Sacrificing it all for the love of the game
12-05-2015
, 11:32 AM
Hey guys.
I am proffesional poker player since january 2015. I have created account at PokerStrategy when underaged and built empire from given $50 bankroll grinding NL2. I have been very active in Slovak and Czech poker forums (mostly pokerportal and Czech branch of Pokerstrategy.com).
Long story short, I decided to drop college at the end of first semester because I was not happy with the route my life was going to be. 9 to 5, accepting orders, wiping boss's ass. When I was studying at college I was just locked in the dorm studying how to programme, math, you name it. I have not had any social life, but I was doing well at school. When I had to turn on and work at 100%, results would come. But it was not fulfilling me. I did not enjoy it. I just had to do work, so I did. In my life I was never good at anything. I just worked hard and results would come. My parents told me to find a job which I would love. If your job is your love, it is not your job anymore. At that time I was playing ZOOM100 and I was doing ok for me. Had been in very +EV study group of all pro poker players motivating me to turn pro, too. After 1st semester examinanions I told my parents I want to be pokerpro. They already knew I was playing poker and doing well. Poker has been my passion for many years. I have been sitting in front of poker for 1000's of hours feeling happy as never before. Analyzing, talking strategies, anything poker related was making me so happy. I would go to play every day 5hours and study for 3 hours and I was feeling so blessed. Even when I had worst days result-wise I was feeling blessed. I wanted to try this. I did not wanted to question myself in future "What would happen if I dropped out of college any tried pokerpro route?" When I told my parents about my thought of turning to poker pro and dropping off college I was shocked by their reaction. They fully supported me. I was ready for deep conversation poker vs gamble but not for that one.
So after a few months of going poker pro, working my ass off, analyzing as never before I went to 4 month 60+BI downswing at ZOOM100/200. I was on the verge of getting staked or grinding my way back at NL50. At the end of May I played SN VIP freeroll where I got little lucky and won the whole thing for 100k thanks to Fedor whom did not wanted a deal. At the moment I have safe bankroll for poker and real life, playing MSNL with ambition to become one of the best players in the MSNL. I think I have what it takes. I have love for the game. I have tough work ethic. To exaggerate, I would even love to be ambassador of the poker one day.
I am creating this blog because:
- I would like to find someone who has the same hunger as me to become one of the great's; to analyze, motivate each other etc.
- Refresh my vocabulary. I love to speak English and this is great opportunity for me to improve my first foreign language
- Get thoughts from other poker players' perspective in things I have to go through
I will try to post some funny hands here and there.
I am proffesional poker player since january 2015. I have created account at PokerStrategy when underaged and built empire from given $50 bankroll grinding NL2. I have been very active in Slovak and Czech poker forums (mostly pokerportal and Czech branch of Pokerstrategy.com).
Long story short, I decided to drop college at the end of first semester because I was not happy with the route my life was going to be. 9 to 5, accepting orders, wiping boss's ass. When I was studying at college I was just locked in the dorm studying how to programme, math, you name it. I have not had any social life, but I was doing well at school. When I had to turn on and work at 100%, results would come. But it was not fulfilling me. I did not enjoy it. I just had to do work, so I did. In my life I was never good at anything. I just worked hard and results would come. My parents told me to find a job which I would love. If your job is your love, it is not your job anymore. At that time I was playing ZOOM100 and I was doing ok for me. Had been in very +EV study group of all pro poker players motivating me to turn pro, too. After 1st semester examinanions I told my parents I want to be pokerpro. They already knew I was playing poker and doing well. Poker has been my passion for many years. I have been sitting in front of poker for 1000's of hours feeling happy as never before. Analyzing, talking strategies, anything poker related was making me so happy. I would go to play every day 5hours and study for 3 hours and I was feeling so blessed. Even when I had worst days result-wise I was feeling blessed. I wanted to try this. I did not wanted to question myself in future "What would happen if I dropped out of college any tried pokerpro route?" When I told my parents about my thought of turning to poker pro and dropping off college I was shocked by their reaction. They fully supported me. I was ready for deep conversation poker vs gamble but not for that one.
So after a few months of going poker pro, working my ass off, analyzing as never before I went to 4 month 60+BI downswing at ZOOM100/200. I was on the verge of getting staked or grinding my way back at NL50. At the end of May I played SN VIP freeroll where I got little lucky and won the whole thing for 100k thanks to Fedor whom did not wanted a deal. At the moment I have safe bankroll for poker and real life, playing MSNL with ambition to become one of the best players in the MSNL. I think I have what it takes. I have love for the game. I have tough work ethic. To exaggerate, I would even love to be ambassador of the poker one day.
I am creating this blog because:
- I would like to find someone who has the same hunger as me to become one of the great's; to analyze, motivate each other etc.
- Refresh my vocabulary. I love to speak English and this is great opportunity for me to improve my first foreign language
- Get thoughts from other poker players' perspective in things I have to go through
I will try to post some funny hands here and there.
Spoiler:
5
7
(2 players)
Last edited by Zeltzn; 12-05-2015 at 11:39 AM.
12-05-2015
, 09:49 PM
This weekend I am at home with my family. Just trying to spend as much time aside from poker as possible. Still managed to get some decent hours though (I just love this game so much. jk I do not have friends)
Before getting home I was at hip-hop concert in Vienna. R.A. The Rugged Man, AFRO and Mr. Green are doing tour all over the Europe and I was fortunate enough to live 1 hour away by train to Vienna. The trip was crazy. We had missed first train to Vienna because of super late human mass transportation in Bratislava. These guys just do not give a shiet about time. We managed to hop on second one at train station. But we were in a hurry so I did not withdraw any money from ATM. So I had no cash on me and was just hoping to find ATM, which should not be a problem in such a "more modern" city as Vienna is compared to Bratislava. Unfortunately, there were ATM's only for MasterCard / Maestro. I could ship my VISA card up my ass. When we finally found the Grelle Forelle club I had to split up with guys to find ATM. Friend of mine gave me his phone with navigation where should be one ATM, the closest one. I went for at least 15 minute journey to find ATM which was not there. I made god damn circles all across the place and there was literally nothing. This would not be such a bad news unless one of the guys was already rapping. So I went to full yolo mode and started asking random strangers on the streets if they can tell me where the nearest ATM is. Half of them did not even speak english so it was little tough. One good-looking young girl has helped me a little bit by telling me I have to turn left on the second crossroad. It was all good up to a point where I forgot what she told me where I should turn after that. So I was even more lost in Vienna at 9PM and the streets were empty. I decided to try my luck in Kebab fast food store. Little exhausted from running all over the streets I asked assistant if there is any ATM's over here. They did speak as much English as many girlfriends I have had (not much). But they started to talk in Turkish or whatever language and one of the customers has suggested to give me a ride to nearest ATM (approximately 2-3km's away from the place). He was this 50year old man who did not speak much English. I was so desperate that I have decided to give it a shot. For a moment I thought that I was getting blackmailed. It was like the medium-sized mercedes black van. But what would not a person do to see a Legendary R.A. spit some bars and do all kind of wild ****? After a few minutes he dropped me on some kind of train station and he pointed at the thing which looked like ATM. I ran to it like a dog runs for his bone. It was ****ing bicycle ticket machine for parking which you could buy via Credit Card. I thought I could not run even more below EV. I decided to approach taxi drivers to give me a hand. One of them was crazy enough to go with me on my journey to find ATM. We were crossing streets, we almost got ran over by some cars. But the reward was sweet. We found ATM, I got the money and we finally went to Grelle Forelle. I gave him little tip for being a nice human being and I have gone my way. I managed to get to the concert about hour - 75 minutes late and I could here R.A. spitting some bars. I was so mad at me at the time. But it was not time to be sad, it was finally time to have some fun.
The concert was great, R.A. was just spitting like a madman, going to crowd, rapping on the bar, etc. If you know R.A. you already know what type of person he is. It was not only hip-hop concert. It was a show. I think that guy has such a personality and ability to make people laugh that he could be a stand-up comedian. It was great experience and even greater one because all of the funny stuff I had to go through. Hopefully there will be more shows in future so I can leave the monotone poker life for a few days again
There is one photo we made with R.A. He looks like total fat **** in this one. But definetely one of the coolest guys I have seen.
Before getting home I was at hip-hop concert in Vienna. R.A. The Rugged Man, AFRO and Mr. Green are doing tour all over the Europe and I was fortunate enough to live 1 hour away by train to Vienna. The trip was crazy. We had missed first train to Vienna because of super late human mass transportation in Bratislava. These guys just do not give a shiet about time. We managed to hop on second one at train station. But we were in a hurry so I did not withdraw any money from ATM. So I had no cash on me and was just hoping to find ATM, which should not be a problem in such a "more modern" city as Vienna is compared to Bratislava. Unfortunately, there were ATM's only for MasterCard / Maestro. I could ship my VISA card up my ass. When we finally found the Grelle Forelle club I had to split up with guys to find ATM. Friend of mine gave me his phone with navigation where should be one ATM, the closest one. I went for at least 15 minute journey to find ATM which was not there. I made god damn circles all across the place and there was literally nothing. This would not be such a bad news unless one of the guys was already rapping. So I went to full yolo mode and started asking random strangers on the streets if they can tell me where the nearest ATM is. Half of them did not even speak english so it was little tough. One good-looking young girl has helped me a little bit by telling me I have to turn left on the second crossroad. It was all good up to a point where I forgot what she told me where I should turn after that. So I was even more lost in Vienna at 9PM and the streets were empty. I decided to try my luck in Kebab fast food store. Little exhausted from running all over the streets I asked assistant if there is any ATM's over here. They did speak as much English as many girlfriends I have had (not much). But they started to talk in Turkish or whatever language and one of the customers has suggested to give me a ride to nearest ATM (approximately 2-3km's away from the place). He was this 50year old man who did not speak much English. I was so desperate that I have decided to give it a shot. For a moment I thought that I was getting blackmailed. It was like the medium-sized mercedes black van. But what would not a person do to see a Legendary R.A. spit some bars and do all kind of wild ****? After a few minutes he dropped me on some kind of train station and he pointed at the thing which looked like ATM. I ran to it like a dog runs for his bone. It was ****ing bicycle ticket machine for parking which you could buy via Credit Card. I thought I could not run even more below EV. I decided to approach taxi drivers to give me a hand. One of them was crazy enough to go with me on my journey to find ATM. We were crossing streets, we almost got ran over by some cars. But the reward was sweet. We found ATM, I got the money and we finally went to Grelle Forelle. I gave him little tip for being a nice human being and I have gone my way. I managed to get to the concert about hour - 75 minutes late and I could here R.A. spitting some bars. I was so mad at me at the time. But it was not time to be sad, it was finally time to have some fun.
The concert was great, R.A. was just spitting like a madman, going to crowd, rapping on the bar, etc. If you know R.A. you already know what type of person he is. It was not only hip-hop concert. It was a show. I think that guy has such a personality and ability to make people laugh that he could be a stand-up comedian. It was great experience and even greater one because all of the funny stuff I had to go through. Hopefully there will be more shows in future so I can leave the monotone poker life for a few days again
There is one photo we made with R.A. He looks like total fat **** in this one. But definetely one of the coolest guys I have seen.
Spoiler:
12-07-2015
, 10:18 PM
I am finally back in Bratislava ready to grind. As soon as I got home I spent like 4 hours playing DomiNations. It is some kind of game like Clash of Clans for smartphones and our whole flat is going crazy. If DomiNations grind house would have existed this would be the one 
Poker-wise I have started little slow. I have not played as many hands / hours as I would like to but I do not want to be very critical about it. This month I will be happy with something over 100h which should not be a problem. I think 130-150h will be a big win. But as I know myself I will do it nonetheless.
Today had one of the best days result-wise. Done pretty good at NL400. I will have to analyse a few players because I play them a lot and it seems they are veeeeeery bad. Hopefully I will find the patience to do so because I definetely have roll for these games and it would be a shame to give up on such EV in these 400+ games.
little bragging graph. hopefully this will not turn a doomswitch on. So far, december is looking very promising and if this month continues in the set trend I should make my first 5digit profit month. That would be very nice gift for Christmas (and for my psychic too)
Poker-wise I have started little slow. I have not played as many hands / hours as I would like to but I do not want to be very critical about it. This month I will be happy with something over 100h which should not be a problem. I think 130-150h will be a big win. But as I know myself I will do it nonetheless.
Today had one of the best days result-wise. Done pretty good at NL400. I will have to analyse a few players because I play them a lot and it seems they are veeeeeery bad. Hopefully I will find the patience to do so because I definetely have roll for these games and it would be a shame to give up on such EV in these 400+ games.
little bragging graph. hopefully this will not turn a doomswitch on. So far, december is looking very promising and if this month continues in the set trend I should make my first 5digit profit month. That would be very nice gift for Christmas (and for my psychic too)
Spoiler:
12-09-2015
, 01:32 AM
Few moments ago ended 6 hour long session (3+3). I was ready to go to bed but tables were pretty good and I even managed to overcome -1k swing so in the end I am very happy with the session.
So far 11.5k hands played this month (probably more because snap poker is not being tracked). I think I should be able to play at least 40k hands this month with ease. I am starting to listen more to my gut, make some non-range plays here and there and just try to use my intuition more in close spots than play ranges. I do not mean that I am playing like a live .50c/1 regular. I mean that I am trying to apply some limit tendencies / certain player's tendencies to make certain plays / use different sizings. In some spots I have found good ways to punish villain's ranges and it is making me so ****in' happy even though I may be down more than 1k. I think this will be "the month". Let's wait and see.
In the end of session where I usually 4 table I like to have a little music in the background. I found out this old school rapper Sauce Money and looked up a few songs by him. He is ill. I really love this boom-bap and good rap scheme songs. Unfortunately I am not able to share it with you because I do not know how
played a lot [x]
made some pancakes [x]
found good hip-hop artist to find out about more in the future [x]
Today was a good day
So far 11.5k hands played this month (probably more because snap poker is not being tracked). I think I should be able to play at least 40k hands this month with ease. I am starting to listen more to my gut, make some non-range plays here and there and just try to use my intuition more in close spots than play ranges. I do not mean that I am playing like a live .50c/1 regular. I mean that I am trying to apply some limit tendencies / certain player's tendencies to make certain plays / use different sizings. In some spots I have found good ways to punish villain's ranges and it is making me so ****in' happy even though I may be down more than 1k. I think this will be "the month". Let's wait and see.
In the end of session where I usually 4 table I like to have a little music in the background. I found out this old school rapper Sauce Money and looked up a few songs by him. He is ill. I really love this boom-bap and good rap scheme songs. Unfortunately I am not able to share it with you because I do not know how
played a lot [x]
made some pancakes [x]
found good hip-hop artist to find out about more in the future [x]
Today was a good day
12-26-2015
, 03:18 AM
I have decided to take some time off throughout the Christmas. I have been thinking about setting realistic goals for 2016. Also, I have been trying to find out the reasons behind my burnouts, what creates them and ways how to prevent them. Mainly because I want 2016 to be "the year" for me. I want to play as much and analyze as much as possible and for that reason I have to avoid as many burnouts as possible. So far I have found out these precautions:
get hobbies outside of PC - It looks like the best adepts are gym, cooking, having a run in the forest next to our flat and reading books. Can you recommend me any books which target self-improvement / getting to know more of myself? Hopefully I will not pass on these things in the start of the year.
I would also like to learn new languages via Duolingo but I want to avoid as much sitting in front of monitor as possible so I will take a different route via Michel Thomas's audio version of learning. I have listened to Spanish audio and it was great. I can imagine myself being put to sleep with earbuds full of russian words.
As you can see there is a lot of things I would like to work on in the upcoming year. It will be challenging. The biggest thing will be time management and how will I manage to put all these things together with 7 - 8 hours of poker a day. That will be for my non-poker goals.
My poker goals for 2016 are simple. Be one of the best players on my limits and make $100k profit. I will not break down if I will not make 100k in the next year, but I will be very happy if I do. I want to prove myself that if the mind wants I can achieve anything. All I have to do is outwork my opponents and crush their souls (which I have been doing up to now but not the crushing souls part).
Lately, I have been watching some videos at RIO and I feel like I have a better understanding of game than some of the elite coaches. I feel very comfortable and I am looking forward to year 2016.
get hobbies outside of PC - It looks like the best adepts are gym, cooking, having a run in the forest next to our flat and reading books. Can you recommend me any books which target self-improvement / getting to know more of myself? Hopefully I will not pass on these things in the start of the year.
I would also like to learn new languages via Duolingo but I want to avoid as much sitting in front of monitor as possible so I will take a different route via Michel Thomas's audio version of learning. I have listened to Spanish audio and it was great. I can imagine myself being put to sleep with earbuds full of russian words.
As you can see there is a lot of things I would like to work on in the upcoming year. It will be challenging. The biggest thing will be time management and how will I manage to put all these things together with 7 - 8 hours of poker a day. That will be for my non-poker goals.
My poker goals for 2016 are simple. Be one of the best players on my limits and make $100k profit. I will not break down if I will not make 100k in the next year, but I will be very happy if I do. I want to prove myself that if the mind wants I can achieve anything. All I have to do is outwork my opponents and crush their souls (which I have been doing up to now but not the crushing souls part).
Lately, I have been watching some videos at RIO and I feel like I have a better understanding of game than some of the elite coaches. I feel very comfortable and I am looking forward to year 2016.
12-26-2015
, 11:41 AM
I have been doing these things too (some sort of multitasking with live poker) but it did not last very long. There are some "parts" of session where everybody is quiet or table is less communicative than before.I would say that is good spot to do these things. Otherwise, I try my best to get as many reads / be as interactive as possible with players since you do not want to make it boring for fun players. You want them to have fun. And you want to have some fun also I guess when you sit there for a few hours
05-03-2016
, 08:09 PM
Last few months have been ok for me pokerwise. I played a lot. I overcame the biggest swing in my career (close to $20k) and now I am figuring out what way I want to go now.
Last 2 months I have been playing a lot on Stars, a lot of zoom200 and normal tables up to NL600 (sometimes could not resist to play 1k ) but I feel that I am not going forward. I think I know way too much about this game that I should not be playing some goddamn NL200 like a pussy. I have started playing in zoom500 pool when there is not very many high stakes players and it has not been as bad as I thought it would be.
So, my question is: Do I want to play zoom200 and play good tables all over the sites at NL400-NL1k? HELL NO! THAT'S FOR PUSSIES!
From this day I am declaring a war at NL400. I will be battling everyone (at least 4handed + there are some exceptions of course). I will try to keep my war report updated. Hopefully I will not bust in near future wish me good luck!
Lately I am working on growing my balls. It is good exercise and I think I am starting to like it.
Last 2 months I have been playing a lot on Stars, a lot of zoom200 and normal tables up to NL600 (sometimes could not resist to play 1k
) but I feel that I am not going forward. I think I know way too much about this game that I should not be playing some goddamn NL200 like a pussy. I have started playing in zoom500 pool when there is not very many high stakes players and it has not been as bad as I thought it would be.So, my question is: Do I want to play zoom200 and play good tables all over the sites at NL400-NL1k? HELL NO! THAT'S FOR PUSSIES!
From this day I am declaring a war at NL400. I will be battling everyone (at least 4handed + there are some exceptions of course). I will try to keep my war report updated. Hopefully I will not bust in near future
wish me good luck!Lately I am working on growing my balls. It is good exercise and I think I am starting to like it.
Spoiler:
8
2
(4 players)
05-08-2016
, 08:51 PM
small update:
I am looking for grind house in Europe for long term (up to 1yr). I like to live pretty lowkey so my budget for flat is not higher than $500. The best countries for me are one's who happen to be close to Slovakia (Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland etc)
If you are interested do not hesitate to contact me via PM or via e-mail (imsobaked8@gmail.com)
last few days poker-wise I am pretty happy with myself playing only NL400+ and grinding a lot of zoom500 lately. I feel I should have done it way sooner. I was being a pussy but better man up later than never. I feel like I am more in a groove and I feel very happy playing zoom500. When you get to play with players who are around your level and you do not always have to ask yourself "on which level is this guy thinking? Is he that bad?" I think I am going to crush it. Because that's what I do
gl
I am looking for grind house in Europe for long term (up to 1yr). I like to live pretty lowkey so my budget for flat is not higher than $500. The best countries for me are one's who happen to be close to Slovakia (Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland etc)
If you are interested do not hesitate to contact me via PM or via e-mail (imsobaked8@gmail.com)
last few days poker-wise I am pretty happy with myself playing only NL400+ and grinding a lot of zoom500 lately. I feel I should have done it way sooner. I was being a pussy but better man up later than never. I feel like I am more in a groove and I feel very happy playing zoom500. When you get to play with players who are around your level and you do not always have to ask yourself "on which level is this guy thinking? Is he that bad?" I think I am going to crush it. Because that's what I do
gl
05-12-2016
, 01:43 PM
managed to have a pretty nice day (most of it at zoom500)
I am positively surprised by the zoom pool and I think I am overall winner even in tougher line-ups (may be the scoop but I think there is a lot of weaker regs than I am)
I have to say that I am handling swings pretty well and I am overall super happy with both mental and technical side of my poker game(3 sessions back I was up 3BI and in the last ~100 hand I lost 3BI and I almost forgot it when I woke up the next morning)
130bb std bluffcatch
one nice bluffcatch from hs player. std I guess
Spoiler:
I am positively surprised by the zoom pool and I think I am overall winner even in tougher line-ups (may be the scoop but I think there is a lot of weaker regs than I am)
I have to say that I am handling swings pretty well and I am overall super happy with both mental and technical side of my poker game(3 sessions back I was up 3BI and in the last ~100 hand I lost 3BI and I almost forgot it when I woke up the next morning)
130bb std bluffcatch
Spoiler:
Jone nice bluffcatch from hs player. std I guess
Spoiler:
09-23-2016
, 09:42 AM
Long time since the last post. I have taken a pause from poker in summer /like I usually do/ to spend some time with my friends, to get out of my small room and talk a little bit with other creatures (defined as people), play football, smoke a few joints and put the poker out of my mind for some time. I have been thinking about myself, my future in poker and my goals.
Long story short, I came to a conclussion that the best way for my mindset will be switching from battling top regs at zoom500 (props to you guys, you deserve all the glory) to playing high stakes mtts. I dislike playing mid-stakes + bumhunting high-stakes and making money and not being able to be one of the best at cg. These guys are so ahead of me that it would, in my opinion, not be the highest EV decision for me. But I think I have a chance to be one of the best in mtt's. It will be easier to outwork these lazy guys compared to high stakes regulars
So at the moment I am playing some 20-30 avg bi mtt's to learn dynamics and the game flow and in a few months if I do not get some sort of sick downswing (we are on a one, but EV 7bb/100 is making me feel ok) I would like to play avgbi 50+. I think that my analytical understanding of the game will help me to learn very fast this mtt format and I will crush it. To be honest, I am very very confident. But on the other hand I am learning everything myself. I have been working with some MTT players but usually I just end up being on tilt. I think that if I learn the basics I will crush these Avgbi's and I will slowly but surely move up the stakes.
And by the way. All these MTT regs are LAZY! They do not analyze (enough). They do not work hard (enough). And there is me. Mastermind willing to outwork and outwork everybody! There is only one way this is going to end. It is me. Playing higher stakes. In a few months.
I would like to keep this blog up on semi-daily basis. My goal is to play only 5/7 days and the rest I will be analyzing a **** ton of. When I will feel confident in my skills I will play 6/7 days and the day-off I will chill and analyze some final tables from PS majors.
Goal for the upcoming rest day, which is monday is:
- analyzing all ICM spots on our final tables and try to understand what it ICM about (+adjusting to tendencies of the players)
- analyzing high stakes WCOOP ft's (10k and 100k hr)
- analyzing limping ranges BvB for 30- bbs
I have reached out to Pleno if he is still selling his hand histories from a few MTT's according to his blog few months ago but I did not get an answer from him. So, if you are reading this, and you have bought some, please, leave here a reply. It would mean a lot for me since I am studying only by myself. I am totally ok with paying 50% to you and 50% to Pleno for them (if it is not enough, we can talk it through on skype).
Since the summer is almost over I have been looking for some grind house. There was a small chance I would go to Budapest and a higher to Prague. Long story short, none of them have worked out and at the moment I am living with my parents. All inclusive, closed all day in my room, no distractions, 100% FOCUS ON POKER. It is not bad as it seems, right? It looks like I will not be able to find any Grind House in near future so at least I will spent some time with my family. Get to know them better. Enjoy their company while they are still here
Yesterday we had a nice FT @55$ 15k Breeze @888poker we got to FT 1/9 but we got super unlucky with cards, we did not get into any spots to steal or to 3bet. We won 1 pot in more than an hour and in the end lost BvB flip KQs < AJo and we got sixth. We are quite down, but in about a month I have learnt so much about MTT's, tendencies, ranges in different spots that I feel super confident in my ability to crush these stakes and move up. I just think I have to get better in ICM situations to be able to play 50+ avg BIs, but we will work on it and In 2017 I expect nothing but me crushing everybody.
My session starts in about an hour so I am going to make some simple analysis to wake up my mind and get ready to crush. Hopefully we will make some nice FT's today and convert it into some nice hit GL
Long story short, I came to a conclussion that the best way for my mindset will be switching from battling top regs at zoom500 (props to you guys, you deserve all the glory) to playing high stakes mtts. I dislike playing mid-stakes + bumhunting high-stakes and making money and not being able to be one of the best at cg. These guys are so ahead of me that it would, in my opinion, not be the highest EV decision for me. But I think I have a chance to be one of the best in mtt's. It will be easier to outwork these lazy guys compared to high stakes regulars
So at the moment I am playing some 20-30 avg bi mtt's to learn dynamics and the game flow and in a few months if I do not get some sort of sick downswing (we are on a one, but EV 7bb/100 is making me feel ok) I would like to play avgbi 50+. I think that my analytical understanding of the game will help me to learn very fast this mtt format and I will crush it. To be honest, I am very very confident. But on the other hand I am learning everything myself. I have been working with some MTT players but usually I just end up being on tilt. I think that if I learn the basics I will crush these Avgbi's and I will slowly but surely move up the stakes.
And by the way. All these MTT regs are LAZY! They do not analyze (enough). They do not work hard (enough). And there is me. Mastermind willing to outwork and outwork everybody! There is only one way this is going to end. It is me. Playing higher stakes. In a few months.
I would like to keep this blog up on semi-daily basis. My goal is to play only 5/7 days and the rest I will be analyzing a **** ton of. When I will feel confident in my skills I will play 6/7 days and the day-off I will chill and analyze some final tables from PS majors.
Goal for the upcoming rest day, which is monday is:
- analyzing all ICM spots on our final tables and try to understand what it ICM about (+adjusting to tendencies of the players)
- analyzing high stakes WCOOP ft's (10k and 100k hr)
- analyzing limping ranges BvB for 30- bbs
I have reached out to Pleno if he is still selling his hand histories from a few MTT's according to his blog few months ago but I did not get an answer from him. So, if you are reading this, and you have bought some, please, leave here a reply. It would mean a lot for me since I am studying only by myself. I am totally ok with paying 50% to you and 50% to Pleno for them (if it is not enough, we can talk it through on skype).
Since the summer is almost over I have been looking for some grind house. There was a small chance I would go to Budapest and a higher to Prague. Long story short, none of them have worked out and at the moment I am living with my parents. All inclusive, closed all day in my room, no distractions, 100% FOCUS ON POKER. It is not bad as it seems, right?
It looks like I will not be able to find any Grind House in near future so at least I will spent some time with my family. Get to know them better. Enjoy their company while they are still here Yesterday we had a nice FT @55$ 15k Breeze @888poker we got to FT 1/9 but we got super unlucky with cards, we did not get into any spots to steal or to 3bet. We won 1 pot in more than an hour and in the end lost BvB flip KQs < AJo and we got sixth. We are quite down, but in about a month I have learnt so much about MTT's, tendencies, ranges in different spots that I feel super confident in my ability to crush these stakes and move up. I just think I have to get better in ICM situations to be able to play 50+ avg BIs, but we will work on it and In 2017 I expect nothing but me crushing everybody.
My session starts in about an hour so I am going to make some simple analysis to wake up my mind and get ready to crush. Hopefully we will make some nice FT's today and convert it into some nice hit
GL
09-26-2016
, 07:54 AM
I have been playing MTT's for sth about a month. In a month I become from "lemme get to postflop and crush them" to "let me shove this close +cEV spot and if we are on stack get to postflop and crush them". I have not been studying as much as I would like. But on the other hand I have been thinking more about population tendencies in certain situations. How to avoid spots where is no much EV to create? How to create such +EV spots from not super +EV situations? How can I get advantage of XYZ?
Sometimes it requires a lot of super aggro plays which I totally love (you have to be capeable of going with your reads and not being a pussy just because it is a deep run or whatevs). I have always loved the situations where "I know that you do not know and you do not care and I care. So let me take this pot down with my air and you can not do anything about it".
After 3 sundays which have been by the way miserable ( < 5% ITM's, usually mincashes) I have managed to win sth in Sunday. Had a lot of deepruns 55 Breeze, 55 monsoon, 30 swordfish 22 deep stack, mini SM, some BIGs etc. Only managed to make 1 FT which was 22 deep stack. So far I have to say that people play way too bad on FT's. It is incredible. Usually what happens is that the people will not play even close to ICM. Sometimes not even cEV! You just have to watch semiFT's and take notes if they are there to ICM or to gamble and you just tailor your gameplan on FT based on that. Usually what happened was that everybody was being way too loose/gambly and I was happily folding some close +EV spots but managed to get 2-3 payjumps just because of my "adjustment". Easy game I guess
Today I am going to take a day off. Hopefully next time I will be able to post some sick FT hit haha. For now I will have to be OK with these small "you are on the right path" FT hits aka being sixth in 22 deep stack for ~1.3k
one interesting hand on mini SM vs recreational player with avgbi 5
Sometimes it requires a lot of super aggro plays which I totally love (you have to be capeable of going with your reads and not being a pussy just because it is a deep run or whatevs). I have always loved the situations where "I know that you do not know and you do not care and I care. So let me take this pot down with my air and you can not do anything about it".
After 3 sundays which have been by the way miserable ( < 5% ITM's, usually mincashes) I have managed to win sth in Sunday. Had a lot of deepruns 55 Breeze, 55 monsoon, 30 swordfish 22 deep stack, mini SM, some BIGs etc. Only managed to make 1 FT which was 22 deep stack. So far I have to say that people play way too bad on FT's. It is incredible. Usually what happens is that the people will not play even close to ICM. Sometimes not even cEV! You just have to watch semiFT's and take notes if they are there to ICM or to gamble and you just tailor your gameplan on FT based on that. Usually what happened was that everybody was being way too loose/gambly and I was happily folding some close +EV spots but managed to get 2-3 payjumps just because of my "adjustment". Easy game I guess
Today I am going to take a day off. Hopefully next time I will be able to post some sick FT hit haha. For now I will have to be OK with these small "you are on the right path" FT hits aka being sixth in 22 deep stack for ~1.3k
one interesting hand on mini SM vs recreational player with avgbi 5
Spoiler:
Last edited by Zeltzn; 09-26-2016 at 08:01 AM.
09-28-2016
, 09:21 PM
small update
in regards to housing I am not going on Grind house. I will have to live with my family
in my hometown, which is not the worst but also not the best. But whatevs
In regards to my MTT game I feel like I am getting there. First month learning MTTs from scratch by myself and +6 ev bb/100 is not so bad. I think I will be able to have a steady double digit winrate after I work on my leaks which is mostly in this situation imo:
- preflop 3bet strategies with different stacksizes (probably should lean more towards linear when more shallow in position and more polarized out of position and vice versa)
- understanding FT/ICM dynamics
- certain preflop defense frequencies
- 3bet pots oop/ip with super small SPR (aka EV from bluffs does matter) and a lot more
which I can not think of right now because my mind is fried from the session
So you can say there is a lot to learn. But I guess those HS FT replays will help me to solve at least a few things so I will not have to do everything by myself haha. Hopefully will manage to hire a good coach and move up asap. Friend of mine recommended me one so we will see if there will be some cooperation or not.
If you are reading and trying to find something else besides poker "you are knocking on the wrong door". My life is poker and I am going to do everything that is in my power to be one of the best in the biz
GL
in regards to housing I am not going on Grind house. I will have to live with my family
in my hometown, which is not the worst but also not the best. But whatevs
In regards to my MTT game I feel like I am getting there. First month learning MTTs from scratch by myself and +6 ev bb/100 is not so bad. I think I will be able to have a steady double digit winrate after I work on my leaks which is mostly in this situation imo:
- preflop 3bet strategies with different stacksizes (probably should lean more towards linear when more shallow in position and more polarized out of position and vice versa)
- understanding FT/ICM dynamics
- certain preflop defense frequencies
- 3bet pots oop/ip with super small SPR (aka EV from bluffs does matter) and a lot more
which I can not think of right now because my mind is fried from the session
So you can say there is a lot to learn. But I guess those HS FT replays will help me to solve at least a few things so I will not have to do everything by myself haha. Hopefully will manage to hire a good coach and move up asap. Friend of mine recommended me one so we will see if there will be some cooperation or not.
If you are reading and trying to find something else besides poker "you are knocking on the wrong door". My life is poker and I am going to do everything that is in my power to be one of the best in the biz
GL
10-08-2016
, 06:40 AM
Good news!
2 days ago after a few unscored FT's I have decided to analyze one big time. Took me sth like 2 hours of inputting stacks(!) every hand to HRC and analyzing ICM push/folds in certain scenarios. Got a pretty good grasp on it and mostly got more confident in these situations (usually in my case confidence = ballz).
I managed to fire session right after analyzing. Overall I think I played very well. Managed to get some FT's but scored one nicely. I guess it was TOP50 on Winamax for ~4k€ for da winner. Biggest win since beating CrownUpGuy for 100k so I guess that has to feel nice
On the other hand I managed to land a coach. We will have 1st session in near future and I can't fokin wait to dig deep into this MTT stuff. I just can't wait to crush this. I am so fokin ready to kick ass.
Unfortunately with this MTT life health is a big issue because of these sessions and ****. Friend of mine has reccomended me this youtube channel so I may as well check it out and get ready for some challenges (almost got lured into one in 4:15 AM today but managed to dodge a bullet like one and only Poker Brat)
2 days ago after a few unscored FT's I have decided to analyze one big time. Took me sth like 2 hours of inputting stacks(!) every hand to HRC and analyzing ICM push/folds in certain scenarios. Got a pretty good grasp on it and mostly got more confident in these situations (usually in my case confidence = ballz
). I managed to fire session right after analyzing. Overall I think I played very well. Managed to get some FT's but scored one nicely. I guess it was TOP50 on Winamax for ~4k€ for da winner. Biggest win since beating CrownUpGuy for 100k so I guess that has to feel nice
On the other hand I managed to land a coach. We will have 1st session in near future and I can't fokin wait to dig deep into this MTT stuff. I just can't wait to crush this. I am so fokin ready to kick ass.
Unfortunately with this MTT life health is a big issue because of these sessions and ****. Friend of mine has reccomended me this youtube channel so I may as well check it out and get ready for some challenges (almost got lured into one in 4:15 AM today but managed to dodge a bullet like one and only Poker Brat
)Spoiler:
11-01-2016
, 07:55 PM
Small update guys!
Have been streaming a lot lately. I managed to ship some tournaments on the stream, won a few heads-ups so viewers had to be happy that we did not deal it and gone for the battle Also streamed a lot of cash-games @zoom100 which was not so great results-wise but entertainment-wise it was a lot of fun! But I will not be streaming a lot of tourneys, I have worked on many things which I do not want to share with others for free. Which is sick because I have finally gotten to fix most of the leaks in my stream and it looked great imo..
For the last few days I am on MTT analyzing grind where I have created some defend ranges for BB (SIGH!) with a lot of help from PioSOLVER. Today I would like to make a few EV calcs for some scenarios BvB. For the rest of the day I will be working on BvB game a lot and tomorrow I will be doing a lot of postflop calcs and hopefully in Thursday I will be able to fire some session. I still have very many things to work on but I think that slowly but surely I will manage to get a good grasp on so many things that my EV bb/100 will be over +12bb/100 with ease. I just can't imagine how big of a winrate am I really going to have in these games in few weeks/months. And I am doing it all by myself without coach which is even more impressing imo. Watch out for me guys because if you see somebody stealing your EV table it is probably going to be me
glgl!
Have been streaming a lot lately. I managed to ship some tournaments on the stream, won a few heads-ups so viewers had to be happy that we did not deal it and gone for the battle
Also streamed a lot of cash-games @zoom100 which was not so great results-wise but entertainment-wise it was a lot of fun! But I will not be streaming a lot of tourneys, I have worked on many things which I do not want to share with others for free. Which is sick because I have finally gotten to fix most of the leaks in my stream and it looked great imo..For the last few days I am on MTT analyzing grind where I have created some defend ranges for BB (SIGH!) with a lot of help from PioSOLVER. Today I would like to make a few EV calcs for some scenarios BvB. For the rest of the day I will be working on BvB game a lot and tomorrow I will be doing a lot of postflop calcs and hopefully in Thursday I will be able to fire some session. I still have very many things to work on but I think that slowly but surely I will manage to get a good grasp on so many things that my EV bb/100 will be over +12bb/100 with ease. I just can't imagine how big of a winrate am I really going to have in these games in few weeks/months. And I am doing it all by myself without coach which is even more impressing imo. Watch out for me guys because if you see somebody stealing your EV table it is probably going to be me
glgl!
11-01-2016
, 11:09 PM
11-02-2016
, 02:43 PM
Congratz guys to be the first three respondents in my blog!
I have a little bit of time to be there because I am all day long running Pio sims and will probably keep it till tomorrow (more likely till friday). I was hoping that when I will manage to get a grasp of a few things I will be ready to play but for some reason I want to know more and more and all these situations/ideas I could analyze just come up and unfortunaly I will have to check all the boxes before playing to feel good about my work haha
@N0M3RCY - Agreed, I like to listen to a lot of hip-hop instrumentals. Simply music without lyrics so it will not steal a lot of focus. Some Alchemits, Preemo, J Dilla, Pete Rock shizzle
@vinnie song last few months I have been trying to understand these things, how does media work, what is the real purpose behind their existence etc and to be honest it just made me so happy that I can be a proffesional poker player. All my results depend on me. If I will work hard I will make a lot of money. If I will slack it I will stagnate and maybe even lose money. My whole career/success is build up upon myself and my willpower/abilities to be better than everybody else because I think that in real world usually this does not apply. Or at least that is how it works (imo) in our country.
I have a little bit of time to be there because I am all day long running Pio sims and will probably keep it till tomorrow (more likely till friday). I was hoping that when I will manage to get a grasp of a few things I will be ready to play but for some reason I want to know more and more and all these situations/ideas I could analyze just come up and unfortunaly I will have to check all the boxes before playing to feel good about my work haha
@N0M3RCY - Agreed, I like to listen to a lot of hip-hop instrumentals. Simply music without lyrics so it will not steal a lot of focus. Some Alchemits, Preemo, J Dilla, Pete Rock shizzle
@vinnie song last few months I have been trying to understand these things, how does media work, what is the real purpose behind their existence etc and to be honest it just made me so happy that I can be a proffesional poker player. All my results depend on me. If I will work hard I will make a lot of money. If I will slack it I will stagnate and maybe even lose money. My whole career/success is build up upon myself and my willpower/abilities to be better than everybody else because I think that in real world usually this does not apply. Or at least that is how it works (imo) in our country.