Hands like 22-55 are very low frequency opens in GTO world from EP/MP.
However, they never fold to 3b when it happens because a primary reason they open low frequency so we’re not totally ****ed in MP on 3-5-6 type boards, etc.

Two things worth noting are that when we open these hands from EP/MP we are always calling 3b’s. And also in GTO world we have some very spewy bluffs with these low PP’s postflop as well on boards that very few players are finding at low/micro and probably even midstakes in some cases. With rake considerations it’s probably totally fine to just pure pitch 22-44 from EP/MP. I open them, but mixing folds/opens every time is probably mostly wasted effort.

Most regs probably open low PP way more frequently than optimal from MP. Even in CO 22/33 mixes folds and most regs pure open that spot I am pretty sure.

76s has more playability for sure than those low PP’s, but pure opening would be a mistake in EP I believe.

Hey guys,

Here with a short monthly wrap.

Bit of a weird month for me. I intended to grind for the rakeback challenge on stars, splitting time at 10z and 25nl reg to hit it, then shot 25z again to start March. That went well for the first weekend of the month, where I ran great at 25nl to start the month:



However, I learned shortly after this there are new online poker and online gambling regulations coming into effect in Ontario, Canada (where I live)'s. Supposedly, starting April 4 we will be cut off from the global pools, and either have to play on a government run Ontario online site, or Ontario are only restricted pools on certain sites that the government lets operate here. You can read about in this thread on NVG: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...tario-1802918/ or here is one of many informative articles: https://pokerfuse.com/online-gaming/...gaming-canada/

This news totally threw me for a loop and has sorta in a way just thrown all my online poker plans/grinding intent out of the window. After this, I didn't really have much intention or desire to grind. My mindset had really been to just keep grinding 15k-20k hands a month of 10z this year, shotting 25z every other month or so, until I could stick there and try and beat 25z by year end. However, knowing that I probably won't have access to that pool in a couple months kind of took all my motivation away to work towards that goal.

After getting this news, I didn't really grind much at all this month, other than a few sessions on 10z to stay sharp. I had booked a package with keuwai before learning of these updates to try and understand theory better, and although the timing of that coaching has ended up being weird as I'm not really focused on poker at the moment, I do feel like it is been very beneficial and I am improving.

I did put in a few sessions of 10z, and although I felt that I was playing well, nothing really happen for me this month and ended up just breakevenish, but the sample is super small. I feel confident that I'm playing well and thinking through spots well. There have definitely been a few eye-opening moments of things in the coaching that I wasn't aware of.

These are my results for the month at 10z:



As for my plans going forward, I'm still kind of in a bit of a holding pattern, waiting to see what comes of the new regulations in Ontario and where I can play. I don't really have any goals or targets for the moment, but I'm probably just going to play low-volume at 10z and trying get more study/theory to get a better grasp on the game, which I have really been enjoying. I find understanding nodes that are in theory allows me to exploit better, as I'm able to see where people are making mistakes.

I imagine in the small geo-fenced pools, there won't be any zoom, so whenever that goes live, I will have to decide what I'm planning on playing. Regardless of what happens, I still plan to keep online poker as a hobby, in some way shape or form.

I may try and start playing live cash. The casino near me has reopened and has 1/3 ($500 max buy-in) and $2/5 ($1000) games, however the rake is 10% with a $15 cap. Even though I'm a solid player who can run over loose passive live fish, I'm not sure even I can beat that rake. I would appreciate any comments or thoughts on whether that rake is beatable.

As long as your bankroll is growing don't worry about rake. I hear so many say you can't beat rake hence not able to win money l mean..... Just go play and if you like it and win money at the end of the night you are all good

If you are talking about the live games in Rama or Port Perry, yes, these are beatable games.
The travel back and forth from Toronto and putting in reasonable hours would be the hard part.
I imagine the games are quite good these days, though I haven’t played any live games since the start of the pandemic. Probably extra juicy these days I would assume, especially on weekends.

I am sorry to hear that playing on Stars may be difficult in the near future. My best advice is to keep grinding away and don't let the new changes bring you down. I lost a lot of time and money back in the day because I was so upset by UIGEA, Black Friday, and the early covid live closures. I ended up moving on to new pastures anyway, but I wish I had done so much sooner.

Silly question, but do you have access to Bodog or WPN? If so, they are unlikely to give a damn about the new regulations. Bodog is obv quite soft, but I think WPN is supposed to be tougher than Stars.

Also, the new Ontario site might end up being ridic soft. I hear great things about the state-by-state game quality in the US where they have legalized it.

I'm European and don't understand what's going on at all.

So you're legalising the thing I like but now I can't play where I was or where I want to? Sounds great aye thanks government

Ah ok, every cloud etc

Short monthly wrap this month.

Volume was super low, as I didn't really have much motivation to grind expecting that starting April 4th I couldn't play in the stars global zoom pools anymore. I did very little poker and hardly any study.

However, I did run great in my tiny hand volume at 10z this month. I've been running great the past few months at 10z, lets hope it continues.



It appears that Ontario will stay in the global stars pool till atleast June. Having that confirmation is nice, and I'm going to put in a bit more volume and study this month. Nothing crazy though. Hoping for 10k-15k hands and 10-15 hours study.

I wanted to quickly wrap up this thread and link my new thread. With Ontario going to it's own segregated pool, I am mainly now focusing on live poker. The Ontario sites are crazy soft, but generally so is live (actually Ontario online is softer but not by too much).

I am currently spending some time teleworking in Calgary, and taking advantage of the live scene there. I hope to travel more for poker across Canada, so I created a new PG&C to post about that: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...grind-1811823/

Anyway, in the interestings or wrapping up this thread, here are my final global pool results by stake (sorry for low qual, taken through teamviewer). I have always been willing to openly share my results:



And here it is for just 10z and 10z with ante.



Although I am down overall, the main reason for that is by 25z shots were all awful:



I definitely think I ran bad in a couple of them, but overall I know I definitely wasn't adjusting from 25z well.

Overall, I guess you can't exactly call this thread a great success results wise, but I am happy with it. I always focused on zoom as a means to learn and improve in the games, and I am definitely certain by the end I was beating 10z. I really think I improved alot and that's what matters.

I also want to thank the two posters who gave me several months of free coaching at the beginning of 2021, it helped a ton, and really changed how I viewed some things, especially with regards to calling down, they really helped me understand a big leak I had and it put me on a path to beating 10z.

I know one of those individuals always told me that I should get away from zoom and play soft games, and I can happily tell him I am doing that now in both live and Ontario online pools. Though I definitely think it was worth all the struggling in zoom as the skills I built there helped me get to where I am.

Anyway, that's it for this thread, feel free to give any closing thoughts or to come look at my new PG&C here: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...grind-1811823/