to post up:

“This review is a bit late in the making and for that I apologize. Several weeks ago, I decided to try my hand at full-ring nlhe and I hired James for 3 sessions to get me started.

I eventually decided that full-ring nlhe wasn’t for me, but I can confidently say that if I had wanted to continue with it (or if I ever want to go back to it), I would sign-up with James in a heartbeat.

SplitSuit was very helpful and very professional. He was on time for all of our sessions. He took the time to find out where I was in my poker development, in general, and my full-ring nlhe development specifically. He was then able to effectively coach me in areas that proved to have a very positive impact on my winrate. He helped me with my preflop game as well as my postflop game. He helped me with my HUD set up, with table selection and with multi-tabling considerations. His demeanor was always calm, yet upbeat and he had a good sense of humor as well. I ended as a pretty big winner at both 25nl and 50nl and so, my not continuing with full-ring nlhe did not have anything to do with my ability to beat the game or in James’ ability to effectively instruct.

He was also available for a couple of email questions that I had inbetween sessions. Overall, I would recommend James as a great value to small stakes players looking for a little help.”
-ImNuts

********************************

“Anyway, that one tip has been huge, so I wanted to make sure to thank you for that and for all the coaching you’ve provided. I’m a MUCH better player thanks to your coaching sessions”
-Doug

I love getting solid feedback from students (past and current). I don’t mean this post to be bragadocious (although I suppose it is impossible to not come off that way)…but I enjoy the feedback and wanted to have a post for it

Hope all is well, and I will write a more normal blog post after I get some coaching and grinding done today

*SS*

Got back in from vacation last night, and enjoyed a nice long sleep. Was a really good weekend, and just the relation that I needed. Recap:

Friday:

Got in a quick session in the morning (again, waking up at a sick 4a). Drove into Boston around 1p to do lunch with ForGlory. Ate at Legal over at the Pru, which was awesome. Nice to catch up, and even better to do so over seafood. Had to cut the lunch short sadly to get home and pack. Caught very little traffic which was nice, although Boston drivers never cease to amaze me when it comes to driving ability. Got home, packed up real quick, and headed over to the airport to pick up my aunt and uncle.

Got them, headed up to NH, and nicely enough, caught minimal traffic. Picked up some lobster at the Market Basket…amazing to see how much cheaper that was than the lobster roll I had eaten just hours earlier. We went to pay for the lobster (about 15 soft shelled) while they were steaming and gave some woman a heart attack. She just saw the lobster bags going through the scanner (obviously empty) and thought we were honestly paying $30 for each empty bag. Lol…silly New Hampshirites

Had lobster dinner that night, and I passed out quickly after. I still managed to keep my silly sleep schedule up there, which in all seriousness, was fine with me

Saturday:

Woke up at 5a in like 40* weather (all the windows are open at the lake house)…and couldn’t breathe worth a damn. I forgot how bad my allergies can get, and how amplified they are at the lake house. Made the morning pretty damn hellish, and sadly, I didn’t end up getting Clariton until the next day.

Fat breakfast to start the day, and then relaxed for a few hours. Some family friends ended up coming by, and spent most of the day just eating and chatting. Finally got out on the boat in the late afternoon and got to do some tubing. It was so sad to see how much out of shape I am…I was struggling doing just 25mph and maintaining turns the way I used to be able to. But still fun to say the least, and did some tandem tubing with my little cousin, which he has a blast with.

Got back to dock…then got dressed to go visit some other family friends. They had a really dope place over in Winnaposake, something that would make an amazing grind house imo (8 beds, 3 floor town house, hot tub, marina, etc). Left after a quick visit, got some food, and enjoyed some steak tips for dinner…and yet again, crashed out right after dinner

Sunday:

Woke up at 2a to a missed phone call. Tried to call back, but guess she passed out. Couldn’t fall back to sleep, so spent the next 30min reading FML.com to try to get tired. Finally passed out again, and woke up a few hours later unable to breathe. Clariton to the rescue.

Plans changed to pick my sister up from UNH and bring her and her BF over for the day/night. Dad went to pick them up, and my cousin and I went tubing for a little longer. More family friends dropped by and thus more awesome food was had. Sister finally showed up in the late afternoon and it was nice to catch up with her and see how her first little bit of college was going.

Helped make some lobster rolls for dinner, and also had the best batch of lobster bisque I’ve ever had. Decided to leave afterwards and head back home. I wanted to have a fully productive Monday and take advantage of the donkey dollars that a holiday like today offers. Feeling very good today, and actually got in an hour of tennis this morning. I feel super revitalized and ready for work. The only poker I got in this weekend was playing NL 5 card double draw with my cousin. He is a massive tell box and gets super excited when he improves, although he didn’t understand the basic strategy I was trying to give him. He would be dealt something like Ac 8h 7h 3h 3s and he would hold the 8h7h3h…took him a little while to get used to holding the pair rather than drawing to a perfect flush….but he still enjoyed it, and only ended up losing about 7.5BI =)

Alright, back to work today. Hope all is well and everyone is enjoying the rest of the holiday weekend