November 2023

NOVEMBER CHALLENGE GOALS:

1) Play at least 175hrs of poker.

2) > 77% Gameplay Grade on my Instagram ratings.

3) Take a maximum of 9 rest days from the gym.

I started this month wanting to grind the most volume I ever have at the Hard Rock!

With winter starting and a bunch of northern USA & Canadian folk coming down to Florida to avoid the snow, games are typically much better this time of year. Additionally, the Hard Rock was running a special promo where all high hands paid double this month for people who played > 18hrs in the final 2 weeks of October. I played 79hrs. So if there was ever a time to set a volume record, this was the month… or so I thought.

As it turned out, not only was the poker room surprisingly recreational player sparse, but the high hand promos were much smaller than they typically are before the double payout promo.

Despite the vast chasm between what game dynamics were and what I predicted them to be, I persisted with the challenge. Perhaps to my own detriment, because I had to sit in A LOT of bad games this month to get the 175hrs in.

This was not great for my winrate. I actually had the worst monthly results EVER in Tampa this November! This is despite playing consistently well, although definitely not perfect, throughout the month.

Not to get political or anything… BUUUUT I think a weakened US economy might have everything to do with why these games are worse compared to my previous 2 years in Tampa. If on average everyone has less money, there’s gonna be less recreational money in poker games, thus making winning at poker much harder.

Now, this might come as a shock, but I can’t actually control how well the economy of one of the most giant counties on the Earth is doing. So I don’t think using that as an excuse for poor results is useful at all.

However, it is important to understand when it comes to planning out when and how we want to set our goals for this December.

Next month, I want to get play less during “off-peak” hours. Which is usually Monday thru Wednesday when there isn’t a special high hand promo. So I think a lower volume goal might be a great idea to not force my hand into having to play often during those times.

We can save the really high volume goal challenges for when times are prosperous and there’s more recreational money in the casinos.

Which brings me to my final point, which I really don’t want to skip over. I’m very proud with the effort it took me to play all 176:05hrs of volume this month. Especially since I was also training hard at the gym most days as well. This gives me the world of confidence that I will be able to get those hours in down the line when it’ll matter the most.

NOVEMBER CHALLENGE RESULTS:

1) 176:05 / 175hrs played

2) 78.9% Gameplay Grade

3) 9 gym rest days used