comin off a ~14th and ~14th performances in the 109 mini thrill/ bb 162.

Lost a pretty disgusting cooler for 2x chip lead in the mini thrill vs a guy I'd been battling with 3bs/4bs etc...

https://www.boomplayer.com/30598790_52919B43CA

------------

uhmmm other than that been experimenting with this CBD oil and CBD weed when grinding...reallllly liking it. just helps me get relaxed and I just really enjoy playing poker a lot more like this. Obv when u enjoy playing more you play better etc. This only has a small amount of THC in it so you don't really get any of the mental bluriness that comes with std stuff.

Diet: Started doing this intermittent fasting stuff just because I read/heard some really positive stuff about it from expert scientists and a few friends have had shockingly good results with it.

-I've been doing it about 5 days now and feels like I'm eating way less calories by osmosis and slamming garbage down after my session isn't acceptable. Feeling pretty good with healthier diet/eating less/more intense/frequent gym sessions.

Poker's been going amazing, starting to get into a bit better shape, been making some gains on relationships....feeling like a millyyyyy...oh yeah, and fishing season right around the corner.

Somewhere near that brutal nut low that I was in a few months ago a friend and I ordered Chinese food after dumping piles in our Sunday sessions. Not that I'm supersticious or anything but my fortune cookie said "Your boss is going to give you a raise in the near future."

Even though I don't have a boss I couldn't help but kinda smile and say "I hope so". Sorta got this feeling that things were gonna turn soon in a good way. I actually totally forgot that fortune until I was cleaning the spot on my desk it was sitting in today. I read it again and couldn't help but smile a bit and look back on that ****ty moment only a few months ago.

----

Mindset has been way better lately. Maybe because of the improving weather, maybe because things are starting to come together again, or maybe because of grinding Fedor's mindset app Started practising catching myself when my thoughts are heading down a negative path and trying to reframe or correct them. Life is just way better like this imo.

End this random rambles with 2 things:

1. This came up on my youtube today...lmk what u think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNDvf0q2Xds

2. This excerpt from a Kendrick song
https://gyazo.com/abbf327aaf6266e5b0ba6f90c18e84d5

--------

Happy Easter etc etc probably won't be around here for a bit, taker ezzzz

That ever so awkward moment when you're so ****ing excited to grind that you re-schedule your whole Easter weekend just so you can sling some volume. After getting my nuts ran through a meat grinder all weekend I feel I've been brought back down to Earth...and it's time for a vacation, partly to reset, partly for damage control.

https://www.boomplayer.com/30614272_DB59EC4B5A
There's a fun hand @ least lol. Tbh I think my bluff is pretty sexy, I mean value bet

Sooo booked a small little vacation with a girl for the next few days to get some tours of wineries in the Niagara region and just for a bit of a getaway. Hotel room looks pretty sweet so looking forward to that. Weather is finally above freezing here and quite nice lately so will take advantage of that and go to the cottage for the week leading up to SCOOP and install a new floor for my parents there (and be there for the fishing season opener ) You never realize how much you appreciate sunshine and warm weather/nature until you've spent a Winter in Canada.

Side Notes:
-Intermittent fasting actually been pretty GTO thus far. Originally got the idea to start from seeing some people I know irl have astounding results and I've been struggling with consistency in weight loss. Did a lot of research on it and the benefits are actually quite interesting. Allegedly it's very good for fixing things like gut issues and giving your body time to correct itself.
-Can't speak for any major changes as it's only been one week but have been eating way less junk by osmosis. Reduced feeding window, reduced cravings, and more stable energy/less being bloated/inflammation thus far. Been surprisingly easy to stick with it thus far and actually kinda feels good being on an empty stomach in the mornings.
-Diet still needs massive corrections and that's part of what's been holding me back I think. Doug Polk was saying he stopped focusing on the gym and started focusing on cutting calories and that's where he had his success. I wish I could eat whatever I wanted but sadly I'm not 16 playing AAA hockey anymore Need to eat better and that's the bottom line.

-Everything seems to be going very well if I can be completely honest. Mindset and happiness seem to be at their most stable/peak points in probably the last 5 years. Everything seemed to be in shambles for most of 2018 but 2019 has been quite a blessing where it's all been coming together nicely so far.

-Finally got a new computer and it is siiiiiick. Well, it's on order. Also bought a new chair that's like a knockoff of a Dx racer for 1/3 of the price. Shopping around for a new monitor(s)/standing desk now. Things should be GTO af heading into SCOOP.

Won't be around here much for the next week or two. Wish y'all the best!

Alright, got home from the wine tour today and couldn't help but load up a session.

First, I'll tell you about how much of a degenerate I've been:

So on and off I've bet some sports games last few years. Mostly football, hockey, baseball, and some random punts in soccer, golf, or Japanese women's ping pong. I like sports and I like gambling, the two go hand in hand quite well together. Random hockey game on tv that you couldn't give 2 ****s about who wins between the Arizona Coyotes and LA Kings? Throw a few bucks on it and all of a sudden you got a sweat for a few hours.

This was never really problematic as my standard max. bet would be 100$ with an average of probably ~60$. Couple times for big "Superbowl" type games or w/e got a bit out of line and hit the 500$ mark. I've went through periods where I'd have a few wagers here and there to having several wagers in a night, to have 0 wagers for several months. I've never really felt it was a problem because as soon as I'd start running bad or lose a few bets I'd be completely over it and just quit for a few months. Some guys get stuck and start chasing losses (and that's when the real trouble begins), but that's never really been me. Besides, the times when I was going heavy was when I built up a BR and was betting house money. My biggest upload was only 200$.

I didn't touch sports betting for a long time other than the odd punt until a few months ago I started punting hockey again. On an average unit of ~75$ I was on a ~5k heater or so. Literally, every night I was just winning and almost never had a breakeven or worse night.

Fast forward to the NHL playoffs. I've been watching games with friends and just started having a really good hunch about certain teams/games. Needless to say any "heat" that I may have had before has now vanished. I started chasing losses like a true idiot etc. I mean, yeah I've ran so so so bad but I'm the idiot for punting on -EV games. Probably dusted back around ~90% of what I made on my heater and gave it all back...doesn't feel great man

After reading that you probably think I'm some sick gambling degen but don't worry it's not really the case. I've done so well at putting myself in +EV spots over the last ~7 years and not doing stupid **** like this. Basically wanted to post this because it's a real struggle of having your life revolving around gambling all the time-it can be tough to separate the +EV from the-EV. Just wanted to post this to sorta give myself a slap in the face for losing discipline.

----------------------

First session back made 3 FTs but couldn't close. Couple interesting hands:

https://gyazo.com/dc22354e12c8225adb94bebf03c6b734
I open UTG just after getting ITM, i c bet 1/3 pot he calls, turn he leads I think big ish sizing, river he effectively pots it.

Country read? Brazil. Usually a brazillian playing on ACR is some type of reg. Figured this tourney w/ 10k up top is pretty relevant to him and he might value his tourney life quite a bit as opposed to like an 11$ 3k or something.

You're probably looking at this hand and thinking "range protection call"/"yuck, gross but gotta pay the man"/"we just can't fold".

In game I'm sitting there thinking "this is fkn disgusting these players like to think they take this line with a bluff but they literally just do not". I can say with like decent assurance that he's massively underbluffing this spot (even though he chooses sizings that are indicative of having a lot of bluffs).

Did something a bit out of line and decided to jam. Not blocking any of his bluffs is decent as we'll get snap folds from them if he has any (even though calling wins anyways)...the goal of the jam was to have him perceive "this guy knows my line looks super nutted, he doesn't have much fold equity behind and he knows that, he can easily have QQ/AA/A7...only hand I can really see him having thats a snap call is A7. Yeah, stupid mistake by me trying to make a brazillian reg try to fold trips on a board where all the draws miss. Literally he's just gonna get show the D 99% of the time when he makes this call imo.

Oh yeah he went to last second of time bank and called J7o...feels pretty bad but nice to know I like never bluff this spot but still get paid by these guys.

https://www.boomplayer.com/30647652_E85F87CB1F
I make the mistake of piling on these guys too much with nut hands, like I'll tell myselfon flop "he's never bet/folding this sizing" and I'll just jam for protection/value assuming I'll always get called. Every once in a while you'll see guys just completely tool out like this lol.

https://www.boomplayer.com/30647624_A0908B2C5D
when you're just next level out of line

----------------

So I'm off for a few days fo' real now. Wine tour was legit had a great time now gonna head to my cottage one of these next few days. Gotta rest up for the busy times ahead: montreal millions, SCOOP, WSOP, WCOOP etc...big months ahead let's get itttttttt!

Good news: Won the bb 162 again for 2nd time in 2 weeks last night. Also been grinding satties etc hard and doing really well poker wise.

Bad news: Weighed myself at the gym yesterday after a degen last week or so and put 7 lbs. back on. Sorta gave me a wake up call so got my ass back in the gym this week and start making wiser nutritional choices.

Good news: Regardless of the above "bad news", this is the best I've felt in years. Probably some combination of: poker going great, regular dosing of CBD oil, dating life going way better, working out regularly, or just much improved mindset. Got a few compliments from people who haven't seen me in months saying I'm looking way better-I appreciate it. Stuff like that really helps with motivation.

------

A Few Notes on Poker Stuff:

I was in a dark place a few months ago with poker and felt hopeless everyday. Literally just losing day in and day out: running bad, playing bad, thinking bad. Was way closer to throwing in the towel from this game than I've ever been. Honestly, I finally felt at peace with retiring from poker for the first time and was just about ready to do so.

All misery aside, I built a plan to reduce variance and get the train back on the tracks. The main thing that needed to happen was getting my confidence back. If there's one thing that's brought me confidence in the past it's 1) Winning 2) Finding something new that I believe is printing.

1) Winning came with running a lot better than I have in 2018. Also came with slinging big volume. Even a blind squirrel catches a nut once in a while.

2)Finding new winning strategies: This one was a bit more complex. First thing I did was totally break down my thinking patterns to scratch. Reduced table counts and played without a HUD for a few weeks. Started consciously trying to process hands from a more organic viewpoint...actually focusing on what I thought would be the best and why. Moreover, disregarding trying to play "theoretically well" and just trying to figure out which options made me the most money.

Catching this whole "GTO bug" was maybe the worst poker concept I studied in terms of harming my own growth. I'm not saying GTO is bad: I'm just saying I was applying it in places that I was losing massive amounts of EV by not taking exploitative lines. I lost a lot of the creativity and aggression in my game by osmosis. In tournaments that are so top heavy it's crucial to be building stacks and playing for the win. You make so much money in tournaments by pressuring short stacks/bubbles etc.

In 2018 when contemplating a river call I was asking myself: "am I blocking his value range?" "how high am I in my range?" "am I blocking his bluffing range". This stuff is all valuable information and should almost be considered...BUT...the most important thing is asking yourself "what is the likelihood that the villain is bluffing?"

If you're playing rock, paper, scissors and the villain has a tendency to throw way more rock....why would we throw 33.33% of each option? Clearly we should be throwing more paper to exploit that. Similar scenarios exist in poker just wayyyy more complex.

I'm probably just a fish on a heater but I've doing some pretty out of line stuff in games. If I think the villain has a capped range I've been ruthlessly attacking it-even if I have 0 equity (in lots of ways). Yeah I spew a lot of games but I'll take it if it means building big stacks and winning from time to time.

----------
Here's a few hands for the lurkers:

https://www.boomplayer.com/30676204_D19D8F4023

Literally I tried calling this guy down several times and literally he never had a bluff. Was tilting cuz I kept thinking "this is a great bluff spot for him surely he has a bluff this time". Nope, he just never bluffed rivers it appeared. Not sure what point this hand was in the hu match but knowing what I know now about the villain it was a definite fold. Even vs population this is probably just a fold. Players have a tendency to under-bluff when they hold pairs because they believve they have SD value (and A highs)...tough for him to find bluffs here regardless.

https://www.boomplayer.com/30676061_C8F85F79D2
not sure why I saved this one. Anyone take different line here? Feel like this might be a good hand to check on flop?

https://www.boomplayer.com/30675979_C03071A6EE
vs a blaster-exactly what I had him on here

https://www.boomplayer.com/30674955_4799388104
weird hand-yugioh pro was in the bb

---------

Thanks for reading my dudes- hope you guys doin well

H1: Is he a reg? Maybe I'm biased but I just never see regs donk bluff brick rivers. Doesn't make sense theoretically and doesn't make sense in practice. If both statements are true it's usually just poorly played value.
H2: Yeah I check flop with that combo
H4: Probably just bet river for a chunky size is best. Surprised you even got a call, we all know deep down lines like yours are extremely unbalanced. Refer to my comment on hand 1

K4s i dont think is great spot for villain to bluff tbh and kinda all depends on reads/tendencies you got on villain.. btw i would open raise that hant to start with
AJs hand why r u 3 beting with those stacks behind to that sizing if UTG is vamoo ?
Q9 hand its w/e imo x or beting i will bet bigger on flop tbh
KQ hand i am beting rivers also suprised u got called by worse

P.S. Try when u catch me blufing not to spew your stack vs fish very next hand 😉

thx guys appreciate your thoughts.

@getme: nah was like a fish reg. yeah my call is just bad and undisciplined. until we see them turning like random bottom pair type hands into bluffs or random stuff we just shouldn't be calling probably. on an additional note this guy just never bluffed and always had it as I found out the rest of the match.

h4: yeah it's funny when you've played so many tourneys you get like a "spidey sense" of spots that will get stationed etc so you just under bluff those spots and meanwhile my value range keeps getting paid it seems. Once in a while i mix in a bluff and usually theory is proven correct

@ re8

think it depends on a few things before we can rule out any pre flop strats

AJ: sucks when we get 4 bet but i think this is higher EV for a few reasons especially vs a fish with certain tendencies/ been experimenting more with it

agree with the others ty for thoughts


PS nice bluff and thanks for actually having one sick of calling down these nits who have never bluff/raised a river in their life lol...was really a tough call there was struggling to find bluffs for u

dont really remember the hand after but I recall liking it at the time haha

I figure out that you are valubeting river and i had good combo to turn it into bluff

U bust out very next hand with J5dd when you x/r A7Jdd vs 2 players/ bet small on turn/ x call off river shove ( i think as played they never have busted draws there on river, optimistic unensasary call imo, i think i will prefer jaming river to put presure on ton Ax combis he can have once i x i think best is to x/f)

AJs hand i was trying to say if villain is sticky/ blaster why dont use bigger 3 bet sizing and call off shove brcause stack were odd behind, plus if he us sticky vamoo he will fold 0% preflop to that sizing and you will have trouble on most flops because his range is wide

ahh yeah i believe the hand was against fukuruku idk wtf is up with it but i just never seem able to beat that guy in a hand. out of all the regs on stars he might very well be the one who has won the most chips off me.

yeah agree with ur thoughts on the J5 hand was pretty disgusted but just a spot we need to find big folds I think. in theory he should have a lot of bluffs there imo but these guys just don't ...when I check river when all those draws miss I'll have heaps of bluffs that give up but who knows how he perceives it.

AJ: yeah @ first glance the 3 bet and sizing may seem poor to you. in 2018 I would never size a 3 bet like this but if you consider a loose/passive player maybe a smaller 3 bet size induces more light 4 bets where we can print money by jamming if he 4 bets too much (not saying this is why I chose this 3b size)...there is merits to not bloating a pot majorly vs a fish on FT, I'm quite happy to have him peel 90% of his opening range and just take faith in the fact I have a massive edge post flop with big range advantage + knowing he will make massive mistakes as per what we just witnessed him doing.

side note: on FT I really don't think we want to be getting stacks in this light/these position/ICM factors etc..if we can make him 4b/f to us it's pretty fkn desirable with this hand

Alright, so been working on my setup. Bought a pretty fkn beastly computer that has enough processing power to run enough simultaneous pio sims for every Russian bot out there. Also bought a knockoff DX racer chair for about half the price of the name brand ones. Was struggling to maintain good posture so felt this was a good purchase to ensure I'm sitting upright etc.

Things missing:
-Need to move all this spare bedroom **** out of here and make it a true office
-set up dual or tri monitors
-standing desk to top it all off.

Anyways, not that it does the computer specs or office much justice but here's the first few additions:

https://gyazo.com/44b18eecdb59d600f02757aee411b44c

Oh yeah, the over sized mouse pad for 15 bucks on Amazon is a pretty swell addition as well.

------------

Was thinking a lot lately about how I want to gain some more legitimacy and really start owning this whole "poker" thing. In the past I was almost a bit embarassed or regretful to tell certain people about my whole poker hobby. I was in Uni at that time so I could always just say I was a student and that would sorta spare some cover from prodding questions.

Nowadays deep down I'm quite proud of this journey but thinking that maybe making training videos or starting some type of poker related business as a branch out might be a reasonable path. I really love a lot of aspects about poker and maybe somehow I could build a more sustainable career out of the game that doesn't involve playing so much. Not that I'm quitting poker tomorrow or anything but I've been craving change for a long time now.

Not that this would ever be a realistic option but starting a site or starting a room would be pretty sick. It's basically impossible to do it legally in Canada and for a lot of other reasons not feasible but we can dream?

Really want to get into real estate but given the absurdly priced market around me right now it's very difficult to make money out of residential real estate. If the market gets more affordable I want to:

-Move out of my current place and rent it out
-Buy a house/install a basement suite, rent out basement and live upstairs
-Maybe if all that goes well repeat the process for another house


Anyways, all just pipe dreams. On the agenda for May: win a SCOOP, win PP millions main event, gym grind and stop eating like a fkn savage, profit, fishing season.

get'em

https://gyazo.com/8e7cf3e129c11eae5909fda035d4ed8e

Think I told you guys here before about this fortune I got from Chinese food in the nut low times of late 2018. Was in the midst of maybe the toughest point in my time in the game. Yeah, there was times when I was definitely "broker" but I was still a student then and got some student loans etc. This was probably the worst downswing I'd ever faced and had my first losing/break-even year online. Not many nights went by where I wasn't feeling like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I vividly remember one night getting in a big fight with my parents and storming home. Literally fired up my computer and punted in every single bowl tournament that night possible and had the song "Me Against the World" by Tupac on repeat literally the whole session. Was so absurdly fired up and I'll never forget that night. Might have even been a rage tear or two shed

Anyways, not long after that my friend and I ordered some Chinese food to wrap up the Sunday grind, when I opened up that beauty. While I don't believe in fortunes or w/e I couldn't help but smile when I got this and just had this weird feeling in the back of my head that things were about to turn. I kept that fortune tucked away because I knew one night I'd look back on it and laugh. It also now has a permanent place on my desk to serve as a token of reminder of how existential that time period felt. Whenever I feel like I'm not giving my best effort, or whenever I'm 335th/650 runners in the last tourney of the day (before ITM) and feel like punting in my stack: I remind myself to not **** this up again.

Ironically, that scenario occurred yesterday. Was heaping in some party tourneys with ~15 left and got absolutely disgusted in both (like 10-15k ut). I was left stuck one tabling the above scenario and really could have punted it off to conclude the sunday session. Without rambling any further, ya boy shipped it for ~39 racks.

Amazing how quickly this ship turned around and I promise I'll never forget the feeling I had when I stowed that fortune away for the future.

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https://www.boomplayer.com/30713004_0FD80CF14F
This felt pretty gangster. Not a spot you'll see many regs show up with a bluff imo I try to work in a few here and there. Great river though for obv reasons

https://www.boomplayer.com/30712739_3036D7B232
thoughts? was vs some type of brazillian reg. Think we can make a very strong theoretical argument for this line.

-------

Someone asked me a few months ago if I could write something strategy related in here. Been pretty busy and felt like **** about poker so didn't feel like writing much or that I could even provide much of value. The following probably won't be much of value but it might help someone struggling get a spark of motivation:

I know when I started out I always thought good players were just doing crazy things and I was always looking for some type of "magic pill". You know?: 3 bet more, check raise more, defend the bb more, use a different bet sizing etc. When I started watching training videos/learning from good players they wouldn't really be doing too much differently than me-they just did made better decisions. (Once in a while they'd do something that wasn't in my repertoire)

There's something I heard about if you put two ships right next to each other and set them off but @ 5 degree difference in direction, they will end in wildly different places. Even if that reg is making 5% less mistakes than me he will have a massive edge in the long run. Afterall, there's only really a few simple options in poker: bet, check, fold, raise, call, unreg pre. In theory, it's a simple game...in practise, can take several life times to master.

Lab tip:My recent run has been hugely in part to run good. I do like to think that part of my success was from thinking about the game in a different way. I stopped thinking about what was strategically correct and trying to just cash/ladder all the time to not giving a **** and playing for the win...doing what I thought will work. Not giving a **** if I was wrong, or looked stupid, or spewed the tourney.

Instead of worrying too much about bluff frequencies or which portions of my range do what-I started attacking capped/middling strength/weak ranges relentlessly. The population doesn't respond very well in several spots and when you employ a strategy they aren't used to.

Hopefully that gives you some good inspiration to stop learning and start thinking

I'm off til' SCOOP not touching poker. GL hombres!

---

After my Sunday session cortisol levels were raging and felt super burnt out. Anyone else feel immense stress when they go deep in tourneys? Or even just when they play poker? Stress kills and I really NEED to get it under control better. Ideally avoid the drug grind

Know those days where everything is going perfect and you literally feel like a god at the tables? ...

Today was not one of those days.

Felt like all day was getting cooler/suckout/flip hand after hand and punting in infinite bullets into tourneys on top of already taking a few shots for SCOOP day 1.

I've been around enough for these series now where I still can't help it but get a lil' excited before day 1-and as you might guess in 109398472 person fields...most days are proper ****. That's the thing with these series- they bring in some "soft spots" and have heaps of money up top-but with great money up top comes great variance.

Anyways, was stuck like 3-4k at one point which is about as much as I'll ever be stuck in a session. Happy with myself for grinding it out through the adversity. Got 11th in that ACR warmup that I won last week...sooooo close again Didn't end up so deep in the red as a positive.

---------

Gym/Health? Pretty poor effort last week and last few weeks in general. The intermittent fasting stuff has definitely limited my caloric intake (from eating in a reduced window). Feel way less hungry throughout the day and more regulated cravings.

Have a mindset coaching session early tomorrow and I'm hoping that can spur some motivation to get back on health grind.

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https://www.boomplayer.com/30768770_B700FA6274

legitimately was like cringe calling on river lol weird af hand.

https://www.boomplayer.com/30762845_F61E1BD378

not sure if that's gangster or just an outright punt?

-------

Schedule/Plans:

We have SCOOP, party pker millions in montreal, and Vegas for WSOP on the slate. Probably playing the 10k main in mtl and maaaybe the 1k but we'll see. Why can't they hold these series in like March or April instead of May when the weather is getting nice and holidays happen etc. Also not sure for Vegas probably go down for like 1-3 weeks time range. Usually get all pumped to go there then hate it after 5 days and late reg. book flight home and pay massive markup.

Anyways hope to get back on the health grind this week and sling some SCOOOOOOPs. Hope you guys are doin' well. Been in this routine of taking a few drops of CBD oil and a few puffs of weed almost every night lately. Sorta kills my motivation to think or write anything of real importance in here. Anyways, I've been meaning to get some pics of my set up etc to spruce this thread up again...hope you guys are doing well and gn/gl.

What if you were given a death sentence right now? How would that change your priorities or outlook?

The somewhat inconvenient truth is that we ALL have a death sentence that is inevitable.

Tuesday was the most tilted I've been during a session in a long time. I had a day 2 of the SCOOP win the button 109$ and final 30 I rifled off ~50bbs pre flop with A3dd as I was fairly confident in my read...and got punished.

Was all good though as I had heaps in the 1k Super Tuesday until everything started going wrong there too. Nearing ITM this hand happened vs a "reg"

https://www.boomplayer.com/30787496_24D4DA330C

was so fkn tilted that I punched my glass desk which was a move that I used to do early in my poker career constantly. It took a lot to build my rage up to the point I had to punch something. Probably the first time I've done that in years.

Anyways, I was super steamed and about to head out for a walk when I got a text that someone I spent a lot of time with had passed away.

I'll never forget my bday one year I went out for drinks with a few friends and then went home alone and was feeling really depressed. I'll never forget this person came over knocking on my door saying "dude it's your ****ing birthday gtfo and have a drink with me."

Not that this person was a really close friend or anything but we definitely did have some good times and conversations. The whole idea that someone can be here one day and gone to the next is extremely chilling.

This is yet another reminder that life is fragile and temporary. Have things you want to achieve? Have people you want to tell you love them? Have places you want to go? Time is running out and you never know when the chances will be taken away from you without a moment's notice.

I know personally I have a lot of things festering in my mind constantly that need to get dealt with. They've been plaguing me way too long and these thoughts have become like parasites stopping me from being my best self.

----------

https://www.boomplayer.com/30796208_8BB68BFFF9

Been blasting some 100z and 200z lately because I think my EV is like ~BE/slight loss in those pools but I'm thinking that being forced to improve/learn may compensate for the lost EV in the long run.

The above hand was vs. a presumed winning reg in those pools and at first it probably seems like a massive punt. Maybe it is? Instead of initially brushing it off as lolpunt I started thinking reasons as to why this line might be good?

-My opening range doesn't contain much 8x from this position, usually wouldn't even open Q8ss on a tough table.
-His BB defense range has far more 8x
-I probably c-bet this board way too much considering I don't have very much 8x, so his x/r probably makes money.
-He has some backdoors/outs and doesn't block my flush draws.
-I personally float way too many check raises in this spot. Like I wouldn't fold any pair/flush draw/A high/backdoor stuff so his turn barrel with like no equity might even do pretty well. (Whether he needs to over bet idk I probably do a decent amount of folding regardless of size on this specific turn).
-When he over bets turn and jams river I honestly so seldom expect to see a bluff and I probably over-fold? If he sizes smaller on turn and then over bet jams river I think I call way more of my range on turn and then have a lot of tougher spots if he over bets the river.

What do I think his best bluffs are to to take this line? I assume Axcc or like 7xcc? (The most likely 8x I hold is 78ss and A8ss. Maybe 2x hands are good as well blocking 22. Maybe Kxcc isn't great as a lot of my floats are Kxcc or AK. I think this might be more effective as a bluff line if he sizes smaller on turn and over bet jams river but who knows-I'm not a reg in those games and not qualified to give answers, I just like hypothesizing

--------

Pretty bad start to SCOOP so far aside from the one day 2. Probably stuck like 6k so far but the series is still young. Grinding hard tomorrow then heading North for a couple days. Be home Sunday for da grinddddd

GL homies hope you guys win all the money

yoyoyoyoyo

got some good news:

Friend convinced me to carpool over to montreal for the PP millions main event. Got in for cheap in a satellite and this picture is all you need to know:

https://gyazo.com/eaa8049a85b0abcfa795fd6f981f5456

That stack was essentially the result of having heaps of chips and jamming all in for 2 hours nearing the satellite bubble. At first was kinda like dreaming of that spot but was actually beginning to feel a little bit bad as there was 2 tables remaining with ~14 seats and my table I was jamming every hand whereas the other table chip leaders weren't applying pressure and it was evident the bubble would eventually be on my table. Feels bad for some of the recs that you could tell were like realllllly stressed about qualifying and it's never really fun ruining someone's night like that. Anyways, just part of the game and got into the main for cheap as per the plan.

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Main Event:

Ended up with a pretty deep run getting 35th for 25k. Felt really good about my game and just really happy with my overall mindset and comfort level in those stakes. I think a good portion of that field is playing under-rolled (I am too without selling pieces) and you can tell they are super uncomfortable in various situations which yields some pretty large edges. Had a few really interesting hands and I'll share some now:

-About 2nd or 3rd level I open 4s4h UTG to 2.5x, cutoff who has been a little bit active with 3 betting/cold 4b/f etc 3 bets me to ~3x my open. Probably have just a fold here but was ~100bbs deep eff. and flicked in a call.

FLOP: 5s6c9s...he c bets 1/3 pot. Can probably just call here as this isn't a board he's gonna go ham on and I can just show down and win vs. A highs etc decent frequency. Anyways, his flop sizing seemed quite bad given stack depths/board texture/positions...figured he likely isn't 3 betting those small pairs enough and not much 78ss so just figured I can x/r and run him off over pairs on so many run outs. So I check raised about 3x his c bet sizing.

TURN: Jd...I bet approx. pot and he called relatively quickly. Inkling was that if he had sets or flush draws he might want to think more or consider jamming as the SPR was getting quite low for him. He seemed quite stubborn so expected him to call this street with tonnes of stuff.

RIVER: 6s pairing board and bringing in flush possibilities. Decided to just jam for about 75% pot and I got a tank fold out of him. This line was pretty fkn "hood" but just felt like I'm getting some huge folds out of him and he'll just give me the benefit of the doubt pretty often as I have massive range advantage and he doesn't wanna bust a big shot take @ the 3rd level of the tournament.

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-Nearing end of day 1 open JhJc off ~80bb stack to 2.2x from MP, elite/aggro Finnish cash reg peels the BB.

FLOP: 552dds...I c bet ~2.5bbs he x/r to 8bbs I call.
TURN: 2c...he bet ~20bbs I call.
RIVER: 4d...he jams ~50bbs

Usually I'm just snap folding rivers here vs. almost all villains and was using tonnes of time to find bluffs for him. Was really struggling to find bluffs but definitely had the inkling he was over bluffing this spot as a lot of really good regs understand perceived bad regs are over folding. Started thinking that maybe he has like Kd6x or like just random Ad stuff. Cringe called and was shown 46o. Felt pretty good.

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Approx. 10 off ITM I had a really nice stack (70 left and top 10 stack or so). Perceived bad American reg who was really loose and fairly loose with opens from what I'd seen opens to ~2.2x from UTG 7 handed off ~70bb stack....I have As9h and 3 bet to 7.5bbs, he calls.

FLOP: KhTs8d....I c bet 7bbs he calls.
TURN: Js....I bet 25bbs he calls.
RIVER: Ks....I jam and he gets super upset and whining about how gross the spot is and calls rather quickly with Q9ss.

Only reason I 3 bet was because 10 off ITM figured I could put immense pressure on his type of stack and too loose of an opening range. As for my bluff line I think it's decent but w/e kinda annoying his line seems pretty disastrous but w/e guess mine might be as well. Was super tilting cuz it left me off 30bbs and instead of abusing massive bubble was stuck in survival mode.

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BUST HAND:

It's important to note I have 0 time bank cards left and have 30 seconds to act. (Pretty laughable you're playing for 1m $ and have 30 seconds to make a decision for your tournament life.)

Open AdQd from UTG off ~30bbs, Kevin Rabichow (has heaps) flats the cutoff...others fold.

FLOP: AcQs9c...I c bet 1/3 pot he calls.

TURN: Kc...I check he bets ~1/2 pot, I call.

RIVER: 2h I check he jams and I had 30 seconds to make a decision. Given how little chips I had behind + BB coming + BB ante it would mean I'd be down to like 8bbs after the blinds hit me. Figured YOLO maybe he has some TcTx or T9ss type hands that are just going hard in the paint. Called with 1s of time bank remaining and was shown the JTcc (not really to my suprise).

NH/GG/WP etc.

(sorry if those hands aren't completely accurate and was too lazy to go back to my notes and look at all the exact sizings and chip amounts etc so just winged it).

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All things aside made decent amount in cash games/got into the main and cashed 25k for ~1500 so great trip. Things have just massively turned around this year and couldn't be more happy with how things have progressed. In 6 months went from being almost liquid broke and contemplating selling my place to being in one of the best spots I've ever been in. Just feeling like I've improved so much as a person and poker player in the last year it's unbelievable. It's easy to have really good mindset when things are going well but they say diamonds are made in immense pressure and I can't help but think I wouldn't be where I am now without feeling completely trapped and helpless for the latter half of 2018. It went from "me against the world" to "for every dark night there's a brighter day".

Thanks to everyone for all the support and believing in me while I figured this **** out. Life beckons.

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Diet's been like meh/haven't been making time for work outs etc. One last day of heavy grinding for SCOOP tomo (PUMPED) then it's gonna be some time off for life loving/cottage/nature/gym/whatever other things are ahead.

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gl tomorrow to all the degens joining me in the SCOOP struggle and sending you guys good vibes and some run good!

Signing off for a while

-Mike

You're not gonna freeroll that money you just won and take some shots in vegas this summer?

Who said i wasnt?

Was prob gonna go play some regardless!

Read a good chunk of your thread but not all of it so probaly missed if you mentioned any plans for the summer. Congrats on the recent success and GL tomorrow online

ty my dude i appreciate it

Sup my dudes? Hope y'all are doing well.

I can't lie I've got a pretty weird feeling right now. Uncharacteristically, I've been giving so little ****s about so many things. Like I've been to the gym once in the last 3 weeks and ate a pretty terrible diet and haven't done too many things that would be considered productive. My place is getting really messy and just a lot of stuff needs to get dealt with that I've been sliding onto the backburner. I wish I could say I gave more a **** right now.

Went up to my cottage for a couple days and literally went fishing all day every day. Been pondering whether I should go to Vegas for the WSOP as next week has some super juicy tourneys right in my wheel house but just don't feel overly motivated to do so.

Not complaining. I'd say my happiness levels have been peaking for months now and my stress/anxiety levels are way lower. I just haven't been feeling a whole lot if that makes sense. I guess part of me felt like I had this massive burden on my back last year (or just my whole poker career) that I felt like I had problems to solve and a mission to accomplish that I wouldn't be happy until I succeeded. Somewhat feel like I've conquered poker as much as I could ever dream of and I've been subtly searching for ANYTHING that keeps me HALF as intrigued or motivated as I have been with poker in the past. I wish I knew something that I knew I really wanted to go after. I guess I'll keep grinding this game out and maybe one day I'll find it?

I don't want to punt off the later years of my 20's doing what I've been doing these last few months. Slowly figuring things out and the puzzle is coming together piece by piece...but when I can be completely honest with myself I'm still lost.

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Didn't mean for this to be a negative post as like I said I'm really quite content right now. Aside from one private issue really agitating me life is pretty great right now. I guess feeling a bit lost is common. Afterall, we're living on this massive sphere that has perfect living conditions for us that spins around a monstrosity of perpetually burning gas (or something) in this massive solar system or galaxy where we're just a little molecule on an infinite timeline...I guess it would actually be more weird if things did make sense!

Been a while since I posted a few hands here and also been a while since I played a nightly session. Prob last one for a while until after Vegas WSOP and even then not really sure I'm gonna keep going heavy with online poker. Will see how I'm feeling but almost certainly gonna be focusing on other stuff for at least the summer (after Vegas).

https://www.boomplayer.com/30958948_5B04D9DFC2
some hood **** approx 5 off ITM lol. had some exploit reads etc but was a fun one

https://www.boomplayer.com/30958785_C17C0E4B19
thoughts?

https://www.boomplayer.com/30958635_E156ED2F16
thoughts?

https://www.boomplayer.com/30958606_513EB46990
thoughts? really liked this bluff felt like he's really capped.

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Alright, so we're off to Vegas on Thursday. As I do every year here's my "GTO WSOP" thoughts. Keep in mind I barely have done any of this in the past lol. I should actually call it "how I would approach Vegas if I actually had the discipline". These are just imo ofc and will try my best to adhere this year.

1. Stay in a house or something away from the strip. Every year I leave planning to the last minute and yet again have screwed this up and staying @ the RIO. Living out of a casino and hotel room on the strip is just draining af and being taunted with flashing lights, alcohol, party atmosphere, poison food, gambling and all of that is downright exhausting.

2. Keep the vices within reason and avoid if possible. It is called "the City of Sin" for a reason and it seems everywhere you look temptation is calling. Making decisions and resisting temptation so much especially when stressed or whatever can be very difficult. If you feel the need to punt in some pit games or bet a sports game/have a few drinks or w/e just do it within moderation and with the intention of limiting further damage.

3. Take a day off if you need. Sometimes you gain edges by recharging and being better rested than others. If you aren't enjoying the game and you're burnt out you give up a free edge to your opponents. There's a lot of zombies walking around the RIO during this time of year. Try your best to hit the gym/get out for a walk/make good meal decisions.

4. Enjoy it. We play a game for a living and accept the fact that others do/don't. We all spend our hard earned money and time in these games-may as well enjoy the process. I enjoy bantering with others on the table or just chatting to find out more about them. Never know the kind of relationships you can get from it.

5. This tip has worked wonders for my mindset (and it works out of poker too):

Every time you see someone getting happy or having something good happen to them genuinely try to feel that emotion they're feeling and it will almost put a smile on your face as well. It sucks to envision this after a monkey has scooped a big pot off you but genuinely try to feel the happiness they feel and as opposed to saying "what an idiot or letting out a sarcastic/deflated "NICE HAND SIR", genuinely say to yourself "good for you dude ya got me hope you enjoy the chips" or w/e.

If you are like me and find yourself gravitating towards negative emotions/thoughts/mindset a lot of the time this will seem very difficult at first. I promise after doing it regularly for a bit it will bring you some really nice feelings and shift your perspective. Just genuinely feel the happiness others feel.

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Anyways my dudes things have really been falling off the rails on my end outside of poker. Sorta sucks that I'm going to Vegas now because that is not exactly the stereotypical place for one to "get back on the rails" (not literally). In a weird way just feeling really good though and happy with where the mindset has been heading. Hope you guys are well and best of luck

T9 looks to me like random clicking btns... what r u trying out to fold??? you are not blocking any flushes he can also have 77/jj/55

AA also random lines imo... villain will call 25%-33% pot size bet on that flop with full range that he call preflop raise and you can continue from there

99 villain is not folding any draws inp for that size and probably hero calling most of pairs when draws bust

and 45 also random clicking imo starting from preflop etc (obv villain doesnt know what he is doing imo and is even more random cliking) like what trap r u raising on that flop and what 8x u have that you are playing that way...

gl vegas

No allergies for me AA check ip. I'm open to checking/betting depending on stats, but would want villain to catch cards on the turn with his weaker range and we has AA.

have fun in vegas, hope all goes well.

@re8: always appreciate your thoughts and criticisms on hands. been so long since those hands occurred and I'm tired af so not gonna go back on em now. When you say random button click it may look as such but believe me there is some method to my madness. Whether it's the most EV option or not (I think some of them might be), sometimes it's good to just ignore how good your bluff combo is etc and focus on the villain's range-if you think he's super capped and won't call you why not bluff?

@blank: ty ma man

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Been a while since updating in here just been slave grinding in Vegas for about a week now. First thing is first: RAPTORS WIN RAPTORS WIN RAPTORS WIN!!!!

People outside of Canada have no idea how special this was for Toronto and our country as a whole. Our teams haven't done anything in almost 20 years now and this was basically the first thing in my memory of a Toronto team winning a title. In the grand scheme of the world sports aren't that relevant but **** me that was special! It's the kind of thing you might get lucky to witness only a couple times in your life.

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Anyways, on a more salty note poker in Vegas has been going utterly trash. I've never ran into AA/KK more times in my life vs. LAG openers playing way too many hands and literally don't think I've held in an all in yet. Was final 2-3% of a 1k field with 400k up top and lost AK to AQ for all the cheddar. Still feel like there's sooo much EV to be made in those tournaments so will grind as much as I can while I'm here.

As per usual at this time of year I feel like a ****ing degenerate. Staying @ the RIO and it's really hard to find reasonably priced healthy meals here. Even if they are reasonably priced I still have trouble making good decisions. Most days have consisted of waking up, eating breakfast, playing a poker tournament, busting said poker tournament, eating dinner, drinking a bit, going back to the room and repeating the next day.

In a weird way I always feel super motivated after leaving here ie "all the degeneracy has gotten out of me and I'm ready to go home and crush". If one thing is for sure poker is taking a back seat for the rest of the summer after WSOP. Maybe just play Sundays and 1 or 2 live stops or something but I just need a big cleanse from gambling and a mental/physical/health reset. I'm sort of an all or nothing guy and that's often not a good thing. Anyways, before a bit of a hiatus from poker I'm going to do my best to make as much EV while I'm here!

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Interesting Hands:

Meh, not too much to write home about. There's been some interesting ish ones but I feel exhausted and overwhelmed with the game atm. Too lazy to recall the ones I wrote down but I will share one as a shoutout to @re8uz:

Open A2cc from BTN to 2.2BBs off ~38bbs eff., BB calls. FLOP: AQ3hhx, I c bet 1/3 pot for like 2bbs probably he x/r to 6.5 bbs or so i call. TURN: Jd he bets like 12bbs or so like 2/3 pot I call (can/should probably fold here), RIVER: 9h...he checks.

Seeing as so many of his bluffs should complete or bluff by the river and he checks it's pretty evident/likely to me he has 2 pair or something that beats me but is too thin/scared to go for value. When you think about my range by the river it's like super strong and has so many credible value hands (imo).

I jam and he tank folds Q3. Might not be GTO or pio approved etc. but when you're facing a super capped range I think it's pretty gangster to attack it. To be fair I don't think he should check raise much here but who knows the live regs seem to love check raising boards that massively unfavour their range. I also c bet tonnes on that board and just snap fold a tonne to the x/r whereas I'd barrel off a heap.

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I can't help but think how many bright and intelligent people are in this game who have so much potential but their whole lives seem to be consumed by the game. Some of these guys sit at the table and it seems like they haven't cracked a smile in weeks. Moreover, they're here to take money from other people and they don't give a flying **** about anything else. I see it in my own self sometimes. While I do try my best to always be happy and enjoy myself while playing it's tough when the vibe at the table is "headphones in and mean mug look". It's so cringey yet frequent to sit down at a table and say "hey what's up guys" and get met with straight crickets. It's downright bad for the game.



In times I can be honest with myself poker has served as an escape mechanism for so long for me. It's really easy to just let this game consume you and stop giving a **** about so many other things that should be way more important than a card game. A few of the same problems have been haunting me for years now and I've done very little to deal with them because I distract myself with this stupid game day in and day out. I think my brain makes "imaginary problems" within poker so that I can give myself an excuse to get consumed by it. I love this game but it's time for a break after WSOP. I haven't dealt with this **** in years and it's time to face it head on

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Sorry for the negative vibes in a weird way I actually am having a really great time aside from all of that lol. Don't have a bracelet around my wrist yet but here's to trying Really looking forward to some life loving when I get home and hopefully with a bracelet around my wrist!

Thx for reading and hope you guys are crushinggg! That's it for now

i go back again to make my thoughts more clear
from my POV it looks that a lot of factors need to be in favor to you for those plays to be +EV
- 45s imo flat pre is bad with those stacks behind i am pretty sure that 2.5x-3x 3bet with any2 and click fold btn makes more profit then flating some range.. after preflop flop is just super random from my pov and i really dont know what villain was doing there
- 99 hand as i said previous i think x/r on turn is bad because villain will never fold draw to that sizing INP and probably never fold Qx too so you are basicly atacking his air/worse hands
- AA hand on that board texture vs UTG range for exploitative reasons you want to start build flop so u can stack villain (win bounty)... i dont mind x behind with AA as concept... the thing is that on that board villain will continue vs 25%-33% Cbet with 100% of his range he is never folding overpairs/overacards or any pair (PP) and you build pot and reduce SPR for future streets
- T9 hand you are saying villain is caped??? i do not agree with that, villain is totally uncaped imo => he has all flushes and all full houses (he probably never has 98 after cheking turn tho) and you probably dont have much flushes/str8/boats because you gona lead most of them on river or x/r flop some of the draws ( if u had smth like Tx8c/Tx9c i would like big lead on river)

when that said

A2s live hand i think beting/x behind on flop is ok with your hand... as play agree that turn is clear fold because most times villains are shoving rivers and we are always folding river so as exploit (obv if villan is random and we dont have reads that he is vamooo) i think folding turn is best and maybe folding flop and not telling anybody is good too vs certain oponents... as played river is clear jam for bluff (especially is Qh and Ah were on board so he probably has close to zero flushes) because tbh you dont have much hands that you get to river and dont improve/dont want ot x behind and take showdown so nh

gl rest

@ re8uz: thx for all ur thoughts man im gonna go back and re-check all the hands/consider what you have said etc when I'm ready to get back to the game