Glgl. Enjoyed reading the thread. Will be following

Potentially, but also most of the good/great players won't play small fringe sites as they are chasing big prize pools. I haven't played professionally in a while but my guess is most of the American sites are soft - the small Euro sites had much tougher players. Another good variance move is play your ABI in smaller pools - if you want to play a big field play below your ABI. Smaller US fringe site pools is where the consistent money is and I don't think your ROI will suffer

Fair points. I'm still manipulating my schedule to get the best hourly/least amount of variance, and I generally agree with everything you've said. A little bit more on this later.

I haven't been able to play much the last two weeks-we had to fire a couple guys in the business, and I had to step in to help cover. I've only played 5 days in the last 15 days, so a huge clunker to my plans to get out to a good start volume wise.

With that being said, 3 of the 5 days were winning and I did manage to go + ~$990

Some of the highlights:

Cashed the thousandaire maker. This tournament is one of my favorites, but holy crap can it be annoying. Most nights, the top 7 get paid 1K, and 8th gets nothing. I only played it once, but did take home the 1K. Why is this an annoying tournament? When we got to the bubble, I watched 3 shorts stacks go all in and win as dogs. Then, I shoved A6 from CO with 10BBs...and got called by a 24BB stack that should've been folding AA. He had AQ? Ahead, but a really, really bad call given ICM. Thankfully, I sucked out with a rivered flush, and I folded my way into the money.

I'm up ~200 on Party, but it feels like it should be so much more. Sooooo many 3rd-4th place finished. I also have 3 top 4 finishes in the biggest tournament I'm playing on there right now, a $50 with $800+ to first--> but no firsts. I lost AQ<AJ HU 60BBs deep (opponent was very bad and open shoving ~30% of hands), 88<77 4 handed for chip lead, and then AQ<KJ for chip lead 3 handed today. The three cashed combined barely broke the $800 mark. It is what it is, but no other tournaments on that site that I'm playing have prizes above $300 so annoyed.

I'm also getting a bunch of 3rds/4ths in the big MTTs on Everygame. I want to review some of my play on this site still, as it's the worst one EV BB/100 wise. Regardless, I'm seemingly able to cash fairly often, I just can't close a thing.

I'm up a small amount on Stars. I cashed all 3 $50s today, including the 10K. I felt like I played well in this one, before losing a standard/rough hand 6 handed. This one had 2K to first.

I got deal AKo on the CO with 45ish BBs and 2nd in chips. There were 3 shorties (<12 BBs). BB called with a 30 BB stack.

Flop comes AJ5ssx. I cbet, he calls.

Turn is 7x. I bet 80% of pot, he calls.

River is As, giving me trips but putting a flush on the board.

He donk shoves 90% of pot. Really don't think I can fold this spot, as opponent was playing something like 30/6 and wasn't exactly good. I called, he had the flush, and I was down to under 15BBs. I don't think I can find a fold here, but the results are making me think I should think about it. I dunno.

Three hands later, same opponent limps UTG, I shove KJo from BU, and he has AA and I'm out. Frustrated, for sure.


Ended up taking 2nd in the late $50 for about $650. I mostly took down small pots at the FT, before winning QJ>TT, 77 4 handed to get to HU with a small chip lead. Some pretty standard spots against what I think was a reg and was out. Nothing much to it.


The deep runs on Ignition continue, particularly the $50 35K guarantee. Of the 5 days I played, I took top 100 (of 1K+ runners) 3 days and top 23 twice. Today, I took 23. I went absolutely card dead from 50 on, and never really got it going. I may have missed one spot, but it was very marginal at best.

The one I had a real shot at was the last time I played. I got to 12 left with the chip lead. Unfortunately, it was only ~30BBs-deep in Ignition tournaments is very short. I 3 bet shipped 20 effective with KJs. Opponent tanked forever before calling TT, which to me means it was definitely the right shove. I lost the flip though and was down to 10BBs. Shoved 66 a couple hands later and ran into AA, getting eliminated in 11th.

With 6K+ up top, this tournament is slowly turning into my villain. In the last 10 times I've played, I've gotten top 100 6 times. Top 50 4 times. Top 25 2 times. Even a top 3 here would have given me a radically different month. I know grinding through the volume is the only way out, but can't lie-I want to take this one down bad right now.


Yearly Profits: $5,392.17
Days played:35

Today was a solid day.

I wasn't able to start right away (had to run into work), and then Everygame wouldn't load, so I was very limited in buyins. I nearly didn't play.

I only had 5 cashes. The first was a $10 1K on Stars. The other 4 were all on Party, where I've struggled mightily to win a tournament-a bunch of top 4s, but nothing big.

The first cash of the day on Party was the $55 2K that I talked about above. Today, 1st was >9K. I got to 4 handed without really doing much non standard. I was chipping up well, as the entire table was weak tight. Unfortunately, blinds were rising faster than I could get chips and even as chip leader, I only had 25 BBs. CO (2nd place stack) opened, and I shipped TT from the BU. CO wakes up with JJ, but I spike a T on the flop.

3 handed, I had 70% of the chips. I lost a small amount of BBs, then the 2 short stacks clashed and I got to HU with a very small chip lead @ about 30BBs. The opponent was quite bad, though and I felt good. I minrasied from the SB with J8o, he "3bet" (and I use that term loosely as he made it 3BBs). Flop was K83. He bet pot, I called. Turn was a K, and he shoved. Based on how he was playing I felt like I was ahead here like 98% of the time. I snapped, he showed up with A9, and spiked a river ace.

My initial thought was "here we go again". Obviously I sucked out with the TT vs JJ, but that's a fairly standard tournament hand. 4th time in 6 days I've gone top 4 without winning. Has to happen some time.

Then I got to the later games. I got smacked on Stars/Ignition, and was left with:

$20 PKO with ~$320 to first
$35 1K with $550 to first
$35RA with $625 to first

And I won them all!

I wasn't able to take notes on most of it, as the pace was very fast. The $20 PKO the rest of the table was just way too loose and I made hands at the right time. I think I coolered him a bit HU (can't remember the last hand), but he was playing way too loose and I had started with a 6-1 chip lead.

The $35 1K I was actually down to 6BBs at one point. I had raised 4x from the BU with KQo vs an UTG limp vs the 2nd place stack. With three small stacks I was applying pressure. UTG call. Flop comes JT8ssx. I had about 2x pot at this point. He checked, I shoved, and he had 79 lol. I missed my straight, and was the new short stack.

Three hands later I was in the BB. Same guy min raised from the BU. I called w/ Q8 and open shoved the 653 flop, getting the fold and back up to 10BBs. I took down a couple hands pre, and then won 99>88 vs the same opponent. From there, I was able to just chip down as the 3 small stacks were just trying to ladder up. When it got to HU, I had a 2-1 lead. I hit this HU at basically the same time as the $35 RA, so was heads up in all three at the same time. I'm pretty sure he just open shoved something dumb (which happens a lot on Party PA), and I woke up with a hand and held.

The 35RA was REALLLLLY deep basically from 5 handed on. I won a bunch of small pots, then people started playing back and I made some hands. I won KK>QQ and then AK>QQ to get to heads up with a huge lead, something like 7-1 (20BBs to 120BBs). I lost A6<KK pretty early, then chipped him down to 15 BBs vs my 100. Lost QJ<99, then chipped him down to 15BBs vs my 55. Then I lost KQs<JJ. I just couldn't get the kill shot, but was able to just basically run him over otherwise. He made some ok adjustments, but really-he was over matched. He took a small chip lead at 30BBs vs 25BBs for a short time. We went back and forth a bit, but I managed to get him down to 10BBs vs my 40BBs before winning the last allin. Can't remember what it was, but I was a small favorite (like A6 vs QJs).

This HU I felt really good about. He was playing his hands pretty heads up early in the matchup. I took down a ton of small pots. As soon as he showed any aggression towards the pot, I went very passive. There were multiple hands where I'd normally bet or call but instead checked or folded, knowing I could simply take down the next 4 pots. The downside to a strategy like this is if you lose all ins the BBs get smaller and smaller, and missing spots is an issue. If we had started with shorter stacks to start with, I probably get into trouble with this strategy. Thankfully, we were deep enough that I could play the strategy I wanted.

Overall, was very happy to the end of the month. I struggled to get anything going until the last 2 days of February, but did end up managing to go up 2.5 K for the month while playing 14 days and about 95 hours. The ROI is kinda low for my liking, but >$25 an hour while I get to watch Netflix is still not bad.

Overall:
Profit: $6,885.39
Days played: 36

The monster...he has been tamed


This is a huge load off my shoulders. I had run deep in this one so often in the last month, I kept thinking either I was eventually going to vanquish it, or wasn't going to top 100 it again for another 6 months.

Thankfully, the cards were with me tonight when we got deep.

I built up a solid stack like I had been, and managed to have the chip lead with ~22 left....before I triple barreled it off (good spot for it, he happened to have the straight and slow played it). Thankfully, had him covered by about 10 BBs and was able to run it back up by the time we got to the FT.

When we did get there, I had a small chip lead (4.4M of 20 mil-ish chips, with 2nd at 4M). Blinds were 75K/150K, so was absolutely going to be a shove fest with only 3 stacks above 15BBs. Basically nothing interesting happened before the first break, but I did chip up to 5M in chips and one guy got eliminated.

Stacks were something like 5M/4.9M/4.8 then 5 players under 15BBs with 3 of them at 8ish.

First hand back from break, one of the big stacks opened from CO, and I had AQs on the BU. I shoved 25BBs. Not sure what ICM says here, but feels like a shove. He folded, and that's more or less how the next 75 minutes went. I picked up the next one pre, and had a 10BB chip lead.

Not much else happened as we got to 6 handed. I lost 77<AQs when he rivered a 5 high straight, but was thankfully vs a 6BB stack. Very next hand, I won K9>??,?? on a checked down hand vs a 2BB stack.

We got to 4 handed, and stack sizes were 7.2 (me), 4.8, 4.8, and 3.8 @ 250KBB

I went to absolute town. All three were weak tight. By the time anything interesting happened, I was up to 40BBs vs 3 8 BBs stacks and was shoving >50% of hands. I won Q3s>A6o for 5BBs to get to 3 handed 13M vs 4M vs 2M. Won A6>K9 on a really poorly played hand by the 2nd place stack at the time; I think he was frustrated with how much I was shoving, and I happened to have an Ace in this hand.

We got to HU with an 18M vs 2M lead, and it was all semantics when my 79 beat his K5 to end it.

Super pumped (obviously) to finally take this one down after so many deep runs. This is the biggest prized MTT I play on Ignition, and it's the first one I've won >1K since I started playing there again. To outlast 1K+ runners to do it; it feels awesome.

Outside of the obvious luck in the tournament, this was a very very soft FT that plays into my strengths. So many players tighten up way too much when they're finally able to play for this kind of money. When I realized what was going on, I was able to play how I wanted. Ignition is frustrating because of how shallow their tournaments are deep, and I easily could have been bit in the ass here by how I was playing. Thankfully, though, it worked out this time!


Total days played: 38
Total profit: $13,604.97

I'm very unlikely to hit the number I want for the year given my current pace, but still going to try to find a way!

but did u go all in?

Alrighty, about time to ramp this back up.

Last year around this time, I ended up having to get back into the business full time. I was able to start to change that around Christmas of '23, and have been able to play poker again full time since. My friends are starting to get annoyed with me talking poker so much, so time to start this thread back up. The goal is to post about once a week.

I'm going to back track, as most of my goals were for 2024 year long.

Goal 1: $350,000 in buyins
Goal 2: 250 days played
Goal 3: $155K in profits

I'm going to limit the YTD updates, but current results for the year are as follows:
63 days played, $36,300 profit, $83,600 in buyins.

I'm right on pace for days played. Slightly under for buyins. Slightly under for profit.

My biggest hits for the year so far are came in the same three day stretch, when I took 2nd in the $50 PKO 20k on a Sunday for about 3K, and then took down the $50 30K for a tad over 5K three days later. I've also taken 1st or 2nd four times in the $50 8K on stars already this year.


Currently, I'm playing mostly $20s-$50s. I've added on $10s on Pokerstars PA as I'm at about a 100% ROI in sub 100s on stars this year, as well as some $10 mystery bounties on Chico to help balance out my table count at the beginning and end of my sessions. I've circled in some 100s, but have had some confidence/ability issues that I'm trying to work through right now, but will be definitely adding the PA ones in April. I'll likely get a more detailed post about scheduling later, as it's one of the biggest things within my control.


Obligatory YTD graphs:
Pokerstars PA


Chico


Overall



Something that I personally think is kind of cool is that I've managed to get to 12th in the Stars PA YTD leaderboard while being I believe the only one in the top 20 or so not playing high stakes. I'm also top 10 on revolution and top 25 on MGM. WSOP I only play 2-3 MTTs a day but am just outside the top 25, and Chico I'm a tad outside the top 30 with playing stakes way below the top earners.

I think YTD I've run...ok? I've managed a final 2 tables in the 20 or 30K on Chico 5 times and gotten a first a second. I've gotten 1st or 2nd 3 times in the $50 8K on Stars, which is my biggest daily on that site.

But I've also run 1500BBs under EV in 40BB pots or less, which to me indicates running poorly late in tournaments. That doesn't include MGM, which I'm POSITIVE I'm running very below EV late in tournaments but can't track (and I don't say that lightly, as I try not to overly bitch).

So I do think I can make up some ROI simply by better running late, but it might just even out with the fact that it's unlikely I get heads up multiple times in the biggest tournament of my day twice in 3 days.


The only other thoughts I'd like to add to the first post back is my plan for April. PA Stars is running their SCOOP competition, and I flat out want to win a trophy. There's 8-10 championship events, but I think my best bet is to get one for the series championship. I'm going to make a very concerted effort to play every single low and medium event. Even on my off days, I'm going to play the 4-6 tournaments they have. Will I win? Unlikely. With only 45 tournaments that count towards the series standings, there will be a whole lot of variance. But I am going to put efforts towards this.

This plan does necessitate bumping up to the 100s (And a couple of 200s) on Stars. I've beaten them before, and playing a whole lot better now, but it's always daunting to move up in stakes-even when you know you've beaten them before at a solid clip. The confidence is also helped by the fact that I'm running at over 22BBs/100 on stars this year, 25 BB/100 last month, and over 12 BB/100 at <40 BB stacks. I feel like I'm playing the best I ever have.

Anyways, looking forward to getting back into posting every week or so!

I've been fine tuning the schedule recently, with the goal of maximizing $ per table. Once of the things I realized is that Pokerstars is far and away my most profitable site. For instance, since Christmas (when I made a major overhaul to my game), I have a 103% ROI in $10-$20 on Stars. I have a miniscule ROI on $10-$30s on Chico. While my average buyin will drop, I've added more 10s on pokerstars and eliminated all but the biggest $20/$30s on Chico. This will evolve as I get bigger data sets, but it's such a huge difference for now that it was worth making that change.



Most days I'll start at 2:00. From there, the schedule generally looks something like:

Stars:
$15 1K (1:30)
$50 1.5K (2:00)
$10 1.5K (3:00)
$30 PKO 2K (4:15)
$10 1K (5:00)
$20 3K (6:00)
$50 8K (7:00)
$100 15K (8:00)
$20 1.4K (9:00)
$50 2.5K (10:15)
$15 PKO 2K (10:30)
$30 1.5K (11:15)
$20 hyper 1.5K (12:00)

MGM
This site is weird and has changed their schedule 3-4 times in the last 2 months. They had some positive changes, and then changed them again to worst stuff. We'll see where this ends up in a week.

$20 $500 (12:05)
$10 $300 (3:05)
$20 $500 (4:05)
$20 1K (6:05)
$20 1.5K (7:30)
$50 1.5K (8:30)
$20 $750 (10:05)
$50 hyper 1K (10:30)


Everygame
33R $600 (2:00)
6R $250 (4:00)
22R $1K (5:05)
11R $750 (6:00)
6R $750 (7:00)
$55 PKO 1K (7:30)
22R 1.3K (8:05)
6R $400 (9:00)
11R $600 (10:00)

WSOP
$20 1K (4:00)
$50 4K (7:30)
$22 1K (8:30)

Chico
$11 Mystery Bounty (2:00)
$22 10K (2:15)
$55 10K (2:30)
$11 Mystery (3:00)
$11 Mystery (4:00)
$11 1K (4:00)
$55 30K (7:00)

I started playing on Coin Poker yesterday. Not sure what I'm going to think on this site, but I wanted to add more tables from 2 until 4, plus some at the end my sessions as I consistently found myself 1 tabling. I think I'm going to be able to add an extra $200-$400 a day in buyins by doing this. My concern with this, however, is there's no tracker, and to my knowledge, sharkscope doesn't track them. This poses two concerns for me. One, I have no idea how I'm playing. I'll be able to get an idea, but can I really tell the difference between if I'm at 4BB/100 or 7BB/100? I doubt it. I also can't check sharkscope to see myself or others. While it's a dumb thought, it's aways nice to be able to check if anyone is sun running stuff to the point of being a superuser. That's impossible on this site.

I added the $100 on Stars recently. With SCOOP going on, I'm going to play all the 100s and a couple of 200s on Stars. I simply think I'm better than the fields, and it'll be a good test to see if that's true.

I added the hypers recently as well. I didn't think it was possible to have an edge, but I looked back at my results and I'm somehow at a 50% average ROI over a couple hundred game sample. I doubt that's sustainable, but I'm going to put it to the end of my schedules for a month or two and see if it can help my hourly.

The Mystery Bounty's are weird. Not sure I like them. I think it kills the expected ROI. But the players are so so bad, and I'd only have 4-5 tables running without them early. I'll be keeping an eye on these as well.

Overall, if I keep Coin Poker, I'll be at about $1600 a day in buyins which will be nice. Sundays and longer days would get me closer to 2K. This would get me on pace for a 400K buyin year. Could have a legitimate shot at 200K profit if that happens.

April goals

15BB/100
11 BB/100 <40BBs
Win a SCOOP trophy
24 days played
40K Buyins


Graph (yearly BB)

Week totals:

Days played:4
Total Buyins: $7,019.90
Profit: -$809.74
All in BB/100: 13.14 (11.61)
All in BB/100 sub 40 BBs: -1.61 (-2.62)

This was a really weird week on the whole. I went home last weekend for Easter, so didn't play Monday. Most weeks I take off Friday and then one other day; but with SCOOP starting on Friday with the intention of playing every day through the series (with some very short days in there). So I took off Thursday...just to realize my friends were going out Saturday for one of there's birthday. So I only ended up getting 4 days in, but should make up for it the rest of the month.

On top of that, I added in a new site-Coin Poker. First week was no good. Day one I nut bubbled two tournaments of 7, and lost 10 of 12 all ins. Next two days weren't much better, as I managed to nut bubble another two-including one I had over half the chips in play, but lose three races in a row.

This brings up something I've been meaning to work on-more ICM work. I think there was at least one spot I was too loose in, but I do need to touch up on it with how many small fields I'm playing. I'm usually at a dozen FTs a night, so a small improvement there could go a long way.

The one plus to Coin Poker is it's going to do exactly what I want-fill out the front and back end of my schedule. After week one, I think it's going to get me about 1K extra a week in buyins without any extra hours. Hopefully I can hit even a 20% ROI and walk away with a nice little raise.

The other thing I added was the 100s (and a 200) on stars + the Sunday 135 on Intertops. I've gotten frustrated with these tournaments (ran AK into AA + KK, as well as some fairly crap runouts), but overall the play of my opponents just hasn't been great. I'm pretty sure it was a mistake to not have these in my schedule, even if it's going to massively increase my variance.

SCOOP Trophy Chase

I've played 13 events so far, and final tabled the $30 7 max Friday night. I ran good in the mid stages, and then like crap from about 12 on. Wasn't able to get anything going after losing 2 flips and a couple bad run outs. I sat with about 10 BBs from 11 on, and just ended up losing I think KJ<AT. I did get 7th and 20 points towards the medium leaderboard, which is nice. However, I'm thinking it's going to take about 200+ points to have a shot at winning. With how big these fields are, that's going to be tough.

I had another shot today in the $100 championship. It had about 1K runners, and I was in 4th as we got to the bubble (144). It seemed like from 175 to 150, I made a dozen hands-but everyone at my table was folding to get to the money. Then, with 146 left, I got A6cc in for 20BBs vs a shortstack on T53ccx. Unfortunately, he had Kings and I missed my 12 outer.

About 3 hands later, I got into a hand with a whale just pushing buttons where we ended up getting 50BBs in on T634, where I had AT and he managed to show up with JJ. Would've given me the chip lead; instead, I was down to 12 BBs and on the verge of busting.

I managed to play the short stack pretty well, and chipped back up to 27BBs with 70 or so left, before losing AQ<TT. That flip would've put me into the top 10 again. That took me down to 8BBs, and it was semantics at that point.

The other $100 I "cashed" was the Phase tournament that will have day 2 on April 23rd. I played well in this one (and got lucky for a hand or two). Ended up getting 3 handed with a nit and a whale, but stopped making hands. Thankfully, the only hand I did make, I was able to double up through the whale. I had a shot at taking all of the chips in my phase, but ended up getting rivered twice in big pots. It was very very weird playing HU in what is ultimately the "bubble" (nearly everyone who advances will cash).

I think I played the HU ok, but definitely missed two bets. Regardless, I ended up losing about half my stack HU and ended up with 8x starting stack going into day 2. I'll likely be about top 25% of stacks with 70BBs, which will certainly be enough to play.

I'm also 2nd in chips in the $10 Phase, and in the top half in chips in the $30 Phase. It'll be a fun day on the 23rd with 3 Day 2s. I'd guess there's probably about $1250 in equity between the 3 tournaments; even better, I don't have to worry about wasting table space and bullets for the next two weeks on these.

I'm looking forward to some of the events this week, especially the 2-7 TD on Tuesday and Wednesday. There was a late night 2-7 game on Stars I used to play every night when I was a senior in HS. I think I won it twice, even though I knew little about the game. It would go until 2AM my time, and I'd be dead exhausted until I got a nap during physics class, but I loved the game.

There's also a 4 max and WtB event this week, which I think could be wild. I'm going to play less tables those days out of necessity, but I think the style I play will be great in both of those and increase my edge against 90% of the field.

Week Totals

Days played:6.5
Total Buyins: $9,609.40
Profit: +$3,483.67
All in BB/100: 17.58 (15.15)
All in BB/100 sub 40 BBs: 7.8 (7.06)

Pretty interesting week. I obliterated a bunch of the $10s on Stars. I think I won 5 of them? My all in adj BB/100 was 50.11 over 3600 hands. There were multiple final tables where we were deep enough, and I was lucky that my opponents were passive enough, that I really was never going to lose the events. I was able to raise 60% of hands and cbet 30% on basically every flop, because they were either going to fold 85% of the time on the flop, or they'd raise and I could fold.

These type of tournaments gives me some interesting spots. Against this specific type of player, I see no reason to go all in without massive equity. A couple of them start to get annoyed, and will open shove the top 15% of their hands even when 60BBs deep. I'll fold basically everything but AA and maybe KK in these spots. I see no reason not to just continue to take down 75% of the pots for 2BBs at a time, withering them to a sub 20BB stack before I call off.

The problem with this, however, is I need to get better at making adjustments when I play higher buyins. I get into this trap of "Oh, this is what I need to do to win" when the reality is that "this is what I need to do to win at 10s" is much different than "this is what I need to do to win at the 100s". I'm conscious of it, but I know there are bad habits that leak into my game from the 10s into the bigger stuff.



>$100 BB events

I hit my first decent score in a $100 yesterday in Intertops only $100 of the week, placing 2nd for 2K. This had about 85 runners, most of whom I had thousands of hands on.

I chipped up quickly, when I flatted Q9s from the BB and managed to get a lot of the stack in on Q2694 vs....JJ? A couple hands later, I got in in on the river with AA vs 33 on 79KssAQs where I went R, B, B, check call. This was against a guy I knew was pretty much a maniac, and I'm not foldin any ace and probably not most Ks in that spot. Always nice to hit a hand against those opponents in the bigger events.

Literally not much else happened as we got towards the bubble. I think I won two races (AK vs 44, AK vs AQ, and lost one (QQ vs AA). I took down some small pots, and was at about 18BBs with 12 left and 10 paying. Intertops also does this weird thing where they pay your buyin back if you nut bubble, so it was effective paying 11. The tournament was also playing very short at this time.

I'm on BB with 18 BB, BU shoves 7 BBs, I call 77 and lose to KTo. Two hands later, I'm on BU with KJs. CO-the guy I have the most hands on the site with-shoves 4 BBs. I have 11 and KJs. I'm not positive if this is a reshove that close to the money, but I ship it in and am facing A8o. Runout is AQ8TJ and I manage to get into the money on this hand.

A couple hands later, I have KJs on the BB and 17 BB. We're playing 5 handed at this point. UTG minraises a 15 BB stack, SB flats a 10BB stack, I shove. As I shove I go "Oh, ****, SB is going to have AA". I was right. UTG folds, SB snaps it off but the runout comes 847ss75s and I head to the final table with 18 BBs.

I went card dead for like...35 hands. Thankfully, the guy on my right was min opening almost every single unopened pot, and I managed to get three very light ships through vs his opens to manage to stay above water.

The other thing that was happening was that people were getting knocked out like flies. Fine by me, when I'm not getting hands.

We got to 4 handed, and I was the shortest at 15BB. There was a 22BB stack, a 38BB stack (the LAG), and a 64 BB stack.

I finally picked up AA, and the LAG pays me off. An orbit later, I raise 88 on the button, BB (the only stack that has me covered) calls, and the flop comes 886. BB checks, I basically min bet (a sizing I've been using on paired boards recently). He calls. T turn. I bet 33%, he calls. River is another 10. I bet 50%, praying he has a T. He checks, I bet 50%, he shoves KT, and I double up into a huge chip lead.

The villian from that gets knocked out quick, and we're to 3 handed. I'm at 75 BB, short stack is around 15 on my left, and the original LAG has about 30. Three handed I hit like a dozen great flops...and they keep folding.

The small stack gets down to 7 BB, I shove JTo, he calls A5o and holds. A couple orbits later, I'm on BU with K7s. SB has 9BBs, BB has 20BBs, I shove as BB is competent enough to know he has to call a miniscule range in this spot (and is shoving very wide if I just open). SB wakes up with AKo though, and I double him again.

We get to HU, and I'm up against the guy who a couple hands ago was short.

I won't bore with the details, but I made a lot of 2nd best hands. It felt like most of the time, I was going to be able to chip him down, but I was short stacked quickly and couldn't recover.

The last hand is really the only one I wish I could have back. I have 65o on the button, flop is 443ss. I cbet, he raises. This was the third or 4th time he'd done this, and I'd folded all of the previous ones. I shipped 32 BB total over him, he snaps off Q8s and the turn complete his flush and I'm out in 2nd for 2K.

That was the only cash I had in a higher buyin over the course of the week out of 17 tournaments. I can name 6 mistakes I made last week, and all of them were in the higher buyins. Won't rehash them, but one of them was near the bubble when I had a big stack vs another big stack. Sometimes I just need to realize the other person gets made hands occasionally, too, even if they're raising me a bunch.

On the plus side, I managed a 26.55 all in BB/100 in the 100s over the course of about 1500 hands, which helps mentally. Just wasn't able to convert any of the big stacks.

Coin Poker

I added $885 in buyins this week with Coin, and managed just a tad under a $400 profit. I'm still down on the site overall, and only have 1 top 2 finish, but it was a much more pleasant week.

Still, I always get weird vibes on a site until I end up money. I did the same on WSOPA, which is now one of my best ROI sites.

On COIN-because there's no way to track ANYTHING-I've counted my cashes and all in. I'm at a 16% cash rate over 57 tournaments, with a 73-103 record in all ins, and 8 to 16 in all ins at Final tables. If this was in the midst of say a week on Pokerstars, I wouldn't bat an eye. When it's the first month of playing on a site, I get queasy. Going to continue to monitor it.

SCOOP Trophy Run

This has been quite a dud. Every decent runout I've had has faltered. Lost KT vs Q8s on KT4ss yesterday in one for the chip lead with 15 left. Had a couple near misses in random events (the play in the triple draw event was WILD).

The closest though was the PASCOOP 10-L, which was a $20. I had the chip lead for like...2 hours? We got to 10 handed, and someone caught up to me. Apparently, it's one of the bigger winners on the site, but...yeah.

We go to the FT and I don't get much the first couple orbits. The first big hand I play, I'm on the BB and call the other big stacks raise with KT. I think vs a lot of people, this is the type of hand I'd 3B, but he has like a 30% fold to 3B so I elected to flat. Flop is 66Jss. I check, he cbets. This is the type of flop I've been attempting to attack recently, so I elected to c/r.

I played a lot against this opponent this week. If I played this hand this Tuesday, I would have called or folded and waited for a better spot.

Anyways, the turn is an off suit clubs. I continue and bet ~60%. He calls. My plan is to check/fold any non King river.

River is K of spades. I check, he bets 60% of pot, I call, he has A9ss for the flush. I'm fine with that call, as I feel he turns basically any card in his range into a bluff here. It just happened to be the one card in the deck that I'm calling that he beats me with. It was a massive change in chip stacks, as I'm not down to about 40BBs.

An orbit or two later, I get KJs on the BU with 30BBs. Big stack opens, I elect to flat.

K32 flop, he checks. I bet 50%, he calls. Turn is the 6 of clubs, giving me a flush draw. He checks, I bet 60%, he calls. River is the 4. He checks, I think for a bit and check. I don't think there's anything here that I beat that he'll call a third bullet with, outside maybe KT.

He turns over....K4. Rivered two pair. Win that, I would have actually managed to get back in 2nd and nearing the chip lead. Instead, down to 6th.

I pick up some small pots, but with blind increases end up down to 8BB. I shove 87s from BU and managed to beat AQ. Next hand, person on my immediate left opens, I ship 18BB with KQs, he snaps off AK. The Q6TJ2 runout adds insult to injury, and I'm out in 5th.

Overall, was a decent week. There's some frustration on my part with both how I played and how I ran in some of the bigger tournaments, but that's poker. This is the last full week of the SCOOP series, with only a handful of trophy events left. The likeliest way I hit one is still the phase ones that will complete next Monday. I'm 2/182 in the $10, 31/89 in the $30, and 27/63 in the 100. With so many points to enter, though, I'm sure the field is going to be littered with regs.

Worst week of the year from a $ standpoint. Today and yesterday in particular were awful, with only 2 cashs >$100/2 Final Tables, and both were <$30 tournaments..

Week Totals

Days played:6
Total Buyins: $6,850
Profit: -$775
All in BB/100: 17.67 (16.58)
All in BB/100 sub 40 BBs: 8.1 (2.35)


The week started out okay, with a couple decent wins. Won the daytime $50 on Stars for $750 or so. I started the FT with a solid 40BB stack-right behind 1st and a bunch of <15BB stacks. I did almost nothing until we got 4 handed, just winning a bunch of small pots.

The first big hand was SB vs BB. I opened vs a 18BB stack with 76dd. Flop comes AQ7dd. I bet 35%, BB min raises, leaving 11BBs behind. I go over the top, because I figured most of his aces were shoving preflop. He calls pretty quick and shows up with....Q4? I river my flush and take over half the chips in play. I'm not positive what he's thinking here, as my range crushes Q4. I think he may have just been fed up with me being so active.

I basically just take down every small pot until we get to HU, where I have a 60 to 12 BB lead.

We don't play many hands, as I get Q9 in the BB. He completes, I check and the flop comes KTJddx. He min bets, I raise to 3BB, he shoves and shows 76dd. The flush misses and I take down one of the easier $50 FTs I've been at.

Nearly nothing else interesting happened in my normal tournaments.


Coin Poker

Managed to go up another $400 or so on Coin, getting me slightly above even. Still a frustrating week. I won a small tournament, but had a bunch of 4th and 5th. This site just feels so painful for me for some reason, as I can't quite get any momentum. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I can't really get a read on the field overall. I think it's probably better than most of the PA only sites I play on, but nothing that makes me think I can't win on the site.

I did get nearly $800 in buyins again so that's cool.


SCOOP trophy run

Incredible lack of traction. My deepest runs in the series were both today, when I hit the final table in the $20 turbo and the $10 hyper. These were such a short tournament for Stars.

The first was the $20 turbo where I had the chip lead with 75BBs but over half the FT had less than 15BBs.

I went incredibly card dead. There was a point where I was on CO or BU with 45BBs, SB and BB had about 15BBs, and there were 3 stacks under 6BBs and 1 under 2. I'm shoving 98% of hands here and I wake up with....32 in back to back hands.

I only ended up playing a couple hands of relevance here.

I opened QT, small stack in BB shoves a 6BB stack with KJ, I lost.

A couple hands later I'm in BB with 35BBs. 18BB stack opens UTG+1. Reg. There's a 1.5BB stack in MP who folds. I flat J5hh. Flop comes JT7ddd. I check, he bets 25% pot, I shove. I think I'm cool with this, as he's basically folding....everything? Unless he's only cbetting the top 5% of his range, which I don't think is the case. He calls QQ and I miss it all.

Three hands later I shove AK, the same villain calls off Ajo and spikes a J on the flop to knock me out. Would've put me back in the chip lead.

I won't add anything on the $10 hyper-had an idiot whale on my left, he rivered a boat in the only hand I didn't have to shove, then woke up with some hands when I did shove, and I ended up taking 5th.

>$100 BB events


Oh man, this was fun. Fun fun fun.

I played 6 tournaments. I had the chip lead in 4 of them deeper than an hour into the tournament, and didn't cash any of them.

First one of the week was the 6max turbo. I had a whale 3 flat from the BB and then 3 barrel OOP with 56o on AAQ4K when I had A8, then two hands later one of them shoved A2 on T73 when I had AT. I'm still confused by what either of them were thinking there.

This put me in the chip lead for a bit, until I shoved Q8 from SB vs a 10BB BB and lost to A4. I chipped back up quickly, and was in 4th when the following hand happened.

I raised CO with AA, after folding to a bunch of 3B shoves. BB with 26BBs 3B to 7BB, I decided to call. Flop is AJ9ssx. BB effectively shoves, I get it in and he shows 99. I fist pump, only to watch him win with running spades. I would have had a decent chip lead at this point as we close in on the bubble.

I chip up and have 30BBs. There's 49 left, with 26 paying. I'm about 20th. Folds around to me in the SB. I've raise/folded to BB's shoves probably 8 times at this point (most on the BU vs SB). I raise A9o with the intention of jamming over a 3B or calling. He does in fact shove, I snap it off, and he has AQ. I think he's basically shoving any ace, KJ+, JTs+, any pair. So I'm fine with the call off, just happened to hit the top of his range.

The next one was the $100 ME parlay yesterday. I doubled up twice early with KK>JJ, then 53s>KQ on K33ss when I flatted from the BB. Not much else happened for a while outside of some small chipping up.

Scrolling through this tournament, I only lost 1 hand for <20BBs and it was the knockout one. 45 left, paying 15. I open UTG+1 with KQ, BB flats. BB is a decent reg that I've seen play hands aggressively. I cbet the Q72ss board, he raises. He's c/R about 18% of hands so I call. He goes 80% on the 5x turn, and 80% on the 8x river. I call both, and he has 77 and not the flush draw. I guess I can make the case for folding the river, but feels like if I'm folding KQ he can just take this line with all of his bluffs. On to the next one.

Took the chip lead late in the $125 on Intertops (which I took 2nd in last week). Nothing of interest in how I built the stack.

As we ended the Rebuy potion (which also puts us close to the bubble), I'm in 2nd with 45BBs. The big stack opens from MP, and I've got 5500 hands on him. He's not good. He's running 41/10, and folding to 3B only 12% of the time. I wake up with QQ in the BB, and raise this open to 14BBs. It’s a bigger sizing than I’d normally use, and I have 0 bluffs vs him. No reason. He flats...and the flop comes AT3ssx. I lead 30% of the flop, he calls. Turn in a blank and I check fold when he shoves. I've seen him take this line dozens of times, and he has an ace in all of them. I'm down to 23 BBs.

I chip up to 35 BBs, then lose 10 of them when I double barrel 4Q379 vs an opponent folding 65% of cbets and 70% of turn cbets. He shows up with TT, and honestly was a little shocked he had anything worse than top pair.

I lose another 12 BBs in probably the only hand I wish I could have back. I complete SB vs a LAG reg who checks. His range here is trash-he's raising nearly any broadway card, any ace, any pair, most connected cards.

Flop comes KQ4. I bet, he calls. Turn is J. I check, he bets small, and I elect to raise. This is not a line I take a ton, but I figured at 3 off the bubble it's showing nothing but strength against a range I believe is super weak. He tanks forever before calling. I check the river, as does he, and he shows up with K8o. I don't necessarily hate the raise, but I think I either need to have the balls to shove there or just wait for a better spot. This left me with just under 9BBs.

A couple hands later I'm in BB with Q9 and 7BBs. UTG raises, BU calls, and I flat. Flop comes KJT, and I get more than a double vs KK when my hand holds.

I played a couple solid hands and got up to about 20BBs. I shipped over the top of the first villain from this tournament a couple times and got folds. We get to 9 left, 8 paying. He opens BB, I ship in 20BBs, he has 88 and I lose. Would’ve been in 2nd if I win this hand; instead, I nut bubble for what feels like the 200th time on this site this year. Thankfully, they have the “bubble protection” and I get my buyin back.

The last was the $300 Main event on stars. I statelited into this back in March; not sure I would have played it otherwise. But with a 38K first place prize, this was likely going to be one of the biggest tournaments of my year.

I chipped up nicely early, and managed to double my stack in a half hour or so. Basically maintained this stack depth for an hour or two before going on a heater.

I got 99 in vs a reg’s 88 who had a 65BB stack on 362ss. I flatted, he checked flop, I bet, he 8x pot shoved flop. Pretty sure I know his range here and I was at least a little bit ahead of it.

A couple of hands later, I open ATo from MP. CO, who’s 3 bet me 3 times, does it again. BB calls. I 4B to 27BB. 3B folds, but BB flats?? I have no notes or numbers on him, but he left himself with a stack 60% of the pot on the flop. He checks, I shove. He tank folds.

I’ve seen a lot of this on Stars recently, where villains call big raises where they’re left with not even 75% of the pot behind and play fit or fold on the flop. Not sure this ever makes sense, but it’s incredibly frustrating when they hit their J9o.

About a half hour later, MP opens and BU calls. I 3B from SB with AKo. MP folds but BU calls. A couple orbits earlier, Villain took the same line and called cbet with 33 and I checked it down.

The flop this time comes 567 rainbow. I 3B again. This is likely a check, but I planned to double most turns here expecting a fold vs this villain. Turn is a 9 though, and feels like I need to check this down. He checks and the river is an 8, putting a straight on the board. I have a pot sized bet left, and because he doesn’t have many 10s in his hand I’m calling if he shoves anyways. I shove, and he uses his entire time bank before folding.

7 hands later, UTG+1 opens 15BB stack. There’s a couple LAGs behind me and an 11BB stack in the BB, so I flat AA. BB decides to call as well.

The flop is J68ssx. BB checks, UTG+1 checks, I bet. BB folds, and MP elects to call. Turn is an offsuit 9, and MP checks again. I elected to put MP all in, and he snaps JJ and I drop back down.

Three hands later I wake up with AA again. I raise UTG+1. 25 BB UTG+2 stack calls. Villain from the hand I 4B ATo three bets me again. A short stack shoves 10 BBs and it gets back to me.

Obviously, this is a jack pot scenario. I can either flat or raise here. My thought is that if I call, MP+2 has a super awkward stack sizing decision. He can call the 8BB flat, getting 4-1. But then he has half his stack in the pot. His other option is to just shove if I flat, hoping that he has a little bit of fold equity vs me or the 3 bettor.

So I elect to call, and MP+2 shoves! This also opens the action back up for the three bettor, who also elects to shove his 32BB stack!

I’m up against JJ, 99, and AK-and hold. This hand puts me into the chip lead with over 10 times starting stack.


One orbit later, I get KK. I 3B a villain from the BU vs CO for the third time, he ships in 50BBs with AQ, and I extend the chip lead.

That lasts for all of two hands. I open from CO with QQ. BU flats, who I have limited hands with. He’s sitting on 70BBs. BB shoves 15BBs. I elected to 4B hoping to either just get it in vs the short stack or hope BU comes along with a worse hand. It felt like too awkward of a stack to flat and play OOP. Unfortunately, BU had KK and I couldn’t suck out.

5 hands later, MP opens, I flat 88, and BB shoves 23BBs. MP folds, I call, and lose the race to AQ. Two orbits later, I open UTG+1, the same villain shoves 12 BBs from BU, and I lose KQ<88.

I ended up down to 22BBs or so, but chipped up over the next hour to 45 BBs.

This tournament paid 87, and we were down to 115 or so. I made a loose call to a 2 barrel, and then doubled AT vs JJ on 65345, taking me down to 12 BBs.

Two hands later, MP 3B shoved 30BBs, I call TT from BB, and he wakes up with KK.

I felt like I played well, but no dice, yet again. I got it in 8 times, and the only win was the multiway AA hand.

24.03 allin BB/100 over 1250 hands in the 100s this week. Currently at 9.78 for the month with only 2 cashes in 35 events. That’s got to change…right?!



Tomorrow is the last day of the series, which honestly I’m fine with. I’ll be happy to get back to the smaller fields which will hopefully mean less variance.

Before that happens, though, there’s 3 day twos with some big prizes. Currently:

46/130 in the $100 (pays 119). 16K to first.
41/156 in the $30 (pays 135). 6.5K to first.
5/327 in the $10 (pays 327). 3.7K to first.

All of these are a huge prize pool for the buyin for what I normally play, which make them all quite important. For reference, there's barely any 100s that I play outside series that pay 3.7K.

These are also the last shots at a trophy, and my ego still wants one. Hopefully I can find a way to take one down.

Well I went on a ride tonight. And I've never hated one player more than I do right now, so let's get going.


The $10

I came in with a big stack. I chipped up a little, but was mostly card dead for the first 45 minutes. First big hand, UTG opens, BU flats, and I 3B JJ from the BB. Flop comes 855dd. I bet 1/2 pot, UTG flats, BU shoves, I reship, and UTG tanks for awhile before folding. BU shows up with 77, but he spikes a 7 and instead of a first place stack, I'm down to 40BBs. I stack about even until the first hand after the 2nd break, where I ship 20BBs from the SB with 55 over a raise, and BB wakes up with QQ. Next hand I shove 5BBs with AJ and lose to AQ, and I'm out of the small one.



$30

I came in with a middle stack. I chipped up slowly in this one as well, and then shipped from the BB vs a reg's BU open and won 99>AQs. I ended up winning some stuff postflop without much showdown, and went into the first break 8/73. I chipped up more (a common theme in these three tournaments), and then lost AKs<QQ, AKo vs a 20 BB stack.Chipped up more, then lost AQ<KK to a 15 BB stack and I was down to 15BB.

A couple hands later, I double with AK>AQ, then a couple orbits later go AK>JJ vs the same villain to get up to 55BBs. I luckbox AJ>KK vs a laggy reg.

Immediate next hand, MP opens and I call T8 from the BB. He cbets, I call and see an 8 on the turn! He doubles, leaving a pot sized bet behind. I elect to shove, and he tanks forever before calling AQ and I hold to get to 3/30.


We get to break two, and I'm at 3/25 and feeling solid. Nothing happens the first dozen hands, then pick up KK in MP and watch UTG raise and UTG+1 shove 20BBs. I call and beat JJ to get right near the chip lead.

I maintain a 30-40 BB stack the rest of the hour, getting to 4/11 as we hit 9PM. We get to the FT quick, and I'm sitting at 35BBs. There's one really big stack 4 to my right, 4 shorts tacks, and 4 around me.

I proceed to do...almost nothing for a half hour as I watch the field whittle away. My only "move" of the final table came when we were 6 handed. I opened A3o from the CO, the big stack 3Bs me, and I ship 34 BBs in. He had been 3betting people relentlessly-which is why I was opening very conservatively-and I was reasonably confident in the shove. He folded, and I went back to doing nothing for the next 30 minutes.

We got to 4 handed, and I have 15 BBs and I shove 66 from BU. SB-who's been playing very tight-reships A7s and flops the 7 to knock me out. Not sure I love his reship there, but it is what it is. I go out in 4th for $2,500.

The 100

Over the first 30 minutes, there wasn't any pots that were more than 15BBs wins or losses, but I chipped up nicely to a top 20 stack. The first big hand came when I picked up KK on the CO. UTG+1 raised, a laggy reg 3Bs to 7BBs, and I face my first decision of the night. We're playing about 30 BBs effective at this point. Any deeper, I think I flat. Instead, I elect to shove, thinking that a flat is a little to strong. The 3B has AK, and I win the first all in the 100 to get to 90BBs. By the time we've gotten to the first break, I'm sitting 6/61.

I chip up with a bunch of small pots, and then shove KJs over a lag's open and he has AA and I lose. Next hand I win a small pot BvB, and then I wake up with KK on the BU. A tightish reg opens CO, I 3B, and he shoves AK. Flop comes ace high, and I'm down to 8BBs. This was the same reg that spiked a J against me at the FT yesterday, to add insult to injury. This hand would've put me in 2nd with about 25 left left.

The following hand, I'm on CO with 8BBs. BU is a good reg, but SB and BB are very nitty. I elect to shove T7, reg has 88. The runout comes 9T7A3, and I double back into 18 BBs.

An orbit and a half later, I have 15 BBs and 77 on in MP. I ship it in with the nits behind me still, but one of the nits reships AJ. I take it down on the scary T93Q2 runout to get back over 30 BBs. 3 hands later, a 10BB stack shoves, I reship AJ, and lose to AK. Back down to 20BBs.

I pick up a bunch of small pots over the next 20 minutes, and we get to the third break with me 5/11 and at 30 BBs.

I keep chipping up, as every player was playing extremely tight. When you get big tournaments with huge numbers at top, the majority of people just won't bluff light. I open J9s from MP, SB reships an 8BB stack, and I call and lose to AQ. Next big hand, a 10BB stack shoves from the BU, a 8BB stack calls from SB, and I call both with 41 BBs and AKs. I beat K6s and ATo, jumping me to 60BBs and 4th.

An orbit later, my stack starts to crumble. I lose 99<A4o, AQ<99, and A6<Q9s in the span of 5 hands. Winning either of the first two would have given me the chip lead; instead, I'm down to 22BBs.

I win some small pots, then flat KQs vs an UTG raise and the flop is K66ss. He checks back. Turn is a 2, putting 3 to a flush on the board. I lead out, he calls. The river is an offsuit 9. I bet again, he calls JJ, and I'm up to 38BBs. The next hand, BU raises off his 20BB stack, I shove 88 with 20 effective, and spike the flop 8 to get into 2nd place in chips.

A couple orbits later we're down to about 17 left. The only player that covers me opens from MP. I have JJ on the BU and 45 BBs. Any shorter, I 3B and call, any higher, I 3B and evaluate. Instead, I decide to flat as I think the only thing I'm going to do is fold out a bunch of hands I beat. BB has other plans, though, and ships a 30BB stack. MP folds, and I have an easy call. He shoves up with AQ, spikes the Q high flop, and I'm back down under 20BBs. A win here gives me 25% of the chips with 15 left.

After the blind increases, I'm stuck with 11BBs. I've got T8 on the BU and elect to shove, again thinking that the BB is going to call me down super light. SB folds and BB calls...44. If I know he's calling that, I don't shove. I thought his calling range here was much tighter. It doesn't matter though, as I win on the 5JTA4 runout.

We're down to 12 handed, and I have 22 BBs. I open UTG+1 with 99, and MP shoves. He has me covered by less than 2 BBs. It's a fairly trivial call, and I fistpump when he shows 88 and get a clean runout. 3rd place with 10 left. For future reference, we'll call this villian #1

Villian #1 shoves his 1.75BB stack on the next hand, SB calls, I reship over his short stack with A2s. Villian#1s 54o wins. Next orbit, he shoves 6BBs, I calls QJs from the BB, he wins with A8o. 6 hands later, I open JJ, he ships 15BBs with 66, spikes a 6 on the flop, and he's gone from 1.2BBs to 30BBs in 2 orbits with all the chips coming from me, while I've dropped back to 18.

We finally get to the FT, and I'm stuck with 20BBs and 7/9. I open 76s from MP, and get a flat from BB. Flop comes Q73ss. I cbet, get called. Off suit ace comes, I continue, he calls again and I'm left with 10BBs behind. River is a 7! He checks, I shove, and he thinks for a bit before call A8ss and I double into 4th place.

I get AA twice, and pick up a combined 10BBs at what is otherwise a pretty loose table.

My first all in at the FT, I open AK and lose to QQ vs a short stack.

Between this and the next big hand I play, Villian #1 sucks out AGAIN with AJ>KK and is suddenly the chip leader.

Meanwhile, I chip down, then chip up, and have AA with 30BBs on the BU. We're down to 7 handed at this point with me in a solid 3rd. UTG+1 opens a 40BB stack. CO 3Bs an 11Bb stack to 6BB. Again, I feel like calling is just way to strong-with that being said, I think I should have flatted as the guys left in the hand weren't exactly the brightest (except the 3B). I instead ship it in, and hold vs AK to get to the chip lead (barely).

3 Hands later, I open AK, and lose to JJ.

The next time I'm on the BU, I have KJ and 38BBs. BU opens. He's been opening a ton. I flat, as I'm too deep to shove, and too deep to r/c with 3 shorts stacks currently at the table. Flop comes 953. He checks back. Turn is a T. I lead out, and he raises me small. I elect to call. River is a K, and he bets again. I call, he shows up with K7 off, and I'm back in first with 30% of the chips and 6 left.

At this point, the only player I would call good is on my immediate right. I have two huge nits on my left-one of whom keeps asking us to chop. There's a decent player in between them, but he's also seemingly playing tightish. The last player is a bad LAG that I'm happy to have two to my right.

Before I play another hand, one of the biggest hands of the table happens. The decent reg ships a 6BB stack, one of the nits comes over the top, and then the bad lag-who covers both-shoves. The short stack wins with TT, the second shortest takes 2nd with 55, and the bad LAG loses with KK. Somehow, KK doesn't knock out either hand.

I start my barrage of raises, and pick up a bunch of pots on the next orbit. The following orbit, I open A8o from UTG+1, the BB with 8BBs shoves 99, and I lose. 2 hands later, CO shoves 8BBs, I call BB with AQs, and lose to KJo. Back down to 30BBs.

An orbit later, I open KQs from the CO. SB-the decent reg on my left-ships in 17BBs. I think KQs is a pretty easy call vs his range, but in hindsight, I was picking up so many small pots, that maybe this is a fold? Anyways, he shoves AQo. The flop coms A82 rainbow, but hit a backdoor flush to win the hand and get the chip lead back!


We get to 4 handed, and I'm absolutely loving my situation. The two people to my left are playing extraordinarily tight. Villian #1 is on my right, but I have him covered.

I'm winning 65% of the hands at this point, and really not facing much pressure. With that being said, villian #1 called me light once. It was an unfortunate spot, as I had taken the exact same line the orbit before with a fullhouse and he folded. I'm still in first though, as we get to the biggest stretch of the tournament.

I'm on BB with 50BBs. SB (Villian #1) has 40BBs. BU has 6BBs. He's the guy that's beat me AQ>99 with 10 left. SB has 21BBs. Payouts are 16K, 11.5K, 8.5K, 6.5K. BU shoves, and I have A2. I lose to JTo.

I chip back up for a couple orbits, then lose what I think is the only postflop call I'd like back. I have KTss. Flop comes QJ5dd. Villian 1 checks, I check behind. Turn he checks, I check as well. River is the 7 of diamonds completing the flush. My range is super weak right now. He bets pot and I call. I don't hate it, but not sure he's bluffing in this spot. He has KTdd for the flush and I'm annoyed.

2 hands later, villian #2 again has under 10BBs, this time 8.7. He ships it in. I called again, this time with A3, but I do think I'd take this one back. With so little pressure coming my way, and only 30BBs, I don't think calling and losing and ending up at 20BBs with the other two shorties is the right play. I call, he has AJ, and I lose the runout.

The very next hand, Villian #2 opens, Villian #1 shoves 22 effective, I call AKo and lose to 66 and go from first to out in the span of about 4 hands. I'm sure that guy won-he had almost all the chips after knocking me out. So incredible frustrating to watch a guy win the tournament when he beat me on 4 straight all ins, especially when he didn't get it in dominating me once.

Poker is a fickle mistress, and today was the embodiment of that. Once we get to that specific 4 handed setup, I know I'm winning like 65-70% of the time. To lose with that scenario, in the biggest FT of the year, is very very frustrating. It's tough to say "oh, it's variance" when I'm just never going to play enough tournaments with that kind of prize to get through that variance.

From 10 on, I lost all ins of A2s<54o, QJs<A8o, JJ<66, A8<99, AK<QQ, AK<JJ, A2<JT, A2<AJ, AQs<KJo. I won with AA>AK and KQs>AQo. Villians 1 and 2 went a combined 7-0 vs me in all ins, and they likely ended up heads up.

Absolutely, there was positive variance. I spiked trips vs top pair. I had a beautiful final table set up, especially once I got to 4 handed.

But I still couldn't manage to take it home. I guess, maybe next time, but I won't play another tournament with a 16K first place prize for....3 months? There will maybe be a dozen of them all year.

On to tomorrow, I guess.

Week Totals

Days played:5
Total Buyins: $5,551.05
Profit: $13,246
All in BB/100: 7.01 (15.43)
All in BB/100 sub 40 BBs: 15.97 (14.59)

Far and away the weirdest week of my year. My volume was poor. Monday was the phase 2 events, and I decided to go light on the tables. Then I took Thursday off for the NFL draft, I take nearly every Friday off, and the first half of today for Softball. I did manage to get two longer days in on Wednesday and Saturday.

I also had the worst week as far as BB/100 in I think the entire year.

Yet, I managed to nail down the best week of 2024, nearly doubling the previous high of $7,400. Somehow that felt both more than I should have gotten, as well as less. At all of the $50+ final tables I made, I managed to combine to lose an astounding 22 of 27 all ins. How did I possibly manage to end up money on a week that that happened?! Every single day was also >50% ROI-the previous high was 3 days in any week.

On Wednesday, I final tabled the $50 30K for the fourth time this year. This was far and away the toughest of the 4. There was only 1 player that made the table that was down money on the site on the year, and he was the first out. I also had 4 LAGs to my left, and the two bluffs I tried didn't work-including 4 betting AT pre in a spot that I really liked. I clicked the "make deal" button for the first time I can remember, but not dice. I basically folded my way to third, and people were knocked out in quick order. I was thrilled with 3rd here given the table dynamics and the cards I received.

Yesterday and today were a whole lot of slightly above average cashes. I had $2500 in buyins, and 4K in cashes-with not a single one above $750. The biggest was the $50 turbo tonight. I took the chip lead into the FT, but everyone outside of me and one other person was basically playing a 10BB stack. I got a lot of stuff through, but the deck was hitting me hard. I lost TT<A7s vs a 13BB stack, T5<K7s vs a 5 BB stack BvB, K4s<AK vs a 10BBs stack BvB, then AJs<44 BvB when I was down to 8 BBs. I wouldn't change anything about this tournament really, I thought I had a solid edge at the FT. But ended up taking 4th.

The next highest cash was $550 yesterday in the $50 hyper. I don't have the hand history in front of me because it's on MGM but I thought I played this REALLY well. The tournament paid 4. By the time we got to 5 handed, I had half the chips in play. There was a 6 BBs to my immediate left, a 35 BB stack, and then 2 11BB stacks on my right. I was taking down nearly every hand-except when I was in the SB. I let the shortest stack get a walk 3-4 times, keeping the bubble alive. I was abusing that much that it just made sense.

The only downside to the play is that again I lost nearly every all in. 8 of 9 in this one, with me never getting it worse than as a 30-70 dog. I managed to keep getting enough chips, though, that I ended up taking it down.

One of the nice things about this week is I managed to get my hand histories for the year for MGM. I didn't know I could do that. The benefit here is mostly mental. I wasn't winning on MGM this month, and I was starting to worry I was missing spots. That wasn't really the case, though, as I was able to check my lines when I got the histories. Basically identical to all the other tracked sites. (The reason I was breaking even-or atleast until yesterday-is likely in my all in BB/100 for <40 stacks. Over 3500, I was at 7.82 but running at -2.47. That'll do it.). It's simply a nice mental relief for me to know that I'm not misplaying things and it's just poker being poker.


100s

Nothing much happened after Monday. I'm at 76% ROI for the month. My goal when I added these in the beginning of April was to see how the month went. With a good ROI, and a 17.21 All-in BB/100 (3.45 actual), I feel solid. I am, however, worried about two things. First, I've only cashed 4 of 42 events. This isn't super low-3.5 more cashes and I'm where I want-but it's something I'm monitoring. I'm slightly more alarmed at being at only 0.21 All-in BB/100 (-22.68 actual) when I'm at less than 40 BB stack depth. That tells me I'm struggling at least a little bit in the most important parts of tournaments. With that being said, it's a super low sample of only 900 hands. Just another thing I'm monitoring.


Coin Poker

Managed another $690 in buyins this week, but only about $70 in profit. Third straight week up. But my total ROI is stuck at like 1.5%, and my BB/100 is <1 (although it's around 5 for 40BB stacks). The sample is still small on this one as well, but I'm going to stop favoring higher buyins on Coin if the decision is that or a $10 on MGM for the time being.


Overall happy with the week, but very confused on how we got here.

YTD graph. Broke 50k for the year some time this week which is a cool milestone.

Monthly recap vs goals

Days played: 23 (23)
Total Buyins: $32,410 ($28,750)
Profit: $15,437 ($15,000)
ROI: 47.63% (50%)

All in BB/100: 14.16 vs 13.83 actual. Goal is 15
<40 All in BB/100: 7.37 vs 3.44 actual. Goal is 9


Overall very happy with the month. As of 8 days ago, I was only up 2K on the month. The last week or so has been a sprint, with 1 day down $100 and every other day positive at least $650, with a 8K and 2.5K day thrown in between.

There were some adjustments I’ve been trying to add to my play. Still not there, but getting better.

My play in the final 5 or so absolutely needs to get better. I’m doing good enough in the lower buyin tournaments, and won a couple of 50s today, but I feel like I’m fighting upstream at times.

There’s times I get frustrated when I look at the <40 Allin numbers vs the actual. This month I was down over 1.2K BBs in that filter, which is generally going to be the most important to winning MTTs. For the year I’m down over 2.7K BBs. If we use an average of 20BBs, that’s nearly 150 stacks lost to “luck” deep in tournaments. Over 10% of that is in tournaments with buyins >100 as well, even though they make up less than 3% of my total tournaments.

The positive, though, is that’s going to even out….eventually. Hopefully it happens this year, because if it does, the next 8 months should be quite profitable. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

May goals:

Days played: 22
Total Buyins: $32,000
Profit: $16,000
ROI: 50%
All in BB/100: 15
<40 Allin BB/100: 9


April graphs

nice. just found this thread. i play with you all the time, recognized your usernname.

You got way better in the last few months. I haven't read all the posts yet but i assume you have been studying a bunch

Appreciate it. Won't dive too deep into that portion but I've made some changes for sure imo; nice to hear that a reg noticed that. For the last couple years my bigger focus was on the businesses I own with my family and was fine skating by with where I was at poker wise.


I'm curious what your screen name is now. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you're willing to share

Nice month!

Something I've noticed about myself over many years of doing this is that the less I focus on variance and the more I put every ounce of energy and attention into what I can control, the better I do. I think it's okay to look at all in EV stuff as a kind of confidence booster ("ok, I didn't have the results I wanted this month, but these stats show me I ran quite poorly and I think I played well and got in my volume and that's all that matters"), but any time I've dived deep into the numbers I start to play worse.

Good luck in May!

Thanks for the thoughts.

It's something I've battled-does it make sense to put mental energy into this?

For me, I've found that it helps me get less frustrated by the day to day or even month to month variance. Most nights after my sessions, I check a handful of stats (raises by position in unopened spots being a big one that's easy to check vs GTO), and that along with all in BB/100 gives me at least a decent sense of "did I play well today?".

I do think I waste energy on it mid session too often. I don't do it a lot, but to your point anything that takes the focus away from what I can control is too much.

Specifically as a confidence booster, that's what I've tried to do with it in the 100s. I have had at time a sense of "I don't belong at these stakes". I don't know where it comes from, but it's a reason I pay attention to it a lot.

Week Totals

Days played: 5
Total Buyins: $8,379.67
Profit: $3,721.66
All in BB/100: 9.01 (3.91)
All in BB/100 sub 40 BBs: 6.41 (-4.93)

Got back to a decent volume week. In a turn of events, it was actually the tournaments above $100 where I made nearly all of my money this week. I was only a tad bit above break even if you took those out. Nearly nothing to really talk about in the smaller tournaments, as I wasn't even making deep runs. It culminated yesterday in an awful day where nothing seemed to go well. I think I shoved into Aces a dozen times, and then a set or a higher straight another dozen. In a way, I felt fortunate to cash for the $700 that I did.


Coin Poker

I started to limit these to smaller buyins (<$20) until I can prove to myself I'm beating them. No reason to waste money and mental energy on higher buyin stuff if I can't beat the 10s/20s. I only played 7 tournaments for $250 in buyins, and didn't cash one in the week.


100s

Fun week here. I decided to pop into the 100s on MGM starting Wednesday and it paid off quickly. I final tabled the $100 8K. There were some solid regs at this table, but I correctly made a really light call against one to cripple them, then hit a nice double with AK>KQ on a K high flop. I got to 3 handed with a decent stack, and was grateful to have no regs left. It wasn't meant to be, as I got crippled with K4s<KJ on 24JK vs a guy who was stacking off super light all tournament, then I shoved KJ with 11 BBs over his BU open and he has KQ. He was opening 100% of buttons, so was a bit annoying for sure.

At the same time, I was getting to 3 handed in the $100 turbo. I didn't do much at this final table here other than fold until we got to 5 handed (paid 4), but still had the chip lead. This table was pretty reg filled as well, and there was a ton of action and just not spots for me to do anything. Then I shoved AK over a LAG who had 11 BBs, he had TT and I lost. I folded some more crap and watched a couple guys get knocked out.

When we got to the final three, the big stack lost with AK to AJ, and then like the next hand I lost AA<QT to get knocked out in 3rd. Another frustrating final table in a big tournament, as this was now 0 for the century at racking a win at a $100+ buyin. Still managed +$1200 on the day, so went to bed happy with how I played.

The following day, I won a $25 satellite into the $250 on Stars. Wasn't going to play it, so cool. It was a bounty, and I knocked out a bunch of people early. QQ>KJcc on 795cc, K7>AK on K374, T2>66 (4BB stack), JJ>AK, AQ>AJ, 88>AQ, and AK>AT. I lost a couple all ins on the way, but when we got to the bubble I had 7KOs and a nice stack.

I was sitting on about 35 BBs with 13 left paying 12. CO reg opens, I 3B AKo, and BB jams QQ. I spike a flop ace to avoid the bubble, and cash a hand or two later.

The BB who jammed had really tight stats (16/11 over 3k+ hands), but was playing very aggressively. I made some tight folds against him, but outside the AK hand I wasn't playing back. I folded to I think 3 straight 3 bets from him as he was nailing the bottom of my range. The fourth time he did it was my CO vs his SB. I had 33 and everything felt wrong. I didn't want to fold a 4th time in 3 orbits to his 3bet. Calling seemed like spewing money. I decided to jam.

I figured he was 3betting close to 20% at that time and that deep, he's only going to be calling TT+ AQs+ and maybe AQo. He tanks foreverrrrrr before calling ATs which just seems like an absolute punt on his end. Obviously, if I know he's calling that wide, then he's also calling like 55+ and my shove is awful as well.

Flop comes 892hhh (I have a heart and he doesn't), turn is a blank, but the river is one of his 4 remaining outs and I'm out in 12th instead of in the chip lead.

Basically as soon as this tournament ends, I make the FT of the 8K on MGM again. I have the chip lead here and what feels like a very soft table. There's a ton of folding going on (except me). I think I got two walks in the first 3 orbits. Noone has been knocked out yet.

Then I lose about 12BBs when I double AQ on KT6x and the short stack has KK. Immediate next hand, I have AK on UTG+1. I still have the chip lead but only about 30BBs. UTG+2 flats. UTG folds. Flop comes KJ9. I cbet, and he shoves. I call, expecting to see some 99/JJ/KK in his range, mayyybe KJ. Instead, he shows J9o and I'm heated. I miss improving, and I'm down under 1BB.

"Here we go again"

I'm just hoping to salvage a ladder or two at this point. I pick up AQ, go "allin" and tie A8. Next hand I'm in the BB with 1.5 bigs and QQ. Folds to BB who shoves 88, I hold and double. I shove 6BB from the CO and it goes through. Next hand I shove AJ and chop with A4. Couple hands later, I double 88>AJ and I'm suddenly at 15BBs and there's only 4 people left.

Of the 4 guys left, the person on my immediate left has apparently been disconnected as he's insta folding every hand. Two to my left is a short stack who's a known nit. The 4th guy is a bad/passive player who's managing to fold a lot pre and just call down everything post flop.

I go on a massive run, never getting it in again until I'm up over 50BBs. I don't even think I double ever; I just take advantage of basically playing 2 buttons each orbit and getting the blinds when the 2 active players fold (which was happening a decent amount).

The stacks end up being something like 55 me, 50 guy sitting out, 12 for the nit, 10 for the bad player. I double the bad guy up A5<KQ. He knocks the nit out, and we're effectively playing heads up but with ICM concerns. Then I try to get a little cute, and 3B his BU open while he's at about 22Bs. I have QJo. Flop comes KQJ. I'm not positive of his range here. He has 80% pot behind and I elect to shove. He has KQJ, and I'm down to about 30BBs. I continue to just pick him apart, and when we officially get to heads up, I have a 60-18 BB advantage.

I jam A8 over his open and lose to KQ. I chip him down under 20BBs again and lose A5<AK. At this point, I was getting annoyed. Not because I was losing the all ins, but because I wasn't seeing any hands. The best I saw was AQo. Didn't see a pair over the course of an hour. Wasn't seeing much of anything post flop, either. With how light he was stacking off, that's really all I needed to knock him out quick.

It didn't end up mattering, though. I chipped him down under 20 BBs for a third time, then finally spiked a river flush and he called me down with 2nd pair. Nailed the first win of the year in a 100 for 2.5K and was pretty stoked-not only with the win, but with how I played after being down to 1BB.

Yesterday, I final tabled it AGAIN for the third time in a row (took Friday and Saturday off), only to lose A8<KQ immediately after reaching the final table. Took 7th (with 5 paying) in the turbo when I lose as the chip leader with TT<QQ for 30BBs


Overall happy with the week. My daily buyins are about to shoot up with the addition of the $100s on MGM. There's still an outside shot I could hit 400K buyins on the year, which would be a fun milestone to touch.