Oui, j'ai grandi en France, j'avais pas trop le choix. J'ai pas encore essayé les tables normales, je suis en vacances, mais j'essayerai peut-être quand je serai de retour pour me remettre dans le bain.

It takes a lot of balls to post graphs like this, especially when you're shot taking and not sure if you're +EV or not. I admire you for that. I recently went on a -5000$ ~40k hand downswing, mainly at nl200. Just got out of it after ~1.5 months but spent way too much time on poker and lived pretty unhealthily with all the **** I'm doing atm.

Getting out of a downswing is different for everyone, but here are a few things that helped me -

1. Learning to enjoy poker for the strategies and theory as opposed to the competition and money. Most poker players are competitive in life, and sought out poker because they derive happiness from money/winning (not all). If you can move away from this and learn to love the game it will help a lot.

2. Less tables. I'm not sure how many you play, but two zoom tables side by side is probably best. Reg tables I think are smartest in the long run, but it's hard to table select and load up 6-8 tables when your mindset may or may not be in the right place. Take time, make creative plays, and make sure preflop is solid.

3. Setting a schedule. This probably helped me the most on the tail end. Instead of playing for hours on end trying to get unstuck, or quitting too early after a 5 buy in first hour, set a hard schedule for yourself and follow it. Mine was - 7:30-8:00 AM session review from the night before. 7PM-8PM presession study, GTO+ normally or some training vids 8PM-11PM session time.

4. This may not apply, but make sure you can find pleasure in things other than poker.


I really hoped this helped you, <3

Great post shipit, perfect advice.


I'd also add that I think it's a super positive sign trust that you are questioning your abilities at 25nl and starting to zone in on specific areas where you think you are underperforming. There's a process that every poker player needs to go through IMO where you have to have your ego decimated before you are ready to start ascending. Everyone gets wrecked at one point or another, but for a lot of people (maybe the majority?) they respond to that adversity not by being open and honest with themselves and trying to figure out what they are doing wrong, but by looking to blame external factors for their failure. It's a trick that your ego plays on you to preserve itself. That pattern is prevalent in many corners of the 2p2 forums.

The tone of your last post suggests you are in a good spot mentally IMO, because you're identifying areas where you could be doing better. That's a crucial step towards longterm progression. Good luck moving forward, and have fun enjoying the end of summer.

+1

Thanks for the detail post!

I agree with basically everything you said. I found that in the past year I have definitely enjoyed studying theory off the table, and having access to GTO Wizard and all the tools it provides definitely helps there. I'm looking forward to doing some review of my big hands from last month. I definitely think I still have a lot to work on with regards to my post flop play, especially on turns.

Recently I've only played two tables of zoom. I think the last time I was consistently three table in was in January 2021, but the people who had given me some free coaching advised against it and I stopped after I completed thaT EPC.

I never went back to three tables as it just felt like I lost focus in a lot of small spots, and I could clearly see that my Vpip pfr would be a little bit tighter when I was 3 tabling as I was missing some late position steals.

Yeah with regards to a schedule I have always done that, regardless of stake wow I was running. At zoom I did three sessions of 45 minutes, with a 5 to 10 minute break in between each. It was easier at zoom as you could just take a break and come back, but at regular tables I have to worry about being kicked off the tables. Thus I've been doing 2x 1hr sessions, with a short break in between. Though sometimes I extend the second session a little bit.

But yeah I definitely feel like I have lots of things to do away from poker, I'm finally getting back out on the golf course and working on my game a bit there, which is always fun.

I actually find I'm somewhat enjoying studying French, as when I had originally started I couldn't stand doing it.

So true, like the first step to quitting is admitting you have a problem haha! Better to understand your leaks and plug them than keep leaking and putting too much volume in.

You aren't the only one. Anytime I try playing more tables than I'm comfortable with, most of the time I end up playing something stupid like 18/15 for the session.

Having taken most of August off from playing and studying thus far, I decided to go back and review every hand for my second shot at 25z from May to August where I lost at least a full buyin.

Surprisingly, I actually think they're mostly coolers. There are some rather questionable bluffs that I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar, but surprisingly to me I actually think they're mostly just coolers. There is a whole lot of spots where I try and get it in with an over pair in a three or four bet pot and run into some weird small set.

There are a bunch of other spots where I go from max value with top pair with hands like AQ on Ace high boards and somehow end up losing, maybe these aren't coolers but rather me just not knowing when I should go for value and when not.

I'm not sure even if these spots went my way that I would have been winning over the sample, as my redline still needs a lot of work and was sinking.

Anyway, I posted the abbreviated screenshots of all the hands, in case anyone is bored and decides to look through a bunch and see if I'm actually a huge punter or not. Definitely there are a handful of questionable bluffs and misplays, but in my opinion it's a lot of variance. Though that said I always struggle to believe I can objectively evaluate my own hands even after the fact, so I'm always happy to get some additional perspective.

I know these hands don't show what villain ended up having, but you can see the winning hand value and should be able to deduce it.

Try posting some of those as actual hh’s IMO. It’s hard to figure out what’s going on (at least for me) and we don’t see any sizings.

I wouldn’t expect many regs to be down in 200bb+ pots, I’d think it’s the smaller pots that make or break your wr. Might be completely off on that tho

ignore just testing formatting

I know it's really tempting to review all the biggest hands, but focusing on the small to medium sized pots are usually going to add more to your win rate. Make sure you allocate some time to those pots.

Yes I make sure of that

especially redline spots

What is your wwsf so far in the 25z pool?

Hey guys,

Here with a short monthly wrapup for August. On the tables, I continued at 10 reg, targeting a low-volume month of 5k-15k hands.

This is the graph of the month:



Overall, it was pretty smooth as I felt like I continued to crush the many whales at 10. Unfortunately the last session of the month was the worst as I didn't hit any hands and check folded me my way to a three BI loss, but it was hardly a terrible session, just one where I didn't make hands and folded a lot.

Off the table it was nice to have a lower volume month. I got outside lots, and was on the golf course 2-3 times a week which was nice. I'm hoping to continue that until the weather gets bad in Oct/Nov and it is too cold. It definitely felt nice to take a break from grinding 4-5 days a week. The gym is now open so I'm able to get there a couple times a week as well.

Going forward, I'm going to move up to 25 regular tables in September, starting with an 8BI shot. I'm hoping I can establish myself there, and hopefully there is a similar ratio of regulars to fish as at 10.

However, that said, I am already (after only 15k hands at 10 reg) starting to feel a bit bored and unchallenged at regular tables. I am feeling many of the sentiments I have told people in the past to explain why I didn't like fish hunting at regular tables. I recall my old coaches insisting that I should play some regular tables, and me trying to justify why I didn't enjoy them as much, and many of those reasons I am feeling now. A lot of sessions just end up feeling like I'm sitting there waiting for the terrible players at my table to just make awful decisions and give me the money. It doesn't feel like there's a lot of thinking require and I find myself less focused and engaged, and I don't enjoy it as much compared to zoom. However, it can be nice to just have a more relaxed grind some days.

So going forward I am going to split my volume between zoom and regular tables. I'm going to go back to 10z, either later September or in October/November. My plan is to get a decent sample of the 25nl regular pool, and that once I see how it plays compared to 10, if I'm confident I'm a winner there, then I will start integrating some 10z again.

I think it will be nice to have a mix, as I can play more relaxed, less theory focused at the regular tables to just try and pound fish for money, and then work on playing a solid theoretical game in a tough pool in the zoom pools. I don't know what my split will between regular and zoom, but it will probably change month-to-month. This should also make it easier to complete the EPCs, as at 10 alone they required a significant amount of hands.

My goal for this month is 10k-15k hands, whatever is required at 25 regular to complete the EPC.

I will probably aim for 10-15 hours of study. Though admittedly, I have not been studying much in the past couple months. However I'm okay with that. I'm hoping just to keep my knowledge where it is right now and slowly build on it.

That's all for now.

Based on your negative redline, it looks like you aren't fighting for pots enough. Which makes sense if you're just sitting there waiting for the fish to make mistakes. So I can understand how you can get bored playing that way. However, that's not the way to crush those tables.

If you're constantly looking for ways to exploit your opponents and trying to enter as many pots as possible with the fish, then I don't think you would get as bored.

It might be a good idea to go through your database and look for hands where you only bet one street as a bluff and then gave up. Post a few here to get some opinions on if you should have continued.

My redline overall at 10 regular has been solid in my opinion, and is declining much slower than in zoom. I think it just looks bad there cause my last session was just a ton of terrible runouts and not making anything. This is all my hands at 10 reg this year:

100%

My game tanks whenever I play cash having to play automotron stylee. God knows how I'm ever going to cope with live. Seems the better we get the harder playing against weaker tables gets unless the money is exciting. Let us know how you get on mixing it up.

Yeah I generally still feel the small way.

Im crushing 25 reg this month though, just as I did at 10. Will post graphs at the end. I am going to start mixing zoom back in as I am far enough along the EPC to do so.

What's up guys,

Here to wrap up the month as I just completed my EPC for $80/40% rakeback.

I took my first shot at 25 regular tables on poker stars this month and it went well.



I was lucky to have ran incredibly well for most of the month. I started the month running incredibly, just constantly making top pair and going bet bet bet against fish. I was winning almost all my flips and preflop AIs. It felt like there was tons of fish and I was lucky to win 9 of my first 10 sessions, with the one loss being for 30bbs. Towards the middle of the month it started to feel like there was less fish and more regulars. However I started to get a good idea of when the pool is small, and when the pool is big and fishy.

I finally came back to earth and had some losing sessions, however it really wasn't that much variance and I would hardly say I ran bad, just didn't continue my crazy run from earlier in the month.

Obviously I ran great and this isn't my real win rate, but I think I can consistently beat this pool for 5-10bb/100 long-term. Potentially even more if I try and focus on playing sessions when the pool is bigger and softer. My problem is that the time of day where I would normally fire up my sessions in the evening is right when the pool is starting to die off for the day. I'm trying to fit in more early sessions to maximize the amount of fish at my tables.

While this is great and I'm happy to be winning, it does feel a little bit unsatisfying, because, as I noted in some earlier posts, I'm not really studying much or working on my game, but rather sitting down and bum hunting and taking money off weak players. I still think I prefer zoom to regular, but right now I don't have the time to dedicate to playing tough pools.

I don't think I did ANY study or review this month at all, which is an issue. I've also found myself in some poor habits, and in some spots making some light flats pre-flop OOP to try and justify getting into pots against fish. My stats are bit tight at 21/17/6 3bet. I've also found that towards the end of the month, I was starting to feel like I was getting outplayed and exploited by some stronger regulars who were playing looser and more aggressive. I think I need to be cognizant about my play style against regs, because I think I have become complacent with the ease of winning against fish that my game against raes has slipped.

However, this is largely due to stuff I have an ongoing IRL, particularly studying French and planning to go overseas to study French in 2022, that I can't really dedicate the time to studying poker and playing like I was able to from the start of COVID through to 4 months ago. Otherwise, I would probably be trying to get back into the zoom pools, which I do miss.

I'm going to try and do some review of spots I tagged throughout the month this weekend, and see if I can sharpen myself up a bit against regs. This month, my volume is mostly going to stay the same, targeting around 12-15k hands, or whatever is needed to complete the exclusive poker challenge. However I'm going to add another target of setting aside two hours a week to review hands I have tagged.

Thanks everyone and feel free to let me know what you think.


Sidenote: for most of the month I was using statname to manually look up each player I had unmarked, so that I could quickly see if they were fish, and if not I would find other tables. However, in the past few days this has stopped working, as the login feature on stat name does not seem to be working. Does anyone know why this is the case or have any other recommendations for free tracker sites like this?

I doubt you were getting outplayed at 25nl, but definitely 6% 3b is under 3betting. What's your 4b?

Zoom is not going to be more profitable than reg tables in the strict sense, but if you feel more comfortable playing zoom style sessions then it can be better for you both in terms of hourly and general longevity in poker.

I'm definitely not more profitable playing zoom. My lifetime sample at both 10 and 25 zoom are losing.

I just find tougher games where you have to battle and thing about every spot or more enjoyable. I enjoy the competition and challenge so to speak.

It's just that right now I don't have the time to dedicate to being competitive in that pool. So I'm playing 25 regular to be able to still play poker.

My three bet was never very high, maybe 8.5 at the highest. I'll have to get back to you about my 4bet. There is a bunch of 4bet stats, which one are you looking for?

Solid month Drawcess. Pos winrate @25nl cash is very promising

Thanks man!

Quick update to wrapup October results.

For the most part I continued at 25nl regular tables on poker stars. It went all right, but definitely didn't get the run good that I was having in September. Though maybe that was good as I needed a bit more of a sobering realization that I'm probably not winning 10bb+ in that pool. Though I do still think 7-10bb is feasible at certain times of the day when bumhunting.

This is my 25nl reg graph for Oct:



I did encounter some challenges right at the peak of my month where for the first time in months I actually felt some tilt, and spewed off two stacks back to back against some whale because I was mad that he flopped a set into my aces and won like 60 big blinds off me in a previous hand. However I did some thinking and working and was able to get back on the tables the following days and keep my mental game sharp.

The red line is a bit concerning as it wasn't declining as fast last month, so going to try to be a big cognizant of that. But overall I try not to be super aggressive and breakeven red line at regular tables, instead just focusing on blue lining fish.

I decided to jump back into the 10z pool towards the end of the month, as I've been kind of missing playing some Zoom. This is my graph, although obviously super small sample:



I think it's a decent start and I'm going to try and play a bit more 10z this month. I'm not sure how I will do as these past few months since I've been focusing on French, I have done basically zero theory studying and only 5-6 hours a month of hand review.

However I'm going to try and get back in a bit more theory studying just to stay sharp. I don't intend to do serious off the table work to actually improve my game noticeably until I returned from France. I'm going over there from January to April to study French full-time. As poker stars global is not offered over there, I probably won't play any poker for that time. I'll probably just play 20-30 minutes a week against GTO Wizard to try and prevent any degradation or concept theory loss.

Anyway, for November my goals are basically the same as they have been the past few months. I'm just going to try and do enough volume to hit my monthly challenge. However I'm going to mix between 10z and 25nl reg on stars. I'm not sure what the split will be, but I will just see what I feel like playing and go from there.

Anyway, that's it for me I hope your crushing!

Wild start to the month at 25nl reg. Close to, if not the, biggest pot ive played in terms of bb, and definitely the biggest pot ive ever played in terms of $$.

Way she goes.