[Game results]

I had a great run in the $2.20 Micro Saturday KO in a large field 3,3830 players. 1st place was paying just over $410. In late stages, I managed to climb up to 7th place with 449 players left, but unfortunately that didn't last for long.



Eventually, I finished 48th, and received $23.02, after having knocked out about 15 players. Once again, I have mixed feelings - on one hand I am happy I made another deep run and ok cash, but on the other I am disappointed for not once again making it to a final table. Either way, my bankroll is now at $118.95, which is $10 higher than yesterday, which is a great way to continue!

If I don't confuse anything, it's not that simple with HM3.

For $60 you get the software and a year of subscription to support and maintain of software.
After one year, you will need to renew your subscription to continue receiving updates.

Check this point before buying.

[Game results]

The day has sofar been good, down just about $5 in cash while still in my new favorite, the $3.30 Bounty builder on Pokerstars. The great news is I also won an $11 ticket to the Sunday Storm, where I also got 1st place! Alright!



Ticket won:

I checked it out. https://kb.holdemmanager.com/knowled...ntenance-plans
Apparently it is $60 for Small stakes to buy, and $29.99 every next year to maintain.
I have to think about it, because I was kind of satisfied with Holdem Manager some years ago. I may have to download it again and check it out to make my decision.

Thank you for pointing it out, styless!

[Session results]

I ended my session today after busting in the $3.30 Bounty builder close to the money. Villain raised 1.2xBB from EP, and the button called. I, holding JJ from the SB 3-bet to 3x his bet. Both of us had a good 40-50xBB stack, and he had me slightly covered. However, he insta-went all in, risking the majority of his chips while forcing me to gamble to a coinflip, and either double up or bust! Nothing exciting happened afterwards, as he hit a K on the turn, ending my tournament there.

Although my play was nothing short of common, I got extremely pissed with that random gambler for his unnecessary all-in. I value my life in that tournament much more than he does, as I was looking forward to another deep run as in the last few days. I still wouldn't fold there to such a random 4-bet. It didn't happen, so I ended my session for today about there, with a net profit of $7 from the $11 Sunday Million ticket I won earlier.

Time to watch some poker videos!

[Change of game choices: Taking shots at higher stakes tournaments]

In the last couple of days I got very motivated to play more and move up, after reading a few threads of blogs on this forum of people setting goals and how they attempt to move up and win more. After some reality check, I realized that, although I am trying to learn better poker, I am actually playing good enough right now, and, in fact, much better than I think.

However, I am being an incredible nit with my bankroll, because I am still playing in such low stakes tournaments where, despite my good enough skills, my chances of winning anything substantial are very low. Ultimately, that is costing me the opportunity to make bigger profits.

Given my continuous deep runs in the $2.20 and $4.40 Bounty builders during the last couple of months, I am now confident that I could play well enough to potentially do well at higher for my usual stakes tournaments ie higher than $1.10 and $2.20. I am referring to mostly up to $11 tours, but could go as far as the $109 Sunday Million.

However, as my bankroll doesn't allow this, my best approach is to take shots at them. I can in fact do this in 2 ways:

1. Play one occasionally eg once or twice a week, whereby paying full price for it.
   These would be for tournaments up to $11 ie $4.40 Bounty builder, $11 Sunday Storm on PokerStars
2. Play satellites, fairly frequently, from where I can get to playing them at a lower cost
   These would include $1.10 and $2.20 satellites to the $11 Sunday Storm, and the $109 Sunday Million

[Game evaluation: Why I don't like satellites]

I don't like satellites at the moment! I am referring to $1.10 and $2.20 satellites on PokerStars, for either the $11 Sunday Storm, the $109 Sunday Million, and some $22 or $55 Bounty builders, such that I played occasionally over the last couple of months. The reason for that is that, I find that most people in those games "donk up" as as they get a low stack, play counter-intuitively, gambling their tournament life at the most marginal spots for what appears to be not to their benefit, which so far has worked against me and ruined many situations where I had built a great chipstack.

When they are short stacked and most likely beat at the moment in a hand, instead of thinking "I should rather fold now and find another spot to play all-in" or similar kind of retreat, they seem to quickly stop caring about their tournament life any more, and instead think "since they are my last chips, I might as well take this shot to see if I can double up now instead of rebuying". So, they decide to gamble all their chips with either marginal hands or while very behind.

The most disturbing thing is not that they gamble, but that they do that loose-passively, and in 3 ways in specific:
1) They limp with marginal hands like Ace-x, when they could be raising to isolate or steal the blinds. Yet, they will call big preflop raises with them.
2) They limp in with random unsuited hands like offsuit connectors or one-gappers from any position. Yet, they will call big preflop raises with them.
3) They don't bet on the flop when they hit something, as if they are trying to trap, when they need to bet to win the pot there, as if they were holding some monster.

The overall effect of these plays is that, instead of me being able to pressure them when they are on a low stack, they create high-variance situation, where they put pressure on me by forcing me to play marginal spots with them, and where it they make it completely unclear who is ahead and who is behind. And I only need to lose a couple of those marginal spots to also get a low chipstack. In short, from my perspective, the lower chipstacks in those satellites essentially are random-playing suicide-bomber bullies, who are looking to either put a dent on my good stack or die.

I am confident in what I have seen. And that means I probably have to work out a counter-strategy to face these players in satellites.

[Learning issues: Tackling the difficulty of Range Analysis]

Range analysis is extremely hard to do correctly.

I confirmed that in the last few days. Johnathan Little also said that in a Podcast I heard on TournamentPokerEdge yesterday.

That confirms my own evaluations of it, and clashes with what some coaches say, which is doing a strict application of the methodology every single time. Ultimatly, it answers my question about how to proceed regarding doing Range Analysis in each hand.

However, the solution is not to give up on Range Analysis. I want to eventually a chance to learn how to do a strong Range Analysis. The solution is the middle solution between not doing it and doing it, based on the expectation that I will not do a perfect Range analysis each time. Ultimately, I can now be comfortable with that happening often.

I will still keep learning how to do Range Analysis, and mostly off the tables, and I may do some of it during games. However, I now know that it may not apply in many situations in my game in a perfect way, and will feel comfortable with that knowing that this is not due to my own incapacity but by the nature of doing Range Analysis.

[Learning issues: Discovering my playing]

In the last 2 days I worked out that I am not describing my own play correctly. Ultimately, I don't know well how I am actually playing. For example, until recently I didn't even realize that I have been playing a LAG style, and not TAG as I thought! Also, I make various moves during the game which aren't "default play" eg check-raise bluffs, re-raise steals and many more, which I never considered when I am reading strategy guides.

That lack of knowing how I play has been happening because, most of the time I haven't been actively and consciously thinking about how I am playing during a game, such as, what strategy I read dictates, and, overall, why I am making the moves I currently am. Instead, most of the time I have been playing games in "automatic mode", whereby doing all things automatically, as I had learnt them by experience.

The issue with not knowing how I am playing is that, I couldn't improve my current play since I can't assess it, and I can't tell what it is I need to improve upon!

The solution to that is to discover my playing. To do this, I need to take things slower, more carefully, and try to analyze my play in-game. Specifically:

1. Play a maximum of 3 tables at a time. This will give me the ability to concentrate more on each game. I am already doing this, by the way.
2. Remove distractions while I am playing, such as, perhaps, watching videos, chatting on Facebook, listening to the TV etc.
3. Actively try to analyze each situation in my head, also using words.

By doing the above, at the same time, I can actively try to recall the relevant strategy I learnt more recently, and think about what to do in that point in those terms.

[Game selection: My current choices]

As you may already know, I am only playing MTTs at the moment. That is, no Cash, no SNGs. Also, I am only playing Regular speed games, meaning, no Turbos/Hyper-Turbos etc., and no Zoom games. Site-wise, I am only playing on Pokerstars.

Taking into consideration my new choices regarding taking shots at higher stakes games, my full list of games is now as follows:

• Regular games:
  $1.10 Bounty builders
  $2.20 Bounty Builders
• Favourite games: $3.30 Bounty Builders
• Satellites:
  $1.10 Satellite to the $109 Sunday Million
  $1.10 and $2.20 Satellites to the $11 Sunday Storm

Also, I may play $0.55 Bounty builders only as a warmup

[Game results]

Today, I achieved cashes in a few of my tournaments. They include a small cash in the Bounty builder $0.55, and another small one on the Bounty Builder $1.10. However, my greatest cash was from a very deep run in my favorite game, the Bounty builder $3.30. Once again I got extremely close to the final table, finishing 25th out of 3,808 players, and cashing $27.65!

I had a low stack of about 10xBB for quite a while, since we were down to 70 players. But I played was very tight and very carefully while short-stacked, and so I managed to extend my stay in the tournament. In the last hand I was short stacked with about 10xBB, and went all-in from the cut-off with AJo, to be called from the chip leader on the BB who was holding 78s. He hit a 7 on the flop and that was the annoying end of my tournament.

My bankroll is now $137.69, which is about $20 higher than yesterday, plus I still have the $11 Sunday Storm ticket to use later. This is also my highest bankroll since last month. Previously I had reached $350 by winning a $1 tour and placing high in a couple of others, but I had since cashed out $100 and then run it down from $250 to almost $40, before I started studying poker again. This also shows how amazingly my play has improved since I started studying!

However, I am once again disappointed that I didn't make it to the final table. This is both because I made it deep, and also because I had a good shot at it, had I won that last hand. I now have to try again! However, I have been repeatedly running deep in the $3.30 lately, so I should get to the final table soon.

[Poker software: Fixing Hand2Note & My decision on the winner]

As you may know from my previous posts about it. Choosing a piece of poker tracking software has been giving me a headache for the last few days. The reason is that there exist a few different ones on the market which can offer me the functionality I want (PokerTracker, Holdem Manager, DriveHUD and Hand2Note), but each is slightly different, some come at a price which is too high for my budget. And, while Hand2Note is free for basic features, I had been experiencing issues with it since it was displaying my nickname twice. But I think I finally found the best that suits me.

Thanks to styless helpful information, I joined Hand2Note's discord server and reported the bug I was experiencing. The issue was that, for an unknown reason, my nickname existed in hand histories twice, once with an extra " " added to the end ie "Tilted9042" and "Tilted9042 ". Support advised me to create an alias for my 2 nicknames. I have done that and now I think I can use the software normally.

Moreover, yesterday, after having fixed the nicknames the issue, I also explored the replayer functionality of Hand2Note by replaying a few of my hands from yesterday's tournaments. My conclusion is that the interface is clean and easy to use, and overall, I am very happy with it!

And, while I haven't fiddled with its HUD functionality, I think that I should be for me. That is because, for one, it supports my poker site, Pokerstars, and, also, because I believe it does include the basic stats which I am interested at the moment (VPIP, PFR) and a few more, so should be covered in that respect too.

So, ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner: Hand2Note! And what's more exciting about it is, I didn't have to pay a cent for poker tracking software!

Now it's time to see how I can practice studying with it, and find out how doing that can improve my game further.

[Game results]
Today I played my favorite $3.30 Bounty builder again. This time I busted out fairly soon after ITM, finishing 490th out of 4,039 players.

My last hand: With a 15xBB stack, I raised to 2.5xBB with AJo from EP. Everyone folded except the SB, who 3-bet, making it 7xBB to go. To me, that seemed like a standard play, representing one of the top premium hands ie AA, KK, QQ, AKs/AKo, or even JJ. I should have folded, but I don't know what prevented me. This was the exact same spot which I have been finding difficult in the last few days - being short stacked ITM and facing a high raise, and I don't know what is best to do there. On one hand, I was thinking about the hands I put my opponent to and therefore that I should fold. But, on the other hand I was thinking that, if I want to make it far, it may be better to just take my chances there. For those reasons, I called while thinking I am likely way behind.

The flop was 234 rainbow, and my opponent made a stupid bet, of about 7xBB. Since my stack now was 10xBB, calling it would only leave me 3xBB behind. In other words, that was either an all-in or fold, but my opponent just chose to make it 7xBB for a random reason. I realized that, likely, my opponent wasn't even looking at my stack, and likely feeling too excited about his hand, therefore how stupid he was. In other words, I was up against a moron who was betting randomly, while I was struggling to save my tournament life! Those thoughts quickly tilted me, and, driven by my emotions, I went all in out of anger for him. Unfortunately, I didn't hit a 2 in the next streets, and that ended my tournament life there.

At least I cashed $4.61, and, overall, today my bankroll is now €136.54, just €2 below yesterday, which is just fine.

[Game results: Finally, a 2nd place!]

I finally did it! I made to 2nd place out of 2,571 players in a Bounty Builder $1.65! That was after 10 days of not playing, and I played only 3 games in this session! The last tournament lasted for about 6.5 hours. I cashed a whopping $278 (although Pokerstars says $330.82 for a strange reason), which is about 169 buy ins! This is my biggest cash since last year! My bankroll has now skyrocketed to $414.81! And that means I can play higher stakes comfortably now!

Way to go!

I worked out what is wrong about the amount I won. I won $330.82 indeed. However, my account is in euros, and that amount, in euros, equals €278. Also, my bankroll is now at €414.81. Mystery solved!

[Game results]

I just won an $11 ticket to the Mini Saturday KO for only $0.55. One is starting soon, and I will be playing it. I am at the top of my game. This is going to be great!

[Reflections on the Thew $11 Mini Saturday Knockout]

This is my first time in many months where I played an $11 tour. I found that tournament very difficult. Players were contesting pots highly, much more than I expected. For example, a few times 3 players would go in after a 5xBB raised pot. Then, a player would make big bets on turn or river, where it was unclear whether they were betting for value or bluffing. I just couldn't find a spot to take a pot down without taking a huge risk. I suppose the difference in play was players' aggression no turn and river.

[Getting back into it after 3 months]
I had a break of 3 months from poker, after my last great progress. Now I feel like I have forgotten a lot from the new theory I learnt last time, so I need to get back into it. That feels terrible but, as the saying goes "when the going gets tough, the tough get going". So do I. I've got to get going with revising and studying my notes again.

I have been dreaming of making it big in a tournament for the last 1 week! I played my first games again yesterday and today, about 9 in total. Yesterday I cashed in a $1.10 Prog KO tour, although in a fairly low position. I am now down about $10 in my bankroll. I miss the days where I was cashing every tour, and hitting high places in tournaments with 2-3 thousand players!



I read my notes again and made some changes to them. Frankly, I still don't fully play range - as I am playing in low stakes tours.

Today I learnt: How to break down a range into categories of hands.

[Back to basics: Preflop charts]

Today I have been studying my notes again. I started from the most basic part of the strategy (of a default strategy), which is the preflop strategy, and specific, the preflop ranges / opening ranges / RFI ranges. In short, I will be using the charts below, and specifically the RFI charts from Upswing Poker. Feel free to also download and use them!

• Upswing poker RFI charts (2023): https://upswingpoker.com/wp-content/...I-v21-2023.pdf
• Johnathan Little's Full preflop charts (2022) (50BB+ stack): https://poker-coaching.s3.amazonaws....lop-charts.pdf
• Johnathan Little's Full preflop charts tool (2022) (any stack size): https://realmaclucky.github.io/JLpushcharts/

[Poker study: Today I learnt about Range Morphology]

“Morphology” is the study of form or structure. You’ve probably heard terms thrown around such as “linear”, “polarized”, “merged”, “condensed”, “capped”, or “uncapped”.

A natural step in the thought process from novice to advanced player is the ability to think in ranges. This can often seem like a daunting task, but it becomes much easier when you start thinking of ranges as structures rather than trying to visualize all 1326 combinations of starting hands in your head.

There are 2 incredible articles about the above:

• https://blog.gtowizard.com/range-morphology/
• https://www.pokervip.com/strategy-ar...of-hand-ranges

[Poker study: Arranging my study and play time]

This guide from Upswing poker from 2018 (https://www.scribd.com/document/382800923/Upswing-Poker) answered my question about how much time to spend studying and playing.

Tip #2: “I would recommend actually playing poker about twice as often as you study it. But make sure to
study.”

All tips on this guide:

[Session results]

I played 2 MTTs, a $1.10 PKO and a $2.20 Deep stack tour. I cashed on the first, finishing 58th out of 649, and cashed $4.39. My bankroll is up by $1, insignificant but nevertheless positive. I could have done better, as I went all in last hand way too impatiently.

[New study material: Hand reading - Eliminating hands with every action]

I have now found material which progresses my hand reading. Specifically, I discovered the "Hand Reading system" by Alec Torelli from Conscious Poker, where he uses what he calls the "Hand reading funnel", and whereby he explains how to eliminate hands from the opponent's range with each action in the game.



The links below are simply incredible for learning hand reading:

• https://www.consciouspoker.com/wp-co...em.pdf?var=2.0
• https://www.consciouspoker.com/blog/...ding-in-poker/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsgTnasdko0

do you mean to say that your entire session was 2 MTTs? itll be literal decades before you even know if you're beating your stakes looking at such volume and the size of tournaments you play. You should allow yourself to multitable more, play more hands and get into more spots that will make you think about situations that you can't come up with outside the felt.

Hi lean! Yes, I only played 2 games that day, at the same time, and for a total of about 4 hours. I also studied for another 4 hours or so.

I see your point. But as I am learning, I cannot focus on more than 2 tables at a time! Also, I did start to win tours playing omly that many at a time.

I have not been looking to increase my number of simultaneous tables at the moment, but I will think about it, and whether I should or not.