From Walmart Worker to Walmart Wizard
05-28-2017
, 12:34 AM
hey guys, I just got to my Airbnb in Calgary, Alberta where I'll be staying for the next ~9 days before I fly to Vegas for WSOP. I want to make this post for 3 main reasons:
-make an outline for the stuff I want to do before heading to 'murica
-cement some of the good habits I was working on the last few weeks
-very bored and tired so going to keep myself mildly entertained through this post
To Do List:
-get a mouse pad (only a glass desk here)
-morning jogs 6 days/ week and stretching/yoga afterwards (tbh I wish I could get a gym membership but it sucks my place isn't very well located and ubering everywhere not only gets annoying but expensive)
-stock up on groceries tomorrow and get the diet back on point...went on a bender last night at a comedy show in edmonton to cele my last night w/ friend
-check out the mountains and banff...possibly book a fishing charter for a day if not too pricey
-consider rental car
-explore the city a little bit and potentially try to meet some people (something I never do haha)
-grind hard a few sessions
-daily meditation/relax/ prep for the WSOP
Sorry for the monotony but I really wanted to make a note of that stuff/brainstorm. I guess I'll have time for a small rant.
I'll begin with a story...
So a few years ago when I was new to the backing world and I encountered an inevitable 30k USD downswing or makeup. This was partly to bad run, partly to poor game selection, and partly due to stressed out/poor play. Not only was 30 000 dollars beginning to become about 15x my net worth at the time, it was also becoming an amount that I really felt I couldn't earn back through any other method than poker. In other words, I was scared and my back was against the wall. I really felt like I wasn't beating the games anymore and I would have to quit poker and get a full time job (and then get a website made about me). The time where it all became extremely real to me was when I was sitting at the dinner table with my family and my mom asked "so Mike, how much debt do you owe your staker?" I sheepishly responded with "not too much only about 3 000$ or so." "WHAT?!!!? That is a tonne of money!" she replied. I'm thinking to myself "what if I actually told her the whole truth that I actually "owe" about a decent yearly before taxes Canadian salary? With the quantities of money and variance we deal with it's very difficult to involve non-poker friends or family. It's sort of sad but so much of the time we are fighting this battle alone. Not to mention, poker can and will drag you from the deepest,darkest,coldest,meanest,poorest,hellish,an d depressing moments all the way to the most uplifting,triumphant,glamorous,richest,heavenly,an d proudest moments and back again. I'll be honest: in that conversation with my mother I really had nothing going for me. I owed some guy 30k USD, i was broke, had debt, had bills, probably worst physical and mental shape of my life, was failing at school, and was fairly depressed at school. It was weird that I had to keep this huge burden a secret because I did not want to stress out some of the people I cared about the most...there was also a subtle voice in the back of my head (a very miniscule one) that said "we got ourselves into this mess, we're gonna get ourselves out." This leads me to the 2 things I want to talk about in this post:
1) How to stay strong when the going gets tough in poker
2) A small shift in perspective that I've had in terms of happiness
Ok, so when you're struggling in poker it often sucks because we can't talk in depth/seriously/truthfully with some of the people closest to us. It really sucks because the general public lacks an understanding of the poker lifestyle. They have tonnes of misconceptions, biases, beliefs, etc that they are always very stubborn about. For example if you ever go see a psychologist they will probably tell you that you have a gambling problem. I mean, rightfully so, how could they see it any other way? They're trained that poker is gambling, and they're trained to deal with a poker player the same way they would deal with an addict. (Not to mention I think a lot of people are way better off never knowing poker existed, even some winning players, and possibly even myself sometimes.)
I really hope/wish that we could all have 1-2 non-poker friends that will just listen to our stresses and not judge us etc.. I'm very thankful for 2-3 people in my life for this. I tell them I'm in a 30k downswing and they tell me to keep my head up and they believe in me. They don't tell me I'm a gambling addict and I need to quit poker, or that I suck at poker.
Aside from that, it leaves us with other poker players. It sucks that everyone deals with their own downswings and stressors and often does not want to be burdened with those of others. Again, I'm thankful for a few friends I've met in poker who have helped me stay strong through the tough times and helped me in the lab etc.
Here's a few things I do when I'm in a rough spot or in a big downswing:
1. I assure myself that I have so much from poker. The downswing is only a fraction of my overall profits. This really helps put it into perspective.
2. Run hands by other regs more often. Confidence comes from re-assurance and if you are getting positive affirmation from good players it will really help self-esteem.
3. Buy myself a nice treat. I find it's better to treat yourself in a downswing rather than an upswing. Basically, because I consider downswings to be like hibernation for a squirrel...if they eat all the nuts they've saved up before winter they will die of starvation. Same goes for poker: if you spend all your money from an upswing you will go broke when you hit a downswing.
4. check BB/100 a lot. if struggling in certain positions I work on them. by seeing good BB/100 can bring confidence.
5. post in this blog.
6. get out a good whine from time to time. people hate this, but the only thing worse than people who post bad beats is the bad beat police imo
7. work on other areas of my life. having success in other areas brings confidence and happiness. if all you have is poker and you are losing it will be pretty fkn miserable (just like it was for me in a lot of university)
8. focus on other things and take breaks to gain perspective! poker is so irrelevant in the grand scheme of life. don't let it break you down.
9. meditate
10. move down stakes and game select better. play where your edge is higher.
Some random thoughts on happiness:
The human brain is a fascinating thing. I actually think I should have went into the psychology field in school pretty often. Not to mention, my highest grades were always in the few psych classes I took every year. As I've really focused on my personal happiness the last few months I've also done a lot of reading and thinking of "what makes me happy?"
As we are predisposed to believe "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence" we often believe that to be happy we need to get to "the other side of the fence". Ever notice growing up you would always want some toy or game? Eventually, you would get that game for xmas or w/e and would be bored. Then you'd want another game, and another, and another...and your happiness didn't increase.
What about your adolescent life? Your adult life? Your poker life? Here's a few things I've told myself: When I buy my condo then I'll be happy, when I finish school I'll be happy, when I ship the Sunday Million I'll be happy, when I ship a WCOOP I'll be happy, when I travel the world I'll be happy. The funny thing is with the acquisition of all of that stuff my happiness increased very little. Weirdly enough, I'd say I was actually far happier before I had any of it. All of that stuff brought on an immediate rush of happiness, and then it was gone...I just wanted more, and more, and more.
When do we realize the ridiculousness of this pattern? At what point do we cut ourselves off and realize that getting material things does not bring happiness? Simply enough, if fame and fortune=happiness, we would not see rich actors, musicians, business people, athletes etc committing suicide.
You know when you complain about something and someone says "yeah well you could have been born in Africa" type stuff? Yeah, they're definitely right and we should value the things we do have in life. Although, I think they're wrong in the sense that we should not need to compare ourselves to others to feel happy. Happiness is our default/baseline state...that is why we are always constantly trying to achieve it! We need to train ourselves that we don't need anything to be happy. We just need to be happy. Work on your self, your relationships, your wealth, and your health as much as you can. Knowing that you're on a positive path will help with confidence and happiness as well. At the end of the day, try to enjoy yourself and live life to the fullest...don't worry about all the BS
On a side note, I'll say by just focusing on myself for a few weeks now and really trying to focus on being happy...my levels are increasing. Fueling my body with good fuel and rest has also helped a lot...and of course all the support in this thread.
I deeply apologize for the super long rant. I actually look back through these some times and wonder if I was on mushrooms or LSD at the time of writing
GL tomorrow on Sunday guys let's get it!!!
-make an outline for the stuff I want to do before heading to 'murica
-cement some of the good habits I was working on the last few weeks
-very bored and tired so going to keep myself mildly entertained through this post
To Do List:
-get a mouse pad (only a glass desk here)
-morning jogs 6 days/ week and stretching/yoga afterwards (tbh I wish I could get a gym membership but it sucks my place isn't very well located and ubering everywhere not only gets annoying but expensive)
-stock up on groceries tomorrow and get the diet back on point...went on a bender last night at a comedy show in edmonton to cele my last night w/ friend
-check out the mountains and banff...possibly book a fishing charter for a day if not too pricey
-consider rental car
-explore the city a little bit and potentially try to meet some people (something I never do haha)
-grind hard a few sessions
-daily meditation/relax/ prep for the WSOP
Sorry for the monotony but I really wanted to make a note of that stuff/brainstorm. I guess I'll have time for a small rant.
I'll begin with a story...
So a few years ago when I was new to the backing world and I encountered an inevitable 30k USD downswing or makeup. This was partly to bad run, partly to poor game selection, and partly due to stressed out/poor play. Not only was 30 000 dollars beginning to become about 15x my net worth at the time, it was also becoming an amount that I really felt I couldn't earn back through any other method than poker. In other words, I was scared and my back was against the wall. I really felt like I wasn't beating the games anymore and I would have to quit poker and get a full time job (and then get a website made about me). The time where it all became extremely real to me was when I was sitting at the dinner table with my family and my mom asked "so Mike, how much debt do you owe your staker?" I sheepishly responded with "not too much only about 3 000$ or so." "WHAT?!!!? That is a tonne of money!" she replied. I'm thinking to myself "what if I actually told her the whole truth that I actually "owe" about a decent yearly before taxes Canadian salary? With the quantities of money and variance we deal with it's very difficult to involve non-poker friends or family. It's sort of sad but so much of the time we are fighting this battle alone. Not to mention, poker can and will drag you from the deepest,darkest,coldest,meanest,poorest,hellish,an d depressing moments all the way to the most uplifting,triumphant,glamorous,richest,heavenly,an d proudest moments and back again. I'll be honest: in that conversation with my mother I really had nothing going for me. I owed some guy 30k USD, i was broke, had debt, had bills, probably worst physical and mental shape of my life, was failing at school, and was fairly depressed at school. It was weird that I had to keep this huge burden a secret because I did not want to stress out some of the people I cared about the most...there was also a subtle voice in the back of my head (a very miniscule one) that said "we got ourselves into this mess, we're gonna get ourselves out." This leads me to the 2 things I want to talk about in this post:
1) How to stay strong when the going gets tough in poker
2) A small shift in perspective that I've had in terms of happiness
Ok, so when you're struggling in poker it often sucks because we can't talk in depth/seriously/truthfully with some of the people closest to us. It really sucks because the general public lacks an understanding of the poker lifestyle. They have tonnes of misconceptions, biases, beliefs, etc that they are always very stubborn about. For example if you ever go see a psychologist they will probably tell you that you have a gambling problem. I mean, rightfully so, how could they see it any other way? They're trained that poker is gambling, and they're trained to deal with a poker player the same way they would deal with an addict. (Not to mention I think a lot of people are way better off never knowing poker existed, even some winning players, and possibly even myself sometimes.)
I really hope/wish that we could all have 1-2 non-poker friends that will just listen to our stresses and not judge us etc.. I'm very thankful for 2-3 people in my life for this. I tell them I'm in a 30k downswing and they tell me to keep my head up and they believe in me. They don't tell me I'm a gambling addict and I need to quit poker, or that I suck at poker.
Aside from that, it leaves us with other poker players. It sucks that everyone deals with their own downswings and stressors and often does not want to be burdened with those of others. Again, I'm thankful for a few friends I've met in poker who have helped me stay strong through the tough times and helped me in the lab etc.
Here's a few things I do when I'm in a rough spot or in a big downswing:
1. I assure myself that I have so much from poker. The downswing is only a fraction of my overall profits. This really helps put it into perspective.
2. Run hands by other regs more often. Confidence comes from re-assurance and if you are getting positive affirmation from good players it will really help self-esteem.
3. Buy myself a nice treat. I find it's better to treat yourself in a downswing rather than an upswing. Basically, because I consider downswings to be like hibernation for a squirrel...if they eat all the nuts they've saved up before winter they will die of starvation. Same goes for poker: if you spend all your money from an upswing you will go broke when you hit a downswing.
4. check BB/100 a lot. if struggling in certain positions I work on them. by seeing good BB/100 can bring confidence.
5. post in this blog.
6. get out a good whine from time to time. people hate this, but the only thing worse than people who post bad beats is the bad beat police imo
7. work on other areas of my life. having success in other areas brings confidence and happiness. if all you have is poker and you are losing it will be pretty fkn miserable (just like it was for me in a lot of university)
8. focus on other things and take breaks to gain perspective! poker is so irrelevant in the grand scheme of life. don't let it break you down.
9. meditate
10. move down stakes and game select better. play where your edge is higher.
Some random thoughts on happiness:
The human brain is a fascinating thing. I actually think I should have went into the psychology field in school pretty often. Not to mention, my highest grades were always in the few psych classes I took every year. As I've really focused on my personal happiness the last few months I've also done a lot of reading and thinking of "what makes me happy?"
As we are predisposed to believe "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence" we often believe that to be happy we need to get to "the other side of the fence". Ever notice growing up you would always want some toy or game? Eventually, you would get that game for xmas or w/e and would be bored. Then you'd want another game, and another, and another...and your happiness didn't increase.
What about your adolescent life? Your adult life? Your poker life? Here's a few things I've told myself: When I buy my condo then I'll be happy, when I finish school I'll be happy, when I ship the Sunday Million I'll be happy, when I ship a WCOOP I'll be happy, when I travel the world I'll be happy. The funny thing is with the acquisition of all of that stuff my happiness increased very little. Weirdly enough, I'd say I was actually far happier before I had any of it. All of that stuff brought on an immediate rush of happiness, and then it was gone...I just wanted more, and more, and more.
When do we realize the ridiculousness of this pattern? At what point do we cut ourselves off and realize that getting material things does not bring happiness? Simply enough, if fame and fortune=happiness, we would not see rich actors, musicians, business people, athletes etc committing suicide.
You know when you complain about something and someone says "yeah well you could have been born in Africa" type stuff? Yeah, they're definitely right and we should value the things we do have in life. Although, I think they're wrong in the sense that we should not need to compare ourselves to others to feel happy. Happiness is our default/baseline state...that is why we are always constantly trying to achieve it! We need to train ourselves that we don't need anything to be happy. We just need to be happy. Work on your self, your relationships, your wealth, and your health as much as you can. Knowing that you're on a positive path will help with confidence and happiness as well. At the end of the day, try to enjoy yourself and live life to the fullest...don't worry about all the BS
On a side note, I'll say by just focusing on myself for a few weeks now and really trying to focus on being happy...my levels are increasing. Fueling my body with good fuel and rest has also helped a lot...and of course all the support in this thread.
I deeply apologize for the super long rant. I actually look back through these some times and wonder if I was on mushrooms or LSD at the time of writing
GL tomorrow on Sunday guys let's get it!!!
05-28-2017
, 06:13 AM
05-28-2017
, 09:28 AM
Last edited by LittleGoliath; 05-28-2017 at 09:28 AM.
Reason: except for winning the millie jk jk ^^
05-28-2017
, 08:38 PM
i appreciate dat
and dat
and dat. thx man i think a lot of grinders share the same problems and experiences more often than we think!
05-29-2017
, 02:05 PM
Hey guys, sorry I forgot to update my blog yesterday (think it's only the second Sunday update I've missed in 2017). Went out for a few beers after my session and passed out as soon as I got home. Gonna do a usual Sunday update except instead of doing a "random rant of the week", I'm gonna post some good videos/reading material that hopefully y'all will enjoy! (Ranted pretty hard in last post so don't wanna overdo it haha)
Health:
Workouts Completed this week: (1/4)
Times leaving diet guidelines: 3-4
20 Minute Meditation Session: 0/7
Books Read: 0/1
Body Weight +/-: -11 lbs. (since beginning of year), haven't gotten a gym membership for my ~8 days in Calgary and no scale at this Airbnb...will update as soon as I find one. Trying to get out for jogs/walks and eat as healthy as possible during my time here because I'm not gyming. Definitely will have to sort something more GTO when I get to Las Wages.
Wealth:
Training Videos Watched: 1/1
Hours in the lab: 2/2
Sessions played: 4/4
Hours put into researching new avenues of revenue generation: 0
Weekly Proft: -2245
Yearly Profit: +32 336
Live Poker Profit This Year: +5 918
Book Review: Have been slacking with reading because so busy. Finally going to get around to reading "The Drunkard's Walk" this week.
Story of Leaving Comfort Zone: Wouldn't really say this is leaving the comfort zone too much or anything but have tried to stop giving advice unless asked. Read some material saying that often people just don't want advice, they just want someone that will listen to them. Moreover, just trying to improve my listening skills and understand things from others' perspective.
Hands:
https://www.boomplayer.com/24061799_8636249283
tilting hand deep in the b55. villain is a weak stable reg who is super loose. something along the lines of 27/20/11 or so. His flat pre seems ambitious but given how he was appearing to go after me a little bit (lol_brazil) maybe he had some reads. his flop bet is a complete disaster imo. that being said idk about my check/jam...i think it works well vs the type of monkey who will be bet calling any broadway combo, but probably not great to give regs a free card when this flop smashes their range.
https://www.boomplayer.com/24059559_BD2F9DE519
should prob just fold pre/fold to 3 bet pre/fold to pot size bet on flop...lol @ outcome tho...this hand should prob be avoided imo
https://www.boomplayer.com/24059490_87B1E7468C
no other way to play this right? pretty nasty
https://www.boomplayer.com/24056603_3B08A0B360
another disaster by me. probably not the nut worst if its a low frequency play
https://www.boomplayer.com/24049395_F79F11F4F4
ft bubble vs brazillian blaster reg.
so yeah, since I shipped the monday 6 max I've been running the nut worst. probably my worst run in the last year or two. oh well, I feel I'm playing quite well and stuff outside poker is going well. Can't complain too much
Random Rant of the Week: As I said earlier, going to skip the rant this week and just post a few random pieces of interest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTAxZPOtGKk
GTO sensei Joe Rogan on relationships. Interesting and quite possibly realistic perspective.
http://jamesclear.com/marginal-gains
Great article that I believe I saw another reg post (I think pads or someone from bitb) about the law of marginal gains.
http://jamesclear.com/common-mental-errors
Great article. See how many applications to poker you can make from reading this.
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/je...ry-retirement/
great article. kind of long but i thoroughly enjoyed it and there is a lot of lessons in there that stem far outside of football.
Anyways, cheers guys. Hope you enjoy those articles and let me know if you have any constructive criticism or advice for the hands posted
Gonna try not to grind too much because I'm in a new part of the country with a lot of beautiful stuff going on. Feel like it would kinda be a waste to sit here and grind all week, right? I'll try to put in a few sessions though for the fans nonetheless
"What I've found - and the older I get, the more I understand this and stand behind it - is, my whole life has been an exploration of telling the truth. It's scary to be truthful, and it's scary to reveal yourself, and I'm very attracted to doing things that scare me." -Jane Wiedlin
Health:
Workouts Completed this week: (1/4)
Times leaving diet guidelines: 3-4
20 Minute Meditation Session: 0/7
Books Read: 0/1
Body Weight +/-: -11 lbs. (since beginning of year), haven't gotten a gym membership for my ~8 days in Calgary and no scale at this Airbnb...will update as soon as I find one. Trying to get out for jogs/walks and eat as healthy as possible during my time here because I'm not gyming. Definitely will have to sort something more GTO when I get to Las Wages.
Wealth:
Training Videos Watched: 1/1
Hours in the lab: 2/2
Sessions played: 4/4
Hours put into researching new avenues of revenue generation: 0
Weekly Proft: -2245
Yearly Profit: +32 336
Live Poker Profit This Year: +5 918
Book Review: Have been slacking with reading because so busy. Finally going to get around to reading "The Drunkard's Walk" this week.
Story of Leaving Comfort Zone: Wouldn't really say this is leaving the comfort zone too much or anything but have tried to stop giving advice unless asked. Read some material saying that often people just don't want advice, they just want someone that will listen to them. Moreover, just trying to improve my listening skills and understand things from others' perspective.
Hands:
https://www.boomplayer.com/24061799_8636249283
tilting hand deep in the b55. villain is a weak stable reg who is super loose. something along the lines of 27/20/11 or so. His flat pre seems ambitious but given how he was appearing to go after me a little bit (lol_brazil) maybe he had some reads. his flop bet is a complete disaster imo. that being said idk about my check/jam...i think it works well vs the type of monkey who will be bet calling any broadway combo, but probably not great to give regs a free card when this flop smashes their range.
https://www.boomplayer.com/24059559_BD2F9DE519
should prob just fold pre/fold to 3 bet pre/fold to pot size bet on flop...lol @ outcome tho...this hand should prob be avoided imo
https://www.boomplayer.com/24059490_87B1E7468C
no other way to play this right? pretty nasty
https://www.boomplayer.com/24056603_3B08A0B360
another disaster by me. probably not the nut worst if its a low frequency play
https://www.boomplayer.com/24049395_F79F11F4F4
ft bubble vs brazillian blaster reg.
so yeah, since I shipped the monday 6 max I've been running the nut worst. probably my worst run in the last year or two. oh well, I feel I'm playing quite well and stuff outside poker is going well. Can't complain too much
Random Rant of the Week: As I said earlier, going to skip the rant this week and just post a few random pieces of interest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTAxZPOtGKk
GTO sensei Joe Rogan on relationships. Interesting and quite possibly realistic perspective.
http://jamesclear.com/marginal-gains
Great article that I believe I saw another reg post (I think pads or someone from bitb) about the law of marginal gains.
http://jamesclear.com/common-mental-errors
Great article. See how many applications to poker you can make from reading this.
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/je...ry-retirement/
great article. kind of long but i thoroughly enjoyed it and there is a lot of lessons in there that stem far outside of football.
Anyways, cheers guys. Hope you enjoy those articles and let me know if you have any constructive criticism or advice for the hands posted
Gonna try not to grind too much because I'm in a new part of the country with a lot of beautiful stuff going on. Feel like it would kinda be a waste to sit here and grind all week, right? I'll try to put in a few sessions though for the fans nonetheless "What I've found - and the older I get, the more I understand this and stand behind it - is, my whole life has been an exploration of telling the truth. It's scary to be truthful, and it's scary to reveal yourself, and I'm very attracted to doing things that scare me." -Jane Wiedlin
05-30-2017
, 02:07 AM
i appreciate your thoughts on the hands guys. i think i agree for the most part pretty tilted right now just blasted off the 109 monday 6 max with this hand:
https://www.boomplayer.com/24074965_4DA5D6EC39
his line seems so fkn dumb, that being said mine isnt much better. just need to accept that i need to be punishing nits with 2% 3 bets and exploit them by making folds. normally i dont c bet flop or turn but relly felt he wont jam much over me and i have a lot to protect against. anyways, team nit wins another one..also had no time bank which really sucked
@re8uz tyvm i appreciate that
@ trent
-in vegas im gonna be playing some buyins ranging from 500-3500 type thing. didnt book a return flight yet so just gonna play it by ear and see how im feeling/how its going. starting to miss home slightly so idk if i ll make it through the whole series there. def some stuff back home i want to do during summer and people i wanna see.
-makeup question:
well to tell you the truth my balance sucked in almost all aspects. the first time i was working to clear 30k MU i was really broke and failing at school. i sorted it out with my backer for a couple small loans to get me by (very important to be financially comfortable in tournament poker imo)..used those $ to pay for necessities for the most part. i found it very tough in uni to balance poker/school work/fitness/nutrition/happiness/relationships. quite frankly, almost all of the categories for the exception of poker got neglected. in terms of school: i would basically attend classes where the professor would notice if i was or wasn't there, or if it attendance was mandatory for handouts or w/e. i struggled greatly with attention problems in school so i really wouldn't obtain much from lectures (could never focus)...only went because professors would fail u etc if u skipped class a lot.
so the way i passed courses was essentially procrastinating until close to the exams and then teaching myself through the textbooks or youtube tutorials. there was a couple classes i failed and i made sure to get weekly tutors in them that FORCED me to practise...for example calculus/finance/stats type courses its very important to practise the problems. i think for a few courses i just passed because professors saw that i showed up to class and was trying my best.
in terms of fitting poker into a full time course load i sacrificed a lot of sleep and extra activities that a lot of uni students would enjoy. basically would come home most days and snap start grinding and go until late at night. rarely took a day off.
the second time around was quite a bit different. i was almost done uni and was really putting a lot of focus into graduating and living with my gf. really began seeing light at the end of the tunnel and the darkest time in my life was coming to an end. my head wasnt really in poker as much as i had a nice net worth and other things on the go. that MU was a lot due to my head being out of the game. so i basically finished uni, then decided i was gonna take a month break from poker to refresh myself and celebrate. so i booked a 5 week vacation to australia, didnt touch the game, partied a lot, and reflected a lot.
when i came home to Canada i rented an apartment with a friend for the summer and we did a poker boot camp with some side competitions (that gave me extra motivation because i wasnt grinding for a profit really cuz 40k mu ish)...ended up clearing that MU in about 5 weeks and then shipping wcoop a few months later...ez game right?
going on a fishing charter tomorrow and gonna do some enjoying out here
pretty tilted right now just blasted off the 109 monday 6 max with this hand:https://www.boomplayer.com/24074965_4DA5D6EC39
his line seems so fkn dumb, that being said mine isnt much better. just need to accept that i need to be punishing nits with 2% 3 bets and exploit them by making folds. normally i dont c bet flop or turn but relly felt he wont jam much over me and i have a lot to protect against. anyways, team nit wins another one..also had no time bank which really sucked
@re8uz tyvm i appreciate that
@ trent
-in vegas im gonna be playing some buyins ranging from 500-3500 type thing. didnt book a return flight yet so just gonna play it by ear and see how im feeling/how its going. starting to miss home slightly so idk if i ll make it through the whole series there. def some stuff back home i want to do during summer and people i wanna see.
-makeup question:
well to tell you the truth my balance sucked in almost all aspects. the first time i was working to clear 30k MU i was really broke and failing at school. i sorted it out with my backer for a couple small loans to get me by (very important to be financially comfortable in tournament poker imo)..used those $ to pay for necessities for the most part. i found it very tough in uni to balance poker/school work/fitness/nutrition/happiness/relationships. quite frankly, almost all of the categories for the exception of poker got neglected. in terms of school: i would basically attend classes where the professor would notice if i was or wasn't there, or if it attendance was mandatory for handouts or w/e. i struggled greatly with attention problems in school so i really wouldn't obtain much from lectures (could never focus)...only went because professors would fail u etc if u skipped class a lot.
so the way i passed courses was essentially procrastinating until close to the exams and then teaching myself through the textbooks or youtube tutorials. there was a couple classes i failed and i made sure to get weekly tutors in them that FORCED me to practise...for example calculus/finance/stats type courses its very important to practise the problems. i think for a few courses i just passed because professors saw that i showed up to class and was trying my best.
in terms of fitting poker into a full time course load i sacrificed a lot of sleep and extra activities that a lot of uni students would enjoy. basically would come home most days and snap start grinding and go until late at night. rarely took a day off.
the second time around was quite a bit different. i was almost done uni and was really putting a lot of focus into graduating and living with my gf. really began seeing light at the end of the tunnel and the darkest time in my life was coming to an end. my head wasnt really in poker as much as i had a nice net worth and other things on the go. that MU was a lot due to my head being out of the game. so i basically finished uni, then decided i was gonna take a month break from poker to refresh myself and celebrate. so i booked a 5 week vacation to australia, didnt touch the game, partied a lot, and reflected a lot.
when i came home to Canada i rented an apartment with a friend for the summer and we did a poker boot camp with some side competitions (that gave me extra motivation because i wasnt grinding for a profit really cuz 40k mu ish)...ended up clearing that MU in about 5 weeks and then shipping wcoop a few months later...ez game right?
going on a fishing charter tomorrow and gonna do some enjoying out here
05-30-2017
, 09:46 PM
Quote:
i appreciate your thoughts on the hands guys. i think i agree for the most part pretty tilted right now just blasted off the 109 monday 6 max with this hand:
https://www.boomplayer.com/24074965_4DA5D6EC39
his line seems so fkn dumb, that being said mine isnt much better. just need to accept that i need to be punishing nits with 2% 3 bets and exploit them by making folds. normally i dont c bet flop or turn but relly felt he wont jam much over me and i have a lot to protect against. anyways, team nit wins another one..also had no time bank which really sucked
pretty tilted right now just blasted off the 109 monday 6 max with this hand:https://www.boomplayer.com/24074965_4DA5D6EC39
his line seems so fkn dumb, that being said mine isnt much better. just need to accept that i need to be punishing nits with 2% 3 bets and exploit them by making folds. normally i dont c bet flop or turn but relly felt he wont jam much over me and i have a lot to protect against. anyways, team nit wins another one..also had no time bank which really sucked
as played i dont think you have much to protect from (considering preflop and flop imo random range is heavily towards overpais) so you can just ch behind turn and then do sexy things on river (like overbeting, shoving over his lead on river or smth similar, obv ch behind/give up on rivers is ok too)
postflop tendencies
05-30-2017
, 11:11 PM
Quote:
just fold pre buddy you dont need to win every hand, no shame in folding, A7o is very very bad hand imo to continue with, even with position, without very specific reads on villain
as played i dont think you have much to protect from (considering preflop and flop imo random range is heavily towards overpais) so you can just ch behind turn and then do sexy things on river (like overbeting, shoving over his lead on river or smth similar, obv ch behind/give up on rivers is ok too)
postflop tendencies
as played i dont think you have much to protect from (considering preflop and flop imo random range is heavily towards overpais) so you can just ch behind turn and then do sexy things on river (like overbeting, shoving over his lead on river or smth similar, obv ch behind/give up on rivers is ok too)
postflop tendencies
05-31-2017
, 09:00 AM
Lots of punts lately
you do me proud son
you do me proud son
05-31-2017
, 08:58 PM
Quote:
good to hear dude
even vs his sizing ur mucking a7o? i guess i talked myself into it that a nit with 2% 3 bet can have something other than AA KK for once haha. yeah i agree its a very needless and undisciplined spot by me. really just unacceptable w/ 10 left with most players that i thikn i have a huge edge on in 6m
even vs his sizing ur mucking a7o? i guess i talked myself into it that a nit with 2% 3 bet can have something other than AA KK for once haha. yeah i agree its a very needless and undisciplined spot by me. really just unacceptable w/ 10 left with most players that i thikn i have a huge edge on in 6m
as i said i think A7o is very very bad hand and without specific reads will go into muck (but on other hand if you have specific read your hand doesnt matter much
05-31-2017
, 11:40 PM
2 good pieces I stumbled upon today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyTmeCLDu_w
this pod w/ jason koon very GTO guy. he actually recommended one of the books that ive talked about in this thread b4 (actually i think it was last years thread), he talks about the last chapter of the book which i found very sad yet eye opening in which the author writes it from his death bed. the book is "billions and billions" by Carl Sagan.
-you can google for the pdf of the book and get it pretty easily if you want. can probably even skip through to the last chapter and read it, the book is somewhat of a tough read and can get boring but some v interesting points in it.
actually re-read it after he mentioned it haha.
as you can probably notice i've been posting in here a little more frequently than my usual once or twice per week. more or less cuz i've had so much free time with no obligations day to day and lack of people to chill with out here. a good indicator of my free time would be the fact that i went to a fish hatchery today to take a tour to learn all about fish farming and animals in the surrounding watershed lol. (guide yesterday recommended it)
some random thoughts on the ever so common line in poker "its +EV you have to take it" actually heard it in the above podcast which got me thinking.
I often hear some regs talking about the EV of a certain jam or play. They usually back up their logic w/ "it's +EV so you have to shove". IMO this is quite flawed logic because yes a play might earn you 1/12th of a big blind, but what if you have a significant edge in the field? do you really want to take a thin spot for 1/12th of a bb, when you can preserve your stack and realize your EV in much greater denominations? Not to mention, these "calculations" can be quite skewed by just a few variables...perhaps you have a misunderstanding of villains range, or ICM, or the fact that other options might yield far higher EV.
a basic example: you are dealt AA 200bbs deep effective near the start of the tournament.
A: you jam over an open for 200bbs. yes this is immediately profitable and will show you a profit in the long run.
B: you 3 bet and extract value from all weaker holdings/balance your range etc etc...significantly more profitable than option A
so in other words, if someone says do it because it s +EV, consider that there might be other options which are significantly more +EV. although i will say in fields with low edge/bad structure/or incentive to have bigger stacks, sometimes we fist pump if a play has 1/10th of a bb in edge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyTmeCLDu_w
this pod w/ jason koon very GTO guy. he actually recommended one of the books that ive talked about in this thread b4 (actually i think it was last years thread), he talks about the last chapter of the book which i found very sad yet eye opening in which the author writes it from his death bed. the book is "billions and billions" by Carl Sagan.
-you can google for the pdf of the book and get it pretty easily if you want. can probably even skip through to the last chapter and read it, the book is somewhat of a tough read and can get boring but some v interesting points in it.
actually re-read it after he mentioned it haha.
as you can probably notice i've been posting in here a little more frequently than my usual once or twice per week. more or less cuz i've had so much free time with no obligations day to day and lack of people to chill with out here. a good indicator of my free time would be the fact that i went to a fish hatchery today to take a tour to learn all about fish farming and animals in the surrounding watershed lol. (guide yesterday recommended it)
some random thoughts on the ever so common line in poker "its +EV you have to take it" actually heard it in the above podcast which got me thinking.
I often hear some regs talking about the EV of a certain jam or play. They usually back up their logic w/ "it's +EV so you have to shove". IMO this is quite flawed logic because yes a play might earn you 1/12th of a big blind, but what if you have a significant edge in the field? do you really want to take a thin spot for 1/12th of a bb, when you can preserve your stack and realize your EV in much greater denominations? Not to mention, these "calculations" can be quite skewed by just a few variables...perhaps you have a misunderstanding of villains range, or ICM, or the fact that other options might yield far higher EV.
a basic example: you are dealt AA 200bbs deep effective near the start of the tournament.
A: you jam over an open for 200bbs. yes this is immediately profitable and will show you a profit in the long run.
B: you 3 bet and extract value from all weaker holdings/balance your range etc etc...significantly more profitable than option A
so in other words, if someone says do it because it s +EV, consider that there might be other options which are significantly more +EV. although i will say in fields with low edge/bad structure/or incentive to have bigger stacks, sometimes we fist pump if a play has 1/10th of a bb in edge
06-04-2017
, 11:11 PM
supsupsup, hope y'all had a good week/weekend. Had a great time in Calgary and had a lot of time to take a step back from everyday life and reflect (as I've had most of this trip tbh). poker wise I haven't been feeling too great...will say today I brought what I had left in the tank and had a pretty rough ending final ~20 in the kickoff. oh well, it's time to give the online grind a break and head down to vegas for some liveaments! will note that I'm feeeelin it and ready to activate beast mode. here's the usual Sunday update: oh wait here's a few pics of my mountain hike first:
https://gyazo.com/545884344938ea4a0bb9aca1146fd196
photo of Lake Louise. not a great photo and it sucks there is still ice on the water. in person you can really see a very cool blue colour w/ crystal clear water
https://gyazo.com/f1e12d9df3f682f6bfcb7720eb351c62
summit of the mountain we hiked up. roughly ~2.2km high
https://gyazo.com/647a7272dba9cb930c269d83c633b18e
gondola prob 3/4 of the way up
https://gyazo.com/9a0397a9e794fa34a4a17f527567ebbf
nuff said
Health:
Workouts Completed this week: (2/4)
-didn't really workout but did go for 2 jogs/daily walks/climbed a mountain. starting tomorrow in Vegas gonna get back to the gym.
Times leaving diet guidelines: 3-4
20 Minute Meditation Session: 5/7
Books Read: .5/1
Body Weight +/-: wasn't able to check again cuz no scale here. assuming somewhere in the -18 ish lbs. thus far
Wealth:
Training Videos Watched: 1/1
Hours in the lab: 5/2
Sessions played: 4/4
Hours put into researching new avenues of revenue generation: 2
Weekly Proft: +1106
Yearly Profit: +33 607
Live Poker Profit This Year: +5 918
Book Review: Read about 50% of "The Drunkard's Walk" this week. Will save a more thorough review for next week when I'm done it. Thus far it's really interesting and quite appealing to myself (as a poker player). The author talks a lot about how randomness rules our lives and how humans are always trying to assign causality to such randomness. He also elaborates a lot on gambling and probabilities, moreover, how people discovered them/used them. One interesting quote...actually forgot to bookmark the quote so will have to go off memory, sorry about that. He asks the question: do more words in the English language end in "ing" or do more words have the 5th letter being "n"? Obviously, most people will immediately say "ing" because that is what they are most familiar with and recognize in their mind. However, there is actually more words with the 5th letter being "n". This is one of the bias's our minds are subjected to every single day. (I forget the name of the bias). We tend to remember the stuff that is more vivid to us a lot better than everything else. Seem applicable to poker or life?
Story of Leaving Comfort Zone:
I'd say hiking up that mountain was a little bit out of my comfort zone. To be honest, I had a great time and enjoyed the views etc..Ideally, in Vegas I make some improvements to leave my social comfort zone which is mandatory coming into the 2nd half of 2017.
Hands:
https://www.boomplayer.com/24135582_6E34DD0D3A
decent little river. actually really like my line here. was gonna follow through on basically all rivers. i think a lot of my value combos will want to lead turn here given that villain will check behind a lot. Q9o seems like a good hand to balance with.
https://www.boomplayer.com/24134161_C2EC465B0E
kinda like this too in a way. can have heaps of nut hands here whereas i think villain is quite capped as played. think over betting is good to make it v expensive for him to hero w/ AK Qx type hands.
https://www.boomplayer.com/24132817_0A6E587CA1
this was so bad on the river. v aggro reg. let's be honest people just aren't bluffing this spot ever. convinced myself maybe he is trying to rep AK. big disaster of me not to jam turn i think as well (although i shouldnt have much to protect against right?)
https://www.boomplayer.com/24132440_F7A6001C80
really don't understand his river sizing. meh was prob calling regardless i think he should prob go way bigger as he is repping strong range on turn. realistically what is he v betting w/ this size?
Random Rant of the Week:
Roughly 5 years ago I was talking to a professional who told me that I should take a break from Social Media because I was dealing with some anxiety issues or whatever. Not to mention, a lot of the time when I was grinding I would find my focus was bombarded with Facebook notifications and a lot of my thoughts were consumed by "what other people were doing". I'm not saying this is good by any means...but I still haven't reactivated my FB account and Snapchat is the only social media that I'm present on. Ideally, I want to get back on those platforms and start increasing my presence on them (and I will eventually). There are so many great benefits of SM. Years ago, it was simply not possible for humans to stay in touch or have a glimpse into the lives of literally hundreds/thousands of people at a time. However, in 2017, mass connection/communication has never been more possible. SM is amazing for advertising, connecting, re-connecting, building networks, marketing, creeping, documenting your life, providing others with an insight into your life.
I'll say the one thing that really bothers me is the fact that people only post the peak of their lives on social media (and this is obviously completely logical/expected/I do the same)...they take 100 pictures of themselves and pick the one where they look perfect, or they post the pictures from the most interesting thing they do in a day, etc etc. It's come to the point that people post the top 1% of their lives on SM. I might be wrong, but I don't think there has been a time where North Americans have ever been so validation seeking. When we are so concerned about being validated by how many "likes" we get on a FB picture...sometimes...it's easy to forget about the moment. Try going to a concert and every 3rd person will have their cell phone out looking for some content for their snap story, or a new FB dp pic, etc. Whatever happened to just enjoying the moment? Since when did posting good content on SM to obtain likes outweigh living in the moment? I'm not saying to ditch SM completely, or to not post good content. SM is an amazing way to promote yourself and connect...just don't get so caught up in it Maybe some of the discontent in modern society comes from the extent that we are exposed to "an ideal image". I think this can definitely cause feelings of unease in people who feel they aren't conforming to it.
I feel like I could have structured this post way better and actually organized my thoughts prior to writing. But, that's why it's a rant right?
Checklist for Vegas:
-workout 4-5x/week in hotel gym.
-keep diet on point. find healthy food options near my hotel and near the RIO ASAP
-sell lots of %s w/ MU to keep this trip as profitable/low variance as possible
-contain inner degen. don't think elaboration is needed.
-take days off when not feeling it.
-bring my A game at all times
-have fun and keep the trip as business oriented as possible.
Should be interesting grinding a lot of live poker. For the most part I think it's quite a different because you need to shift from a GTO oriented strategy to a more exploitable strategy. I don't want to find myself calling on rivers where I know the fish has 0 bluffs to protect my range or w/e.
Thanks for reading bros. I'll be posting weekly updates as per usual every Sunday, despite being in Vegas. If you're staying at home, enjoy these smaller/softer fields. If you're in Vegas, enjoy these monkey filled donkaments...and HMU if you wanna go for a drank down there. That's all for now, much love!
"Are we like late Rome, infatuated with past glories, ruled by a complacent, greedy elite, and hopelessly powerless to respond to changing conditions?"
-Camille Paglia
https://gyazo.com/545884344938ea4a0bb9aca1146fd196
photo of Lake Louise. not a great photo and it sucks there is still ice on the water. in person you can really see a very cool blue colour w/ crystal clear water
https://gyazo.com/f1e12d9df3f682f6bfcb7720eb351c62
summit of the mountain we hiked up. roughly ~2.2km high
https://gyazo.com/647a7272dba9cb930c269d83c633b18e
gondola prob 3/4 of the way up
https://gyazo.com/9a0397a9e794fa34a4a17f527567ebbf
nuff said
Health:
Workouts Completed this week: (2/4)
-didn't really workout but did go for 2 jogs/daily walks/climbed a mountain. starting tomorrow in Vegas gonna get back to the gym.
Times leaving diet guidelines: 3-4
20 Minute Meditation Session: 5/7
Books Read: .5/1
Body Weight +/-: wasn't able to check again cuz no scale here. assuming somewhere in the -18 ish lbs. thus far
Wealth:
Training Videos Watched: 1/1
Hours in the lab: 5/2
Sessions played: 4/4
Hours put into researching new avenues of revenue generation: 2
Weekly Proft: +1106
Yearly Profit: +33 607
Live Poker Profit This Year: +5 918
Book Review: Read about 50% of "The Drunkard's Walk" this week. Will save a more thorough review for next week when I'm done it. Thus far it's really interesting and quite appealing to myself (as a poker player). The author talks a lot about how randomness rules our lives and how humans are always trying to assign causality to such randomness. He also elaborates a lot on gambling and probabilities, moreover, how people discovered them/used them. One interesting quote...actually forgot to bookmark the quote so will have to go off memory, sorry about that. He asks the question: do more words in the English language end in "ing" or do more words have the 5th letter being "n"? Obviously, most people will immediately say "ing" because that is what they are most familiar with and recognize in their mind. However, there is actually more words with the 5th letter being "n". This is one of the bias's our minds are subjected to every single day. (I forget the name of the bias). We tend to remember the stuff that is more vivid to us a lot better than everything else. Seem applicable to poker or life?
Story of Leaving Comfort Zone:
I'd say hiking up that mountain was a little bit out of my comfort zone. To be honest, I had a great time and enjoyed the views etc..Ideally, in Vegas I make some improvements to leave my social comfort zone which is mandatory coming into the 2nd half of 2017.
Hands:
https://www.boomplayer.com/24135582_6E34DD0D3A
decent little river. actually really like my line here. was gonna follow through on basically all rivers. i think a lot of my value combos will want to lead turn here given that villain will check behind a lot. Q9o seems like a good hand to balance with.
https://www.boomplayer.com/24134161_C2EC465B0E
kinda like this too in a way. can have heaps of nut hands here whereas i think villain is quite capped as played. think over betting is good to make it v expensive for him to hero w/ AK Qx type hands.
https://www.boomplayer.com/24132817_0A6E587CA1
this was so bad on the river. v aggro reg. let's be honest people just aren't bluffing this spot ever. convinced myself maybe he is trying to rep AK. big disaster of me not to jam turn i think as well (although i shouldnt have much to protect against right?)
https://www.boomplayer.com/24132440_F7A6001C80
really don't understand his river sizing. meh was prob calling regardless i think he should prob go way bigger as he is repping strong range on turn. realistically what is he v betting w/ this size?
Random Rant of the Week:
Roughly 5 years ago I was talking to a professional who told me that I should take a break from Social Media because I was dealing with some anxiety issues or whatever. Not to mention, a lot of the time when I was grinding I would find my focus was bombarded with Facebook notifications and a lot of my thoughts were consumed by "what other people were doing". I'm not saying this is good by any means...but I still haven't reactivated my FB account and Snapchat is the only social media that I'm present on. Ideally, I want to get back on those platforms and start increasing my presence on them (and I will eventually). There are so many great benefits of SM. Years ago, it was simply not possible for humans to stay in touch or have a glimpse into the lives of literally hundreds/thousands of people at a time. However, in 2017, mass connection/communication has never been more possible. SM is amazing for advertising, connecting, re-connecting, building networks, marketing, creeping, documenting your life, providing others with an insight into your life.
I'll say the one thing that really bothers me is the fact that people only post the peak of their lives on social media (and this is obviously completely logical/expected/I do the same)...they take 100 pictures of themselves and pick the one where they look perfect, or they post the pictures from the most interesting thing they do in a day, etc etc. It's come to the point that people post the top 1% of their lives on SM. I might be wrong, but I don't think there has been a time where North Americans have ever been so validation seeking. When we are so concerned about being validated by how many "likes" we get on a FB picture...sometimes...it's easy to forget about the moment. Try going to a concert and every 3rd person will have their cell phone out looking for some content for their snap story, or a new FB dp pic, etc. Whatever happened to just enjoying the moment? Since when did posting good content on SM to obtain likes outweigh living in the moment? I'm not saying to ditch SM completely, or to not post good content. SM is an amazing way to promote yourself and connect...just don't get so caught up in it
Maybe some of the discontent in modern society comes from the extent that we are exposed to "an ideal image". I think this can definitely cause feelings of unease in people who feel they aren't conforming to it. I feel like I could have structured this post way better and actually organized my thoughts prior to writing. But, that's why it's a rant right
? Checklist for Vegas:
-workout 4-5x/week in hotel gym.
-keep diet on point. find healthy food options near my hotel and near the RIO ASAP
-sell lots of %s w/ MU to keep this trip as profitable/low variance as possible
-contain inner degen. don't think elaboration is needed.
-take days off when not feeling it.
-bring my A game at all times
-have fun and keep the trip as business oriented as possible.
Should be interesting grinding a lot of live poker. For the most part I think it's quite a different because you need to shift from a GTO oriented strategy to a more exploitable strategy. I don't want to find myself calling on rivers where I know the fish has 0 bluffs to protect my range or w/e.
Thanks for reading bros. I'll be posting weekly updates as per usual every Sunday, despite being in Vegas. If you're staying at home, enjoy these smaller/softer fields. If you're in Vegas, enjoy these monkey filled donkaments...and HMU if you wanna go for a drank down there. That's all for now, much love!
"Are we like late Rome, infatuated with past glories, ruled by a complacent, greedy elite, and hopelessly powerless to respond to changing conditions?"
-Camille Paglia