Hey all, hope you had a great weekend!

Here is my Malta update as promised, week 1 of my action plan has now passed.

Thought I would record a short video update each week instead of writing everything into the post as it's probabally easier to watch than it is to read.

Had a good week this week gone as I spent some quality time with family for a few daysthis was awesome, but did cut into my play time by a couple of days, definately well worth it though!

Almost had an entry into the Bigger $100 ; I entered a 4 tier sat at the bottom for 60fpps, and won 3/4 of the sats, and busted the last one... close though!

Here's a reminder of my Action Plan - I'm following this to fund my trip to Malta which I won with Ranking Hero.

Target was to make $100 in the week just gone... here's how I got on: -

(can expand by clicking the box at bottom of video for full screen)

#maltafund Week1 Results

My action plan and cash-flow forcast for next 2 1/2 months!

Hey everyone. Quick update.

Poker is going OK. i've done very well at 2nl on stars but am still battling some mental game weaknesses. To help with that I've been reading this article about how to get rid of unwanted anger and taking some notes.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolution-the-self/201208/powerful-two-step-process-get-rid-unwanted-anger
A Powerful Two-Step Process to Get Rid of Unwanted AngerWhat’s the simplest way to short-circuit your anger?www.psychologytoday.com

From the start it seemed immediately relevent to my mental game weaknesses at the table:

"Since what typically makes you mad is feeling powerless in the face of what seems unfair, your anger is mostly an attempt at a “quick fix” to right the balance."

Exactly the kind of thing I experience when I get angry playing. "This fish has sucked out on me..." , or ... "this site is so unfair" etc.

Time is of the essence now as the tournament starts on the 3rd November, so I need to be flying out no the 2nd November.

So I have put an action plan together for now onwards.

A key part of my plan is to continue to research tilt, anger and emotional control pretty much daily

Here's my plan I am going to update once per week and let you know if I have hit the average profit goal, and also update once I hit any key milestones.

Large version ( http://i.imgur.com/v1MrssM.png)

Have a great Sunday!

#maltafund

Update with my Malta Fund challenge

Hey Hero's!

Hope you are all doing good. I've been a little absent lately while I've been working really hard on my game and figuring out how I can move things forward. I also was working hard on a business (web business) and my funding fell through at the last minute which was a real pain (after the lenders saying yes it would be fine!) so I've been kind of distracted trying to sort that out. I've decided to switch focus for the time being now and my main focus right now is back on poker and I'm finally making some decent progress. Also now the business is on the back burner, I can start spending more time doing things I enjoy (like spending more time back in Ranking Hero), and I'm looking forward to doing that, and seeing what everyone's been upto.

I had a couple of shots at live MTT's lately of a £50 buy-in and found I was really rusty when it came to the live mtts. Good practice for me though as I start thinking about November and the Battle of Malta tournament entry I won on Ranking Hero a few months ago.

I have had a few failed attempts at getting my act together with poker the past few months but things have turned a nice corner lately. I wanted to start getting some funds together for the trip and expenses etc, and also start making some decent progress with my poker game.

So I got some coaching recently.

In the last 6 days I've played 19,200 hands of poker and things are going well.

Here is my results (at 2nl). I started at 2nl because I needed to get some tracked hands so I could analyse them in Holdem Mangager because Unibet where I normally play doesn't allow tracked results. A couple K hands in I got some coaching and it's made a huge difference.

I've started looking at my graph in chunks of 2k hands, in the first two chunks I lose money. In the third chunk I was on the up, and towards the end of the first 6k hands is when I had coaching. Since then every one of my 2k chunks of hands has been profitable, and I'm finding my own comfort zone now slowly.

My coach is a friend who also knows I plan to make some money for Malta and he's been generous with his time coaching me.

Some of the key things I've changed with my aproach to my game following his direction are...

Focussing on quality of play, learning and getting better and not on volume. I wanted to 12+ table and he said just 4 table, right now I'm 6 tabling but no more, as it goes against what he's advised me. He said this is about getting the skills that will allow you to crush beyond microstakes. If you just want to beat 2nl for a good hourly then go and get a minium wage job... when he put it like that, it made alot of sense, and was the focus I needed to get real and concentrate on improving my game.

He said if you have 5 hours free you need to spend 4 studying and working on your game and 1 playing. I haven't quite managed to get to that stage yet, but yesterday I did spend 3 hours studying and 2 playing. I'm noting the improvements. As part of my study I went back to the mental game of poker and the process model and built myself a pre-game routine. Before every session now I review my key learning points which is from a sheet I put together with all my learning points I'm focussing on, I also review my biggest losing hands from the last session.

Now that the biggest leaks are being cut out of my game, I'm finding playing alot more enjoyable. Before when fish used to hit crazy hands against me I used to get kind of tilted and frustrated and it happened quite alot. Well guess what I've noticed... I shouldn't have been paying them off in the first place! Now I'm finding disciplined folds and not spewing so much money away I am finding the game alot more enjoyable and relaxing. I'm also starting to think I might be able to do this longer term and make a great lifestyle out of it one day!

I plan to move up to 5nl/10nl soon and continue to work on and develop my game.

This should give me the funds I need to support me at my Malta campaign and also the skills I need to support my ambition at becoming a great poker player over the coming months and year.

I also have a little bankroll building challenge going on Unibet, for some fun and variety in my game. I'm recording every session I play, here's the last session.

Thanks for reading! Good luck with your games and your own challenges!

#maltafund

Hey guys, I didn't play much today (tuttut) spent quite a bit of time on something else, but I did manage to play 121 flops so about 400 hands or so, and won 2 stacks! So the move up to 10nl is going ok! 

I started with the 50 euros I won from the #Unibetbubble competition and now I have it to 72 euros in the cash tickets (plus 2 euros that converted from one of the tickets into cash, which i forgot to include in my graphic below ) Tomorrow I will definately be getting more volume in, and hopefully the waters will be flowing nicely downstream over the weekend for me to catch a few fish 

I also listened to one of Jared Tendler's podcasts today which I do when I am trying to focus on my game sometimes, and I listened to the Daniel Negreanu edition - very good and Daniel was speaking about the importance of self-belief. The point he made was quite logical, that you need to believe in what is you want to achieve and when you believe it that will motivate you and direct you to taking actions that will help you accomplish it. So that's why he believes he will win every MTT he enters. 

He also talked about the power of journaling which I thought was pretty cool. Here's the podcast if you're interested: - 

http://jaredtendlerpoker.com/blog/positive-poker-with-daniel-negreanu/

Positive Poker with Daniel Negreanu - Jared TendlerWith nearly $30 million in winnings, learn how Daniel Negreanu uses a positive approach to poker psychology.jaredtendlerpoker.com

Next update on day 7

Have a good weekend!

#maltafund Day1

Malta Fund! Day 0

Hey Hero's 

About a month ago I was fortunate to win a trip to BOM thanks to Ranking Hero and #pokerlistings 

This means in November I get to travel to Malta and play in the biggest poker tournament i've ever played, a  €550 buy-in event with a €500,000 guarantee.

I have already been contacted by #BOM (the tournament director no less! - Ranking Hero do not do things by half!) and have been wished great luck  - she said she hopes I take it down.

Also I was told there will be plenty of side events and also the possibility to rebuy into the Main Event once - so I've decided to get some serious funds together! 

In order to make sure I make the most out of this here is my plan: - 

(1) Get very good at poker. 

(2) Get a fund together so I can enjoy some side events too! 

(3) Make an effort at getting into better physical shape 

point 3 isn't essential but the BOM miletsone seems like as good an opportunity as ever ;)

My plan over the next 4 or so months is to play poker and play it well, starting at 10nl and move up when I have 20 or more buy-ins. I've recently got my 4nl stats and I beat 4nl for about 8bb/100 over 120k hands so think it's time to move up. I've managed to get a good partnership going with a friend who I did some work for before who is a professional poker player that he will coach me in return for me working on web development work. Which is one of the reasons I'm typing this at 3.10am as we've been discussing our arrangement for the last few hours :P So for the forseable future I will have cash game coaching, which will help me alot I'm sure with the various lines I might encounter at BOM even though it's a MTT. Then in September/October I will also start focussing more on improving my MTT play. Importantly playing cash between now and November will help me to build my Malta Fund.

Here is my plan: -

I've left weekends out to give me a chance to catch up and get back on track if I need to but also take some time off if I don't. So by the time November is here I should have 3.5k in my Malta Fund, and also be the best poker player I have ever been in my life ready for a good run! - I've also sent off for the paperwork to get my passport today so will be able to order that in about 3 weeks when I'm next due some cash.

Lastly I'm going to be doing some web design and digital marketing alongside my poker to get some income, and that is basically going to be my plan for the next 4 months!

No matter what happens when November comes I want to say I have done the best job I could have done to take full advantage of this awesome opportunity. 

So that's me for #MaltaFund day 0! I'll likely post an update on Day 1 at end of tomrorow and then a regular update once every 7 days or so! Hope you are all having a great week (and about to have a great weekend) - and moving forwards with your own poker journeys, wherever they might be!