First time visiting the thread and stumbled upon pure gold. Awesome post, man. Will stick around for more!

Cheers m8, a heap of random rambling in here but I try to post the odd bit of good information Enjoy

Just finished 5th in the Marathon, or maybe even 4th or 6th idk. Feels really anti-climatic as I ran it up to 2/8 or something but just kept losing every single pot on FT. Literally had like one hand where I was top of my range and then the rest of the FT I was bottom range/bluff catching/bluffing mode. Would have been nice af to have it just once. There was a guy YordanPetrov on my table who ran like an absolute god and just kept having it everytime I didn't and vice versa. That being said I think he gave an outstanding performance from final ~50 onwards and I was really impressed with his play overall. Imo he made a few mistakes and I exploited him for it a few times, but I'm sure I made some too. Presumably he went on to win, so GG WP him.

Here's a few hands of interest:

https://www.boomplayer.com/28563393_25E20C3A5C
this hand was against the described villain. He was opening probably 95%-100% in this spot and I think at this stack depth/his opening range trapping is def the most +EV option by far. Flop I think ez xc. Turn is obv not ideal but given a ~100% button opening range he prob has heaps of 1d or draw combos that just barrel at a ridiculously high frequency. Sucks to allow his bluffs to see a free river but I also think it's somewhat mandatory to trap turn as well. River is disgusting but I'm somewhere close to top range and felt if he can have like 97/54 or air balls it's a must call. He might not have that in theory and it might be bad, but maybe not he was blasting hard (as he should be in his chip position).

https://www.boomplayer.com/28563246_5DE8989912
this felt pretty nice. feel like I'm so nutted here as played (above reg was the one in BB). was almost certain the guy in EP had a trap,very weird hand and it's tough not to be face up when BB xr and I call. Maybe my hand plays better as a c-bet (and probably does in theory).

Anyways, mildly depressed about the finish but overall battled really hard today and thing haven't been going my way lately. So many close calls it makes me sick but having a winning Sunday reminds me of 80% of other Sundays that I lost money and just wished I didn't. Running deep in a massive field/structure tourney isn't something to scoff at either. Can't win em' all and just need to be thankful that we're lucky enough to make a living from playing a game.

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As the adrenaline rush from Sunday is starting to wear off it brings me to lul myself to sleep with this post. It could be a somewhat interesting rant so enjoy if you feel intrigued.

When I was growing up I was not always the most confident person. On hockey, baseball, and lacrosse teams I was always one of the shyest kids on the team. Whenever I joined new groups or met new people I was always on the anxious side. A lot of the time I got by on my teams by just having a high level of performance. When I was a goalie in hockey I used to really get a high off the validation parents/coaches/teammates would give me after I played a good game and conversely, would get a feeling of emptiness when I played poorly or wasn't getting that validation.

It's not like I ever went into a game and didn't try my hardest to save every shot (I was a goalie). However, I distinctly remember walking out of games where my team got lit up 7-0 or something, and just hearing crickets. Although I tried my best, sometimes you can't save every shot. People really only look at the results and not the effort that is put into them. So I'd feel like I was doing something wrong when I wasn't getting that validation and would feel down until the next game I played.

The funny thing is that I saw this pattern repeat itself several times in my career as a poker player. I might have been working my ass off away from the tables but downswinging 30 thousand dollars on them. People would tell me I wasn't working hard enough, not playing well, or assigning whatever other causation they could to explain my downswing. The real world doesn't care how hard you worked on your game, how much volume you put in, what your EV is, or how many BB below EV you are running. The real world cares about results.

On the contrary, when I was winning tournaments just because I was running good (and not working hard off the tables), they would give me all sorts of validation: "you sicko" "you work so hard" "GG very well played" etc.

Much like in minor hockey, I got into this very unhealthy pattern of constructing my mindset through the opinions and validation from others. It felt amazing to show everyone who doubted me in poker that I could do it, to show everyone who supported me all along that I could do it, and to have my ego stroked by various other players etc. I'd be lying if I said that wasn't one of my primary motivations to spend thousands of hours studying and grinding this game.

Poker is an amazing place for somebody who is desperate for validation or to have their ego stroked to thrive. It's constantly about competing and when you're at the top of the heap the validation you receive is incredible. People respect you more, want your thoughts on hands, give you business opportunities, praise your game, and whatever other external encouragement one could want.

Even in 2018 after I've been grinding for almost 6 years now, I still feel a little hit of dopamine whenever someone comments my sharkscope graph, or tells me how much they enjoy this thread, or gives me a compliment. However, in recent years I've learned to roll with the punches and focus on just doing the best job I can...for me. Not for mom or dad, not for friends, not for backers, and not for random guys railing me. Not because I don't appreciate their support, but because at the end of the day true confidence and happiness need to come from within. As soon as you need a "thing" to be happy, you aren't truly happy. As soon as you need validation to feel good or confident, you aren't truly confident.

I've been trying to carry over this thought process to my everyday life. Instead of just saying stuff because I think it will get a good reaction from people or because I believe it's what they want to hear, I focus on being genuine. Ironically, I've really found that people appreciate the vulnerability and in most cases it ends up strengthening my relationships and interactions entirely. You know, taking the risk and saying jokes that might not be funny, disagreeing, and just being myself. It feels weird af talking about this stuff to an open thread for anyone to read, but **** it, not like we all don't experience this stuff, here it is for everyone to see.

When somebody is being fake or has a hidden agenda, people read through it like a book. Maybe sometimes people will disagree with you or not like you but not everybody has to like eachother...it would be rather weird if they did. I can promise you the relationships you form will be far, far stronger.

Too tired to edit and read through all of that. Hopefully it's coherent to some extent.

-Not sure what this week brings. Might grind hard Monday and Tuesday, then go to my cottage to rest up for WCOOP Wed-Saturday. That run in the marathon today took the wind out of my sails.

"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights." -M. Ali.

Hands look fine, I'd usually be 3-betting the AA there vs players I consider "good" because

1) I want to reshove a wider range vs his high opening freq
2) My flatting range should look super nutted

Totally get it, rest up and get refreshed for WCOOP. GL man.

I agree that the flat from SB looks pretty nutted (and it most likely is). Maybe we can balance by including like a T9ss or JTss type hand...hands that will have equity to x/j on a lot of flops but aren't super happy to be jamming. They also do pretty well against a 100% opening range that most likely is wayyy over c betting.

I really don't think we should have a 3 betting range that is not all in here because we essentially are never 3 bet bluffing this spot and we probably kill our action drastically for that reason ie its super face up and likely way more face up than flatting. For example if I saw the SB 3 betting me off a 20bb stack in this spot I prob muck even 99/TT (given the dynamics on the table), whereas vs a jam I'd snap them off.

It's obviously different story if we're facing a moron or something but vs. a solid reg 100% opening range I think we can't have a 3 betting strat that is not all in...maybe I'm wrong it's tough to say

Tyvm for the post m8 and gl in coop as well!

Hey man, am mostly lurking but really enjoy your posts! GL for the series!

Ah, I was too vague. By 3-betting I meant 3-bet jamming, I agree that we shouldn't be soft 3-betting this stack size since we'll have zero bluffs. Would also be jamming back JTss, but perhaps a flat is better?

I'm curious about the math on that, I've always assumed the cEV of playing that type of hand OOP for 20 BBs from SB vs a solid player is less than the cEV of shoving back vs a wide opening range. Slightly different story from the BB because we'd close out the action/have more equity in a HU pot than 3-handed, etc. In addition, it's a spot where we're more interested in survival/preservation than chip accumulation, so would you concur that maximizing fold equity is better than a slight advantage in cEV?

On a side note, love how our back and forth has more questions than answers. Pro tip to people who are trying to get better at this game: Don't be afraid to ask questions, to look foolish, and closely examine the thought process behind 'standard' lines -- throughout the history of this game and moreover, in life -- the 'standard' play has evolved only because certain brave people were willing to think outside the box and find new edges.

ah ok yeah thought that was maybe the case i can guarantee jamming JTs is printing $ in cev because he will r/f so much..however if you factor in ICM implications it becomes far less profitable. in terms of range protection and balance etc it probably is good to include some hands that call in the SB (but not many) because theonly traps we really want to have are AA andmaybe KK, so in theory we'd really only need to find one or two hands and T9 and JTss stand out as the best candidates imo (if we care about balance)

it's a pretty interesting question with a lot of different variables so it's quite tough to give a definite answer. i think it really depends on the hand..for example 22 would be a premium example hand that wants to maximize FE and cash in it's equity pre flop because it is very tough to realize equity OOP off 20bbs, whereas JTss we probably way over-realize because of the fact he is opening so aggressively and likely c betting way too much+we do fairly well against all of his bluffs+when we flop draws can just xj. IMO if you factored in millions of sims that combined ICM and cev etc that it would come out that flatting and jamming JTs would be quite similar in EV.

The latter part of your post I def agree and something I among weak players in poker is that they are closed-minded or stubborn and tend to "argue their point" and "prove others wrong", but the best minds view hand discussion as a collaboration of information and like to weigh in all of the different factors/variables as much as possible.

Sup fam? Just sitting here playing my last table of my last session before WCOOP. Taking off to the cottage tomorrow morning until Saturday evening to recharge and refocus myself/take a break. I'm gonna make this post to partially remind myself of WCOOP preparation/pointers and partially to help some people who read this.

1. Do not psych yourself out for the series. If you get too excited/anxious or whatever it will **** with your mindset and cause a roller coaster of emotion. Just take it one hand at a time. It's just poker like you've always played. The prize pools are a little bit bigger and there is a shiny title on them. Just keep calm, keep that organic feelin in the game.

2. Take shots within reason in games that are high EV. If you see a great value spot take it. Sell pieces if you need to. Don't determine shots about how much $ is up top...determine them by how soft the field is. Avoid taking shots in games with low ROI long term.

3. Don't let FOMO get the best of you. If you can't afford to play in a game don't convince yourself to play it just because of the $ up top or the glory.

4. Don't drastically change your routine just for the series.

5. Don't burn yourself out on the first Sunday or burn out your bankroll on the first Sunday. It's a long series and it's important to take breaks and refocus if you aren't feeling it. By the end of the series there is a lot of zombies grinding who are tilted or oi/stuck a bunch of $...you can capitalize on this by being fresh and grinding your A game right through the final all in.

6. Take note of players on your table and do the research. What is their ABI? Do you think they're comfortable at these stakes? Will they over value their stacks/money bubbles/pay jumps? Is there any chance it's a multi account? Did they satelite in? Are they in a downswing? All of these factors can be very telling if you read into them correctly.

7. Keep your mental game on point. This is the most crucial thing in WCOOP (other than skill, but it's a little too late to turn yourself into a sicko overnight now). Meditate, take breaks, get outside before your sessions, etc etc. These games are marathons not sprints.

8.Keep table counts a little bit lower than usual so you can focus more and avoid tilting hard if you have 20 tables and bust out of 18 of them in the first hour.

9. Sleep well and try not to go too hard with drinking/partying or whatever.

10. Have fun and enjoy the process! We're lucky enough to play a game for a living and play in cool events like this. Don't take it too seriously, try your best, if you win that's amazing.

That's all I got for now...best of luck guys

Gonna start this post out with "the hand of the day". Although there were many this one is good to talk about I reckon.

https://www.boomplayer.com/28618033_A95B523203

Guy 3 betting me I presumed was a decent reg, guy on the BTN I was readless although presumed rec. Preflp without any reads I think TT is basically always a call here. 3 bettor probably has standard ish range, BTN i was lead to believe mostly having pocket pairs and possibly doesnt even get QQ in here pre. His calling range should be a little bit weighted towards those hands but who knows? Flop I'm really not sure about, feels so gross to get in TT against over pairs which I felt like that is all raising accomplished (outside of scooping the already bloated pot). In hindsight I should prob just do it and yolo.

RIVER: This is probably the most interesting spot in the hand. It's obviously not the greatest card for my range as I have a lot less Ax than the other two players (who actually should have a decent amount of Ax here). Felt like 1 pair Ax should be a very easy fold for both of them....what hands do they expect to see me have here? Felt like I'm very close to bottom range here and can have: 88 99 JT (blocking that) potentially AQs with bdfd on flop A9ss A8ss...what bluffs??? Realistically I think TT or maybe T9s are the only hands I would turn into a bluff here...and if you think about MTT nit regs how many ever have a bluff in this spot? Maybe I'm wrong but I think his AK snap off is like a massive losing call in these games....would love for somebody to prove me wrong.


Anyways, first day of WCOOP is in the bag. I made a lot of deep runs but overall a brickish day considering getting 10th-45th or finishing in the top 2% of the fields doesn't really make you the bread in the MTT world. It's all about the top 3 finishes which seem like a foreign language to me these days. Bubbled so many FTs running aids and probably a few punts later, here I am. The series is still young and I'm keeping grind on the mind.

A few words on health etc: I've slacked so hard lately, didn't eat like a total trash dumpster but also didn't eat like Jason Koon. Last week I got back on the diet that I had success on earlier and will continue that again this week. Looking to make a return to the gym tomorrow morning before a big WCOOP sesh. I WILL close out this year with my best 4 month effort.

The whole retirement thing: Physically I'm 100% ready to retire from poker. This game is way harder on your body and stress levels than people give it credit for. Mentally, I can finally say that I'm ready as well. All of the stress and the way the poker industry is heading leads me to believe that there are greener pastures that will suit my health and long term happiness far greater. I've learned/grown so much from this game that words can't describe but there isn't near as much room for improvement as there was in 2010 for me. I don't want to make this some big dramatic event or whatever but the time to retire is very close. If I'm lucky enough to get another big upswing I'd probably semi-retire/take time off/start up other ventures, and work my way into playing nothing but a few tourneys per year. So yeah, no definite date yet, unlikely the end of 2018, but much more past than future in poker that's for sure.
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Was gonna talk about some more random stuff but a wind of fatigue hit me. Time for bed, gym in the morning, then I'll be grinding my little heart out for a session. GL to all my fellow degens in the struggle!

AK very optimistic overcall on that flop imo,
gl september

you've played it perfectly. gl rest of the month

thanks guys
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welp, 3 days into WCOOP and **** is feeling pretty ****ing existential right now. Haven't made a day 2 yet let alone cashed one. Outside of winning a couple bowls to stay afloat these 12 hour grinds really take a toll on me much more than they used to. Really felt exhausted towards the end of my session today and that definitely caused some fatigue related errors in my decision making. Feels so gross messaging my investors every single day letting them know how much $ they owe me for the day's losses.

I guess if poker was easy everybody would do it...right?

As you can tell my mood is pretty ****ing deflated right now. Following this post is gonna be a meditation session, then 8 hours of sleep. Hopefully in the morning I'll feel better for my day off and a nice gym session.

Anyways, instead of sitting here moaning about how bad I run etc I'll try to do some type of rant about something more positive which will hopefully get me to bed with a better mindset.

========================

Picture me in Uni having neglected my physical health for approximately 4 years at this point, just getting out of a 3 year relationship and kicked out of the apartment I was living in, having very little confidence in myself at the time.

A friend from home was visiting me and at this point I just thought **** all this I don't even care anymore, let's go out and have a good time at the bar and talk to whatever girls or guys are there. Keep in mind, it was a Wednesday evening at a dive bar in Quebec. There was something in me that day that I was just so over everything that my "give a **** factor" was riding around 0%.

As we walked into a very "dive" type bar that was fairly close to my place, I scanned the atmosphere to see a few empty pool tables, a few withered older guys drinking beer, and a sexy af French girl who was tending the bar. At this point I just said fk it and ordered a drink and started non-chalantly chatting with her. At this time in my life this girl I figured was ~4-5 points higher than the kind of girl I deserved, in other words, she was way out of my league and probably what most guys would consider like a high 8 or low 9. So anyways, I was in a great mood that night and just did not give one single **** about anything other than having a good time.

After a few drinks or whatever my friend that was with me saw another girl who was a straight 10 playing pool with her boyfriend. He went up to them and asked them to play a game of pool with us. We had a great time and eventually I started playing with the bartender on my team. Yada yada, we got all of their numbers and actually hung out all as a group another time. (Crazy because I thought wtf do these rockets want to hang out with me for? I'd been sooo anti-social the past few years and was super rusty)).

The bartender and I texted a little bit over Spring Break and she told me to swing by the bar because she was bored on her shift. Ofc I took the opportunity and had a couple drinks with her because the bar was dead. I could tell she dug my personality and I should have tried to ask her out or something when she was driving me home that night. Instead, like some type of beta-male I waited until a few days later to text her and ask her to meet me out for a drink (like a formal date). To my suprise, she said yeah.

So in my head I started thinking "I don't deserve this girl" "I'm wasting her time" "She won't have fun on the date" and basically any other self-defeating complex you can imagine. All these scenarios of failure or undeservedness played through my head in the upcoming days before the date.

Anyways, I picked a cool bar and met up with her one evening. I wish this story had some type of happy ending or something. I wish I could tell you it ended in me having a wild threesome with the above girls while doing lines of cocaine etc.

Unfortunately, the date probably could not have been any more awkward than it was. The "lack of caring" and "fun loving" mentalities that I had in previous interactions was just gone, like a candle in the wind. I was so up tight the whole date and just couldn't have fun because I couldn't get out of my own head. It was obvious that she felt my lack of comfort and she came up with some type of time constraint that she had to do homework and be home by 10 pm or some bs like that.

After finishing a drink or two I basically just said I had to go and left with a pretty awkward goodbye. For days I beat myself up over how big of an idiot I was and how I had no confidence etc. I knew she probably wasn't interested in me after that experience but I reached out with a "last resort" text anyways. My text was met with crickets and I never heard from her or saw her again.

You're probably thinking "he told me he'd tell an uplifting story at the start of this post, this post was sad and depressing". Well here's where I put a positive spin on it.

After feeling like a piece of sht for a few days and being so disappointed in myself I had a big awakening. I realized that I put myself out there and put my neck on the line and just focused on having a good time with the people around me. So what I wasn't looking my best that day and I hadn't been to the gym for the last 4 years and ate Domino's 4 nights a week...I was a fun genuine person that night and was just able to be myself. I wasn't worried about other people judging me or trying to get them to like me.

This was a massive paradigm shift for me when I realized that with women/people it's not all about looks, money, humor, being a tough guy or whatever else. All of that stuff helps, but a guy who is good looking or has money generally embodies attractive traits as is. For example a guy with money probably has a good job or interesting career, he probably has decent social skills, and is probably fairly motivated. A guy who is good looking probably takes pride in himself and looking after himself, and is probably confident as well.

For the fat guys sitting there reading this eating a Domino's it absolutely does not mean to neglect health or that being attractive is a null factor in picking up women. It absolutely does mean to not use those things as an excuse to not go out and try.

I know it's maybe a pretty pathetic sounding story haha, but times were dire back then and I was a bit of a lost soul. Things are a lot better now and my confidence has increased 10 fold along with my ability to converse on dates It's funny to reflect back on how big of a struggle that was and how much mental turmoil that whole thing caused me. Sometimes looking back on the struggle and finding beauty in it is an amazing thing.

So the next time I've had 5 bricked sessions in a row, got rejected by a girl, feeling down, etc, I'll understand that every road has it's thorns and there is beauty in the struggle!

Hopefully someone lurking or whatever can get some motivation from that post because I know those thoughts are experienced by a lot of guys. Particularly poker forum lurkers at 1:30 AM on a Tuesday.

Here's a motivational picture:

https://gyazo.com/ba4cad2da2008eea0e526e6922898f95

Sometimes you're right on the brink of success and it just requires a tiny bit more perserverance.

Great post sir

Hope things turn around for you for WCOOP.

Some seriously great posts in this thread, always a pleasure to read.

Thanks guys appreciate the kind words.

Had a pretty good day off today. Went to the gym, went for a hike, did some meal prepping. More importantly, I'm feeling refreshed and ready to come back firing tomorrow.

This evening spent a bunch of time in the lab mostly because there were a few spots that I've been having a tough time lately so I wanted to do some research into them. I guess I can name a few:

-Defending range in the BB from different stack sizes, positions, villain stack sizes. I find that I'm very solid and feel very comfortable against LP opens, and from deeper stack sizes. The part I've had the most trouble with is opens from EP when stacks are shallower or just when guys are opening off very shallow stacks to begin with. Looked into this a bunch and made a few strategical adjustments.
-Game selection and grinding on multiple sites. I think this is gonna have to take a break for now because I find grinding too much on 4 sites at once just waayyyy too much to handle, especially when grinding COOPs that need a lot of focus. Going to cut down tables a bit tomorrow.
-Playing with middle pair generally in the BB. This is something that involves a lot of grey area as well and gives me a lot of trouble because for example a spot where we defend 97s vs CO open 40bbs deep eff. Flop is K95 it's mostly clear that calling flop is the play (but maybe we should raise middle pair occasionally?), but there's a lot of turn cards for example T/J/A/Q where villain will either improve to the best hand or continue barreling. This is only one example but eyah I needed some work on this.

Don't think I'm giving too much away that the lurkers can exploit me but just wanted to give a bit of insight about the day's lab work.

Best of luck tomorrow fammmm

Really impressive how you manage to put these gems of posts in here time and time again man. GL!

Thx for letting me know ill just have to barrel the crap out of you on k95

preeeeesh tyyt

haha idk man I'm a fairly big station on some boards, and sometimes I wonder if too much of a station more than anything

The bad news: I'm getting absolutely TORCHED in WCOOP. Well, probably not down heaps or anything after selling action and winning some bowls, but yeah, still getting rekt af.

The good news: Fairly optimistic to call this good news but hey, finally cashed a COOP and made a day 2. Going in 221st/247 players in the 22$ 4 max lol.

More bad news: Trying to stay positive but was supposed to take tomorrow off and actually a bit tilted that i have to come back @ 4 pm and probably fk off my Friday night. I'm happy if that means 22k but my EV is probably like 26$. Oh well, regardless of the stakes etc still gotta bring my best.

==========================

When you're struggling in poker it sometimes helps you feel better about your scenario to blame it on external factors. That's a common complex that a lot of people have actually, not only in poker. It can hurt someone's ego a lot to blame themselves for their misfortune and look at a situation objectively. Instead, it's easier just to blame everything on variance, predispositional disadvantages, etc etc.

Disclaimer: I'm by no means saying that I've played my 100% A Game, worked as hard as I could have, deserve to win, or any of that.

I see a lot of criticism (myself included) about the operations of various online poker rooms, one in particular (not gonna name any). Let's do a little brain storming activity, and I'd love to hear about suggestions in the comments.

What would you do if you were the CEO of a "top online poker site"? Here's what I would do, in terms of tournaments:

1. Charge a relatively high, yet fair rake. This is the primary revenue stream for the site and I would charge one that reflects the ROI of the tournaments. For example the hot 55 would not have the same rake as the 55 Marathon. One tournament allows for pros to have approx. 50% ROI, whereas the other allows for a 5% ROI.

-The bottom line is that pros need to be making a net positive ROI in a game, and many fish/bad regs need to have an illusion of a net positive ROI. I'll explain why regs are important later.

2. Make the poker dream come alive again. What attracts a lot of people to poker is the idea that you can make a lot of money by playing a game. Previously, sites would hire pros who were really good poker players, personable etc. Nowadays, it's about twitch streaming or irrelevant skills unrelated to poker. By creating "models" in the system you give new players something to aspire to. Promote the guys who made the poker dream come true, travel the world, whatever.

-Have competitions to find/highlight the greatest talent. Don't try to hide the fact that there is talent. Create a spotlight.

3. PRIZEPOOLS. This is the nut most important thing imo for tournaments. 99% of players, whether rec, reg, fish, monkey, shark...loves the feeling of playing for big money. The feeling/rush of playing for big money is what attracts players to the game and keeps them coming back for more. Seeing that you can win 20k from 20$ is extremely attractive and entertaining. When you have big prizepools, it brings more players in and more traffic, more deposits, more raked $, more ROI for pros, etc. Why don't you really see fish playing a 22$ tourney with 1100$ up top? Yet a 22$ tourney with 10k up top is infested with them. Lower prize pools drives traffic away from the site, dilutes the playing field, levels the playing field, and makes the playing experience much worse for everyone.

4. Ban HUDs. I don't really think this is enforceable and if it can't be enforced then it's better to have them because the black market will still use them, making an even further unlevel playing field. However, if possible, I think this is better/more fun for everyone, so that all players are on the same playing field.

5. Make players feel valued whether rec or reg. Give them fair incentives to put volume in on my site and keep them coming back. Maybe a rec lost their 100$ deposit, but having 10$ bonus in their account to try and gamble up might help them feel better and incentivize them to redeposit.

I could probably name a bunch more small things but I'm tired and that's just the basic idea of what I'm thinking. Let me know what you guys think. Maybe we ship our suggestions over to philly galfond

GN

Hey man, i've read a lot of interesting stuff on your blog so ty for sharing

There's one thing that i don't agree with anf i see it everywhere, the huds issue.

First of all trackers are available for everyone and they are pretty cheap although i don't think the price is relevant. For a hud to be usefull you need to have a reasonable sample (more hands the better) and the reacreational players are the last ones that you will get it. If some players don't know they exist it's not anyone's problem.

Often poker is compared more to sports that gambling which is fair imo. Would it be reasonable to level the conditions for everyone in any sport you would like? Let's look at soccer/football... Do you think that Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi are using the same equipment as recreational football players or the same recovery methods. It's their fault that not everyone knows that there is a certain equipment that helps you perform better? Another example would be cycling/triathlons. Pros are using bikes that are superlighweight that cost almost as a car does and gives you a huge edge against someone that is using an older heavier bike. Would it be fair to don't alow them because reacreational cyclists don't know these exist or they can't afford them?

Just my 2 cents

These are not good examples imo, recreationals in those sports do NOT compete against the pros for money. Would it be FAIR if Messi could join a rec 5 on 5 league and still make even 1/10th of his current yearly salary for playing football? Of course not, unless that particular league decided together that knowing all the facts of how much better one team would be by simply having Messi on it wanted him there anyway and chose to pay him.

Yah, if you are comparing pros to pros, then sure Roger Federer ends up taking more advantage of his access to equipment upgrades and training evolution than a guy ranked 250th in the world, so be it. They are both pros and the guy ranked 250th recognizes Federer's advantage and hopes to overcome it someday with hard work and skill himself.

Poker is in no way fair for recreationals and I don't mind the trend towards making Micros less and less beatable over the LONG term, to me, if you want to be a pro, go in, beat the Micros by grinding until you have that short term bump and move up to the Low/Mid stakes or above where it is more of a level playing field. Grinding out praying on hapless recreationals who just want to play a little poker is silly and bad for the future of the game. And if banning HUDs, even if just at X$ games and below helps keep it fun for them, then sure why not?

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Enjoy your posts, Walmart... be sad when you do retire from poker, you're a good grinder and aren't too far from my neck of the woods. GL with the rest of the Series!

damn guys above i typed out this long response last night and could have sworn i posted it...i guess not. I will get back to both of you at some point this week as it will be tilting to basically re type everything right now haha.

Ok, so there's another Sunday down the drain and another few hundred dollars along with it. Last two sessions I've played extremely well and feeling a lot better at the tables. I'll talk about that later after posting these few hands:

Long story short I was final 24 in Big 55, Final 100 in 215 WCOOP, and a bunch of other sweats today. Still, ran like aids deep, to continue the trend of the previous few months.

https://www.boomplayer.com/28704319_6A9A3C550F
This hand happened just after the money bubble burst I had been quite loose exploiting the bubble prior to it. Villain was Russian perceived fish. He checked flop quite quickly, not that I read overly deep into it. I think calling is likely the best option pre flop here, unless we have specific reads. Flop I think we have a somewhat clear protection bet/value bet. On this board texture he holds the highest % of strong over pairs, but we probably hold the most nut hands. Mostly because players aren't 3 betting the low suited gappers from BB very much at all (I think they should include some of them occasionally though fwiw). Sooo I don't think we're super vulnerable to a check raise. I employed a sizing that induces floats from A highs, and can call a check raise. Turn narrows my value range a lot, in hindsight this sizing might be too big and as an exploit maybe should go smaller to keep in his A highs or worse hands etc. He snap potted river and I think this is soo frequently AK, KK...unless he is sick enough to have a bluff like AQ somehow...but even then doubt he does it.

https://www.boomplayer.com/28703669_12099C4312
This was a fun hand against ssick_one, really solid reg. I had squeezed from the BB with 46ss like an orbit or two beforehand (he didn't see it), so possibly a 3 bet would have been better. Howevr, we were approaching the money bubble and I figured this is a spot he will open quite liberally due to money bubble and the shallower stack on the button. Also perhaps I'm unknown to him so he might open a bit wider to my BB. Flop might be best to xr as i would have a decent amount of bluffs. I guess for pot control reasons+figured he will double barrel a tonne when he sizes this way on the flop+this texture...probably barrels a heap of turns. Rest of the hand plays itself

https://www.boomplayer.com/28696236_02CA3E63FE
was bounty horny here...and so was the BB apparently. His drool needed to be cleaned up off the table afterwards.

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As we all know poker can be one of the most frustrating games known to man. You can work you ass off and be 4 levels ahead of everyone on your table, but might lose to them day in and day out for months. The sick part is that variance does not give a fk how hard you've worked, how many sims you've ran, how many games you've grinded, whether you lost someone close to you, that you're stone broke, or that you're one more rivered ace from jumping off of a bridge...variance does not have a soul.

So as I look in my database to see how sickly bad I've ran over the past months and just seem to lose every single relevant all in in every relevant tourney...I can't help but think...variance does not care....and it doesn't mean I'm any more likely to win tomorrow.

I mean I've been so ****ing frustrated lately to the point I've done some embarassing stuff. I've been messaging bad beat hh's to my skype investment group constantly, I've been whining to them, and I've been letting the runbad effect my game play...the worst possible thing you can do. Hell, I used to laugh at these people who said poker is rigged...I can't help but ponder the idea sometimes lately.

I may have been running bad but lately I noticed I wasn't playing my best either...you know when you're on your A game and you can just have a sixth sense in hands that basically gives you X Ray vision? For example finding massive exploit folds with JJ or folding top 2 pair etc against massive nits who just aren't capable of bluffing. When you're mindset is frustrated it's so easy to just start flicking it in with jacks, or calling down with top 2...and yeah it may be unlucky, but it's not the most +EV option that you're capable of making...you exploit your opponents by folding sometimes.

So possibly subconsciously I wasn't bluffing rivers enough because I was sick of getting called by hands that shouldn't be calling, or I wasn't value betting rivers thin because I was sick of getting raised. There's no denying I ran bad...but I wasn't doing everything in my power to maximize EV...and that's when I had to have a talk with myself.

Especially because poker has gotten so fkn tough, a lot of the time it's about how can bring their A game the most. So during the conversation I had with myself I concluded:

-Skype is not helping. Turn skype off while playing. People who are whining or trolling non-stop is bad for mindset and focus.
-I need to stop whining. The customer service clerk deals with bitchy customers, the mail man works in crumby weather, the stripper gets naked for filthy clientele, the fireman climbs through burning buildings...the poker player deals with variance, uncertainty, and knowing that nobody in the real world gives a fk if you ran bad. The real world does not care about EV or BB/100, they care about results.
-The complaining and whine mentality comes from a belief that I'm owed something from variance. The entitled mentality and feeling of unfairness manifests itself in ugly ways for the poker player's mindset.
-I need to start making better exploits and stop paying off nits etc. Part of the reason I've been successful in MTTs is because I've learned how to exploit players very well. If you just start excusing bad call offs on the river as "It's my best hand to call" "he CAN be bluffing these hands (but probably isn't) etc. When you're struggling it's so easy to just start forcing action.
-I need to stop being so stressed when I play. It's only a game, and deep down I'm confident that I'm a good poker player. It's easy to lose in the short/medium run but the long run is what we play for.
-Sometimes when I feel down about poker I like to think of everything I've gotten from it or everything it has paid for. It's a reminder that +EV decisions are realized fairly accurately in the long run
-Even CDarwin had a 12k game BE stretch on stars

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It's funny how much life is about mindset and choices. Almost everything that happens to you can either be influenced by your choices, or how you CHOOSE to react to it. You can let running bad make you feel like crap all the time and miserable or you can use it as an opportunity for growth and understanding. Something I've come to learn is this...you always have a choice how you will react or deal with something...

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On a closing note RIP Mac Miller. Started listening to his music in my first year of University when a few of the stoner kids in my residence introduced me. He's the same age as me and I listened to his tracks all the time when at the gym, grinding, studying or whatever else. Serves as a reminder how nobody is invincible and life is extremely fragile. I really liked his personality of just kinda doing what he wanted and living the life he wanted. I guess he got a bit out of control with drugs which is quite sad. I'll leave you guys with one of my favourite feel good tracks of his:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74TFS8r_SMI

MUCH LOVE HOMIES

Another great post

I would like to see a piece on shorthanded play on Final Tables. I made a final table on the weekend, vs 3 manic eastern euros and got destroyed. Couldn't make a hand or a pair and they were calling my bluffs down with 4th/5th pair to the board on dangerous boards. Other then blind down and shove super light what can u do vs these particular opponents.