Treating my Poker Hobby as a Business from the Ground Up

Hey guys! European long term rec player here that wants to start treating his poker hobby more seriously. A bit about me: 30+ year old running my own successful small business with my wife, no kids, and have been playing poker since I was 18 or so. On and off, always recreationally although I've been putting in more and more attention to it the last few years with moderate success in MTTs. I've been a (small, not big amounts) winning player for the last 4 years playing a few live tournaments per year at my local casino and small stakes tournaments online, mostly on Stars. Before that I was definitely a losing player: it all changed when I started taking it a bit more serious and started learning. I invested into a few courses, books, etc and my game took off.

Last year our small business also took off and had its record year of sales. As we were crazy busy, I couldn't play much - big online tournaments are always on Sundays and whenever I make a deep run I end up barely sleeping. That turns Monday mornings into hell, waking up late and really tired, with headaches, etc which has a big ripple effect throughout the week. And whenever I want to play a big live tournament I sometimes have to choose to do that or have or spend the weekend with friends/wife.. whenever we have 0 plans it's fine, but otherwise really disrupts your weekend.

So, I've made a New Year's resolution: starting 2022, I'll switch to cash (because I can play for just 1h and continue with my day, I can play anytime, etc) and only sporadicly play a big tournament whenever I can fit it in my schedule, and only if it doesn't interfere with other personal plans. I won't include these in the journal (unless some big bink), as I'll be buying into those separately from the cash bankroll. The idea is to play more regularly every week, around an hour per day - a bit more whenever possible.

I've recently read Jared Tendler's 'The Mental Game of Poker' as I really wanted to work on some tilt issues after losing a big flip deep into a tournament, and that in turn led me to read after it Dusty Schmidt's 'Treat Your Poker Like a Business'. Both books have massively inspired me into taking this personal challenge, and thus the title of the thread. Here's my plan:

• Start at NL2 and diligently work my way up in stakes
  
• Every session matters: no autopiloting; take constant notes of villains & mark hands for further review
  
• 80/20 split of my time between playing and studying
  
• Implement a Warm-Up and Cool-Down routine, and focus on improving my mental game
  
• Journal here after every session; make it a habit to post and analyze interesting hands and keep track of learning & playing goals
  

Let's see where it takes us.. I'm really pumped! I'll also share with you my long-term goal: Take a big trip to Vegas and play the WSOP's Main Event 100% from poker winnings. I'd like poker to pass from a break-even / small winning side hobby to a profitable side gig, while keeping my love for the game intact.

As for my learning, I'll try to use many of the concepts of The Mental Game of Poker and only move up to new subjects/topics until I've mastered the current learning topic by reaching the 'Unconscious Competence' (UC from now on) level. I don't want to assume I know things just because I've been playing MTTs for a long time, so I'll start truly from the ground up both in terms of my learning and in stakes. I'll also try to use the 'inchworm' method and both focus on learning new things/concepts to implement in my play, while also keep track of my mistakes and keep correcting them to improve my C and B game.

Warm-Up Routine

1. Minimize distractions: phone on silent; no Twitch/YouTube while playing & tell wife I'm taking an hour of focused playing to not be disturbed
2. Quick reminder of my long-term goal and why this session is important towards it. Setting short-term goals for the session.
3. Quick review of what I'm currently learning to focus on it. Quick review of mental game notes, my 'Injecting Logic' statements and 'Strategic Reminders'.
4. A few deep breaths & visualization to help enter 'the zone'.

Session Goals

1. Focus a lot on Opening Ranges & Make a habit of first looking who is on SB, BB and BU before opening
2. Identify the meta of the stake, tendencies, etc & take many notes on villains while marking interesting hands.
3. Quickly inject logic when a bad beat / cooler happens to prevent tilt from causing any damage

Cool-Down Routine

1. Evaluate the success of the session by reviewing the warm-up goals, not only winnings.
2. Evaluate tactical play: any notable mistakes? Any weaknesses improved? Learnt something new? How well did I apply what I'm currently learning?
3. Evaluate mental play: vent if needed to prevent emotion/tilt accumulation, check how well the logic statements & strategic reminders worked, focus on what caused tilt and work on it
4. Review a few of the most interesting & harder decision hands
5. Assess how much variance affected results (positive or negative)

Session 1: 700 hands

Very happy with the first session. I only did a couple of mistakes in my opening ranges (in both cases being a bit too loose as I'm following quite tight OR), and despite a few moments of auto-piloting I focused on looking first who was at the blinds and BU before opening, making slight adjustments of opening a bit wider if I saw a player already marked as weak; or seeing someone with an odd stack below 100bb which usually means it's a fun player. I had 2 big coolers (flush over flush and full house on a flopped set vs higher set) and I was able to control the frustration/tilt after them by injecting logic immediately after - on both cases I reminded myself that variance is what makes the game profitable, but I can't control it. I can only control how well I play. But overall I have to acknowledge I'm running very well - I won all my 7 All-Ins, although I was only a slight dog in one of them:

It's important to keep it in mind to avoid 'injustice tilt' whenever I'll lose a big flip, or one of these 70% EQ AI. So far everything held and I'm running nicely above EV.

Tendencies spotted: It surprised me I got donked into several times, and it seems to be a rather common practice flopping either a draw or some medium strength pair. I also took notes on the almost 0 need of bluffing in this stake: there are many juicy spots to win entire stacks with 80%+ equities, so I need to tone down a bit my bluffing tendencies from MTTs. Also people here hardly ever fold a 2nd pair so it's good to value bet thinly.

Interesting hands

Big River Bluff to take a 122bb Pot

Winamax - €0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 183.5 BB
BB: 104.5 BB
UTG: 93 BB
MP: 177 BB
CO: 187 BB
Hero (BTN): 201 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 8♠ T♠

fold, fold, CO calls 1 BB, Hero raises to 3 BB, SB raises to 5 BB, BB calls 4 BB, fold, Hero calls 2 BB

Flop: (16 BB, 3 players) 6♣ 7♥ 7♠
SB bets 16 BB, BB calls 16 BB, Hero calls 16 BB

Turn: (64 BB, 3 players) 5♠
SB bets 19.5 BB, BB calls 19.5 BB, Hero calls 19.5 BB

River: (122.5 BB, 3 players) 2♥
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets 160.5 BB and is all-in, fold, fold

Hero wins 270.5 BB

Pre-Flop I completely ignored the limper and went with my standard x3 open (I didn't want to ROL with the bottom of my range) and had this very weird 3Bet to 5bb which I thought it'd probably be something like a medium strength pocket pair. The SB donk on the Flop was weird and I thought he either had a SD or a pair of 6s. I'd peel one for the implied odds and to see what he does in the T anyway, and with BB calling I think it's a must call. The T is great as we open a FD and we're now open-ended, and I noticed that SB slowed down significantly only betting 1/3 this time, probably unsure of what to do next. I think a made straight against 2 players would bet larger to extract more value of trips and to also protect better your made hand; and it feels like my initial read of the 3Bettor is right and probably has some overpair of 88-JJ most probably. When they both X on such a blank River - especially the BB having only 64bb behind on a pot 2x its stack - I know they are both weak and/or scared that someone has the 7, and I know I can't win with T-high so I thought it was a great spot for shoving also considering I have the best possible blocker having an 8. I don't think anyway the SB would X expecting to X/R a made straight, I think he would try to value bet it so I'm definitely putting him on a 6.

Missed River Value Bet

Winamax - €0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (SB): 182.5 BB
BB: 60 BB
UTG: 76.5 BB
MP: 103.5 BB
CO: 143.5 BB
BTN: 108.5 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J♠ J♣

fold, MP calls 1 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 5 BB, fold, MP calls 4 BB

Flop: (11 BB, 2 players) 2♦ Q♣ 2♠
Hero bets 4 BB, MP calls 4 BB

Turn: (19 BB, 2 players) 4♥
Hero bets 8 BB, MP calls 8 BB

River: (35 BB, 2 players) 5♥
Hero checks, MP checks

MP shows 6♠ 6♦ (Two Pair, Sixes and Twos)
(Pre 19%, Flop 9%, Turn 5%)
Hero shows J♠ J♣ (Two Pair, Jacks and Twos)
(Pre 81%, Flop 91%, Turn 95%)
Hero wins 31.5 BB

Pre is a standard ROL, and even though I'd often X a second-pair to control the pot, vs a limper that calls the ROL I think it's better to build the pot and go 1/3 pot. On the T I feel I could have gone a bit bigger, around 2/3 pot but I think the sizing is fine to also not get into a tough River decision. On the R I do think I missed a bet - my gut was putting him on some sort of small to medium pocket pair, so i definitely missed value by betting again 1/3 to 1/2 pot, which he would have called. As I mentioned I think it'll be very important value betting thinly 2nd pairs, weak top pairs, etc in these stakes to make the maximum out of calling stations. I took notes and now I know he limp/calls small pocket pairs and refuses to let go even with 2 barrels.

Missed Flop Raise & Failed Turn Bluff

Winamax - €0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 219.5 BB
BB: 104.5 BB
UTG: 117.5 BB
MP: 238.5 BB
Hero (CO): 227 BB
BTN: 234 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J♠ J♥

fold, MP raises to 4 BB, Hero raises to 12 BB, fold, fold, fold, MP calls 8 BB

Flop: (25.5 BB, 2 players) T♣ 3♥ 2♠
MP bets 13 BB, Hero calls 13 BB

Turn: (51.5 BB, 2 players) K♥
MP checks, Hero bets 21.5 BB, MP calls 21.5 BB

River: (94.5 BB, 2 players) A♣
MP bets 192 BB and is all-in, fold

MP wins 277 BB

Pre is standard, only notable is that he opened to 4x but it was my first hand against him so no idea if he always opens to that, or perhaps he was opening larger because he was deep stacked. I think the Flop 1/2 pot donk really surprised me on a 3Bet pot and I should have realized that his most probable range to do that with is Tx. So I don't like my call here, I think this was a perfect spot to raise big to 35-40bb total and most likely take down the pot. I think being both deep also played a factor here to be scared to play a 400bb pot. On the Turn and after he X I think my bluff attempt on a 'scare card' is fine, but again the sizing was wrong - If I wanted to make him fold a T, I don't accomplish that with a 21bb bet on a 51bb pot. I should have either X back and pot control, or truly go for it and bet 2/3 or 3/4 pot I believe. His River shove I think almost proves that he had AT.

That's it for today, I hope you'll have fun following my journey. I'll also keep posting what I'm currently focusing on learning and please, I'd welcome so much feedback about the hands played. If you spot mistakes on my play or my reasoning, I'd love to hear about them. Another goal I have is to find some poker buddies as none of my friends play, as I know this will also help my game by having someone to discuss hands with and improve together.