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Being a better human being

I finally decided to be serious about my fitness goals for 2012. I contacted a running
trainer and the target is going to be Berlin marathon 2013 as well as finding the joy in running.
Hopefully my overall life quality will improve by getting fit again. Good stamina is without a doubt a good quality for a poker player.

I once wrote that playing poker should help me strive to be a better human being.
I will be applying more of this into my line of work, since there is so many dynamic factors that
decide when/what/where you are going to find value or what you like to spend time on.

My mind and determination can be a steady project in a dynamic world.
This may help me find better purpose to what I do for better or worse.
Having goals that involve money or monotone goals have a very big influence on your
mood and if you feel that you are making progress.

My structure is going to be, evolving through playing. Since actually playing poker is the most
fun thing to do.
In my line of work I do miss the factor of good preparation and proper analysis.
With an approach of improving to a better human being I will use my playing time as being
in war. The mental results I get from playing will determine what I have to work with
until my bad sides don't influence my ability to perform as good as possible. I will also try
to improve my good sides, so I constantly raise the bar of my performance.

Being a better human is a subjective thing, for me It's being as well functionally, and as
happy as possible.

Things I already do is working with finding out why I get emotionally involved in the game and trying to make it my advantage instead of disadvantage.

Every month I will strive to look at my results of being a better human and evolving
to be as good poker player as possible.
If I am ever going to have a chance of playing in really big games, I have to be able to detach the influence money have on me.

Update

Live game

I took part in a promotion on Danske Spil and won a package to WTP in Vejle.
I'm really looking forward to having a good time. Since it is my first real MTT Live I do not have any big expectation for cashes.

Health

A good friend of mine invited me to Berlin marathon 2013. Since I really do not train anymore I think I will take the challenge to run it. I know that I feel better when I am fit.




Grinding

Just before Christmas I burned my fingers on some 5000$ HU games. I decided to grind my roll up playing some more six max. It's been going pretty well and I have started to play more higher games. The only difference this time, is that I probably will stay away from close HU matches with a fragile bankroll. A big part of 2012 will go into grinding and working on my theoretical and mental game so I hopefully will be able to take on some good players next year.

Happiness

• Thinking big

There are a lot of people who thinks small.
A bad player is often focusing on winning every hand, without thinking of how to play the hand profitable in the long run.
Some people are putting restrictions to their dreams.
If you are seeking the true potential in what you are capable of doing, you need to start thinking big!

Lately I have tried to avoid putting any restrictions to any dream, or to what is possible to achieve in any area.
It have helped me improve my game and allows me to test things that I have been afraid of trying out before, like having a 3-bet % of more than 30% in HU matches. Making more re-rebluffs and more 3-barrels.

It has also helped me in seeking joy in everything I'm doing.


Happiness

One of my better qualities is that I always have high expectations of myself.
On the other hand, one of my bad qualities is impatience - if things doesn't evolve quick enough I easily get bored.
I guess this is a common thing for many of us.
For me it means I might play irrationally when my feelings are getting to me.
Something that is destructive for my game is that I am driven by result, like when moving through stakes doesn't go fast enough, or when I think I deserve to win when I have the best hand.

I once again decided to work with my weaknesses, this time with more levels to my thinking.
It might be true that I have talent that will give me success and fortune in some areas, but why would it be worth my time if it wouldn't make me happy?
Taking this to everything I do, I will question myself if it makes me or my family happy. And if not? Then it is probably not worth my time.
I hope this can help me taking any new task with more joy and excitement.









“Happiness is when what you think, what you say,
and what you do are in harmony.”
- Mohandas K. Gandhi


PS. I will keep you posted on what I will be doing.

LCHF

Strict Low Carb High Fat

As an Ambassador for LCHF I have to make a post about my experience.
For those who do not know what this lifestyle is , I leave any explanation to Wikipedia
As the cookie monster I used to be, I could buy a handful of boxes just to eat in one night.
For the last six months when I have been on a strict diet I haven't had any urge for candy, cookies or any sweet thing.



Every poker player and sports athlete are depending on their ability to put up a good performance,
Since i changed my diet, my ability to perform at the tables have increased and I would recommend any poker player to try this diet if they are looking to gain a bigger edge in their game.


What does 150 eggs, 4,5 kg bacon and 1kg cheese to breakfast/month do for your performance?

One great thing is that it can go longer time between my meals and during this time my ability to think and reason is at a constant high level. When i start to get hungry my ability to perform is not as weakened as it would as if i was eating normal.
This is great when the tables are good and you really do not want to leave, and since my blood sugar are not rising up and down as much I can eat a big meal and not feel tired afterwards.
If I were on a normal diet I would be tired if i hadn't eaten in a while an suddenly ate a big meal. So basically i can stay at the tables at longer time and maintain a high level of focus.

For the last couple of months I haven't been physicaly active but somehow I keep on having a relative muscular body compared to how little I work out.


Note that this is just the things I have felt changed during the last couple of months, what is due to my new diet and what is placebo I really do not know. What is clear is that I haven't made any other big changes in my life.

Goals

What do you expect?

A new year is starting soon and it makes you start to think about what goals to set.
First I got going in money terms, what is possible and what stakes can i play?
Not to high but not to low, making $1,000,000 should be a realistic goal.

Then I started to question myself, of course there is satisfaction in making a lot of money, but the barrieres for what a lot of money is and your own satisfaction will always move.
Since my purpose of playing poker is not making X amount of money, a set money goal cannot be inspiring or have any true meaning for my happiness or the effect of my performance.

In my first session with Erik ( my sport psychologist) he said after ten minutes: "you don't sound happy with what you are doing". At first i wanted to deny what he was seeing, but then I started to question why i was doing this and putting so much time into something that wasn't making me happy?

My goals for 2012 (from now on) will be :

Playing poker will make me strive towards being a better human being and optimize my performance at any time as a professional athlete.

Being happy with what I am doing and seek the joy in every minute spent on my work, otherwise I should seek other routes.

Play within my boundaries and always try to challenge my game.

Do you learn?

It never stroke me that i did go a long way this year but when i checked HEM the highest I played in JAN was PLO $200 and without taking any shots i kept on moving up this year.

I haven't analyzed what made me move that rapidly since from my point of view I never looked at it as going fast.
I have to admit that analyzing isn't my strong side and that is something i have to work on if I am truly going to take on the highest stakes online.
Since my talent comes from learning by doing I have started to focus more on playing good regulars HU .
It takes much effort playing good opponents and I can't say that i rather play a tough game than an easy whale, but it have truly evolved my game in a short time and as the adrenaline junkie I am I will keep on seeking tough opponents for HU matches.

Starting

Finally.

I am glad and really exited I finally got my own Blog up and running. I expect to share many stories around my life as a professional poker player, but also interesting things from my ordinary life. My goal is to make it entertaining and informative so that you hopefully can learn something from me and my experiences.

Never heard of me? You can read a short brief about my poker career in the Poker page.

Not to forget, i like to say thank you to Joakim Bergman for helping me with the design and structure of my Blog.