I think the average reg puts you on top pair there (or hearts) and gives up all his bluffs.

is maxing out a Roth a good way for a self employed 21 year old to start saving for retirement?

(6K/yr max)

Absolutely. Flick in the max every year. You might wanna check out the investment advice thread for other options

RtP, I got a chess question : you wrote a GREAT chess related post a whiles back (about a couple of months ago...) where you stated that chess openings should be the last thing studied, if at all. Now I never was more then a passably good player and I have not played seriously in a couple of decades, but this threw me for a loop. I use to focus on mastering a single opening (the King's gambit) and being able to play it perfectly (knowing how to counter-react to all of black's defence). Anyhow, here's my question : my 13 year old is starting to take chess seriously and I recommended for him to study his openings, what would you suggest (as studying material or tactics) for a noob-intermediate???

Sounds good, thanks for the input.

I have an asset allocation strat in mind and I guess I’ll just DCA in.

Feels good to start early!

B I T C O I N

That’s great. And ty for the question.

I’m not sure which chess post you’re referring to, but I’m assuming it’s not this one from last month?

If not, I think he’ll find it quite helpful.


Efficient chess study plan:
1. Buy Chess.com diamond, amazing value. It’s $99/yr and there should be a free trial. Platinum is also good, just no videos. (https://www.chess.com/membership)
2. Split your routine into something like 40-50% tactics, 30-40% playing games and the analysis of those games and, 20% misc.
3. For tactics- books, tactics trainer, and puzzle rush are all good- the latter two which you can do exclusively on chess.com. This should be more of a day to day thing- not something that’s crammable. Main focus is pattern recognition.
4. For playing games, I’d recommend at least 5 mins per person, with 10 or 15 being preferred. The game report on chess.com is a goldmine. Check it out after every game. It’s kind of like HH Review’s... that are done for you by a computer. This is new and I wish I had this resource 5-10 years ago. LiChess and Chess.com are the two best places to play online.
5. Join tournaments on chess.com or lichess
6. Watching videos on YouTube nowadays is another great way to improve. Here are some recommended channels: Saint Louis Chess Club, GothamChess, agadmator, PowerPlayChess, Kingscrusher, GMHikaru, John Bartholomew, and BotezLive. Sort by Popular to see the best stuff. There isn’t much clickbait in chess so the title is a good representation of the contents of the vid.

tldr; opening theory is w/e, I didn't study much of that until I was pushing for expert/master. Just wing that if you want. Think of opening theory like "balance balance balance pio pio pio" for live poker. Useful, but it depends what your goals are/where you're at. EV is lower than alternatives. Tactics are essential and like perfecting preflop. Don't underestimate the work and reps required. Easier said than done.

If you take anything away, it should be to hammer tactics.


Here’s a few add things.

1. Playlist #1: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...2l1fI7Z0bYuwwO

2. Playlist #2: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...bHxFzNtDwLoWon

3. Playlist #3: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...kKI0rwGNtKMS-F

4. Playlist #4: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...3wEdlyRQLAJ2gs

5. Playlist #5: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...c72MaM4nFjqoi8

Book Recommendations: https://www.danheisman.com/recommended-books.html

I could write paragraphs on why opening theory is overrated, but I’ll just say that chess games are rarely decided by who’s better prepared in the opening in 95%+ of situations.

Unlike poker where after preflop, there’s only three streets, you have a v long way to go after the opening in chess and there are a myriad of different things your opponent can do to neutralize your preparation.

EV of opening prep is lower than the alternatives (such as tactics) by a few orders of magnitude.

hope that helps

^Instead of all that, tell him not to be a nerd and buy him a guitar!

Hahah fuuuuu

Thx friend for taking the time, that was tremendously helpful On a side-note : it is crazy to what extent the studying tools have come along since back in the year 2000 where I would play speed games on yahoo

Anytime

Yeah, most of these resources are beyond my time as well believe it or not.

happy to hear out anyone else who has thoughts on this.

Also wondering how important staying liquid is in gamboolin

Yeah, definitely max out your roth. You don't want to keep all of your bankroll in USD because of inflation. & any money you have in a roth is basically liquid because you can pull it out whenever you want without incurring any fees.

Roll management.

Very important.

Need enough liquidity to cover epic downswings. Also need enough awareness to know when to drop down stakes balanced by how much to save.

ROTHs are good. Post-tax money is invested with the theory being you pay no (or minimal tax) at time of withdrawal (what is it, 59.5 yr of age or older), allowing for interest and value to grow tax free. Certainly a good option. Your experience may differ.

To be clear, the principal invested in a Roth is eligible to be withdrawn penalty free. Any interest and/or earnings may be taxed/penalized for early withdrawal.

As mrwong would say, you should buy a gold chain and other expensive jewelry as a hedge against insolvency. If you need money in a pinch you can always pawn your jewelry bighitter.

Imo keep your money in bitcoin, that's liquid. You can always use it to deposit for online poker or sell it for cash.

At the rate that the Fed has been printing cash I wouldn't want to keep any of my money in USD long term, even in an IRA. Start of 2020 the M1 money supply was 4trillion end of 2020 its 6.7 trillion.

For sure, thanks friends!

Do you even diversify, bruh?

will pull me back a bit to invest lots and be conservative all-together compared to most degens my age.... but just want to go about things the right away so I can maximize my chances of success while also minimizing the downside as well.

That way I can strike as good opportunities come my way overtime and how I run won’t be all that important because I’ll be diversified all around.

- 4 digits Thurs-Fri. Back at it again tomorrow (duh)

Another thing, if it hasn't been mentioned:

Treat your poker like a business.

It is a business.

Accounting software, book-keeping, expenses, revenue... now is the time to start the record keeping.

Down $2.7k last 3 days and it feels pretty bad/soul crushing of course but thankfully I feel like I’ve been playing ok. Big improvement from before. Lots and lots of mistakes to improve on, but not much more than usual and quite little noticeable tilt. Just the std me being a fish reg stuff. Pleasantly surprised.

I guess realizing that I have a good edge that’s growing rapidly overtime and seeing that reflected makes a string of horrendous sessions a little easier to handle.

hopefully it doesn’t get outta hand. Mostly just nasty beats/coolers when deep at 200nl, which is my main stake anyways.

I try not to play extremely deep vs good regs so mostly in the 200/250bb region.

those mfers. Give me my EV!!

Anyways, I want to thank some friends that may or may not see this (idk lol). You know who you are

run good all

Hey everyone,

Currently -3.5k from peak. Not too important though.

H1: Being a station is ossum

$200 effective. Main V is a very high VPIP, weaker player. BB is a nitty reg.

OTTH

Pre-flop: V RFI $6 HJ. Hero 3b $20 CO with Q Q:club. BB cold calls. OR (HJ) calls as well.

Flop ($61): K 10 4. BB checks. Main V donks $30 HJ. Hero calls. BB folds.

Turn ($121): K 10 4 A. V continues $39. Hero calls.

River ($200): K 10 4 A J. V jams $123. Hero calls.

I think flop & turn are pretty meh. I think it’s easy to auto fold in these spots, but I think we see spazz from this player type a good bit. Not sure though.



H2: Nh wp

$150 effective. Both V’s are unknown.

OTTH

Pre-flop: V RFI $2 CO. BTN calls. Hero 3b $11 SB with K J. Both V’s call.

Flop ($34): J 6 J. Hero cb $17. CO calls. V raises $38. Hero calls. CO folds.

Turn ($127): J 6 J 7. Hero checks. V bets $79. Hero jams $150~ total. V calls.



Probably should be GII more than I do here pre. Not RNGing for the most part atm.

Turn is bad. Should be betting small and calling off a jam here.

I think river is kind of gross.

I think I’m conditioned to folding way too much in these spots actually at this point. because in live poker/micro stakes online the regs are by and large too value heavy here. Where as I think a lot of them are fairly balanced in the 200nl streets.

Maybe calling off AP is bad though.

H3: Multi-way pots are hard

$200 effective. Main V(HJ) is an aggro, fishreg type. Kind of like me

OTTH

Pre-flop: V RFI LJ $6. Main V calls HJ. BTN calls. Hero overcalls BB $4 with 9 6.

Flop ($25): 9 6 8. Hero checks. LJ checks. Main V bets $12. BTN folds. Hero calls. LJ folds.

Turn ($49): 9 6 8 2. Hero checks. V bets $50. Hero xrai $180~ total.



I’ve been folding a lot more in the BB pre, multi-way pots OOP suck, but I think some of these spots are unavoidable in good lineups where it makes sense to call more liberally. I think we do well here, but the variance is intensified of course.

Closing the action is always nice.

I think on the flop this multi-way I want to be relatively careful, especially with a player behind.

Once we get to the turn though, this card is quite fantastic. I’m not sure if calling or jamming is best in a spot like this. I don’t think V is going to be bluffing here that much after betting the flop 4 ways on a rainbow flop, but spazz will be there always.


H4: Binkkkk

$200 effective. Main V is a good reg, who seems to be getting OOL.

OTTH

Pre-flop: V RFI BTN $5. Hero 3b SB $20 with A K. V calls.

Flop ($42): Q 8 5. Hero cb $14. V calls.

Turn ($70): Q 8 5 10. Hero checks. V bets $35. Hero x/jams $165. V calls off.



Just wanted to poast one where I got lucky.

This hand was played poorly.


H5: 3b a lot pre has its benefits

$205 effective. Main V is aggro, fishreg type.

OTTH

Pre-flop: V RFI BTN $5. Hero 3b SB $20 with A 9. V calls.

Flop ($42): A 10 9. Hero cb $28. V calls.

Turn ($98): A 10 9 4. Hero continues $70. V jams $150~ total. Hero calls.



Seems straightforward on our end.

The best fund by far imo for your IRA is a Vanguard Target Retirement fund. They were industry innovators by having the lowest fees, which adds up over a 40+ year timeframe. The fund automatically rebalances your stocks:bonds ratios as you get closer to retirement.

As long as you shovel cash in somewhat regularly, you'll earn at least a steady 6-10% in normal years, and you're so far out from retirement that downturns won't hurt, as long as you keep investing on the way down as well as up. Fidelity and Schwab have something similar, but I stuck with Vanguard just because their whole business model is that finance bros have been ripping people off for too long.

The only problem with maxing out your IRA every year is that there are penalties and tax implications if you need to take it back out before you're of age. Anything you put in your IRA, you should want to not need for 40 years, so saving aggressively might not be good if you hit a rough patch with poker.

But yes, dollar cost averaging is the best strategy, and starting as young as you are, you can't lose if you stick with it for 40 years.

And please don't put all your money in bitcoin as it's near its all time high. I'm not a bull or a bear, but the volatility alone makes it a terrible place to "park your money and stay liquid." I mean it swung -7k in a day last week, that's not what you want to preserve the value and liquidity of your roll.

I think there are legitimate reasons to invest in bitcoin and be optimistic for holding for the longterm, but this article here makes me think it might have a huge correction coming soon (as has happened several times before).

Cliffs: approximately 70% of the daily trading volume of bitcoin is in a shady secondary cryptocurrency that is almost definitely a fraudulent ponzi scheme and could collapse overnight, and take the price of bitcoin with it. The company that issues it is already under investigation.

H1: Flop call is meh, turn call is a little light, but he did bet less than 1/3 pot, so I don't think it's terrible.

H2: I think betting turn, planning to shove most rivers, is better than checking turn, because either flush draw could correctly check behind on a paired board

H3: I could see an argument for leading out, but it would depend heavily on what I think of the PFR. Lots of PFR's just mindlessly raise donk leads, and I'd be b/3betting obv. As played, x/c flop can be good because it's easier to get away from if something like a 5, 7, 8, or T turns. Since you got a good turn, x/ship is a fine plan.

H4: In older online days, we'd call this the "stack-a-donk" line (bet flop, x/shove turn). It's a devastating way to balance LAG play when we raise preflop and c-bet and miss a lot, presumably. But the thing to remember is nobody EVER folds to it, especially fishregs or donks (hence the name). Nice that you got there, and the line has its uses, but again, don't do it thinking you'll get villain to b/f any pair or any draw.

H5: nh

Solid investing advice from TJ.

All good info to consider.

I think he's heard of a few high profile poker players (eg. Doug Polk) supposedly making a lot of money from bitcoin (even though there is zero proof that they have), so he's decided to put all his money in bitcoin because of that.

Great posts man, I really appreciate it.

Thanks for taking the time.
Hey SpinMe,

Can you point me to where you got this bs from?

I haven’t said anything about the % of my portfolio allocated to crypto on this forum lol

but, TO THE MOON!?!