yea, of course we have flating range on turns, just that in mtts vs random villains we dont need to be balanced at all in that kind of spot imo (to flat strong hands so we dont end up just with weak hands/blufcatchers on river because we are in position and can make decision to hero fold/hero call or bluff if checked on river depends on run out/reads)

and imo u can still bluff Q6s if u somehow end up having it your range*** but obv not on every river, 9/T/Q/A would be good rivers to bluff jam Q6s in that spot imo

enough derail
gl rest

Sure, I agree with that and appreciate the input. One of the things I say a lot during coachings is "do the thing that makes the money" and often times that means completely ignoring balance/theory vs randoms. But there are far less randoms in $1ks and unfortunately the guy I chose to barrel is certainly not a random.



Admittedly I wasn't super excited about going to another wedding, but I'm glad I went -- Victoria is straight gorgeous. We took the ferry over to the island and I couldn't get enough of the views.

This is my favorite picture from the trip, for obvious reasons.


Arguably the best fish and chips I've ever had. To be fair I couldn't recall how much I enjoyed the fish from Poppie's (in London, England) but I distinctly remembered inhaling their mushy peas and sticky toffee pudding. We got the halibut at Red Fish Blue Fish and it was everything I wanted it to be: crispy on the outside, not overly battered, and soft/delicate inside. Despite that glowing review, I think the taco was my favorite part of the meal because of the spicy, tangy, crunchy, creamy slaw was the perfect accompaniment to the fish.


Had Jam Cafe for breakfast on the morning of the first day and the 'Later Tater' bowl was pretty solid: Tater Tots, Cheese, Pulled Pork, Sunny Side-up Eggs, and Chimichurri Sauce. There's one in Vancouver as well but it doesn't have this particular item. Sad!

Arrived home on Saturday night, got just enough sleep for the Sunday grind, and put in another day of work today. Nothing super interesting to report on that front, had a deep ish SM run but I think I'm close to breakeven for the past two days, which is totally fine.

Miiiiiiiiight put in a small session tomorrow, but certainly won't be grinding Wednesday as I've got a full day of eating/relaxing planned to celebrate my 33rd (Eek) birthday. I'm sure the younger version of myself would have wanted to go out, dress up and drink far too much, but in my old age I'd much rather do something more chill.

Had a great birthday, didn't do much of anything and I was totally, 100% okay with that. Based on the stress of this profession, I welcome the "lazy, do nothing" days where I can disconnect and decompress.

We had breakfast at the Jam Cafe here in Vancouver and to my surprise, they DO have the 'Later Tater Bowl.' GF went with that, I had the Eggs Benedict w/Fried Chicken and a Cayenne Pepper Hollendaise Sauce. Normally I'm not a huge fan of Eggs Benedict because Hollendaise is too rich and has a sweet flavor, but this one had more of a spicy kick and that + the fried chicken was amazing. Best Eggs Benedict I've ever had, not close.



Wasn't sure I'd grind on the following day, but I woke up and felt like playing. Didn't go super well, in fact it was the first day in a long time where I had a negative EV BB. Oopsie. It was bound to happen eventually, got three massive coolers with 200 BB stacks and I wasn't able to make up 600 BBs of equity in 1500 hands. What I was able to do, however, is have a profitable day. In my last MTT I spun up a tiny stack with 18 left into an average stack at the FT, and then sunran it to win ~$15k or so. Sharkscope hasn't updated/added the tournament yet, so not sure what the exact amount is. Enough to make me happy, I guess.

Most of these blogs on 2p2 (Mine included) have long winded rants about how bad the hero has ran, etc but very few talk about the other side of variance and boyyyyy did I experience that at the FT.

QJ > AQ for 14 BBs and a $700 KO
K8ss > 88 for 13 BBs and a $800 KO
AQ > 66 for 20 BBs and a $1000 KO
Flopped sets in 3/3 pots
Coolered opponent 3-handed (55 vs 86 on 88597)
Coolered opponent HU (64ss vs JJ on T44r in 3-bet pot)



Pretty easy to win when all of that happens. I don't think I played poorly, but based on the table dynamics I had a lot of difficulty accumulating chips without showdown and for most of the final table, I didn't make any hands. Thankfully the card distribution was overwhelmingly in my favor, big ups to the poker gods. This post felt incomplete without a graph and since Sharkscope hasn't been able to put out an accurate one yet, I used my mad MS Paint skills to create this gem.



PM me for MS Paint coaching.

That is a solid looking upswing graph.

Nobody has a graph prettier than that. Also, really nice thread, glgl

that egg

Put a poached/fried egg on almost anything and I'll eat it.

First off, congrats to Egption for chopping the Sunday Million. Around this time last year I was somewhat disillusioned with the state of Spins and he was one of the guys who pushed me towards the MTT grind, helped out with schedule recommendations, etc so I'm obviously grateful for that and happy for him/his score. I had a teeny, tiny piece thanks to this deal we made with about ~100 left.



Went from owing him a fancy dinner to getting a free one, so that's at least $300 in value. He might have shipped $100k, but I'm the real winner here folks.

September Recap:

Games: 728
ABI: $81
Hands: 59,249
EV BB: 9.2/100

Was somewhat disappointed to see the EV BB in the single digits, but I did play a bit higher this month (#COOPs), in reggier fields, the sample is only ~60k hands and it's still a really solid result given the average buy-in.

While on the subject of COOPs, I ended up ~evenish from the series events, but am really proud that I was willing to even take shots in the $1050s/$2100s. Might seem like a weird thing to take pride in, considering most guys in the industry are borderline degens, but I have always been on the nittier end of the spectrum when it comes to that sort of thing. It's why even after building a five figure roll at low-stakes SNGs, I chose to stay there instead of moving up. But for this particular series, I identified a few games that I thought were great value, prepared myself for the likely losses/variance, and flicked 'em. Don't think it'll spark some massive change in my mindset but it definitely helped me gain some level of comfort with those stakes and I'll be regging the $2100 Bounty Builder next week.

Okay, so I buried the lead a bit here, but September was my best month as a full-time MTTer. Sharkscope didn't track a few games correctly, most notably missing ~$8000 or so in bounties from one specific game so while the graph is purty, the results are actually better.



Total profit for the month is $40k, not including the sweet dinner I'll be enjoying courtesy of Egption. Will def be posting pics of that, have yet to decide where to go. Here's my current short list, please let me know which one you'd pick (and/or suggest a different place if you're familiar with the Vancouver area):

Gotham Steakhouse
https://gothamsteakhouse.com/

My fav steakhouse in Vancouver, a white table cloth sort of place with meat of the highest quality. I once at a 51oz filet in under an hour as part of a prop bet and at no point in time did it feel like a prop. Just had an exceptionally long, tasty dinner.

Boulevard
https://boulevardvancouver.ca/

Has a casual atmosphere despite the fancier looking plates, so if we wanted we can show up there in basketball shorts and still be seated. Dishes are on the smaller side so we'd have to order more, but dude won six figures so he can afford a couple extra entrees.

Miku
https://mikurestaurant.com/

Minami, the sister resteraunt of Miku, is normally my go-to place for sushi in downtown Vancouver. Miku offers nearly the same menu, but with far better views (of the waterfront) and younger, hipper vibe. Plus there's a usually a team of four to five attractive hostesses who basically do the job of one person, but it's not like they were hired for efficiency.

One of my horses showed me this, I'm always a sucker for kind words. Thanks Tonkaaaaa!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BocRws6n...n-by=tonkaaaap

[x] Not a nit anymore
[x] Actually decent

lolol

I am considering applying to your stable in the future, do you mind sharing avg stake, and avg roi per game of your stable?

Frick posting this publicly makes it a lot harder to welch on the dinner. flippin' heck.

Of the shortlist I'm probably opting for Miku myself, even though I've already been there. I'm just a sucker for sushi.

Miku is a solid choice, good combination of fresh sushi and hot/cooked dishes. You've got a few days left to decide!

Avg buy-in: $31
ROI: 14%

Honestly I think the ROI should be higher. Unfortunately I've got a handful of guys on contracts that were signed before I became better at properly evaluating game selection, meaning there are certain games in their deals that I would like to remove (For what it's worth, the majority of those games are ones that I don't even play). I'm extremely confident that if they cut those out, they'd see a greater ROI and more profit, but alas I cannot force them to drop those games. Reminds me of the phrase about leading a horse (irony) to water, but not being able to make it drink.



October: Not off to the best start



I'm hesitant to even complain about it since it's only 39 buy-ins and need to reserve my sympathy equity for when the real downswing hits. Based on the schedule I've mapped out for tomorrow, I could be in for ~$10k by Monday. Hardest part of planning tomorrow's grind has been deciding which games to cut because I want to play everyyyyyyyyyything. But I can't. Rather, I can't do it well enough to be a good idea.

Off to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving/watch the UFC event and the real fight is going to be between me and whoever is in my way of the food.

Gl man in for the ride. What kinda program are you running for your training? and you follow macros?

Haven't been strict with the diet/macros yet because I know that I won't be able to optimize things until I get to Mexico in late November. Eating is an incredibly social activity and my GF and I simply enjoy food too much for me to follow the regimen that would be most effective. So until then, I'm just trying to make positive/healthy choices when possible, hit the gym as much as I can, and when I'm there, give it maximum effort.

Honestly, I can't wait to get to Mexico and start getting myself back into shape. It's not that I'm a terribly disgusting blob now, I'm like 195 lbs or so and can still see my abs when I flex. But since being in Vancouver (March), I've probably gained ~6-8 pounds of fat lost a bit of muscle/strength. I think I'll be able to get back to my 'peak' fitness with 2 months of training/dieting. Was tempted to post before/after pictures but then I remembered that this is a public forum and it'd only be a matter of time before I saw some reg with my shirtless pic as his avatar.

"I remembered that this is a public forum and it'd only be a matter of time before I saw some reg with my shirtless pic as his avatar."

He says don't do it people. His head thinks go ahead get this avatar people.

Watched that tonkaaaa video live and lol hard.
Keep the good work mate and go only upswing/upfront /idk if this make sense in eng/

Would you prefer the 'ripped' or 'husky' version of the shirtless avatar? Fun fact, I was a chubby kid/teenager and I remember asking my Mom if I was fat.

Her: No, you're not fat. You're just...husky...

#teamhusky

You were wishing me good luck/a heater/etc, right? If so, it does make sense! Thanks!

Finished today's grind in less than optimal fashion, busting the $320 PKO on 888 in 14th place for ~$2100. And then my opponent threw an egg at me. Real talk, how is that allowed? How does that enhance my experience as a player? 888 is just encouraging its customers to be *******s to each other, and it can't possibly help create a better environment.

Yeah, so, I might have been mildly tilted by it. My point still stands.

Ended the day down about $1500 and even though my GF thought otherwise, that isn't too bad for a Sunday. Don't know if I'll be able to grind much in the near future. Hanging out with Egption tomorrow, Tuesdays is traditionally reserved for coaching, and my parents arrive in Vancouver on Wednesday/will be staying for an entire week. Gonna try to squeeze in a session at some point but I might not be at the tables for a full ten days. Yikes. I guess I could grind a little tomorrow and/or get in some games before/after Tuesday's coaching but honestly, I'm not sure I want to. I wouldn't say I'm burned out, but a few moments after I busted my last game, I took a shower, changed into some sweatpants, plopped myself down on the couch, and just sunk into the cushions. It felt amazing. So amazing that when I felt the desire to update this thread, I unplugged my laptop, brought it to the couch, and have written the entire thing from there.

Might wake up tomorrow with the 'itch' to play, but right now I'm super eager to do a whole lot of nothing. I've mentioned it before on here, to various people in my life, but I cannot state it more emphatically -- Doing nothing is incredibly underrated. Given the laundry list of stressors that come with playing poker, that "do nothing" time allows me to decompress and (mostly) disconnect. So I might do that tomorrow. Or I might load a small session. I'll make that decision in the morning. For now, it's more couch time.

Egption and I met up early on the 15th and hung out most of the day, chatting about poker/non poker stuff, and then he took me to a fancy dinner. I hope he buys me more food in the future.

Posted pics on my Instagram. It's the first image but feel free to check out the other stuff.

https://www.instagram.com/acbarone/?hl=en

Had a week off while my parents visited, but got back to the grind yesterday and have a few days left in the month to try and turn things around. It's been a mildly annoying month but I'm "only" down like ~$8000 and plan on putting in sessions Fri-Mon, so I'll have a decent shot at getting out of the hole. I definitely feel like I'm running terribly, but rather than dwell on that sort of stuff, I'm trying to do two things:

1) While at the tables/studying, only focus on what I can do to get better and not how good/bad I'm running, or how another reg is running, etc
2) When off the tables, forget everything poker related and relax

Could write more, but I'm going to stop here and leave myself time to squeeze in a workout. Will certainly be posting more whines/brags in the coming days.

Looking forward to the whines and brags!

No.2 is hard man, gl! You already do no.1 really well so I know you'l be fine!

Gl over the weekend!

<3

Won't keep you waiting much longer.

It's Halloween today and the scariest thing I can show you is this month's graph.



In the past I've felt too withered to post the monthly updates in a timely fashion when the results were less than optimal, but honestly I feel pretty good right now. As well as a person who worked 150+ hours in a given month and dropped $15k+ could feel, I suppose.

Still waiting on a few games to finish up, but the total losses should be about what the graph shows, +/- $2k. It's both the worst month I've ever had, EV BB wise (6.1 EV BB/100) and in terms of actual profits. I think that brings my total of "losing months" to four. Or five. Been at this for ~10 years now, so it's still a decent ratio.

This is normally where I'd reflect about what went wrong, what I can do to improve, etc but nothing jumps out at me. Definitely feel like I've been running awful in big spots, but there's no need to spam the thread with bad beats and such. Most of you play poker as well and understand. The majority of my losses ($13k or so) actually came from an ~90 game sample of $110+ buy-in games, easily within the realm of standard variance. Could I improve the EV BB? For sure. Took a more in depth look though and I'm not that concerned; posted some super low totals both overall on the button and 200+ BBs deep, two areas where I'm usually crushing. I'm confident that will rebound going forward and while it's an arbitrary thing, I'm eager to start next month with a clean slate.

Only have three weeks left in Vancouver, after that I'm headed to the US for Thanksgiving and then relocating to Mexico/Puerto Vallarta at least thru the end of January. Would like to grind a lot in the next three weeks, but I'm sure the GF will want to hang out as much as possible and in addition, I've got both a bachelor party and wedding to attend (Not mine!). Volume will probably suffer this month but if the results are anything like October, grinding less might actually save me money haha.

Was supposed to go to the gym today after work but ran deep in stuff (Not deep enough for any brags tho) so I'll workout tomorrow before I load up games. Lego November.

Oh, and October I've got two words for ya.

Hey! gg so far this year im sure you can close it with some nice results still to end the year in style I want to know when you lived in Thailand, how did you do your visa run? Do you have to book return flights or do they let you in if you have one way ticket to Bangkok?
Thanks and gl

Is that you on WPN making enough on Saturdays to fall short of $500 but could have made two lots of $180 instead?

If not someone's stole ya name brah

Thanks man!

I think Thailand has changed the rules of temporary/visitor visas, but in the past I was able to live there for 60 days, extend it once at immigration, and then I'd book a flight to somewhere close. Was only asked about a flight leaving Thailand ONCE when I was at the airport (Coming from USA) but other than that, no one ever seemed to care. Obviously regulations might be different now, so your question could be better answered in the Thailand travel chat subforum.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/9...-thailand-344/

Sick needle, haha.

It's me, I've been mixing in some of the ACR SNGs and it's nice to get in that 9-max volume. Been a while since I was able to play STTs. I did miss out on some extra leaderboard money but figured the additional hours I'd have to put in (during peak grind) weren't worth it. If I keep running terribly in MTTs, I might change my mind.

Somehow, despite the feeling of running like absolute death, I'm up for the month. So that's good, I guess. Fighting the feeling of witheredness so spending this upcoming weekend in California should help a bit.

It's a weird old grind and sucks ass since they dropped happy hours. They've switched the cash version to daily instead of weekly now and it's baffling why they haven't done it with SnG's cuz it's that leaderboard that badly needs motivating to play through the week, not the Beast.