Slippin!
Well I’m way behind pace this month, and in retrospect, those days where I had free time last month to push myself more towards a 40k or 50k hand month but instead chose to be lazy are starting to bite me in the ass.
This month, I’ve been both lazy, and have had some rough speedbumps to deal with as well. My old rakeback deal fell through, and I’m in transition to moving to another site, plus there’s a ton of stuff going on at home. Lucky for me, I keep some funds on Poker Stars, so I’ve been grinding there for the majority of the month. At first, I hated it. With Full Tilt making big changes to eliminate shortstacks, it seems they’ve all made the move to PS and are infesting the tables like leeches. My first couple of sessions involved looking for tables for a good half hour just to be able to 4-table. Brutal. My last few have been better, maybe I’m just choosing a more ideal time of day to grind.
That said, I’ve put in a grand total of 5.6k hands. For 34k on the month, I should be at nearly 11k hands right now.
As a bittersweet turn of events, my vacation with my girlfriend has been pushed back to April for various reasons. It sucks because I’m getting really fucking depressed with Toronto’s shitty winter and want some sun, but at the same time it will give me an opportunity to get some hands in. I’ve also picked up Table Ninja which is surprisingly helpful (when it’s not bogging down my whole PC).
As an aside to grinding, I was reading a thread on stoxpoker about grinding tips (‘get a new chair’, ‘eat properly’, ‘plan your day’, etc), and came across an interesting tip I’d thought a bit about in the past: finding a place away from home to play poker. My house is as hectic as can be and often interferes with my grinding, but I’d thought about going to a coffee shop with some noise-cancelling headphones and my laptop, getting some hands in, and enjoying buying lunch rather than having to make it myself. There was actually a suggestion by one member to rent out a small office space on a monthly basis. Looking through craigslist, I found some shared warehouse spaces with other people with a similar interest: having a workspace away from home for their IT/programming/graphic design/poker grinding professions.
Pros:
- Paying a monthly fee will force me to utilize the space as much as possible (read: grind as much as possible).
- Would get me back on track for a daily schedule rather than slobbing around with an somewhat unorganized lifestyle like I currently do.
- No more family distractions.
- Would make me feel like I’m treating poker more like a business.
Cons:
- Paying a monthly fee is a significant cost. Prices varied.
- I’m not sure I’m comfortable bringing my PC, two 24″ monitors and 42″ TV (yes, I use all of the above) into a place with complete strangers. Many places insist you use the PCs they provide which is obviously just a no-go for me.
- Commuting time would cut into poker time; lots of the offices are really far.
- Looking through listings just now, it doesn’t look like there are very many available. Plenty of big office building spaces, but they’re expensive and most likely intolerant of a professional poker player (as opposed to a lawyer or a financial advisor or something).
Your guys thoughts?
3 Responses to “Slippin!”
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I think the office space would just turn out to be a waste of $$. You’ll use it at 1st but then it will be too far or whatever and you’ll just stay home and play like you are now.
My suggestion would be to get the noise canceling headphones and to have a conversation with the family to make sure they know when you’re grinding you’re not to be disturbed except for emergencies. Whatever errands/chores they have for you can wait until you get done working.
Try to get yourself into some sort of routine schedule and stick to it as much as possible. Treat it like a job so you don’t have to go get one.
Office isnt required man, not sure if you have an office already at home but that could be something to aim for.
Just a room with your PC in and you only go in there to grind on the PC.
Treat your poker more like a job where you HAVE to work 40 hours a week or w.e. or you have to grind 10k hands this week or you have to work overtime until it’s done
GL man!
Yeah, I agree with you guys after thinking about it some.
Problem is my office at home is also my bedroom; it provides a really bad atmosphere for being productive and not lazy. I mean I can literally wake up, walk two steps and be on my PC, feeling like a slob.
I agree, I think I just need better routine.
Thanks guys