Hmm for some reason Im constantly unable to read page 9 of this thread. Says connection error.

Will answear your question when it gets fixed.

H1)

66 Im not looking to play game theoretically correct or even well, I would be far from GTO even by trying to be as close as I could while playing. I rather play more with my gut and never worry overfolding or overcalling. When we have no idea of how much villain is about to bluff at some spot its time to think about blockers and which part of range to fold which to call etc. these situations are somewhat rare tbh. mostly its not so difficult for me to see if a spot gets bluffed by certain opponent frequently enough or if it doesnt after having alot of experience at some stake. Looking at some spots with PIO made me realize how incredibly complicated it actually is to be GTO.

Back to the hand, if he doesnt understand Im betting very polarized range and jams something like set of fives it will become a disaster for this holding to fold but if he aswell makes calls with middlepair type holdings, calls down Kx we are still doing great mostly while we bet. My intuition says he jams turn alot with 89 without draws, 777 and KKK cause he wants to protect not so much else tbh. which makes this an easy fold vs. the most people. A terrible reg might jam 555 and even twopairs but rarely people are so bad at nl200. I can have some 89s (nuts) + the fact if he targets folding out my valuerange he is targeting to make me fold hands like this which I dont beleave he is doing. My range is relatively narrow and super polarized which is how I avoid to make it a very profitable raise / shove with some draw on turn.

Why do I pot turn is because Im betting a polarized range it makes sense to bet big. To explain this with a counter example betting very depolarized makes sense with smaller sizing f.e 1/3pot cbet scenarios.

I think generally xR is good play to protect checking range. Multiway it becomes unimportant and with donking we get to play vs. wider range and narrow our opponents range quite a bit more down and we dont need to get capped ourselves as badly in many scenarios which will happen with check raise / not neccessarily get capped but run into big pot on turn which gets pot controlled and then see a river card once we have somewhat capped range on big pot OOP. This kind of scenario comes up quite frequently if we check raise here. Donk gets called wider which is imo better, even these differences are marginal. Aswell betting to avoid the flop to go checked around and to deny equity and take it from there is good. On the other hand xR gets called by Kx and we put more money in vs. weaker hands right away which lifts up EV of check raise. Both of the options are good.

I wrote quite fast, hope that makes sense.

You can change how many posts are shown on one page in Edit Options. I found it that increasing the amount of posts in one page made browsing around a lot easier.

Not playing my best last couple days, neither running well. Hem2 has been causing problems and been quite tilting, have been thinking about moving to PT4.

Probably good time to analyze some hands.

H1)

He had low fold to riv. cb not huge sample though. Some guys call here liberally all lower pairs so thought its okay to ship, would need some read he is that playertype though. He tanked and called TT on last second - can its somewhat he knows that I know its easy to go wild with 3 barreling this so I wouldnt way over do it.

I anyways dont think the jam loses so much EV vs check but as said check is standard and we probably shouldnt try exploit people without clear read they overcall here.




H2)

2 recreationals and squeezer likely recreational / not someone who playes regularly these games. Im somewhat faceup with my holding but vs. recreational this turns to easy call down since he will likely call flop w. AJ , KJ AK combos and fire away the runout alot.





H3)

Tough to find a fold vs. someone repping 1 combo but on the other hand cant see him ever bluffing nor really jamming splits typicall. Cant really fold I guess.




H4)

The sizings by recreational made me put him towards QQ, AA alot on the river. Think even recreational understands mostly they arent good there anymore vs jam. Marginal play though cause he has some Kx for sure in his range, even most fish play hands face up with sizing.



H5)

River call is a spew, likely he wouldnt bluff me there enough.

I can have some occasionally turn slowplay 666, some AT so Im calling too wide with this. Flop I like taking initiative, lot of money goes in vs. AK, AQ anyways we can aswell be the one who puts him to bluffcatch us.




H6)

I like this bluff vs. some easter Europe reg who likely is just shotting at weekend. His call is debatable - most dont bluff here at all at 200nlz I think.




H7)

Vs. fish who has low fcb, high call vs. 3-bet, high bet vs. misscbet.

Its anyways too thin since he has too much valuecombos on the river. Would need some maniac read to make calldown hand this low in our range.




H8)

Vs. fish. His river shove is so frequent line for bluff that its somewhat irrelevant to care we block FDs. Even he would bluff frequnently KJ, and maybe turn some 6x to bluff we are still likely BE expecting him to shove lot of 78, TJ + missed FD.

Can end bit too loose though since we are having ton of better hands to call.





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Thats about it, pushing bit too much with bluffcatching and thin v-betting and likely bluffing aswell lately. Guess its time to grind abit nl100, think I want to have 20k+ liferoll always for 200nl to be able to play my best.

Made 12h day with poker today. Wanted to play tournaments first after long time and played 12 mtts after cash grind. Finished 1st. On partys "kangaroo" 100d tournament for 1,8k and had another FT on stars 44d bountybuilder where I finished 5th for 700d. Made 1 spazzy play but hit 5 outer on stars and not sure how well I played overall. 30-60bb playing is quite tough for someone who hasnt run much analysis. Aswell my icm knowledge isnt good, havent done any analysis ever but well MTT are not my maingame and still winning at them(lucky fish) so I shouldnt worry that much.

Hit smallish downswing at cashgames but month anyways up from cash round 6,5k and Mtts round 2k-2,2k. Hm2 messes mtt results completely for me and when I win something it gives me 5 figs scores

Took a shot to 500nlz today when pool seemed quite allright. Didnt play a lot but won like two bins and overall had +2,4k day which might be best ever for me. Some hands:

1)

No need to explain




2)

Wonder if ATo is really winning call for OOP there. I doubt but maybe he had some idea how to play me.




H3)

Close on the river but think its fine.




H4)

Think his bluff frequency is like 0 and doubt ever happens he jams anything worse so Im really fine with my play putting him to straight.




Overall bets month ever for me considering results, cash +9,6kd with rb. + donkaments +2k d.


Im flying to Phuket on monday and back to Chiang mai on saturday taking couple days off and going to Koh Lanta I think..

Solid month, wpwp!

Delayed thank you AlwaysMars!

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I havent updated in a while. Last month I run well, made 6k visited Macao for couple days, liked it alot and visited Taiwan for about 10 days. Food was awesome there but I didnt do much other than grind (was in the mood I guess).

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Now Im back in the Phils and month so far BE, +1k live -1k online. Ive invested quite alot into stocks & index stocks which has gone allright so far and Im constantly reading more about it.. My winrate at 100z is around 5-6bb & nl200z somewhere between 0.5 - 1,5bb. Live games (500nl) Im doing decently but have a lot to learn cause its so different compared to online.

Im having somewhat 4 reasonable options which are.

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1) Play 100z as good volume as possible, keep investing & play live to improve with it and be ready to jump to live when onlinepoker starts to go bad / if RB changes hit badly.



2) Put alot effort to study & play 200z on lower volume & less tables. - This is good if expecting online poker to last & games to be good atleast somewhere online for the next 1-2 years. Not so good because of lower expected income to start with + more variance + less money to invest constantly.



3) Look for exit from online poker & look for good live games start from 2/5 and look to make it to 10/20 atleast.



4) look to invest on good couch to get me to midstakes properly & keep on 200z.

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It doesnt look like stars is going to be good place to play longterm. It neither looks like there will be other good environments to play 200z+ on any other site. Im aswell in a spot of having achieved something financially (not a lot, but something) and with poker (good 100z winrate). It means its time to get myself motivated with new goals and not just fly in the dark.

...............

Before making a decission I will go with number one and keep updating this thread more with results, hands and the usuall to keep myself more tracked & motivated.

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I wish good luck to everyone!

I mean RB is what, 20% of your hourly today with that winrate? Killing RB will make those without a decent winrate leave => better games. RB might not drop to zero either.

It's not ideal ofc but far from the end of the world. Just keep improving if you know you'll play poker in one way or another for some time. It's not like getting to 500z wouldn't help you if you transitioned to live cash or live/online timbeys.

You can also make money outside of zoom where winrates are higher and RB counts for less of a % of your hourly. Recs still deposit. Yada yada.

Just my view on things. I'm mostly amazed we got this far with games that are alive and kicking tbh.

Thank you for your reasonable post SalmoTrutta.

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Yes, Im not mentally doing well lately. Having things that piss me constantly in real life and holds me back from having good focus and trusting & loving what Im doing. Need to find strenght to take controll of my mind and not let myself to fall in anger and frustration that kills desire to everything and makes me to look for easy exits and eases in life. Moving to livepoker now or even staying 100z are exactly these. If results suck at 200z I need to study!.. Ive always had a heart to learn and try to do better thats what keeps me alive and in this game.

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Not setting any limits of hands or study hours. I never counted study hours anyways.. Will set a long term goal of 3bb winrate at 200z. Short term goal is to be less results oriented, start analyzing hands with equilab and to finally learn to pio more.

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24. juni Im going to Macao to play live for two weeks before going to Finnland. If Im happy of my work ethic and approach before that time I will pamper myself there. If Im not.. I will do it anyways !

If you want to play long sessions, I would recommend an ergonomic chair, not a couch.

Okay. Last 100k hands have been BE EV stretch for me & results 4k under EV. I didnt always play my best but having played 3M hands can say this was awfull run overall and especcially at 200z there doesnt seem to be nothing going for me lately..

I will focuse putting volume in at 100z and and work on my game. I might move to regular tables and other sites but will now check the rake changes at stars first.

GL everyone!

i gave you a stack at least

Fairly certain he ment coach, but also fairly certain this was a level! A good one.

Kilj, keep up the good work.

Hm still looking on your blog. Sometimes wonder about things like that myself. I mean have a good friend who is playing HU mostly bumhunting reg who achieved a ton more than me and made and still makes a lot more money. It makes me think whether maybe we look at it all wrong. I mean if you aren't obsessed with the game and don't have a huge drive there is little point in focusing on playing the toughest games online (playing z200/z500). I remember doing a database analysis lately for pokerstars and found maybe 3-4 players on a huge sample with more than 5bb/100 on nl100-nl200 wouldn't be suprised for the winrates to be even lower on zoom. I mean this is mostly mindset issue for example I am not willing to play z200 with like 2-3 bb/100 winrate because I know that swings will kill me especially now when Stars are taking away rakeback anyway.

The point is if you are in it to make the most money in short to medium term playing ZOOM is the worst option of all possible.

Zoom is way more convenient than regular tables. Im totally unused of bumhunting (keeping scrolling lobbys, changing tables + needing big screen) + having rolls splitted everywhere. I have most of my networth invested which is why I need to be pretty sure I make over 30usd/h with playing the regular tables and getting into all that. 30/h is what I make with RB on 100z. It would need to be atleast 40usd/h to make it worth it to change.


Whether I have huge drive or not to study is another question. Im sometimes very motivated and even get carried away with something but have aswell days I dont even want to think about poker. Thats why I end up being so average. /(average NLHE 2017 online pro) and I need to create study habbits to get above the average 200z reg whose like BE/+1-2bb).

Talking about stars killing RB is unneccessary and unmotivating. No one knows how the games will be and neither how it affects everyone, which is kind of skill based. I guess lot of terrible 100z regs for example will quit and will see how it affect winrate for me. Maybe even 200z gets easier to make money. If not Im confident moving to live games, I actually like to play live nowadays way more than anything online.

" I guess lot of terrible 100z regs for example will quit and will see how it affect winrate for me. Maybe even 200z gets easier to make money "

THIS.

Games will get better.

Don't want to say I comepletely disagree but at the same time it will get offset by regs from higher stakes moving down (because there won't be any rakeback) so bad nl500/nl200 zoom regs will become z100 regs. Happened already to some degree after they removed SNE now there will be just continuation.

But I agree with Kiljusieppo there is no point in speculating we will all see how it plays out. Hope you are both right and games will get a lot better for good regs....

Long time no update, so I guess its about time.

I was over summer in Finnland; grinding, family time, seeing friends, the usual. Before summer I had biggest losing stretch Ive ever had, overall I lost close to half of my networth and was stressed as hell. Before that while I was doing well I booked hotel in Macao for two weeks and planned to grind live before going back home. While in Macao I was stressing a ton and getting ton of bad beats in live games and running horrendous online aswell, only exception was some live tournament event /(platinumseries something) which I made to day2 but busted one table before FT with a spewy move against a recreational guy.. It was anyways my first biggest live tournament and it gave me a ton of thrill to gamble about such moneys right after losing such a junk of all my money. Sounds fishy and it was but whatever its okay to be fish sometimes and gamble. The time in Macao went by basically while filling my hotel room with noodle cups and empty beer cans and swearing I would never go to Macao again.

During my time in Finnland it started to all turn better, I got coached by a good finnish player untill now, (we had a long term CFP deal) but needed to let it go because he now moves out of poker. I had some success during the period of coaching, my results after 3-months period were around 11k up and Im overall happy of the help I got and happy to be able now to work on my game by myself with more effective tools than before and having better ranges than before.

Overall things are very decent for me, but I feel at times uncomfortable because of the future of online poker and the question; "what will I do next " is abit too often knocking me in my head before bed time. Its quite tough to be motivated and have passion on something that you can sense is dieing when people around are quitting. I guess these are the feelings of many other grinders right now and there isnt really an answear to that. I feel overall that its good to have some kind of "end money goal with poker", so that while finishing carreer it doesnt leave the feeling of being unsatisfied. I have set mine and will put alot of work and effort to reach it. Will it be live poker somewhere in the end or just online till I reach it, I dont know yet and it doesnt really matter.

This month has been with (Ev) results quite poor, (-5k ev and around BE result) # run good. A lot of times Ive blinded grinded on 200z with the mindset "I can beat this limit I dont have to think about anything else than volume". While my brain was too tired to actually think about what I was doing. Ive taken now abit time off, might need some more, will see.. Want to make it to 500z,,

Around 1 year ago I made this thread. I played 200z, moved to BKK, my roll was around 10keur / 11kish usd, when I now look at the hands I posted a year ago or what I was doing I feel like being a huge life fish and poker fish. However I run good that time, (before moving to BKK I went once broke) and I likely was awear of this at that time and ready to move down but making this thread with the title 200z -> feels quite redicolous while I clearly wasnt a winning 200z at that time . Now its more about the time to have that as the thread title and hope that I spew less and can say after a year again that I was a terrible life fish on 9th september 2017.

However Ive tripled my networth in a year and made a great progress with my game. Soon Im celebrating anniversary with my girlfriend here in the Phillippines and aswell during this year of grind in SE-Asia I have tripled my net worth. There is however no time to be satisfied with results it only leads to boredom and selfdestruction. More important is to find happiness in daily life and enjoy day offs, not take downswings too seriously and keep grinding, whatever happens!

Good luck to everyone!

Very honest update, especially agree with last paragraph! Good luck bud!

cool update gl man

Thank you guys!

Its about two months from my last update; the last two months have been hardworking stretch that included quite alot of trial and error, I write about it more in the next chapter. My last update with negative feeling about poker and things was quite likely primarily cause of my coach quitting and myself running bad at that time. Poker getting worse isnt so strong of a reason to feel bad, as long as you are improving & growing.

****

Last two months I was partly grinding at stars where my results have been decent, however I did aswell put in volume with chinese app; The game is different there with big antes and no HUD, no reads and very different playerpool. Results didnt come and I ended up tilting. Things started to look bad and action was needed, therefore I took 7 days cool off from stars and decided to quit playing the app fully. Last days Ive been putting in study and will continue untill getting back to the game at stars in a week.

Otherwise things look good, Im improving recently alot and have 500z as 2018 goal. So far my EV there is positive but sample too small to say much. Sometimes the pool is soft but alot of times not, thats why putting in study to get to the level is important for me now.


Goals: (poker)

Working constantly with pio

Playing mainly 3-tables at a time

Keeping up good curiousity into the game, solving and understand it further

z500 at 2018 as my maingame

Others:

Avoiding using too much phone before sleep (affects sleep alot for me)

******

Finishing my current book within dezember and figuring what to read next, now reading Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman

******

Difficult one: Making some sort of decission with drinking, I quit smoking cigarretes bit over year ago, I mainly smoked while drinking but sometimes while sober aswell. I failed with quitting attempts multiple times but now Ive been over a year without a single smoke and never want to go back. With alcohol Ive felt similar lately, just drinking abit constantly because of being used to do so but not particularly enjoying it so much. Time to time drinking is fun but its too easy to slip into drinking too much and then your having a problem.

*******

Setting myself goals with exercising. I dont have anything on my mind that I particularly want to achieve right now. Ive been thinking of starting some martial art, have boxing equipment at home and might pick it up when I go home for christmas and start it in Asia again.

*******

Enjoying life, being greatfull of what I have and keeping up the good work.

*******

Meeting new people & doing something cool. Ive been thinking at 2018 to try something new, maybe living in a grindhouse for couple months. I enjoy living alone and spending time with girlfriend and going back Finnland time to time to see family and friends but doing something different would be refreshing and cool experience. Maybe 2-3 months in Thai, somewhere near by the sea. If your solid grinder and have similar plans, hit me up .


Gl everyone!

Off to Phuket in January for a month then travelling around SE Asia for the next couple of years, hoping to grind out there.. Let me know if you are heading to Thailand! Might hit you up with a few questions about playing out there if OK?

Also, subb'd love the thread. GL with all of your goals for next year, sounds like you are on the right path!

Good to hear you're doing alright mate.

still alive?