Open Side Menu Go to the Top
Register
An MTT grind out of the Micros An MTT grind out of the Micros

07-11-2017 , 04:23 PM
Welcome

I gave up trying to construct the perfect PG&C opening. Here's a simple who, what, when, where, which, why, and how!

Name: Martyn
Age: 27
Location: UK
PS Username: Westhamfanmc
Playing: 11 years
Game: MTTs
Stakes: $1-$6
ABI: $2.75
Bankroll: $675 (Was $825 when I moved up, 300 buy ins)
# of tables: 4-10 (15-30 a session)
Hours played per week: 30

Goals:
[ ] Goal #1 - Work harder! Mainly off the table. Focus more when playing.
[ ] Goal #2 - Increase ABI to $11 ($3300 bankroll, no time limit)
[ ] Goal #3 - Be an active part of the community.
[ ] Goal #3.1 - Review 1 hand per day in the 'Small Stakes MTT' forum.
[ ] Goal #3.2 - Follow and support other PG&C threads
[ ] Goal #4 - Travel with a live event mixed in.
[ ] Goal #5 - Maintain good diet & exercise on playing days.
[ ] Goal #6 - Bink Tourneys!
[ ] Goal #7 - Keep bad beat/close run crying to a minimum.

Lifetime Stats:

Graph:

Graph looks nice but in reality it's just consistently picking up the pennies. :/

Some stuff about the direction of future posts:
- I didn't get into this to be good. I got into this to be great.
- Stop coasting and not giving it your full effort. Will you be proud of the effort you put in today?
- I'm going to do today what other people are not willing to, so I can do tomorrow what other people cannot.
- What am I bad at? Study that until it's a strength. Find coaches, classes, people who specialise in it and learn from them.
- If your habits don't support your dreams, your dreams will follow you to the grave.

I'm an introverted, minimalistic kind of guy. I don't need a lot, I just need the game. Trying to make it work financially/practically in life is a different problem though. I've been building up from the bottom and now writing this PG&C for a little accountability and support as I deal with the struggles of trying to become (and stay as) an MTT pro. Looking for ways to make poker less of a grind, prevent myself getting distracted, auto-piloting and make some friends in the community.

Will write up more about myself and my approach to poker in the near future. Feel free to ask if there is something you'd like to know.

[X] Goal #3.1 - Review 1 hand per day in the 'Small Stakes MTT' forum.
- Post #10 - went the full distance breaking this hand down.
[X] Goal #5 - Maintain good diet & exercise on playing days.

I'm ready and about to play. Thanks for reading and gl at the table.

Last edited by JustinDMoney; 07-11-2017 at 04:53 PM.
An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
07-12-2017 , 12:40 PM
[x] Goal #3.1 - Review 1 hand per day in the 'Small Stakes MTT' forum.
- Reviewed a couple hands that were posted late last night and will do the same again tonight no doubt.

[x] Goal #3.2 - Follow and support other PG&C threads
- Abecede's thread.

[ ] Goal #4 - Travel with a live event mixed in.
Abecede brought my attention to the Goliath game in Coventry at the end of the month. Would be fun to play. Draw some inspiration from that to work harder, play some satties, and if I get lucky enough to bink a few games this month, maybe I could play it. Who knows, gotta dream right? Wouldn't consider going to Coventry as travelling though haha.

[ ] Goal #5 - Maintain good diet & exercise on playing days.
Failed on getting some exercise today.

Yesterdays session was poor. Did not play well or run well. Was really pissed at myself after the way I've handled the last few sessions. Just need to remember to be patient though. Not every session can be perfect and profitable. I need to keep turning up to the tables and try my best. I have a deep roll to allow me some bad sessions and still keep moving forward. Will all work out long term.

Just finished a little work to improve my HUD after I felt like I wanted a couple extra bits of information during yesterdays session. Will do a little prep work over the next hour to make sure I really nail the basics tonight. Make some dinner and then get playing.

Really want to post my first tournament winner lobby screenshot!
An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
07-14-2017 , 08:59 AM
[-] Goal #3.1 - Review 1 hand per day in the 'Small Stakes MTT' forum.
- Been keeping up to date with some comments on hands I've posted reviews on but haven't posted on any new hands. About to get round to that shortly.

[ ] Goal #3.2 - Follow and support other PG&C threads
- A couple I have subscribed to but have yet to post.

[ ] Goal #5 - Maintain good diet & exercise on playing days.
- GG on this. Probably why I'm not feeling at my best.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesdays session was decent. No big results to report but I felt like I played well and made a few deep-ish runs. Kept my focus and really nailed the basic plays.

Yesterday wasn't great. I forgot I had a hair cut booked for the evening, somehow managed to not eat anything, and by the time I got back to sit down and play, I had a headache and felt off. Ended up crashing out and having an early night.

The good news is I'm up early today with plenty of time to study and catch up on forum stuff before social activities this evening. Friends have been planning a games night for a couple weeks so that's worthy of a night off the tables. Tomorrow I won't bother updating as it will be more of the same. I'm meeting up with a friend I haven't had a chance to catch up with for over 6 months. If I don't go tomorrow it might be another 6. :-/

Will be back for the Sunday grind!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
One small adjustment worth noting is that I recently removed all the games with small guarantees and small top prizes because $100-$250 for first place just didn't feel like it was worth playing for and I'd be able to focus better on the bigger games. Turns out it had the opposite effect so I'm going to revert back to playing them again. I found myself to be getting bored and auto-piloting a lot more as there was little to get excited about when the likelihood of beating 3-5k players and making a FT run is so much slimmer. Having the extra volume, lower variance and $ invested from those smaller games is ok but that's not really why I'm including them. Smaller fields gives me more opportunities to make final table runs and work on my end game which keeps confidence and excitement levels high. This is far more important to me than the actual $ amounts won and allows me to be much more patient about waiting for the opportunity to get the big score.
An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
07-14-2017 , 02:28 PM
Gl mate! I like your goals. Are you from London?

Maintaining balance between health and mindset while putting in large tournament volume is the tricky part. I find the most important part of online mtts is how you adapt your play when down to the last two tables. How you adjust to other players, manipulate your image to produce various outcomes, apply pressure to the right stacks but knowing when to pull back, being icm aware, really taking time with big decisions etc. Glgl! Is Carroll still gna start up front next season? Zabaleta def a decent acquisition.
An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
07-15-2017 , 06:14 AM
Glgl!
An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
07-15-2017 , 10:56 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Transcendence
Gl mate! I like your goals. Are you from London?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ssshah
Glgl!
Thanks . Not too far away from London. I'm in Colchester, Essex.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Transcendence
Glgl! Is Carroll still gna start up front next season? Zabaleta def a decent acquisition.
God knows. He'll be out with injury by christmas either way. I've given up following transfer speculation and that sort of stuff. We're linked with everyone, signed no one, and keep settling last minute for injury prone players. Zabaleta was a good signing though.

Who do you support?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Transcendence
Maintaining balance between health and mindset while putting in large tournament volume is the tricky part. I find the most important part of online mtts is how you adapt your play when down to the last two tables. How you adjust to other players, manipulate your image to produce various outcomes, apply pressure to the right stacks but knowing when to pull back, being icm aware, really taking time with big decisions etc.
Would agree with a lot of that. Off the table & mental game is my struggle. I'm experienced enough with the strategy side (at least for micro/low stakes level) to not worry too much there. Life balance, motivation, focus, discipline, work ethic - all weaknesses for me. I've really improved in a lot of them but I'm still below average I think. Not sure if it's a DNA, personality type, life philosophy, upbringing or just straight up mindset/laziness thing really. All I know is I struggle and working to try change it haha.

Also struggling with the concept of whether I should sacrifice social and family type stuff to increase my odds on being more successful short term. I've cut back a lot of those. I've been only seeing friends like once a month, sometimes twice. I just neeed to make poker work for me that I'm almost willing to fully sacrifice everything else. I really wanted to play last 2 days but didn't really have more than about 6 hours to fit a session in. Doesn't really work well with MTTs.

At least I'll be hungry for a big Sunday session tomorrow
An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
07-16-2017 , 11:57 AM
[x] Goal #3.1 - Review 1 hand per day in the 'Small Stakes MTT' forum.
- Been reviewing a load of hands in the small stakes forum. Really enjoying the discussions and breaking down of hands, trying to find different angles to look at them and obviously helping some of the other 2+2ers with things they are struggling with. Probably need to find a couple to post myself. I'm just not very good at saying 'I really struggled here, I should post it on 2+2'.
[x] Goal #3.2 - Follow and support other PG&C threads
- Made the odd comment here and there on a couple of threads this weekend. Being too lazy to go find links to their threads though :-/
[ ] Goal #5 - Maintain good diet & exercise on playing days.
- *Sigh* I've got an hour till I start playing. Should really go and do something (anything!) during this time. Even just doing 20 push ups would be better than nothing right now.

Fired up to play!! MicroMillions starts today with half price Sunday storm! Playing event #2 as well. Pray for run good in those. Will be trying to play a couple events every day as it's good motivation to help me put in normal MTT volume this month.

Gl if you are playing.
An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
07-17-2017 , 10:05 AM
[x] Goal #3.1 - Review 1 hand per day in the 'Small Stakes MTT' forum.
- Posted 1 of my own hands from my session yesterday.
[x] Goal #3.2 - Follow and support other PG&C threads
- Followed and commented on a couple more MTT PG&C's. Scarecrow_'s The point of no return seemed interesting and there was another new user who posted a challenge that has potential.
[ ] Goal #5 - Maintain good diet & exercise on playing days.
- As I am not going to be ready for the 3pm MM event #9, I'll start at 6pm. Gives me some extra time to fit in some exercise.

Sunday Recap:
Weird session! Constantly felt like I was busting games to bad beats. Didn't run too clever at the start but it did pick up in the second half of the session. Despite how I felt about it all, I cashed 10 of 30 games. Nearly all min cashes (1 of which was in the MM#2) and 2-3 deepish runs. Nothing really threatened to be a FT though. I think I finished 40th-80th in 2 fields of 4k-6k players and a 22nd of 380.
Better stop before I breach...
[ ] Goal #7 - Keep bad beat/close run crying to a minimum.

1 key point of note is that I really didn't get my note taking game going at all yesterday. It's a big differentiator between the sessions when I've made FTs and sessions when I haven't. I think playing/running well and not busting games led to having too many games open for the majority of my session and was the biggest factor in my failing to take notes. Will slightly cut back on number of games per session and see how it goes.

MicroMillions 2017:
Events played: 2
Total Buy In: $8.80
Profit/Loss: -$5.46

As mentioned above, I'll only be playing 1 event today; MM13 - $5.50 Bubble Rush Progressive KO. Quite like the Bubble Rush format so here's hoping it's a good one!

Nothing much else to report really. Just got to keep putting in the work and stay patient.
An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
07-17-2017 , 07:06 PM
I see you quite a bit in the small stakes MTT thread. Good luck, I subscribed.
An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
07-17-2017 , 07:36 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kev1498
I see you quite a bit in the small stakes MTT thread. Good luck, I subscribed.
TY! Yeah, the discussion there is good. Quite enjoying it and 2+2 in general is really helping me fall in love with poker again.

Lasted 10 mins in MM#13 haha. This was the hand:

    Poker Stars, $5 Buy-in (40/80 blinds, 8 ante) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8 Players
    Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

    SB: 21,108 (263.9 bb)
    Hero (BB): 9,858 (123.2 bb)
    UTG+2: 10,402 (130 bb)
    MP1: 9,888 (123.6 bb)
    MP2: 9,593 (119.9 bb)
    MP3: 8,747 (109.3 bb)
    CO: 10,000 (125 bb)
    BTN: 9,593 (119.9 bb)

    Preflop: Hero is BB with 2 7
    4 folds, CO calls 80, 2 folds, Hero checks

    Flop: (264) 2 7 9 (2 players)
    Hero checks, CO bets 240, Hero raises to 800, CO raises to 1,732, Hero raises to 3,960, CO calls 2,228

    Turn: (8,184) 3 (2 players)
    Hero bets 5,810 and is all-in, CO calls 5,810

    River: (19,804) A (2 players, 1 is all-in)

    Spoiler:
    Results: 19,804 pot
    Final Board: 2 7 9 3 A
    Hero showed 2 7 and lost (-9,858 net)
    CO showed A 9 and won 19,804 (9,946 net)
    I'm sure there is all kinds of wrong going here on my part but had 10 tables open as I wasn't busting anything and just went for the fast play. Was the start of an hour long **** show. Frustrated isn't the word!

    To be fair, the far more determining factor in not running deeper in a couple games was simply having too many tables open again. Too many minor mistakes and lack of reads compounding together and preventing me from picking up the extra chips. Nevermind. Will make some adjustments and try again tomorrow.
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-18-2017 , 02:21 AM
    Good luck siiiir!! Subbed and will be watching!

    Hopefully interesting hands/conversations along the way!

    Cheers!

    PS: Its not a sprint, its a marathon. I guarantee this phrase will come to ur mind sooner or later with this game Stay focused!!

    Στάλθηκε από το SM-J500FN μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-19-2017 , 10:49 PM
    [ ] Goal #7 - Keep bad beat/close run crying to a minimum.

    Lost AQs to JJ in $1.10+R [Splash] for top 5 stack after struggling for ageeessss. 19th/866

    Feel like I'm playing well though. Solid 11 hour session. Built a ton of stacks but just can't get close to that FT :/

    It's coming though. Watch this space!
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-20-2017 , 11:46 AM
    [ ] Goal #1 - Work harder! Mainly off the table. Focus more when playing.
    - Took a quick look over the numbers I track (days, hours, games, total buy ins, etc) and seems I've done 75% of the last couple months averages and we are only 62% of the way through the month. Hours are on point with my best month but I've studied/been posting on the forum wayyy more this month (which I don't track). Just need to get profit on point now :-/

    "Focus more when playing" - this was far worse at the start of the month. Slowly getting back to the high levels of focus of last month. Focus, to me, is 'intentional attention', not just attention in and of itself. There's a range of things I'm trying to pay attention to when playing and it's blatantly obvious when I've slacked off or just mentally not been able to cover it all. I feel like it offsets sooo much of the 'standard bad luck' stuff we go through and compounds the upside when running good.

    Was pleasing to see progress on this goal in the form of hard numbers.

    [ ] Goal #3.1 - Review 1 hand per day in the 'Small Stakes MTT' forum.
    [ ] Goal #3.2 - Follow and support other PG&C threads
    - Been a little slack with this last 2 days but have kind of legit excuse for Tuesday. Yesterday I put in 2 extra hours of play instead. Hoping to get to these today before I start play at 7pm but couple other things are higher priority and not sure if I'll get the time. Maybe I could do it after my session...

    [ ] Goal #5 - Maintain good diet & exercise on playing days.
    - Diet has been fine most of the month. Exercise is meeting minimum effective levels I think (maybe? lol).

    [ ] Goal #6 - Bink Tourneys!
    - Can feel it coming. Couple more tweaks needed so I'm at my best, plus a bit of luck, and then we'll have it!

    [ ] Goal #7 - Keep bad beat/close run crying to a minimum.
    - I can't help it!!!

    MicroMillions 2017:
    Events played: 4
    Total Buy In: $16.50
    Profit/Loss: -$13.16

    Todays lesson/thoughts:
    I need to set a max table count and then register for games to fill/replace those slots. I keep registering for 20-30 game schedules up front, playing/running well and then having 10+ tables open. I can't play great poker and adjust to opponents with that many games going. I think my number is 6 tables, reducing to 4 if I get really deep in something.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Scarecrow_
    Good luck siiiir!! Subbed and will be watching!
    Thanks

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Scarecrow_
    PS: Its not a sprint, its a marathon. I guarantee this phrase will come to ur mind sooner or later with this game Stay focused!!
    Ohhh it's already is a big focus of mine. I almost named this thread 'Hard Work & Patience' as they are my 2 main things I'm working on. Mentioned it already but my work ethic has historically been poor. I tend to make a lot of short term decisions with regards to withdrawing money or trying to move up stakes. I struggle with having that perspective that you can't always run good - you have to be patient through the bad runs and still work to play your best and improve. "If you are good, your time will come." Maximise the things I can control.
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-21-2017 , 02:52 PM
    [ ] Goal #3.1 - Review 1 hand per day in the 'Small Stakes MTT' forum.
    - Going to catch up on all hands in the forum tonight.
    [X] Goal #3.2 - Follow and support other PG&C threads
    - BugsBunnyD's PG&C thread looks promising. MTTs + travel plans make for potentially exciting threads

    MicroMillions 2017:
    Events played: 8
    Cashes: 2
    Total Buy In: $25.30
    Profit/Loss: -$15.47

    Kind of going spew my thoughts/vent a little. Things on my mind I just want to dump somewhere so I can move on.

    Another MM min cash. I can't remember what happened and don't care to go back to find out. Session was frustrating. Ran up multiple stacks just to hand it all over in big stack vs big stack cooler spots. I guess I'm just more frustrated at myself for losing interest halfway through the session and auto-piloting.

    Things are not quite right atm.

    Which brings me back to my mindset and patience issues. Been really struggling with self doubt today and wondering if I'm really running bad, playing bad or just a perspective thing. After trying to remove emotion and think critically about everything, I came to the conclusion it's definitely the latter.

    I certainly haven't played at my best this month but all the numbers are still in line with normal expectations. I've always maintained that I FT 1 in 100 games. I've had 11 FTs in last 932 games. 0 in last 170 games. The frustrating part was that I think I've only come close twice in that 170 game period. Seemed like every other day I was running close last month. The last 170 games have been spread over 8 sessions in a 2 week period.

    Also, I moved up my ABI from $1.40 to $2.75. Losing $375/136 BI's right after winning isn't all that uncommon. It's why I kept a 300 BI bankroll. Painful but I still have plenty of money and time to work with. Sooner or later I will get that combination of running hot and playing my A game. Just gotta stay patient!

    To further settle my mind, I'm taking today as a full study day. I picked out 4 tournaments from a variety of formats and periods to review. Also sent them to a friend who will review them and send me back the notes. 1 is the Big $2.20 I chopped last month, another is a deepstack game, the Big $1.10 from Monday that I thought was one of my better days, and the $1.10+R [Splash] 19th place for a look at my turbo/shortstack decision making.

    The best part is I recorded my screen on the day I chopped the Big $2.20 so I can see the exact stats I had available. Unfortunately no audio so I can't verify my thought process. Still, makes it a little better than a plain HH tournament review.

    Going to be a busy night but good preparation for a big weekend grind
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-21-2017 , 06:51 PM
    What up dude? Hey just thought I'd chime in here a bit. What are your thoughts on the extreme variance that comes with MTT's?

    I've been lucky in playing MTTs online and have had about four or five final tables and about six or seven cashes out of about forty so far. Granted a third and fifth place finish took place in a one dollar MTT, but both still had about a hundred people.

    The thing I've noticed about MTTs is that alot of cash game players get flustered and pissed off beyond anything else I've seen from bad beats.

    Whether it's from getting knocked out with QQ over 10-10 or whatever.

    But the thing with tourney structure is that eventually, you're forced to go all in with hands you normally won't want to and due to stack sizes you're forced to call all ins with hands you normally won't want to.

    It goes both ways, just gotta learn to love it.

    Hell, my biggest placing that doubled my roll had me going out in fifth place with Jacks against like Ace 8 and they hit the Ace. If I had not had that happen, prob woulda gone on to at least third. Oh well, makes up for calling an all in with 7-8 suited and cracked Aces.

    Last night, a player let themself get blinded down to like two blinds. I was in big blind with 2-4 off suit when they went all in with KdJd. I called because the all in was nothing to my stack and hit a 4. That dude prob cursed his cpu that night.

    Anyways, I'm just a rando ass dude, but when it comes to MTTs, embrace the variance, ride it, don't try to minimize it.

    Be glad that insanity that happens with the cards is nothing at all like what happens away from the table.
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-21-2017 , 07:50 PM
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sir Donkington III
    What up dude? Hey just thought I'd chime in here a bit.
    Thanks for stopping by!
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sir Donkington III
    What are your thoughts on the extreme variance that comes with MTT's?
    I've been lucky in playing MTTs online and have had about four or five final tables and about six or seven cashes out of about forty so far.
    Wow, nice running! What were the field sizes?

    Yeah, like I've been rambling about a lot today, MTT variance is only a problem when you take the short term perspective of it. If you set up a super conservative BRM plan and understand the numbers, volume needed, field sizes you are competing against, etc... it becomes manageable. If you need to consistently be reassured that you are good and making money, you play cash. Crazy guys like me love the thrill of winning! That constant search for the perfect tournament. (The Open is going on right now. I consider it very similar to golfers - searching for that perfect weekend when they are confident and their swing is on point.)

    I'm reviewing the big $2.20 game I chopped last month and realised I had AA 8 times in 640 hands and 5 in about a 170 hands period in the middle of the tourney - when I think it's the most important to get big hands lol. Early you have chips and later stacks are shorter/I pick up lots more from stealing and bullying.

    Then I look at what's happening this month and realise I'm simply just not going through a wave of luck like that. That's variance. It all averages out and comes back round again, if you just keep playing.

    Have you ever done the math of how many 60/40 double up races you'd have to win to get a start stack to FT average stack of a PS tourney with a field of 3k+ players??? It's crazy. 3k to 1.5M chips is 10 double ups. At 60/40 thats a 0.6% chance. 6 games in 1000. You can't rely on just running well and winning every race. Perspective.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sir Donkington III
    Hell, my biggest placing that doubled my roll had me going out in fifth place
    This... Why play cash and grind it out? That feeling of just winning 200-1000 buy ins in 1 game :O Feels sooo good.
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-21-2017 , 08:34 PM
    Hahahah hell yea man right on! The field sizes were around a hundred to I think the highest was maybe close to four fifty. It's all in the micros right now.

    Nothing like massive massive huge fields, oh man, I see the payouts on some of the huuuuge fields on Poker Stars for the 3 and four dollars and I get excited and want to bring a thermos of coffee.

    Played a ten dollar $8000 guaranteed pool with a thousand people and got like 250-270th or something like that (81 places paid out though). Had another shot at the same one a couple weeks ago but was soooooo card dead I couldn't believe it. Thought to myself, "damn man, if this happened to me live, sitting down at a $5000 buy in and getting this crap run of cards and this was my whole roll, I'd **** my ass on the table in frustration"

    Dude, you mentioned super conservative bankroll and yea that's spot on too man. Like, I play in a way that probably makes people yell and scream (hence the screen name) but I am so damn tight with my actual roll it's kinda laughable.

    I'll read about in cash games you obviously WANT to reduce variance because a cash game is essentially a never ending game that goes on as long your life. But a tourney's variance and luck effect only applies to THAT tourney right now.

    This doesn't mean go crazy and shove on the flop with air with J8 off suit when my stack is decent size or donk shove preflop with 8s3s when I have 50 blinds left. But when it gets to the danger zone, 10-15 it's push or fold and hope the button gets to you before blinds go up. Anything under 10 blinds is, "god blessss americccaaaaaaa" and push with anything before you go so low it doesn't even matter if you double up. Hell at that point, I'll even call with suited connectors. However, in a cash game I dont usually get to that bad of a level of blinds. I did bring a $25 dollar ping in a 2-5 back up to $120 though to cover a $100 dollar stake. Got lucky there.

    What's your early play strategy and what starting stacks do you like?

    I prefer double stack or super stack chips. I do like the 10k chip tourneys, but man those go on forever. In the early stages it is important for me to get in if I can and speculate, flat call if the orig raise isn't THAT big, esp in big blind, get a little tricky dicky with Aces or Kings if I have to, etc. But when it gets higher and higher and blinds start making my stack less and less big, it gets down to simple shove or fold mode and oh man, I love it. Its like russian roulette. So yea I get the fun, pure poker playing mode in the early stages, then the crazy russian roulette pull the trigger mode when it's down to the wire. It feels soooo good to double up and keep fighting when you were on your way out.

    Sorry for the long windedness man! I can talk about poker, music, and weeeeeeeeeeed for a long time
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-22-2017 , 11:33 AM
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sir Donkington III
    The field sizes were around a hundred to I think the highest was maybe close to four fifty.

    What's your early play strategy and what starting stacks do you like?
    Still pretty good results at those field sizes. Think my average is 2.5k-3.5k players lol

    Posted my strategy in your small stakes thread. Will reply to your latest wall of text some time this weekend lol.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    [X] Goal #3.1 - Review 1 hand per day in the 'Small Stakes MTT' forum.
    - Failed to catch up on ALL hands but posted 1 myself and caught a couple other posts.
    [X] Goal #3.2 - Follow and support other PG&C threads
    - If you like Sir Donkington III's long ass stories, his thread is here

    [ ] Goal #5 - Maintain good diet & exercise on playing days.
    - Not sure why I set this goal... I have no energy or enthusiasm to do this today. Probably a side effect of having a beer and devouring a whole bar of chocolate last night while I studied. GG diet. Maybe once I eat something I'll feel a little better about it. Though I plan to start playing at 6pm so doesn't leave me much time. :-/

    [X] Goal #1 - Work harder! Mainly off the table. Focus more when playing.
    - Last nights study session was sooo good. You know when you get so immersed in something that when you stop for a second, and look at the clock, 4 hours have passed. That was what my study was like haha.

    I had 4 tournaments to get through. Only managed to get through 1 game as it took 6 hours in total. I reviewed the Big $2.20 chop as a means to get myself thinking about poker like I was then. It worked but I was amazed at how many mistakes I was making. I felt like I played the nuts that day and reality is I was just running godlike.

    Don't get me wrong, I did generally play pretty well that game but I missed sooooo much basic stuff. Hands I should have opened, resteals with Ax blockers, inconsistencies when completing the BB vs min raises, CBet sizing was often a little off, and I still need to clarify my thought process/conditions between betting small, big and checking back flops.

    All that has done is set the bar for my sessions this weekend. I know exactly what I need to do now. Praying I run good because it will be so much fun working on these things and seeing some scores as a result of it all.

    Going to get some food now and then set up to play.
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-22-2017 , 11:36 PM
    65th/3810 in Hot $2.20 which sucks as just standard turbo variance stuff.

    Just finished 10th/1565 in Deepstack $2.20 when was chip leader with around 18-24 left. Guy flatted with AKo pre, then flatted my 3bet/squeeze, then donk bet HU on K73r board. Foolishly tried to make a play like I had AA/KK/AK and get KQ/KJ or under pairs to fold and lost 40% of my stack. Had the stats, shoulda known better and didn't need to do it. Even so, lost a further 3-4 flips and couple more pots like opening AJ vs AQ on A hi flops. Sighhhh.

    Hurts but at least the study is paying off.
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-29-2017 , 03:47 AM
    Aaaanndddd we're back!

    Was kinda struggling on multiple issues and needed to take a break just to clear my head and reset. Took 6 days and now ready to get back on the MTT grind.

    Hoping to have a good weekend to close out the month. Will make a round up post of the month on Tuesday. 3 solid days of grinding and I'll still hit all my targets!
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    [X] Goal #3.1 - Review 1 hand per day in the 'Small Stakes MTT' forum.
    - Done. Going to keep it real simple and make sure I review only 1 hand per day.

    [X] Goal #3.2 - Follow and support other PG&C threads
    - Not that blakkman08 needs any more support (his thread is quite popular), but I'm going to post it as I've been following for a while and don't really have any other threads to post atm. The guy is insane at MTT's; Played 170 tourneys in a single day, shipped the same hyper turbo game 3 nights in a row, and is b/e after running 2k BB under EV after ~80k hands.... all of this in 1 month .

    [X] Goal #5 - Maintain good diet & exercise on every day.
    - Going to really start making this a priority now. I NEED to be in a good physical condition. Only drink water. Cut out all the junk food. Eat clean. Improve my sitting posture. Wake up before 8am every day. Etc. Etc.
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-30-2017 , 02:05 AM
    I think a break is good sometimes, if you can come back stronger for it. Grats on the deep run in Hot 2.20 sure you'll be binking one soon enough.
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-30-2017 , 05:02 AM
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Motorola
    I think a break is good sometimes, if you can come back stronger for it.
    Yeah, I definitely benefit from taking like 3+ days off at a time. So much more focussed when I sit down again. Problem is that I never know where to draw the line between needing a break and making an excuse for not just grinding through it...
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Yesterday's session was....interesting. Going through a phase where every time I get KK-TT it feels like the board is A hi. AK board is low and cbet doesn't get the job done. I don't feel like I necessarily was playing bad yesterday, not at my best either, but my EV was negative after 2.8k hands....

    On the other hand, I made a FT! 9th/334 in a $5.50 [Bubble Rush] tourney for a whopping $26 or something. Huge AK < QQ flip with 14 left. :-/

    A few other deep-ish runs in a 12 hour long session.

    I will try not to read too much into it and see how we get on today and tomorrow. Review once the month is over.

    [-] Goal #3.1 - Review 1 hand per day in the 'Small Stakes MTT' forum.
    - Looked over a couple hands - may have even posted on 1 of them. Simply ran out of time to do a full hand analysis.

    [ ] Goal #3.2 - Follow and support other PG&C threads

    [X] Goal #5 - Maintain good diet & exercise every day.
    - Did well on this yesterday until dinner where I had a couple slices of pizza lol. Started today off well with a run. Will prep some food and get ready to grind Sunday MTTs.
    An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
    07-30-2017 , 09:32 AM
    Need to vent... top 100 stack with 2200 left in MM#122 PKO event. 1551 paid, lose these 3 hands in a short span (maybe 20 hands) and bust without even cashing...

    Not really a 1 off game either as is happening a lot atm but this 1 fully tilted me for some reason. Had to unreg the rest of my games and spewed off the last few I was in. Was fine after the first hand. Guy is a reg, said sorry in chat and I moved on. I don't tilt often and mostly it's just a passive disinterest is the rest of my games.

    Just pretty frustrated.

      Poker Stars, $3 Buy-in (700/1,400 blinds, 175 ante) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8 Players
      Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

      SB: 32,639 (23.3 bb)
      BB: 16,659 (11.9 bb)
      UTG+2: 15,254 (10.9 bb)
      MP1: 25,909 (18.5 bb)
      MP2: 26,573 (19 bb)
      MP3: 44,670 (31.9 bb)
      Hero (CO): 101,532 (72.5 bb)
      BTN: 45,887 (32.8 bb)

      Preflop: Hero is CO with A A
      3 folds, MP3 raises to 2,800, Hero raises to 7,700, 3 folds, MP3 calls 4,900

      Flop: (18,900) 2 3 9 (2 players)
      MP3 checks, Hero bets 8,400, MP3 raises to 36,795 and is all-in, Hero calls 28,395

      Turn: (92,490) J (2 players, 1 is all-in)
      River: (92,490) 9 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

      Spoiler:
      Results: 92,490 pot
      Final Board: 2 3 9 J 9
      MP3 showed A 9 and won 92,490 (47,820 net)
      Hero showed A A and lost (-44,670 net)

        Poker Stars, $3 Buy-in (700/1,400 blinds, 175 ante) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 7 Players
        Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

        SB: 26,048 (18.6 bb)
        BB: 122,424 (87.4 bb)
        Hero (MP1): 60,012 (42.9 bb)
        MP2: 45,362 (32.4 bb)
        MP3: 28,614 (20.4 bb)
        CO: 14,034 (10 bb)
        BTN: 12,629 (9 bb)

        Preflop: Hero is MP1 with K K
        Hero raises to 2,940, 2 folds, CO raises to 13,859 and is all-in, BTN calls 12,454 and is all-in, 2 folds, Hero calls 10,919

        Flop: (43,497) 7 A 8 (3 players, 2 are all-in)
        Turn: (43,497) 7 (3 players, 2 are all-in)
        River: (43,497) Q (3 players, 2 are all-in)

        Spoiler:
        Results: 43,497 pot
        Final Board: 7 A 8 7 Q
        Hero showed K K and lost (-14,034 net)
        CO showed T A and won 43,497 (29,463 net)
        BTN showed 6 6 and lost (-12,629 net)

          Poker Stars, $3 Buy-in (800/1,600 blinds, 200 ante) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8 Players
          Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

          SB: 79,140 (49.5 bb)
          Hero (BB): 42,428 (26.5 bb)
          UTG+2: 50,877 (31.8 bb)
          MP1: 23,334 (14.6 bb)
          MP2: 39,852 (24.9 bb)
          MP3: 37,987 (23.7 bb)
          CO: 72,105 (45.1 bb)
          BTN: 48,446 (30.3 bb)

          Preflop: Hero is BB with Q A
          UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls 1,600, MP2 folds, MP3 calls 1,600, 2 folds, SB completes, Hero raises to 42,228 and is all-in, MP1 calls 21,534 and is all-in, MP3 folds, SB calls 40,628

          Flop: (110,790) 6 7 J (3 players, 2 are all-in)
          Turn: (110,790) 6 (3 players, 2 are all-in)
          River: (110,790) 2 (3 players, 2 are all-in)

          Spoiler:
          Results: 110,790 pot
          Final Board: 6 7 J 6 2
          SB showed T J and won 110,790 (68,362 net)
          Hero showed Q A and lost (-42,428 net)
          MP1 showed 5 5 and lost (-23,334 net)
          An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
          08-01-2017 , 06:59 AM
          July Review:
          Pretty disappointing month. Not proud of the effort I put in. I'm kind of happy that I was disciplined enough to turned up on the days I set for play. I put in the hours but I didn't work hard for the majority of those hours. Allowed myself to get distracted a lot. Played too many tables trying to hit volume/$ invested type goals and therefore didn't play very well or get the kind of reads I was able to find in June. I moaned a lot about running bad (and I'm sure I did run bad) but it was amplified by my own bad play. Got way too emotional about it all as well.

          Days: 16
          Hours: 137.38 (8.59 per day)
          Games: 342 (21.375 per day)
          ABI: $2.844
          $ Invested: $972.50
          P/L: -$346.82
          FTs: 3
          Cashes: 63 (18.42%)
          Bankroll: $348.53

          Hands: 31,677
          EVBB/100: 5.67 (shockingly bad, Avg was 13.03, now 12.37)


          August Goals:
          Get back to basics and focus on playing my best. Won't set a hard volume goal but I hopefully will still hit 300 MTTs. I really want to make sure I don't open too many games this month so that I can reverse engineer the tables and make notes on players. Going to try play less hours per session and more days so that it feels less of a grind.

          Days: 18 (minimum)
          Hours: XXX (126 is 7 per day so may go with this. If I start crushing and having fun again this will be too low so kinda hard to set a goal.)
          Games: 300 (16.66 per day)
          ABI: $2.622 (was a little bit higher than the $2.74 that I wanted last month so will balance it this month a little lower)
          $ Invested: $786.60 (300 x $2.622)

          At some point this month I am going to have to deal with losing broadband and moving house so it's important to start strong and not let external events affect me. Should be interesting.
          An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote
          08-02-2017 , 12:35 PM
          Been studying and testing some stuff to start this month. It's going well. Just finished 29th/2520 in a $1.10 PKO after running QQ < AA and ATo < 88. Really set myself up nice to get action just before I picked up that QQ and then to see AA just sucks! Only played 2 games but crushed both of them. Played my best in over a month.

          Thinking I will trial a full session tomorrow and if that goes well we'll be looking to have a really good month and get back on track
          An MTT grind out of the Micros Quote

                
          m