1.c4: Chessman begins his poker journey
04-04-2022
, 03:37 AM
Productive Poker Hours Week 13 of 2022: 106
Productive Poker Hours Weekly Average in 2022: 86.1
Productive Poker Hours Weekly Median in 2022: 92
You can learn more about what constitutes the ppp, the ideology behind it etc below
Spoiler:
04-04-2022
, 10:42 AM
I actually placed a hefty bet on them winning tonight, as I never thought that Lebron (with the presence of AD) would let them sink out of the play-in-tournament. Wow and a thousand times WOW 
Spoiler:
04-04-2022
, 04:07 PM
I had never seen a scammer get above 100 posts, except for a few that posing as posters.
04-04-2022
, 07:48 PM
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...postcount=3589
Mr. Galfond, like many other professionals, seem to value things/people outside of his biological family (kids, wife, RIO etc) just as much (if not more) than cards.
I have the utmost respect for that, but it’s not a direction I see my life going. It will also take a much bigger commitment to will myself to the heights he did, for some of the reasons you’ve touched on recently.
Firstly, you may find this post interesting.
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...postcount=1915
This part, for example.
It’s all relative and these goals were reasonably ambitious when I created them as a child but the key point is that they never evolved even despite making significant progress early on. In poker my goals will constantly evolve.
I already feel obligated to do significantly more with each passing week in order to compensate for the hypothetical dollars we are owed.
I don’t think my odds of reaching my goals go down as a result of this stretch—- if anything they go up, for a variety of reasons I’ve alluded to earlier—— but I have to sacrifice far more over a longer period of time.
Venividi’s (battled Phil in the aforementioned challenges) first year as a professional comes to mind… only professionals can relate:
Quote:
Anytime.
Thanks. Life and health stuff always a work in progress. Poker wise it's been a nice smooth ride for awhile but I oscillate daily with whether I just keep my nice easy grind going or if I should push myself to study more/play bigger more. I prob should throw an update in the pgc thread I created at some point lol. I've tried to get the motivation to do so a handful of times but tbh I just don't really enjoy writing about myself. Which I guess is kind of funny since that's the stuff I love the most these days on here. I breeze over most strategy stuff and mostly enjoy following people's discussions about life and their goals.
---------
As someone who achieved a very high level in chess/your current goals in poker I wonder whether you have any thoughts on a topic Galfond was talking about with his plo challenges. If you didn't hear it, basically he was worried about battling at high stakes again after a few years mostly off from poker. A lot of his worry being the new solver era coming into popularity in recent years and feeling it didn't fit his skillset. He basically boiled it down to realizing he was afraid that if he challenged himself again he may realize he was no longer good enough to compete with the best players. Whereas if he never challenged himself he could still hold onto the narrative that if he wanted to do it he could, he just didn't want to spend the time for x,y,z reasons. Is that something you dealt with in chess at all or dealing with now in poker? You seem like someone who is always pushing for new heights as opposed to settling in comfortably at a level you know you crush at. Do you ever feel fear about finding your ceiling and the potential ego hits/frustration that can come with that?
Thanks. Life and health stuff always a work in progress. Poker wise it's been a nice smooth ride for awhile but I oscillate daily with whether I just keep my nice easy grind going or if I should push myself to study more/play bigger more. I prob should throw an update in the pgc thread I created at some point lol. I've tried to get the motivation to do so a handful of times but tbh I just don't really enjoy writing about myself. Which I guess is kind of funny since that's the stuff I love the most these days on here. I breeze over most strategy stuff and mostly enjoy following people's discussions about life and their goals.
---------
As someone who achieved a very high level in chess/your current goals in poker I wonder whether you have any thoughts on a topic Galfond was talking about with his plo challenges. If you didn't hear it, basically he was worried about battling at high stakes again after a few years mostly off from poker. A lot of his worry being the new solver era coming into popularity in recent years and feeling it didn't fit his skillset. He basically boiled it down to realizing he was afraid that if he challenged himself again he may realize he was no longer good enough to compete with the best players. Whereas if he never challenged himself he could still hold onto the narrative that if he wanted to do it he could, he just didn't want to spend the time for x,y,z reasons. Is that something you dealt with in chess at all or dealing with now in poker? You seem like someone who is always pushing for new heights as opposed to settling in comfortably at a level you know you crush at. Do you ever feel fear about finding your ceiling and the potential ego hits/frustration that can come with that?
I have the utmost respect for that, but it’s not a direction I see my life going. It will also take a much bigger commitment to will myself to the heights he did, for some of the reasons you’ve touched on recently.
Firstly, you may find this post interesting.
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...postcount=1915
This part, for example.
It’s all relative and these goals were reasonably ambitious when I created them as a child but the key point is that they never evolved even despite making significant progress early on. In poker my goals will constantly evolve.
I already feel obligated to do significantly more with each passing week in order to compensate for the hypothetical dollars we are owed.
I don’t think my odds of reaching my goals go down as a result of this stretch—- if anything they go up, for a variety of reasons I’ve alluded to earlier—— but I have to sacrifice far more over a longer period of time.
Venividi’s (battled Phil in the aforementioned challenges) first year as a professional comes to mind… only professionals can relate:
04-05-2022
, 01:12 AM
Quote:
Not only is it ignoring the survivorship bias but more importantly you are ignoring that they came up at a way way softer time. Games were way softer, high stakes games with big edges were more plentiful, every stake on the way up had games running whereas now there's generally a huge risk/leap between 10/20ish and nosebleeds. It's obviously still possible to make it to the high stakes if you are smart/hard working/preferably catch some breaks along the way. But you are starting from a way more difficult starting point than they did for sure.
Ty for sharing your thoughts, mr. tyman. Hopefully you’re enjoying my answers
Yeah, I agree with all of this from a earnings/bankroll/financial/net worth etc POV.
I’ve had 100% of my action in every live cash session I’ve played in LA to date. (Obviously this can/will change).
My stubbornness to reach high-stakes organically (to the extent I can) could definitely slow things down quite a bit, especially given this recent stretch and potential future ones.
However, once I get there I think I’ll naturally have to be more flexible (whether I’ll want to or not).
Money is only one part of the equation and also the easiest variable to outsource (imo).
I can be one of the most skilled live players as well as have the best mental game at some point, and all the money/sun-running in the world can’t buy that skillset.
I think both of these things are not only achievable, but realistic as well over a long enough timeline.
My biggest concern is actually none of the above and definitely life variance
04-05-2022
, 01:28 PM
04-05-2022
, 06:30 PM
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...postcount=3641
Hey, thx for dropping in
Interesting.
I don't know what I don't know on this topic and am not educated enough on it to have a meaningful opinion, but I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts.
Quote:
hmm, I agree with some of this, but you have to remember that the resources available back then were scarce. Just because the games were soft, doesn't mean it wasn't as challenging to reach the top. There were relatively similar numbers of nosebleed regs back then as there are now imo. Not in sheer numbers, but in ratio.
A good example of this is a sport like football. Someone like Messi would destroy Pele today, but if he was born in the same era as Pele, without the technology/support/coaching networks that are available to him now, Messi could easily be outclassed.
A good example of this is a sport like football. Someone like Messi would destroy Pele today, but if he was born in the same era as Pele, without the technology/support/coaching networks that are available to him now, Messi could easily be outclassed.
Interesting.
I don't know what I don't know on this topic and am not educated enough on it to have a meaningful opinion, but I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts.
04-06-2022
, 03:57 PM
Quote:
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...postcount=3641
Hey, thx for dropping in
Interesting.
I don't know what I don't know on this topic and am not educated enough on it to have a meaningful opinion, but I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts.
Hey, thx for dropping in
Interesting.
I don't know what I don't know on this topic and am not educated enough on it to have a meaningful opinion, but I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts.
04-06-2022
, 11:32 PM
Ty for sharing your thoughts sir
04-07-2022
, 05:20 PM
Quote:
RTP, what was your peak rating in chess? I saw you spoke about your goals being not ambitious enough and simply wanting to be the best in the US so I presume that puts you in IM territory? I also expect that you've answered this numerous times before but I don't know if I've ever seen it so apologies if so.
I said that my goals were "exclusively U.S. centric" (a little different than what you're saying).
IM and GM are FIDE titles (completely different system) and not achievable through USCF. The rating threshold for National Master, or NM, is 2200 USCF.
I can't talk specific numbers for obvious reasons, but happy to link a post for you:
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...postcount=1732
04-08-2022
, 04:30 AM
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...postcount=3635
Thx for sharing for your thoughts, mr rickroll
Quote:
rtp as tyman said, my thougths and ideas are regularly ridiculed on these forums but if had thousands of hours of 17bb+ an hour bouncing game selecting between 5/10 to taking shots at 25/50 for something like 3-4k hours back in my playing time
i knew maybe 1/3 of what i know about poker now and playing micros online as a hobby now is extremely difficult - not saying i couldn't beat it today if i didn't make it my job again, just that i could casually walk into being successful with some very rudimentary study simply because i'm also the kind of person who's going to win at scrabble or risk against a random sampling of people
look at this way, when they started up the modern olympics they had trouble attracting athletes so about 2/3 of the particiapants were greeks, even some expats and tourists casually joined in to fill the ranks - the pathway to being a medalist or even an olympian itself was far easier than it is today, most winners had regular jobs and competed on the side, the first austrian medal winner was a full time doctor
that's the equivalent era those guys came up in
yes, you could be the next michael phelps and that's a fine goal to have, but michael phelps certaintly isn't comparing himself to that doctor thinking why he's such a letdown not able to work 60 hours a week at the clinic and then train on thursdays
i knew maybe 1/3 of what i know about poker now and playing micros online as a hobby now is extremely difficult - not saying i couldn't beat it today if i didn't make it my job again, just that i could casually walk into being successful with some very rudimentary study simply because i'm also the kind of person who's going to win at scrabble or risk against a random sampling of people
look at this way, when they started up the modern olympics they had trouble attracting athletes so about 2/3 of the particiapants were greeks, even some expats and tourists casually joined in to fill the ranks - the pathway to being a medalist or even an olympian itself was far easier than it is today, most winners had regular jobs and competed on the side, the first austrian medal winner was a full time doctor
that's the equivalent era those guys came up in
yes, you could be the next michael phelps and that's a fine goal to have, but michael phelps certaintly isn't comparing himself to that doctor thinking why he's such a letdown not able to work 60 hours a week at the clinic and then train on thursdays
04-08-2022
, 06:23 PM
I have hundreds of hands on backlog, haven’t posted too many hands this year but still out there in the streets sword-fighting daily.
Some of these were played a while ago now.
HH #1-10
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...postcount=3622
Will let the HHs standalone, no/minimal description.
If you want clarification / more details / whatever / just ask.
I know most of you like one HH per post so I’ll stick with that.
Enjoy
HH #11
Main V is a hs reg, splashes around in this game. Usually has non value with weird lines. Stuck piles.
pbb views me as tight~
$1667E
Preflop: Reg $12 MP. Main V calls. VIP overcalls BTN. Hero overcalls bb with 8 8.
Flop ($50): 7 2 2. Checks through.
Turn ($50): 7 2 2 6. Hero $37.5. Only Main V calls.
River ($125): 7 2 2 6 3. Hero $90. V quickly $310.
Some of these were played a while ago now.
HH #1-10
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...postcount=3622
Will let the HHs standalone, no/minimal description.
If you want clarification / more details / whatever / just ask.
I know most of you like one HH per post so I’ll stick with that.
Enjoy
HH #11
Main V is a hs reg, splashes around in this game. Usually has non value with weird lines. Stuck piles.
pbb views me as tight~
$1667E
Preflop: Reg $12 MP. Main V calls. VIP overcalls BTN. Hero overcalls bb with 8
8. Flop ($50): 7
2 2. Checks through. Turn ($50): 7
2 2 6. Hero $37.5. Only Main V calls. River ($125): 7
2 2 6 3. Hero $90. V quickly $310.Spoiler:
04-08-2022
, 07:01 PM
04-08-2022
, 11:21 PM
Quote:
Your thread has actually given me some interesting insight on what makes good pg+c content (for me, anyway) and I appreciate the fact that you've experimented with different formats and styles of posting in the thread. I found some of the huge hand dump chains a bit overwhelming and 1-2 spots per post probably some kind of sweet spot.
Ty for sharing your thoughts ser.
I appreciate it
04-08-2022
, 11:26 PM
Quote:
I am not a huge fan of your river sizing in hand 11 and even turn is feeling quite thin 4way already. This is especially true of regs who should be more than capable of checking back some overpairs here.
I think if I bet this hand it's probably something like block block and then considering otr. As played it's kinda hard but not impossible for villain to have a value hand, so I would probably just muck. With smaller sizes (ex. block block) I am not sure against the raise but seems much more reasonable to me to go b/c.
I think if I bet this hand it's probably something like block block and then considering otr. As played it's kinda hard but not impossible for villain to have a value hand, so I would probably just muck. With smaller sizes (ex. block block) I am not sure against the raise but seems much more reasonable to me to go b/c.
I’ll throw a few thoughts out as well~
main v flatting super wide here pre bc just $12/3bb, super deep, action game, presence of VIPS etc
otf and ott both regs are on avg going to be a lot more face up given vip still in, which weakens their range in this node.
I think this hand class is worth the large sizings here
vs the raise it becomes interesting though ap
Spoiler:
04-09-2022
, 04:41 AM
Wow, what an interesting line by villain.
Didn't realize the regs in your game are playing like this but postflop I don't mind the line at all Given the ranges are much wider than I was conceptualizing maybe I like big bet turn block river as opposed to my initial suggestion (agree that some size up prolly warranted, still skeptical about big/big tho).
V's line makes it clear he knows his hand strength here so I'd be surprised if we get called by anything worse than maybe A7s very often.
Didn't realize the regs in your game are playing like this but postflop I don't mind the line at all
Given the ranges are much wider than I was conceptualizing maybe I like big bet turn block river as opposed to my initial suggestion (agree that some size up prolly warranted, still skeptical about big/big tho).V's line makes it clear he knows his hand strength here so I'd be surprised if we get called by anything worse than maybe A7s very often.
