Well that's it. I went completely card dead on the final table and eventually got it in with KJ on a flop of K94 against T9 with a flush draw. He turned a T and I busted in 7th.

So my last chance is the "freeroll" next week, where 10-12 guys will battle for a final ticket. It's an interesting structure with starting stacks determined by point totals from the season standings. I'll be starting with a top 3 stack at least.

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Assigning 100 chips per league point, here are the stack sizes for the next 10 players who are likely to be fighting for the 7th ticket in the freeroll next Friday.

1) 9800
2) 9200
3) 9100 (me)
4) 9100
5) 8500
6) 8000
7) 7600
8) 6500
9) 6300
10) 4800

That's assuming all these guys show up. Some of them might not, and there could be a couple smaller stacks who do. Two of them in particular are tough cookies - the guy tied with me at 9100 is probably the best player in the room. He actually had the second highest average points/game. The guy at 8500 is also pretty solid, though he has a tendency to spew chips when he gets them.

The structure is going to be interesting. Assuming we use the usual structure, starting at 25/50, it's going to play like a deepstack STT - but one that starts in the middle stages after some chips have moved around. It's a structure that should suit my strengths well.

My plan is to be patient in the early stages while stacks are deep. See plenty of flops and try to hit big so I can stack someone. But otherwise I'll play small ball to minimize risk to my stack. Once the blinds have climbed to the point that the smaller stacks start to feel pressure, I'll look to pick some of them off while avoiding the bigger stacks. Then I'll focus on putting pressure on some of those bigger stacks since they won't want to risk their chips.


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So the league tourney season came to a disappointing end tonight. Seems like I've used the word "disappointing" in many of these posts.

Sixteen guys showed up to battle for the final ticket, plus a small cash prize for 2nd and 3rd. I got off to an unusually fantastic start, flopping a set and stacking the 8000 chip player on the first hand. That gave me a very deep stack to work with, so I played a very patient game and picked spots to accumulate chips. I was the chip leader through most of the tourney.

Things took a turn once we got down to 5-handed and I leaked a bunch of chips making a few raises that I had to give up on. Either I raised and got shoved on and had to make a tough fold, or I raised and got a couple of callers and whiffed on the flop. I ended up as the shortstack 4-handed.

I battled as best I could, doubling through the chip leader when I shoved KTss over his raise. He tanked and eventually called with A8. Flop came AsJs6h, giving him TP but me the NFD and GSD. Turn was trash but the river was a beautiful Q.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to build from there. I picked a few good spots to shove and steal blinds but couldn't accumulate chips. Then the bustout hand happened. At blinds of 1000/2000 the chip leader throws in a 5k chip and then says he meant to raise to 5k, but everyone at the table agreed the single chip meant a call.

I look down at A2ss and I have about 8bb left. I should have shoved but decided to see a flop in the hopes of hitting and taking down a bigger pot. Play wasn't overly aggressive 4-handed so I wasn't too concerned that someone would come in with a big raise.

Flop comes 7s4c4s giving me the NFD and Ace overcard. The BB checks and the chip leader leads out for 4k. I shove my remaining 15k. He tanks and eventually calls, turning over T7cc. Board runs out and I bubble.

Reflections on the league season
On the whole I can't say I'm too pleased with how the season went. Early in the new year, shortly after I started this process to rid myself of my mangina, I had a good run of results and was feeling incredibly positive. But then I closed out the season with a string of bustouts. I finished 12 points out of a guaranteed ticket, which means all I needed was one more top 2 finish or a few min-cashes over that final stretch to score a ticket. And then the cherry on the disappointing sundae was bubbling the freeroll for the final ticket, especially after getting off to a great start and leading most of the night.

I think I've made some excellent progress in my online game, even though I'm not seeing much in the way of results yet. When I'm playing micro tourneys and the money doesn't bother me, I'm able to open up my game and play mangina-free. However, although I have made some strides in my live game I think I still have a ways to go. I suppose I'm not the only poker player to struggle with this difference. When you're playing live tourneys they eat up a good chunk of time and you can't just fire up another one when you lose, so it is much easier to slip into mangina-mode and play it more cautiously.

If there's one aspect of my game that I feel I really need to focus on, it's my aggression during the later stages. This applies to both live and online, but I've noticed it is particularly problematic in the league tourneys. I have no problem at all with shortstack play - as I've said in earlier posts, this is one of my strengths. But what I struggle with is pulling the trigger on moves when the blinds are high and pots are starting to get quite big relative to stacks. When a 3b or a CB or postflop raise would eat up a sizeable chunk of my remaining stack, that's when my mangina comes out in full force. So I'll opt to call instead of 3b, or I'll check the flop rather than CB, because I just don't want to risk the chips. So I'm going to have to develop a plan for how to address this flaw in my game.

My plan for the summer months is to try to play as much poker as I can. My work schedule always eases up in the summer so I can take a few days off here and there to try to get some online volume in. I also want to see if I can find some other local live tourneys to play in to work on my live game. My goal over the summer is to take the final steps to get rid of my poker mangina once and for all, so I can dominate the league next year (and hopefully start making some damn money).

Stay tuned...

Day off today, planning to play as much online as I can. Got my sticky note to remind me to take the aggressive line when I smell my mangina. With respect to the problem I have pulling the trigger when the pots are getting big, I'm going to remind myself that I shouldn't fear losing chips because I'm confident in my shortstack play. That should provide me with a safety net of sorts - if a move doesn't work, as long as I leave myself with a workable stack I should feel good about my ability to grind my way back.

My goal today is to get in some good volume and come out with at least one decent score.

Review of my day off playing poker

I'll give myself a score of 1.5/2 for accomplishing my goals. I did play a decent volume: 5 MTTs over the course of the day, 2 on 888 and 3 on Stars. So that's 1 point. The half point is for the one semi-decent score, a 14th place in a 1.50 rebuy on 888. A final table appearance would qualify for a full point.

The day started off very frustrating to say the least.

1) $1.10 Progressive KO on Stars: Out after a whopping 35 hands. The only big pot I played was the one that busted me, but I was happy with the way I played it.

PokerStars - 75/150 Ante 20 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG+1: 25.6 BB (VPIP: 14.29, PFR: 14.29, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 7)
Hero (MP): 18.46 BB
MP+1: 13.08 BB (VPIP: 14.29, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 14)
MP+2: 95.9 BB (VPIP: 65.38, PFR: 30.77, 3Bet Preflop: 16.67, Hands: 26)
CO: 49.88 BB (VPIP: 26.92, PFR: 19.23, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 26)
BTN: 86.59 BB (VPIP: 46.15, PFR: 3.85, 3Bet Preflop: 5.26, Hands: 26)
SB: 94.98 BB (VPIP: 23.08, PFR: 11.54, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 26)
BB: 20.91 BB (VPIP: 14.29, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 21)
UTG: 19.5 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 4)

9 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.7 BB) Hero has T T

fold, fold, Hero raises to 3.17 BB, fold, MP+2 raises to 5.33 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 18.33 BB and is all-in, MP+2 calls 12.99 BB

Flop: (39.35 BB, 2 players) 5 Q 7

Turn: (39.35 BB, 2 players) A

River: (39.35 BB, 2 players) J

Hero shows T T (One Pair, Tens)
(Pre 69%, Flop 82%, Turn 2%)
MP+2 shows T A (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 31%, Flop 18%, Turn 98%)
MP+2 wins 39.35 BB

Although it was a small sample of hands, I went with my read on his stats that he was a laggy player who was 3-betting light. I certainly couldn't fold, and didn't want to call and play OOP, so I shoved and hoped he'd call with a worse hand. Which he did. But I lost anyway.

2) $0.55 turbo on Stars: Out after 45 hands. No hands of any real interest to report. I did double-up when I 3-bet AQ with 21bb and got it in, beating 55. But then I lost it a while later after my stack dwindled and I called all in with 8bb with K9s and lost to A7s.

3) $2.50 rebuy on 888: Out after 64 hands. Actually played a number of interesting hands in this one and although I made a couple of mistakes, I was happy with my aggression. Here's one example:

888 Poker - 50/100 Ante 10 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 32.58 BB
SB: 19.35 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 3)
BB: 16.24 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
UTG: 50.27 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 10.00, 3Bet Preflop: 25.00, Hands: 10)
UTG+1: 64.05 BB (VPIP: 70.00, PFR: 10.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
MP: 67.25 BB (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
MP+1: 39.3 BB (VPIP: 80.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 5)
CO: 46.65 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)

8 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.3 BB) Hero has 8 Q

fold, fold, fold, MP+1 calls 1 BB, fold, Hero raises to 4 BB, fold, BB calls 3 BB, MP+1 calls 3 BB

Flop: (13.3 BB, 3 players) 8 3 K
BB checks, MP+1 checks, Hero checks

Turn: (13.3 BB, 3 players) A
BB checks, MP+1 checks, Hero bets 6 BB, fold, fold

Hero wins 13.3 BB

Unfortunately I also lost two big pots with AK in this one tournament, one time losing to 65s and the other losing to Q9s. The latter one erased a massive pot I won a few hands earlier and knocked me down to 10bb. I was out a few hands later when I made a loose 6bb shove with Q2s in the HJ seat and lost to A3.

4) The Big 4.40 on Stars: Couldn't get anything going and had some misfortune along the way, out after 73 hands. This was an interesting pot I won early, an example of my newly discovered aggression from the small blind:

PokerStars - 20/40 Ante 5 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 139.8 BB (VPIP: 9.09, PFR: 9.09, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 11)
MP+1: 126.68 BB (VPIP: 60.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 11)
MP+2: 129.58 BB (VPIP: 9.09, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 11)
CO: 253.1 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 30.00, 3Bet Preflop: 20.00, Hands: 10)
BTN: 130.45 BB (VPIP: 28.57, PFR: 14.29, 3Bet Preflop: 25.00, Hands: 7)
SB: 130.68 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
Hero (BB): 122.78 BB
UTG: 121.05 BB (VPIP: 10.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 11)
UTG+1: 111.7 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 4)

9 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.63 BB) Hero has J A

fold, fold, fold, fold, MP+2 raises to 3 BB, fold, BTN calls 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 11 BB, fold, BTN calls 8 BB

Flop: (26.63 BB, 2 players) Q 5 6
Hero bets 13.33 BB, BTN calls 13.33 BB

Turn: (53.28 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (53.28 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero checks, BTN checks

Hero shows J A (Three of a Kind, Queens)
(Pre 63%, Flop 51%, Turn 68%)
BTN mucks 7 8 (Three of a Kind, Queens)
(Pre 37%, Flop 49%, Turn 32%)
Hero wins 53.28 BB

Unfortunately I eventually busted when I 3b-shoved AJs and ran into JJ. Oh well.

5) The $1.50 rebuy on 888: The one bright spot in the day, finished 14th out of 300+ runners. Overall I was very happy with the way I played this one - particularly during the late stages when I shoved over limpers frequently and took down decent pots. Got knocked out when I shoved 7bb UTG 7-handed with KQ and ran into AJ.

When I look at my mistakes across the 5 tourneys, most of them involve too much aggression rather than not enough - so I consider that a sign of growth. Looking forward to the next time I get a chance to put in some volume.

So I've decided I'm going to start a blog and transition my thoughts in this thread into material for my blog. The focus is going to be on mental game, psychology, and developing aggression. I'm excited about it, I think it will be awesome.

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(Approximate) 6-month update

It's been about 6 months since I started my journey to replace my poker mangina with a big set of balls so I thought it would be a good time for a progress report.

I haven't played any live games since the league season ended but I've been finding some time here and there to play more online and things are going reasonably well. Not like I've suddenly started winning like crazy or anything, but I have seen some progress in my results. I had my best MTT finish ever recently, final-tabling for the first time and cashing in 8th out of 300+ runners.

More importantly though I feel like I've made significant progress in my goal to become an aggressive player, and to improve my game in general. My mindset has improved dramatically - I feel more confident, bad beats roll off my back - and I've become so much more comfortable with aggressive play. No longer am I blinding down in the middle stages; now when I make mistakes it is typically because I've been too aggressive rather than too passive. I've really improved my preflop 3-betting, my blind play, and I've made some good progress towards feeling more comfortable firing multiple barrels.

Over the remainder of the summer I plan to play a few of the Micro Millions events and at some point see if I can find some time to play in some local tourneys to get more live play experience. I think this will be an important step in getting myself ready for the tourney league starting again in September.

I've also been writing some great content for my blog, which I'm hoping to launch in the near future. It won't just be a blog where I journal my progress - in fact there will be very little of that. The concept of the blog is to take a lot of the things I've learned over my journey and to turn it into content from which others can learn. I'm also developing some tools that people can use to improve their games.

Blog is live! I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the link here so pm me if you want it. I've put up some great content already and have lots more waiting in line.

I finally got a chance to play a live MTT recently at a poker club some of my league buddies frequent. I wasn't crazy about the structure though. It was supposed to be a deepstack but still moved very quickly.

The whole experience was a huge disappointment. I was really looking forward to playing after all the studying I've been doing over the summer but never really got a chance. I can't recall ever being so card dead before. Played for 4 hours and never saw a PP higher than 77, had AK once (lost the pot), and AJs once (also lost the pot). I think I had J9s once and that was about it for decent suited connectors. Didn't hit a single big hand and barely even connected with any flops. We started with 47 runners, I rebought once and grinded my way to 20th. All in all not much fun.

I have been playing more online, which is great. Played an ante up MTT for the first time and really enjoyed it. Just missed the final table when I ran AQ into AK on an A-high board and finished 13th. So while my graph continues to drift downwards I feel like I'm on the verge of breaking out. It's only a matter of time before I finally win one of those key hands late that will propel me to a deep finish. I have some days off coming up so I'm planning to get some good volume in before the summer is over.

Although I love summer and I'm always sad to see it end, I am starting to look forward to the league starting up again in Sept. My game has evolved so much since June. I've come to realize that I previously put all my work into my preflop game but lacked confidence in my postflop skills, so I've been focused on improving my postflop game over the past 2 months. I've been consuming countless hours of podcasts and YouTube videos to help me.

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Nice read OP.

One thought I have that might help is to play against the player's tendencies more than your 2 cards.

When you just play the cards you are dealt, you leave the result up to the poker gods but when you start to look for spots that you can exploit other player's weaknesses, you can often be accumulating chips with ATC which will give you far more opportunities to accumulate chips.

Eg, your friend's sizing tell will allow you to 3B his x3.5 a solid amount of times - how would he feel about a c/r on a 10/8/4 ss board?

There are a million leaks out there to take advantage of so you really can find 2-3 times the opportunities over the course of a tournament to accumulate vs just relying on the cards you are dealt.

Good Luck in the next series:-)

Thanks for reading and I agree 100%. One of the biggest leaks in my game has been focusing too much on my cards and not enough on the players and the situation. That's why I played a weak-tight style for so long and would often give up on the flop if I didn't improve. Some of my recent study has really opened my eyes to postflop possibilities that I never really considered before.

As for my friend's tell, the structure of those tourneys makes it difficult to take advantage of it - which is probably why it has worked so well for him. At the stage of the tourney where he's making those kinds of raises, there isn't much room for 3-betting pre due to effective stacks. He's a smart enough guy to know that his larger raises force people to play for large percentages of their stacks. And unfortunately I've never had a large enough stack myself to put pressure back on him.

Success...finally!

Took a couple of vacation days this week to play some online MTTs and my first day was a resounding success:



It feels so good to finally break through, especially after the effort I've been putting in to improving my game. When I have a chance to do a more in-depth HH review I'm going to post some reflections on my blog.

Congrats on the win. Hard work pays off - keep it up.