YugiohPro 2014: Goals and Challenges
08-06-2014
, 09:00 PM
Gl on the ft of the hot 0.55! Pretty sick grinding that alongside $215 turbos etc 
08-09-2014
, 07:51 PM
6m SNG:
Basically my poker mentor and bff bigbluffzinc (who owns the stable I help manage) is one of the best regulars at 6m hypers. He's a huge well of knowledge in basically all things poker but I haven't really focused on 6m games too much for a few reasons.
#1) we have a bunch of guys in the stable who play either 6m turbos or hypers so I don't really want to sit in their lane
#2) it's hard to mass table FR MTT's and also play 6m, especially hypers.
#3) 6m SNG variants are actually the toughest to master. The main reason is all of the leaks you have (including ICM) are manifested over and over due to the short handed format. This leads to considerable pain for people who haven't mastered the ICM like me.
I think the regs at 6m are generally much stronger than the regs at 9m and 18m (which we'll get into later). So after getting throat checked from August 1st (running 3k below ev and have bubbled 21/78 games) I've decided to move down in stakes to the $30's for 6m hypers since I was making quite a few mistakes with very short stacks.
Basically my poker mentor and bff bigbluffzinc (who owns the stable I help manage) is one of the best regulars at 6m hypers. He's a huge well of knowledge in basically all things poker but I haven't really focused on 6m games too much for a few reasons.
#1) we have a bunch of guys in the stable who play either 6m turbos or hypers so I don't really want to sit in their lane
#2) it's hard to mass table FR MTT's and also play 6m, especially hypers.
#3) 6m SNG variants are actually the toughest to master. The main reason is all of the leaks you have (including ICM) are manifested over and over due to the short handed format. This leads to considerable pain for people who haven't mastered the ICM like me.
I think the regs at 6m are generally much stronger than the regs at 9m and 18m (which we'll get into later). So after getting throat checked from August 1st (running 3k below ev and have bubbled 21/78 games) I've decided to move down in stakes to the $30's for 6m hypers since I was making quite a few mistakes with very short stacks.
08-09-2014
, 07:57 PM
08-09-2014
, 07:59 PM
9m SNG:
Basically the game with the thinnest win rate I guess, due to the format of the game. I have another +$1400 in Step 3 results which aren't tracked on Sharkscope for some reason.
At the start of the year I had a ton of leaks in this format and the 18m format. I had to do a lot of studying to improve and I'm starting to see it coming. I think the two best regulars in this format at my stakes are DarinVG and Abarone68. I've done a lot of studying of their games, they basically just play tight/solid and perfect ICM but also can get out of line in spots. So props to them.
Having said that these games are filled with some of the worst regulars imaginable. A lot of the 9m regs mix in 18's because it's impossible to make a living just playing 9m SNG's. The dolt ones play supremely exploitable Ashy Larry styles. Almost all of them open more than 70% from the SB, usually for min, and they don't seem to have gotten the point vs me yet.
I have multiple colors for players I'm not a fan of and most of the colors seem to be reserved for 9m and 18m regulars. I have been known to make quite a few spite calls vs a lot of them. I think they should all aspire to be more like DarinVG and Abarone68.
I'm hoping to turn this graph positive by the end of the year but it's not a huge deal. Max ROI's are pretty low in this format which makes what Darin's doing this year pretty remarkable.
Basically the game with the thinnest win rate I guess, due to the format of the game. I have another +$1400 in Step 3 results which aren't tracked on Sharkscope for some reason.
At the start of the year I had a ton of leaks in this format and the 18m format. I had to do a lot of studying to improve and I'm starting to see it coming. I think the two best regulars in this format at my stakes are DarinVG and Abarone68. I've done a lot of studying of their games, they basically just play tight/solid and perfect ICM but also can get out of line in spots. So props to them.
Having said that these games are filled with some of the worst regulars imaginable. A lot of the 9m regs mix in 18's because it's impossible to make a living just playing 9m SNG's. The dolt ones play supremely exploitable Ashy Larry styles. Almost all of them open more than 70% from the SB, usually for min, and they don't seem to have gotten the point vs me yet.
I have multiple colors for players I'm not a fan of and most of the colors seem to be reserved for 9m and 18m regulars. I have been known to make quite a few spite calls vs a lot of them. I think they should all aspire to be more like DarinVG and Abarone68.
I'm hoping to turn this graph positive by the end of the year but it's not a huge deal. Max ROI's are pretty low in this format which makes what Darin's doing this year pretty remarkable.
08-09-2014
, 08:09 PM
18m SNG:
Still think this game is the biggest gold mine for SNG regulars who can't cut it in the hypers. It has the highest ROI's and is just very easy to study and master. It's funny that Mecastyles stepped in to post in between these updates <3 since he's basically been one of the best SNG players (18m to 6m) since I started moving my way up in the poker ranks. He used to tell me how much I sucked at 18's, I was running an unsustainable ROI with a lot of 3rd and 4th place finish distributions.
Verily everything he warned me about came to pass and I went on a "downswing" (more like I sucked). I had to do a lot of study but now I feel like 18m are my strongest SNG game. I do a pretty good job of chipping up before the final two tables and am constantly working on perfecting ICM.
I do think I am running hot but I predicted my results would improve before they actually did. A lot of the difference comes from a conscious effort to play spots differently and attack different dynamics (and studying other top regs). This graph of my overall 18 results inspires me to keep trying to put my best foot forward in these SNG games. My Step 3 $82 graph also looks like this.
Still think this game is the biggest gold mine for SNG regulars who can't cut it in the hypers. It has the highest ROI's and is just very easy to study and master. It's funny that Mecastyles stepped in to post in between these updates <3 since he's basically been one of the best SNG players (18m to 6m) since I started moving my way up in the poker ranks. He used to tell me how much I sucked at 18's, I was running an unsustainable ROI with a lot of 3rd and 4th place finish distributions.
Verily everything he warned me about came to pass and I went on a "downswing" (more like I sucked). I had to do a lot of study but now I feel like 18m are my strongest SNG game. I do a pretty good job of chipping up before the final two tables and am constantly working on perfecting ICM.
I do think I am running hot but I predicted my results would improve before they actually did. A lot of the difference comes from a conscious effort to play spots differently and attack different dynamics (and studying other top regs). This graph of my overall 18 results inspires me to keep trying to put my best foot forward in these SNG games. My Step 3 $82 graph also looks like this.
08-09-2014
, 08:14 PM
180's:
It's kind of weird to say this but I just never had a positive 180's graph. They were kind of one of the "final frontiers" for me poker wise to conquer. Even when I started winning a lot in MTT's in 2012, I could never quite stabilize my 180's graph. I still can't! Although being down $10,000 in the $60's doesn't help.
At the moment I'm up $261 in them, yay?
There's not much to say about 180's. If I was starting a prototypical MTT TLB grinder in the mold of an Aaralynn or Dhilton12, I would start them with a steady diet of $3r and $8 180's. A lot of the mediocre regs fancy them tougher to beat now but I still think they are ripe for the pillaging. I basically only play $35's and $60's and still think the game is beatable.
However, 180's variance is just absurd and through the roof so it's very hard to tell if you're actually a winner. I am lucky that I have turbo MTT's as a side piece that reassure me when the 180's have me blue.
It's kind of weird to say this but I just never had a positive 180's graph. They were kind of one of the "final frontiers" for me poker wise to conquer. Even when I started winning a lot in MTT's in 2012, I could never quite stabilize my 180's graph. I still can't! Although being down $10,000 in the $60's doesn't help.
At the moment I'm up $261 in them, yay?
There's not much to say about 180's. If I was starting a prototypical MTT TLB grinder in the mold of an Aaralynn or Dhilton12, I would start them with a steady diet of $3r and $8 180's. A lot of the mediocre regs fancy them tougher to beat now but I still think they are ripe for the pillaging. I basically only play $35's and $60's and still think the game is beatable.
However, 180's variance is just absurd and through the roof so it's very hard to tell if you're actually a winner. I am lucky that I have turbo MTT's as a side piece that reassure me when the 180's have me blue.
08-09-2014
, 08:27 PM
MTT's:
This graph compares my 2014 vs 2013 and 2012 (no satellites, no rebuys, no hypers).
I'm not making much progress in the yearly TLB. I will probably have to quit the chase if I don't make up a lot of ground by the end of WCOOP. The dog days of summer also have much smaller fields so less TLB. Probably wasn't a good idea to miss all of SCOOP :P
I play a unique (more +ev) rebuy strategy that's basically borked my Sharkscope stats. I only single unit a lot of the higher 1R1A tournaments (like the 55c, 33q, and 109 turbo). I also late register all 109R's and almost never rebuy in the 55 2x/109 2x/215 2x Turbos.
So here are some graphs with rebuys and satellites omitted. I think the results are very interesting. I've actually had a really weird year. Basically in 2012 and 2013, I had a very high AV. ROI on Sharkscope and a lot of success at lower to midstakes buy-ins. This year, almost all of my success is at very high stakes tournaments ($109 turbos and up), along with a low AV. ROI.
I talked about this with BBZ and he said it's just a bunch of noise. Basically my ITM is the highest it's ever been but I have slightly less early and early middle finishes which are hurting me. I chalk these differences up to a few things:
1) At the start of the year I was pushing SNE so late registering a ton of tournaments I shouldn't have been (big 22, Big 55 type stuff).
2) I was also playing a ton of Sundays while skipping the high value weekdays
3) The overall regular has gotten better at all stakes
4) My ABI is much higher (not reflected in Scope but I fire way more 215 T's and stuff) so my results are much swingier
Next post will go in depth about where I'm bleeding this year!
This graph compares my 2014 vs 2013 and 2012 (no satellites, no rebuys, no hypers).
I'm not making much progress in the yearly TLB. I will probably have to quit the chase if I don't make up a lot of ground by the end of WCOOP. The dog days of summer also have much smaller fields so less TLB. Probably wasn't a good idea to miss all of SCOOP :P
I play a unique (more +ev) rebuy strategy that's basically borked my Sharkscope stats. I only single unit a lot of the higher 1R1A tournaments (like the 55c, 33q, and 109 turbo). I also late register all 109R's and almost never rebuy in the 55 2x/109 2x/215 2x Turbos.
So here are some graphs with rebuys and satellites omitted. I think the results are very interesting. I've actually had a really weird year. Basically in 2012 and 2013, I had a very high AV. ROI on Sharkscope and a lot of success at lower to midstakes buy-ins. This year, almost all of my success is at very high stakes tournaments ($109 turbos and up), along with a low AV. ROI.
I talked about this with BBZ and he said it's just a bunch of noise. Basically my ITM is the highest it's ever been but I have slightly less early and early middle finishes which are hurting me. I chalk these differences up to a few things:
1) At the start of the year I was pushing SNE so late registering a ton of tournaments I shouldn't have been (big 22, Big 55 type stuff).
2) I was also playing a ton of Sundays while skipping the high value weekdays
3) The overall regular has gotten better at all stakes
4) My ABI is much higher (not reflected in Scope but I fire way more 215 T's and stuff) so my results are much swingier
Next post will go in depth about where I'm bleeding this year!
Last edited by YugiohPro; 08-09-2014 at 08:38 PM.
08-09-2014
, 08:33 PM
MTT's and some shocking findings!
Was going through some filters the other day and was pretty shocked by what I saw. Might want to post this in the biggest downswing thread. Basically I'm running super hot at the high buy-ins (which is good). But I'm getting my clock cleaned in the $40-55 range! That would include
Hot 55, Big 55, 44 Turbos, 54 KO's, 55 freezeouts, and stuff! I'm down about 400 buy-ins in these games this year despite having a 20% ITM. I have a global alias of all of the best MTTers, they're doing better than me in these games but yes the swings are pretty high. Maybe midstakes are tougher than everyone thinks?
Losses in these bread and butter tournaments have made my graph more swingy this year. Point blank it just kind of sucks to lose so much in "soft games" that should be "lowering my variance." If I didn't play high stakes or something and topped out at $55's, I would be losing for the year!
I've also dusted quite a few hypers for the year and all of my $1k+ buy-ins have been lost in the breeze (did get 19th in the Super Tuesday and had a shot at real glory).
Anyways this does it for the recap. Boy did this take long but I feel better having written everything down and I do think there are a few useful strategy nuggets somewhere in this wall of posts!
Was going through some filters the other day and was pretty shocked by what I saw. Might want to post this in the biggest downswing thread. Basically I'm running super hot at the high buy-ins (which is good). But I'm getting my clock cleaned in the $40-55 range! That would include
Hot 55, Big 55, 44 Turbos, 54 KO's, 55 freezeouts, and stuff! I'm down about 400 buy-ins in these games this year despite having a 20% ITM. I have a global alias of all of the best MTTers, they're doing better than me in these games but yes the swings are pretty high. Maybe midstakes are tougher than everyone thinks?
Losses in these bread and butter tournaments have made my graph more swingy this year. Point blank it just kind of sucks to lose so much in "soft games" that should be "lowering my variance." If I didn't play high stakes or something and topped out at $55's, I would be losing for the year!
I've also dusted quite a few hypers for the year and all of my $1k+ buy-ins have been lost in the breeze (did get 19th in the Super Tuesday and had a shot at real glory).
Anyways this does it for the recap. Boy did this take long but I feel better having written everything down and I do think there are a few useful strategy nuggets somewhere in this wall of posts!
08-09-2014
, 10:54 PM
08-10-2014
, 04:23 AM
08-11-2014
, 05:40 AM
08-25-2014
, 12:58 AM
08-25-2014
, 12:12 PM
Thoughts with your gf bro, sounds a brave lass!
Mid stakes games are def tougher now, but they are also huge fields a lot of the time, so variance can be horrid and you have to be super lucky to get deep to any meaningful level.
You mentioned tilt earlier in the thread. Have you been through Jared Tendler's 1st book? It's helped me a fair bit on ma recent doomswitch-downswingers
Mid stakes games are def tougher now, but they are also huge fields a lot of the time, so variance can be horrid and you have to be super lucky to get deep to any meaningful level.
You mentioned tilt earlier in the thread. Have you been through Jared Tendler's 1st book? It's helped me a fair bit on ma recent doomswitch-downswingers