What are some of the most common mistakes poker players or new to poker make?
Playing higher than your bankroll and skill level dictates and playing too many hands are definitely the biggest mistakes that you see. Beyond that there are really too many mistakes that people make to mention things like playing too passive, not being selective enough with your aggression and not adjusting to opponents in general. We all make mistakes and have leaks though; you can still make a lot of mistakes and win at poker. Becoming a better player is all about reducing your error rate and fixing your leaks. Improving your thought processes and learning from your past misjudgements are what it is all about.

What do you do to improve your game?
These days most of my poker study revolves around watching videos, reading forum posts and chatting with other players about hands, situations and concepts.

For an absolute beginner I think books are a great thing, but they can only teach you so much. Actual experience is very important, I think is putting the hands in is something that is easily forgotten. As you play a session note down some spots you have trouble with and go back and look at them later.
Ask plenty of questions and try and surround yourself by players better than you or those who are following the same progression you are. Don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know anything or look like an idiot or anything like that.

Another thing I have been looking at a lot lately is studying specific opponents and what makes them tick. I look for mistakes they make and also what their tendencies are that trouble me.

What keeps you motivated?
I would say that I am very easily motivated when I am doing something I am passionate about. And thankfully I am blessed with the freedom and time to mostly pursue things that I love. I’m a very competitive person, mostly with myself. I’m all about setting personal bests when I’m doing something or pushing to learn more whether it be in sport, a hobby, poker or life.

When it comes to poker, money is obviously a pretty good motivator, but my drive comes from beyond that. Being a winner and not a loser, whatever the stakes, is something that pushes me to improve. Just the satisfaction you get from being a winning poker player is pretty fulfilling. Poker is a tremendous challenge, just when you think you are starting to get your head around everything, new situations will arise where you will get completely lost. Studying hard and then coming to the realisation later on that your study has paid off in a certain instance is gratifying. Poker is ever evolving and impossible to master and that is why it is very hard to lose interest in it. Recognition is certainly something that doesn’t appeal to me when it comes to poker; I couldn’t care less if I was completely off everybody’s radar, that would actually be how I’d like it.

One thing I have noticed has really fired me up lately is hearing and seeing the results of some other people. When I see others around me doing well especially through hard work and dedication, then that inspires me to put my head down and try and do just as well.

What relaxes you after a tough day?
I have a few things I like to do to unwind. I like sports and exercise so going on a run, to the gym , playing cricket, indoor soccer, basketball or having a kick of the footy are all up there with things that I like to indulge in.

I also enjoy having a laugh, so I’ll watch a funny TV show or movie before bed so I can forget my woes. My favourite TV shows are The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs, Curb Your Enthusiasm, How I Met Your Mother and a few others.

Beyond that… taking a bath is definitely up there with things that chill me out. Spending time with my girlfriend is of course something that I enjoy. I don’t mind playing video games every now and then either, but they can sometimes be frustrating.

When did you start goal setting and why, what is the importance of it, how has it benefited you, and how do you do it?
I can’t say when my goal setting started, because even as a very young kid I would have aspirations for the future. I would say a lot of my goal setting is just as result of my personality type. I’ve always been someone that is not only interested in pushing myself, but also very organised. I think that even without goal setting I’d still get a lot done and have many hops and dreams, but goals keep my focussed for the most part.

How do I do it? I guess I’m in-tune with what I want to get out of life and very decisive for the most part. I’m realistic about what sort of time frame I can achieve things in, so setting deadlines comes easy. At the end of the day my number one goal is to enjoy life, so if a goal isn’t going to plan or taking longer than expected I don’t beat myself up about it.

What some of your life goals?
I have a pretty wide and varying list. It includes all kind of random things like owning a pet turtle, going zorbing, a year without fast food, learning to juggle and buying a $1 lottery ticket everyday for a year. Then I have a lot of standard goals like travelling some more, paying off my student debt, bowling a 200+ game and finding my life’s work.

You have a degree in finance and you didn’t want to go into the finance industry?
I graduated in 2006 from my Commerce degree. At first I didn’t seek a job because I wanted to do some travel, which I did. Over the course of time I came to the realization that the corporate world probably wasn’t going to be for me. In all honesty, I really don’t value money highly enough to put myself through all that. Working for someone else really doesn’t appeal to me all that much. I would much rather make less money, have less security and be a whole lot happier working on my own projects. As for what the future holds, I really do not know, but I definitely want to start up my own business or acquire a franchise or something in the near future.

If you won $1 million what would you spend it on if you had to spend the lot within 24 hours?
Can you buy a house in 24 hours? That is the one big ticket item that I would want the most I would say. Beyond that if I couldn’t buy securities or invest the money in some other way I would probably try and spend it on things that might appreciate in value over time. I’m really not one for buying luxury cars or fancy watches or anything like that. So I would probably have a lot of trouble deciding what to blow a cool million on. Maybe I’d end up giving some to somebody who needed it a little more than I or paying off my parents mortgage or something.

If you had a choice would you still have your name as Andrew or would you change it?
Tough one, no I think I’d keep it. There are so many nicknames that can be spawned from not my first name and my surname and so many people call me different things, I’m not really sick of my name.

This clip just warms my hearte verytime I watch it.

The hasty decision to install Michael Voss was very concerning to me at first, but then some of my fears were dismissed when it was revealed plans had been in place for a while for Vossy to take over from Leigh. Still, I don’t see what the rush was. Why couldn’t others have the opportunity to apply for the job, you never know who might bring what to the table? A radical change might be just what we need and we might not get that from Michael Voss. I understand the urgency to manage the team list for next year, but surely a one week interview process at the end of the season of a range of potential candidates would have veen the best thing. My suspicion is that Voss would have been chosen at the end of the day anyway, but it would have put to rest any fears he isn’t the man for the job.

Now that the decision has been made though I am right behind the coach and already looking forward to the 2009 season. Michael Voss is the heart and soul of our football club and I really do feel he can inject the passion and pride in the jumper that has been lacking in recent times. I also feel that the re-signing of J. Brown will give the team a much needed morale boost as well. It just seems liked the second half of the season the team was playing under the weight of dragged out contract negotiations with Browny.

The marketability of Voss cannot be underestimated either. The Lions are about to face a massive challenge from the Gold Coast starting up in their backyard and we are going to need someone to be the face of the club for the forseeable future. This is probably something that a John Longmire or Damien hardwick couldn’t have brought to the table.

August Goals
Passed With Flying Colours, Could Have Done Better, Failed
- Set 5 New Life Goals
- Cross off 2 Life Goals - Only crossed off one
- Be able to do…
--- 45 straight push-ups
--- 50 sit-ups in a minute - Stuck at 45
--- Have a resting pulse of 94 after 3 minutes of stepping
--- 3x 10 pull-ups
- Blog more
- Bit About Me - Uni
- Start Business Planning
- Earn 50,000 VPPs

Poker Stars, $2/$4 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $399.60
SB: $672.50
BB: $240
UTG: $337.75
Hero (UTG+1): $421.30
MP1: $86
MP2: $108.30
CO: $878.15

Pre-Flop: A Q dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG calls $4, Hero raises to $24, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $24, 2 folds, SB calls $22, BB calls $20, UTG folds

Flop: ($100) 2 A 4 (4 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $72, MP2 folds, SB calls $72, BB folds

Turn: ($244) 3 (2 Players)
SB bets $68, Hero…

The first and most important difference I have noticed between HEM and PT2/PT3 is import speed and the speed of the whole program general. It seems to be a lot less resource intensive and there seems to be a lot less loading time than PT (even though I imported my entire database). The HUD also runs flawlessly across many tables and I find the pop-up tabs for more information way more useful that the old PAHUD pop-up.

There are a few things that are going to take getting used to, like not seeing a summary of each hand value and its profit when I load up the cash game tab. I think I’m really going to enjoy the filters within HEM and the numerous ways you can analyse hands and situations.

I still have a bit of poker grind work ahead of me to close out the month, but I’m looking forward to it. The last few days I’m been taking some time away from the game and I feel pretty fresh now. One thing I am disappointed with is the amount of study time I have put in this month. I have been visiting 2+2 forums rarely and I haven’t watched as many videos as I would have liked to. I feel like my play, thought processes, but most of all my confidence have suffered.

I have been keeping up with going to the gym, although probably not at the intensity I would like. I’m starting to get a bit of tendinitis in my left foot again, so I have had to ease off the treadmill a bit. I’m not really starting to see or feel any results yet, but I think just getting away from life for a bit at the gym each day is benefit enough, I’m not really looking to bulk up.

It would have been pretty boring if it wasn’t for this fun drinking game we were playing. It was some sort of variation of Liar’s Dice, basically just a game of bluffing, which appealed to me of course. I wouldn’t mind studying the official rules and maybe some strategy for future instances. We ended up playing it for multiple hours and it was a really fun and unusual night.

It was a really fun experience, the job was actually pretty challenging of keeping the cable from getting tangled up or in people’s way. It wasn’t made any easier by the fact that it was a cold and wet night and I couldn’t feel my hands the entire time.

The most exciting bit was getting out on the field and amongst the players post game. He had to film post match interviews, so we were right up close and personal. It was pretty well paid too considering it was a lot of just sitting around and then only a short period of work.