And one successful day of COOPs is in the books.

Busted the $2100 about 1.5 hours in and I didn't even blink. I thought I'd be a bit sadder, but I suppose I prepared myself for the strong possibility of losing that game so I was quickly able to get back to business. Didn't make any Day 2's and I'm actually not even sure if I min cashed a single COOP (Looked it up: I min cashed the $22 Mini Mil, woot!), but but ran well enough on non Stars sites to post a winning day. Results are still trickling in, I think it'll end up being ~$3k or so profit. Not bad considering I bricked all $215s and higher.

Tomorrow's $55/$530 8-Max PKOs don't start until 10:30 AM so that should give me enough time to sleep in a bit and (hopefully) make it to the gym.

[x] Woke up early
[x] Made it to the gym

Very productive morning so far, have extra time and thought I'd write my monthly recaps for July/August.

Played the exact same number of days each month (22) and close to the same volume. I still think I could do more, but the EV I'd gain from playing ~100 or so extra games per month isn't worth the life EV I'd lose because I'd have far less time to hang out with the GF, exercise, take days off/decompress, etc. I'd probably have more money in the bank but I'd be a sadder, emptier person. Pass.



But once I get to Mexico in late November, I'll have a lot more time because the GF is staying behind in Canada, and I'll be able to ramp up the volume at that point.

Total profit is ~$29,300. Not bad. I thought my monthly EV was between $20k-$25k when I started the MTT grind and I'm a lot closer to that since moving to Canada. Perhaps I was more affected by the time zone (playing during the night, sleeping during the day) than I thought.



ABI went down slightly in August, I did make a few conscious changes to reduce variance but I think it reflects a decision to cut games that I used to consider "really good." It's almost exclusively on non Stars sites and while those games had a great reg:fish ratio a few months back, more regs have came on the sites and made the games worse. The population never changes that fast on Stars, but it's definitely worth paying attention to on smaller sites where fields are <150 so a handful of new regs can hurt your equity.

Started this post before my grind and didn't finish it til the second break, gotta get back to the games now.

Really nice, well done and gl september. Could you share YTD graph perhaps ?

Also, bonus question as I'm trying to find optimal solutions for myself : what's your BRM in terms of BIs ( like how many BIs do you use if you consider yourself 30% ROI player in 800-1200 avg fields ). I suppose you're probably 'overrolled' but would like to hear first hand info about this as I'm looking to drop my backers and continue on my own dime. Cheers

oh he only went and smashed the gym in between sunday WCOOP and monday WCOOP grinds.

wp mate. forthegainz!

nice update again

Hey there.

Was hoping I could wait a bit longer until the variance swung around (At least that's what I've told myself, haha) but I'll post the YTD MTT graph now. For what it's worth I actually surpassed $100k profit today, but the graph doesn't include all the non MTT poker stuff I've done this year.



Honestly I don't know. I'm def over-rolled for my stakes because my accts are supporting 20+ other poker players with a ~$20 ABI on average. Graph shows my biggest downer, around $25k but as I'd said in previous posts, I think I was living in Thailand at the time and I was likely:

a) Worse at MTTs
b) Worse at game selection
c) Struggling with the timezone

Moved to Canada around the ~4k game mark and it's been #upswinglife every since.

Was the first day I felt zero chest 'pressure' so naturally I decided to bang out a chest workout. Went well enough, haven't lifted chest in almost two weeks and I noticed I was a bit weaker. Still was able to do 3x8 @ 185/225/245.

Re: COOPs, today went laughably bad. Once again I busto'd all the higher stuff, including two bullets in the $530 8-Max, $530 BB, and what felt like an endless number of €250 PKOs. Wasn't phased at all, even losing a huge 70/30 in one of the last MTTs I said "It just isn't my day" outloud and mentally checked out a bit. Had only one table left around 4 PM and moved my laptop to the living room so I could play some MLB 2018 on the Playstation while finishing the session. Ended up 1-tabling the damn thing for another 4 hours and then I shipped it for ~€8k.

ahahahah

that one tabling Bink for 8k. thats awesome. im sure what game u are talking about but hey! nice one

also, you have some serious chesticles mate! very strong lifts! and most importantly glad to hear you are feeling well

ul about yesterday but seems like your mental game is top notch.

heres to a better tomorrow

vamoo

Haha, thanks. I haven't exactly been forthcoming with my SN on all sites but if people want to do the research, it isn't too hard to figure out.

Started super late today because I centered my grind around the $109/$1050 COOPs. Gave me a chance to get a hair cut, work-out, and have lunch with the GF all before loading up games.

Good news is I had a profitable day; Racked up a lot in bounties and was the bounty leader with ~50 left (47 get paid) and then I tripled barreled in a spot that didn't work out too well.

https://www.boomplayer.com/28648898_729A1B6FFE

It's obviously not the greatest triple of all-time, I block most of the stuff I want him to fold, but I figured near bottom of range and money bubble = more fold equity. Oh well. Still snuck into Day 2 (min cash) and will resume play tomorrow as the teeniest, tiniest stack.

QTs (no spades) and ATo (no spades) seem like better river barrels. You block his KQ and AK with these hands and he can still fold Axss en Qxss. What do you think is the value of triple barrelling with a low flush draw hand like 76ss or 56ss vs Q6ss? I think with the low flush draws you unblock his Qxss and Axss autofolds, but you do not block his Kx. With high flush draw like Qxss or Axss, you block some of his Kx value hands, but he has no autofold with Qxss or Axss. I wonder which one is more important. Maybe we should choose for the lowest flushcombo's than to bluff as a proxy since they have no showdown value whatsoever.

Totally agree. Using the weakest flush draws that don't block Qx/Tx of spades feels like the best approach.

Not trying to defend my barrel by any means, when I wrote it 'wasn't the greatest triple of all-time' I meant it somewhat sarcastically. I do think I have some FE but I think given the dynamics of the situation he should have a tighter flatting range preflop and most of that range calls turn will call the river shove. Told a friend of mine that it was by far the worst hand/play I made all game and it's unfortunate that it happened in such a high equity spot *and* I got punished.

Truth be told, that hand was my first thought on my mind when I woke up this morning. I've still got that gnawing feeling in my stomach that stems from the fact that I made a mistake which cost a few thousand in equity. But that's ~okay.

Have had a lot of discussions recently about the concept of fixed mindset vs growth mindset and the basic difference is:

In a fixed mindset, people believe their skills are 'fixed' at a certain level
In a growth mindset, people believe those same skills can be improved

The growth mindset lends itself to a greater appreciation for criticism/is more open to learning and that's how I try to approach poker (Life, too, I suppose). I posted this hand here in part because the social pressure could spur more improvement on my part, and to my group in hopes the 'growth mindset' attitude would be contagious. All too often in poker/life, people seem to be more interested in defending their decisions rather than objectively analyzing whether a better decision could have been made. And while I certainly could sit here and say "Oh no that river shove is printing, look at my results brah" in some vain attempt to protect my ego, that'd be the nut low line (and would qualify as a fixed mindset!). Instead, I can accept that I made a mistake and I'll do my best to learn from it, so when similar spots come up in the future, I'll be ready for them.

Busto'd the $1050 PKO about a half hour after play resumed; AK < JJ for an average stack. *Shrug*

Rest of the day wasn't great, but managed to ship the $44 8-max PKO as a day-saver.

q6s
i think is too loose to open to start with imo but considering bubble it might be ok
i also think that Cbeting biger size (half pot) on that board and checking on that turn is better with our hand/range and we can bomb river A/9/T/Q/J/Spade
also think that 9/8/7 high flush draws and A2s-A5s should be hands that we should triple barel with

what you think about villain just flating on turn/flop? i dont really like his flat i mean if u have AK/KQ/AA there are a lot of turns/rivers that will kill action and he is letting you draw cheaply

gl rest

People might be getting tired of these daily WCOOP updates and for them I have some great news -- there won't be an update post tomorrow because I'm taking Friday off. Rarely take Fridays off because it's such a great day to play; the fields are much softer, probably because regs use it as a rest day to get ready for big weekend grinds.

Satted into the $1050 WCOOP today, it's the first satellite I've played for any of the COOPs and did it only because it was early in the session and I had some table space. Was two levels from making Day 2, but then this happened:

https://www.boomplayer.com/28669843_CDC957FC28



Welp, still +$2k ish which pays for today's buy-ins and leaves a bit of profit behind.

GF told me last night that we were invited to go to her friend's birthday dinner the following day and asked if I could meet her at her workplace around 7 PM. I'd balk if it was a Sunday, but on a Satuday? Sure, I can adjust my schedule a bit.

Original plan was to load regular speed games that would finish before ~6, so that meant my last game was supposed to be the $109 Builder. I had added a bunch of other turbos that I normally omit to fill up table space (More on that later) and then a few hours into my grind, she told me that the plans were off. Something about the weather or w/e. Erm, ok. Took a look at the lobby and added a few of the regular speed games back into the grind. One of those games happened to be the $215 Saturday KO.

Ended up FT'ing it, came in 6/9 and there was a glut of average stacks so between the ICM considerations and less fold equity of KO MTTs, I knew I had to be a bit nittier and hope for ladders. Somehow managed to sit on a 15-20 BB stack for the better part of two hours and avoid a confrontation until we were 4-handed.



Given the starting position, super happy with that result. Extra big thanks to the inclimate weather for allowing me the opportunity to click the register button.

Also FT'd/got 5th in the Hot $11, one of the turbos I mentioned earlier.



It's definitely nice to win ~80 buy-ins, but I won't be playing it anytime in the near future for a couple reasons:

1) Importance of Table Space
Think of the literal table space on your monitor as figurative 'decision' space in your brain. Brain can only handle so many decisions before it starts to get tired, and from that point on each decision relies less on logic and more on "feel" or emotion.

2) Low Equity
It's certainly a soft game, but how much money am I passing up by not playing it? Even if I assumed I could add the game without any affect on my other games/decision space, it's not like I'm losing out on a ton of equity.

Let's pretend for a second that I've got a 100% ROI. I don't know if that's true long-term, altho I do have it a tiny sample (~200 games) but for now let's assume that's an accurate indicator of my winrate.

100% ROI: $11
Duration: 5 hours
Hourly rate: $2.25/hour

Could easily make that equity back with one BETTER decision/line in any of my $109s+.

3) That rake, bro
I knew the rake had been raised on sub $22 games, but I didn't recall the exact amount. One of my horses lol'd at me for playing the Hot $11, and said he couldn't believe I'd be willing to pay 12% rake for a turbo.

Had to look it up -- It's actually 11%, but still, he's right. Game is still beatable, but there are so many other better games out there and people (like myself, today) don't seem to have the energy to make a few extra clicks. That extra 1% rake isn't a huge deal if you're a crusher, but if you're someone with a low EV BB, frequently has big swings, and wants to make more consistent income, you should seriously evaluate your game selection.

Okay, that's enough rambling in one post. Be back at it tomorrow.

Your updates are so good man. Don't stop the dailies, they are too good nice work on saturday with the KO and the hot 11 (what a classic mtt)

Love how you FT it and go like "yep, not playing this bloody thing again)

But everything you said about why not to reg, is true ofc. Ive been speaking to a friend who tells me he is backed to play around 8 daily mtts on party. Not allowed to play stars. I simply asked him how his backers consider that a profitable proposition for any of them if hes sat 2 tabling all day...

Feel you in the 1k PKO too.

On the super bright side, its sunday today which means we can both win something huge AND day 2 something bigger.

Gunna watch tim vine for 5 mins pre grind so my chat game is strong.

Gl today bro

Unsubbed.

hahaha

to calculate your hourly rate shouldnt you use the avg duration of the tournament instead of the max time it can last? nice post btw

Yup, don't disagree at all. I thought the open would be fine because it's bubble, but it's less fine when the table is full of crushers who are aware that I'll be opening wider and are willing to play back. Be much better if it was a table of nitty fish.

Thought his decision to flat there was good; flatting allows me to barrel and on turn he's a pretty big favorite vs all drawing hands, even ~70% vs QTss.


And I did, sort of.

Finished 3rd in the Winamax Series #113 €250 PKO for, ummmm, ~€7k ish? Something like that. Still waiting on official numbers from Sharkscope. This is from 3-handed play, easily the grossest hand I've had in a while. Fun fact: Same guy had T8 vs my QQ on QJ9 a few orbits earlier.

https://www.winamax.fr/replayer/repl...706&lang=en_US



No other major scores to speak of, still have two tables left though so if something big happens, I'll obv make another post. Have a small Day 2 tomorrow, will hit the gym in the morning and do a small/midday session centered around that game.

Is it worse if I told you that I picked the gif out at random and have no idea who those soccer players were?

That seems far better.

yea that's true, but i think in that spot on turn i prefer shoving with that hand (kjs + some sets) + some combo draws as semibluffs to deny eq/use FEQ etc because imo is not sure that you gona barel brick rivers and he will have tough decision on not brick rivers, while puting you in tough spot with your draws and 1 pair hands on turn

Oh now you've got me so ****ing mad. Think I need to go outside for a f.ag.

If you're gonna shove KJ/sets, doesn't that drastically weaken your flatting range?

Americans: Before we had some competition, but now we're undoubtedly the worst.

So I'm officially done with COOPs, as I fly to Toronto tomorrow morning and won't be grinding for at least a week. I ended up making like ~$2k from the COOPs and cashed both my $1050 PKOs, which was fun. Did extremely well in non COOP stuff, here's my graph for the first ten days of the month.



Been dieting/lifting hard so I can stuff my face full of all the food Toronto has to offer. Most excited about Assembly Hall, a high end food court.

https://www.assemblychefshall.com/menus/

Even if it's a bust, we're supposed to hit up some amazing Korean BBQ spot, Canada's Wonderland Theme Park, and I won't have to click buttons for several days.

Life.
Is.
Good.

i said not always and not all combos, but you said it was buble righ?

any way imo it doesnt matter if it weakness my perceived flating range if i dont have for a flating range in that spot(on turn) to start with
things to consider about why weakening my flating range in that spot is not a thing for me here imo are
-I am in position and can make better decisions on rivers(villains dont know what range you call what range you shove/they assume) and
- shoving those combos strongers my shoving range so i have more FEQ + EQ when called and we are denying EQ to villains range in significant pot on super draw heavy board

for ex
asuming we dont have raising range on flop if we shove that turn https://www.boomplayer.com/28648898_729A1B6FFE for ex with all good combo draws like ATss/QTss/AQss/A3ss/A5ss/T9ss + KJs/44/JJ (9/6 value to high eq semi blufs combos) we are puting so much presure on villains range and he is in such akward/****ed up spot with all good draws/one pair hands like KQ/AK/AA imo and we have a ton of FEQ + ton of EQ when called = printing imo



two last thoughts

1) when we have KJs in that spot/board is more likely villain has draw (or air and we are not sure if he gona barel/bluff brick river with air and we are in tough spot when villian shoves rivers that complete some obv draws like Q/9/A also 5/4 not are not always bricks plus he can just x/ fold some hands that he will stack off on that turn)so denying EQ is a significant thing in this spot imo (even more because wining pot right there on turn will give us stack that we cover 6/8 players at table while previously we cover only 3/8,)

2) we can alter our shoving range on turn (because is pko and you cover us) in way that we will be more value heavy (have more EQ) with our range for ex we can shove smth like A3ss/A5ss/A4ss (because we are blocking villains best draws/value like ATs/AQss/AK/AA and unblocking worse draws like QTs/Q9s/T9ss and weaker one pair combos (KQ) etc) and most of KJs/JJ/44 combos

I'm not sure if you meant this part as an argument for or against flatting, but in general I think the majority of regulars underestimate the importance of position.

Just seems to me that completing eliminating a flatting range HAS to be suboptimal, since you're unable to float/use position to possibly take the pot away on river and I'm not sure what the plan is with top pair/second pair type hands. Jamming them seems meh, folding them seems meh too. Flatting would be best but if we've completely eliminated that option, then what?

Moving past the boring ol' poker strat talk, got back from Ontario on Monday night. We didn't really do much, only spent two days in Toronto and the rest in London (GF's hometown, location of her friend's wedding). I did get to meet up with TWO former horses though.

Breakfast with BugsBunnyD @ Omni King Edward Hotel


Drinks with Onurbikeson on the streets of London

We had forgotten to take pics and had my friend snap one of us at the end of the night, from his car, hence the amazing quality.

Aside from meeting up with those two gents, I was really excited about the food. Unfortunately, it was just ~okay. Didn't have any amazing meals, in fact most of it was incredibly mediocre.

• The high-end food court was a bust -- it was supposed to be open until 9 PM but more than half of the places were closed by 7.
• Korean BBQ spot was below average.
• Italian place was absolutely terrible -- Undercooked seafood, bland sauce, and somehow forgot several of the ingredients.

As someone who gets so much enjoyment out of eating delicious food, I was obviously quite disappointed. But I *did* have a lot of fun with my GF's family and enjoyed my time at the wedding, thanks in large part to the dancing robot.

Yes, I said dancing robot.

Don't believe me? Enjoy!

https://streamable.com/mic5g#

Had a full grind day today, but have to take off Thurs/Fri/Sat because we're headed to another wedding in Victoria. GF and I are going to make a mini vacation out of it, and hopefully this time the food is better.

an argument that weakening our flatting range is not that important in this spot imo (while denying eq is) because we have position and we will make better decisions overall on rivers

Ah, I thought you'd said you didn't have a flatting range. Might have misunderstood that part.

Regardless, your post had a lot of intense poker stuff in it and I wasn't in the right mindset to digest it all. I still don't know exactly what I want to do in that spot if I was villain, but I do know that as the original raiser I shouldn't be bluff jamming the Q6ss.