Light Bulb Turns On + October Results

In poker people talk about the aha moment that happens before they catch on and start crushing. For some reason I think I might be getting to that point. Gone are the days I am just going through the motions playing the game. I feel like I am more actively thinking about all my situations instead of clicking away mindlessly. I feel like I have said this in the past and I hope that it really sticks this time. Now if only I can apply these principles to everything else in life sigh.

I feel like I have so much to do around my house and not enough time in the day to do it. I have clothes that need folding, I need to tidy up my place in general, I need to finally set up my office by getting an office chair, I need to upgrade my computer to Windows 7, I need to play and study poker, and on top of that I need to read for grad school. So much to do but I feel like I don't have enough time. I have a great idea, instead of thinking about doing this things I can start doing them. Sounds real easy but not for me. J/K I am working on not being as lazy but I am taking baby steps I need to start taking grown man steps. This upcoming will be interesting to see how I balance everything out but I am sure I can. Sometimes sacrifices must be made and if that means less partying/drinking/spending money then it might be for the best. Of course I don't do this all the time, but it might happen less frequently. I mean most of the time I don't end up playing is because I go out to happy hour and get too many drinks in me and come home and pass out.

I am pretty proud of my month poker wise. I did well with a 23% ROI over 1,009 games for close to $2k. The reason I am so proud of this month is because you can see the correlation from me realizing things and my results that follow. This is why I truly believe that the light has gone on. The graphs of results will be at the bottom of my post. On top of that msusyr24 shipped the Sunday Second Chance for $45k and I had a piece of him. I really am happy for him because he puts in a lot of volume and time on his game. Just another example about what hard work can get you so congrats msusyr24. I don't know how much my share will be worth until he does the math but I am looking forward to it. This is one of the rare times where I have staked someone and they actually did good. I have staked good player countless times before and not gotten a positive ROI. Maybe this will make me take it seriously and start tracking my staking adventures.

Other than that I really can't complain about anything. Oh yeah I do have a prop bet with vertek set up. It is going to be a $500 to see who gets to $20k profit on sharkscope first. This should be interesting because lately he has been pwning me in volume but we will see what happens. If I want to win I definitely have to focus. This has to be one of my largest bets I have set up and I don't plan on losing. GL vertek I hope we both stay motivated and make money at the same time.


wbmustang

The Calm

I am proud of myself due to the way that I have played recently. It seems like I really took the points of the last blog to heart and I feel like I am playing a lot better. I am not being a "zombie" during my sessions and actively thinking a lot more and I feel like it is paying off. I have also been doing more studying and I feel like I can still do more. However, I am little bit disappointed with my volume this month. I am like 70 games away from 1k games and I must reach that goal. I feel like my month is a joke if I don't hit 1k games played and it's so easy to get there. I have my schedule and everything setup so I really am pursuing 1.5k games very hard during November.

I switched it up and played a live tournament last night. My buddy Al always wants me to play but playing live just tilts me so bad until I start playing. I love being in person and playing. You get the feel of the chips, the nervousness and excitement, and everything that comes with live poker. However, when you take a beat it stings that much more live because you can't just load up another tournament. The tournament is $50+5 and it gets about 130 people when I play. It was pretty uneventful and I busted all in pre flop with AKs. At the 400/800 level one guy ep+1 limps, another person in the cut off raises to 3k I am on the button with 11k total I ship sb calls, ep+ 1 guy calls, and then the guy in the cut off calls. I am against 52s, ATs, and 66. Obv I flop trip Kings but I get two outed on the turn so gg me. I was just so mad because I feel like I win that huge pot there then I am going on a tear. Oh well thats live poker lawl donkaments.

I sit here today at work a little nervous because my grad school classes are starting today. Sigh 4:30 pm - 9 pm on Friday and 8:00 am - 2:00 pm on Saturday every other week FML. Oh well it's for a good purpose. I just want to go ahead and get this masters degree out of the way so I can be done with school forever. Often times I keep telling myself I am going to get this degree and see what happens with poker after that. I mean I will have a masters and hopefully enough money to take some time off and grind. We'll see I could be talking to soon so I dunno. My biggest thing is how my parents will react if I do this. Lol I think about it all the time but too scared to do so. I just got a promotion, they are paying for my schoo, and so easy to just make variance free money so I will just stack it up. I know I shouldn't care about what my parents will think at this point since I pay my own bills but I don't want to disrespect them. Oh well that's all I got for now.

wbmustang

"I'm a professional. I just do my job."

Well, I haven't updated my blog in a while because I had a lot of stuff going on. I had a lot of thinking to do about why I am not where I want to be in terms of poker. When I started to think about that I remembered this quote from Man on Fire, "I am professional. I just do my job." Even though this is a quote from the organization that kidnapped a little girl it still has merit in my life because I don't think I am being very professional in ANY aspect of my life.

I have always been a pretty gifted kid. I always was able to pretty much exceed in a lot of things that I do without putting in the proper work. As I look back on my life, I think this is a big problem and one of the biggest flaws I have. I always had the talent but never wanted to work, basically I am just lazy. For me to succeed in poker the way that I want to do I need to be more professional with it. I need to stop jerking around and really focus during my sessions. I don't know what is up with me. Maybe it is my adult ADD, or something but I need to be more focused. Bottom line, I am playing for money and need to be more professional. Even though it looks like I am playing a video game I need to always be focused at the task at hand.

I also need to make a better habit about studying my games. I don't know how often a lot of people talk about studying their games and reviewing what they are doing and playing to get better. It's like I feel like I can skip a step because I feel like I am not making mistakes. Well you can feel that way, but bottom line I think you can be hard pressed to find a person that makes no mistakes while playing. I believe that the good players have a low number to non mistakes but I can't even qualify myself in this category. Why I have the mentality of thinking is beyond me but I am trying to make a character change.

Watching, the Will Smith video on vertek's fb page really motivated me. The video is a bunch of clips of Will Smith saying some inspirational stuff and it really hit home. He says that he is not the most talented actor but he will outwork anyone. This is the mentality that I must carry in everyday I do. I mean who knows what I am capable of when I work hard. I just don't want to be known as a guy that had all the talent and didn't put in the work. It's scary because that's how I see my life going and not really poker. I have so much potential I just need to untap it. I mean I am not doing bad for myself. I just got a promotion at my engineering job which pays good but I know I can do better. I am just trying to stop living my life going through the motions.

To implement my master plan, I am going to put myself on a very strenious schedule. This is only for the best and it is going to be a good starting point. I can adjust my schedule to incorporate working out but with grad school starting this weekend this is how it is going to have to be.

M-T
5:00 am - 1:30 pm Work
2:15 pm - 7:15 pm Load up and play poker
7:15 pm - 9:00 pm (the latest) - wind down poker sessions
9:00-10:30 pm

I have classes on Friday and Saturday so I will have to figure out how I can play after class on Saturday. I know this is a demanding schedule but I expect greatness from myself.

Results have been pretty meh after I went on a downswing when I wasn't playing the greatest. I am just tired of saying I am going to do this and that and not follow through. I really need to read some of my older post and count how many times I say I am going to do something and don't end up doing it and it would be sickening. Oh well all I can do is just make positive changes and keep on trucking. Well maybe I am too hard on myself but the great people are. Till next time.

wbmustang

Ran Terrible

I played today and ran terrible. It sucks so much to build up stacks just to get pwned later. Granted may be missing some little spots I need to figure out how to get the poker gods on my side. Maybe I need to sacrifice a small baby or lamb or something. J/K obv but I just wanna run hot 1x. I will probably put in a small session tomorrow and that will be it for the month. Oh well I can't really complain thats just the variance of the game. I also was running pretty good in the $11+1 20k guaranteed but spewed my chips away. I was very disappointed in myself. When I was in the hand I was just clicking buttons like a monkey and not thinking. Next thing you know my hella good stack is in with top pair 2nd kicker gg me. Hopefully can make some noise tomm.

wbmustang

Where You @?

This aint a Boost Mobile commercial but I am still around grinding. Whenever I have a pretty busy month, I rarely update my blogs. I mean I have plenty of opportunities to update but I guess I am just lazy and don't feel like sitting down and typing.

This month in poker has been pretty meh. I had a volume goal set at the the beginning of the month but had to be real with myself and adjust it. At first, I was going to try to play 1.5k and as the month went I was going to be pretty short. I adjusted that total to 1.1k games played. I mean I remember a point in time when I wasn't getting in 1k games and thought I was king ish but my eyes have been opened. I want to run at 25% and I got some time left so we will see how it goes. Currently I am around 988 games played with a 15% ROI. I still have a couple of days left for the rest of the month so hopefully I can crush. I am doing really well in the 45's but just can't get things to connect in the 180's. For the most part, I think I am playing pretty well and should be a winning player but its just about putting in the volume tbh. Kind of hard to complain about not being a winner in a game and not even have a 1k sample size lol.

I have been kicking it with Assassinato and Raventhon more recently as well. I am still kind of mad it took me so long to meet Raventhon but happy I did. He is a cool guy and when we kick it with Alex its just a good time. The dynamic is kind of weird I guess and I have poker to thank for bringing us together. There is Alex who is a younger and just came of the tour and a hella good player. Then there is Raventhon who is a serious sng grinder, aka Pimp of the Nerds, and he can even grind out rpg games just sick. Then there is me 25 year old black guy with a professional job. It's all good times when we get together and look forward to kicking it with these guys more. Just so fun to just talk hands, bs, and watch them grind. You learn so much just buy being around them and hearing them talk its ridiculous. They are going to be leaving to go to Costa Rica probably within a month so that will suck.

I am loving reading all my friends blogs and seeing the success it has it just drives me more. Msusyr24 is having a gangster month and now has that crystal star by his name. Reasons14 has grown a lot since I have met him and he also has a start by his name too. Jontsef, TheLipoFund, Vers,Vertek, Shen888, and JBrown are also guys that I talk to regularly. It's cool having the relationship with players who are good so you can see what they go through and also game knowledge from them at the same time. The number one thing that I do get from this is to put in volume. I mean you can be playing retarded, put volume in, and still be a winning player. Either way I need to find a way to increase my volume. I mean I know I work a full time job and everything but playing 2k games a month would be pretty dope. I should be getting some good money too especially if I run like I am supposed to.

I just plan on grinding for the rest of the month. I told myself I was going to go through a Deuces Cracked series before the end of the month but its looking like that might not happen. Hopefully I will actually be able to review more of my games and watch some videos. I am still looking at how much my monthly expenses are "supposed" to be so from then I can set a goal so I will know what I need to shoot for. TBH the number is like $15k but I need to add some padding onto that because obv I want to have a house one of these days. I wonder how long it will take me to get like $30k stashed away. Probably like a year or so but who knows if I actually put some volume in. Sigh on another sad note I have way more money on PokerStars than in any of my bank accounts. We gots to work on that.

wbmustang

Playing Better

For the most part I think I am playing a lot better and getting a hang of the games. The one thing I do have to deal with is just the swings in the sessions. When you are playing these things it seems like the 45's just keep you a float and then when you get a good finish in the 180's thats how your bankroll gets boosted. I just can't wait till that session where I catch on fire because you have the potential to win a lot with a couple of 180 man wins in session.

I have also been trying to review more of my HH's in genearl. I think I am doing a pretty good job about that in general. I just reviewed one a second ago wehre I got second but I played so Lol bad. Of course I was happy with the second, but there is no way I can miss the spots that I did and be a good player. I think it is better for me to be hard on my self to keep myself humble. Poker is a game with a deep rabbit whole so there is so much that you can learn. For the most part when I review my game I play good but, I just need to play better in some spots. Hopefully by reviewing the stuff I will get more comfortable with it so it will be like 2nd nature in the future.

Either that I have just been chilling basically. Trying to put in my volume and study so I can be the best player I can bee. Also on a side note I saw some black guy on the TLB front page of Stars and got jealous because I want to be there one day Lol.

wbmustang

25 Years Old

Wow, 25 years old and I can't believe. It's crazy because all I hear about the statistics. Black people are either dead or in jail by the age of 25. GUESS WHAT MOFO'S I AINT NONE OF THAT. I feel like I am on top of the world at times. I have a good job and I have a mind that helps me make money everday. I am soo comfortable right now I just can't believe it right now. Right now I am in Chicago @ my homeboys wedding just chilling and vibing.

Life can be so crazy sometimes! I feel like I am old but at the same time I feel young at the age of 25. I have so many plans and dreams that I want to accomplish. For instance poker, I want to make it so bad I can taste. This past year my results have been pretty booty and I think I have isolated why they have been that way. I talk so much shit, say I will do x, y, and z, but at the end of the day I don't do it. I have heard too many times that the only way that I will be succesful is if I play, study, and repeat. It's a vicious cycle but I know that is what I have to do. I just need to become a student of the game and put what I learn into use.

I finally got deuces cracked, watched one video and thought it was that piff! I am going to continue watching the content on deuces so I can develop into more of a thinking player. I dunno why but often times I feel like I am just like a droid and not taking my game to the next level.

Big plans big plans. I can taste success in my mouth right now and it taste great. I just am so happy that God has blessed me with another year to do something. Even if it is just waking up the next morning I am thankful. I am thankful because I have a Mom and Dad that love me so much that helped me to be in the position I am today. I am thankful because I have my little sister who is my heart beat and my best friend. I just don't know how many times I can say thank you. I know I sound like a spoiled brat sometimes which is why I have to sit back and say thank you.

I am also starting graduate school in October. This program has been delayed so many times but I am just happy that it is starting. I am so drunk right now, gone off that bay, that I don't really know what to put together to type this blog. Then I am thinking about how this blog is gonna look when I am mad old looking back on history. Well, if it ends up being a mistake I am happy. I never thought I would get this hard into it but I am. Like Jay Z says it is the allure of the game. BTW that Blueprint 3 is fire.

Well I have spewed off for enough and these are my goals for this year.

1. Make money playing poker
-I know I make money but not as much as I want. I know I need to study and take my game to the next level to be profitable. I love the game so much, am so competitive, it really means a lot for me to make money and be good in this game.

2. Get down to 200 lbs.
-It is inexcusable the way I look. I mean I was bigger in high school but, I feel like I can do a lot better. I want to get back to 200 lbs. by the time I am 26. I mean I am at my peak right now lets get it.

3. Develop my business and create my team.
-I know I need to develp Bradford LLC from the ground up. But at the same time, I know I need to created a team for me to be succesful. So I am going to try real hard to bring this business from the ground up.

4. Jay Z said it the best "Never live with regrets!" So that is exactly what I am going to do put balls to the wall and have remorse.

I know I am drunk and spewing but I have so many emotions in me I don't know what to say. I appreciate everyone that reads this blog and rides the roller coaster which is my life with me. I have big plans and can't wait to one day say mamma I made it. Well that is all. Here is to a year of greatness and prosperirty.

wbmustang