I haven't played much poker this year. I've been focused on losing weight this summer. I'm in the best shape I've been in since 2011-2012 so I feel good about that and I'm ony halfway to my goal weight but I'm making it a priority to get there.

I'm going to start playing poker 1-2x per week. I'm going to start with nanostake-microstakes mtts, mttsngs and sngs. I don't really know nothing is set in stone but I don't really have the money or desire to deposit a bunch. I also mainly want to play for fun so I think $1-$7.50 stakes are low enough that it won't stress me at all. I'll eventually play $11-$44s when I get my bankroll up to $2000-$5000. I'll try to avoid depositing but if some $11 or $22 $1 milly comes up I might take some shots. I'd like to try to be disciplined about yolo shots but it's whatever.

I'm going to try not to obsess too much and let this consume me. I want my health to be a priority. I'll work full-time and just play on weekends. I won't play unless I've worked out and ran before playing.

I'll see how things go and update this thread once or twice a month with results.

Starting Bankroll on Stars $70.

Playnow software seems terrible now so I might not play there. Eventually when I have a good bankroll I'd like to play a low variance/soft $30-40 abi on weekends. I'd make a schedule across the softer sites. I don't think I like cash games enough to play them much. If I don't have much time I'd rather grind sngs.

I'm at about 220lbs by the end of the month and would like to get down to 185 lbs by winter.

I'd also like to make $5000 in poker by winter.

I think I'll play 97% holdom but sometimes some other variants for fun.

I want to confident in PKOs by winter as well.

Shiet good start plus a couple 2nds in mttsngs

bankrolls at $243
+$173

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQMbvJNRpLE

Here's a good Ted Talk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQMbvJNRpLE

BOOM big boost to the bankroll it's now at $1140.
I'll move up to the $5.50s and $4.50 OD, $7.50 OD turbos.

Another big score and boost to the bankroll woot.
I purchased something with some of my bankroll and I'm at $1748 now.

I took monday to friday off 4th session today and the heater continues:

I sattied in from a $3.30. I'll try satties in the bankroll range as much as possible when tables are low.



Bankroll is at $2484
Profit: +$2414

Total hours grinded: 29

I'll start to play $11s.

I'll also try to spin up my pokerstars.es account it was at 10e and now at 19.50 euro.
I only fire the 0.50-1e mtts when my stars tables are low.

This is a really good bankroll guide.
With 25% ROI and around 500 avg entrants I should be safe with 300 average buyins and getting my ABI to $8 but I'll play it extra safe for big fields and set a schedule around an ABI of 400-500 buyins for less stress.

I'll play the $15 OD turbos when my bankroll is at $3000 and the $30 PKO ODs when the bankroll is at $5000.

My goal is to keep building the bankroll until I'm at $25K and can comfortably have an ABI of $30 playing all the $5.50-$55s and good value/offpeak $109/BB$162. Once I start working at a new job Sept 9th, I shouldn't have to withdraw and I'll just keep withdrawing everything over $25K. In a year or so I'll finally be a journeyperson plumber and should be comfortable with money enough to let the bankroll build.

I won a Sunday Milly ticket in the $2.75 spin and goes so I'll play fewer tables and more games at the top of the buyin range tomorrow since the Sunday milly is a big chunk of the bankroll.

I think those are great and I'll try to satty in every Sunday.

Starting over and getting the EV bank to finally blow up is always nice

Do you load any mttsngs now?

Yeah I play mttsngs still.

I had a rough couple days bankroll is down to $2110.

50-51 hours played I'm gonna one table this last one on my phone and walk.

I'm mainly just playing for fun and not obsessing or studying much like I used to.

I am having a lot of fun clicking buttons but I think the random plays I'm making are actually profitable. Today I made a ton of hero folds and it doesn't sound sexy but it is probably the most exploitative thing I do in spots where people completely underbluff.

Instead of posting hands I'll just snapshot all my marked hands for sessions and you can see the lines I took and position etc:



Edit: it doesn't show postions of villains. I check a lot OOP from EP since people have pretty tight IP flatting ranges especially from MP but even CO and BU.

Man last night I had plans at night and was trying to finish up a session but forgot to unregister things. It reminds me of how tough it is to have life balance and be an mtt grinder. I've annoyed friends and the ex-gf so many times saying I'll be there around 9pm but I finish poker an hour or two later etc.

I think I'm happy with my mtt game for lowstakes and I should actually try to transition to cash games. I can take my time and make it a slow transition but hopefully in a year I'll be mainly playing cash games.

I'll review the pluribus hands to start my cash game studying and see how it goes.

browsing around threads and this was a good read!

was wondering, what training sites or platforms do you use to study MTTs?

Which software to study the game? Interesting thread!!!

Hey thanks

I've studying a ton using just my replayer and MTT charts that you can find online.
I've studied tons of MTT things. There are so many sites and courses and content available to study that it's overwhelming.

I think the best approach is to buy GTO ranges, study population to see how they deviate and work out how you can create default exploitative ranges vs population.
To passively study things there is so much content available online it's overwhelming.

Also you can buy Icmizer to study GTO push/fold spots and ICM spots but keep in mind GTO isn't as profitable as exploitative ranges usually. I'd say focus most of your energy studying and trying to memorize preflop ranges. I'm learning cash games and the ranges change more dramatically when defending the big blind vs a minraise compared to a 3x since antes aren't in play so it'll take time to study and memorize the ranges. I'm considering studying a Udemy memory course to help with this.

In MTTs, there are spots where it's more profitable to go allin with a wider range than GTO recommends but also (mainly ICM) spots where players left to act will call wider than GTO and cost you so you have to shove tighter than GTO recommends.

MAX-value.com exploitative style content I bought a while back was really good and pretty exploitative. Runitonce.com I've watched here and there is really good raiseyouredge content his really good.

There is a lot of free youtube content as well from raiseyouredge, doug polk, and so many people. I can't keep up with the content and I don't have time to study a ton these days so my main form of studying is just passively watching youtube videos and ocassionally I'll run hands through Icmizer. I've ran tons of hands through piosolver but I feel like it's a bit of a waste to study with it if you don't plug in population tendencies since very few people play too close to GTO.


I played my first cash game session after studying for a few hours the night before. I also reviewed stuff for 30 minutes before playing. It's nice to be able to grind a quick 2-3 hour session:



I don't know what's up with holdem manager. I played 1010 hands or so and only made $15-25 or so.

I'm trying to learn on pokerstars NL10 zoom but eventually when I am confident in my game I'll move up to NL100 zoom and also start playing on other softer sites.'

My plan is to play cash games and study 5-10 hours per week mainly during weeknights and play mtts on the weekends. When I get better at cash games I'll start playing them on weekends as well.

good post! Why Cash if I missed that part. You were doing well in MTTs and going up fast wiht the bankroll boost

I love mtts but I want to dabble in cash games and be able to play 1-2 hours here and there while I'm working full-time and when I have plans on weekends. For example in a few weeks there is my brothers engagement party then another family party on Saturday/Sunday that I have to go to. I can't really play MTTs but I can play cash for a few hours before and after each of them. Also it kinda sucks that with a $2000 roll I can only really play around $5-6 ABI when it's enough of a roll to play NL100 probably.

I played another session today and studied and reviewed a ton. I'm mainly focusing on defending the BB. I think my biggest leak coming from playing MTTs is defending the BB too wide. I have to be insanely tight vs 3x early position and middle position opens. I reviewed 50 hands that I played in the BB. I'll probably focus on that and just preflop ranges. I have to clean up raise first in and 3bet ranges. I don't think I'm 3betting nearly enough and probably folding too much to 4bets and 3bets. I have so many leaks but the games are so soft that I'm still crushing.

Pokerstars has a new option to cash out our equity in all-in situations and I took it everytime I was ahead today. It paid off I would've lost AA<A5s, AA<K2s in a couple AIPF spots.

Holdem Manager is completely whack. I had a great session tonight winning about $40-50 in 1700 or so hands but the numbers are completely off:



I cashed out AA vs K2s for 300bb flop and AA vs A5s for 230bb spot but the EV and everything is even off as well. My ev bb/100 must've been insanely high.

Holdem manager doesn't include any of my allin wins. I won big pots with KK vs QQ and several postflop big pots lol and somehow it says my biggest won pot was 30bbs.

Ah well. I have to screenshot balance before and after to track spots.

https://gyazo.com/0119e446aa7af5a4348d9edbdebacd14



I'm losing my mind there was another hand where the BB 5b jammed K2s on me and I had AA in the CO and I can't find it. I cashed out 86% x $30 or whatever that was.

Anyway I'll track my winnings by just using before and after pictures. I think I'm up about $60-65.

I'll move up to NL16 zoom when I win 20 buyins of that level or $320. It's a super small field level but it'll be good practice to study individual players. I think with this cashout feature variance won't be so bad and I'll move up pretty aggressively whenever I have 20 buyins of the next level.

I am also compiling tons of screenshots for piosolver postflop situations to review but I'm waiting until I have a decent read on population ranges. I will review them before moving up regardless but it'll be somewhat of a shame that I'll probably review them when I'm a few days away from moving to the next level.

Balance is at $2072 I lost a buyin or two at NL25 and sent $85 to a friend.

subbed, glgl looking forward to seeing continued progress!

Cheers I'll try to keep it interesting.

I played another quick cash game session it's nice to just play for 2-3 hours. I lost focus towards the end and started spewing and making rediculous plays. I was super tired helping my parents with renovations wheelbarrowing literally tons I think 4 tons of gravel and digging etc for hours and then I went for a 1.5 hour run for about 15 km. I ran one hour of that intermittently with 2 minutes running at about 5-5.5mph and 1 minute at about 10-11mph.

Last night I did 5.5/11 in the gym but today I ran in the park. I gotta get to 210-215lbs by the end of the month.



My biggest losing pots:



Q5o just a fun spew

KJs he played it well I didn't think a recreational would double check the nuts but I honestly should just bet/fold. If I thought about it for a few seconds I would've found a fold. I have the Js which blocks QJs and the Ts is out there so he's very weighted towards the Ax nuts. Everyone check calls 98 or 87s.

AKs it's tough to get away. The villain goes pretty hard vs me but he's still a nitty 15/13 with a so I feel like I should just 3b/call. Stacks would've gotten in anyway on King high flop.

AKo I should bet/fold river nobody bluffs.

AJs I'm fine with how I played it. Unlucky he had a five but on the flop with the 5s, 5d, Ah out there he only really has 3 combos of A5s/65s in his range. I don't think he raises 54s. He'll have tons of combos of AK-AQ, that would call a checkraise.

AKs I'm not sure what his bluffs are maybe JT clubs/T9 clubs maybe all JTs iuno. It feels weak to check/fold river.

AJo I should just check fold river holding the Jh


I have tons of leaks. Priority of things to review and study:

BB defending and 3betting ranges vs 2x, 2.5x, 3x
-My winrate from BB is -70bb/100 and I need to get it down to -30bb/100 before moving up
-Cash games are a huge change in defending ranges compared to MTTs.
-I have to review ranges daily I was shocked to see AJo is a fold vs LJ 3x opens.

Postflop SB OOP SRP flop and turn spots.

Calling ranges vs 3bet starting with SB vs BB then BU vs SB/BB then CO vs BU-BB etc

(SB vs 3bets I'm losing -123bb/100)
(BU vs 3bets I'm losing -23bb/100)



4betting ranges

Cold calling ranges vs 3bets

All other positions I'm playing 3b or fold strategy and the ranges are pretty similar so I feel it's easy to play.



The HH converter isn't working but here's one I don't need to do vs a recreational player lol:

PokerStars Zoom Hand #204014989862: Hold'em No Limit ($0.05/$0.10) - 2019/09/06 23:38:38 PT [2019/09/07 2:38:38 ET]
Table 'Aludra' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: arulary ($10.56 in chips)
Seat 2: ungrkid ($17.57 in chips)
Seat 3: rickyt88 ($20.44 in chips)
Seat 4: invincy ($10.41 in chips)
Seat 5: takayu ($18.72 in chips)
Seat 6: wolf2211 ($31.65 in chips)
ungrkid: posts small blind $0.05
rickyt88: posts big blind $0.10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to rickyt88 [Qc 5d]
invincy: folds
takayu: folds
wolf2211: folds
arulary: folds
ungrkid: raises $0.20 to $0.30
rickyt88: calls $0.20
*** FLOP *** [8s 9s Jd]
ungrkid: bets $0.40
rickyt88: raises $0.91 to $1.31
ungrkid: calls $0.91
*** TURN *** [8s 9s Jd] [9h]
ungrkid: checks
rickyt88: bets $2.05
ungrkid: calls $2.05
*** RIVER *** [8s 9s Jd 9h] [2h]
ungrkid: checks
rickyt88: bets $6.99
ungrkid: calls $6.99
*** SHOW DOWN ***
rickyt88: shows [Qc 5d] (a pair of Nines)
ungrkid: shows [As Ah] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
ungrkid collected $20.34 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $21.30 | Rake $0.96
Board [8s 9s Jd 9h 2h]
Seat 1: arulary (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: ungrkid (small blind) showed [As Ah] and won ($20.34) with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 3: rickyt88 (big blind) showed [Qc 5d] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 4: invincy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: takayu folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: wolf2211 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I feel very lucky to be winning at 12.5evbb/100 after the first 4K hands. Games are pretty soft but I have a ton of leaks. I think once I clean up my BB defending ranges I'll start to feel more comfortable and improve my winrate. My winrate is great from all other positions except it could improve from the buttons. I think I'm spewing in 3b pots.

-$19 in NL10 today in 2400 hands or so I'm up around $55 total

Around -$180 in mtts. I didn't sleep well and wasn't feeling it today. I'll try to sleep well tonight for a big grind tomorrow.

-$200 on PPPoker I wanted to try it out.

Overall profit is at $1500 now



This was the biggest pot I lost last session maspy 4b jammed KQo. I was pretty suprised by that. I think people are 4betting me pretty light.
I've opened up my flop 3betting range vs checkraises and IP raises.
I've been cbetting range 1/3 pot IP on every single board but I'm going to start to check the worst boards.
I think the worst boards are generally monotone and middling straights card boards like 976 monotone.
I think I'll start checking range on those boards or cbetting 2/3 pot.

I'm not studying postflop much yet because I still have glaring preflop leaks.

This was a nice lil donation:

PokerStars Zoom Hand #204040995587: Hold'em No Limit ($0.05/$0.10) - 2019/09/07 16:05:12 PT [2019/09/07 19:05:12 ET]
Table 'Aludra' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Martinio420 ($9.31 in chips)
Seat 2: Maxi87 ($8.10 in chips)
Seat 3: 1990stef1990 ($19.29 in chips)
Seat 4: rickyt88 ($17.44 in chips)
Seat 5: dt_bhs ($20.13 in chips)
Seat 6: axylotl1 ($21.53 in chips)
Maxi87: posts small blind $0.05
1990stef1990: posts big blind $0.10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to rickyt88 [Ac Kh]
rickyt88: raises $0.12 to $0.22
dt_bhs: folds
axylotl1: folds
Martinio420: calls $0.22
Maxi87: folds
1990stef1990: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ts 5d Ah]
rickyt88: checks
Martinio420: checks
*** TURN *** [Ts 5d Ah] [Ad]
rickyt88: bets $0.37
Martinio420: calls $0.37
*** RIVER *** [Ts 5d Ah Ad] [Th]
rickyt88: bets $0.85
Martinio420: calls $0.85
*** SHOW DOWN ***
rickyt88: shows [Ac Kh] (a full house, Aces full of Tens)
Martinio420: mucks hand
rickyt88 collected $2.89 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3.03 | Rake $0.14
Board [Ts 5d Ah Ad Th]
Seat 1: Martinio420 (button) mucked [4c 5h]
Seat 2: Maxi87 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: 1990stef1990 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: rickyt88 showed [Ac Kh] and won ($2.89) with a full house, Aces full of Tens
Seat 5: dt_bhs folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: axylotl1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Bankrolls back up to $2160. I came 4th in a $22 hyper for $558.

I had some deepish runs in the big 11 and $22 WCOOP turbo but they fizzled out.

In cash games I'm trying out new ranges. I'm playing tighter from LJ-HJ and loose from CO-SB. I will review tons this week. I've played about 8k hands and I'm up $55 since I was breakeven today in 1600 nl10z hands.

I start a new job tomorrow so I"ll see how tired I am and everything. I'll continue to make sure I make fitness a priority but my job will be really active and I'll walk around tons. I'm doing plumbing in new construction highrises.

way to cash in that hyper

how are you liking the new ranges so far

I like them but I have lots to study. I actually found a phone app to help memorize ranges. It has a range trainer etc it's called Ranges+

You can set up any range and situation you want.



Use code "GUTSHOT" for a discount if anybody wants to sign up.

I think I'm solid with opening ranges and making adjustments etc but I'm a bit clueless with calling vs 3bet ranges. I worked some out and plugged them into the app and I'll work on that. I'll try to review all ranges for 10-20 minutes per day or right before starting sessions.

I'm thinking I'll play cash games for 4-5 hours on one or two weekdays between Mon-Thurs depending what my schedule is like and MTTs Fri-Sun for now. I'll also play cash games on weekends when I have plans in the middle of the day.

I'll see how cash games go but I'll push hard to crush NL50 within a few months.

A lot of people recommend playing lowstakes and building a cash game roll on sites that have decent rakeback so I might have to do that. Pokerstars NL10 rake is the highest of all levels I think at around 10bb/100 hands. I'm not completely playing cash games to make money right now so I think it's okay since I can get tons of hands in to review 3-4 tabling.

I'm thinking of spreading my bankroll across a few sites. I love pokerstars the most and the software the best but to build a roll with less variance MTTs won't stressful playing softer $20 ABI schedules with a $2000 bankroll I could put $500 onto Bodog, $500 onto playnow and $500 onto Betonline and $500 on Stars for MTTs.

Stars.es and winamax are great sites also but the fields for 5-20 euro are pretty big. I could game select low variance schedules on all sites.

Here is a schedule of all playable weeknight games just for weeknights Friday nights:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

For Sat/Sun there are so many options.

I get home from work at 3:45 pm which is pretty good. I really like my job now. I get a good physical workout and I go home at the same time everyday and don't have to worry about working late or anything. So far this week I've gotten changed fast and went to the gym and for a run right at 4pm and I'm back home by 5pm. I can start grinding after eating dinnner and showering at 5:30-6pm.
I'd like to be in bed by 9:30-10 pm.

+$23.66 in a NL10 session. I'm up about $78 now. The graph is wrong but here it is for almost 10k hands:



I'm hoping to reach $320 profit by 50K hands and move up to NL16z

A couple fun hands:

https://www.boomplayer.com/31550358_6CAF1C8FB6

https://www.boomplayer.com/31550378_124CF90F5E

I lost a big pot with QQ vs a 3bet and check on Txx. I should fold J turn. I don't think someone checks AK as much as they trap or check AA and TT.

I'm going to deposit on Bodog and start playing the MTTs on weeknights when Stars tables are low. I"ll game select harder on Stars to create enough space. I have two big monitors and only use one for Stars so I might as well use one for Bodog. Bodog tables used to take up half my monitor but now just 10% or so.

Let's see how it goes I'll deposit $500 CAD and play $7-$16.50 USD MTTs.

Good start on Bodog LFG! $244 with bounties. I played $200 CAD worth of tourneys about 10 tourneys. I can reenter some of them. I'll play these regularly at night for sure. It's nice not having a hud sometimes and just playing poker.

Great start!



This spot in zoom I spewed and I should fold. It feels so weak but I think it's a fold. I block AQ and AK but I doubt the player even has the heart to bluff AK. People play 4b pots super straight forward.

https://www.boomplayer.com/31556856_3889B8B5B2