A don't flop prop bet would be interesting! One of my friends was doing quite well in DF.... until some Canadian dude ruined him and used some pretty personal things against him.
If your into DF you'll know who I mean.

Haha I am reading this thread while watching Don't Flop Ogmios vs Quill on Reddit. Please do a try out battle pads!

Is Soul really a full time live grinder in Edinburgh? That's hilarious. He does seem pretty clever.

And how is Jeff these days Gmancrief?

Yeah I doubt I'll stay till Christmas maybe just one month after wsop, play bellagio cup, 5m guarantee in Florida or wherever it is etc.

Thanks bro we will gettem eventually

Really? I heard he was a 50 rakeback pro, maybe I can swap coaching for coaching.

Yeah people hate on America a lot but everybody treats you great, you can get anything you want, whenever you want it, weather is great and people really love you if you're foreign with an accent.

Weather is great at the moment not too hot at all. I go to the pool without lotion and don't burn at all.

Gl in Vegas man,

Today was a long day! I slept in a little late after they told me yesterday if I was late they wouldn't take my chips. I got to the rio and my stack was 6700 instead of 7500. I had to make a decision quickly as every hand my chip stack was getting lower and lower. I decided to text all my backers that they wouldn't have action and just treat it as an expensive lesson. I quickly got to 9k and texted all the guys (30-40%) that they could free roll my action at the same %s to hopefully get some karma on my side!

My initial table was pretty good, I chipped unto 17k without really anything funky happening. I then got moved tables to an absolutely fantastic table with 30 minutes left of the level before the break. I bet/folded 3 rivers when I was value betting the top of my range vs the old guys who just clearly had it. I would have made those calls this time last year but I really tried to focus and make the best exploitative decisions possible when playing vs the weaker opponents. I was down to 13k and I'm not sure why but I felt really tilted. I wanted to have my 17k, the break came at exactly the right point, but it was alarming that mentally this had cropped up, I hadn't misplayed any hands because of it yet, so perhaps I was saved by the bell. I told Rob on the break that I was feeling like I may do something slightly needless but assured him I felt ok and would just play every pot as well as possible. Coming back from the break I call from the bb with AQhh and the QT8hhx flop gets checked around, the turn is the off suit 5 and I bet big, I think he is either ALWAYS calling, or NEVER calling here, so I should go as big as possible, especially as a lot of the hands I get value from are one street hands, IE he will call 99 on the turn and fold river very often, same for AJ/AK. River is the QT85T and I bet again pretty big and he tank raises me and this is the first hand after the break where I felt like I would do something stupid. Now he never really has better than AT except for potentially 55. On the river I felt like I could turn my hand into a bluff now and make him fold a naked T, I can have 88, QT, T8, J9, 55 and he can't really have many of those, but I just decided you know what, livepokerlol. I was left with 8k, when I had 17k like 45 minutes previously and was literally the dream table, it was so fantastic that if I got upto 25k I could take all the chips on the table slowly.

I decided to just really focus and keep my head, I felt like this trip I've played really good so far, I really don't regret much at all from the tournaments I've played, but it was alarming that I was feeling like this. I started to small ball as much as possible, Dan Shak was on my direct left and I know he's super sticky, so whenever I had a big hand I just exploitatively bet very large and when I cnet the flop with some back doors or whatever I just bet small. There's no reason to be balanced vs him. I got back upto 15k and then started opening around 75% of pots, I didn't get 3bet once when I opened perhaps 30 hands out of 40. Everybody laughed a little every time, but they didn't want to do anything about it. I got unto 40k literally from being a red-line warrior and then decided to 3bet Candace Colins with AKs, a tilted Chinese woman cold called and I bet twice and checked river in pretty large inflated pot on A32J5 and lost to 22. Again I didn't feel too great, but tried to keep some form of composure. I was talking a lot at the table and generally I've been really happy with my table behaviour this summer I basically switch from complete stare down to talking non stop, just depends on the table.

I get moved from literally the dream table to a tougher table with Craig Mccorkell, Firaldo and a few other good regs, I just decided to play tighter abit. All a bit of a blur the last 4 hours of the day but was relatively swingy. I basically got to 50k from 20k and then lost KK v AJ for a really nice stack, it wasn't really huge, but just that nice cushion that puts you on 100+bbs relatively close to the money. I don't know why but I felt really bad losing this 70/30, I mean its a 70/30, I'm going to lose it so often, there's no need for me to have the sense of entitlement to win the pot. I think just because of a poor Monaco/SCOOP/Vegas so far I was thinking to myself "ffs when will it end" but it's a very bad mindset to have, I just need to focus on how many big blinds I have and exactly how my strategy is. Again I climbed back to 50k and was feeling good, I get al in with KK v 87s and lose again and again my mindset was too weak. I didn't splurge any chips because of it, but it shouldn't have been on my mind how I felt, I should have felt fine about my situation. Get a third A4s < 98s after grinding it back up some more, but was kinda OI at this point.

I played 2 very big pots vs Craig. Won one, lost one. One was standard one was very debatable, probably post more about them at a different point but don't want to write to much strategy in this post and focus more on my mental state throughout as it didn't feel completely peak.

The end of the day came and I had 80k. The day had gone similar to the 25k in Monaco, I was playing great, ran bad, played very focused and had a good stack at the end of the day, 1.5x average and then it just felt I like here I wanted to avoid to play a big pot at the end of the day, like I was hoping to stay out of trouble, I was dealt q6 on the last hand of the day and I was probably happier than if I got AQo.

I finished the day with 79,400, coming back tomorrow at 600/1200, 200 left, 180 pay. I feel very satisfied about my play, but with my mental game apparently as weak as it felt, there's only so much I can fight. I'm going to prepare tomorrow better, today I just slept in late and then played. I will 100% be meditating and trying my best to do a workout too because every day that had made me feel mentally satisfied and calm.

Lets go bracelet hunting!

Hi Patrick, wishing you all the best in the series.

Saw your comment about staying longer. From my experience several years ago when I spent a lot of time in California they are really rigid about visas. I assume you are on a 90 day tourist visa, if you overstay this then when you leave the country eventually it will be GG and you may well be banned for ten years. You also can't do visa runs to Canada or Mexico, you have to leave the entire continent and when you come back you can get another 90 days, but if you do this too much, to obviously or if someone has a bad day then again. GG.

Maybe you are secretly half American though or you have another way of getting a visa up your sleeve!

Im not sure if Patrick could get a work visa (might be difficult to prove professional poker) or student visa if he takes a couple classes at UNLV. Just some other, positive, thoughts.

Every time i read this blog i feel like a 9 year old girl watching a backstreet boys concert back in the days...

I just love it, vaaamoooos pads!!!!

one mistake we all make is emphasizing to much on how we react to the things that happen to us, feeling "hurt" tilted or w/e to lose a 70/30 is pretty damn normal. So by accepting its standard and maybe even expected to feel these things we can let them go and brush them off a lot easier.

Its like you know you will lose 30 times out of a 100, same applies to what our feelings about it are


glglgl

I look forward to Pads update for day 2 of 6-max. He seems to be crushing souls in it... GLGLGL!

Looking forward to hearing about "the speech:"

<<Patrick Leonard Gets Paid

Patrick Leonard is in the small blind and calls an open from the player on the button. Leonard check-calls a bet on the flop of and both players check the turn card .

The river is the and Leonard checks only to face a bet of 15,000 into a pot of just over 17,000. Leonard check-raises to 41,500 and gives a little speech. It seems to work as his opponent calls and Leonard shows him his straight for the winner.

Patrick Leonard - 177,000>>

Glgl, I'm loving this PGC.

let's get themmmm

wow the guys reporting this year are terrible and most of the updates from them sound super unprofessional, bring back PN!

vamoo pads, be the peoples hero!

360+k on break. 70 left think I'm chipleading. Played a very very different style today which is basically very little 3betting pre and lots of 2x potting post! #bracelethunting

Fantastic Patrick.

Best of Luck

Thanks for the twitter updates, the wsop.com coverage is so poor, according to them you're still sitting with 177k. Good luck!

Have 460-80ish on dinner break. 60 left, bb5k.

Gogogo sick field left get bracelet out of way .

CRUSH!!!!!

le bust unfortunately.

mixed emotions.

Day 2 $1500 No Limit

So we started this table with a very good table, I had 3 weaker regs who would let me take their chips very slowly on the bubble period, then KuuL who plays very, very good but very solid. He wouldn't just start 3betting me very wide because I'm opening wide, then a aggro Spanish guy that wanted to play big pots. My strategy with these guys who look/feel very vamp is to 3bet them with ATC the first hand and snap fold when they 4bet so they know I'm messing. I'll never 3bet them again until I can 3bet induce. He opened the button, I 3bet 73o from the SB and he 4bet and I snap folded and tried to flash the deuce "accidentally". My strategy vs the rest of the table was that I wasn't going to have a 3bet range at all, but I was going to call very wide pre flop and put in maximum pressure post flop. I basically have two different strategies depending on the table, I either flat everything, allowing me to play a wider range of hands and really try to run over the table or I play very tight and just very aggressive pre flop. The third strategy is the conventional strategy that is just "play each hand as it goes"

A super, super, super vamo Brazilian moved to our table and went bananas, first hand he 5b/c A7hh and flopped an ace vs some Canadian reg and he really tried to bulldoze. I was 2 to his right with a lot more chips, but I didn't 3bet him at all, I just peeled wider, we played a lot of pots and lots of very interesting ones but here are two I remember.

He raises button (7/7 button steals) I flat AKo in the big blind. Flop AJ9ss I c/call. Turn AJ9Qssdd check, check. River AJ9QT and I give a kind of sign like **** this is such a bad river and check, he bets 15 into 17ish and I start squirming my eyes a little bit trying to pretend like I may do something silly. I eventually made it 41500 and he tanked and called. God knows what he had

Anyway 3 orbits later he raises cut off (9/12 ish) and I flat KJo in the sb. Flop is 732ddx I have Kd. I c/call biggish cbet. Turn is 7324 and he checks back and river is 72345 and I tank and bet 60k into around 20k. I know he thinks, I think he is a huge station and he is very barely so almost all 6x hands will continue betting the turn. I'm pretty sure he expected me to expect him not to fold Ax on the river and he tanked ages and folded.

I played very solid and went from 70k to 400k really without playing any pot bigger than 100k. I played one pot where I value bet a set for 24000 on the river but I was really just playing completely small ball pre flop then 2x potting turns and 3x potting rivers in good spots. I showed down both AA and QQ in the big blind where I just flat, so I was floating flops wider with back doors and people just weren't barreling because they knew I had a lot of good hands, then on the river I would 1-3x pot and they would just be really confused and ended up folding.

I moved tables and went from 300-480-350-400-320 I had a guy on my left who was a huge whale and whenever I opened he would just min 3bet me, so I'd make it 9000 at 4k bb and he would make it 17000 and that meant that I could either 1) Start opening really tight, 2) Start 4bet bluffing him, 3) Limping or 4) Play a lot of bloated pots OOP. I knew he was really bad and we both had 400k when the average was 130k so I just wanted to play pots with him and hopefully stack him. We played a hand where he defended bb vs btn open and my sb peel. Flop was AQ2r and he c/shipped 17k cbet for 280k with A8o…… Our table broke and I went to a new table with nobody I recognised at all.

First hand I sit down this really big gangster looking black guy who was wearing team mayweather gear was limp/raising/calling 4bet/ c/r folding flop on q32. Very next hand he 3bet shoved, orbit later after raise folding super angrily slamming his cards down he jammed the bb 4 way on 874r.

I had raise/folded twice and then in the big blind I decided to 3bet a guy with 97o who had just folded AQ pre flop to a single raise in a really weird pre flop pot where it went limp/iso and was very uncomfortable. He 4bet shipped 50bbs on me with QQ and I folded, peeling would always be the higher ev line but he literally was nut guy to 3bet with any two cards here and insta profit. The very next hand he opens cut off a smaller sizing and I 3bet again and he folded. The whole table was really battling, there was a lot of ego and everybody seemed pretty angry. Next hand after I 3bet two hands in a row its 10 seconds left on the clock and the angry gangster guy raises utg to 18k. I call button, everybody else folds.

Flop TT8ccd. He cbets 18k and I call. I think when he bets 18k its very often over cards rather than an overpaid, this is such a drawy board and he very often will bet bigger to get more value/protect more.

Turn is TT82ccsc and he checks. He has 230k and I have 250k. I have 66 no club. There are so many bad rivers for my exact hand that I felt protection was the best way, however this guy didn't give a **** and was absurd so bet/folding felt like it would be really bad. I tried to weigh my options up and came up with the following

1- Checking, seeing a river, potentially getting bluffed, potentially getting drawn out on
2- Betting 55k into 80k and then folding to his jam
3- Betting 22k and folding to a raise and calling a jam

I think when he has a flush/Tx/full house he will never jam so when he jams his range will look like JJ no club, AKcx, AQcx, AJcx, KQcx? QJo? QJcx kind of hands and then maybe hands like 98s, 87s but with those we can also include j9s, 97s, I basically didn't expect him to jam that often and would just call a lot of hands and fold a lot of hands and I could potentially get value. I don't think he would raise/fold half of his stack so I was pretty ok with just betting 22k and calling when he jams. Especially because of his pre flop bet sizing. All of the guys were stood around our table watching now as the break had started so I felt that would maybe induce him to do something stupid more but I wasn't sure.

He ended up jamming and he had KK :/ It looks really bad in hindsight and believe me I have been really weighing it up all night. I know for a fact that for the first 6 hours of the day I played really well and especially adjusted to lots of small live things that I definitely wouldn't have done 1 year ago. So even if this turns out to be a really bad play I am very optimistic. If anybody has any comments about what they think please post and I'll reply to every one of them, I may sound defensive when I reply but it will just be because it was my thought process at the time. It's really hard to really run the math on it, to summarise I felt like I had a good reason to do it and went with my gut/heart. I had folded in 7 or 8 similar spots in this tournament and just gave it up but in this one I just felt like it was the time to call. Maybe thats because I went from 450k to 250k and I wanted those precious chips back? I really don't know.

Just for the math, theres

18k+18k+18k+18k+6k+3k+6k+23k+23k+200k (333k) and its 200k to call

It felt really nice to be deep in this tournament. I really enjoyed the whole experience and it definitely makes me want to play a lot more live tournaments. I saw so much ridiculous stuff that its pretty crazy. This is the kind of style I like to play, low variance pre flop and out levelling post flop with hopefully superior hand reading abilities. Usually when you've had a deep run you may want to play something higher or for example it may make me want to play the 25k in Aria tomorrow or try and sell some action for the one drop. But they are totally different forms of poker, I see so many guys who win a mid stakes tournament and start losing money playing the super tuesday and the sunday 530. I do think I can compete at a high level playing the highest stakes live tournaments, the fields I play online over the last 12 months are equal in difficulty, but thats not really what I want. First I want to really improve and keep learning from playing slightly lower live poker, who knows, in 3 years maybe I go back to wanting to be the high roller rungooder of the year, my priority now is to make as many good decisions as possible in lower stakes live tournaments.

I felt very, very down around 3-4 hours ago, if I had posted then I would have had a very bad approach to these last two posts, I've had time to reflect and feel good. I will take tomorrow off, go to the pool and gym that I haven't been able to for the last couple of days and then attack the tournaments over the next 7 days.

When I busted the 6max today I could have jumped into the 10k pot limit holdem but my mind was in a bad place at the time and was really doubting myself and asking myself was this the biggest punt I've made. By the way the river was a 4th club and he had no clubs, if I had the 6c I seriously think theres a 25% chance I would have ended up in hospital this evening, the guy was a badass mfker!

Anyway on we go..


#bracelethunting

TBF he's a Geordie so he's basically Scottish.

Ughh, such a gross turn spot. Obviously all 3 options are very close. I think, when we choose to bet, we should use a small sizing vs this kind of player, as we don't really want to induce a jam like ever (he will almost always has 2 overs, a club, and counterfeit outs when we are ahead i guess) . i'm not sure which sizing (20k or 60k), makes us want to call a jam more. Think we will narrow his jamrange pretty heavily when we bet 20k, because he will be more likely to just call with let's say ace queen with ace or queen of clubs. So i feel like betting 20k is fine, but i'm not sure about calling a possible jam then. Feel like it's a spot where want to bet turn small with basically our whole range, then polarize river quite heavily. On the other hand, checking with 66 and blufcatching on a lot of rivers, has its merits too since it's a very pretty blufcatcher on a lot of rivers