Magic Trainers?

Sunday, March 16, 2008

I may have finally stumbled on the formula that will coerce me into putting in half decent hours each week. It was during a conversation with my brother that I realized I wasn't setting myself any goals or rewards that were achievable in the short term. We were discussing the lad's trip to Vegas that has been arranged for May and that fact that I have not yet booked up or committed to what will likely be a brilliant laugh. I badly want to go but I have to put financial security and the wedding before comp' gin n' juice and hooker ho's. My brother pointed out the obvious; being that with my current win rate I could easily put together the scratch if I just put in 100 or so hours a month. I know this and even prior to Malcy saying so was well aware that in theory all I had to do was 'put in the hours'.

As incentives go however, it simply is no use to me to think during a sick afternoon one Wednesday in March that, "if you get through this...you can go to Vegas!" This approach doesn't work because I know that it's not just a case of getting through that one sick afternoon. Over the course of the 2 months until the flight boards I'd have to endure many sick afternoons, some bad weeks and staggering amounts of bad beats and coolers. The reward is so intangible and distant that grinding out that bad Wednesday afternoon wouldn't make me feel any closer to my reward/goal. It fails for the same reason that seeing my bankroll slowly growing or my pokertracker figures running further into the green fails...they are just numbers and don't seem real.

I concluded I needed a short-term goal or reward system that would help me to concentrate on putting in the hours a week at a time without so much worrying about the big picture. This week I decided that I'd work hard and rewards myself THIS weekend for my efforts provided I achieved my hours targets and irrespective of results. I have decided that each week the first 25 hours I work go towards my general bankroll and day-to-day upkeep. Any hours I work beyond 25 I get as 'pocket money' calculated by hours x average hourly rate. At the start of each month I'll calculate my hourly rate for the previous 3 months (inc rakeback) and for the whole of the month that is the rate I will pay myself per hour above 25 each week. This feedback system will ensure that if my win rate starts to move up or down it will be reflected in my pocket money takings yet it won't swing wildly due to it being averaged over a 3 month period.

This week a nice new pair of trainers was my motivation. I knew that if I got anything over 27h for the week I'd have around £100 to spend on a new pair of trainers. It must sound silly to many of you that a pair of trainers could motivate me but I've never been a frivolous spender. I'll usually wait until I need something and seldom spend money on a whim or because I see something nice that I like. Even when I was a kid with a paper round I'd save nearly all my money each week to buy a mountain bike many months down the line. Most of the other kids just blew their wages on mars bars, bangers and those little fake candy cigarettes that used to make you feel hard. Not me, no, I'd only replace trainers when they fell apart and all the time would save up to have the nicest bike in the neighbourhood. My adult years as a 9-5 drone were no different; most of my mates get their monthly wage and are straight up town to buy clothes, DVD's and to piss a few hundred up against a wall. My wages would pay for the flat and car which, in many ways, a guy on my wages had no business affording. If I had taken it to the next level I may very well have turned into one of these, "Porsche in the driveway but bugger all in the fridge" types. Things are going to be different now and most weeks I'll be spending money on myself and Laura that previously I wouldn't. This week it was trainers, next it might be a meal in a fancy restaurant followed by drinking and dancing and perhaps I'll save two good weeks together and have a weekend away. Whatever I buy it'll have short term implications giving me the energy to endure the hours and the aspects of the game I hate (i.e. most of it) in order to reward myself at the weekends. Moreover, with excess money to blow most weekends it should help me unwind allowing me to wake up fresh the following Monday for the new week ahead.

As I said, this week it was trainers that helped me through and I managed to put in 27.7 hours and book just over 21,000 hands. At no point during the week did I check my bankroll, pokertraker stats or anything else to indicate how I was doing on a day to day basis. Thankfully I was up $2499 (ex rakeback) at the close of business on Friday and given I lost $900 in my last 45 minutes of the week it had been a lot more!! I'm yet to see a pair of trainers that I like but I have looked the money aside and intend to spend it as planned. I have no idea what I'll do with any pocket money I make next week but I do intend to pound away at the hours just as hard or perhaps harder. I'm at 2.24pt/bb/100 over 175k hands of NL$200....the only thing holding me back is ME and I have to keep experimenting with ways of overcoming my own demons. Hopefully 'pocket money' is the way to go.

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