My journey of playing MTT poker for a living.
Yooo!
I'm Tim, from Ljubljana, Slovenia, currently playing poker full time for around 2years. Till now I reached the poin
Hey guys,
time for a little update before craziness in month of May. Exciting craziness of course 😃
Month of April I spend mostly studying, different approaches different topics. Some days I spent in solver mostly, some days talking with others, some days videos and live coachings and some days just going over hands and pt4 stats on my own. Learned a lot, got better in some spots and most importantly, got a great vision and understanding on what I wanna continue working on and where Im still "rusty" or unsure.
With that being said, I will continue in same pattern till 10th may ish. We are gonna have a big preparation for scoop as well with coachings and some scoop related topics and my daily routine is gonna be very simialr for next 2 weeks.
Waking up around 11.30am, getting some sunlight in, immidietly breakfast and caffeine intake. Anja atm has broken ankle (was skateboarding with me and was a bit unlucky at the end haha), so
I have to cook every day for both of us since she cant do anything but chill on couch haha. Doing that for her with biggest smile on my face as well since she always takes such good care of me obv. Takes some more organisation and time but really we are such a good team that its easy peasyyy.
After morning routine I go on computer and start doing work, everyday something different as I said. I played now only sundays and maybe some saturday as well, but really focused on studying.
After few hours I went out did some sports and then come back, cook and study again.
Later at night I enjoyed playing some CoD Warzone with friends and that was great fun as well.
Other then studying I also visited some friends that I didnt see for long time, spent some quality time with them, had nice talks and thats how days were for me since I last posted.
As said, next 2 weeks ish similar and then its scoop grind.
I will make another post before scoop to set CLEAR GOALS and INTENTIONS for month of may, but till then I'll post here under just the GOALS I have at the moment and some pictures of graps and stats.
In terms of playing I made 11k profit this month. Very very happy for that obv since that basicly covered my entire 5 months downsing almost, so Im happy and satisfied.
Also, the first online trophy.
Winamax champagneeee papasitoooo LFGGG.
Played 14 times this month, and tbh it feels great, since this month was focus on studying and I still did some volume which feels awesome.
I'm happy with how im setting my goals and plans daily/weekly and monthly and Im looking forward to continue in same manner since it really suits me the best this way and I feel powerful having this ROUTINE of goals setting in my arsenal.
Stats for last month:
I improved in many areas, have even more confidence then before, so I for sure see and feel the improvements and that Im going in right direction with both study and playing.
Im very happy with redline work as well, so I'll just continue in same manner and get better and better.
Other days as said were spend studying so I still worked alot this month while also seeing friends and having fun. Month April was a very succesfull and happy month.
A very proper return to the motherland lets say 😃
Thats how my routines worked this month. As you can see I didnt journal every day, I found out lately that I want different kind of journal and so I already ordered new a bit different style.
For beginning this 6 minute basic Diary was great, but now I need different type since I succsefullye implemented gratidue in my life.
I had this one for beginning (used it for 1 year and a half):
But now I'll be using this one:
If anybody is strugling with beeing grateful and in general feeling better and having some daily/weekly/monthly self reflection, I would advice you first ordering the basic one
and then shift to this. For me it helped a lot, did the job and now I have this approach in my daily life and it bring more awareness, joy and general feeling of having thins "in control".
Obv when I go to vacation and some other free times I just live life without it and without "controling" everything, I just find the perfect spot in a balance between both.
Other than that few other interesting stuff happaned lately, some good some worse (sometimes maybe good sometimes maybe shieettt)
We bought Anja a new skateboard, and same day she (very very unluckily), broke her ankle.
Next 3 weeks (at least) like this 😃
I was invited to talk about some science stuff around body language and stuff about poker on Slovenian national television. A very nice and pleasant experience, meet new interesting people and had great time doing that.
Should be broadcasted in few days, im rrly interested how I'll look on TV lol, I didnt change my behaviour at all, just talked and acted normally like myself and Im normally very talkative and hyper active so I really wonder how this looks like on Tv screen haha. Anyway I was happy to see that there are shows on TV on which they talk some interesting stuff and I was very glad to be able to play a small part in it.
Also very happy to be back outside playing tennis.
Slowly getting better in this game as well, now I can sometimes serve normally, so the games are becoming more fun and at same time more competitive which I really like 😃
And that pretty much summs it up for month of April.
I'll be back in ish 7 days, to talk quickly about my routines during scoop and then further on during summer.
I wish every body a succsefull, happy and healthy month of May!
Lets enjoy it as much as we can!
LFG <3
Holla guys.
New week, so I decided to quickly just writte my plans and routines for month of May, basicly for scoop and GG series period.
1. Wakeup around 11.30 (depends of deepruns, but prioritxy will be getting 100% score sleep everyday)
2. Morning journal (setting up CLEAR daily goals)
3. Do breakfast and coffee
4. Stretch/walk/exercise (depends when I wake up, but max 2 hours in general)
5. Do few spots to warm up brain (20 mins max)
6. Meditate 10mins (outside if no rain)
7. Start session ish 16.30 (some days earlier because of events)
8. After session routine (scoring how I played and approached, few easy toughts about session)
9. Short walk and breathing
10. Wraping up the day with journaling and living work out of my head
11. Chill on couch/play games (something fun to get in relaxed state and get ready to bed, no high stresss, only chill)
What I expect and want from month of May:
1. Every day correct approach at tables
2. Focusing on PERFORMANCE (performance > volume)
3. Executing my Daily/weekly plans (will track everything in google sheets, daily and weekly)
4. Have fun and enjoy in the moment
5. Trust myself
6. At the end of the month to look back and say "Timi, YOU GAVE IT YOUR ABSOLUTE BEST"
I will share results, graphs, routines and goals at the end of the series.
Thats basicly how my day will look like, prioritizing sleep and performing at the tables, everything else will be less important.
Its May, multiple online series. NOW ITS TIME TO ****ING COOK.
I'm hyped, and ready to be locked in.
Lets get after it.
GL and HF <3
Really enjoy your combo of grind reports + travel pics. What are you doing for your daily warm-up spots -- running drills, studying solver outputs, or something else?
Good luck with SCOOP and GG series!
Hollaa !
Long time has passed after my last update, I was here last time just few days before SCOOP started, so I owe myself (and you guys) some updates, since quite some time passed 😀
First I'll do an update for month of May, when SCOOP and GG Series were taking places.
Since we love numbers and results, I'll start with them:
Playing days: 19
Tournament entries: 919 (539 on GG poker and 380 combined on PS, Wmax and some smaller sample on ACR and WPT)
Profit: -4849$
Thoughts overall for SCOOP/GG Series 2025:
I didnt have other expectation for scoop then to follow my daily goals and routines and to give my absolute best on and off tables.
As said many times, for me the most important thing between series is to spend free time wisely, to do a bit less intense sports and in general rest more and be more chill.
Since you grind for long hours every day its the most important to have as calm and present mind/body. With great routines and goals that I've set that was totaly doable, so I felt great for
entire series.
Results wise it didnt go well, but also for results I had no expectations since I cant control them. For me the only question every day and every week was/is; "What can I do better, where can I improve ?", and so
I only try to focus on this questions. Since in May I played most hours of the day beside sleeping, I didnt spent much time studying, I just refreshed my mind in some spots to stay fresh, and talk few hands in
BitB, but no serious deep study at all since I played for longer hours and didnt want to bother my brain and "overcook".
I feel happy and confident with my strategy overall, so I was not worried of anything. I tried to be as PRESENT and HAPPY as possible, since that way I play best poker.
For further online series I want to approach same way as I'm approaching at the moment. I really feel very good about everything, I feel like Im prepared way better then others, I feel like my mental game is ageees infront
of others haha, it mind sound "cocky" or idk, but I'm 100% of that. The more poker I play and see, the more I understand how important that is, specially in MTT's and I think I was undervalueing how good I am with
preparations off tables, on tables, between breaks and in general.
Playing wise I want to change few things, I already changed for this series but will keep even more attention to it further on as well.
Two main things I want to pay attention to:
- Less (probbly even zero) satelites
- Less reentries
- Better tournament selection in general (skip most mystery bounties)
In general I want to approach registring and reentring a bit better. I already have exact plan that Is a bit different then last 7 months of online poker, and will just follow that plan.
Other then that I'm very happy with my approach and playing during SCOOP/GG Series, so I won't change much other then things said above for further playing days/weeks/series.
Series finished for me a bit earlier since I had to leave for Vegas.
In November last year (2024), a friend called me and asked if I plan to go to Vegas for summer in 2025. Since Im not yet there in my career finances wise I said I cant go, but will for sure go in following years
as soon as I can afford it. He then offered me to go with him basicly for free. I cant go too much in detailes but long story short he offered me such a great deal that it was "no brainer" for me.
I would get a decent % of profits, while at same time not spending any money for anything, so I only said "Vivaaaaaaaaaaaa Las Vegas", and was happily packing my stuff for 2 months in the desert!
To write a decent blog about Vegas trip, I would need to write hundreeeds of pages and it would still be hard to put in words how AWESOME the experience was. I will anyway try to describe the key takeways and best adventures
from this summer in the desert, and try to describe the wholesomeness of entire trip in as short form as possible with as manny pictures as possible.
I didnt really have any expectations going to Vegas, I just wanted as always, to do my best and to have as much fun as possible and being present and enjoying the moment fully. Being there for almost 2 months with friends
in a house, playing live poker every day, seeing/meeting poker friends, mentors/coaches and coostudents, meeting new people, gathering exerience for live poker, having chances to earn biiiig amounts of money every day,
I mean, A DREAM would be a big understatement.
I cant really explain the feelings, so I wont dive deep in them, but I just feel so GRATEFUL and THANKFUL for the oppurtunity I had and time I had in Vegas, so I knew only one thing for sure, I only want to give
MY ABSOLUTE BEST to perform as good as possible and TO HAVE AS MUCH FUN DOING THAT AS POSSIBLE!
And so I did!
Before going I only had this few goals for myself, since I think that is the only and best way for me to make the most out of this oppurtunity:
- Be PRESENT, ENJOY the moment.
- Follow your routines off tables to be WELL PREPARED (sleep well, eat well, be active physicaly)
- Trust your game/process
- After tournament: hangout with friends, create good/positive vibes, smile, let your friends know they are the best, be honest and curious, ask for oppinions but no hardcore analisis
- Play every day if possible, but NEVER FORCING ANYTHING
- Take day off when needed
I followed all my goals, and I'm very happy to be able to say again: I DID MY BEST!
I certainly did, I trusted my plans, I followed them and quickly I was able to see again how important the preparation is and how important it is to be surrounded with GREAT PEOPLE!.
It was not random that I was able to play every day for long hours, it was not random I woke up every day ready and happy to work, it was not random that even when all things went wrong way and other people/players
were not able to show up, or they showed up but were mentaly weak, or physicaly weak, showing how frustrated they are, doing bad choices off and on tables, that I was still ABLE and HAPPY to
CONSISTENTLY SHOW UP and DO MY BEST TO PLAY AS GOOD AS POSSIBLE and to come HAPPY on the table and WILLING to play long hours and HAVE FUN, that was NOT RANDOM, that was just the SHOWCASE of my preparations,
of my process, of my routines, of my approach, of my work, of the great people Im surrounded with, THOSE are the real reasons, why I was able to keep showing up and why I will KEEP SHOWING UP in my future.
Why I want to explain this is because out of entire 55 days in Las Vegas, this way my by faaar biggest takeaway:
- Seeing how MENTALY WEAK MOST players are:
Not only recreationals, from them I expected this, but regulars, and good regulars, seeing how poor they prepare, how weak mentaly they are, how they play with ego, how quickly they get distracted, tilted,
how hard it is for them to seat for hours straight and most importantly, HOW MUCH ALL THIS WEAKNESS AFFECTS THEIR GAME!!!
I knew even before Vegas, that I have great approach, routines yada yada blablaa and that that is powerful. But MAAMAA MIAA, after seeing stuff in Vegas day after day, I will now VALUE my STRONG MINDSET even more.
I cant stress it enough, but I'm honestly 100% sure in TOURNAMENT POKER this is the number one thing at the moment. The funny thing is, yes I played live, and this are life fields, but I played vs many many european,
and worldwide regulars that I play with them online on daily basis, and they showed sometimes even bigger weakness then recreationals. I was/am, very surprised to see this, and I think its so CRUCIAL to have MIND AT RIGHT PLACE, and its so encouraging to see how big of an EDGE you can have only by CONSISTENTLY showing up and being in RIGHT PLACE in your MIND and BODY.
Other big takeaway for further live and online poker is again:
- Tournament/game selection
I think this is for next years for sure number one thing I wanna pay more attention to when going for long live stops. In vegas specificly during Wsop its so easy to get overwhelmed with schedule, since its soo many
casinos to play poker in. I think reentring some tournaments too many times, and late regging some not the best structured tournaments probbly costed me some % of my ROI, so This I will plan even better next time.
Another takeaway I wanna mention is:
- how IMPORTANT it is to ADAPT your game.
Ofc it feels like no brainer, since in poker we always need to adapt to play best possible game, but in live fields since you get even more informations from players and you have more time for decisions and
only playing one table, I think its even more important and big key in live games to be able to navigate and make some extreme diviations in all different ways in order to play your best game and
have as high %ROI as possible.
Last takeaway I find very interesting is:
- "TRUST YOUR GUT" or Trusting your Intuition
Seeing every possible showdown at the table, seeing clear patterns of players at the table, seeing their emotions, and playing with them while seating in a live setting next to them, when they look, breathe, and move
very close to you, comes sometimes with more CLEAR and REAL intuition. Rightfully so I believe. All things considered it is not weird or random how many times I was right when trusting intuition, even tho the play
seems bizare or out of line blabla...
Even when playing online it happens for sure, but in a LIVE SETTING where everything is even more "real" I think trusting yourself when you get this feeling is even more important. At the end its not the feeling imo,
its as mentioned, the patterns and all the logical things and the energy you feel. It might sound a bit wodooo, but in reality I think its just hard for people to hide emotions and being next to those emotions and correctly
spotting them and getting used to them its one of the keys for live poker imo. I enjoyed this a lot. Sometimes I looked stupid for doing some stuff for sure, but mostly when trusting myself I was correct.
And you know what they say:
Enough of philosophy now. You would expect now with so many takeaways, and "Im so happy with how I approached", "Im happy with how I played" that I made millions in vegas 😃
I didnt tho, I made zero this time. I was down around 27k
Could I do some things better ? For sure, always there is room to improve, but mainly Im very very happy with my game and everything. Also moving forward and reflecting back on what exactly I can improve and what exactly
I want to continue doing, is the way to go if you always want to improve and do your best. So I really feel I took the best out if this year Vegas opportunity and I can again say that I GAVE MY BEST and I HAD BEST TIME OF MY LIFE there and I think I cant do much more then that, so I'm very very sattisfied.
Numbers for Vegas 2025
Tournaments played: 64 (35 tourneys 29 reenrties)
Buyins: 44k$
Cashouts: 16500
Profit: -27k$
Few pictures and words of everyday life while in the desert.
It Was 5 of us in the house that was 15 mins ish drive to the casinos. One girl that was cooking for us and driving us, and 4 guys that came to play cards and have fun.
I usually woke up at around 9.00am, depends of previous night how long I played.
I had almost every day same breakfast, many eggs, some vegetables and avocado with olive oil on some bread. A big fat coffeee and I was ready to start the day.
Some days I did stretchings before going to play, but mostly just meditation and then some easy conversations and fun with the boys.
Then I went to one of the casinos, depends what events were happening. I played a lot in horsshoe and mgm grand. Played some in Aria and other casinos as well.
Favourite casino was Resorts world for sure. Very clean and nice, quick and legendary dealers, fun daily tournaments. I enjoyed all other vanues as well, every one different a bit,
has upsides and downsides, but in general, all good for pokerssss.
Enjoying a Neutonic and playing live poker at WSOP in Vegas surely felt like a dream, I was enjoying every moment and having infinite amount of fun on daily basis.
Between breaks I tried to beat long lines for toilets haha. Usually breaks were 15 mins long, so sometimes It was not enough since lines were too long.
Long breaks I usually ate my dinner that was delivered to me, always packed with lots of protein, mostly chicken and beef, some veggies and potatoes or rice.
The rest of the break I walked around and did some stretching, meeting and talking with friends and enjoying the fresh Vegas air of usually more then 40 degrees celcius 😃
After I busted or ended the tournament, I went home, either our girl driver picked me or I went to uber.
At home we played loooots of cornhole, sometimes catan, but cornhole was the goated game. If I had time I also did some fitness training, went running outside few times, made sure I was active as well.
We didnt eat outside much, but we went for one good korean bbq and when celebrating friends Bracelet we went for some steaks!
Supporting a friend in a deeprun for a bracelet was also one of the more memorable events of the summer. Congrats again brother ! <3
I slept very good every day, the room was nice and cozy and I woke up fully rested every day. I'm also very happy that I was sharing room with friend of mine on this trip, since we really got to know each other even better and now became even closer friends. Having long and chill conversations really helped to always be in happy/calm mind and that is obv much needed for long hours of grinding, so it helped for everyday wellbeing alot.
In fact, we became such close friends that he let me did his haircut on Ronaldo style 😃
Other then that, I didnt do much other stuff, as said, we went eat outisde few times, and thats it. No grand canyon, no sphere, no big nightclubs etc 😃 Idk, i didnt feel like it this time, I think I will return to Vegas many more times, so there will be plenty of time to discover some other stuff as well. This time was time to grind, sleep and hangout with friends in amazing enviroment/house.
One of the funnest experience as well was playing on feautured table of main event with some of the legends like Liv Boeree, Santosh Suvarna, Jonathan Jaffe. To play against Liv was really fun,
I started watching poker in days when she was playing the most and It got me hyped to even start trying out poker, so to play few spots against her and sharing table xp with this legends was
really an awesome experience.
Here is a funny interesting spot vs Santosh that happened immidietly when I got moved to the TV table,
Main event was fun to play, and the best tournament I ever played. Unfortunatelly I didnt cash it, I busted in day3 after around 5 hours of playing.
The biggest run I had in Vegas was the deeprun in 600$ pokerneews deepstack tournament where I finished 36th for around 8K$. This way the closest run, around 400$k for first as well.
Also one of the best tournaments I played entire summer, rlly rlly good structure and weak players. I enjoyed this one a lot!
After that, I went to support Slovenian team that played Vegas Open Football Championship 😃 Our team made it to playoffs but then lost since they had no substitutions and they were half
dead when I arrived haha. It was a fun experience seeing high stakes regulars battling on diferent kind of fields.
In the finals was Argentina vs Spain. Even tho Sergio Kun Aguero was on Argentina they couldnt win vs spain, and Adrian Mateos was happily lifting another trophy, this time Football trophy!
A really nice experience, seing all the guys battle, and also seeing Aguero miss a penalty in finals 😃
Next year when I play for the team as well, Slovenia will reach FINALS and no Aguero or Mateos will stand my way 😃
I played some cashgames the days after, in a great place called South Point 😃 Quite far away from the strip, a land where 60year old + fields are made of, I treated myself of some 1/2 cashgame,
few hot chocolates and bad racist jokes later, I was friend with entire table, they liked me, I liked them, and so they decided to gift me with some chips, and soon I was up few buyins.
Next time I'll for sure play more cashgames, they are fun!
Even tho I didnt eat out almost nothing, I had to try the 22$ hot dog!
It was deeelicious!
Few Pictures that I took while walking between breaks...
I played 49 days out of 54 days in Las Vegas, I did my best, I had best time of my life, but now it was time to go home and continue the process and journey back home.
Even tho I personally already thanked my friend for organizing everything I want to say again that, the way we ere organized, the way food and driving around was organized, all the little things, everything I/we needed,
like foods, drinks, caffeine, time, space, room, free time, everything was going so smooth and its because of GREAT ORGANIZATION from my friend Miha. He is amazing with organization, i didnt doupt that, but still, I was
surprised how well things can go when you set them well.
Thank you again for everything, without this approach, its not possible to work as much and as calm as I've worked and I'm really really THANKFUL and GRATEFUL for everything you did and for the invite in first place.
And for my friend that made this possible in first place. Words cannot express how GRATEFUL I'm to be given this opportunity, I'm looking forward to make it count even results/finance wise next time! <3
And just like that the Vegas summer came to and end. Wow, what a time I had!
With such a warm welcome, I was more then happy to be home.
What a journey, what a year, and still so much time ahead. I am very very GRATEFUL for life and VERY VERY CURIOUS what else it has to offer, lets seee...
With that being said, this longer post is coming to an end.
I will update the blog next time in middle of august ish.
Till then I will mostly take it easy and just study/ do lots of sports and play a bit less. Schedule is gonna be ish like this:
- Play and rest Sunday
- Study and lots of sports on Monday
- Play and rest Tuesday
- Study and lots of sports Wednesday
and repeating in same pattern, trying to never miss Sunday, but other than that focus on well being, studying, improving, having fun and being present.
Thank you for reading so far!
Till next time <3
Tim
No post for 4 months, what happened?
Good catch. Hope you're ok Tim.
Holaa guys.
Long time no posts.
Long story short:
I've changed the schedule in mid october , went to play morning/midday schedule and I've been doing that and enjoying the life around this schedule alot.
I don't plan many changes in future, I really enjoy this rhytm alot, and also I enjoy live poker alot. So when my Br is big enough to afford traveling around europe regulary,
I will combine that with my morning grind and then see.
I'm no man for big, fixed plans in future, they dont make sense to me too much, so atm I'm just following what feels the best.
Obv I have some ish plans that I follow and wanna reach and all this is going great.
As in life many unpredicted things can happen, I ofcourse alway weigth throu every decsiion if its neccesary, but for now, I wanna continue in same manner.
Atm I live in capital of Slovenia, this also I would prefer to stay that way, but I might move location for winter again, somewhere sunny and with OK time zones for my schedule. I already have place in mind, but lets see what time brings.
Here is how most days look like atm:
Wakeup between 6.30 - 7.30
Play till around 15.00 max 17.30 (depends how long I wanna play )
I eat first time around 9.30 am, second time 13.00 ish and third time after training
Then I go to gym/tennis or other activity
Then I eat, and 19.30-21.30 chill time, either video games, or talking with Anja.
Saturdays mostly off,
Sundays I play 11h - 23.00, on some crazy sundays I just play entire evening schedule, and if that happens,
I would still wakeup early on monday to not destroy my schedule to much, and just rest all day and go again morning schedule tuesday.
Most weeks look the same, I neccesary do 2 gym session every week, upper and lwoer body, then I do **** ton of tennis, with coach and with players, I played winter league as well, so that was fun. Some times I have less tennis and then I would do 4 gym sessions, but lately focusing on tennis mostly, since I wanna become best recreational tennis player in Ljubljana in next few years ( LOL 🤣 )
Other than that, I wish for most days to stay very similar, with not other big plans, rather spontanous, even vacation, I dont plan big long vacations, just whatever randomly comes in between, some birhtdas, weekend trips, random festivals etc... but when im home, just playing alot of cards and lots of sports and chillin.
Here is my graph for last 6 months, abi 23€ ish, started first months and half with 12-16abi and then continue till 23€
This will stay the same for few more months and then start putting out bottom buyins and adding some good 55+ tourneys.
I also had 2 live scores, both second places lol, one for 6k and one for 8k. Results vise, my most succsesful 6 months ever. Lets continue like that.
and PT4
Tbh, I've always obssessed with PT and DB strats, but for me it had counter effect, I couldnt reach my game and was always thinking weird directons. I still ofc do REVIEW of DATABASE every 100k hands ish to see whats up, but rather then obsessing that, I just look at what works in game and follow that. So far so good.
I really wanna continue this schedule for at least year or two and then see what happens. I'm also not moving to peak schedule untill i have shitton of money saved, doesnt make sense to me all things considered. Personal approach and decision obv, I think peak schedule is great but not for all reasons in life 😃
Other than that, I'm having fun, living happy, healthy and thats everything I ask for.
Trying to improve day by day while having fun.
Tomorrow I go on short 5 day vacation and then back in the lab.
I've also booked this for Anjas birthday in July 😃
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsVoyDvs...
Lets see how well I manage 22 hours of heat, cold, dust and huuuge group of people (50k I believe will attend ish ?? )
Posting my usuall days on IG as usually, not everyday, just random when I feel like it, so you can catch me there if you wish.
I wish you all the best <3
GLGL
Tim
Glad to see you're thriving.
