April 2024 results




Not the result I was hoping for. Ended up winning this month but considering that I managed to lose over 50% of the profit in the last 1.5 weeks really bothers me. I was up around 2.2k € after the first 20 days of the month playing NL50 and a bit of NL100 but then my big downswing started. Thankfully I dropped NL100 early on when things weren't going my way but at the moment I have been losing in NL50 aswell. I knew a big downswing was long overdue and I am slowly getting used to losing every day. However I believe its better to have a big downswing early on in my career and learn how to deal with it when the money in question isn't that significant. 5th month in a row running below ev btw

On a positive node my game improved a lot this month. I fixed all my biggest leaks and started to develop strategies for each board instead of just playing by feeling. I also connected with other poker players to study and discuss poker together. Outside the tables I improved my quality of life by eating healthier, quitting alcohol, sleeping more and exercising every single day.

April was my first month where I exclusively focused on poker. Resultswise a disappointing month but at least I made some progress in my game and learnt a lot. For May I plan on putting higher effort on studying and obviously getting out of the downswing.

Not quitting before a +10k month

Played my last session of April. Made a cool 9 BI comeback which brings my April total to +1045€

Here's hoping my downswing ends today



H1 - Idk why I even bother against ppl who don't like folding

iPoker - €0.50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 3 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 102.84 BB
BTN: 113.54 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 8 K

fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, BB calls 2 BB

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) 9 Q J
Hero bets 1.98 BB, BB calls 1.98 BB

Turn: (9.96 BB, 2 players) 7
Hero bets 12.44 BB, BB calls 12.44 BB

River: (34.84 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero bets 82.58 BB, BB calls 82.58 BB

Hero mucks 8 K (High Card, King)
(Pre 65%, Flop 29%, Turn 16%)
BB shows 9 8 (One Pair, Nines)
(Pre 35%, Flop 71%, Turn 84%)
BB wins 197 BB


H2 - Found the solvers favourite river raise canditate


iPoker - €0.50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 39 BB
CO: 102 BB
Hero (BTN): 209.36 BB
SB: 114.32 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 202.64 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 7 7

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.22 BB, fold, BB calls 1.22 BB

Flop: (4.94 BB, 2 players) Q J 6
BB checks, Hero bets 1.62 BB, BB calls 1.62 BB

Turn: (8.18 BB, 2 players) A
BB checks, Hero checks

River: (8.18 BB, 2 players) 6
BB bets 6.2 BB, Hero raises to 23.68 BB, BB calls 17.48 BB

Hero mucks 7 7 (Two Pair, Sevens and Sixes)
(Pre 83%, Flop 78%, Turn 89%)
BB shows 3 6 (Three of a Kind, Sixes)
(Pre 17%, Flop 22%, Turn 11%)
BB wins 53.86 BB


H3 - Some rungood

iPoker - €0.50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): 189.2 BB
SB: 102.94 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T T

SB raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 11 BB, SB calls 9 BB

Flop: (22 BB, 2 players) J 8 T
Hero checks, SB bets 3 BB, Hero raises to 21.48 BB, SB calls 18.48 BB

Turn: (64.96 BB, 2 players) 7
Hero checks, SB bets 70.46 BB, Hero calls 70.46 BB

River: (205.88 BB, 2 players) 8

Players agreed to run it twice.

River #2: (205.88 BB, 2 players) 7

SB shows K 9 (Straight, Jack High)
Board #1 (Pre 32%, Flop 25%, Turn 74%)
(Straight, Jack High)
Board #2 (Pre 33%, Flop 26%, Turn 76%)

Hero shows T T (Full House, Tens full of Eights)
Board #1 (Pre 68%, Flop 75%, Turn 26%)
(Full House, Tens full of Sevens)
Board #2 (Pre 67%, Flop 74%, Turn 24%)

Hero wins 102.44 BB
Hero wins 102.44 BB

My best NL50 session followed by my worst NL50 sesh

this game is sadistic

May 4th


May 5th




Also reached 50k hand breakeven period

Graph since 1st of April 2024 when I started playing NL50 as my main stake. 7k hands of NL100 as well.



I'm not sure 50k hands is a meaningful sample but I have a feeling something big is clearly wrong in my game to have such stalling results in an easy game like NL50. Also noticed that my redline has been losing lately and I'm not sure if that's something desirable in low stakes. In a way my downswing made me passive and timid to the point that I am no longer better than the passive fishes I'm up against.

I am still motivated to play however my focus has been terrible. I experimented with playing up to 9-12 tables simultaneously and noticed my results being worse compared to playing 4-6 tables. Funny thing is that in April I made most of my profit playing 4 tables on a shitty laptop while being isolated in a cottage. As soon as I got home to a better pc and a bigger screen I couldn't win a single dime.

Im going back to maximum of 6 tables to see if my results improve and then perhaps start to slowly add more if I really feel like it.

I agree with not playing more than 6 tables. It's the max I can play without turning into a zombie. 4 is the max I can play if I want to think deeply about decisions.

Losing redline is not necessarily a problem, although losing more than 5bb/100 without showdown is probably a warning sign.

On the other hand, a redline that is winning more than 5bb/100 may be a warning sign as well.

Saw this graph a while back

Took a few days off then returned to the tables with newfound motivation. Moved a big portion of my roll to Stars since I really wanted to take part in SCOOP-series even though I mostly play cash. Also the software is much better compared to the 2003 looking like IPoker software.

Apart from couple mincashes, my SCOOP results have been marginal so far. However I managed to book a nice win in another MTT.


Regardless of decent success in MTTs, I'll still stick to cash games as my primary focus. Even with the added boost to my roll I'll keep playing NL50 for a while to make sure I feel comfortable in that stake before moving up. Most likely shotting NL100 again if the next 1-2 weeks go well.

Managed to pick up a study routine again and after dropping the amount of tables I play simultaneously I can actually think deeply about spots and reduce my spewing

VGG! I'm surprised with the bounties amount, it looks really low compared to the 1st prize win! any explanation?

GL for the grind

Ty

A lot of variance in Mystery bounty tournaments. Got most of my eliminations when there were <40 players remaining and all the biggest bounties were gone already

Nice Score, Well Deserved!



Found a picture of you at the moment of the win





P.S. What was the winning hand?

Lmaooo

May 2024 results


Great month overall with a slow start. During the first week I was still going through a downswing that started at the end of April and I felt like nothing was working for me. I managed to get breakeven eventually from the IPoker games but I was getting really fed up with cash and the site so I took a small break and started playing on Stars. I got hit with a security check right off the bat which took me 2-3 days to solve.

After a tedious start in cash I decided to experiment MTT's since I have heard about them being way softer. Literally one of the first MTTs I registered this month was a $11 mystery bounty that I managed to bink for 3,6k.


A big win made me add some MTT's to the side while playing cash and with the SCOOP-series running simultaneously I started adding some $22-$55 BI SCOOPs to the side without real success. Reached few day 2's on big events but had some trouble holding with AK against a worse ace.


NL50 regtables + zoom


Overall cash on Stars went great. A part from 1 big losing day I basically made profit every single day I played. Also managed to fix my focusing issues by dropping to 4 regtables and 2 zoom tables.

Had 1 shot at NL100 where I lost 5-6 buyins immediately and refrained from playing stake again. I made around the same amount in rakeback so I guess that evens out.

Overall results:
Cash including rakeback: +1350€
MTT's +2950€
Total: +4300€

I am graduating tomorrow but after that I'll keep my full focus in poker for June. My current goal is to reach +10k months consistently. I know it's going to be hard given the current climate in poker but I believe it is possible if I just work hard enough.

A week of NL100



Since June began I have been exclusively playing NL100 on stars and it hasn't exactly been a smooth sailing. Started out quite well but last 2 days have been brutal. Note that I am only playing regtables and stars has a cap of 4 cashtables maximum for some genius reason. Getting more hands in to combat variance isn't easy with just 4 tables especially when I'm boycotting playing zoom. Now that SCOOP is over and the new rb is lower than before I don't see the reason continuing playing on Stars instead of IPoker.

I think it's a good decision to play regtables over zoom. Maybe you can get some roll on one more site which you can add on 2 tables to your regular stars grind? atleast the upside about 4 tabling is you can really think deeply about your decisions (and what your opponents are doing) and pay attention to detail which will allow you to progress fast. gl

The Wrap Up

It's been a while since my last update mainly due to losing interest in blogging. I actually took a big break from poker in June and it took me a while to get back on track. Another reason for blogging inactivity is me joining a small study group with 4 other Finns in July. Since joining I have discussed poker there almost daily and I much preferred posting HH's and updates in a small group instead of 2+2.

To sum things up everything is going really well. I got access to a lot of study material from the study group and made noticeable improvements on my game. I made around 1.5k in July however it was the first month where I studied poker more than I actually played it.

For August I got lazy with studying and instead just played way more than previously. I experimented with grinding 10-12 tables simultaneously and it went quite well. It allowed me to put more volume in a month at a cost of slightly lower winrate. I managed to break trough NL100 a while ago and grind it for decent profit. This week I also started adding NL200 to my grind when the tables were good. At the moment I'm up 10 BI on that stake.

August:


For September I plan on dropping to max 8 tables and try to actually think deeply about spots instead of masstabling NL50-NL200 brainlessly. I mainly play on a countrylocked IPoker skin so there isn't many NL100+ tables running at the same time. I often had to add NL50 tables to my grind to reach 10 tables.


As the title suggests I am wrapping this blog up for now. Perhaps I'll update again at some point if I manage to reach NL1k+ or something similar. I want to thank everyone who gave advice and commented on hands that I posted here while I was still starting my poker journey. Special shoutouts to TripleBerryJam and Swerbs for advice and connecting me with likeminded poker players.


Cheers

KHANYAY

Congratulations on your success, enjoyed following your journey.


And best of luck in reaching your max potential in this unforgiving game.


Last but not least...
"....Everybody want to know what I would do if. I didn't win."

You have made great progress! well done man, gl in the future

Hey KHANYAY

Another Finnish grinder here. Thanks for doing this PGC and sharing your progress. Congrats on your success! I was on a similar journey going from 10z to taking shots at 100z. Struggled a lot with motivation and probably studied more than I played. Never got to the point of switching to regular tables or other sites than PS before life happened and I went offline for a long time. Back now though but a bit more casually.

How do you find the 100nl player pool on our beloved site? I have a friend that has been crushing 20 and 50nl over a lot of hands there, but he also mentioned that 50nl+ there just isn't a lot of action to play whenever you feel like it.

Funny thing, finnish is my second mother tongue and I still don't know poker terminology in finnish that well. Never studied with finns and never been on finnish poker forums.

Good luck man. If you want to connect in some shape or form, shoot me a DM.

lol mate sick graph gj you're killing it