jacosta24

Stick to the script, and follow through....

People would be surprised what they could accomplish, if only they would follow these simple rules. When I didnt have a plan in poker, I was drifting like a ship with no sail in the middle of the sea. I entered whatever tournament or cash game that was currently running, without any knowledge of my opponents, structure, or little nuances, about that certain game, that make a break even player a winning player.

In my early days I was a total live fish, around February 2014 I finally made a change in my life. I started seriously studying, and working on my game, but the most important decision I feel I made, was making a plan and following through. I made the choice to play online poker for Bitcoin, and only play NLH freeroll tournaments until I felt I had the skills and a bankroll, to move up the stakes. No personal money. I stuck to the plan for about a year and a half, and I totally crushed. That allowed me to move up to actually stakes, and eventually get to the highest Bitcoin tournaments (at the time) and build a bankroll of close to 77k at the high point of Bitcoin. Thank god I cashed out some.

That year an a half of playing freerolls and following my plan, showed me that with hard work, dedication, and sacrifice, your dreams can become reality. A year after the freeroll grind I made it to the biggest Bitcoin tournaments and was a winner because I followed through. When I eventually strayed from the plan and started playing cash games and learning new poker variants I started losing again. I played whatever was running. I became that ship with no sail in the middle of the sea again. Dont be that ship.. Make a plan, continue doing what your good at, and you will capitalize.

This week a I told myself no more drunk PLO cash games, only tournaments, and that's what I did. I played four $30 tournaments/sng and cashed in three for $210 profit. I also played a $10 buy-in, with 795 entries, and I finished 38th for $30. Fail. I had my eyes on the top prize of $1324, but with around 50 players left, I tightened up a little bit too much, and let myself get down to 7 big blinds, and I had to push with A-J pre-flop and got snapped off clean by A-Q.

Regardless, I finished the week up $230 profit in about 7 hours of work. I know it's not much, but it's still about half of what I lost last week, and a $32 an hour win rate, is not too shabby. I'm one week closer to the WSOP and I feel like if I continue down this path I laid out for myself, anything is possible.

Till next time, good luck out there.