Leading on from my last blog about laziness I'm now going to write about sleep. We all need sleep to function but exactly how much do we need? Can some people survive on less sleep than others and finally is there a perfect number of sleep hours that allows us to be at are most productive during the day?
My increased interest in the subject has come through observation and discussion. I've lived with Antony 'big tone' Yousefian for the last two and a half years now and i would say he has had approximately an average of 7 hours of sleep a night over that period. I on the other hand would be much closer to an average of 10-11 hours. Now when you start to add that shit up it's a hell of a lot of sleep! I guess without really knowing the affects of the difference I'm really interested in what they might be. Ant is a very driven, productive person though and has simply got use to working and maybe even thriving on a lack of sleep. Comparing the two of us is effectively a waste of time because we're different in so many ways.
A more appropriate case study might be to compare myself with another friend, Joe 'razzle dazzle' Whittaker. Now Joe is a full time poker player as well but he sets his alarm most days and tries to sleep for about 8 hours a night. His sleeping pattern is all over the place but the key variable is the amount of hours which remains constant. In terms of productivity Joe plays a lot more than i do although like me can sometimes lead an unbalanced life. I guess what I'm trying to answer is whether or not the huge number of hours I've spent asleep is having a negative affect on me as a person? I've stopped exercising over the last 2 months and have eaten a lot of junk food. I've also not been putting much volume online but that being said when i have played I've being focused and playing fairly well.
Maybe I've just got used to having a lot of sleep. The human body needs sleep and my own is simply getting all it can. Is there even a thing as having to much sleep?
I realise I've been asking a lot of questions in this blog but that's come from a total lack of knowledge about the subject. I feel like a kid who's trying to work something out for the first time; a bit like i imagine CashyP feels on a daily basis.
Anyway back to the title of this blog, the 11am experiment. The plan is to set my alarm for 11am everyday until the end of April. If i get up before 11am that's fine but 11 is the absolute latest I'm allowed to get up. I'm hoping this will help me in two ways. Firstly i hope to get myself back into a healthy style of living. Getting up early obviously results in more sunlight and therefore more going to the gym, swimming, running, sculpting the guns etc etc. Secondly i want to be able to start answering some of the many questions that I've asked in this post. Will i be going to sleep the same time every night by the end? Can i function on less sleep etc? The best thing about the experiment is even if it turns out i do need 10 hours of sleep a night I'll still be up at a reasonable hour so it's win win for me. The hardest morning is going to be the one coming up, it's coming up to 5am and I'm not very tired yet. Should be fine getting through the day then we're all going to see the new Scorsese film tonight night which I'm very much looking forward to. Overall I'm actually quite excited about the experiment and hope i can stick to it. I think the biggest potential problems are hangovers and late night sessions but I'll try my best to stick it and will be blogging my progress.
Just a quick paragraph on my poker exploits. I've been running really hot for the last 8 days and have made $10K playing 2/4 and 3/6, mostly heads up. I've also managed to avoid having a losing day so really hoping i can maintain the streak as momentum is obviously important in poker. I've been playing close to my best which is also a nice bonus. Peace and love to you all.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Getting into bad habits
Unfortunately this is something i do quite often. The lack of authority in my life twinned with the drinking, the laziness, the gambling and the rest of all that great stuff makes it hard for me to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I really feel like i have a good idea of how i want my life to be. Eating healthy, regular exercise, reading, writing, learning etc etc. The truth of the matter is it's 4am, I've watched 8 hours of shit on TV today and managed to work my way through an entire tub of ice cream. Now i know these are impressive accomplishments in themselves but i think i could be doing better.
It will always come down to the fact that I'm lazy. The worst thing about my laziness is my acceptance of it. I've been lazy my whole life and to be honest I've never really understood why people spend so much time doing things they don't want to. I like to do what i want, when i want and for a large percentage of my time that means relaxing in comfort.
The game of poker has been both good and bad for my natural laziness. On the plus side it gives me something to work on, makes me concentrate and challenges me on a daily basis. On the other side of the coin it's created a way for me to make quite a lot of money with not much effort. I'm 23, have no degree and 'work' an average of 15-20 hours a week. The sick thing about this little story is i make more than most Oxbridge graduates my age and i don't pay tax. I don't want this post to turn into a shameless brag but for a lazy fucker I'm doing OK for myself.
I'm sure a time will come when I'll have to think about making some major changes in my life. When that time does arrive i want it to be through choice and not have been forced from going broke. The idea of busting my roll is petrifying. The scariest thing about it for me is the idea of trying and failing at something. I'm use to mediocrity. I was mediocre at school and I've always been a mediocre sportsman. The reason I'm OK with this is the reason behind it. I never worked hard at school and I've never really worked hard at sport. What i have worked hard on is poker. If i went broke i know my family and friends would help me through but I'm not sure i could ever get over trying and failing at something.
You'll be glad to hear that's the soul revealing, philosophical side of the blog done. I never really plan what I'm going to write on this page and sometimes things just spill out. Back to my recent poker activity:
Live poker sucks! I played 4 events at the London poker masters and cashed in none. On top of that i lost £750 playing cash and another £130 staking, what a superstar! The grand total for the festival came to a loss of £1980 so overall not a good week. As far as decisions go i did quite well. If i had to grade my performance at the festival i would give me a B-. I still pushed a little to hard at times and my timing/live reads were not very good at all. As is the current trend with my live outings i did tend to run into a lot of hands. It's so hard to get momentum going in a tourney when you can't make hands and your opponents keep making the nuts. Really hoping i can save all my run good for one tournament and ship something big.
After a 10 day break from online poker I've been back on it this week. Glad to report I'm +$5K from the first 4 days. Most of that came from one guy on party that sucks hairy man cock. My heads up game is getting really strong and I'm still improving. Planning on playing online quite a bit for the next couple of weeks then I'm playing the GUKPT at the Vic at the end of the month. Hugs and Kisses xxxxxxxxxxxx
It will always come down to the fact that I'm lazy. The worst thing about my laziness is my acceptance of it. I've been lazy my whole life and to be honest I've never really understood why people spend so much time doing things they don't want to. I like to do what i want, when i want and for a large percentage of my time that means relaxing in comfort.
The game of poker has been both good and bad for my natural laziness. On the plus side it gives me something to work on, makes me concentrate and challenges me on a daily basis. On the other side of the coin it's created a way for me to make quite a lot of money with not much effort. I'm 23, have no degree and 'work' an average of 15-20 hours a week. The sick thing about this little story is i make more than most Oxbridge graduates my age and i don't pay tax. I don't want this post to turn into a shameless brag but for a lazy fucker I'm doing OK for myself.
I'm sure a time will come when I'll have to think about making some major changes in my life. When that time does arrive i want it to be through choice and not have been forced from going broke. The idea of busting my roll is petrifying. The scariest thing about it for me is the idea of trying and failing at something. I'm use to mediocrity. I was mediocre at school and I've always been a mediocre sportsman. The reason I'm OK with this is the reason behind it. I never worked hard at school and I've never really worked hard at sport. What i have worked hard on is poker. If i went broke i know my family and friends would help me through but I'm not sure i could ever get over trying and failing at something.
You'll be glad to hear that's the soul revealing, philosophical side of the blog done. I never really plan what I'm going to write on this page and sometimes things just spill out. Back to my recent poker activity:
Live poker sucks! I played 4 events at the London poker masters and cashed in none. On top of that i lost £750 playing cash and another £130 staking, what a superstar! The grand total for the festival came to a loss of £1980 so overall not a good week. As far as decisions go i did quite well. If i had to grade my performance at the festival i would give me a B-. I still pushed a little to hard at times and my timing/live reads were not very good at all. As is the current trend with my live outings i did tend to run into a lot of hands. It's so hard to get momentum going in a tourney when you can't make hands and your opponents keep making the nuts. Really hoping i can save all my run good for one tournament and ship something big.
After a 10 day break from online poker I've been back on it this week. Glad to report I'm +$5K from the first 4 days. Most of that came from one guy on party that sucks hairy man cock. My heads up game is getting really strong and I'm still improving. Planning on playing online quite a bit for the next couple of weeks then I'm playing the GUKPT at the Vic at the end of the month. Hugs and Kisses xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sunday, 28 February 2010
End of a swingy month
I'm not upset to the see the end of February. Another cold winter month out the way in which i underachieved at the tables. At least i managed to make sure i finished up a winner, +$5.4K. I've also been playing better since my last post and obviously I'm hoping that i can maintain this.
I've been at home in Broadstairs for the last 3 days and have had a really good time. The four of us haven't spent a great deal of time together over the last couple of years and it's been a lot of fun. We went out for dinner on Saturday to a nice fish restaurant and then for some reason went bowling today with 15 of my parents friends. I scored 106 and 101 but actually bowled quite well and had no luck at all. To make things worse my sister, my mum and my dad finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Talk about letting the family down! My sister scored 128 and 134, well played!
I went to the driving range with dad on Friday and didn't hit the ball well at all. My swing is a mess and i really need some lessons if I'm going to avoid the wooden spoon in okey this year.
The plan for next week is some good old live poker action! There is a festival at the international and I'm playing in 4 of the events. It would be really nice if i could make 1 final table because my recent live results have sucked! I'm not going to play at all online until the Monday after the festival. I thought it might be a good idea to take a little break and come back fresh and ready to play like a champion. I'll probably blog how i get on at the festival at some point next week.
I wrote this blog on the train back from London:
http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/blog.php?b=764
I think it might be the best thing I've ever written, exploring new concepts is fun!
I've been at home in Broadstairs for the last 3 days and have had a really good time. The four of us haven't spent a great deal of time together over the last couple of years and it's been a lot of fun. We went out for dinner on Saturday to a nice fish restaurant and then for some reason went bowling today with 15 of my parents friends. I scored 106 and 101 but actually bowled quite well and had no luck at all. To make things worse my sister, my mum and my dad finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Talk about letting the family down! My sister scored 128 and 134, well played!
I went to the driving range with dad on Friday and didn't hit the ball well at all. My swing is a mess and i really need some lessons if I'm going to avoid the wooden spoon in okey this year.
The plan for next week is some good old live poker action! There is a festival at the international and I'm playing in 4 of the events. It would be really nice if i could make 1 final table because my recent live results have sucked! I'm not going to play at all online until the Monday after the festival. I thought it might be a good idea to take a little break and come back fresh and ready to play like a champion. I'll probably blog how i get on at the festival at some point next week.
I wrote this blog on the train back from London:
http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/blog.php?b=764
I think it might be the best thing I've ever written, exploring new concepts is fun!
Sunday, 14 February 2010
I should work in Mcdonalds!!
Unfortunately February isn't going very well. I'm playing with about as much intelligence as someone who works in the fast fast food industry and fittingly I'm earning about the same wage. I'm aware that these break even periods are a part of the game for all players and all i can do is work hard and push through. The thing that bothers me the most is my level if play. If i was playing well and losing then i would be as happy as a Frenchman living next to a brothel. The problem is I'm playing badly, to many poor hands, poor sessions and even poor days. One day last week i lost $4K and played fairly terribly. I think i might have made more mistakes that day than i did in the whole of November; an impressive achievement!
Despite my startling lack of consistency I'm still slightly up on the month. I'm -$1K on live poker outings, thanks to a couple of unsuccessful trips to the international and DTD, but +$2.2K overall. Obviously at the stakes i play this number is fairly insubstantial but it's always nice to be ahead. The plan is to try and grind as hard as i can over the next ten days before returning home for my dad's birthday. I'm pretty much in the routine of going home 3 or 4 times a year now and that suits me just fine. I'll probably post when i get home about how the next week or so goes. It would be nice to keep my streak of $10K + months going but in order to do that I'm going to have to have to maintain a higher level of play and stop tilting it off like a mongoloid!
Despite my startling lack of consistency I'm still slightly up on the month. I'm -$1K on live poker outings, thanks to a couple of unsuccessful trips to the international and DTD, but +$2.2K overall. Obviously at the stakes i play this number is fairly insubstantial but it's always nice to be ahead. The plan is to try and grind as hard as i can over the next ten days before returning home for my dad's birthday. I'm pretty much in the routine of going home 3 or 4 times a year now and that suits me just fine. I'll probably post when i get home about how the next week or so goes. It would be nice to keep my streak of $10K + months going but in order to do that I'm going to have to have to maintain a higher level of play and stop tilting it off like a mongoloid!
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Good month, terrible day.
January is in the books and overall it went quite well. I made $15K online but lost $3K playing live. My volume was fairly decent and i played a lot of solid if not spectacular poker. I'm fairly happy with a +$12K month and it certainly gives me something to build on in 2010.
One particular highlight of the previous month was the birth of Noah Michael Alp. Even though the baby wasn't planned i know Mike will be a great dad and I'm really happy for him. Unfortunately for me the birth of this perfectly innocent, healthy child coincided with the worst day of my professional life. I bent over and took it like a champion on the 26Th January, it was not an enjoyable experience! I lost $4K online running like a fat kid on a hot day and then thought i would party on down to the Vic and play some good old live cash. A very generous £1500 donation later and i was left with that wonderful feeling of disappointed emptiness. I know days like these can happen, they have before and they will again but they still hurt the ego as well as the bankroll.
The other money lost live was at the monthly £300 at the international. I started the tourney playing like a superstar, building the stack up nicely and playing very aggro. I then find AA against Joejoe's KK and obviously we get it in pre. He binks on the flop and I'm left with 30% of my starting stack. I'm in no way annoyed about the hand, just one of those things. I am glad however that Joe went on to win the comp for £7K, well played sir! I even got to watch him take it down at 5am after a heavy night out in Old street for Kips' birthday. The night out was great fun and the Ant and i have both agreed that the Bavarian beer house is the greatest pub in London, what a place for a drinking session!
I'm a blogging machine these days, will try and keep it up.
One particular highlight of the previous month was the birth of Noah Michael Alp. Even though the baby wasn't planned i know Mike will be a great dad and I'm really happy for him. Unfortunately for me the birth of this perfectly innocent, healthy child coincided with the worst day of my professional life. I bent over and took it like a champion on the 26Th January, it was not an enjoyable experience! I lost $4K online running like a fat kid on a hot day and then thought i would party on down to the Vic and play some good old live cash. A very generous £1500 donation later and i was left with that wonderful feeling of disappointed emptiness. I know days like these can happen, they have before and they will again but they still hurt the ego as well as the bankroll.
The other money lost live was at the monthly £300 at the international. I started the tourney playing like a superstar, building the stack up nicely and playing very aggro. I then find AA against Joejoe's KK and obviously we get it in pre. He binks on the flop and I'm left with 30% of my starting stack. I'm in no way annoyed about the hand, just one of those things. I am glad however that Joe went on to win the comp for £7K, well played sir! I even got to watch him take it down at 5am after a heavy night out in Old street for Kips' birthday. The night out was great fun and the Ant and i have both agreed that the Bavarian beer house is the greatest pub in London, what a place for a drinking session!
I'm a blogging machine these days, will try and keep it up.
Sunday, 24 January 2010
A cheap failure
The first live tournament of the year has come and gone, unfortunately it ended in failure. The good news about the trip was that i managed to get in via a £150 satellite the night before. The bad news is the satellite didn't finish until 4am and in the main event i ran like shit.
I haven't got that many interesting hands to write about to be honest. My first table was incredibly soft but i was very card dead so i couldn't take advantage. Most of the players were just playing to loose before the flop and butchering their hands post-flop. It still surprises me how soft these fields are but you still need to make hands to take advantage. I eventually busted in the 9th level shoving 13bb's from the small blind with K7 and running into A7 in the big, sigh. Overall I'm very happy with how i played and wouldn't change a single decision i made all weekend. I'll be getting back on the grind this week with a few interruptions; Spurs game on Tuesday, seeing my sister on Wednesday, trip to cheeses' on Friday and the £300 at the international Saturday. I'm also planning on swimming a couple of miles so 12 hours of online poker should be a fairly accurate prediction.
I haven't got that many interesting hands to write about to be honest. My first table was incredibly soft but i was very card dead so i couldn't take advantage. Most of the players were just playing to loose before the flop and butchering their hands post-flop. It still surprises me how soft these fields are but you still need to make hands to take advantage. I eventually busted in the 9th level shoving 13bb's from the small blind with K7 and running into A7 in the big, sigh. Overall I'm very happy with how i played and wouldn't change a single decision i made all weekend. I'll be getting back on the grind this week with a few interruptions; Spurs game on Tuesday, seeing my sister on Wednesday, trip to cheeses' on Friday and the £300 at the international Saturday. I'm also planning on swimming a couple of miles so 12 hours of online poker should be a fairly accurate prediction.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Update
I'm pleased to report that the move up to $3/6 has been a relatively smooth one. I'm +$9K since my last post and looking good for a +$20K month overall. Despite this brilliant news there are still a few things I'm not happy about. The main one has been my general level of play. It's so easy to just presume you're playing well when your winning but this isn't always the case. I've played well the majority of the time but in two or three sessions I've been pretty poor. I really want to continue moving up but i know my consistency has to improve. If i can start producing my best game 90% of the time then i know i can compete at the higher levels. Obviously I'm going to make mistakes sometimes but i just need to keep learning from them.
In live poker news I'm heading to Bolton for the first leg of the GUKPT tomorrow. I'm getting the train up with Will in the afternoon, playing a satellite in the evening and then the main event starts on Friday at 2pm. This is my first major live event of the year so obviously hoping to start things off with a bang. The structure is quite good and in my experience the standard is usually fairly low. I'll probably blog when i get back about some fantastic hero call i made with king high against top set.
Away from poker I'm really starting to get excited about this premiership season. We lost to Liverpool tonight and played fucking terribly but i still think spurs have got a great chance of finishing 4th. The bookies have got Man City as favourites but i think it could be any one of four. Injuries will be a really important factor and from a spurs perspective we need Lennon back as soon as possible. He has been on fire this season and we really lack width without him playing.
I'm going to finish this post with the creation of another life rule:
NEVER BET ON AMERICAN FOOTBALL AGAIN YOU STUPID DEGEN FUCKWIT!
Anyway the Australian Open is on now so I'm going to bet on that instead.
In live poker news I'm heading to Bolton for the first leg of the GUKPT tomorrow. I'm getting the train up with Will in the afternoon, playing a satellite in the evening and then the main event starts on Friday at 2pm. This is my first major live event of the year so obviously hoping to start things off with a bang. The structure is quite good and in my experience the standard is usually fairly low. I'll probably blog when i get back about some fantastic hero call i made with king high against top set.
Away from poker I'm really starting to get excited about this premiership season. We lost to Liverpool tonight and played fucking terribly but i still think spurs have got a great chance of finishing 4th. The bookies have got Man City as favourites but i think it could be any one of four. Injuries will be a really important factor and from a spurs perspective we need Lennon back as soon as possible. He has been on fire this season and we really lack width without him playing.
I'm going to finish this post with the creation of another life rule:
NEVER BET ON AMERICAN FOOTBALL AGAIN YOU STUPID DEGEN FUCKWIT!
Anyway the Australian Open is on now so I'm going to bet on that instead.
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