Hi guys, I'm new here. I've played poker for 7/8 years or so whilst underage, but never too seriously - I played a few 180 mans (about a thousand?) and 2-3000 other random games on a friends account a long time back and was profitable, but would inevitably lose my money playing cash games and tournaments I wasn't appropriately rolled for.

I'm currently a Mathematics student, in my early 20's and have 3-4 months off for Summer. As I did all my travelling (for now) last Summer, I'm pretty much set to dedicate the next 3-4 months to re-learning the micros and then going from there - I have no real plan as such, but having watched people like bfizz11, I'm of great hope that there is still a place out there for mass table micro SNG grinders.

I waited until posting this until I had some form of a sample to go off of and I've now played ~1150 games (ranging from $1.50 45 mans to $7 27-180 on demand tourneys). I've decided quite early on that I'm not a fan of the 27-180 man games, they run quite frequently so the volume is great, but it just seems really heavy with regs. I'll possibly revisit them if I'm unable to put proper volume in of the 90-180 mans. I think my first 1000 games of the 90-180 mans will look very, very good and I'm given further confidence by the fact that the first 200-300 games were getting to know the games again, learning how they've changed etc. At one point I had 22 tables up, but have found that 12 (13/14 is fine if I'm running deep in one or two) tables to be my optimal level.

My starting roll was $200 with the option of up to another $1800 behind it if needs be. So far I'm doing well from my first deposit and am at just over $1100 of which ~$150 is from bonuses I've gotten for my first deposit. I'm currently playing the $2.50 and $3.50R 180 mans and the $5 90 man KO's. I plan on moving up to include the $11 90 man KO's once I hit $3300 (300 buyins). I'll then get rid of them if I have a 100 buyin downswing.

Software I'm using:
HEM2 for the database
Jivaro for the HUD

To note down what my goals are/what I wish to achieve:
1: I want to learn ICM and the Game Theory aspect of poker and get it really nailed down so that as many of my actions are +EV.
2: 15% ROI over a sample of 3000 90-180 man tourneys (maybe it should be higher but I want to be realistic and have something that's attainable)
3: Play at least 300 games per week on average from 18/06/18 until 01/09/18 (Sundays should be 100 game days)
4: Mix in some MTT's to eventually get to a point where I can crush those too.

If I've missed anything, I guess I'll come back to it. I plan on using this thread to keep and updated bankroll, post some hands from the session etc. and hopefully get good advice about how to beat these games. I'm trying to absorb as much content as I can - I watch people playing on Twitch whilst playing, Youtube videos by bfizz11 et al. anything you can suggest that's good material for me is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading

25/06/18

Today was a great day, I made some real good money and decided quickly to ditch the $7 on demand games. I'm not sure what it is about them (as I mentioned in my first post), but I think I definitely need to make adjustments before playing them again. If anyone is a proven winner at these games, I would kill to discuss some hands with you and try and plug some leaks I most certainly have. It would be so helpful given how often these games run.

The hand below is pretty bad by me I'm sure; the big stack was super aggressive and was using his chip stack very much to his advantage for a few hands and I just got carried away on my first big chance at taking down a $3.50R. Jack's are such an annoying hand here; 10's I definitely fold and Q's I call. Is calling here just as terrible as it felt? Thankfully, I took one down later in the night to redeem myself and get the monkey off my back.

On site Bankroll: $1100
Total Bankroll: $2900

Gotta love the mtt sng's.
The $7 27-180 seemed prettt soft, though i have only played a handful of those.
The $4,50 36-180 reg speed i have played a bit more, and i can tell they are lit, but your hourly might be lower on them bc they take so long.
Also, dont know much about icm, but i am 99% sure that JJ is a fold there. You are in such a sick spot with those middling stacks. Not sure if it os better to raise fold or open shove this one.
best of luck

They’re great, they really are. I’m just sad that there’s no 24/7 volume available anymore.

With the on demands, I just feel l was / am too aggressive which is something that plays really well in the KO’s and 180 mans, I dunno. As I said, I’m gonna have to readdress them I think almost certainly.

I’m certian the Jack’s hand is a fold too, I’d guess it’s Aces or Kings call if I had to look it up. I just got carried away as the guy was really aggressive. Shove or raise - fold is definitely the way to play it imo.

I really appreciate your comment (you’re my first!) and time taken to post it. Have a good day, mate.

hey, nice thread!

Starting to play the same format. (got mtt midstakes background)
Interested in reviewing some hh/ doing hrc stuff?

If yes, just ad me on skype.

Cheers and gl

I'm not sure what HRC is, but I'll definitely review some hands with you mate. Gl also

26/06/18

Had a shaky start to the session, but brought it back by winning a $5 90 man KO (with $71 in bounties including my own, think that's definitely my biggest to date) and getting second in a $3.50R. Played around 70 tourneys and ran okay, had quite a few spots with 2 tables left losing big stack pots with K's vs AQ et al, but overall good day. Cut my session a bit short as I got a late offer to go out and see some friends. Big day ahead tomorrow, I'm considering grinding Saturday - Wednesday from now on, but we'll see.

A good day tomorrow could see us take a shot at the $11 90 man KO's

On site Bankroll: $1324.31
Total Bankroll: $3124.31

26/06/18

Only 60 games played, going to go watch the football with some friends. Again, another shaky start to the session and with my final two tables ended up winning a $2.50 180 man and getting 5th in a $3.50R. Was so unlucky in the rebuy, guy who busted me, I'd doubled him up with AJs vs K10os (flopped ragJJ, got a 9 and a Q on the turn for the straight) and then 3/4 hands later ran AQ vs AK in to him. Standard stuff, but hurts when I led the thing from about 50 players. Was very much accepting a loss on today's session, but with the final two results ended up +~$100 so no complaints here! I promise I'll actually start posting some hands, but I'm on my way out of the door.

I'm gonna load up some of the $11 KO's tomorrow even if I'm a little short of the 300BI's I planned for and just see how they feel.

On site Bankroll: $1419.43
Total Bankroll: $3219.43

27/06/2018


The run good had to end at some point I guess? I woke up early and played 9 games before realising the site was dead, decided to play them out and ended up binking a $2.50 180 and was $110 up for the 9 games.

Went out, did some shopping etc and came back, playing a 65 game session. Everything just seemed to go wrong for me, ran Q's in to both K's and Aces pre flop 3 times and stuff like that. I played the $11 KO's and although there's more regs, they seemed just as soft as the $5's so that's promising.

This was one of my final few games. not sure if I should just fold to the 3bet, but given he was the biggest stack and I was second largest, I was pretty sure he had a monster given the stats I had on him (low 3bet frequency, nitty overall), I thought it wasn't too bad even if it was OOP *shrugs*. As played, maybe I could have made a bigger bet on the flop (70-80% to make it look like I'm just trying to beat on him). I think that's how I'd play it if I had the hand over again. Let me know what you think.



On site Bankroll: $1159.43
Total Bankroll: $2959.43

why are you leading on 77T ???? makes no sense to have a donking range in this spot.
sick beat though

It was just a standard cbet, an intentionally small one (as I said before, I wish I'd done 70/80% of the pot instead but whatever.) hoping to induce something . I played the hand in the first place just to mix up my range and was allowed the luxury due to my stack size.

It's not a C-bet though.

exactly. maybe you mistead the action, but he 3bets pre, so he is the agressor, and then you donk flop.

Could you explain how you would have played it?

When you are not the pre flop agressor (eg. you call a 3bet or defend your BB) you want to check 100% in almost all boards (when hou are oop), because the IP player will have all the strong hands you dont, so he should do most betting.

In this exact hand I would check and probably just call a bet from him. A x/r would also be reasonable. He still has a lot of air though, and your hand doesnt require much protection, so i would most likely x/c flop and jam over another turn bet.

Okay, that's interesting. Thanks mate, I appreciate

28/06/2018

87 game session. Was a bit of a meh day until I got second in a $3.50R for ~$350. Had about 13 tables up +$130 when I decided to call it quits. Won 4/5 of my final few games to absolutely crush it including my first $11 KO. Honestly, this is crazy - I'm +$1681.79 since June 9th. Mental. So nice to have such a killer session, especially after yesterday sucked so hard.

Got some hands saved, gonna post them some time next week as I'm moving this weekend. Might not get much more volume in until Wednesday or so.

On site Bankroll: $1881.79!!!!!!
Total Bankroll: $3681.79

01/07/2018

In a weird turn of events, I've cut my grind short at around 1500 tourneys. I've been given a great opportunity to join what seems like a really cool stable with some really good MTT players. It means giving up playing the games I am now and actually moving down in stakes, but I just want to get better and be the best player I can be and then the profit and bigger games will come I guess.

Yesterday (29/06) was a bit of a meh day, not a lot to report on but ended up being down around $200 after 80 games or so. Nothing really got going for me, lost a few tight spots close to the FT in some $3.50R's.

Today (was way better and I felt like I played really well), ended up around $300 or so to completely negate the day before. Two really similar hands cropped up that I'm interested in getting some feedback on:

First one:



2 unknowns
Good spot for the BB to squeeze maybe
Do you ever fold here?

Second hand:



Guy who called the all in had 30 VPIP but only 4 PFR. Initial raiser was something like 17/13 or so, but both unknown other than that. I think maybe my raise was a little bit small and could have been bigger and I don't like a shove here given we have position and are relatively deep for a turbo. I know these $5 90 man KO's mans play bad, but is this the right play in folding here?

Overall, I've made $1721.xx profit from a $200 deposit in 3 weeks after such a long time away from poker. I'm so happy with how things have gone and am really looking forward to the new staking arrangement I have in place. I think the coaching provided (by some absolute crushers I might add) is really gonna sure up some leaks I have and take my game to the next level. Thanks everyone who's taken the time to read and reply to my post - I'll definitely be putting up another target / goal thread some time soon

Here's my final graph (it's missing 700 tourneys or so as I mentioned I got a new PC half way through the month) and it's definitely off due to rebuys not being counted etc, but boy does it look pretty!



Final bankroll: $1921.23

Bumping to get some advice on the final few hands posted.

Would call both

Hello! I think it's a standard call on both hands! These are +EV spots!

GL with your grinding sessions (just discovered your thread) and see you at the tables! I play $2,5 180man!

Thanks mate

Yep I'm snapping it in GL!

Thanks for the advice and gl to you too