Degenerate Diaries: The Chronicles Pt. 2

[GreekStein]

Gfy eso turd

[GreekStein]

Sean - what do you do to improve @ poker?

[Eso Kral]

Gfy eso turd

Obv my post was taken out of context so has been modified greeky as Sean knows I am a big lover of the diary!!!

[GreekStein]

Sure was about that eso skidmark

[zerofive]

also you play live, so its basically like saying i've achieved nothing in 2 weeks (volume wise)

also online you can choose which seat you sit in.... no draws.

lol Galaments

Added you on Skype mate.

[zerofive]

Sean - what do you do to improve @ poker?

Not officially part of a group or anything, but I'm good friends with some good players and while we don't take a toothcomb through my hand histories (which is obv preferential) I do get a chance to run some of my more troubling hands past them. Subjecting these hands to the PHA whilst they're away grinding working gallivanting in Prague, though. I recently bought a couple of books which, though designed for 6max holdem, have definitely improved my reading abilities. Other than that, it's just a little bit of trial and error with levels of aggression versus the regs and becoming more familiar with their playing styles and betting patterns. Think it's probs about time I hopped aboard the Mental Game bandwagon.

I'm curious as to why you ask. You always make some very well placed questions. It's like you're a figment of my psyche that follows me around... (disclaimer: not a bad thing)

[GreekStein]

I ask because you compare yourself to alex and where his career was at not so long ago. I know neither of you particularly well but feel like I know alex a lot better because of his diary and being good mates with mitch.

Obviously alex ran good to get that bink but he deserved it too. (I know no-ones saying he didn't) but for ages he really seemed to be putting every ounce of energy into the game. I'd bet that he's probably the biggest contributor of hands to pha in the last 12 months. He's worked on his mental aspect of the game (no more tantrums lol). He's played online a bit too and has endless discussions with mitch, keys, keef etc as well as putting in the hours.

I love this diary as I've said before. It gets a lot of due praise. The way you write is excellent. It shows you're a sharp dude to the people who don't know you but it's mostly just very well written tales of poker sessions and the odd anecdote from a car journey or shopping trip.

Not trying to knock you here as I have a lot of shortfalls too (mainly brm) but I don't see that you're putting in that same level of effort to get to where you can and should be.

When I speak to a lot of my poker friends and ask them about hands, they might say 'yeh x is standard' etc and these are largely very good players. However, if you ask someone like keith, he'll often very simply put give you his way of thinking behind a hand that really gets you thinking more deeply. Finding the right online videos/coaches can do that too.

Maybe you do some of this stuff but just don't write much about it - if so I'd really encourage that.

I agree with dave that thus far your year has been a success. Make 2012 a great one.

[SuuPRlim]

excellent post greekface.

Even Greeky finds time in between paying stunning Asian girls £1.50 to nibble his earlobes to do some plenty of work on his poker, I think its really hard when you're playing exclusively live poker because the volume is less, the standard of play is generally lower and therefore doesn't stimulate your thinking as much and ofc there are none of the technical advantages to live poker (HH's, HEM etc) which make it a lot easier to analyse play. Basically, imo if you play live poker 100% you have to work even harder because working on your game is harder to do than online. This is one thing that Alex, to his credit, did extremely well from the offset and this is a definite factor in his accelerated success.

One of the biggest turning points for me in poker was when I first met Rob (patonius2000) 3 years or so ago and was stunned by the amount of technical work he does on his game (this allows him to make ridiculously complex PHA posts that sound so cool no-one stops to wonder what the hell it actually means lol), that was the point in my poker life i realised the difference between average players, good players and sick players and I was DEFO the first of those three. I figured being probably less talented naturally than Rob I should really be doing EVEN more, I think a full time pro player should spend 500hours a year minimum working on poker. IMO if you dont you're just playing a game, if you do then you're actually working, as fun as it is to play games unless you win a few EPTS in the next couple of months you aint gonna be able to make a living.

There is a lot more to pro poker than the cards imo, let not get stuck into this but you'll be surprised I think as you come across this, also never underestimate how much you can gain from any one person, my career has been advanced immeasurably by people who when I was a little more naive and arrogant I didn't realise could help - it's a scrappy world we're in Sean gotta grab every opportunity that crops up - WE'RE NOT IN AN OFFICE

Now go win, and then report the experience here because I'm starting to forget how as well lol

[GreekStein]

I agree dave. It was a sick post by me :p

[zerofive]

Actually love this. Dave has accidentally become my mentor.

Cos you're absolutely right btw. When I was winning I thought I had the game locked. My confidence at the table meant that everybody else at the table was utterly fearful of playing against me, expecting me to turn over the nuts every time. This sort of morale definitely helped me to make a lot of correct decisions intuitively, but clearly there was some kind of subconscious arrogance where I felt like my game didn't need much work. As it turns out, that would have been the absolute nuts time to address some minor leaks in my game. Right now I'm experiencing the polar opposite, and my flop cbet success % is zero, because "I never have it," and I'm perhaps playing over cautiously because I didn't work on ironing out my game sooner.

This is not to say that I wasn't putting work in at all. I knew the regs, I have a spreadsheet with their tendencies etc. I've been trying out some different lines and discussing some basic theory just trying to plug one or two leaks. Perhaps I have been lazy, perhaps I just didn't get any particularly difficult spots for a few weeks. Plan is to start battering the PHA and working on rebuilding some confidence.

[zerofive]

On a little bit of a side note - things are getting a little bit heavy in this thread, which is precisely the kind of slap in the face I need (and thank you all for providing said slap) - I found an app which allows me to go right back to the very beginning of my Facebook career. I was thinking about writing a few posts to outline and highlight the ups, downs and frankly bizarres of 2011 - breaking it down Eso Kral style - and the aforementioned app will allow me to cite references and include quotes. I know it doesn't sound interesting, but I'll find a way to make you laugh. Will be fun to look back on some good times, and also try and find some spots where I have moved forward in the last 12 months, rather than just feeling sorry for myself!

[SuuPRlim]

you should also try running better btw

[hombre32]

Some really thought provoking posts on here not just for you but for other players. Great diary and great advice! Good luck for 2012!

[GreekStein]

At 50/1 live sean you will never ever go wrong following dan morgan's post.

Tight pre, make hands, get paiiiiiid.

[smashedagain]

At 50/1 live sean you will never ever go wrong following dan morgan's post.

Tight pre, make hands, get paiiiiiid.

+ million