Hey, thanks a lot for taking the time man. I’ll keep all of that in mind, read it a couple of times.

Would agree for sure about the edge I’m currently giving up compared to a good mid-stakes regular. Obviously, it can still be profitable despite that though!

———-
I like this recent mix of sessions where I mass table 200nl buying in for 100bb (with some higher and lower mixed in) mainly focusing on improvement/accumulating hands for review. Plus, I simply love playing.

And then others where I 1-3 table exclusively higher buying in for the max, with the main intention there being catching punts.

Have lost a few pretty soul-sucking pots recently, which feelsverybad given a higher stake and having 80-98% eq for pilesss, but wouldn’t do anything radically different in any hands and also the decisions to be in the games for those amounts, etc.

The jump in stack amounts has a lot to do with only buying in for 100bb during my normal grind. Few poasts on that earlier for anyone interested!

Nice to scoop that A Q hand in hand 1 though. Can be hard to pull the trigger in that spot. Can’t complain!


Thanks for sharing your thoughts so eloquently sir. I appreciate the input!

Spaces next time though please


Thanks for the input & also the kind words earlier.

I’m not too knowledgeable wrt this stuff, but I can share my understanding.

I have done quite well to date (over a short sample), and I would still say PokerBros is the nut low for mid-stakes if you are an online reg—- given the rake+bbj, game security, software, setup, how much $ needs to be kept on the app to avoid transacting regularly, etc.

For those that only play live/haven’t grinded high volume online recently it could be different as obviously I’d imagine quality solver work/great fundamentals are extremely useful/borderline essential to thrive at mid-stakes off the apps.

What I’m looking at and starting to implement is a mix of 4-5 apps, and then a few sites (ignition, acr, global) as well. PokerBros would probably be my last recommendation as it stands today given game quality currently seems to be similar to ignition reg tables from my understanding + others experiences (in which case ignition is far more preferable for a plethora of reasons, some of which have been discussed at length)—- however full-time apps for any stakes is certainly manageable if you’re already fully set up, accustomed, etc. (ido)

All that being said, I’m pretty bad, just getting started, lots of work to do, no rush.

Focusing all of my efforts online since the start of the thread 10 months ago has been a fantastic decision because I would estimate I’ve made 5+ years worth of progress skill-wise all around (including mental game) in comparison to a live pro. Just a guess, could be wrong. A lot of that has nothing to do with me, and just how many hands you’re getting in per hour online.


———-
Please let me know what hands you want to see! 200nl or higher. I’m of the mind that the 200nl hands will likely provide the most value on average to everyone willing to engage.

In the spirit of transparency, yesterday seems to have been the worst day for me so far $ wise ever (-3.5k ish), however, still a solid month to date.

Have to keep up the workload. Far easier said than done of course, as it comes at the expense of everything else. But well worth it.

run good everyone

and thanks for reading! thoughts very welcome and appreciated

Few random hands, non theory oriented to mix things up. Have been expanding my setup slowly. Playing whatever's best


H1

400nl/800nl.

Main V is unknown. OR is a good reg.

$800E

OTTH

Pre-flop: Fold to V who RFI $20 otb over $8 straddle. Main V flats SB. Hero 3b SB $90 with 9 9. PFR folds. Main V calls.

Flop ($200): 10 8 6. Checks through.

Turn ($200): 10 8 6 5. V checks. Hero bets $80. V calls.

River ($360): 10 8 6 5 A. V donk $290.

What are you doing here? No relevant info.


H2

200nl. 4m

BTN is recreational, no relevant info. OR is a good reg.

$200E w OR.

OTTH

Pre-flop: OR RFI CO $6. BTN jams $48. Hero has 10 10 in the SB.

What are you doing here?


H3

200nl. 6m

HJ is recreational. BB is unknown. Everyone else is a reg.

$210E w BB. $140E w HJ.

OTTH

Pre-flop: HJ limps $2. Hero iso BTN $7 with A 9. BB 3b $14. HJ calls. Hero overcalls.

Flop ($43): 9 6 4. BB c-bets $21.50. HJ calls. Hero overcalls.

Turn ($108): 9 6 4 2. BB checks. HJ jams $105.

What are you doing here? $175E w BB.


Thoughts welcome and very much appreciated. No wrong answers!

H1 fold
H2 what is an OR?
H3 call. HJ looks very wide.

ty for the feedback sir.

OR = Original Raiser, analogous to PFR, which = Pre-Flop Raiser!

thoughts welcome- no results so you can’t be “wrong!”

I read it as onion rings in my head without thinking more of it

h1 fold
h2 call
h3 call

1.) Sqz larger (poss. sizing tell). Turn also needs to size larger if you bet (sizing tell). River is difficult to come up with bluffs as most hands w non SD are going to be probing turn from villains perspectie so I'd fold.

2.) All in
3.) call/shove doesnt matter

1. fold
2. jam
3. jam

short and sweet i like it.

ty for the feedback!

Thanks for pointing out the potential sizing tells!

I'll have to increase my sensitivity & awareness to that

Productive Poker Hours Week of 5/17: 81

b/e week (not that it matters), but will absolutely take it with a -3.5k day mixed in there

happy that i still got after it for 10+ hrs the day after getting worst $ day ever.


H1

400nl

Main V is a good reg.

$890E.

OTTH

Pre-flop: V RFI HJ.. Hero 3b CO $45 with J 10. Folds to BB, who cold calls.. Main V 4b $165. Hero calls. BB folds.

Flop ($375): 10 8 5. V c-bets $250.

Hero?

What are you doing here? V is fairly balanced here all around, I’d imagine.

From my 200bb study, I think preflop is relatively straightforward at this stack depth- even vs this 4b sizing.


H2

400nl/800nl. 6m

V is a reg, leans aggro from what I’ve observed over a small sample. Stuck piles at the table.

$920E.

OTTH

Pre-flop: Hero RFI $20 with 7 7 over $8 straddle. Folds around to V, who calls.

Flop ($46): A 9 7. V checks. Hero bets $34. V calls.

Turn ($114): A 9 7 8. V checks. Hero bets $76. V calls.

River ($266): A 9 7 8 9. V donks $175.

I’m not sure if it’s a game difficulty thing or what, however it does appear that as V’s become sharper they tend to be well versed in donking much more. It makes sense, given many regs have no clue how to play versus it well. In this spot, we’re loving it although interested in what you’re doing with A K.

V had done this once before, I folded.

Sizing? All in?

Hero has $790 behind and is the effective stack.


H3

400nl/800nl

BTN is the splashy, fun player. Straddle is unknown/a reg.

$1040E.

OTTH

Pre-flop: Hero RFI $20 with K J HJ. BTN calls. Straddle calls.

Flop ($66): K Q 8. Straddle checks. Hero bets $30. BTN calls. Straddle folds.

Turn ($126): K Q 8 J. Hero continues $105. V calls.

River ($336): K Q 8 J 5.

Hero? Sizing? Are you calling a raise? How about a jam? V seems like the type to call quite light depending on the size vs a triple, but not raise with too much worse than our hand class here (once again, depending on the size we choose). V is running well to this point and up heaps.

$885E behind.

Thoughts welcome and very much appreciated. No wrong answers!

H1: Sigh, fold. I think vs this 2/3 sizing we're going to be up against a lot of AT,KK,QQ, maybe JJ. I'm going to put him on exactly KK here and fold and feel like a rockstar in my own head and not sweat if we got bluffed by AJos, AQos, KQos, AK or whatever. Cause I'm a nit. And for that reason I just fold to the 4bet preflop.

H2: Jam? I don't really like having bottom full house vs this donk lead. Is there a world where we can raise small and fold or am I an idiot for even thinking that? Nit-call? Just kidding guys. I think I just shrug and go all-in on the river. With AK I'm folding though. Especially AK is a fold imo. If you want to be fancy you could call AK without a club and/or with a diamond. I expect to see a lot of flushes mostly, some 9's maybe.

H3: Based on your description $315 sounds like the perfect bet on the river here and fold to a raise.

I think I want to go smaller on the 3rd hand.

I agree with Rick. Have to fold the 2nd hand if we have AK without any blockers

Thought some of you would find this interesting. For hand 1, it’s a pretty meh spot. Don’t think we can fold J 10 pre IP at this stack depth vs a reg that has bluffs, but awkward post flops will be inevitable.

In game, after V bet I remember recalling some work I had done and how a solver actually likes jam in a lot of these spots in optimal. It’s a spot where even if V never calls with worse, we benefit greatly from them (incorrectly) folding AK pure vs our strategy.

That being said, V needs to be c-betting somewhat appropriately and not just JJs+ and some NFDs for example.

It’s one of those spots where if we get snapped off by KK, we look quite dumb and it seems like a huge punt for piles. So happy I found the jam, largely not worried about the above and just trusting my intuition and study.

Pio likes a pure jam~ with our combo with the ranges, parameters used so that’s a nice feeling. Think it’s the play in practice as well in this spot vs this player (very good).

V (took out 4-bet pre bluffs as recreational was still in hand)


our response



V’s response to jam in optimal


as you can see, V is supposed to call AK pure vs our jam here so if V is folding that it’s good for us all else constant.

A little deeper than that and obviously a disaster if V isn’t c-betting any AK or something like that ,etc., for this sizing. But something to consider.

V clicked fold here.

Ty for the feedback!

Interesting stuff, I like the way you presented it


ty for the feedback!

with Rick’s sizing, we can snap fold vs raise.

if we block, it becomes a little tricky vs a standard raise imo, which is fine- but we’ll need a plan ofc

Hey RtP, congrats on your rapid progress, your HHs went from to lol sizings and whatnot to profound thinking

Anyhow, other (unrelated) question : when you played chess online, how many tables did you play at a time and at what speed?

I appreciate the kind words sir!

I can hardly call my thinking profound, maybe someday! My focus is just on showing up, and getting better, every single day.

Can’t take much credit either- immensely grateful for all the wonderful feedback, support, encouragement I’ve gotten to date.


Just 1! I like 3 min a lot. I’ll still mix it up in the occasional titled Tuesday etc for lols as it brings out the best players in the world and it’s fun competing in the same field as Nakamura, Carlsen etc in an invitational style event.

I’ve done many a simul (playing numerous people at the same time), as well as blindfold simuls, (same idea but blindfolded)—-

However, by and large, I think multi-tabling chess (so to speak) is a bad idea for countless reasons.

The main one being for those that play in classical chess tournaments, you are expected to be at your best for 3-6 hours *per game.

This is unlike a live poker session where you can do tons of folding/converse with people non-stop/use your phone, whatever. You should be locked in throughout the entirety of the game.

So most are well served trying to replicate that environment as best they can online for practice (regardless of time control).

The same idea would apply strictly for improvement, as well.

Hey everyone,

Few hands

H1

200nl/400nl/800nl

Main V is an aggro reg. A little splashy, but seems to have great intuition from some showdowns I’ve seen. Seems a little sticky as well, but not reading into that too much.

$1245E.

OTTH

Pre-flop: Hero opens $20 over $8 straddle in EP with A K. V 3b $75 BTN. Folds to hero, who 4b $200. V calls.

Flop ($375): Q 8 6. Hero c-bets $110. V calls.

Turn ($650): Q 8 6 3.

Hero?

$935E behind.


H2

200nl

V is recreational. Everyone else is a reg.

$200E.

OTTH

Pre-flop: Hero RFI $6 BTN with A 9. V calls in BB.

Flop ($13): J J 8. Checks through.

Turn ($13): J J 8 K. V checks. Hero bets $11. V x/r $26. Hero calls.

River ($65): J J 8 K 7. V continues $33.

Hero?.

Have a note that V is a spazz, which contributed to the flop xb.

Call? R/F? R/C? AI?


H3

200nl

BB is unknown, but seems reggy.

$185E.

OTTH

Pre-flop: Hero RFI $6 CO with K Q HJ. V calls.

Flop ($13): Q 6 4. V checks. Hero bets $4. V x/r $14. Hero calls.

Turn ($41): Q 6 4 5. Hero bets $35. Hero calls.

River ($111): Q 6 4 5 5. V jams $132.

Hero?

Unsure with no info. Pio mixes turn & river unsurprisingly.

Clicking fold ott here seems quite nitty, but understandable.


Thoughts welcome and very much appreciated. No wrong answers!

That's great analysis RTP. I'd say many avg players understand they may be tying themselves to the pot by 4! AK pf, but won't call it off with 2 overs unless the pot odds make it very obvious. Villain is looking at about 2.4:1 on your jam.

Thank you, sir!

Quite interesting that we can never get called by worse and jam with this hand class can still be the best play in a 4b pot @ 225BBE to start the hand.

Happy to find the 180bb flop jam in game v reg

From what I’ve noticed, a lot of good mid stakes regs won’t give a newb like me credit for shoveling it in there as a bluff in underbluffed spots for stacks and also spots like this etc.

So I’m finding it essential to trust your intuition and take advantage of these guys clicking fold too often vs solver approved aggression and the like everywhere.

——
thoughts welcome on the hands, no results so you can’t be “wrong!”

hey everyone

between aspiring, current, and former pro poker players- do you believe fear of failure is more prevalent, or fear of success?

which one do you think is harder to overcome and why?

I had to google fear of success, didn't realize that was even a term.

There's absolutely no way fear of success is prevalent in aspiring poker pro's, as I'm sure most are way more focused on if they can actually get there.

Once your there, I'd still argue fear of failure is stronger as your life goal is to protect what you've created for yourself. Though I do read a lot of posts online (reddit) about rich people problems, and many go out of their way to hide their wealth. It's still not nearly as strong as fear of failure though.

When you've been a failure for so long like me, you're definitely not afraid of that anymore. It's probably fear of success that's more prevalent because fear of failure generally results in not even trying. If you count all the people who give up or don't try fear of failure might be more prevalent. Fear of failure is probably harder to overcome because it can be debilitating to the point of inaction. Fear of success is hard to overcome because we fear change, the unknown.

Very interesting perspective, thanks for sharing!

While it could be argued that fear of success is more of a first world problem in general, there’s a tremendous amount of nuance there.

If you’ve ever heard of imposter syndrome for example, you can see what I’m getting at.

Here’s a link that some may find worth the read: https://www.healthline.com/health/an...-it-looks-like

lots of interesting tidbits

“you fear being knocked off the pedestal you didn’t want to be on in the first place”

“people might think you’re bragging or self promotional”

“your achievement may alienate your peers”

etc

Also, rich is relative of course. One can argue that the vast majority of people commenting itt are rich.

I feel terrible for laughing

you’re an inspiration brother

well said, thanks a lot for sharing!

“our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.”

that was deep, and I completely agree

—-
anyone else? these discussions will help me help others- feel free to share your thoughts if you want to help.

In this day and age with all the tracking stuff and forums like this it is not too tough to figger out if you have an edge. When I started gamboolin perfessionally (pre internet) my biggest fear was am I profitable or am I simply deluding myself? That was a real mind fcuk 4 me initially.

Thanks for dropping in, squid. I appreciate you sharing, as always

Tracking software/huds/etc....mbn! I don't use any of it. I'm a big numbers guy, and I completely feel you there.

Quick tangent on that--- I think my setup not accommodating any of that stuff has been huuuuuge for improvement. Can't autopilot ever when heaps of EV are dependent on you being hyper aware of everything, without assistance. Especially when lots of your competition is taking adv of these tools and also potentially some illegal ones, from what I've heard (lulz)

I think this is a large part of why I feel like I improve a lot with every session, which lends itself to higher long term ev by miles


-----
Interesting spot

400nl

Main V is a reg. Capable, tough to play against. Have seen a few triples as a bluff for 200bb stacks, and also this same line below as a bluff from him. V is aware, and will also have plenty value with this line however.

Not reading into the sizings too much, although there's probably something there.

$800E.

OTTH

Pre-flop: V RFI $12 btn. Hero 3b SB $50 with A A. V calls.

Flop ($105): 7 6 2. Hero bets $35. V raises $105. Hero calls.

Turn ($315): 7 6 2 9. Hero checks. V bets $150. Hero calls.

River ($615): 7 6 2 9 4. Hero checks. V jams $490E.

Hero?

pre too small, was running out of time

fwiw, solver never folding any street with the inputs/parameters used in optimal- even at 200bb. interested in what you think however

I had a plan for the river when I called the turn here, just wondering your thoughts.

I think one thing you see good regs do often is raise flop bets aggressively, because most c-bet too frequently, and also don’t defend well enough across multiple streets. Both IP and OOP.

I can share results for this hand afterwards, i suppose

I think we can maybe 3bet this flop? Maybe 3bet AA no club and just call AA with a club? I don't know. Also I don't think we should be folding as played on the river, but it's close and if villain is the type to underbluff which it seems most people are then folding might be correct. But since you say he's a tough reg that you've seen triple off a bluff then you gotta call I think.

My life is a comedy. If I couldn't laugh and poke fun of myself I'd cry.