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TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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Hey TPE nation! So I have had a lot of battles going on in my brain and decided to lay them out there for the world to see. I don’t put my thoughts down on paper enough and being a pro poker player, having a lot of freedom, I have struggled with accountability. Hopefully this thread will keep me honest and continue to motivate myself and others on my journey!
Balance has been an issue for me. Rolling out of bed and playing countless hours of poker, day after day for years has had a negative impact on my life in many ways. It has been a vicious cycle of failed attempts to better myself, for myself, girlfriend, family and the people around me. I have turned to beer, junk food, etc instead of things that will help me grow and succeed both on and off the felt. The actual results from poker itself and the opportunities it has presented me have been amazing. But WARNING: If you live an unbalanced life as a professional poker player, the is a good chance poker will consume you to the point of unhappiness. I am telling you from experience.
So basically I want to do a little “experiment” and see how diet, exercise, and mental game improvement will affect my results in poker and life in general.
Now I am sure this has been documented by others before and the results of the “experiment” are probably easy to predict, but I do have a following in the poker world and I think many people (poker players especially) could benefit from seeing someone who has struggled and documented the struggle, which hopefully results in success.
GOALS:
1) Get fit both physically and mentally through diet, exercise, meditation and improving mental leaks.
2) Get to the top of the poker world.
3) Improve happiness!
4) Become a better poker coach!
5) Buy a house (no more renting).
6) Learn to get things done on time and be on time!
7) BE CONSISTENT!
8) STAY BALANCED!
9) Try my best in everything I do!
10) Be a better boyfriend!
RULES:
1) Must update thread at least twice a week.
2) Gym or some sort of exercise min 30 mins 4x/week
3) Learn to meditate and do so before I play each session
4) Only play poker on days I have no other agenda
5) Only play poker on days I am mentally and physically ready to play my best
6) Eat clean. Very limited junk food. No more than 2 cheat meals/week. Nothing too hardcore just clean.
7) Stay realistic
8) Alcohol Consumption- One night per week max unless special occasion or event. (It is summer, I am a Newfie, let’s be real.)
9) No idiotic spending of money such as big purchases, being a hero at a bar, outside of poker gambling etc.
10) Work harder as a poker coach and become more organized.
So I will start this tomorrow documenting my weight (weekly), diet including supplement use, gym progress, poker results, poker coaching results, and my mood and feelings each day. I will try to do this daily for the first few weeks and see how it goes from there.
Please feel free to comment or ask any questions. Rule #11 will be I have to answer your questions on my videos or in this thread if they are reasonable.
Thanks for your interest. Through this journey I hope I can better myself as a person, as a poker player, a coach, a boyfriend, a son, a friend and so on. Stay tuned for big things!
Follow me @DannyN13 on twitter.
Danny “DannyN13” Noseworthy
February 28, 2015
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If I may make a suggestion. It is much easier to ease in to new goals piece by piece rather than all at once because sometimes the major swing in lifestyle can be overly hard to adjust to. Similar to how people who start a new very strict diet tend to last the shortest amount of time dieting. So it may be beneficial to introduce each new goal in smaller steps over the course of a few months to allow for a better transition so you don’t overwhelm yourself. Perhaps start by trying to exercise twice per week for 30 minutes for a month and then go to 3 and after another month go to 4. With the diet cut out the immediate problems like soda and candy and then after a month work on better portion control and removing more empty calories. With the alcohol perhaps it’s better to cap yourself by number of drinks rather than days so you don’t feel trapped by having to choose only one day you’re allowed to have some. Not trying to tell you how to live haha just trying to offer some friendly guidance as to what you may find to be a reasonable idea.
TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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Hey thanks I appreciate the input! The “Rules” are tailored to fit what is already somewhat in progress. I have been at the gym for 3 weeks now so I am ready to do 4 days a week. My muscle memory is quite good from playing sports and tons of heavy lifting when I was younger. My buddys used to call me Deadlift Dan lol. I’ve done the diets and cutting etc so yeah pretty educated in that department as well. It probably seems like a bigger project to an outsider who doesn’t know me personally and what my “routine” is. Not a soda or candy guy just beer and takeout when hungover more so. This is weird I guess but I am pretty well a pure 1-2 night binge drinker and won’t touch alcohol mid week even with meals or when I am relaxing at home. Strictly water really. So that’s why I kinda wanted to do it that way. Anything else along the way please give me your input as I am not a know it all and always consider other’s opinions. TY!
February 28, 2015
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Alright, sounds like you got it all under control. Best of luck man!
August 25, 2014
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I love the rule about no hero calls at the bar! haha
One tip is to say things you will do instead of only saying what you wont do. eg instead of saying, i wont eat this for breakfast… have what your replacing it with written beside it. It's easier to stop bad habits if you replace them with bettter ones. “i wont eat that bacon, instead im going to eat these eggs”
Also, daily and weekly goals that can be measured and ticked off a list as you go are a good place to start. Long term goals are impotant too obviously but you gotta keep breaking them down to the daily grind
TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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So Day 1 has arrived!
I have done a lot of work from bed on my laptop. Monday is usually my day of rest with a couple students thrown in or a mild grind. Where Friday is usually drinking day, Saturday moderate grind, and Sunday heavy grind, I am pretty exhausted when Monday hits. But I am still being very productive. One of my students, Marlon Dee, constructed an extensive spreadsheet to track my progress in exchange for a couple hours added to his coaching. Thanks very much! The spreadsheet features tabs headlining a follows; Instructions/Weekly Summary, Daily Summary, Meal Details, Exercise Details. So for people that reiterate the importance of short term vs long term etc, these tabs will work with the realistic daily attainable goal tracking. In the first tab, columns B and G will automatically count the # of Xs that are in the second tab, in columns K and L and so on to show my weekly progress.
Here is the link to the spreadsheet for all to view and keep me accountable 😀
I will try my best to update this throughout and after each day, and also summarize my day and feelings within the thread here.
Thanks for taking interest and GL with your own goals and growth!
Danny
TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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Here are my results this year up until now so we can have a look each month.
January 3, 2014
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Good luck Danny, I will be following this with interest. I know that feeling, when you run cold. It’s eating you alive. I hope you can turn things around, and that I can too 😛
/Mike
TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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Thanks Mike. Honestly it’s probably been my best year (so far) results wise and I am running OK. I am not doing this challenge because my results are bad or I’m running bad or anything like that. I am doing it because I want to better myself, and reach the highest level of poker and my highest potential. I don’t want to settle for being able to get by on poker or plateau. By doing these things in OP I feel they will take me to the next level. That feeling you can relate to is one I never want to feel again. I used to believe that I could blame the downswings strictly on variance, even though I knew in my head that was probably bullshit. There are other underlying factors that lead to downswings other than just luck IMO. Off table work accounts for ~50% of results in poker IMO. I hope you can turn things around as well!
Danny
TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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SO day 1 is in the books. Slept in and rested all day while organizing the challenge. Ate very well no junkfood whatsoever. Had a solid 1 hour workout 10 mins on bike+ Chest/Biceps. Felt very good when I got home at 11PM so I jumped in about 15 tournaments mainly turbos. Late night schedule is soft in general and probably softer now with WSOP running. I was 2/12 in the $215 turbo with $5500 up top and busted 11th AK<88 aipf. I never tilted due to feeling so good with very good meals all day and the gym completed along with wanting to succeed with this challenge. It paid off. I shipped the $109 turbo re-entry for $2800 after sucking out QJs>KQs aipf Heads up for 20 bbs a piece. The $215 flip feels justified now :D. Thanks again to Marlon for setting up the google doc. Such a great help to have that organized and ready to fill out as the day goes on. I know it's early but I put in some good details if you are interested in my workout routine and diet along with my session evaluation. Mainly coaching + gym tomorrow. Feeling awesome.
Here is the doc again:
Any tips, suggestions, feedback, questions please please please comment! I want to learn and grow and take all opinions and knowledge and put it into my program.
Cheers
Danny
November 4, 2013
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I'll be keeping an eye on this thread, and hope to see you to do well. I'll add you to twitter as well, since I check it more often than TPE.
From personal experience, I can tell you that goals #5 and #6 are huge for changing life for the better. There is something to the mentality of owning your own house, and of being a person who has things done/arrives where they are supposed to, on time. It breeds success. I'm sure all our significant others would agree that #10 will also lead to a much happier and more productive life as well.
For meditating, check out an app called Headspace. Keep in mind that you are going to fail some of the “rules”. Not completey fail them, but you are going to have weeks where you eat bad. You are going to have weeks where you just don't get to the gym 4 times. This won't mean you have failed, or that you can't do it. It's the same as poker, bad weeks are going to happen.
Best of luck Danny!
TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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Thanks for the awesome reply! It seems like once you own a house things fall into place that you wouldn't even really think about until then. My dad calls me “last minute Dan” and he couldn't be more right. There has always been something with me that it's like I almost enjoy the rush of having to get things done right at crunch time. Probably the gambler in me lol. But I definitely want to work on things as I am 27 and people's schedules matter etc.
I will be sure to check out the app as well! I realize I will fail in some aspects some weeks. But the more steps I take in the right directions and changes I make, I know it will continue me on the path to success.
Cheers
Danny
TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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Day 2
So kind of a strange day. I woke up and almost felt hungover, yet I didn't drink. Probably detox and late night play sometimes makes me feel like that. Ate a really good breakfast and had a coffee and I was ready to coach. First 2 students were HH/Marked hands review. Good discussion and feel like I really motivated the second student who had been feeling the effects of a downswing etc lately and hopefully he is ready to change his mindset and work towards his goals without thinking about the worst case scenarios. I was feeling amazing after this and really wanted to play. My gf wanted to hang out tonight (wed) since she is off, prob gonna check out Entourage as I've heard good things. So I skipped the gym to play, since I can't play Wed, and ill gym Wed and make her happy and so on haha. BALANCE achieved! As for my session it was quite a weird one. I started off ready to fire doubled everywhere then ran really bad. Then I messaged another student for a live sweat and said I didn't have stacks and to check in 30 mins. Then I got stacks everywhere and for the next 2 hours as we did a live coaching sweat, I engaged GOD MODE and couldn't lose. Well that is obv good mid-late stages, but not if you are going to run like a Newfie Blizzard at the FT and other late stages. I continued to play a long session not tilted but somewhat frustrated and I ended up down about 2K by the end of it as I had many many close calls deep but took extremely frustrating beats. The good thing is I have this challenge and in my mind I don't want to say in my thread or spreadsheet how I was tilted and spewed etc so it refrains me from doing so in game. Everything else is completely on track and I feel great!
Spreadsheet is updated feel free to view the tabs on the bottom to keep me accountable and to possibly gain some motivation or whatever.
Danny
TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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By the way, I could also tell how much influence the gym has on my mental game. It really keeps the mind clear and free of negative thoughts or frustration. The day I went to the gym I moved on from a big flip without even really crying about it in my head and went on to win another tournament. The day I didn't go to the gym the slight frustration stayed with me most of my session to be honest. Not that I really tilted but I probably didn't continue to play my 9/10 or 10/10 game like I did Monday. Small sample obv 🙂 but this is something I have noticed over the years so not really. Anyways, GO TO THE GYM! pz
June 12, 2012
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Very interested to see how you get on Danny. Sure it will all go well.
TPE Management
April 6, 2010
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keep up the good work chirp!
August 25, 2014
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Normally people wait to hit a downswing before they look into all this stuff. I respect that you're doing all this despite having your most profitable start to a year! Keep it going!
TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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Week 1 is in the books. I realized I picked a really bad week to start this as I had my good friend's “diaper party” where all the boys get smashed the whole day and bring him diapers to celebrate and help him out a few weeks before his kid is born. I drank Thursday as well for pretty well no reason I just kinda wanted to escape poker for a bit and should have chose to do something other than alcohol. I fell off track with clean dieting, my sleep and schedule was all messed up so by the time I did get meals in it was late and I like to go to the gym in the am. These are excuses yes but I am aware of that. Alcohol will either put a big restraint on progress and results in the gym and diet or ruin it altogether. I did start off really well and this thread was in my mind the entire week and I felt very guilty, especially for Thursday drinking, since that was pointless but I don't want to be too hard on myself starting out. It does take a few months to build a routine and I am aware of that. But the whole point of this challenge is to be honest with myself and others and be somewhat held accountable for when I fall behind. I know failure is all part of it and baby steps and manageable short term goals are the way to go starting out.
Anyways, today is the first day of week 2. I slept in today and wanted to take the day completely off poker to reset for this week with a clear mind. I went golfing by myself this evening for 16 holes super twilight. I am not good at golf but I am trying to get better and it is a sport I can play with a lot of my friends and family. I think it will certainly help with mental game as well. I have a carry bag so I walked the course carrying my clubs and took in the beautiful sunset. It was great exercise and a great way to start this week off. I tried hard for the most part taking my time and shot 94 over 16 holes. I usually shoot like 110-115 but I rush too much. So for the first round of the year it was solid.
Tomorrow we hit the gym and do a bunch of coaching. Wednesday we hit the gym and play a session. Golf in the am Thursday with gf's dad then session. Friday I have a couples spa day with my gf that I bought her for her graduation from nursing school. I think it's like 4 hours and i'll be getting my first manicure and pedicure lol not sure what to think about that but I have heard good things. This should definitely feel rejuvenating and hopefully get us in an awesome mindset to crush this weekend online!
That's it for now. Positivity and effort this week 100%.
Danny
February 20, 2015
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I did a mani/pedi with the girlfriend. At those natural places it's kind of nice, but the low-rent ones smell bad, and the workers are exploited so it's hard for me to enjoy it. It's no different than a massage. You're paying someone to touch you while you relax. I can't recommend doing it all the time, but it's better than a doctor telling you that you have shit in your fingernails. Of course, in Canada, doctors actually spend time with you so maybe you don't need to get a pedicure to be told about wearing socks less often so your toes can breathe.
TPE Management
April 6, 2010
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Good luck on week 2 Danny!
November 28, 2012
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Hey Danny
Treat yourself to a couple of golf lessons from a pro. Worth every penny, just like the poker pros, you’ll get a few basics/fundamentals that will take that 110-115 down to 95-90 in no time especially if you ask for help putting.
Good luck with everything
February 20, 2015
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Even better, find a pro that would trade it for poker coaching 🙂
November 28, 2012
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Yes. Good point well put.
TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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Thanks guys. Will def look into a few sessions with a pro at some point. And yea in exchange for poker lessons would be awesome haha. I have some buddies that are good and helping me out a bit which is cool.
Week 2:
Exercise: Golfed 3 times. Didn’t gym once. But did achieve my 3x per week realistic goal. I know I said 4 in beginning but as long as I get 3 it’s cool. Need to make time for gym before I play because it closed a couple nights I planned on going but went deep late in tourneys.
Diet: Was fairly good. Need to prep meals better. GF has massive final nursing exam coming up and she usually helps keep diet schedule in line and preps a few meals for me when I am playing. It will be much easier to stick to once she is done exam this week.
Mental: Started the week off well with great coaching sessions and personal study. Mid week I had two very frustrating sessions where I went deep but ran awful in the end. I realized I needed a break from poker altogether for a day or two since I was letting every bad beat and flip affect me. They never directly effected my decisions in my session but I was ready to explode after I was done. Times like that I know I need a day or two off to regroup, relax, free my mind, and come back with a clear head to be able to handle variance all over again. I used to play through this, and sometimes it works, but most of the time it has very negative effects and burn out and you end up blowing all your profit you made in the last little while, making poor decisions. So what better way then to go to the spa with your gf, go golfing and drink some beer with the boys, then go to your best buddy’s housewarming party!
Poker: Tons of runs. Mid week I was chipleader in two $100 tourneys on ftp final 3 tables and bubbled both. That kinda set me off. Sunday was the best day I have played in a month or so. 14th in Sunday Brawl lost AK<33 to pretty well bring me to ft. 13th in a $109 on a bad beat. 37th in $265 KO for $600 or so. 31/2200 in the Big $109 on a dumb hand where I flopped top pair open ended and guy defended Q4hh off 18 bbs 3 ways in the big blind and check shoved the flush draw and got there after I turned my flush draw as well. After grinding hard all day I was 11/11 in the $55 $35K guar. Never gave up and battled very hard at the final table finishing 3rd for $3750 after 15 hours of play. That felt really good.
I have been struggling to make all these changes but recording them every day keeps me honest and motivated knowing that people want me to succeed and I want to show them that I can.
I went to the gym today finally. It felt great obviously. Tomorrow I am golfing and maybe gymming. Friday definitely gym. And Saturday my future bro in law is home from away and we are having a friendly golf tournament with beers to follow.
That's it for now!
Danny
TPE Management
April 6, 2010
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We miss you in Vegas brother, but sounds like you are doing great. Keep working and I know we'll be roomies again next summer!
TPE Pro
August 25, 2012
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GL Danny! Best of luck bro, awesome to see you being super motivated to crush life. Setting the example for the rest of us.
TPE Pro
August 3, 2011
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Thanks for the support guys.
As for an update… to be honest.. the challenge fell apart. In all reality with summer here and the way I am I kind of knew in the back of my mind this might happen. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Newfoundland, we literally get 2 months of actual good weather here and I am pretty sure we are close to the most appreciating people of good weather in the world lol. I am not making any excuses just telling it like it is. I struggle to grind in the summer. Not just at the tables but in general. I was hoping by setting this all up before the good weather hit I would be able to stick to it.
I have golfed a good bit getting exercise that way. The gym has sucked. The diet has been pretty blah some days good some days bad.
I am running a discounted coaching promo so I can work shorter hours rather than grind all day stuck inside and hopefully that will incorporate some better balance for exercise and time to cook meals etc and get me back on track.
I will start my spreadsheet again the first day I have a really good feel for my plan and pursuing it.
Thanks for following. There will be bumps in the road but I will get there whether it be in 3 months, 6 months, or WSOP next year.
April 26, 2013
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I'd like to see you to get back in 3 months, as soon as the weather is worse! As for the gym part: Only going there to be more healthy can be a hard. You may try to redefine your motivation to work out. If there are any skills in particular that you want to obtain it will make it much more easy to stay on track (e.g. working out regularly). Maybe take a look in some basic freerunning/parkour skills or static things like planche, handstand. You'll need some strength, flexibility and progress will be pretty fast, expecially when you are new to these things. Just an idea.
August 30, 2015
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Hey Danny.
This is Skandar, I rail you a lot on Stars and sometime write while youre playing Lol, Man I would like to tell you youre a great poker player and I would like to know if youre still on this challenge? I was reading everything and it seems pretty interesting. Im changing my lifestyle to be a better poker player, its a little hard but if you keep focused on it you will see nice results, thinking on long term.
Good luck on everything bro and see you on the tables.
SkandarYunes.
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