For sure. All good points. Yea I always have a bunch of spots for hrc which is my main focus of study right now. ICM work is tough.

Had a winning Sunday yesterday which was great. Felt I played super well early on in the session. However, most definitely had a few punts deep into the session around hour 10 or so. Wheels came off the wagon a bit at the end. Was chipleader in the $55 deep freeze 6k gtd on global and punted a bunch near the bubble trying to get guys to fold into the money. Way over aggro.

Did have some good spots early on. Managed a 2nd place in the $55 mystery bounty huntress on global.$891.76. Very happy with the result. Did lose my 5th HU in a row though lol. Gonna have to stop with this bridesmaid stuff. Made a pretty big error HU. I iso'd over limp and they clicked it to 8bb at 30bb eff. I jammed A9o like a whale thinking villain will have enough bluffs(prob zero bluffs in reality) in this spot. Villain is a solid TAG reg but not gonna be getting out of line at all. They had AA ofc and out in 2nd. I keep levelling myself into thinking people are trying to play 'GTO' ranges when in reality every single spot in underbluffed. No ones anywhere close. On that ft I made 9x 3 bets preflop. 6 bluffs and 3 for value. I only ever got 3b jammed on vs my opens. Not once was I 3b non all in versus. Some regs definitely have a 3b bluff range but some guys are very very nitty and only 3b nuts. Global plays way way different to any euro sites or even ACR. It's infinitely more tighter. When I was playing in the euro sites, most hands were 3b/4b pre. I don't have HH on global bc they don't allow for that. But I must be vpiping around 30%. GTO ranges mean opening Q4s in the CO 40bb eff. I think some of the regs are folding Q7s in this spot tbh. But they still win. There's so much fish that gift stacks away that there's still plenty of ev to be had.

Reg Population tendencies at the small stakes:

1. Don't rfi enough
2. Don't 3b enough
3. Overfold BB vs raise
4. Overfold SB vs raise
5. Don't c/r flop enough // C/Fold flop too much

I think I do a pretty good job at exploiting these tendencies and win at a pretty decent clip in those games. However, to really crush those games for a massive winrate, the last step is gonna have to be to know the guys who are going to fight back and those who are just always nitting it up. I do find myself making the final mistake a lot vs these nittier types and making a punt call with a 'good bluffcatcher.' Issue with this is that villain has no bluffs lol.




Had a whole bunch of other cashes on the day which was cool with a 3rd in a very small field $11rebuy/addon.

'HIGH VARIANCE LINES'/PUNTS:

$16.50 25k gtd on acr 20 from the money I called co w 77 vs hj open. BTN squeezed to 8bb. A brazilian with a 23% 3b. Well I back jammed 28bb and ran into KK and out. NOT SURE IF

$55 6k deep freeze I 3b jammed 26bb eff 2 off the money in sb vs utg open 7 handed. A rec who hadn't been getting out of line. Much better to 3b fold or just flat the open. They snap QQ and I bust shortly after making the money.

Deep in the $33 60k on ACR. Less than 90 left out of ~2000 entries with 11k up top. I opened KQs lj. HJ brazilian 3b to 5.5bb. I 4b jammed 35bb. In this spot, I think AQ-AK always goes bigger. It's a population sizing tell that I think is fairly accurate. I am yet to see regs 3b to 5.5bb with AQ-AKo @ 30-40 bb eff. I think that the Brazilian guys 3b bluff far more than US regs. Whatever way they learn the game, small IP 3b sizings are a common theme with them. And I don't just mean at shallower stacks where it is warranted.They'll show up here with offsuit Ax bluffs, K9-KQo. But they'll also do random merge stuff 3betting this sizing with 55-88, some suited broadways. Ofc they also balance with TT+, AKs. But i'm only really dead vs Aces and KK. I think they fold here a bunch and I pick up a really nice pot here and add 1/4 to my stack. This time they had the AA and out again. Again I need to be careful when i'm making these reads and deviating from the standard line of just calling the 3b.

Couple more punts in there that I can't remember.


However, I refuse to be a nit. I want to take the high variance lines and experiment with all this stuff to get better. There has never been a high stakes crusher who wasn't aggro. No such thing. The more aggression I can build into my game the better. Right now it does feel like i'm spewing a bit. But i'm ok with it. If I can master these spots and start taking down more non showdown winnings(pots without showdown), I feel like i'll be able to move up the stakes and be more comfortable. That means getting much better at 3b and 4b pots.

This game is so difficult but very enjoyable all the same. Infinite spots to get better at and improve.

For anyone who is on the study grind: I would recommend BBZ' s Simple Poker Systems. It's a pretty cool course that breaks down different areas of the game into simple, easy to learn systems. For example, BTN vs BB c betting/checking in srp, B v B limp stab etc. Jordan(BBZ) explains the theory and uses working examples to reinforce the learning of each one of these systems. It's a pretty fun one so far.

Also Holdem Resources Calculator is an absolute must for any mtt players to sharpen up icm skills. It's a really good tool to get better at bubble/ft play

7 HU losses in a row. Come onnnnn. Next one gotta be the W. Nice score. Month going well so far

Subbed. Good luck on your journey to $100k.

Thank you very much. Appreciate the support.


Was on a 3.3k downswing which sucked but I have climbed out of most of that now. I feel like i'm much better off for the experience though. Taught me a lot about the mental game which is so so important and not to be overlooked. It's easy to play well when running like god but it's so much more difficult to minimize the losses when running really badly. A lot of my mental game leaks were exposed in the past month or two. But i'm turning a corner now and improving in that facet of the game. Still not perfect but a lot better.

Looks like i will be spending a month at home in Ireland in September. I have a friends wedding to attend. My brother will also be flying home for it from Vancouver so am super excited to see him. It'll give me a chance to set up a bank account and some poker sites and play some euro games also. Will focus mainly on sites like unibet, ipoker, partypoker and 888 poker. Will also be fun to play on pokerstars for the first time in many years. I'm hoping that the games aren't infinitely more difficult than US only games bc leaving the US and doing some travelling/poker playing in Asia/Europe is always on my mind. Next month will serve as a good trial period for that.

There is a live tournament series taking place at the end of September called IPT Killarney with a festival guarantee of 700k euros. I will 100% be attending this. It's always a lot of fun.

Just finished up a 12 hour session. Slightly winning Sunday which is cool. Notable cashes:

2nd in a $5 rebuy and addon global for $253.48 for my 8th lose HU battle in a row
Cashed the $55 Huntress mystery bounty for $72. No bounties
4th in a $11 1x rebuy and addon on global for $108.30
2nd again in a $5 rebuy and addon on global for $208. JJ<A3s .4 bet pre get it in
Just F2T in 16th in the Boski A 10k gtd on ACR.

Highlight of the session was the $11 Michael Phelps Sunday Eleven Mystery Bounty 10k gtd. There were 831 runners so a nice overlay. I built up a massive stack early and was chipleading for about an hour before we got into the money. There were 126 bounties with the biggest being $897.5. Long story short I got to the FT as chipleader with the biggest bounty still in play! It created a weird dyanmic bc even though it's an ft we can't just play icm ranges bc of the huge bounty still in play. The EV of each bounty was worth more than some of the payjumps. I kept losing 6-15 bb pots versus shorties doubling them up which was very frustrating. But I was able to win a ton of pots taking it down pre preflop non showdown. Somehow managed to make it down to HU. i hadn't really won much at all in bounties. But I had a huge chance as out of all the 126 bounties in play, we got to play for it heads up. Pretty sick heads up match worth ~$1,200 or 120 buyins. I was at a 2 to 1 chip disadvantage but was playing versus a rec and fancied my chances. Played HU for about 20 mins and then shortly after the break I found a dream spot with AKcc vs villain open. I had 20bb and he had 40. With the offsuit I would shove but I think highest EV play with AKs is to 3b non all in. So I made it 5.7bb and they 4b shoved. Up against 66 and lose the flip. 2nd for $803.25. Winner scooped $2355.50. Pretty sick. 10th HU loss in a row which is insane. I really felt after all that bad luck it was almost destiny to come back and win the 10th one seeing as it was such a big heads up match. Not to be.

I did check sharkscope to see what my HU results were and in total it's very close. 38x wins and 39x 2nd place finishes. So just some short term variance. Still feel like studying a bunch of HU though after recent events.

Bunch of study tomorrow. Dunno if i'm gonna play yet or not.

If im just some cashgame dude who wants to play mtts a bit.

What should i study? Dont care too much for those bounty tourneys just wanna do freezeout or rebuys.

Nice work man! I have a question for you. I'm trying to find the right course. I myself prefer MTTs over cash games so I was looking into Raise Your Edge. If you've used, what are your thoughts? I saw you mention BBZ. Worth it?

NO CAPS LOCK FOR THE BIG BANANAS?

For a cash game player like yourself i'd recommend smaller field mtt's. They will not take 10 hours to play and won't be as much crazy icm like in the 1k+ player tournaments in the late game stages. Sites like betonline/ignition/unibet/888 poker/maybe some app games you have access to. If playing on sites like GG with avg field size of 300+, you're gonna be in for some sick sick variance.


Best things to study are 10-40bb mtt ante ranges. Along with a bunch of icm sims. You don't have to worry about early game non ante stages you will prob be winning at 20bb/100 given you are a hu cash player. Unfortunately, you don't pick up much $$ in the early game.It's all about late game when stacks are shallower. and all the money is up for grabs @30bb avg There's gonna be a bunch of weird small 3b in late game mtt's. It's worth learning the strat behind this as non sd winnings at the end are tough to find. Most people think it's just a shove fest(which it is for the most part but def a lot of edge to be had sub 20bb). Min raising ranges <15bb even <10bb.

Best piece of advice is to run good

@minhtn829 Hello there. I have not subscribed to RYE so cannot really comment on their product. I have subbed to BBZ though. The seminars are pretty good value imo. Jordan Drummond AKA BBZ himself is a great poker mind. I think he gets people thinking the right way about poker which is awesome. I also just purchased his course simple poker systems. I would say for anyone below a $100 abi, this course is 100% worth the money. HRC calculator is a must for mtt players as it's the number one tool for learning icm. GTO Wizard for studying gto ranges. GL !

What volume per day you get when you are 4 tabling?

Not a lot. I played 600 mtt's (including rebuys) in april averaging 4.6 tables concurrently. 600 mtt's is generally considered to be on the low end in terms of volume but I know some pros who even play slightly less. There also also guys who play 600 mtt's in a week. Again I think it comes down to what your goals are.

Imo, it's gonna be difficult to implement strats you have been studying in game while >12 tabling let's say. Like if you are new to being a pro mtt'er, it's very difficult to think deep about a spot when mass multitabling. A common theme I have found with player's results is a fairly obvious one: mass grinders have a smaller roi with less $/game won in comparison to regs who play less tables. But they do play way more games so may be making more $$ over the year. Obviously that is the bottom line for your year. But for your development as a player and being able to climb stakes, it's my opinion that your better off going with less tables, more study and really focusing hard on implementing new study material in practice. If someone has all their preflop and icm stuff down to a tee, then it'll be infinitely easier to grind extra tables. If you're not making mistakes pre and making decisions super fast, you're gonna print.

Month to date $0-$50 buyins and $50+



Since start of challenge(March 1st when I started full time): $0-50 buyins and $50+



Obviously i'm not expecting to have a big roi in the >$50 buyins compared to <$50's, but I am expecting to be beating them at a very decent clip. Especially since the majority of that 50+ volume is on global. Then chico and lastly ACR. The afternoon global 50's i have to be winning 8-15bb/100. Half the field are either whales, recs or breakeven nitty regs.There are a few guys I would consider better than me. Maybe 4 out of the 60 or so entrants. The 50's I do play are usually small fields( the only exception being the $55 20k on ACR. This still only gets ~500 runners). Of course i'm aware that my sample size is lol small. but still I would like to be running a bit better at the higher buyins in my range bc that can very often decide your bottom line for the year.

Just gotta keep showing up and putting in the reps. Adam Carmichael (one of the co hosts of The Mechanics of Poker Podcast) has a great YT account with some
very helpful Mental Game material that I am working through. It is a constant battle for me. But once I learn to master my ego and keep the emotions at bay, I'm gonna be a force to be reckoned with. Lately i'm finding my ego get in the way from making sound decisions. Gonna need to put a stop to that and stop punting stacks.

It's all a part of the process. I'm feeling good for the future. Things are looking up

Yesterday was a big 12 hour hour session. No need in keeping the table count low bc I bust all of them anyways Had a few small cashes but nothing big. Then all of a sudden the deck started hitting me hard. In my last 3 mtt's of the night I got AA back to back hands in 2 different tournaments. Albeit 4 raise and take it preflop this had to be a good omen. In the $55 mini scrimmage 12.5k gtd on global, we got down to the ft bubble and I was sitting 2/10 with 18bb. Super shallow structure. HJ folds, CO folds and I looked down at 55 on BTN with 18bb. SB(very very good reg) is CL barely covering me w 18.5bb. BB has 11bb. I decided to jam in game. SB woke up with AKcc and hit the king on the flop. I haven't ran this sim in HRC yet but I assume jamming 55 here has to be the play. We cannot raise/call with the ICM involved. And folding is out of the question also. Hope i'm right on this one. Avg stack for the final 10 was like 14-15bb. Cashed for $188. Was $2413 up top.

32 players left in the $22 7.5k on ACR. Aggro reg opens utg1 2.5x, Mega whale flats LJ and I look down at JJ in HJ. I had 32bb and was sitting 5/32. Reg had me covered and whale also had a big stack w 25bb.Not sure what the play here is either. I just decided to rip it in thinking it's the easiest way to play the hand and has to be +EV. In hindsight, surely non all in 3b is the way to go. Especially when there are 4 uncapped ranges still to act. Anyways reg snaps AA and whale actually calls it off too and has QQ. I hit a jack but no good as AA hits quads. $1800 up top in that one.

As you can imagine, the morale was pretty low after those 2 bustouts. Been running a lot like that lately and can't seem to get a score. Well the $44 30k was the last mtt of the night. $6303 up top. I was sitting 5/41 when I bust that $22 7k and was hoping for at least one ft on the day. Ran well and made to the ft 4/9. First notable hand was where I defended AJo in the bb vs Brian Fite ep open (BFizz). I had 17bb 5/9 and he had 26bb 2/9. Flop was J64scc. I decided to check call flop for 30% pot. When he barreled the 9h turn I already wasn't loving it. I called and the river is the Qc completing the flush. I check and he checks back AA. Not fast playing top top and getting it in saved me from another 9th place finish lol. After that I was left on fumes and 9/9. Got 2 jams through <10bb and an orbit later I picked up AKs utg 1. Jammed and utg2 called AThh. I hold and back to 4/8 at this stage. Long story short, once Brian Fite picked up the chip lead after that AA v my AJ hand, he really piled on the aggression and put everyone in the icm blender. He seemed to get every spot correct and was rfiing almost every hand. We got down to 4 handed and he had the dream spot. He had like 60bb and we all had ~6bb... Literally can't do **** just play for 2nd. We all blinded down to ~4bb and I picked up KTo in the CO first to act. I had 4bb,btn is CL, sb 3.5bb and bb 4bb. Really wasn't sure about this in game. If I could get this through, I have 6bb and the other 2 stacks are down to 3bb Massive win. They will have to call pretty tight. I'm just hoping chipleader will fold. Anyways I jammed and BFizz calls A9o and i'm out in 4th for $2444. I ran the spot and it seems KJo is the bottom of the shoving range and KTo is very slightly losing. Not so sure it's the wrong move though given the future game. All in all a good sunday.

No more complaining about running bad. It's not a good look. Just gotta keep showing up and putting in the work

There is another thread in poker blogs and goals that I have been following for some time. A NJ pro player detailing his poker journey. In one of his posts he talked about playing in the opener of the borgata spring open earlier this year. About how a backing deal he had been a part of had come to an end after a few years and how he was feeling a lil nervous and excited to be playing on his 'own dime now.'

I really enjoyed his style of writing. I couldn't have been more shocked when I saw the latest update on his thread. Dan passed away a few days ago. He was struck by a train.

I offered my condolences on the thread a couple of days ago when I first saw the news. I went back onto his thread again tonight as there had been more posts. I clicked on a link for a pokernews article that had been made about his poker career. It was a nice tribute to him. I got a real shock when I saw the picture of him that was featured. It was my first time putting a face to the name. We had sat together in the opener at the Borgata when I was there in May. It was the first live mtt I played since starting out pro this year. It was one of his last.

I really took a liking to this guy. He just seemed so sound/chill. Had a laugh at the table. Very mannerly to everyone. He was a real pro. The following day I remember coming back to play another event. I was walking from the bathrooms to the area that usually host higher stakes cash games but were being used for tournament tables during the festival. As I was walking to the back, I saw that day 2 of the Opener was being played and they were ITM. I didn't pay much attention but as I'm going by one of the tables I get a friendly "Hello." It was Dan with a big smile on his face. Not many people are like that. I had only really spoken to him for an hour or so the previous day. Most people wouldn't even give you a second glance if they barely know you. He was just a warm and friendly guy. I wished him good luck and he said the same to me.

I literally got goosbumps when I saw his picture and realized who it was. It's so so sad. Gotta admit I feel a little down after seeing all this. Life is strange

$0-50 since march
$50+ since march





Currently on a $5,500 downswing in the >$50. 100 buyins is a completely normal downswing. Waiting for my chance to catch some heat at the upper end of my buyins and get this graph moving again. As for the $0-50's, that graph is looking sweet.

I'm torn between completely removing 50+ from my schedule for a month and seeing how that goes or just keep firing and wait for the rungood.


Managed a W in a $22 last night on chico in a small session. Good for $550

30k for a 6month grind is a very good amount. Looking the graph it might be a mistake to drop 100s but you might want to drop higher than that if you dont feel comfortable

Yea I agree. I know i'm still +ev in the 109's I do enter. I game select those and make sure it's not like some small guarantee 109 on acr with a bunch of euro regs on a wednesday morning.I'm always gonna choose a big field guarantee on sunday or a soft site 109. The only thing holding me back is a mental block. I'm a little attached to the short term results. Thinking "oh if I drop the higher end of the buyins I can grind out 3k a month no issue and never have a big downswing" is prob not the best approach. I'll be missing out on a bunch of ev long term. Also, it's likely better to shot take some of the higher stuff now and become comfortable in those stakes. If the ultimate goal is to play high stakes, then this is just part of the process long term.

Mental game is a constant struggle but i'm working hard on it

Been a breakeven week so far. 2x ft's today. 2x 6th place finishes on global. One in the $11 1k gtd. JJ<KJo vs chipleader who 3b jammed sb vs btn open. I woke up JJ in the BB but no hold. In the $33 2.5k I called off all in in the BB AKo for 14bb vs LJ open jam for 14bb AJo. QT8 gave him the double gutter. K on the turn and i'm out. Have done a LOTTTT of study this week. Feeling really good about my game moving forward. A few punts still thrown in but i'm gonna captialize the next time I find some heat. The scores are coming.

Spending next month in Ireland with family. WCOOP will be running on pokerstars and i'm planning on playing a bunch of events. I have never really cared about trophies in the past. Always just the $$$. But this time round i'm really itching to try to get competitive and try to get my hands on some silverware. Would feel good after putting in a sh it ton of study in the last few months. So really gonna give it my best for the upcoming WCOOP series. Will also try out some of the other softer euro sites whilst there.

Played a 13 hour session yesterday. Pretty much a breakeven Sunday. Had a lot of deep runs and cashes, but no W's to report.

Notable cashes:

$55 25k on ACR for a min cash ~$85

6th in the $5 r and addon global for $71.76

5th in the $55 sunday nine for $315. This one stung a little. Short stacks kept doubling and I just couldn't win a hand on the ft. I felt like I was outplaying my opponents. Was the only player 3b non all in bluffing. Picking up a bunch of chips non showdown and then losing every all in sucks when deep.Was a nice $1,208 up top in this one.

Had one entry(last flight)in the $2.50 50k Dime Mystery Bounty mtt ACR was offering. I managed to make the day2 which was also yesterday and scooped a 40x buyin bounty for $100 which was really cool. Overall a 50x buyin win in that one for my biggest buyin win of the day. Who would have guessed it was gonna happen in my lowest buyin of the year? :P

8th in the $11 1x rebuy 1x addon on global. Lost 99<AJo for the chiplead in this one. It plays very shallow

1/10 going in to another $5 rebuy and addon on global. Lost every pot on the ft and out in 5th for $83

Won a $218 satty to the 30k blitz on global.

10th in yet another $5 rebuy and addon on global. Bustout hand BTN jams 22bb,SB folds(18bb) and I call my 8 bb with KQdd. They have T6o.GG

$22 chico min main event 10k gtd, I finished 28th of 1017 runners for $85.43

The $16.50 25k on ACR got 1,783 runners. Finished 18th for $125. This one was really a big spot as the field was very soft for such a big prizepool up top. Just didn't run well at the end.

Overall a fun day with a bunch of cashes.


One notable hand from the $218 blitz: I had built up a stack and with about 50% field left I opened KK bvb for 2.7x 18 bb eff. BB defended and I c bet 1/3 on AT4 hhs. BB just jams. I call as BB is supposed to have almost 0 offsuit Ax here (it jams pre) and doesn't have any hands at all that wants to jam this flop.Literally no hands want to jam. So I just assumed it has to be a draw and pretty much snap call. They roll over A8o. You have players doing this in a $218 buyin in 2024 and they say the that poker is dead. What's even crazier is that this guy is up 40k on the site. I was thinking very briefly if this can be some sort of exploit and then quickly relaized that no it isn't. It's just plain terrible. Am I missing something here?

Yesterday was ( I think) my highest volume day of the year so far. 42 game count + 7 re entries. This is prob a weekday session for some grinders but i'm proud of it nonetheless. Have come a long way with improving my multitbabling these past few months. I know it's necessary to be able to grind high volume to withstand the variance. It's a constant battle for me as i'm always trying to weigh up where the line is. The line of where our EV gained from playing less tables/being able to focus more on a deep spot/ft meets the EV of grinding as much as possible to be able to break through the variance of poker. I think it's an interesting topic that a lot of grinders take for granted. EXECUTION while multitabling is a HUGE skill that people don't talk about enough. A lot of guys can find the light 3b in an icm spot deep in an mtt when they are down to their last couple of tables. But when you are 10 tables deep it's very difficult to pick up on these spots game flow wise. You're mind is constantly moving around having to make a bunch of other decisions. I guess some people are just better at it than others. Maybe it'll just take me time and practice to develop this skill to where it needs to be.

A lot of questions and uncertainty beginning to pop up. However, If I just look at the numbers, I don't have much reason to feel this way. I am absolutely crushing <$50 buyins. 30k profit with 80% roi over 1,850 games including re entires. This is smashing the games. I'm just not running well at the higher buyins for now. -6.5k downswing at the >$50's in the past 2 months. I'm becoming a little too fixated on these stats. I find it hard to separate my short term results from the overall big picture. It has always been a leak of mine. I really want to learn the skill of detaching from the results and not letting it affect the rest of my day/thoughts. I'm constantly working on it but it's a struggle.

Read through a page or two.
I wish you the greatest of Luck
Tournament poker can be brutal.
But oh isnt it so sweet when things are going the way they are supposed to.
I once again wish you the greatest of Luck!

lmao. never forget man, all ur opponents, regs included...are ******s.

The regs at 200nl, which is somewhat of a respectable stake to grind. They can't even follow preflop charts.

charts arent allowed in most platforms