Make Poker Great Again
01-20-2019
, 03:54 AM
Hey everyone,
My name is Matt I am 24 years old from Canada. My goal is to document my journey from mid stakes to high stakes and show that you still can make money and move up the stakes in 2019!
Background
I have been playing poker since I was probably 16-17. So probably around 2010-2011. I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up. I just knew I wanted to be rich. I saw people on TV making millions of dollars playing poker and thought it looked fun and I liked math so I could do that.
After a couple years of not having much success, playing on and off, experimenting with all types of games and strategies, depositing with prepaid visas since I wasn’t 18 yet to be legal or have my own credit card, I was fortunate to find a group of somewhat successful MTT players on Two Plus Two. I started to work with them and this is when I first started to take poker seriously. As you can see from my sharkscope the end of 2013-2014 was pretty good playing micro mtts.
https://www.sharkscope.com/#Player-S...yers/MNRoberts
Unfortunately, around 2014 because of University and some other businesses I was working on, I wasn’t able to put the time into MTT’s anymore like I wanted. So I had to take a break from taking poker seriously. I still played poker every other week at the local casino because I loved the game and always stayed connected with what was going on in the poker world. I just wasn’t trying to get better or make money at that time.
Finally, in the fall of 2017 I decided I wanted to take poker seriously again. Now that my businesses were off the ground and running smoothly, I had a lot more time on my hands. Although this time I wanted to play cash games instead of MTT'S because I could still have that freedom I desired.
I knew I couldn’t do it on my own and I needed a coach or course, so I started with buying Upswing. I thought it was a good framework to start to construct a basic default game plan, but I knew that if I wanted to reach high stakes I needed to learn more, so I applied to a few CFP’s and I got accepted to one on December 2017.
I worked with them up until the summer of 2018. With them I was able to work my way up to 50z, but then couldn't seem to beat that limit. Since I couldn't beat that limit I started changing a bunch of things in my game and ended up not being able to beat 25z anymore. It was unfortunate because I loved the guys at the CFP, but at 50z we were supposed to get 1 on 1 coaching and since they were in Vegas I never got any coaching for 3 months. That is why we mutually agreed to part ways.
Shortly after that instead of a joining another CFP I decided to get hourly coaching from a few different coaches with different styles. I didn’t always agree or get along with all of them, but I did learn something.
I’ve taken all the information I’ve learned over the past year and made my own. I also started to connect and work with some other players at my stakes. Since the summer I have been able to win again and last month I took my first shot at 100z.
Current Results
Just this week I hit my first 100k hands at 100nl. I am not crushing by any means and I still have a lot to work on, but I am happy with my start.
What To Expect
I want to start this thread to document my journey from mid stakes to hopefully one day high stakes. I want to show that you still can make money and move up the stakes in 2019. Is it as lucrative as it once was? No, but that doesn’t mean poker is dead. I feel like there is a lot of negativity in the community and not enough positive success stories.
Strategy/Philosophy
Everyone asks should you play “GTO” or should you play exploitative. In my opinion, this is a flawed question because we don’t yet know true GTO and even if we did as humans it will be impossible to implement. I think the question that should be asked is should we play like PIO vs PIO or use node locked strategies. When I first started playing cash games again my goal was to learn “GTO” as best as I could. When I say GTO I mean PIO vs PIO. I thought if I could do that I will never lose and I will win by default. I quickly realized that it’s impossible to remember how PIO plays on every board and even if i did if you change the ranges or bet size parameters PIO’s strategy will change. So instead of copying PIO what I do is get an idea of how PIO vs PIO would play in a spot. Then I compare that to how I believe population or an individual player is playing. If I think they are playing like PIO I will try my best to play like PIO in that spot. If I don’t think they are playing like PIO (Which is most of the time) I will node lock and use that strategy as my default strategy. If you understand how solvers work you will understand that this is the highest EV play and the true “GTO” solution for that spot. Not PIO vs PIO. So my style is exploitative, but it is actually what is theoretically correct.
Goals
My long term goal is to make as much money as I can over the next 3-5 years to reinvest into my businesses and hopefully into other business ventures in the future. I think for me this is the most realistic path to make a significant amount of money in that short period of time
My 2019 goal is to beat 200z over a significant sample and then start to play some higher stakes on softer sites.
I feel I have the right plan and a good group of friends to help me achieve this goal and I’m excited for a great 2019! Let’s make poker great again and show that the dream is still alive even if it's a bit different than it was before!
My name is Matt I am 24 years old from Canada. My goal is to document my journey from mid stakes to high stakes and show that you still can make money and move up the stakes in 2019!
Background
I have been playing poker since I was probably 16-17. So probably around 2010-2011. I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up. I just knew I wanted to be rich. I saw people on TV making millions of dollars playing poker and thought it looked fun and I liked math so I could do that.
After a couple years of not having much success, playing on and off, experimenting with all types of games and strategies, depositing with prepaid visas since I wasn’t 18 yet to be legal or have my own credit card, I was fortunate to find a group of somewhat successful MTT players on Two Plus Two. I started to work with them and this is when I first started to take poker seriously. As you can see from my sharkscope the end of 2013-2014 was pretty good playing micro mtts.
https://www.sharkscope.com/#Player-S...yers/MNRoberts
Unfortunately, around 2014 because of University and some other businesses I was working on, I wasn’t able to put the time into MTT’s anymore like I wanted. So I had to take a break from taking poker seriously. I still played poker every other week at the local casino because I loved the game and always stayed connected with what was going on in the poker world. I just wasn’t trying to get better or make money at that time.
Finally, in the fall of 2017 I decided I wanted to take poker seriously again. Now that my businesses were off the ground and running smoothly, I had a lot more time on my hands. Although this time I wanted to play cash games instead of MTT'S because I could still have that freedom I desired.
I knew I couldn’t do it on my own and I needed a coach or course, so I started with buying Upswing. I thought it was a good framework to start to construct a basic default game plan, but I knew that if I wanted to reach high stakes I needed to learn more, so I applied to a few CFP’s and I got accepted to one on December 2017.
I worked with them up until the summer of 2018. With them I was able to work my way up to 50z, but then couldn't seem to beat that limit. Since I couldn't beat that limit I started changing a bunch of things in my game and ended up not being able to beat 25z anymore. It was unfortunate because I loved the guys at the CFP, but at 50z we were supposed to get 1 on 1 coaching and since they were in Vegas I never got any coaching for 3 months. That is why we mutually agreed to part ways.
Shortly after that instead of a joining another CFP I decided to get hourly coaching from a few different coaches with different styles. I didn’t always agree or get along with all of them, but I did learn something.
I’ve taken all the information I’ve learned over the past year and made my own. I also started to connect and work with some other players at my stakes. Since the summer I have been able to win again and last month I took my first shot at 100z.
Current Results
Just this week I hit my first 100k hands at 100nl. I am not crushing by any means and I still have a lot to work on, but I am happy with my start.
What To Expect
I want to start this thread to document my journey from mid stakes to hopefully one day high stakes. I want to show that you still can make money and move up the stakes in 2019. Is it as lucrative as it once was? No, but that doesn’t mean poker is dead. I feel like there is a lot of negativity in the community and not enough positive success stories.
Strategy/Philosophy
Everyone asks should you play “GTO” or should you play exploitative. In my opinion, this is a flawed question because we don’t yet know true GTO and even if we did as humans it will be impossible to implement. I think the question that should be asked is should we play like PIO vs PIO or use node locked strategies. When I first started playing cash games again my goal was to learn “GTO” as best as I could. When I say GTO I mean PIO vs PIO. I thought if I could do that I will never lose and I will win by default. I quickly realized that it’s impossible to remember how PIO plays on every board and even if i did if you change the ranges or bet size parameters PIO’s strategy will change. So instead of copying PIO what I do is get an idea of how PIO vs PIO would play in a spot. Then I compare that to how I believe population or an individual player is playing. If I think they are playing like PIO I will try my best to play like PIO in that spot. If I don’t think they are playing like PIO (Which is most of the time) I will node lock and use that strategy as my default strategy. If you understand how solvers work you will understand that this is the highest EV play and the true “GTO” solution for that spot. Not PIO vs PIO. So my style is exploitative, but it is actually what is theoretically correct.
Goals
My long term goal is to make as much money as I can over the next 3-5 years to reinvest into my businesses and hopefully into other business ventures in the future. I think for me this is the most realistic path to make a significant amount of money in that short period of time
My 2019 goal is to beat 200z over a significant sample and then start to play some higher stakes on softer sites.
I feel I have the right plan and a good group of friends to help me achieve this goal and I’m excited for a great 2019! Let’s make poker great again and show that the dream is still alive even if it's a bit different than it was before!
01-20-2019
, 08:22 AM
01-20-2019
, 10:27 AM
Gl gl mate
01-27-2019
, 01:51 PM
Weekly Update
As you can see it wasn't the best week, but nothing I can do it happens.
I noticed myself becoming a station vs recreations a bit too much this week and since I wasn't winning I was more motivated to play than to study. I always find when I don't study my mental game takes a hit. When I review hands or specific spots and I realize I made what I believe is the right play I am way more confident in my game and it really helps me stay focused and play my A game. When I don't, I wonder if I am bad or is it variance? Obviously there is a chance I'm not even beating 100z yet, but I am fairly confident I am because the pool seems great at all times and not as hard as people make it out to be.
So my goal this week is to play 50z for the first few days to get my confidence back up and then make sure I commit to putting in the study time even if it means sacrificing a bit of volume.
Good luck everyone lets have a good week!
As you can see it wasn't the best week, but nothing I can do it happens.
I noticed myself becoming a station vs recreations a bit too much this week and since I wasn't winning I was more motivated to play than to study. I always find when I don't study my mental game takes a hit. When I review hands or specific spots and I realize I made what I believe is the right play I am way more confident in my game and it really helps me stay focused and play my A game. When I don't, I wonder if I am bad or is it variance? Obviously there is a chance I'm not even beating 100z yet, but I am fairly confident I am because the pool seems great at all times and not as hard as people make it out to be.
So my goal this week is to play 50z for the first few days to get my confidence back up and then make sure I commit to putting in the study time even if it means sacrificing a bit of volume.
Good luck everyone lets have a good week!
02-03-2019
, 02:13 AM
Weekly/Monthy Update
Another tough week and my first losing month in awhile. This time around though I am confident in my game and my process and I'm not going to try and switch a lot of things like would've done previously.
February Goals
My goals for February are to establish myself back at 100z and focus on quality instead of quantity.
- 75k Hands
- 10 Hours of study per week
- Talk hands daily with my friends on skype/discord
- Stay confident
Good luck at the tables!
Another tough week and my first losing month in awhile. This time around though I am confident in my game and my process and I'm not going to try and switch a lot of things like would've done previously.
February Goals
My goals for February are to establish myself back at 100z and focus on quality instead of quantity.
- 75k Hands
- 10 Hours of study per week
- Talk hands daily with my friends on skype/discord
- Stay confident
Good luck at the tables!
02-10-2019
, 02:13 AM
Weekly Update
I had a pretty good week at 50nl, so I decided to play 100nl again.
Not the best start, hopefully this week will be better. I have a lot of personal stuff going on this week, so I'm not sure how much volume I will be able to play. Hopefully I'll still get to at least 10k. I've stayed pretty consistent with my monthly goal of quality vs quantity and I am putting in the PIO hours. I feel like it's just a matter of time before I go on another heater and start seeing some better results.
Lets have a great week!
I had a pretty good week at 50nl, so I decided to play 100nl again.
Not the best start, hopefully this week will be better. I have a lot of personal stuff going on this week, so I'm not sure how much volume I will be able to play. Hopefully I'll still get to at least 10k. I've stayed pretty consistent with my monthly goal of quality vs quantity and I am putting in the PIO hours. I feel like it's just a matter of time before I go on another heater and start seeing some better results.
Lets have a great week!
02-11-2019
, 02:23 PM
Quote:
You seem to have your head screwed on pokerwise...so a genuine question or two:
Given, their (frankly cr@p) rewards structure, do you think PS is the best site to grind on?
Have you looked seriously at any other sites? If so, which ones?
And would you agree finding fishypool+OK r/b>>>>>honing technical expertise? (obviously, in a perfect poker world we want both, but the online poker world stopped being perfect a long time ago)
Given, their (frankly cr@p) rewards structure, do you think PS is the best site to grind on?
Have you looked seriously at any other sites? If so, which ones?
And would you agree finding fishypool+OK r/b>>>>>honing technical expertise? (obviously, in a perfect poker world we want both, but the online poker world stopped being perfect a long time ago)
After playing for a year I realized a few things. #1 Rake actually does play a big role. #2 It's a lot more stressful playing with a lower win rate. #3 You can make money and get better at the same time. #4 It's a lot harder to get to 200-500z than I thought. So as a result, I have become more open to looking at playing on different sites.
At the same time Pokerstars definitely has the best software, security, allow Huds, allow you to download hand histories, has liquidity and the pools are actually pretty soft. Not all sites are like that. The rake and no rakeback sucks, I agree. However, if you look at some sites they offer more rakeback, but they have a higher rake so it's effectively the same. It's tough to say how much rake you actually pay in BB/100 because of how the rake cap works and the style you play.
Microgaming has the best rakeback/rake structure I've found. The problem I had with them was the lack of liquidity (At the times and the stakes I played), software and hand histories. Party was good as well, but the problem there was the pools are a lot tougher than Pokerstars. So the rakeback might be cancelled out. Bodog/Ignition has the softest pools I've found, but also has higher rake, not as much liquidity sometimes and the software is pretty bad. I've been told because of how soft Bodog/Ignition is the rake and no rakeback doesn't even matter.
To be honest, I'm not sure what the best way to go is. I've been going back and forth on that lately myself and testing different options. There are pros and cons to every site. I don't think you can go wrong with playing on Pokerstars though. It's not as bad as people make it out to be.
02-11-2019
, 06:41 PM
02-17-2019
, 01:07 AM
Weekly Update
I ended up playing more than I thought this week, even though I took Thursday and Friday completely off. Still waiting for the run good. Been so swingy the past few weeks.
I also felt like firing some mtt's after watching Lex's deep runs last Sunday even though I hate tournaments. Made a deep run in the hot $7.50, but nothing crazy $ wise.
Will this finally be the week to turn things around? Hope so!
I ended up playing more than I thought this week, even though I took Thursday and Friday completely off. Still waiting for the run good. Been so swingy the past few weeks.
I also felt like firing some mtt's after watching Lex's deep runs last Sunday even though I hate tournaments. Made a deep run in the hot $7.50, but nothing crazy $ wise.
Will this finally be the week to turn things around? Hope so!
02-17-2019
, 09:45 AM
Keep at it mate, I can see the beginning of a heater there 