thats the perfect situation! you can ship 100bb all in with KTs for a 1cent +ev play

why would you want to flat preflop and get into massively ev spots? you'd be called a weak bumhunting reg!

Today reviewed two friends videos and shared my observation about those. That took quite a lot of time, so I didn't do much else.

At evening played and did that quite well I believe. At the start there was some desperate plays, but w/e.

It was very nice to bounce back by 10 bi, but luck turned away and wasted those later. Still won 300 Eur and that would be salary that 1/4th of the country gets per moth here.



Started losing after this hand, that I lost to fish.
Hand before in very same way he showed A3s, everyone folded and he show his hand.

PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 152.49 BB
SB: 100 BB
BB: 136.15 BB
UTG: 114.04 BB
Hero (MP): 125.53 BB
CO: 108.1 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A K

UTG calls 1 BB, Hero raises to 4 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, UTG raises to 114.04 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 110.04 BB

Flop: (229.59 BB, 2 players) K 8 3

Turn: (229.59 BB, 2 players) K

River: (229.59 BB, 2 players) J



Another cool hand, where I got bluffcatched. Kicker is quite low, but that doesn't matter!:

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 146.43 BB
SB: 170.05 BB
Hero (BB): 252.49 BB
UTG: 107.83 BB
MP: 411.39 BB
CO: 262.7 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T 2

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB calls 0.5 BB, Hero checks

Flop: (2 BB, 2 players) 9 8 Q
SB bets 1 BB, Hero calls 1 BB

Turn: (4 BB, 2 players) 7
SB bets 2.94 BB, Hero calls 2.94 BB

River: (9.88 BB, 2 players) 8
SB checks, Hero bets 9.44 BB, SB calls 9.44 BB



And can't understand how villain bluffcatched here. Everything hit. Not sure if he made very good or bad play:

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 168.45 BB
SB: 100 BB
BB: 106.53 BB
UTG: 102.06 BB
MP: 100 BB
Hero (CO): 194.98 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T 9

fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, BB raises to 10 BB, Hero calls 7 BB

Flop: (20.5 BB, 2 players) 4 A 8
BB bets 10.5 BB, Hero calls 10.5 BB

Turn: (41.5 BB, 2 players) Q
BB checks, Hero bets 23 BB, BB calls 23 BB

River: (87.5 BB, 2 players) 9
BB checks, Hero bets 86.1 BB, BB calls 63.03 BB and is all-in

Also in the 4.6k hands session got 5 quads!!! WTF :/

Decided to check out this with crEV and increased simulation amount to 50M! (for better accuracy)


And it says that chance to get quads is 0.14%
Still not sure if I can believe that, 50M could be too little, however it took quite long time to calculate even that number :|

And that number decreases much more, because most of the time we will not reach street that would give us quads. Anyway, My share of quads:

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 101.75 BB
SB: 232.6 BB
BB: 180.44 BB
Hero (UTG): 545.46 BB
MP: 102.75 BB
CO: 143.61 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q T

Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, CO calls 3 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (7.5 BB, 2 players) T T T
Hero checks, CO bets 4.58 BB, Hero calls 4.58 BB

Turn: (16.65 BB, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, CO bets 11.99 BB, Hero calls 11.99 BB

River: (40.62 BB, 2 players) 7
Hero checks, CO checks



PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 130.23 BB
CO: 100 BB
BTN: 122.48 BB
SB: 320.19 BB
Hero (BB): 100.4 BB
UTG: 116.35 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 2 A

fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, fold, SB calls 2.5 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Flop: (9 BB, 3 players) Q 2 2
SB checks, Hero checks, CO bets 5 BB, fold, Hero calls 5 BB

Turn: (19 BB, 2 players) 9
Hero checks, CO checks

River: (19 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero checks, CO checks



PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (SB): 174.79 BB
BB: 128.38 BB
UTG: 98.89 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 199.5 BB
BTN: 100 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 8 BB, fold, BTN calls 6 BB

Flop: (17 BB, 2 players) 9 K K
Hero checks, BTN bets 9.3 BB, Hero calls 9.3 BB

Turn: (35.6 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero checks, BTN bets 23.05 BB, Hero calls 23.05 BB

River: (81.7 BB, 2 players) A
Hero checks, BTN bets 59.65 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 59.65 BB



PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 104.84 BB
SB: 127.97 BB
BB: 222.83 BB
UTG: 406.87 BB
Hero (MP): 112.18 BB
CO: 101.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 4 A

fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, BB calls 2 BB

Flop: (6.5 BB, 2 players) 4 A 4
BB checks, Hero bets 4 BB, BB calls 4 BB

Turn: (14.5 BB, 2 players) 4
BB checks, Hero bets 11 BB, fold



PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 104.32 BB
SB: 49 BB
Hero (BB): 247.83 BB
UTG: 100 BB
MP: 92.69 BB
CO: 133.94 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 5 Q

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2.5 BB, fold, Hero calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (5.5 BB, 2 players) 7 Q Q
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (5.5 BB, 2 players) T
Hero bets 4 BB, BTN calls 4 BB

River: (13.5 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero bets 10 BB, fold

My favorite Lithuanian poker Dad! I didn't realize the extent of your recent DS when we chatted last. (John from Skype btw)

Confirmed

Just curious why you made this a restriction.

This seems pretty common and is definitely something I am guilty of and trying to work on now.

Do you really not enjoy poker? It can be so tough emotionally and psychologically even when you love the game. I can't imagine grinding as much as you do and not enjoying it. Could this stem from how hard you work/overwork yourself? I don't know if you are working as much as you used to but if so, why not cut back significantly? You say that if you don't make 100k this year then you will quit. Isn't that 10x or more the average salary in Lithuania? Obviously I don't really know your living situation or expenses but could you live well grinding half as much and probably enjoying life more/tilting less?

Anyways, best of luck with everything. Will be following and rooting for you. Oh I saw that Gogol's nose vid the other day and was meaning to msg you about it. Figured you would get a kick out of that

Hey John, Nice to see you here!

About coffee:
I did some some research and it confirmed what I felt- coffee is not good for me!
For some people it can increase anxiety, have impact on focus- I feel those things - especially on concentration, when I feel dizzy. Also I ma quite aggressive and tilty person, so energy from coffee makes me more prone to tilt, spew, and make aggressive moves. So even I love coffee I decided to keep away from it for a while. I did such decision multiple times in the past and never regret of that. I do not have any problems with instant quiting, so I did that.

Well most often I don't like it. It still doesn't mean that I hate it. It is kind of neutral, with some swings to one or another emotional side.

Well I do not grind much. when I look arround everyone grinds more than I do My goal is try to keep previous 500k vpp (but I am behind now) and that would be 650-700 hours per year with my grind.

Also I try to do two hours of effective study (mindset/strategy) Per day. That is discipline and mindset thing. While I do not enjoy poker, I enjoy challenging myself, working on discipline and my own mindsets. I fail a lot, however when I improve I get something that I can use in other aspects of life too- not just poker. I see only one opponents- thats me myself. Only I responsible for my bad luck, bad results. This is only person that I need to defeat to succeed. And I hate losing!

It is not about money at all. If I will decrease my expectations, work- I am losing battle vs myself, my own weaknesses. I don't like that. And I am not average person. And maybe that sounds arrogant, but that is truth. And if I will not succeed here and continue playing poker then that means that I wasted a lot of my talents when I could make use of them in other areas of life. Even areas, that I could (maybe?) Enjoy, as I did when I was programmer.

So had couple of days for Easter vacation, spent it far away from home, with family, kids. It was nice break. So after break full of energy came back!

Yesterday had nice mindset meeting. Decided to stick just to couple of goals for a week. But make deeper studies. After meeting I felt rush to play poker, but quickly identified that as a leak, because always after such rush I start spewing, tilting away money, so Instead of grind I decided to go for a ride and it worked well- evening session was without big tilt issues.

Played monster 5,5 hours session, that I very rarely do!



Very big part of grind was at regular tables and I am pretty happy with that.
However there was periods of time where I was just clicking buttons and didin't pay attention to tables, player types. There was some recreational players that lookedvery solid, with nice checking game and able to fold (it could be regs just playing few tables).

Couple of hands from yesterday session:

Tilt caused FSP pre:

PokerStars - $6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: 250.1 BB
UTG: 175.83 BB
MP: 105.5 BB
CO: 100.52 BB
Hero (BTN): 107.05 BB
SB: 50 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 5 4

UTG raises to 2 BB, MP raises to 7 BB, fold, Hero calls 7 BB, fold, fold, UTG calls 5 BB

Flop: (22.5 BB, 3 players) 6 6 3
UTG bets 5 BB, MP calls 5 BB, Hero raises to 15 BB, UTG calls 10 BB, fold

Turn: (57.5 BB, 2 players) A
UTG checks, Hero bets 16.67 BB, UTG calls 16.67 BB

River: (90.83 BB, 2 players) 4
UTG checks, Hero bets 68.39 BB and is all-in, fold



Very unhappy about my play in this hand. It is w/e that I missed bet sizing on the flop, but I hate how I missread entire situation (SB is a recreational) and bet that gay amount expecting REG to raise with his FD):

PokerStars - $10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 129.14 BB
SB: 135.84 BB
Hero (BB): 104.59 BB
UTG: 111.36 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 109.8 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 5 8

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, SB calls 1.5 BB, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (6 BB, 3 players) 4 6 8
SB bets 4 BB, Hero raises to 11 BB, BTN calls 11 BB, SB calls 7 BB

Turn: (39 BB, 3 players) T
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (39 BB, 3 players) 7
SB checks, Hero bets 22 BB, BTN calls 22 BB, fold



And last hand where I completely fked up on the river.
After questionable raise on the river I also do "fk it" type call... When I knew that I beat nothing.

PokerStars - $6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 40 BB
Hero (SB): 204.44 BB
BB: 117.24 BB
UTG: 18.51 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 129.18 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J J

fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.48 BB, BB calls 1.48 BB

Flop: (4.96 BB, 2 players) Q 2 8
Hero checks, BB bets 3.55 BB, Hero calls 3.55 BB

Turn: (12.06 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero checks, BB bets 8.7 BB, Hero calls 8.7 BB

River: (29.46 BB, 2 players) J
Hero checks, BB bets 21.74 BB, Hero raises to 66.67 BB, BB raises to 102.51 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 35.84 BB

Today I had very nice meeting with my strategy group. One of group members recorded a video and we watched it. He is very good and I respect his game a lot. So today I learned some tricks, unfortunately combined with my chaotic nature I applied all that in very bad ways, that was just pure aggression, overbets, tilty plays and spews without any odds

I knew, that I need to quit. however... how can I quit when session is in red ? :|

Session still was quite long, but I played less tables this time (just got less regular tables). And when finally most of them broke then I turned 200 zoom and quickly won back my loses. So result as always - a lot of BIs, just couple of bucks



I annoyed this recreational player with my mindless overagro play till he started playing in quite terrible way. Still I didin't adjust, continued, then made stupid preflop call and then made stupid flop call. Everything because of tilt :|

PokerStars - €4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 140.7 BB
MP: 111.47 BB
CO: 85.12 BB
Hero (BTN): 117.58 BB
SB: 100 BB
BB: 89.94 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J T

fold, fold, CO raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 7 BB, fold, fold, CO raises to 22.5 BB, Hero calls 15.5 BB

Flop: (46.5 BB, 2 players) K 5 8
CO bets 62.62 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 62.62 BB

Turn: (171.75 BB, 2 players) T

River: (171.75 BB, 2 players) 2



I guess this regular identified my tilt. If not then I have horrible image I guess :/

PokerStars - $6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 253.06 BB
BB: 192.79 BB
UTG: 103.75 BB
CO: 88.48 BB
Hero (BTN): 149.15 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q 9

fold, CO raises to 2.57 BB, Hero raises to 7 BB, fold, fold, CO calls 4.43 BB

Flop: (15.5 BB, 2 players) 4 8 5
CO checks, Hero bets 12 BB, CO calls 12 BB

Turn: (39.5 BB, 2 players) 7
CO checks, Hero checks

River: (39.5 BB, 2 players) 6
CO bets 26.93 BB, Hero raises to 119.83 BB, CO calls 42.55 BB and is all-in



Another "lets gamble" hand:
PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 100 BB
MP: 73.96 BB
CO: 142.25 BB
BTN: 97.28 BB
SB: 100 BB
Hero (BB): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 3 7

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (4.5 BB, 2 players) 7 Q 9
Hero checks, BTN bets 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB

Turn: (10.5 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero checks, BTN bets 10 BB, Hero raises to 35 BB, BTN raises to 92.28 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 57.28 BB

River: (195.05 BB, 2 players) K



I am station ;( Can't fold pre, at least Runout favors me:

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 104.16 BB
SB: 234.06 BB
BB: 113.67 BB
UTG: 71.43 BB
MP: 314.09 BB
Hero (CO): 501.43 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 7 8

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, Hero raises to 9 BB, fold, SB raises to 27 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 18 BB

Flop: (58 BB, 2 players) 6 5 J
SB bets 28 BB, Hero calls 28 BB

Turn: (114 BB, 2 players) 6
SB checks, Hero bets 42 BB, SB calls 42 BB

River: (198 BB, 2 players) T
SB checks, Hero bets 196.6 BB, fold

Today broke my rule not to drink coffee while I will not be winning this year ;(
Tho I have two excuses!
1) Non serious- Bi wise I was winning.
2) Real reason- Tonight I slept very badly and I guess it was something like 4 hours. And this morning I had to go to repair car. So I need something to keep me awake. Even when I didn't do anything with a car it took a lot of time and I wasn't able to do any study at all ;(

Also today some idiot tried to kill me :| i was passing street over pedestrian crossing, car in the first lane stopped and just one meter from me another car flew without any attempt to slow down.
I looked and... no surprise- it was BMW!!!

I guess you don't understand why it is no surprise Problem is that in Lithuania we have have very high amount of people killed in the roads. And we have a lot of uneducated youth, that emigrated to some other country, earned some money or earned money here and bought some old used car. And because they are very cool they buy BMW, that is quite powerful. Unfortunately is that they are quite young, do not have enough driving experience and driven by rear wheels. Fallowed by the fact, that it is uncool to respect other road users or even driving intoxicated we have fatal car crashes every month where BMW was involved. And we are small country!



At evening decided to play and finaly it was really OK day!!
Played shorter session (prior weekend) but didin't played 4 zoom tables and all regular tables that I could get!!



Some fancy hand vs recreational player:

PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 100 BB
SB: 101.41 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 100.23 BB
Hero (MP): 142.54 BB
CO: 115.8 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A 7

fold, Hero raises to 2.48 BB, fold, fold, SB calls 1.98 BB, fold

Flop: (5.96 BB, 2 players) K 5 6
SB bets 1 BB, Hero raises to 4.85 BB, SB raises to 8.7 BB, Hero calls 3.85 BB

Turn: (23.35 BB, 2 players) 3
SB checks, Hero bets 14.5 BB, SB raises to 29 BB, Hero calls 14.5 BB

River: (81.35 BB, 2 players) 9
SB bets 59 BB, Hero raises to 102.37 BB and is all-in, SB calls 2.23 BB and is all-in



Someone tried to bluff me:

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 142.28 BB
SB: 155.89 BB
Hero (BB): 420.21 BB
UTG: 100 BB
MP: 225.08 BB
CO: 82.73 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 7 7

fold, MP raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, SB calls 2 BB, Hero calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (7.5 BB, 3 players) 7 6 4
SB bets 5.44 BB, Hero calls 5.44 BB, MP calls 5.44 BB

Turn: (23.82 BB, 3 players) K
SB checks, Hero bets 16 BB, MP calls 16 BB, fold

River: (55.82 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero bets 27.21 BB, MP raises to 55 BB, Hero calls 27.79 BB



The day without quads+ is bad day (had quads too!):

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 46.95 BB
SB: 104.3 BB
BB: 50.96 BB
UTG: 75.38 BB
Hero (MP): 135.16 BB
CO: 148.23 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q J

fold, Hero raises to 2.48 BB, fold, BTN calls 2.48 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (6.46 BB, 2 players) K T A
Hero checks, BTN bets 3 BB, Hero raises to 10 BB, BTN calls 7 BB

Turn: (26.46 BB, 2 players) 9
Hero bets 12 BB, fold



Never give up:

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 259.08 BB
SB: 207.04 BB
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 103 BB
MP: 101.82 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 2 K

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (4.5 BB, 2 players) 7 J Q
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (4.5 BB, 2 players) J
Hero bets 3 BB, BTN raises to 10.21 BB, Hero raises to 34 BB, fold



There was no miss click!

PokerStars - €4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 136.48 BB
CO: 100 BB
BTN: 91.06 BB
SB: 125.29 BB
Hero (BB): 117.03 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 2 2

UTG raises to 2 BB, CO calls 2 BB, BTN calls 2 BB, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (8.5 BB, 4 players) 2 5 7
Hero checks, UTG checks, CO bets 5.41 BB, BTN calls 5.41 BB, Hero calls 5.41 BB, fold

Turn: (24.73 BB, 3 players) 3
Hero checks, CO bets 18.5 BB, BTN calls 18.5 BB, Hero calls 18.5 BB

River: (80.23 BB, 3 players) 9
Hero checks, CO bets 53.13 BB, fold, fold



OH, and after this session- year is in green!

Subbed, GL

Do you listen to the music while grinding?
For me works perfectly something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiwQJRhFGeg
Helps to stay focused

gl getting back! you said training sites provides trash content, what is good content to learn according to you ?

Thnx!

Various studies are made on music impact on performance.
In general I find, that music would make you autopilot more. That has positive efects, like increased stamina, ability to play longer and stick only to unconscious competence level skills, however it also it has negative effects, that would be making it more likely that you will not play in the zone.

Previously I used to listen to some ASURA album but now my last favorite is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcsU...jze6q0PQOLUBHh

Also in the past I used to listen to some white noise compilation- worth of trying! For example that rain sound from here: http://simplynoise.com/

Sometimes when I feel exhausted I will quickly launch my playlist of motivation videos. I will not watch but just listen to those- it helps.

Well It is not bad. Thing about studies is that you always needs to find out what gives you best time/reward ratio.

If you will stick to very same study techniques you will gain less and less. Also is quite same when you get more and more knowledge.

Study itself is very broad topic.

Most important thing is to assure that you are doing active study. Passive studies are just waste of time!
So if you watch video you always stop video, try to imagine ranges and decide all possible actions, even for the future. If somewhere your vision and producer vision differs and you don't have clear answer why, then you figure it out. Also you make notes for all findings. For me video used to take 3x time more its original length .

Very same could be applied for books- if you read, then instantly apply that in practice, browse for hands in that topic or if it is mindset book then try to imagine those topics, write down mental hand histories and all other things that you need to do.

So what kind of study to chose? Well that is individual thing. You need to choose what motivates and provides most joy for you. For example I am an extrovert and always enjoyed meetings, study in groups, so skype group with weekly meetings is best for me and I was part of different groups like 5-10 times. Unfortunately studies in forums never worked out for me, because I never liked that.

Also as ex programmer (who liked his occupation) I always liked working with poker software. I am good at PT4, crEV, some other tools. But problem is that I was most interested in theoretical and not practical things that are time consuming, fun to do, but not rewarding at all Still even if you don't like, you need to be able to answer certain questions- that means you need to be able to do calculations, ev and freaquency modellings etc. That is important if you want to be in front of others. Obviously there is some very gifted players that discover such things by feel, but I believe that there is very little of those.

So in short - imho best way for studies ir joining skype group with weekly meetings.
Learning new software can be very time consuming, not for everyone and much less rewarding. For some people it could be better to find ways to delegate such things for other people (hired ones, coaches, maybe some alan jackson packages).

no tonsillitis?

nice job getting back into the green!

Luckily it was just virus.
Thnx for good words!

Didn't play two days. On Friday I waited for an hour, but stars at first was lagging a lot and then there was server restart and they didn't launch games after that. Still managed to win few BIs before that So didn't feel that bad because of not playing.

So decided to go for some brandy and watch a movie!

On Saturday me and my kids were invited into kids birthday party, so after coming back at 10PM didn't have energy to grind. So took some brandy (again!) and went for a movie.

Later i FOund that it was very best decision, because:

a) poeople talked, that stars was ***** up for a second day in the row
b) brandy was good
c) movies was great too.



Still it wasn't good as original Grisham books are, but I guess it is very difficult to transfer such books to cinema.

OK OK OK, and Sunday! The day when people go to church!

Luckily I am antitheist and I don't go to church. So I reviewed latest changes in CardrunnersEV, also check one GTO software updates. It wasn't deep work on, but for me it was pleasure, because I love playing with such tools.

At evening I grinded 4 hours session. I didin't play my best and mY game was varying from B+ to B-, At the end I turned music on to have some energy to finish session.

At start there was so many regular tables, that I was constnatly forced to change number of zoom tables. However most of the time all those tables was very quickly breaking. So that was quite intense open, close, open, close add zoom, remove zoom, add zoom remove zoom tables game. It actually exhausted me. So later I played less tables and that resulted small amount of VPPS.

In the session there was some visible and some invisible luck involved, so despite playing B game I won Nice amount of Bis and Currency.



Tough to fold kings when whale is behind.

PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 176.18 BB
Hero (BTN): 167.52 BB
SB: 108.97 BB
BB: 376.68 BB
UTG: 265.17 BB
MP: 103.95 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

UTG raises to 4 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 4 BB, fold, BB calls 3 BB

Flop: (12.5 BB, 3 players) 9 3 6
BB checks, UTG bets 7.45 BB, Hero calls 7.45 BB, BB calls 7.45 BB

Turn: (34.86 BB, 3 players) 3
BB checks, UTG bets 24.62 BB, Hero calls 24.62 BB, BB calls 24.62 BB

River: (108.71 BB, 3 players) 4
BB checks, UTG bets 59 BB, fold, BB calls 59 BB



After my Call RFI reg was cursing in the chat, and after the hand he told, that I am lucky that he didn't have enough of time. Still don't know what he folded.

PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 125.62 BB
CO: 152.5 BB
BTN: 71.26 BB
SB: 197.8 BB
Hero (BB): 424.2 BB
UTG: 133.73 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A K

fold, fold, CO raises to 2.3 BB, BTN raises to 71.26 BB and is all-in, fold, Hero raises to 215.27 BB, fold

Flop: (145.31 BB, 2 players) J A K

Turn: (145.31 BB, 2 players) T

River: (145.31 BB, 2 players) 3



WTF is with this guy play? Folded, don't know if it was correct fold, but his line doesn't make any sense at all!

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 185.03 BB
SB: 109.79 BB
BB: 217.94 BB
UTG: 130.83 BB
MP: 196.35 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q A

fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, Hero raises to 9.5 BB, fold, fold, CO calls 6.5 BB

Flop: (20.5 BB, 2 players) 6 Q K
CO checks, Hero bets 10 BB, CO calls 10 BB

Turn: (40.5 BB, 2 players) 8
CO checks, Hero checks

River: (40.5 BB, 2 players) A
CO checks, Hero bets 21 BB, CO raises to 80.5 BB and is all-in, fold



That happens when you fall in love with your hand and then look for desperate way to win:

PokerStars - $6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 100 BB
MP: 276.33 BB
CO: 119.27 BB
BTN: 100 BB
Hero (SB): 105.74 BB
BB: 133.26 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q K

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2.5 BB, Hero raises to 9 BB, fold, BTN calls 6.5 BB

Flop: (19 BB, 2 players) K 3 5
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (19 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero bets 14.17 BB, BTN calls 14.17 BB

River: (47.33 BB, 2 players) 8
Hero bets 36 BB, BTN raises to 76.83 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 40.83 BB



It is so cool to flop set with very agro recreational player, that you have some history with!:

PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 100 BB
SB: 108.8 BB
BB: 292.66 BB
UTG: 123.56 BB
Hero (MP): 249.64 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 3 3

UTG raises to 2.5 BB, Hero calls 2.5 BB, fold, fold, fold, BB raises to 13 BB, fold, Hero calls 10.5 BB

Flop: (29 BB, 2 players) 3 4 7
BB bets 23 BB, Hero calls 23 BB

Turn: (75 BB, 2 players) T
BB bets 65 BB, Hero raises to 213.64 BB and is all-in, BB calls 148.64 BB

River: (502.28 BB, 2 players) 4



That was very tough call:

PokerStars - $6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 101.5 BB
SB: 126.74 BB
BB: 48.33 BB
UTG: 112.72 BB
MP: 19.7 BB
Hero (CO): 131.61 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K T

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.48 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 1.48 BB

Flop: (5.46 BB, 2 players) 3 J Q
BB checks, Hero bets 3.91 BB, BB calls 3.91 BB

Turn: (13.28 BB, 2 players) K
BB checks, Hero bets 9 BB, BB raises to 41.94 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 32.94 BB

River: (97.15 BB, 2 players) 5
Players agreed to run it twice.

River #2: (97.15 BB, 2 players) 8



Some hand to show you guys my flawless preflop game:

PokerStars - €4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 100 BB
BTN: 100 BB
SB: 101.75 BB
Hero (BB): 132.66 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 7 5

fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, fold, Hero raises to 8 BB, BTN calls 6 BB

Flop: (16.5 BB, 2 players) 4 5 3
Hero bets 9 BB, BTN calls 9 BB

Turn: (34.5 BB, 2 players) 8
Hero bets 21 BB, BTN raises to 83 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 62 BB

River: (200.5 BB, 2 players) J



I guess I did somethign vs him, because When I take such moves I am always on very bad tilt:

PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 146.13 BB
Hero (CO): 100 BB
BTN: 100 BB
SB: 419.51 BB
BB: 120.76 BB
UTG: 103.12 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A K

fold, MP raises to 2.5 BB, Hero raises to 8 BB, fold, fold, fold, MP raises to 146.13 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 92 BB and is all-in

Flop: (201.5 BB, 2 players) Q 2 J

Turn: (201.5 BB, 2 players) 6

River: (201.5 BB, 2 players) T
Players agreed to run it twice.

Flop #2: (201.5 BB, 2 players) 3 T A

Turn #2: (201.5 BB, 2 players) K

River #2: (201.5 BB, 2 players) J



Reward for bad river call:

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 64.98 BB
SB: 101.5 BB
BB: 97.6 BB
UTG: 102.1 BB
Hero (MP): 232.71 BB
CO: 98.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K A

fold, Hero raises to 2.48 BB, fold, BTN raises to 7.5 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 5.02 BB

Flop: (16.5 BB, 2 players) 5 9 T
Hero checks, BTN bets 9.5 BB, Hero calls 9.5 BB

Turn: (35.5 BB, 2 players) K
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (35.5 BB, 2 players) J
Hero checks, BTN bets 15.5 BB, Hero calls 15.5 BB

About AKs hand vs recreational player shove: LOL I Just now realized that It wasn't 3/6 Like it thought, but it was 2/4 and we was 150bb deep!

Found on the web, that actually he just posted this hand too. He had QQ. I think that he made good fold. https://www.weaktight.com/h/552aea4ca52511563d8b49fc

glgl lml

Today my kids didn't go to kindergarten, so I couldn't do a lot of serious and brainstorming intense work. So instead I did some database and maintenance stuff. Lately I feel that I work very little on strategy development and theory stuff. I am very displeased with such my behavior. I waste my time on not that important tasks.

So after some DB stuff I left computer to perform assigned operations and took my kids to forest. Despite living in big city my place is surrounded by Beautiful forests. We wondered a bit and we found a lot of Violets growing everywhere! Very nice few. Sadly also we found a lot of trash and garbage that people threw off in the forest. Old TVs, coolers, a lot of broken glass and most popular...***** tires all around.

***** asses. How can they behave like that ? ;(

At evening I had decision- going to Pub quiz (we have very nicely organized pub quiz tournament, where thousands of people, some even located in other countries, compete together) or... Grinding. I decided that I skipped on Friday, Saturday and it is quite possible that I will skip few more days in the near future, so I decided to grind. And that was good choice!!



I started as always with 4 NLZ200 tables. Quickly got few more regular tables. I run like god (both visible and invisible luck helped me a lot). Still after very quick skyrocketing there was period of stagnation and after losing it to some point, also losing flips and even huge favorite hands (thanks god for fishes) I even started to tilt a bit. Luckily recovered and then got some money back.

Some hand, turned into a bluff:

PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 145.82 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 294.7 BB
Hero (BTN): 111.3 BB
SB: 120.3 BB
BB: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q K

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, CO calls 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (10.5 BB, 3 players) Q 4 A
MP bets 7 BB, fold, Hero calls 7 BB

Turn: (24.5 BB, 2 players) T
MP checks, Hero bets 22.5 BB, MP calls 22.5 BB

River: (69.5 BB, 2 players) A
MP checks, Hero bets 78.8 BB and is all-in, MP calls 67.5 BB and is all-in



Another two hands happened at the same time, vs very same regular so dynamics was altered too!
Villain is extremely good and aggressive reg.
1) KQ hand developed to 4bet pot, postflop game started
2) Q8s hand started developing
3) Some moves on KQ hand
4) we put money in in Q8 hand.
5) We finished KQ hand.

PokerStars - $6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: 153.96 BB
UTG: 83.03 BB
MP: 136.8 BB
CO: 103.71 BB
Hero (BTN): 319.63 BB
SB: 117.95 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q K

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.48 BB, fold, BB raises to 12.31 BB, Hero raises to 22.13 BB, BB calls 9.83 BB

Flop: (44.77 BB, 2 players) 6 4 J
BB checks, Hero bets 16.67 BB, BB calls 16.67 BB

Turn: (78.1 BB, 2 players) 6
BB checks, Hero bets 23 BB, BB calls 23 BB

River: (124.1 BB, 2 players) 5
BB checks, Hero bets 123.63 BB, fold




PokerStars - $6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 102.57 BB
CO: 142.53 BB
BTN: 342.02 BB
SB: 11.72 BB
Hero (BB): 144.71 BB
UTG: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q 8

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2.6 BB, fold, Hero calls 1.6 BB

Flop: (5.7 BB, 2 players) A K 4
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (5.7 BB, 2 players) 8
Hero bets 5 BB, BTN calls 5 BB

River: (15.7 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero bets 10 BB, BTN raises to 45.23 BB, Hero raises to 137.11 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 91.88 BB



Ah, also I was thinking about playing at 500 zoom and what conditions should be that I would play it. But it is enough for today and I will write about that in the future, if I will not forget to do so.

It is 11:20 AM and I just woke up.
I try not to use computer after waking up. I have kind of slow morning routine, where I will make breakfast while watchin news, cycling or snooker on eurosport, sometimes just listen to radio or music.

However yesterday session caused me to feel bad. So after spending 20 minutes in my bed thinking about it, about my feelings I decided to go here and quickly write things down.


I quickly won up to 3k € and it is nice. However later I started losing and that was quite consistent. I finished session with +10bi, however it was just +400€, because I lost 3,5 BI at 5/10.

I lost all that money to fishes and lately I try to adopt thinking, that if I lose to fish it is best way to lose (fish will get motivated, it is easier to recover money etc). However in practice it doesn't work every time. I didn't play well and despite that I had hands all those time and recreationals got helped by luck, still I was not able to fold those hands.

Lately I have quite nice run and I see bad things going on:

* My will to analyze my own leaks gone, I am not working enough on my game.
* My mood is much better now. Fallowed by this bad feel caused by yesterday session I realize how badly I am oriented to results.

Weather conditions and family situation caused me not to be able to ride for 5-6 days, also most of those I drank coffee. I believe that worsened situation with aggression levels. Today I will ask my wife to take kids from kindergarten and I will go for a ride.

Ok, Going to make some breakfast now, fallowed by sipping Mate tea (my coffee substitute for energy) and then I will have nice meeting with strategy group guys. Don't know what we will do yet. I think they was talking about playing home game for practicing reasons. While I am not biggest fan of playing like this last time I really enjoyed observing one guy. So I can compare my own thought process and actions with his.

GL guys.

Do you refer to yerba mate tea?

Yes, Yerba Mate tea,

Today as planned in strategy study group we played home game.
However this time it was quite different! I always play a lot of tables, so I try to avoid playing shorthanded. So when we today played 3 tables of 3 handed it was very new experience for me! Also those two opponents was HSNL guys, respected and known in community. I was table fish and my skill level was significantly worse. Due some accumulated tilt, also playing out of comfort zone and some other reasons- I tilted and I was just clicking buttons. So no surprise, that being winner when I ran good, I managed to lose everything and finally I was 3rd.

That game confirmed some leaks that I felt I have. Also I understood that I am very prone to tilt today, so I decided to make longer ride to get rid of tilt.

Despite weather threatening with rain, ride was good, rode ~35km and exhausted my body and cleared my tilty mind. In one place riding down at ~48km/h I lost control and was unable to turn like I should so I endangered myself. If I would fall I bet I would surgeon :| Luckily everything went well.

At evening I still wasn't sure if I will tilt and be able to handle poker well today. So I decided not to do heavy grinding and instead to concentrate on less tables. So I switched from 4 NLZ200 + reg to 2 NLZ500 + reg. VPP vice it was less VPPS and that is kind of surprising, because I expected it to be same (2x500 = 1000 and 4x200 = 800).

I think I played something like B or even B- game, just got lucky at some spots. However didn't tilt at all- even at spots that I am prone to- I guess more intense ride helped a bit. I think I felt a bit stressed, at least at the start, when I started playing NLZ500. There is significant difference between 200 and 500.



I have bad feeling that I played this hand badly in multiple streets.

PokerStars - $4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (CO): 102.74 BB
BTN: 183.97 BB
SB: 137.36 BB
BB: 121.72 BB
UTG: 163.49 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q T

fold, Hero raises to 2.48 BB, fold, SB raises to 8.5 BB, fold, Hero raises to 18.5 BB, SB calls 10 BB

Flop: (38 BB, 2 players) 9 5 T
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (38 BB, 2 players) 4
SB bets 22 BB, Hero calls 22 BB

River: (82 BB, 2 players) 5
SB bets 81.3 BB, Hero calls 62.24 BB and is all-in



Really felt bad calling here, because didn't expect recreational, with quite tight stats, to be turning hand into a bluff. So with such assumptions I think my call there is bad.

PokerStars - $6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (MP): 141.37 BB
CO: 297.41 BB
BTN: 82.13 BB
SB: 155.51 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 188.7 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

fold, Hero raises to 2.48 BB, fold, BTN calls 2.48 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (6.46 BB, 2 players) 5 T 6
Hero checks, BTN bets 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB

Turn: (12.46 BB, 2 players) 4
Hero checks, BTN bets 7 BB, Hero raises to 25 BB, BTN calls 18 BB

River: (62.46 BB, 2 players) T
Hero checks, BTN bets 51.65 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 51.65 BB

For any kind of rec when the top card pairs, it does not exists anymore. he had an overpair in his mind

what type of bike are you riding? Im usually be to wasted to grind after 2hish exercise sesh, where do you think its your "limit" tho Cycling deff has that advantage over running( or swimming) in that sense.... Good thing you didnt fell, easy to lose focus from time to time and in a blink of an eye youll be all ****ed up and at those speeds falling will hurt for a few weeks

LOL. interesting observation. No way that he was valuebetting it there!!!
I guess I need to learn recreationals better.

I have MTB - this one: http://www.orbea.com/us-en/bicycles/mx-20/

I never grind right after any exercise, so I don't know what would be limit. I do not have any troubles grinding at evening after 3 hours daytime ride (I also take power nap in between).

And in general my all cycling sessions are up to 3 hours, unless it is entire day ride (10 hours or so). But never grind at the same day then.

i don't think that cycling is better or worse than other kinds of sports, like running, swimming. You just need to figure out what works best for you. I hate running and swimming is not that available. And also I love traveling and wondering, so cycling was invented right for me

cool bike, are you doing any type of heart rate intervals? being able to take power naps its the nuts for sure. those 35k through mountains/dirt or mostly flat? hh1 do you think x flop makes you have to call down more often than if you cbet 1/3 with most of your range?

gl ninja, enjoying the updates