Hi, My name is Cagdas. I am 20 years old from Germany and I want to share my grind with you. My biggest goal is to be one of the best in the game, I will play and study everyday. Yesterday, I deposited 50 euros to my GG account. I started playing 1-2 dollars buy-in tournaments. I played 7 yesterday and 10 mtts today. I cashed 8 of them and made the 5th on Daily Big 2 euros. I made lots of blunder, but my main leak is playing as short and mid stack. Especially, pre flop. Also, I struggle playing limped pots from SB. I need to feel more comfortable playing shorter stacks. When we are deeper, I feel way better both pre and post flop mainly because I study deep stack play a ton. Now, I will focus more on playing short. I will update this thread every night, posting graphs after a while. BR sits at 86.39 after 1267 hands. I studied charts on GTOWizard and studied LP SB on GTOBase app. I didn't study a lot yet and will keep studying these. I am trying to exploit people as much as I can, but I am not even close to being good. I will be getting better by playing and having more experience.

GL on your journey, hopefully you can bink something and get properly rolled for mtt's, because of variance and all.

Thank you so much KoelVerhaal. My last session actually started pretty bad. I played 15 Mtts. I busted early all of them except my last buy - in. I think it was pretty unlucky session. But things went well and I come up second on Daily Turbo 1 dollar for 121 dollars. Now bankroll is around 172 euros. I have so many leaks on tournaments, I realized the one who makes the most exploits against recs wins the tournament. It doesn't matter so much, if I am winner against good regs if they are way better against recs. I like tournaments more now, there is more room for being creative and game tree is huge.

Good luck

May your BR continue to grow, your studies be fruitful.

Thank you for your support. After 6k hands, bankroll sits around 125 euros.There are some problems I realized: I am calling 3 bets too wide. Especially, if we consider people 3 bet not polarised enough. I am calling rivers too wide and I can play more aggressively. I will be studying late ranges on HRC at least 20 hands a day.

I want to share with you most interesting hands from todays Daily Big 2. We are in the soft bubble I am the chip leader on the table I have 40 BB on SB, there are around 200 players left, I am in top 30. Action folds to me and I raise 3BB with Js9h. BB, who is really active on table, I assume he is regular, has 32BB, calls. Flop comes 6s6hQd. I bet third, he calls. Turn Ah, which brings flush draw, and gutshot probably only with heart. I bet 2/3 he calls. Now there is 25BB in the pot, and I jam on the 7h river which is 20BB effective. He calls, now I am short stack.

Here was my thought process: I had aggressive image on the table, when he calls flop and turn he calls any six, queen and strong aces. I don't think he has any raising range. For me it is really likely that I bet range on the flop, then I hit ace, or flush draw river, and barrel turn, and jam river. In this scenario, he would fold any queen, and some aces. When I think about it right now, I probably punted and should slow down on the turn. In the gametime, I didn't think that he should already be tight because of payout implications and I cover him. I assume he is only should be tight when I jam. Also, I said to myself, I have block Aj, A9, and one heart which looks like perfect combo. What do you think about this hand and what would you do ? It is not Triton, it gg micros, I should probably take the low variance line and he will never fold top pair in this runout.

Here is my second punt: We are in the soft bubble again This Time PKO 2.16dollars , I have 33 BB on SB, MP has 30 BB, raises to 3BB, actions folds to me, I have black tens, and I did my first mistake, I thought I should play tight because of ICM so I can call instead of 3 Bet, I also saw him limping aces, and he was really passive player post flop, which is a reason why 3 bet would be better, he also raises to 3x, I don't think he is doing it with A9o. Flop comes 239 rainbow, I check he bets 75%, and I call. Turn comes 9d then I done showed 23BB. Which is a worst possible thing you can do. My reasoning in the gametime was he either has two big cards, AK, AQ or overpair. If he has overpairs, I would get stacked, if he has two big cards, he will check back, and my tens are vulnerable, villian can hit Ace or King and but those hands will never fold and I will get value. When I think it right now, I believe my reasoning completely wrong and when we think that he already bet big on the flop, I can fold or call on the turn after check.

As you can see, lots of mistake, but I know for a fact, if I put the work, volume and dedication. I will be at the top. I love the game and trust the process.

Jo hows the grind going?

Busto

busto

Hey Everyone,

I didn't bust, even if I bust I will reload anyway and this thread will be closed when I reach high stakes.

Bankroll sits where we exactly started at 49 euros. I am analysing hand and studying on HRC and Equilab. I upped my aggression and call less. But whenever I analyse hands I see a lot of loose calls. I should have make some exploitative folds, taking more notes on people and not playing on autopilot.

Variance plays a big role on my downswing as well as bad plays. I spend most of my time playing late reg. 5k people bounties, which is a huge mental test . Flip after flip after flip etc. But we know that volume cures variance. I will keep playing on the upcoming days. Let's see how it goes.

Hey Everyone, I wasn't posting for a long time, now I will share everything that I experience since I didnt share.
In first week of February, I played in total 3 k hands with -1 all in adjusted bb per 100, I am not going to talk about my stats but I highly upped my aggression, I tried to be careful about my preflop ranges etc. , I wasn't have any deepruns except daily big which is not that deep but I was 42th.
Rest of the February is really really good run in terms of win rate for me, after 7,5 k hands I was winning 16 bb although, there were no significant run except daily turbo 7th, which is not good. When I checked the hands, what I see is not playing late stages effective, rejamming too wide, and not playing conservative on late stages. I see some mistakes from me on Iso pots sb and oop barreling in general, I am looking at my notes and see a lot of sb mistakes oop. On the first week of march is where I put most amount of volume in terms of weekly hand (5K) with 22 bb win rate and moved up to 5 dollars buy in mtts. Here are my some problems,
I checked the spots that I rejam and see clearly I am overdoing it, when we node lock the ranges on HRC, we see when people don't folding enough, we start tighten up. Also one note to 3 betting, when people don't 4 betting enough, we profitably start 3 betting with a linear range and also consisting some suited rappers etc. (the hands that we don't want to get 4 bet ) . Here are the some highlights tournaments : T builder 3rd, daily deep stacks 15th, bounty hunters special 22th, and some min cashes. Again the same problem comes off, not knowing the playing late ranges enough. So in the upcoming weeks, I will be mainly focusing on the things that prevents me doing the most amount of money, I will node lock hands on HRC and studying the spots. Upcoming weeks of of march is where my win rate drops and playing 5 k hands weekly with 5.5 bb win rate. Differences I make was mostly, playing a little wider on the blinds and checked to IP more, it seems like key to exploiting preflop is doing a lots of thinking when playing agressive and knowing how and when to slow down. Best run is unfortunately on the bounty hunters 2.16 34th.This also highlights how important is to knowing how to play late spots. After not running deep on the upcoming week on April my win rate is still high sitting 14bb. What we see over time with my stats is that folding to aggression is becoming more aggressive.
Now after this weeks, my downswing starts, finishing march with negative 4 bb. Now, here are some reasons, first I was moving to the Germany, so I was having bad times changing places, moving to the another apt. etc. I was so focused I guess playing my a game, but what changes in terms of stats, although increasing 3 betting is good for most people, I was doing with really bad cards with no playability etc. calling some river spots is also lost me ton of ev. But all and all it is a still small sample because of other factors I couldn't play a lot of hands but only 11k hands total.
When we comes to the May dates between 1 - today here is the results, 7 k hands with 5 bb win rate, we see that preflop ranges little of the charts, decreasing 3 bet and c bet frequencies resulting in less win rate that I supposed to have. I am making a new fresh start to everything, everyday play and everyday studying as well as regular updates here. I am still the same guy who want to crush high stakes and this forum is not going to be closed until I reached it.Now, I want to make a detailed analysis of my game, from start to finish of any mtt, early stages preflop when deepstack is where the most whales are, and the a lot of ev comes from. Against players not 4 betting or taking the passive lines, we should mostly letting our hands go, close to the bubble stage is where actually most players play tight on the flop preflop etc. Basically we should exploit the player pool and not doing what they do in results.

It sounds like you're on the right track with your poker journey. Keep up the dedication to improvement and you'll continue progressing towards your goal.
Keep us updated on your journey!

So Since the last post I played around 16k hands. I tried the increased my aggression in general but still some spots that I should increase. In the upcoming post I will be more focused on these three things.. Check raising flops / resteal and squeeze spots. In terms of preflop especially sub 30 I need to check some spots on the hands on HRC and also I purchased bbz s poker trainers and charts. Although those are equilibrium ranges it is good to start with them as baseline and really really exploit peoples ranges in the game time and checking the hands after, I also add a warm up routine. After going to the gym. I stopped anything what can make me distracted phone friends etc. and then I am playing some hands on bbz trainer checking spots studying charts and fire up my poker brain and playing, just because school is not my first priority. I want to increase the hours that I am grinding. After my session is done. I gave a break and then review though spots. From todays on I will be adding 2 more tables on pokerstars and I am confident that I will be focusing on them and can play my best game every table because 4 table may sometimes feel so slow. For the future post. I am always hoping deeper runs but I am not super concern about the results just for now. my question should always be whether I am better then the last day so grind going well I am happy with my current situation and gym really makes me string person in general. Playing poker and studying feels like going to the gym. just doing what you should do regardless of how you feel. overtime will make a results and those days are add up.

Hi everyone, I will give you update about my process. Overall, I would say grind did go really really good. That is my first update after I started playing with 6 tables. In this meantime, I played around 15 k hands, with around 5 bb ai adjusted win rate. And also this time I run really good and win rate is 7.5. This time I had more deepruns than ever, here is the overall deep runs look like ps 5.5 nlhe 3rd place with 90 dollars, Daily big 2 82 dollars second place, Sunday turbo 80 dollars 5th place, daily marathon 4th place 250 dollars, last final table of the grind is again 5,50 marathon 7th 93 dollars. 5,50 marathon has my favourite structure ever, it is really slow and you can play tons of hands although there are some regs in the game. I will talk about you guys the hands that I still think in my dream and I can't force myself not to think, which is the most important hand I have ever played and my biggest punt. We are on the final table on 5,5 mini marathon, I am second in chips around 75 bb and the third guy is on my left with sitting 63 bb, I am sitting table with him fırst time and this is our first hand on final table. I open raise queens 2.2 bb and he raises mp ( I am sitting on the ep ) to 7 bb, whenever I have no reads agaınst someone I assume he is playing like population, when he 3 bets on final table I know his range is really polar, he should call with the jacks, queens tens aq etc and 3 bet with a polar range like suited aces kings etc., Generally speaking in the stakes I played no-one 3 bets like this and 3 bets super linear, although I know I should be also polar because of the ıcm pressure, I made a huge punt and 4 bet with queens to fold to a jam, he calls now we are on the flop j83 rainbow, I c bet 25 percent, he calls we have pot sized left turn is 10 which also brings the flush draw, with ekstra gutter I shove and he calls with aces, he holds and I am shortest stack and become the 7th. I am thinking about this and for hours and hours. I will overcome it anyway. Now I will talk about more my stats, leaks what I will going to work on etc. : My resteal is still too low, which I wasn't expecting but I realized I am missing mandatory 3 bet bluffs especially on the big bling and even sometimes not defend enough. that is my major homework for the upcoming update also what I will focus on which is super important is that simulating ranges on Holdem Resources Calculator, final table every scenario when I am chip leader, short, mid stack etc. , final four tables, final 2 - 3 tables with different stack depths, especially node locking and seeing what's changing. If I can make my late game top tier, I think I be making lots of money, because they are the most important spots in the gametree. So major think is this late ranges and especially bb 3 bet ranges. I will comment in general to this grind I had more deep runs than ever I also run really deep although they are not final table, in big field mttss I made lots of top 50, lots of cashed etc. I made more money than ever, It still doesn't mean a lot to me I am way more off than where I should be and I am texting to my future self, I know you are way better and crushing buddy, I will try to be closer and closer to that guy, there is nothing more important than poker to me rn if I exclude my family, health etc. I am still confident but I was more confident a week ago, because I make some incredible punts, the thing to make it in poker is minizme punts, fundamentally being strong and focusing on late ranges. A different comment to 6 tables is I am really confident with that I don't think It really forces me to think faster etc. I will be better everyday but 6 tables doesn't. affect me in a bad way, thus I can put more volume which is really good. I am really really excited for the upcoming week - 10 day period and I am way more excited than ever before, because I saw that I can beat the stake I am although I have really really fundamental leaks which is easily be studied and can be improved. I am also still really really optimistic the way how my future carrier looks like. I will be fundamentally s tier, that's the first step, second step is to put more volume which is grinding as usual, third step is analysing and repeat. I hope I am getting closer to where I want to be. See you next time.

Hey guys, Things are not going crazy, but I will give you quick update, since the last post I played 2 final table 2nd place for 250 euros, and 4th place for only 40 euros ( which was small tournament 2.20 buy in ) both on stars, other is 4,40 nlhe both are slow mtts. In fact, I love slow mtts. Especially freezout. Although in my belief I am running quite bad, I am still playing with 12 bb per hundred and 17 bb per hundred all in adjusted winrate. In gg, I am almost break even. Both are played for around 10k hands. My preflop ranges looks quite good, I feel more confident than ever, and I am also confident about what I don’t know which is really really important in my opinion. Back before, I wasn’t even know what I don’t know but now I am saying that is the spot I don’t know, or yeap now we are shoving A2o here. Vice versa. The good thing is I didn’t make any significant punt like I did in the last post on final table. I did my work and study final table ranges. My also one mistake is to playing too tight in the button on PKOs. I wasn’t give to much attention on how we change our ranges PKOs when we cover them and how much we are becoming polarized on the button. If you ask me I would prefer vanilla mtts because people play tighter and don’t do crazy stuffs which decrease variance and give me edge because people are play a more straightforward game. Since I started this blog it has been a long time but I never play a final table on PKOs. All of them were vanilla. I have some screenshots to work on ranges for PKOs also. For the future, my biggest will is to move up one more and keep doing what I did maybe even more and eventually beeing better and better. When I am playing, although I don’t play ton of table only six, I simplify what I do always, which led me to playing on autopilot in the middle of session, if I made a bad play I realized it is always in the middle, in the beginning and at the end, I feel way more focused. It is not a big thing but I drink lots of coffee before my session and middle so maybe caffeine hit drops, or it is just placebo effect. Let’s hit some deep run!!

Hey everyone, I am here with new update after 8k total hands. Things didn't go well but tomorrow is Sunday funday so new day new chances. I am losing around 3 bb per hundred. Mainly on blinds now I need to check some leaks and what is the difference between now and last update so we can make things better. On poker tracker 4 stats we don't have a big difference between now and the last update and things probably can change dramatically because basically this is a very very small sample. Results also is not good because I didn't make any final table yet after the last update. I will share with you some interest hands. We called call 22s on the small blind against EP open. Flop comes 927 two tone. we are around 100 bb effective on one of the series on ggpoker : 5.40 deep stack special. Villian checks flop, turn comes Q of spades backdoor heart is also bricked. I overbet 150 percent pot ( there are some merit to go larger ) villain calls, river comes 6 of club I ob one more time, villain shoves I fold. What is villains shoving range : any strong flush, straight, set of queens, set of sixes, now the question is villain shoves or call or of them, he will never bluff balanced here, he is 19 percent vpip, fairly tight player, can he check back some flushes on this board ? or also does he checking queens, which he shouldn't anyway. Line didn't makes a lot of sense but I opted for the fold what do you think ? If I put the solver and Nodelock what ı think he is playing, it will fold every bluff catcher but maybe it is very over bluffed line by fish. I really really like the series on gg, I also had a free ticket to mystery bounty 10.80, I did be able to make the day 2. I will try global million 5 one more time, maybe I will also make the day 2 there, except that unfortunately we couldn't make any deep on this serious, I have 2 13th place on stars. 4.40 bounty and 5.50 daily big.Today I will do some hand review mindset reset after this bad week. and start the Sunday with good food some preparation/ warm up. And take my words, this Sunday is gonna be fun. I will still playing 6 tables, didn't affect me in a bad way much, sometimes I feel like I am losing my focus little bit but with time it is going to be even better.

No ones gonna read it if you dont use paragraphs. have chatgpt do it for you. Look:

Hi everyone, I will give you an update about my progress. Overall, I would say the grind went really, really well. This is my first update since I started playing with six tables. During this time, I played around 15,000 hands with around a 5 bb/100 adjusted win rate. Additionally, I ran really good and achieved a win rate of 7.5 bb/100. I had more deep runs than ever before. Here's a summary of the deep runs:

PokerStars $5.50 NLHE: 3rd place for $90
Daily Big $2: 2nd place for $82
Sunday Turbo: 5th place for $80
Daily Marathon: 4th place for $250
Another $5.50 Marathon: 7th place for $93
The $5.50 Marathon has my favorite structure ever. It is really slow, allowing you to play tons of hands, although there are some regs in the game.

I want to talk to you about a hand that I still think about in my dreams and can’t force myself not to think about. It's the most important hand I have ever played and my biggest punt. We were on the final table of the $5.50 Mini Marathon. I was second in chips with around 75 bb, and the third guy was on my left with 63 bb. This was our first hand on the final table.

I open-raised with queens to 2.2 bb, and he raised in middle position (I was sitting in early position) to 7 bb. Whenever I have no reads against someone, I assume he is playing like the population. When he 3-bets on the final table, I know his range is really polarized. He should call with jacks, queens, tens, AQ, etc., and 3-bet with a polar range like suited aces, kings, etc. Generally speaking, in the stakes I play, no one 3-bets like this; they 3-bet super linearly. Although I know I should also be polar because of the ICM pressure, I made a huge punt and 4-bet with queens intending to fold to a jam. He called.

Now we are on the flop: J83 rainbow. I c-bet 25%, and he called. We had a pot-sized bet left. The turn was a 10, which also brought the flush draw. With an extra gutshot, I shoved, and he called with aces. He held, and I became the shortest stack, eventually finishing 7th. I’ve been thinking about this hand for hours and hours. I will overcome it anyway.

Now, let’s talk about my stats, leaks, and what I will work on. My resteal is still too low, which I wasn't expecting, but I realized I am missing mandatory 3-bet bluffs, especially in the big blind, and sometimes not defending enough. That is my major homework for the upcoming update. Also, I will focus on simulating ranges on the Holdem Resources Calculator. This includes final table scenarios when I am the chip leader, short stack, mid stack, etc., as well as final four tables, final 2-3 tables with different stack depths, especially node locking, and seeing what changes. If I can make my late game top-tier, I believe I will make lots of money because these are the most important spots in the game tree. So, the major focus is on late ranges, especially big blind 3-bet ranges.

In general, I had more deep runs than ever. I also ran really deep, even though they were not all final tables. In big field MTTs, I made lots of top 50 finishes and lots of cashes. I made more money than ever, but it still doesn't mean a lot to me. I am far from where I should be. I am texting my future self: I know you are way better and crushing it, buddy. I will try to get closer and closer to that guy. There is nothing more important to me than poker right now, excluding my family and health. I am still confident, but I was more confident a week ago because I made some incredible punts. The key to making it in poker is minimizing punts, being fundamentally strong, and focusing on late ranges.

Regarding playing six tables, I am really confident with it. I don't think it forces me to think faster or anything. I will get better every day, but playing six tables doesn’t affect me negatively, so I can put in more volume, which is really good. I am really excited for the upcoming week to 10-day period. I am more excited than ever before because I saw that I can beat the stakes I am playing, although I have fundamental leaks that can be easily studied and improved. I am also very optimistic about my future career. My plan is to first become fundamentally S-tier, then put in more volume by grinding as usual, and finally, analyze and repeat. I hope I am getting closer to where I want to be. See you next time.

Anyway nice thread.

I would recommend watching some training videos but who knows, that might be outdated in favor of gtowizard and things are you already doing.
ICM study is going to be important as thats when most of the money is made

Thank you for recommendation, you right it looks way better, I will post that way new updates. And I also agree ICM is the most crucial part and I am trying to spend most of my time there.

Hey everyone, I am here with a new update after playing around 10,000 hands. I have to start with this Sunday because I achieved my first real "bink" by winning first place in the Sunday Bounty Hunters Turbo Microfestival for $5.40, earning $1,500 with the bounty! Continuing from yesterday, I placed 4th in the Bounty Hunters $3.20 for $80. Today, I am ready for back-to-back-to-back final tables. In an hour, I will start playing, and hopefully, bink another one.

Updating from the last post, last week I realized that I was check-raising too frequently and with too wide a range, around 20%, which is a lot. I also noticed that I was 3-betting some hands that would be better as calls. I realized I could be more polar, especially in the late stages of the tournament. I am continually improving, and my stats look really good. I am striving to play good aggressive poker.

Early in the tournament, I often encounter players who call with hands like pocket 2s for 200 big blinds, which is something I had not experienced before. This has led me to give up on some rivers and expand my value range against these players as a counter-exploit since they are likely live players who don't raise enough for bluffs. In the stakes I play, this is almost always the case, so going thinner tends to result in more EV than checking in some spots.

Another area I have been working on a lot is post-3-bet out-of-position (OOP) flop play. This is quite complicated, and I was betting a lot on the flop even when going smaller, whereas I should be going bigger. I confidently say I am playing these spots really well for a micro-small stakes grinder. I am also getting used to playing six tables and can focus as if I were playing only four most of the time. I don’t think it decreases my ROI.

This week, I am focusing more on playing big field tournaments because they are more fun despite the higher variance. I am sure I will have a high ROI in big fields, even though I have had great success in small fields, especially on PokerStars.

Another crucial point for me is improving my knowledge of around 20 big blind spots, both in chip EV and ICM. This will get better through playing and reviewing hands on HRC. In the upcoming days, I am looking forward to more deep runs and hopefully moving up in stakes.

Hey everyone, I am here with a new update. Let me tell you what interesting things have happened so far.

I started playing tournaments up to 9 euros in big fields. In the upcoming days, we might see even more wins. For me, every tournament at every level is the same. I love playing the game and especially winning. What excites me is the competition, being better, or having an edge to win. That’s why poker is my passion, and it always will be.

I made a good start in the 8.88 tournament, playing with a 100% ROI. Just kidding, but I did make a great start with a few bullets. This timeframe has been one of my busiest ever because of upcoming exams that I need to pass. I have one left on Monday. The other exams didn’t go well, so I have to excel in the upcoming physics exam.

I couldn’t put in much volume, so I still have around 10k with a 3-4 BB win rate. I would say my stats look good, and I am improving myself on 30-40 BB re-jams and squeeze spots. Preflop, one of the spots where I lose EV is actually the SB, so I am becoming better and better against early position vs. late position, etc. When I have a spot, whether preflop or postflop, I try to think as deeply as possible. Sometimes this is necessary, and sometimes it makes me overthink.

I am still playing 6 tables, rarely 7 if a good tournament is running. I would love to play more tables, but first, I don’t think I am ready to play that many tables. Maybe over time, I can improve my multitabling. Secondly, I need a better setup. I am playing on a small MacBook Air, which hurts my eyes a lot, and the screen is too small. I will visit my family in Turkey next week for 2 months and come back to university afterward. When I return, I plan to update my laptop and buy a big monitor. After this busy time, I hope to be free again to play poker fully.

Another big problem is my HRC being very slow when I make a 4-bet and in big game trees. Sometimes, I set up hands and wait for all of them to solve instead of going one by one, which takes a lot of time. I stopped check-raise betting merged, which I sometimes did with hands that don’t want to play big pots or don’t need protection.

I also want to point out that I made many mistakes against stations on the river in the early stages. One of the spots I really love to play is the bubble, just burst or when we are really deep in the tournament, say 60 people left or at the final table. Playing against passive fish, we make a lot of money in terms of ICM. These guys don’t 3-bet enough, allowing us to open wider and bet more since they have a weak and capped range every time. We get paid when we are aggressive, which I love, although sometimes I don’t slow down enough.

They have too much check-call, check-call, check-fold tendencies, basically providing many printing spots. But when we are early in the tournament, they reenter many times, and I sometimes have no idea what they are going to do. I just get called on a triple barrel by a fish with queen high when I have ace high. It’s crazy. One counter-exploit is to slow down a lot and go super thin for value, forcing me to target some portion of their range on the river. Let’s say in a spot which goes check-call twice on the river, and we have a really weak hand. The thing is, the villain still has to fold some portion of hands, so we have to choose a bet size that makes them fold that portion of the range. Exploitatively, we can bet smaller since most of these guys don’t have a check-raise range on the river for bluffs. When they do, the only thing left is if we beat enough value, etc.

I guess the key is to play equity-driven in every single spot of the game tree. I am just waiting for this exam to be finished so I can start fresh. I will finally have a lot of time, and my only hope is to play more, study more, and win more. That’s the path forward.

Hey everyone,

I'm back again with new update, This time, I'm writing from Turkey, where I'm visiting my family and enjoying a bit of a "school holiday." Although, it's far from a holiday for me—this is my hustle time. I'm planning to spend the next two months going to the gym, studying poker, grinding at the tables, and winding down with a few free hours at the end of each day.

First off, I'm excited to share that I finished 4th in the PokerStars Big $4.40 tournament for $200! It was quite a ride, especially considering how the final hand played out. I was 4th in chips with AQo in the MP and opened for 2bb. The BTN, who was 3rd in chips, cold-called. The flop came A78 with a flush draw. I bet out of position, he min-raised, and I called. The turn went check-check. The river brought a straight-completing T, and with less than a pot-sized bet left, I jammed. He called with a straight. Despite the frustrating finish, it was a great tournament overall. I spent hours as a short stack, battling back to make the final table. I didn't even start any new games when I was down to one table around 11 pm, planning to review hands and sleep instead. Luckily, the cards fell my way, and I made it deep.

Reflecting on my recent play, I've been working on squeezing spots and decreasing my c-betting frequency out of position. I realized that missing these opportunities has cost me money. I'm confident these adjustments will pay off in the long run. Suprisingly, as an exploit I can still c bet way way more than GTO play because clearly people drastically overfold in my limits still.

I've also played around 10,000 hands again, maintaining a solid 5 BB win rate, which is really good. All my stats showing aggression are increasing, which is a positive sign of my progress. In my grind, I started experiencing a lot of 30th-50th places, which is not only really good for my future ROI but also shows that as long as I keep playing good aggressive poker, I will be crushing final tables with big stacks. Grinding on 8 dollars tournaments goes still really really good, I have experiencing no problem with moving up so far.

I will be changing my routine in Turkey a little bit by starting my grind earlier in the day. This adjustment should help me maximize my productivity and make the most out of my time here.

See you guys on Sunday, I will be changing my update routine also to every week on Sunday after my grind.

Hi guys,

I’m here with a new update for my blog today. I’m writing this after my Sunday grind. I put in a lot of volume, playing around 3000 hands, but overall, it was a really bad session for me. Despite playing a lot of MTTs, I only cashed in four times, with no significant runs except for a 18th place in the Daily Deep Stack for $20. Other than that, it was just a lot of coolers and losing hands.

As I mentioned in the last update, I started playing earlier today. I began at around 11 AM and finished at 8 PM. I’m not sure if I’ll keep this schedule in the future, but I’ll definitely stick to it while I’m in Turkey because it fits better with my overall routine. The biggest downside of playing earlier is missing out on the biggest tournaments, like the Bounty Highrollers Micro on PokerStars and the Bounty Hunters Mine on GG Poker, with guarantees of $40K and $25K daily, respectively.

Since my last update, I’ve been playing with really good stats. My squeeze frequency has increased significantly, as it should. I’m jamming much better because I’ve focused mostly on those spots. I’m not here to make bad comments about other players' strategies, but I want to mention two regulars on PokerStars whom I face almost every day. It's odd because they play very "fishy" yet participate in almost all tournaments. Maybe they are just bad regulars who play old-school strategies, but I’m not sure if it’s a great approach because it seems quite losing to me.

Now, I want to share a hand of the day. I’m not bragging about my situation; I never do that, and I won’t in this blog. I’m just sharing this hand because I play against this regular super regularly, and we can discuss if it’s possible they exploit my calls or if they are just players who enjoy playing poker daily and are on the calling station side.

Middle position opens to 2 blinds. We are 50 blinds effective. Middle position 1 calls, cutoff calls, and I’m on the button with A4s. I squeeze to 4x, middle position and middle position 1 fold, and the cutoff calls. The cutoff is the villain I mentioned. The board comes J93 rainbow. I bet one-third, and he calls. The turn is a 6, a brick. I barrel again, and he calls. The river is an 8. I check back, and he shows Q8s. And pot goes to him, I actually consider about shoving the river, but there are some missed draws we win and I don't think station player folds their top pair in this spot anyway, I immediately noted this hand. He will lose a lot if he keeps playing like this.

Other than this hand, the session was full of calling stations. Since I just started playing this hour newly, I didn’t have a lot of players tagged already and know how to exploit them.

My next update will be on Sunday. I will keep posting every Sunday after my session and hand review. I have big hopes for the upcoming week because I feel really confident with my play. I know I have a big win rate in the stakes I play and good ICM knowledge.

See you next time !

Hi guys,

I’m here with a new update for my blog today. After my Sunday grind, I've got a lot to share. I put in around 8,000 hands this week with an 6 BB win rate. While that’s solid, there’s definitely room for improvement.

One thing that stood out was my VPIP—it's on the lower side, and I feel it could be higher. I also had some internet issues during my grind here in Turkey, which didn’t help my performance. An odd stat this week was that my resteal frequency is higher on the small blind, which could be a variance issue, but anyways.

A major frustration was missing value on the river. Knowing that I could have played better is always tough to swallow, especially since these are spots where I should capitalize. My aggression stats are on the better side overall, but my river calling efficiency is lower than I’d like. I made some bad calls, and it bothers me because I know that if I had thought just a little more, I wouldn’t have called them off.

On a positive note, I increased my donking frequency, which helped me play turns and rivers more aggressively. But it is sometimes tough to miss some bluffs while multitabling.

This week, I made it to three more final tables, though the results weren’t as good as I’d hoped. I finished 9th in the Bounty Builders $4.40, 6th in the Bounty Builders $7.50 for $200, and 9th in the Bounty Hunters $2.50 for $100. All of these were yesterday. I also finished 15th in the Bounty Hunters $3.20, but there were no significant runs beyond that. Despite a lot of cashes, my bankroll didn’t grow much this week.

I have tons of interesting preflop spots, but I want to share with you guys three Postflop hands that stood out to me:

Hand 1: Bounty Builders $3.30
We were really deep, and one of the players was all in with less than 1bb. I squeezed with A7s on the button because of the deep stacks, making it 9bb against UTG and UTG+1. UTG folded, and UTG+1 called. The board came 285 rainbow. I c-bet half pot to make underpairs indifferent, fold out better Ace highs, and obviously junk hands. He called. The turn was a 9. I checked, he bet, and I folded. He showed 23o. It was absolutely mind-blowing—a terrible play on his part. I had thoughts like, “I never seen worse player than that,” running through my head. Which this "bad mentality is really really harmful and something I have to definitely improve, being calm is sometimes may be more important than how you play your hand, because you inner thoughts can make you convince another bad play like this :

Hand 2: Daily Deep Stacks $5
We were super deep with 200 big blinds. I defended my big blind with 106s (not sure which suited combo). The board gave me an open-ended straight draw, 234 rainbow. I could have led out, but he c-bet, and I made a 4x check-raise. The turn completed both my hand and his potential A-high. I bet 2x pot, and he called—he was never folding his straight there. The river came the J of clubs, completing his flush. I bet 2x pot again, and he check-raised. I made one of the worst calls of my life. I would never normally make that call, but sometimes you have to accept and learn from your mental mistakes. It’s not just about hand analysis—a huge part of the game is mental. I honestly accepted that it was the nut flush 99% of the time, but I made the call anyway. I know my mistake, and I know it’s going to happen. Better warm-up and meditation before sessions are key, and I’m sure I’ll get more deeps and more chances in the future. Me and poker mindset will grow up day by day.This hand is a harsh reminder of how much mental discipline is needed in this game

Hand 3: Bounty Hunters $2.50 (Final Table, 5-Handed)
I opened with 88, and the small blind—a weak, passive player—called. The board came 9c Jc 6s. I bet a third of the pot, and he called. The turn was the Ac. With a pot-sized bet left, I decided to check. I didn’t think I had enough fold equity, even though the card was good for my range. Plus, I had some other bluffs to jam, and I figured he wouldn’t check-raise enough even though he covered me. The river came Js. He checked, and I jammed, bluffing the river. He was super capped and likely to fold close to 100% of his range. It was a really profitable jam, and after a couple of seconds of thought, he folded.


Looking ahead, I’m more hopeful. I am not happy at all on final tables, I will review every hand I played, I know I have an edge on Final tables, I could've get better results next time. I’ll focus on better reviews and improving my decision-making in those crucial spots. See you next Sunday!

Hello guys, I’m here with a new update.

For the first time, I'm sharing some really disappointing results. This week, I experienced the worst early game run I've ever had. Honestly, it shook me to the core, and I started questioning my game. Despite feeling really confident just a week ago, I found myself in a tough spot, trying to escape losing pots. Don't get me wrong—I still know what I'm capable of and believe I'm a solid winner in terms of both win rate and ROI. But the reality is, I'm currently losing 9 BB/100 after 8k hands.

I know this is just a rough patch and that after a few more thousand hands, I'll be back to winning. However, I never thought it was possible to lose 9 BB/100 over 8k hands with the knowledge I have. Variance is crazy, but I won't just blame it on variance and move on. I'll break down some of the big pots I lost later.

This week, I played around 8k hands. All the other stats look "normal," and like previous weeks, my aggression is where I want it to be. My river calling efficiency, which was a bit off last week, is now at 5, though it should probably be lower—likely just variance. Unfortunately, living with my parents has disrupted my schedule, leading to inconsistent playing times, which affected my volume and results. Some days, I played at night; other days, I started without a warm-up, and so on. That’s why I only managed 8k hands this week.

On the brighter side, I did have some decent tournament results:

2nd place in the $5.50 Vanilla on PokerStars for $110.
17th place in a $5.50 Bounty on PokerStars for $180.
1st place in a $5.50 tournament for $180.
3rd place in the Bounty Builder $3.30 Turbo for $150.
4th place in the Bounty Hunters $2.50 on GG Poker for $95.
6th place in the Bounty Builders $7.50 on PokerStars for $200.
9th place in the Bounty Builders $4.40 for $26.
Overall, it was a great week ROI-wise, especially considering I only played 8k hands. I attribute my ability to secure good results to what I’ve been discussing here for weeks. Despite running really bad in the early game, I’ve learned how to play the short stack preflop and how to improve my late-game performance. I've spent weeks studying my least successful aspects, and it’s paying off. Even though I'm currently losing per 100 hands, my short stack and ICM play have kept me competitive, and I’m seeing the results in my final table appearances.

My biggest allies this week were BBs preflop charts and the Holdem Resources Calculator. I’ve been running sims to improve my game, learning Nash, studying how the solver plays, and more importantly, understanding why the solver makes certain plays. It’s not just about memorizing charts—it's about applying the knowledge effectively.

To sum up, I’m happy with how I’m playing overall, even though I’m down this week. I’ll keep improving my short stack and ICM game, and I’m 100% sure that we’ll see more wins with a solid positive win rate. I’ll keep doing what I do—more reviews, finding more leaks, working on them, and slowly but surely, you’ll see me on higher stakes.