And here are the photos none of you have been waiting for.. but I'll post 'em anyway.

Medellín, Colombia:

Los Alumbrados



What a bad beat










From the Metro Cable



Downtown (Centro)



Random Hnnnnnnnng Colombiana outside "The Office" bar

subbed. nice mix of live/online/girls/partys

GL

Travel:
Thank you, the kind words are much appreciated. Today is my last day in Colombia. I played a quick session and managed to bink my last 180 which is nice but I may get in a 2nd session as my flight leaves at 3am so I can't really be drinking so might as well pull an all night grind session. I am in Bogotá and it is a bit chilly here. I don't know the capital like I know Medellín but there are tons of things to see.

Poker:
Unfortunately, I did not play as much as I wanted to. I did not even perform remotely close as to what I wanted to. In fact, I ended up being a loser overall. Spending money + losing in poker just didn't lead to a happy financial outlook but fortunately, my liferoll is doing fine.

I was talking to a poker pro friend of mine and I was talking about the things of shoving BvB with 32o and how mathematically on paper 10bb deep but the thing he noted to me is that, it's about adjusting the ranges. People are adjusting and they aren't being as tight as the math or ICM says. They are adjusting to my ATC shoves and I mentioned that my Ace-rag shoves have been constantly dominated or been called by small PPs which are still bigger than my kicker.

Having a blocker is a good thing but I sometimes forget one of the most important things, position and ranges. When I am UTG with A2s 9bb deep, I can shove here profitably if conditions are right but what are the right conditions is what I need to look into more. What are wrong conditions? If the blinds are quite deep or the people behind me. If there are mid stacks hovering around 6BBs that I cover but still can call me with strong hands.

I re-learned the power of the short stack and min-cashing. In fact, the last few tournaments I was, I kind of decided that min-cashing would be fine as I didn't have much leverage. I min-cashed but a flip later, I saw myself competing at the final table then binking or top 3 a few times. I realized that in turbos, I have stopped playing poker and just shoving ATC when I think it's optimal and letting luck play a major part. You can't always be the bully and run over the table.

Kind of a refresher to myself about theory and application:
If this doesn't make sense to others, it's mainly because it's just to remind myself to not be so aggro. If this is completely wrong, please do correct me.
Someone was talking about Game Theory Optimal (GTO) and someone mentioned Exploitative Strategy. I don't know too much about one or the other but someone was asking about Exploitative Strategy being a strategy to mathematically beat other players such as shoving almost always in certain FT. The response was no, there's a balance to exploitative strategy as you can steal a certain amount of times when it's optimal and just pass on the opportunities that are marginal. Not really sure if I explained or understood it right but for example, if player A had 22 and knew villain shoved AK, calling would give Deuces a 53% favorite, should he call here? ChipEV talks about the bias against confrontation and ICM would require a tighter range but stack sizes can play a huge factor.

So yes it can be +EV in HU but overall for the tourney, probably not.

Bubble, ICM dilemma
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/15...a-icm-1406171/

I had to get this down before I forget. Coming down here was for a vacation, to better my Spanish but also, a test to see how I can perform in poker if I went full time. If this was the test, I would of failed as soon as I put my name and date on the paper as I did not come prepared.

Necessities:
Back-up WiFi card - Colombian internet isn't the most reliable. Lost hundreds because of this
A definitive schedule - I constantly went out during the day time.
A budget - Girls love a free meal and some aren't too frugal in meal choices.

I just got back into the US yesterday and moved my into my new place but I already drove down to Mexico to grind today. I felt like I got a lot of studying done while on the 2 flights, 9 hour bus ride, shuttle, and 2 trains.

I got about (75) $2.50 180s in today which I binked 3 firsts. Fortunately, ever HU I've been getting, I've been doing well. I had opponents down to 6bbs and they won every flip which got me down to ~6bbs but I managed to win both times that happened.

After 800 games at the $2.50 180s, here are the finish places. The first couple hundred games I bombed as I was not a turbo grinder at the time but it's been on an upward slope eversince.


I don't feel like there were any real difficult spots today but this hand was one of the more defining hands of all my games. I couldn't put him on a 9 here and he has floated before so I threw my chips in. Spewy? Thoughts appreciated.



Since I couldn't get the volume, I added a few 90s and was closing down with some 18s and a 45. Overall, everything landed me in the green. I may put in a night session but so far up about +$325

I've been talking to the colombian chicas and they miss me. I miss them as well and cannot wait to go back. The women there are so beautiful and the cost of living is so cheap and the weather is phenomenal. It's like a microstakes poker player's dream but the internet is a bit subpar imo. The food is okay but it's not bad.

I was fortunate to have a good friend from here help me meet people. Follow BOliver's travel thread: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/92...-post-1245663/


I just saw this about Medellin, Colombia thread: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/92...ombia-1340732/

I decided that I will grind on the weekends for at least 1 more month in Tijuana, México. A few of my friends staked me in 2 larger MTTs on Sunday but I just could not make anything happen in the bigger games. I did bink a 2nd place in a turbo $1r, not the $60k GTD. Generally, I seemed to do well in HU and I felt confident even though I came into HU short against a monster stack, I could take him down but I didn't have as many opportunities to wait for a premium. I felt that I needed to take the +cEV flip as HU is no longer ICM. Winning this flip would give me enough leg room to actually play some flops.

8bb deep, playing for HU, would you take this 56% flip? It's very marginal but I only have 8BBs. A2o against any combo of cars 3-K is always around 56%




Yesterday, I fired up a bunch of 180s after I busted out all my MTTs. I did bink 1 but I did run really bad and took a lot of 3rds which is a rarity.

Interesting spot here. Recreational player here and we both the big chiplead and I have him covered by less than 1bb. My hand is not that strong against his range but I just looked at it as, oh JJ+ is always a push at a FT turbo. I was stuck on level 1 thinking as I don't get too many situations like this.




I managed to survive and a couple hands later, same Villain:







Same tournament, I managed to build back up from 1bb but now 4 handed.

Variance and Realization

Ever since coming back from Colombia, Medellin, I have been doing very well in the $2 180T. I was hitting 1-3 first places on average and getting a lot of final tables out of an average of 190 games a day. I made a shot at the $3r and I each time, I got my ass handed. I do well in the $2 180T, why am I having such a hard time as I move up?

I quickly realized, I have been slacking on my studying of the game in these latter days. Of course, my life has been busier and since I am only a weekend warrior for poker, it is easily to forget the things I have been doing or have learned. I became so laggy that I started shoving almost any Ace from early positions with 9-10 BBs. So what did I do? I started adjusting and becoming tighter with my calling range. Yes, that is good but when it is too tight that I am missing a lot of +EV calls. If a guy shoves 100% of his range from BB+SB, you can call with the top 33% of your range and some may even say top 50%. Both are profitable but if you are so tight that you only call with the top 20% of your range, you are bleeding money that you could have won.

Besides the calling ranges, I had to adjust my early position shoves. I thought I was too nitty from EP but in reality, I think it is better to be on the nitty side than on the super loose in EP. Why? The amount of chips you steal by with 10BBs in EP with the amount of players behind you, in order to break even, I think you need 4-5 successful shoves... but that would only work if things were linear. Once your first shove goes right, you go from 10BBs to 12.5BBs.. so you're not risking 10 anymore, you're risking 12.5BBs and so on.

Also, I have adjusted my late position shoves from my crazy 75%+ shoving range to somewhat of a better balanced range imo.. but I'm not sure if this is a correct adjustment. Of course, big factors such as effective stacks and the people in the blinds matter a lot. I feel that my ROI has taken a hit. I've only made 1-2 1st places in the 3 day assesion. Usually, I would have around 5-6 which brings me to think, the more 1sts places I have, the more missed min-cashes I have. Basically, around the 28th bubble spot, you wake up to pocket 9s and are in the BTN and CO shoves before you and has you covered, you can fold here and take a min-cash or call the CO, knowing that he is usually shoving light.

The amazing part is, the commanding chip stack that 1 double-up late in a 180T can put you in the top 9 and from that point on, you can take 3 routes: Bully and try to take the chip lead, play moderate and maintain/build a stack slowly, or blind yourself away and make a FT in hopes to do well as a shortie.

I seem to take all 3 lines but always in different situations. I can't quantify which is the best route but I do believe as the bully, you need at least about 30BBs to your table's average of 10BBs or less. Usually, mid stacks want to preserve and you can take a hit if you get called.

I really need to get back to my business law paper now.. I've disgressed too much from studying, bleh!

Peak hours
When I was grinding this past Saturday, I started at 6:00 a.m. PST which was about 160k players, so before all the regs sign on to play. I was testing out the 3r 180 turbos and happen to make a ton of final tables and managed to run a 2nd and 3rd. Being up $600 in the first 2-3 hours, it was a good start, but by the end of the 12+ hour session, I was overall a -$50 loser. I had a massive downswing in the middle of my session because I was playing against a ton of regs which cut down my equity as I am constantly flipping since they are shoving and calling good ranges against me.

I was doing well in the 3r 180s and $3.50 45s during off peak hours

Too many tables
On Sunday, I decided to try putting as much volume as possible. I started the day off 27 tabling with a new layout. Not the best idea as I consistently took a bunch of 5-9th place at the $2.50 180T which lead to a steady graph going downwards. Towards the end of the session, I started playing 20 tables and off-peak hours which I made a ton of final tables and had three games heads-up or 3-handed and other short handed games which lead me to play super passive since it was hard focusing on trying to exploit and adapt to all my opponents. It lead me to take 2nd place in all of them. The funny part is, I would have played aggressive, if all the games came at different times which usually leads me to a lot more 1sts and 3-5th places. Usually, I'm pushing people out or getting pushed out, but I basically played so passive that the tournaments were really strung out in time and all my opponents were just KO'ing each other and/or blinding out. Usually, a 180T game gets down to HU with a total of 50BBs left in play but it seemed that my heads-up were playing very shallow.

Mix things up
I told myself that playing that playing all my +EV games are better than just playing my best +EV game. I was trying to stick to 180s only but when I do get a bunch of final tables, I need to stop registering and focus on the final tables more. When the final tables are done, I can fire up the 45s, 90s, and 180s to fill in the missing void of 180s. Normally, 15 tables are optimal all at different stages of the game but when I am final tabled and short handed in 3+ games, 12 or less seems to be more optimal for me. I kept feeling like I had to fire up more games to keep a continuous flow going but with multiple games and option to open MTTs, there's no need to play too many tables continuously.

Study more
My HU game was the strong point but it seems that I've become more weak-tight and have been losing a lot of HU in the 180s. I need to study more of HU and take notes on my plays in 180s during Nash shove times and final tables.

Memorizing hands in top % of ranges, let's say 10% then 15%, etc, is a good thing so I know what I can call with. What is actually more important is also knowing the top 30% and what that is composed of. When my villain is shoving 70% BvB, I need to know if K8o can be a call or fold off the top of my head.

More to come later but I am at the school library. Need to read some books. Perhaps, Colin Moshman's Sit n Go Strategy and Kill Phil/Everyone?

Also, SNG Wiz and HEM2, I need to understand how to fully utilize and manipulate it to my advantage. I was watching my buddy make top 8 of the Big $5.50 out of 15k+ players. I noticed that the top 2 finishers were MTT pros and they were so solid and aggressive at the last 18 players. They basically deserved the win and they did just that.

quick update. $2.50 180s and $3.50 45s during 11AM-3PM PST suck. Way too many regs during that time. I have noticed that I do way better before and after those hours. I get so many more 1st outside those times.

This maybe my last grind session for a long time. I have to focus on school but I need to move by the end of the month and I may possibly be moving down here but I really think I should not.

It's been a long 5 months since I've updated this and took a hiatus from poker to focus on school. Made the Dean's list so the break was worth it. Now I am in Medellín, Colombia again for vacation and I'm here with my buddy BOliver. Haven't really grinded much since I've been in Colombia but vamooooooooos.

Congrats! What are you studying? Is there much live poker in columbia?

Thank you. Not anything big for live Colombian poker. They don't really have much money but they have tons of casinos. I play online poker here but I am trying to work my way back up. I definitely need to study the 180s like I study in school.

So far, I haven't been able to put enough of a sample in but I just haven't been doing well in 180s.

So the 6 month hiatus took a massive toll on my gameplay. I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on and what I was doing wrong. I watched Yugiohpro's 45 man Build a Bankroll series and it wasn't as helpful but I rewatched the first 3 episodes of OMGClayDol's The Top 0.82 Percent or w/e it's called. I felt like he explained the ICM and shove phases pretty well with some math backup.

I changed my HUD to adjust to have the total steal % and total fold to steal % instead of the stat steal % and fst% from positions since each position is hard to get enough hand histories.

The big part of my game was the ICM factor that I missed out. I kept shoving so wide at the final table like it was +cEV but people adjusted and I was shoving beyond my range with enough chips to play.

Have a calling range from SB/BB against steal positions. From the tiny sample, people are hovering around 33% or w/e so I need to know what my top 11-17% range is to call. Also, I was doing a lot of wide 3 betting vs a lot of stealers and looking at their fold to 3b range. Even though some people steal way too much, they'll just call off no matter how deep so I got to take note on how deep should I risk these light 3bets.

It's been almost a year since I've updated. I just started up grinding 2 weeks ago but now I've been working on FR Cash, mainly 25NL zoom.

I've been on a year hiatus because I've been studying abroad in Mexico and I got addicted to the game League of Legends, partying, traveling, living the fun life. I'm headed back home soon but still traveling and been grinding in Cancún and Playa del Carmen.

I'm updating to give myself some review and look over things that seemed significant.


At this moment, I'm like a -1/100 bb over 30kish sample. I took a lot of 50NL shots and obviously got crushed.

This hand I was flatting OTB to keep the aggressor in the pot but I told myself when it is 3 way PF, I need to 4bet to prevent giving odds to the other to get speculative hands in.





This hand was somewhat deep so I wasn't sure if the river raise was right. I didn't put him on TJ but what would call me here? Very few combos I was thinking but when the villain started tanking, it boosted my confidence.







Flatting or 4bet? He is a TAG that likes to abuse situations. I have a note on him that he likes to steal/resteal and will be aggro postflop so I decided to flat here but if he has a strong hand like QQ, AK, if I flat here, it may not be as profitable as just jamming PF.





BTN flats then jams to my squeeze. I'm putting him on 99+ Axs







Maybe a flat on the flop but I think they are going to get it in no matter what on the turn.