Hi all,

I'm back with another Blog & Goals post, this time focusing on my new objective of getting better at SnG.

I've now been playing poker for about 2years and have learned a lot since i started. I've tried live, online, cash and tournaments, at different stakes. I'm showing a modest profit of 3,000$, although i must say that my volume has not been very high, and most of these winnings came from a lucky Macau session.

I have previously tried (and failed) to put in serious volume on cash tables online, but my schedule is quite restricted and i found it tough to really focus for short sessions. Deep stack poker is also pretty complex and i couldn't find the time to properly study at the same time.

I recently tried playing SnG, one of the formats i haven't tried much so far and I like the fact that it's a simpler game and i can dial in for short sessions at a time.

I am investing all of my bankroll into this challenge, and will give up if i bust.
I am playing 5€ expresso on Winamax and taking shots at 10$ on Global WPT due to a 25% RB deal. Volume on this platform will be low due to lack of games, and no trackers allowed which annoys me, but i feel the field is softer.

My goals will be to:
• Structure a detailed study plan
• Increase volume progressively
• Make progress on the mental game

Study plan:

• Act1 - Study preflop 3way - at 25/20/15/10/8BB depths
  • Learn BU RFI ranges
  • Learn SB vs BU RFI ranges
  • Learn BU response to it
  • Learn SB RFI ranges
  • Learn BB vs SB RFI ranges
  • Learn SB response to it
  • Act2 - Study preflop HU - TBD

Volume goals: reach 1,000 spins

Results so far:

• up 155$ in 67games on WPT
• Down 115€ in 83games on Wina

My CEV is looking good for the moment on Wina so i trust in my strategy.

It's a bit repetitive to learn these pre-flop charts for the moment, but I feel they give me such an edge over the field with villains who either call too much or fold too much, so i need to learn where the balance is first.

I'll report with some updates on the study, volume or mental game !

Well spin and go is not a sit and go. First one is with a random prizepool second one is with fixed. GL anyways. Btw you should start with hu because the money is made there. Not in sbvsbtn 3w.

Fair enough on the naming convention.

Why do you say HU is where the money is made btw ? Because more pots are played postflops and that's where you can have a skill edge, as opposed to 3way which is more card edge/variance driven ?

I thought i would just start by studying the first phase of the game, but you make an interesting point.

Can't think of anything better to do with your life?

Gl in you challenge. I also think HU is more important as all the money goes to the winner and many time your opponents will clash early, leaving you HU 25bb deep. Plus improving HU will help you in other nlhe formats aswell.

Doesn't matter how good you are 3w if you can't finish the game hu.

Got caught up with work and traveling lately, so not a lot of time to put in volume.

But i've followed the advice in this thread, and put in some time to study some HU. I was feeling a bit lost, not knowing how to construct my ranges, so it was good to start with some basics there anyway. Here is my revised study plan:

Study plan:

• Act1 - Study HU preflop- at 25/20/15/10/8/6 BB depths
  • Learn SB ranges
  • Learn BB response
  • Learn SB response to an iso or shove

I usually don't mind learning preflop ranges, but i want to make sure i understand the heuristics behind it to make it more practical. Focusing on BU first.

What i found so far so far for BU is that:

• When 15bb+ deep, Button will pure raise quite polar, and mix limp/raise with the middle of the range
• This protects the limp range with some strong hands that can call an iso, and our trash hands benefit the most from potential fold equity by raising
• As stacks get shallower, the prospect of raise folding a trash hand impact our stack more, so instead we start to limp a lot more
• we also develop a shoving range from 15bb<
• Below 10bb we stop raising and only shove or limp
• We want to limp polar with strong hands that will limp call a shove, or limp fold with our trash

I am studying BB's response and trying to identify the patterns now.

Volume goals: 203/1000 tournaments
Results: -85€
CEV/T: 49

Study update:

I've been using the range builder tool of GTOw to practice memorizing preflop actions.
I've also setup a few drills to practice preflop 3way and HU, and also practice SB position HU for the full hand
I'm doing 2 tables at a time with timebank for preflop to practice my "reflexes" but one table only and for postflop to take my time to go through the range v range thinking process

They're pretty great for warmup too !


Of course these are only GTO drills, and the important thing is to adapt to villain's profile.
I've noticed at the stakes I play a lot of BU limping 3way which is almost always weak (occasionally AA), and then you have either quite passive players, or players who shove a lot vs a limp in BvB or HU.

Mental game:
Even though we play a lot of all in pots and there is ample opportunity for variance to even out, in 250 tournaments I've already gone through a couple of 20+ BI swings.
Thankfully I'm well rolled, but focusing on the results too much leads me to tilt a bit.
Nothing more frustrating than having villain down to 1bb HU on a big multiplier only to have him double up 3x in a row and end up winning it, right ?

I need to work on this part of my game, and for this I need to have more conviction that my plays are correct, which means practicing more.

HUD:
I'm using the basic H2N hud at the moment with vpip/pfr/3b stats, but it feels completely useless.
I'd be more interested to know the shoving % of opponents facing a raise, maybe depending on stack depths etc.
I might need to spend some time setting that up, any tips on useful stats to look at for Spins, let me know!

http://www.snghud.com/essential-one.html Free up to 10$ games and has everything you need.