Nope. I played at Stan James on MPN.

Not going to bother with calculating final results. I ended up with small profit after RB. Doesn't matter what the exact amount is, but it's <1k €.
Very happy with the work ethic. Put in the hours and played solid even during tough times. There were some signs of burnout, aka. I could have avoided some mistakes by playing less hours with better focus. Sometimes it's hard to define whether it's a close spot or a mistake. You don't want to be obsessive with perfectionism, but you have to draw the line somewhere, so you don't spew or make bad hero calls.
When you run bad, your inner perfectionist starts to take control. I mean it's hard to recall +EV sessions from the last 30k hands. When you are winning big and you got a good flow going, mistakes don't (seem to) matter so much.

Progress as a player: Playing 500z definitely taught me few tricks. I also got a solver, used it for few days and haven't used since. Solver is good for learning tricks, but I think overall you need equity to do them. You can do tricks without equity, but you must KNOW what you are doing, not just spew randomly and hope you get a fold. And probably play less tables, and by doing so you give up on some fishes. Is that worth it?
Doing those tricks helps when you get bad card distribution, but you can also just wait to run well and get your 2bb/100. The game is so simple when you have equity and run well, and so depressing when you run bad session after session.

This month I really put my thought processes to the test and definitely made some mistakes along the way. It would be great if you could have one simple solution for every spot. But that will stunt your growth as a player. Real growth is to be gained when you step out of your comfort zone and your "rituals".
I put a lot of thought into spots where I might be exploitable. And by doing so I ended up exploiting myself, like calling some river raises. You don't learn much when you get shown the nuts though. I gotta slow the pace and allow myself to be exploited again.
I managed to "fix" a lot of leaks, but the problem is not solved by getting some number from 80% to 60%. You still need to find the optimal, which varies player to player. Saying that you have number x % and you play perfect is stupid. It's a long process to optimize.

About the stakes. It became clear by reading some PGC's that there's easier money to be made at 100-200nl. Playing these upper mid stakes is like signing an agreement which says: "You will lose a lot of money at times, there's no easy profit, there's less fish and downswings will drive you crazy". It's a very big test to the player. If you make it through the tough times and keep your confidence up, you will make big money.

Goals for March: I will be playing 90% on Euro sites, clearing some bonuses. I feel arrogant enough to say that I should wait for better card distribution and therefore I don't need a coach atm. Still gotta work on my game, but not sure what spots.
A coach would have to be a top quality one. I don't need to pay someone to do the work for me because I'm lazy. I don't think I lack perspective either. It's more about getting the right view (from the perspectives).
Prob like 90% of poker is "keeping the machine going". Simple stuff over and over again. 500z videos are cool, but bumhunting gets you the money.

I really have a problem with this card distribution thing. I feel like I play well and solid and don't make huge mistakes, apart from some experimental spots. I'm not sure how bad I'm running. I have a personality trait to overthink things and I really hate doing so. But I also don't want to ignore facts like a princess. February was supposed to be a testing ground for different strategies, but I didn't run well enough to gain confident results.
Feel like on March I should just focus on doing the right thing 99% of the time and see where it leads to.

Long rant but I wanted to summarize my thoughts. If anyone has thoughts on how much of mid stakes poker is getting the right card distribution, I'd be glad to hear so.
I mean here I am writing all this stuff, while some guy flops the nuts every hand and wins 300bb pots vs fish

February results:
Hours played: 135
Hands: 58000

Running bad at nl 1k:

Without nl 1k, solid results. Prob about 3-3.5 evbb/100 after RB.

Started the month with 7 hour session yesterday. I'm really looking to put in the hours this month. I got plenty of bonuses on the line, and to clear all of them I have to rake >10k €.
I'm gonna set the theme of this month to be "Keep it simple". Back to the roots
To play such hours, I can't play every spot optimally. I think all the stuff with GTO and the fear of "being exploited" has done some harm to my game. I'll see if I can revert that.

Cool hand from yesterday

Microgaming - €2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: €387.65
SB: €201.00
Hero (BB): €240.30
UTG: €178.94
MP: €200.00
CO: €220.15

SB posts SB €1.00, Hero posts BB €2.00

Pre Flop: (pot: €3.00) Hero has J 8

fold, MP raises to €5.00, CO calls €5.00, fold, fold, Hero calls €3.00

Flop: (€16.00, 3 players) J 5 2
Hero checks, MP bets €10.00, CO calls €10.00, Hero calls €10.00

Turn: (€46.00, 3 players) A
Hero checks, MP bets €34.00, CO calls €34.00, Hero calls €34.00

River: (€148.00, 3 players) Q
Hero checks, MP bets €151.00 and is all-in, CO calls €151.00, fold

The fact that your willing to sacrifice "optimal" play for rakeback while playing 1knl is.....well.....flawed logic. GL this month tho.

There's some truth in that, but to give you a short answer, I won't be playing much 1k, unless there's a really big fish playing. The variance is too high. And obv vs the 1k guys I will shift my mindset asap (higher likelihood of getting exploited and so on).
I have started to play more 200nl lately. Less stressful, bigger edges, games are running and so on.
and fwiw it's not about RB. It's about high productivity, goal setting and so on. RB supports all that.
And I'll try to keep high focus a priority.

6½ hours yesterday. Rake paid 550€.
Ran quite well and stacked many times.
Let's keep it up! No slacking

Downswing day but mostly happy with my performance. Just wasn't my day to shine. Played some HU vs regs too which was nice.
Getting tables started just sucks. You go from 4 tables to all the sudden playing/starting 9 tables. Frustrating.... That definitely caused few mistakes. It's easy to say that "play less tables and focus more", but in-game there are periods of time where a lot of tables are short-handed and you just have to keep playing. Could sit out some tho.
Overall need to keep focus on check.


Few hands from today:

h1: vs reg. Turn play? I puke folded feeling really disgusted. HU I'd wouldn't fold, 6m tho...

Microgaming - €6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: €704.63
Hero (BB): €627.00
UTG: €184.75
MP: €1,641.48
CO: €899.87
BTN: €600.00

SB posts SB €3.00, Hero posts BB €6.00

Pre Flop: (pot: €9.00) Hero has A J

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to €12.00, fold, Hero raises to €45.00, BTN calls €33.00

Flop: (€93.00, 2 players) 2 5 3
Hero bets €57.00, BTN calls €57.00

Turn: (€207.00, 2 players) J
Hero bets €135.00, BTN raises to €498.00 and is all-in, Hero ???

h2: Snapping vs some regs who bluff AJo, but overall perhaps fold is good. I don't think people really bluff this runout and it makes sense for him to have all the value hands. Only question is if he takes this line with 87s type hands, in that case it's a call I think.

Microgaming - €10 NL (9 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: €265.75
SB: €1,005.00
BB: €1,015.00
UTG: €228.00
MP: €1,000.00
Hero (CO): €1,015.00

SB posts SB €5.00, BB posts BB €10.00

Pre Flop: (pot: €15.00) Hero has A T

fold, fold, Hero raises to €25.00, fold, fold, BB raises to €90.00, Hero calls €75.00

Flop: (€195.00, 2 players) T 5 Q
BB bets €70.00, Hero calls €70.00

Turn: (€335.00, 2 players) 4
BB bets €230.00, Hero calls €230.00

River: (€795.00, 2 players) 4
BB bets €625.00 and is all-in, Hero ???

h3: Vs tighter reg. I think fold is reasonable, but nitty.

Microgaming - €6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: €634.20
Hero (SB): €606.00
BB: €663.74
UTG: €171.00
CO: €633.75

Hero posts SB €3.00, BB posts BB €6.00, BB contributes €0.02 to the Bad Beat Jackpot

Pre Flop: (pot: €9.00) Hero has J J

fold, fold, BTN raises to €12.00, Hero raises to €48.00, fold, BTN calls €36.00

Flop: (€102.00, 2 players) 3 8 3
Hero bets €39.00, BTN calls €39.00

Turn: (€180.00, 2 players) T
Hero checks, BTN bets €105.00, Hero calls €105.00

River: (€390.00, 2 players) 9
Hero checks, BTN bets €442.20 and is all-in, fold

h4: Frustrating spot vs reg. Not sure what he is value betting. feel like fold can't be too bad, but it's prob close. Not expecting random spew on this board.

Microgaming - €6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: €1,024.95
UTG: €703.65
MP: €1,074.34
CO: €591.00
BTN: €2,727.47
Hero (SB): €603.00

Hero posts SB €3.00, BB posts BB €6.00

Pre Flop: (pot: €9.00) Hero has K K

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to €15.00, Hero raises to €51.00, fold, BTN calls €36.00

Flop: (€108.00, 2 players) 2 T Q
Hero checks, BTN bets €60.00, Hero calls €60.00

Turn: (€228.00, 2 players) A
Hero checks, BTN bets €132.00, Hero ???

h5: random spew vs reg, but maybe good spew
He didn't get that stack from me.

Microgaming - €4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): €400.00
SB: €1,138.80

SB posts SB €2.00, Hero posts BB €4.00

Pre Flop: (pot: €6.00) Hero has Q K

SB raises to €10.00, Hero raises to €34.00, SB raises to €74.00, Hero calls €40.00

Flop: (€148.00, 2 players) 2 J 4
Hero checks, SB checks

Turn: (€148.00, 2 players) 8
Hero bets €78.00, SB calls €78.00

River: (€304.00, 2 players) T
Hero bets €248.00 and is all-in, SB calls €248.00

h1 id call

h2 i fold riv

h3 whatever, guys can easily overbluff here tho

h4 don't check flop

h5 whatevs, depends on how well a person balances x-back range and whether or not he thinks ur spewy

Think you should work on defending ranges in various spots. Having the mentality off "meh it's close I fold" doesn't really do well at midstakes. Yeah most of the time when we call with a bluffcatcher, we lose but, if people spot that you are overfolding in various spots, you just get completely crushed at midstakes.

H1: Never folding wtf
H2: Need to call some Tx, but w-e spot. Fold KT JT, call AT T9 T8, and shud be close or a bit too much.
H3: I would be very very surprised if this isn't hugely +EV call against micro russians. GTOwise it's still quite high freq call I think, but just a bluffcatcher, but a good one. Having heart blocker is not mandatory.

H4: Yeah I don't check flop, but w-e doesn't matter. KK very good combo to XC XC XC here. Can't fold turn. He might even value/merge KQ QJ.
H5: w-e.

AJ I snap faster than a wanking teenager closes his laptop screen when his parents walk in.
AT is kinda whatever, it's not a bad hand to bluffcatch.
JJ is probably gonna be reads-dependent, I'd fold vs my player pool but I suspect yours is slightly less nitty.
KK not folding turn, really dk how to play rivers though, listen to doctor IMO
KQ doesn't seem very spewy to me

agreed with most of what doctor said, really unsure about the JJ though, feels like folding is fine

the AJ though??? snap call? its BTN vs BB man

JJ seems like a really easy double barrel w/o a heart esp after flop sizing, and as played its probably gonna be one of the best bluffcatchers that you gonna have , much better than KhK QhQ KxKx QxQx

KK is meh, don't agree with you can't fold turn, because it's probably the most wise decision, and he's obviously not merging KQ and if he only bluffs J9s surely you don't have to call this

AT is w/e, i probably call river if turn opens a FD and i don't block it, probably fold when we block his most likely bluff

KQ its a clear overbluff spot if we're bluffing this and all he has to do is start checking OPs

AJ would need reads to fold, but not a snap call lol

My checking range can definitely be capped. I have been calling too much lately, so I've been looking for spots to make tight folds on, because not every spot gets bluffed 100%.

My reasons for folding: I bet over 60% twice on that board. It doesn't look like I'm going to fold, except TT-99 stuff. Personally as villain, I would not jam much OTT. 6s7s maybe being the one combo. A-high FD's can easily be called, K/Q-high FD I don't think there's enough fold equity + overcard is great for rivers. then we block the Js (KsJs type hands). Jamming Ts9s is spewy imo and calling that hand again is fine.
Against his jam, I'm probably more likely to call AsQs type, if I suspect that he is jamming draws OTT. This can be confirmed by checking equity, just depends what you think his range is, but in my calculation AsQs > AcJs (31% to 26%)
Not sure if he would want to jam AJ himself. He folds all my potential bluffs and gets called by mostly better.
I just think that calling works best with most hands on that board, except the nuts.

Great to hear someone agrees with me.
JJ was an exploitable fold vs tighter reg, thinking "Meh, I guess you got it this time"
AT it's also questionable how people 3-bet BB vs CO. Many ppl might be tempted to call J9s and even KJs.

If people double barrel AK/AQ in the AJ hand, then I think he can jam lighter and we should call. So I'd agree with a call. I'm a bit more passive with AK/AQ overcards, but a lot of regs barrel that, a little bit less in mid stakes but still happens. overcards + GS is fine to barrel on that board.
Although there's an argument for "floating" the FD's and bluffing river if we check as pfr. Still think that range manipulation wise calling with draws is best OTT as villain.

well I just hope you understand that folding AJ is very exploitable, and you did it with random assumptions of "I wouldn't shove worse", not based on a specific read of said villain

It was anonymous table. A lot of my volume has been on anon tables lately. That's also why I'm not posting stats.

lol, read AJ as AJss... still calling, not snapping quite so fast though

A for effort.
Played a lot of HU yesterday to get games started. Made some spew here and there. Gotta keep that focus in check. Still waiting for run good. Everyone spews and makes mistakes, they are just less transparent on upswing graphs.


vs weird reg. I don't find excuses to make this call. I just ran some fantasy-scenarios in my head about him floating and raising me light. But I think I will xf this river a lot, so it's nice to xc for balance, but doesn't matter if he has no bluffs.
My sizing could have induced some floats and make him think I'm bluffing tho.

iPoker - €4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): €404.00
SB: €698.62

SB posts SB €2.00, Hero posts BB €4.00

Pre Flop: (pot: €6.00) Hero has Q K

SB raises to €8.00, Hero raises to €28.00, SB calls €20.00

Flop: (€56.00, 2 players) 8 K 8
Hero bets €16.80, SB calls €16.80

Turn: (€89.60, 2 players) 3
Hero bets €44.80, SB calls €44.80

River: (€179.20, 2 players) J
Hero checks, SB bets €125.44, Hero calls €125.44



The ****?? The guy snaps this line, I'm wondering if I'm getting bluffed here by some solver-guy. He was a reg I think.

Microgaming - €4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: €664.00
BB: €644.50
UTG: €425.20
Hero (CO): €564.40
BTN: €406.00

SB posts SB €2.00, BB posts BB €4.00

Pre Flop: (pot: €6.00) Hero has J J

UTG raises to €12.00, Hero raises to €36.00, fold, fold, fold, UTG calls €24.00

Flop: (€78.00, 2 players) 4 3 6
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: (€78.00, 2 players) Q
UTG bets €64.00, Hero calls €64.00

River: (€206.00, 2 players) T
UTG bets €206.00, fold

UTG wins €409.00

spot where it seems like a tight fold, but I want to leave some room for villains to make mistakes. just because he can have literally all the broadway flushes.

Microgaming - €4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: €1,313.01
BTN: €403.00
SB: €125.00
Hero (BB): €483.90
UTG: €810.18
MP: €481.96

SB posts SB €2.00, Hero posts BB €4.00, SB contributes €0.02 to the Bad Beat Jackpot

Pre Flop: (pot: €6.00) Hero has A K

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to €10.00, fold, Hero raises to €34.00, BTN calls €24.00

Flop: (€70.00, 2 players) A 8 A
Hero bets €20.00, BTN calls €20.00

Turn: (€110.00, 2 players) J
Hero bets €88.00, BTN calls €88.00

River: (€286.00, 2 players) 2
Hero checks, BTN bets €261.00 and is all-in, Hero calls €261.00



nit poker. I'm not sure what he would bluff and his range seems uncapped.

Microgaming - €4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: €281.00
MP: €423.50
Hero (CO): €484.40
BTN: €481.90
SB: €489.10
BB: €410.00

SB posts SB €2.00, BB posts BB €4.00

Pre Flop: (pot: €6.00) Hero has J K

fold, fold, Hero raises to €10.00, BTN raises to €32.00, fold, fold, Hero calls €22.00

Flop: (€70.00, 2 players) 2 T K
Hero checks, BTN bets €38.00, Hero calls €38.00

Turn: (€146.00, 2 players) 7
Hero checks, BTN bets €96.00, Hero calls €96.00

River: (€338.00, 2 players) K
Hero checks, BTN bets €315.90 and is all-in, fold

BTN wins €650.90

Wondering if I'm playing too tight when villains do this, it's 200nl tho.

Microgaming - €2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (UTG): €210.70
CO: €291.50
BTN: €207.95
SB: €201.00
BB: €205.00

SB posts SB €1.00, BB posts BB €2.00

Pre Flop: (pot: €3.00) Hero has 7 8

Hero raises to €6.00, CO raises to €18.00, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls €12.00

Flop: (€39.00, 2 players) J 9 3
Hero checks, CO bets €22.00, Hero calls €22.00

Turn: (€83.00, 2 players) 9
Hero checks, CO bets €44.00, Hero calls €44.00

River: (€171.00, 2 players) T
Hero checks, CO bets €207.50 and is all-in, Hero calls €126.70 and is all-in



this one probably too tight too, but it sucks to be readless. need to start considering calling these if villains spew a lot.

Microgaming - €4 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: €412.50
MP: €489.00
CO: €579.68
BTN: €410.60
SB: €410.20
Hero (BB): €445.00

SB posts SB €2.00, Hero posts BB €4.00

Pre Flop: (pot: €6.00) Hero has A T

fold, MP raises to €10.00, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls €6.00

Flop: (€22.00, 2 players) T 3 4
Hero checks, MP bets €16.00, Hero calls €16.00

Turn: (€54.00, 2 players) 2
Hero checks, MP bets €42.00, Hero calls €42.00

River: (€138.00, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, MP bets €114.00, fold

MP wins €249.00

AT is a much closer call then KQ/AK

Yeah that's a spot where it's easier for him to be uncapped. If he ever bluffs KQo or something we have a snap.

yeah this

AK seems really bad, idk what you beat, you even block KXdd

KJss it seems crazy to fold w/o solid reads

87ss fold flop??

why is it a clear overbluff in a 4b pot? (i don't play much HU)

damn these HHs were painful to read, several spots where you fold when you should be calling and vice versa

KJss if you're the villain, this is possibly the worst river card to bluff.
AK when you bet small OTF (< 1/3), I think people can get out of line more often, like overvalue their hand strength. Maybe he jams AT for vlaue or something, thinking I don't bet turn so big with AK.
87ss not folding flop

(big) 4-bet pots happen less frequently, so it's easier for people to make mistakes, like not balance their flop xb range (with overpairs). our range is more uncapped than his I think. KQ pretty nice bluff combo with Qh

I definitely made some calling mistakes. KQ being the worst, then AK could be a close fold. but please tell me where I went wrong