great post OP, as usually ! im really glad that i subd to your PGC, since every time you have a 'blast' like this, it makes me wonder about things which my brain tries to hide under the carpet.

i see that junk food / drink / alcholol / drugs / etc are having kind of 'back purpose' ( im no native english speaker since im from eastern europian country and spelling/grammar might be off occassionally ) to weaken us. those things are poisonous, especially in volumes that we're taking em in. it polutes our brains and our bodies, and any time i start thinking about that im very mad at myself since i have material power ( unlike others from my country ) to live healthier, but


there are too many people that are under the chains of ^ bad habbits and completly unaware that those things pbb at 75%+ are making them unhappy and desperate.

anyway, i have appointment with my dentist, maybe i ll write more about this when i come back, but again, great post and GREAT quote at the end.

Great post again Mike I enjoy popping in this thread and reading your posts, one of the best PGC threads with in depth thoughts on various subjects.

Neah, busted before you. Anyways, gg!


Very true and sad how toxic our lives have become. I'm also looking to switch to a healthier diet and regular workouts, maybe some sports here and there as well. I'm 29 atm but I feel much older.

Anyways, hope you achieve your goals, gl!

See ya at the tables

Thanks you as well! I think so many poker players are in the same spot as the game has been drying up quite a lot. A lot of us guys in our 20's are going to have to make some tough decisions in the near future regarding our careers and how we will choose to go forward with life/business/poker.

That being said we've come so far and acquired so many great skills through poker and just sustaining our lives for the last few years is so much more than anyone would have ever bet on us. There's a lot of intelligent minds with a lot of potential in the game and I have no doubt that anyone who has crushed it in poker will go on to lead a successful life. It's sometimes very important to listen to people in your life because they help you see things that you may not see yourself. However, it's important to weed out a lot of what you hear and stay true to yourself. Just keep calm keep that organic feelin' in the game it'll all be gravy!

glad you are benefiting dude. it's tough sometimes and those vices are so popular because they help us feel good. everyone wants to feel good and sometimes those vices help them get distracted from various pains or inefficiencies in their lives. for example after losing a bunch of $ in an MTT session it's tough to feel really good...we search for homeostasis and look for quick fixes to bring us back to normal. I mean, we could always go to the gym or go hang out with friends after a bad session but ordering a pizza and veging out on the couch requires much less effort. That's what I did for a long time in MTTs...que half the problems I've been trying to resolve for the past 2 years. These bad habits/vices can become quite tough to conquer if we let them creep up on us and become quite a nasty vicious circle.

thanks my son

ah ulul. Think I got grossed out in 4th in that one. Feeling good about yourself and your path is one of the most important things in life (imo).GL doing that stuff! your future self will thank you

Weekly Update:

Health:

Workouts Completed this week: (3/4)
Times leaving diet guidelines: 3
20 Minute Meditation Session: 2/7
Books Read: 0/1
Body Weight +/-: -29 lbs. (since beginning of year)

Wealth:

Training Videos Watched: 0/1
Hours in the lab:0/2
Sessions played: 4/4
Hours put into researching new avenues of revenue generation:1
Yearly Profit: around 90k USD
Live Poker Profit This Year: around 10k USD

Book Review:

This is something that really fell off the map for me this year. Have been so focused on other stuff that reading just consumes too much time atm. Eventually I'd like to get on a reading binge though and will try to read ~2 books before the end of this year. WUG recommendations?

Hands:

https://www.boomplayer.com/25964854_D49E9F271E
super gross hand vs nit-ish reg. i realize in his pov im somewhat capped here which makes folding significantly worse. at the same time i just don't think he's gonna be bluffing a tonne especially when i hold 10s.

https://www.boomplayer.com/25939670_406126A768
this was relatively close to ITM in the thrill vs v lag player. he was opening tonnes of hands and I felt I could give off the image that I was just never bluffing pre and worse case scenario play IP with a huge range advantage/board coverage. put it on check/call any on river lol...maybe first time ive ever used that button.


Random Rant of the Week

A little update on the past week: Well, today I barely cashed any tournaments. I was final 18 in a tourney with 30k ut on another site...opening KK from c/o BTN jams 20bbs with AJo....river A. Sucks for a cl pot in soft tourney but meh whattya gonna do. Was chipleading the thrill with 15 left and got 12th somehow. Was pretty gross ending but I amassed some nice bounties etc and went deep everywhere that day. I wish I saved the hand where I ran it with Q10 and ran into nut part of range lol...at least everyone says its a good bluff.

On a more positive note our grind crew has been putting in heaps of work and making lots of progress. Grinding is a tonne of fun with our group and the setup is in a beautiful condo with a nice view etc. We're working out before every session and most days having our meals prepped ahead of times. Could probably manage to cut down on the delivery pizza after Sunday sessions a little though. The volume we've been slinging is awesome and personally I can say my game is A+ atm along with my focus. It only took me about the whole year to finally get my GTO routine consistent and in line with my goals completely. It's just a matter of time before things really start clicking...

Oh, and by the way, it feels like just last week that I was sitting here closing out December 2016 getting ready to bring on 2017. The year isn't over yet but fk has it ever flown by. Full steam ahead let's finish strong!

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

Someone asked me if I could write some poker strategy related content at some point. I don't really like going overly in depth with strategy ever, especially exploitative stuff. If I told you guys some of the stuff I do exploitatively or whatever you would have a huge advantage on me so it's probably better to avoid that. However, I do appreciate all of the support and follows I've received this year and I do want to give back a little bit in terms of strategy that may help some guys...let's talk about some of the biggest mistakes tournament players make:

1. Playing too many hands: I think this is hands down the biggest leak that a lot of tournament players have. It's often some misconception that players believe winning in poker means steam rolling your opponents and VPIPing 30% and 3 betting every other open. Don't get me wrong well applied and calculated aggression is crucial in today's games...but there is a fine line.

One of the main issues with weaker players loosening up a tonne is that they aren't aware of the implications this has on their overall strategy. Poker becomes a lot more difficult when you play a lot more hands because you will be entering the pot with a weaker range and may also face counters from opponents. For example if you want to play 25/18 you will need to be very aggro post flop etc etc. Players that play too many hands are highly exploitable (whether opening too wide or defending their bb too wide).

Have you ever looked back at a lot of the hands you've posted where you faced a difficult decision? It's likely a majority of these hands were ones that happened to be weaker pre flop holdings. Generally, post flop becomes a lot harder to navigate the wider our ranges open up. The bottom line is that good players are capable of applying solid aggression with calculated logic. They are often just playing very solid poker and making good decisions through logic and deduction as opposed to maniacal aggression.

2. Being too concerned with applying GTO lines and sizings. First, MTTs are mostly about exploitation. The scenarios we see are so are seldomly repeated among the same players at the same stack sizes with the same ICM or dynamics. GTO solutions are designed in assumption that villains are playing an optimal strategy as well. Perhaps PIO would suggest that bluffing with x amount of combos vs. a villain who will call x combos is standard. However, in practice the villains don't often play anyhwere close to how pio would tell them to. I'm not saying to skip studying GTO, it's very important to understand the lines it takes and why. Applying GTO strategy vs GTO robots is also necessary.

3. Sucking with short stacks. It's imperative to know push/fold ranges and exploitations in 0-25bb stacks. So important to nail down a good 12-25bb strategy in regards to opening/3 betting/jamming/defending bb. I have a philosophy that players far over value stacks <10bbs yet far under value stacks 10-20bbs. IMO fedor holz is one of the best with short stacks...an absolute wizard.

4. Poor Game Selection: Try creating a sharkscope group of ~20 regs and see how they've done in turbos/hyper turbos over the last year or two. Playing in games where we don't have an edge defeats the purpose of playing poker for a living and hogs up table landscape of other games from other sites that may be much better EV.

5. Poor Money Management: Bankroll, personal, whatever. MTT players should treat their tourney binks like a squirrel treats a nut before winter. It's important to save $ for the downswings and hard times because they are inevitable. Constantly placing $ into +EV spots is crucial for long term success...placing $ on 20 black or 34 red is not.



That's about all I got for now guys. Can barely keep my eyes open. I could probably think of another 5 things but maybe save em for another time. Let's crush this week!


"The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty." -Zig Ziglar

Great post very true about playing too many hands. Lost a big pot making a questionable call pre from the Big Blind 3 ways deep in an mtt a couple of days ago and it cost me big time post flop.

just got a 5 stars ott, OP.

most mature PGC that i saw on 2p2. everything needed for MTT players beside theoretical understanding of the game (imo, ratio is 1:1 on theory vs mindset if u wanna be successful mtt guy) is in it.

@ colin: thanks man. yeah thats been a common occurance for me too

@nomalice: thanks for the kind words ma frand

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


Excuse me while I vent about a bad beat: https://www.boomplayer.com/25992876_C8C687B1FC

Pretty annoying for a heaping CL. ended up coming 8th. second pretty massive bad beat i've taken in the last 2 sessions but meh it is what it is. My game feels the best it's ever been and so does my mindset. These 10k+ bad beats have really been stacking up but meh, it's variance, it's part of the job.

Anyways, now to the less whine related stuff...I had a lot of caffeine today and a pre-workout that I've started taking recently so gonna need a little post to put me to bed.

As you may know about me I've failed fairly extensively at a few of my goals the past few years. For probably 5 years I would always say how I was going to start exercising regularly and eating healthy. I sort of gave myself the outlet that I was more focused on paying for my degree and saving up for a house when I finished university. So yeah, year after year I knew that something that was arguably the most important to me was something that I was neglecting the most.

I could give myself any excuse in the world as to why I could not get myself to the gym or why I could not eat healthy. My degree was eventually completed, my condo was purchased, and I was still out of shape. I told myself I didn't have the time to work out or other silly excuses in my head. If I spent 1/20th of the time in Uni at the gym than I did watching TV series or playing Xbox or wasting time with needless things...I would be in amazing shape. I'd probably feel a lot better about myself and generally be a lot happier of a man.

But yeah, I always had strong spurts of the GTO healthy life that I wanted...but then I would always revert back to my old habits. It's tough to go have a healthy salad and glass of water after getting your ass handed to you all day by variance. It was also really stressful at school trying to balance social life, school life, and poker life. My inability to balance this often left me with this inherent feeling of emptiness. When I felt bad about things I would feed the bad habits I'd developed. The bad habits I'd developed made me feel even worse when I didn't put a stop to them. Vicious circle ensues. Sometimes the easiest thing to do for me was to just load 20 poker tournaments and that would distract my brain from some of the problems that were dear to me. Actually, this wasn't sometimes, it was just about every day at university. I'm still amazed that I passed.

As you may know in the past few months I've started a very regular gym routine and have cleaned up the diet a lot. My mindset feels rock solid and things are progressing very well. This is the lifestyle that I've really envisioned for myself for 2017 and I'm finally living it. Too bad the year is almost done I know this stuff has been way more difficult for me than it ever needed to be, but here's a few things that have really bolstered my consistency lately:

-Making an effort to surround myself with like-minded people who have my best interests in mind. The guys I grind with are very GTO with diet and grind ethic and being with them all the time when grinding really helps me stay on track.
In the past I would always feel this FOMO (fear of missing out), basically an anxiety about not being invited to things or whatever. This year I've really been selective about the activities I attend and really cutting back on nights that involve binge drinking or eating or other performance enhancing substances.

-Growing will power. I mean, to be honest, the pain that it was going to take to change was less than the pain it would be to stay in my ways. I've told myself this consistently all year. Will power is like a muscle..if you never use it...it becomes weak (and vice versa)

-Taking small steps. In the past I would always go full 180 degree turnarounds. For example I'd eat domino's and grind MTTs all day sunday and I'd go to bed telling myself Monday would be GTO. I'd wake up monday @ 8 am, work out my ass to the bone, eat GTO, meditate, and then by the end of the day I just couldn't handle another day of it. I'd get burned out so quickly. The key was in small steps and increments...and consistency is the secret sauce.

So if you're just starting out at the gym or eating healthy don't set a goal of going to the gym for 14 hours per week. Maybe even just start out with a daily walk for a week or two, then start mixing in gym sessions once or twice a week. The key is to trend in a positive direction consistently. If you're starting to try to clean up your diet focus on changes that are sustainable. Figure out what you like and what you don't mind sacrificing. Build your diet around that stuff to start.

What about if you're socially stifled? If you're struggling with women and haven't talked to one in 3 weeks, don't go out to a night club and start trying to talk to them (well do it if u can haha), but just focus on making conversation with people you see in day to day life. When you go to the coffee shop ask the girl working there how her day is going or ask how she likes working there or whatever. Make jokes with people that you're in line with. Just realize that everyone else is just as stifled as you and 90% of the time people really enjoy it when you ask them about their day or w/e. You might even get a friend out of it



That was a long and very ridiculous post. Hopefully can fall asleep now. Oh yeah, I'm going to 'murica to grind live poker this weekend so won't be in the streets. Looking forward to a nice live zombie grind and chilling with my friends I haven't seen for a while. GN and GL.

PS: Have rec'd a few requests for coaching so I signed up to do a few sessions with a couple guys. I'm fairly new to coaching and not sure if I really want to be doing it. Time will tell. Stay tuned.

Hey guys been some time since my last update. Just know ive been busy and grinding hard. Things are going well. Havent had a lot of energy after these long days to make posts but i ll try to put something together tonight after my grind. Gl fam

Hey guys. It's been a while since my last update and I'm quite tired at the moment so figured I'd throw something in quickly. Jus' know I've been workin' hard.

So the grind has actually been going quite well for me. The volume we've been slinging is something that I really haven't had since my days in school. Not to mention, I'm actually balancing other things as well. Getting quite a few deep runs everyday and really have found some adjustments that seem to be working quite well. Ended up getting 2nd in B44 today (after losing to some Russian dolt hu), and then 2nd in 82 prog ko t...the FT took ~10 hands...def my quickest ever.

Last weekend I went to a live tournament at Turning Stone Resort in New York. I always like going there because it's a good spot to put in heaps of +EV volume whilst getting a discounted hotel room right above the poker area. Pretty sure I'll be heading back this weekend for the 600$ 100k gtd. Anyways, I was in the 250 for 6 bullets (fml) and ran absurdly bad...but meh such is life. The cash games were a different story...here's a couple cool hands:

A fairly drunk middle aged man sat down at the table to my direct right. After some questions I figured out he was the owner of a financial firm (or something like that). This guy was here to blast $. He raises the c/o to 20$ (2/5 game)...i 3 bet 65ss from the BTN to 60$. He calls. FLOP: Q57sxx. Check check. TURN: 4x...he bets 140, i call. RIVER: 9x he jams all in for ~450$ more and I call with bottom pair. He has J4o.

Next hand: Spewy reg straddles the button to 10$. Tight female live reg opens to 30$, 2 flatters. I should definitely have squeezed A8ss here but elected to call. The guy on the button called and we're 4 ways to the flop. FLOP: 664sxx. Girl bets 105$, I float, BTN raises to 405$. She tank folds...I call (lol). Turn is blank, check check. River is A, check check. I show A8 and the guy claims it was good, although he started trying to say he had 54 lol...pretty sure I was good the whole way though. (We were also 4-500 bbs deep btw).

Tourney Hand: BB is 1200 and I start the hand with ~50k. I open KQo UTG to 2500. SB (has massive stack and is huge asian fish reg) calls, BB calls. FLOP: Qs2s3x...I c bet 5500, SB calls, BB folds. TURN: Ks (by the way 9s was exposed pre). I decided to bet the turn for value and protection with intention of folding to a raise. I fired ~9k and he called. River is a red 4 and he snap leads 25k. From my experience this just isn't a bluff very often but this guy was so bad and also the 9s being folded was quite relevant. Anyways, I caled and he had A3o for a straight. What a genius...


Alright, long story short I've been out here grinding and feeling really good. Haven't made a solid update in a while so I'll post about something I've been thinking a lot about lately. I'm actually heading back to Turning Stone early tomorrow morning and should REALLY be spending this time sleeping but I'll make a quick lil rant cuz it's been a while


Do you consider yourself to be a person of strong integrity? Do you have strong moral values and always keep your word? Are you honest with other people?

For a lot of people I know there is one person they often lie to all the time, go back on their word to that person, break promises with that person, and outright betray that person.

Can you think of one person that you've done this to? Well if you can't think of one person...what about yourself? Do you realize how many lies you tell yourself? I promised myself I was gonna go to the gym 4 times last week and eat a super clean diet...I lied to myself...I broke my promise.

It's important to have integrity and strong moral values in dealings with other people...and that's part of being a man. Why would this all get thrown out the window when making promises to ourselves? Integrity is a crucial aspect of growing up...and it starts with ourselves.


Thanks for reading guys. Have been so busy but haven't forgotten about this PGC. We got 1 more month to go and a lot of work to do. GL this weekend.

Sup dudes, I'm fairly oi right now and don't have a whole lot to update really about atm. I think it's partially due to the weather and partially due to burnout from the grind that I'm feeling a lack of motivation to do anything atm. Yeah, I've slung a heap of volume the past few weeks but that's about it really.

I went to New York this weekend with 2 friends and ended up making payday in the main event etc. Man, live poker is frustrating haha. It was a long ass drive both ways and we talked about quite a few interesting topics. Everything from our standard jokes that we keep rehearsing that are still hilarious every time (for some reason), to talk about hands we've played at our tables, music, helping one guy over a recent breakup etc. Among those topics I kind of let out some of my mishaps lately and asked for some support going through the end of the year. We're gonna try to stay on the GTO path the rest of this year and finish with the same motivated I begun with.

So much of this year has just been about finding myself and solidifying relationships. I REALLY know where I want to be now and what I NEED to do to get there...executing is the hard part...but I've made solid progress. I've really fallen off the path a few times lately but it's all part of the journey.


Was gonna post a little more but my eyes are closing on me. I'll have more energy this week after a good rest and will post some good content. GN

Hey guys hope everything is well with y'all. I just had this Friday evening to myself to get some errands done/clean my place a bit/grind some Xbox/and just chill. In addition to that, I had a lot of time to myself to think about some of the events recently and some recent conversations I've had with people. I'd like to outline a conversation I had with someone close to me today. First, I'm just gonna do a quick lil update:

-Poker has been going quite well. Final tabled the 44 prog t, Late TT, and BB 109. Overall, was like a ~5k profit day...could have been a lot more if a few things went differently but meh, I played very well all day and to my best ability...and that's all I can ask of myself. Volume has been pretty good and actually have been studying PLO and working to start grinding that on softer sites.

-Workouts and nutrition wise I had one of the best weeks of 2017. My friends condo building has a small gym in there so usually I will go there by myself or some days he joins. The gym is small and very basic but meh, it's convenient and almost always have it to myself. Have started taking a pre-workout supplement as well as a testosterone boost supplement. I've noticed really good effects from both and the pre-workout seems to keep me very motivated during my workout. Eating a lot better lately as well. No complaints on my end.

-Life wise things have been going well. Have really fostered some good relationships in the past few months and a lot of my anxieties etc seem to be shrinking/disappearing. Holiday season is coming up and I'm looking forward to spending some time with the people that mean the most to me.


Alright, back to the call earlier with the person close to me (we'll call them Y)...

So Y gave me a call today and asked me how everything was going etc etc (the usual stuff: how's your condo, what you doing this weekend, etc). After a while of talking Y was asking me how poker was going and that he saw I won 20 grand last month. Immediately, I asked "where?", "pocketfives...I added up a bunch of your cashes and subtracted the buy ins, you had like 20k cashes and 2k buy ins last month."

This is quite obvious that this is not true as I have ~2k in buy ins every single session. Pocketfives is also very misleading in that sense as they only boast your cashes. They don't publicly alert all viewers of your downswing (not that I am in one atm). Anyways, that's beside the point.

I guess what really tilted me was that Y was implying that I should have way more money than I do and that poker hasn't been working out for me. In other words, maybe it's time to hang up the mouse and keyboard and move onto a more normal career...like maybe the one I went to Uni for. Y was saying that it's important that I don't fall behind other people...im 25 years old now and it's important to get ahead...not fall behind. Pokerstars doesn't have a very good retirement or benefits plan for it's employees.

This really triggered me because when comes the point that what I'm doing is good enough? I put myself through hell in University because I felt societal pressures caving in on me to become a white collar career guy. I arguably just worked my ass off and played AAA hockey as a kid because I felt like it made my parents happy. When I can be completely honest with myself I don't think I really enjoyed being a goalie in my later years. I'm in a spot now that I have a net worth that I could have only dreamed of when I was 18 years old...because of poker. I've traveled to Australia, Spain, Germany, USA, Cuba, and a lot of other places...because of poker. I guess this triggered me because nobody believed in me in poker when I was that broke ass college kid. I have a condo, a car, a Uni degree, and all my living paid for the past 5 years because of poker. But still, some people that I seek the approval of the most...still do not approve.

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

The above phone call outlines a paradox that I think many of us face very frequently. This conundrum is such that we want to stay on our own path and do what makes us happy in life (ya know all that cliche stuff about marching to the beat of your own drum). The problem with marching to the beat of our own drum is that sometimes we are too close with ourselves and our own ego to see the greater picture. Sometimes, a person in the audience spectating the parade can see that our drum is out of rhythm...and they can let us know to help us get it up to speed. However, sometimes that person in the audience has hearing issues and our drum is actually up to par

So, the paradox is that we want to make our own choices and decisions to be happy, but are sometimes too attached to our own egos to see the harm or disadvantages we place upon ourselves. This is when people close to us can give us solid objective advice. Sometimes it is good advice and sometimes it is bad advice.

When it's all said and done, usually our loved ones give us advice because they are worried about us and they want to see us succeed. Y doesn't hate poker or that I play poker. Y honestly just thinks my life would be much better off without the game and working a normal career. I appreciate Y looking out for me and their advice.

Ya know, when a degenerate gambler goes to see an addictions specialist the first thing the gambler needs to do is admit they have a problem. The councillor knows what is objectively best for the gambler...they need to help the gambler to see it.

When Richard Branson left school at age 15 everyone would have told him he was an idiot. He went on to build one of the biggest business empires in human history.

My problem: Am I the degenerate gambler...just treading water trying to stay afloat...or am I Richard Branson...a young kid who sees poker as a way to build for a bright future that can give back and help people. That's the paradox folks.


There is not a chance in hell I want to be playing poker until I retire. Honestly, I have more past than future in poker (by a long shot) and I have a few aspirations for when I'm done. Don't think I'll ever be able to play just recreationally and it would need to be a clean break. I have far too obsessive of a personality to ever do anything half assed. I guess going forward I just need to keep working towards getting fit and building healthy life skills, and most of all...enjoying the process. It's crazy how many life lessons we learn from this stupid card game.



Thanks for reading brothers. Sorry for the massive rant but I had to get some of this stuff on my chest and really think deeply about some of the decisions that I'm going to have to face in the short-medium run. Damn, that's some real talk...GL this weekend

Oh yeah, for when I show this post to Y, here is my yearly results ...the real ones:

https://gyazo.com/b27e0ca3829defb52d5aa8b88c0c6e6f

Still popping in when I can and reading, cheering you on man cheers for the great posts!

Also that phone call would next level tilt me, not sure how close they are to you personally but if someone randomly phoned and started discussing how much I made last month like they knew my personal finances etc / telling me to not fall behind I would deliver a well deserved GFY.

If someone is in an office job and you call them up and say hey, I just looked up the salary for your position and feel like you should be doing better for yourself , i mean your cheque last month was at least $2.5k ! Why are you in a 1 bedroom appt? Don't fall behind everyone around you dude! it would be sooooo next level out of line, so why isn't it the same for when people judge a poker players finances / life decisions?

Also how weird is it to stalk behind the scenes of a friend and try to calculate how much money they're making in general? Family, friend or stranger super ****ing weird? lol (besides in a poker player context of seeing peoples graphs for fun / knowing their profitability etc)

edit:
seems like you said it's someone you seek approval of , if it's a parent I would explain how you explained here about how much it's given you and how they have no right to judge - also how much resistance people in all non-standard walks of life face and how well off some people end up. Also why wouldn't someone do something they enjoy / are good at if it brings them money on top of it?

hey tread lightly,

yeah i would 100% agree with you if it was a friend or acquaintance or something i would just tell them to go fk themselves and it wouldnt really bother me. its definitely a family member that seeks my well-being and success probably more than almost anyone in the world so its tough to ignore their advice or w/e. just another up and down we have to deal with all of the time in poker it feels like our results are always over dramaticized by everyone.

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

hey guys sorry i've been really tired and grinding hard. have been final tabling lots of stuff and lots of top 3 runs. feeling so good about my game and the way things are progressing that haven't had a whole lot of energy for the blog. we only have 2 weeks left in this year (wow!) and i love some of the progress and growth i've made this year. I've learned so much about life/people/relationships/fitness/poker/women etc. I feel after this year I've further cemented what I want from life and the next few years...I'll go more in depth in the year end post but here's what I want:

-Live very healthy lifestyle in general. Be at peak physical condition and appearance (still so far away from this). Be in full control of eating and exercise habits.
-Travel the world to gain some perspective. In the next few years I want to see some more countries and try the full back packer experience. Maybe play poker along the way/or maybe use it as a segway out of poker...aka quit poker and then go traveling before coming home to a job or w/e.
-Have a lot more experience with dating and start getting out in the dating pool more often as opposed to the zoom pools. Eventually gain enough experience with dating etc that I'm ready for a more long term gf.
-Find something to dedicate the rest of my working life to that I really enjoy.
-Eventually buy another property and move out of my condo and rent it out.
-Be the best person I can be and make the most out of this life.

yoyo, sorry things have been all over the place for me! I've been doing everything from grinding MTTs to PLO to hanging with friends to volunteering at the outdoor rink to grinding cryptocurrencies. Basically, anything under the sun except for keeping up with this PGC! All procrastination aside, I'm quite pleased with my resilience and persistence with this PGC through 2017. By far my most successful one to date and have received a lot of kind words and encouragement along the way...thanks very much for that. Hope it's helped some guys out or at the very least been a half interesting read. Anyways, I'll have a more thorough yearly update in the next week or two. Right now I'm here to rant a little bit until this melatonin pill puts me to sleep. Have a workout in the morning and then the last Sunday grind of 2017...gonna make it count (in EV).

In regards to the outdoor rink: So I'm from Canada and much like 75% of all Canadians I spent countless hours in the cold on outdoor skating rinks. I remember I was ~5 years old and my dad made my first skating rink in our front yard. When I grew up so many nights after school would be spent freezing my nuts off playing in games against my friends or practicing my puck handling/skating skills. So many of the hockey and life skills I acquired in life were from the countless hours I spent on the outdoor rink. The funny part about this is aside from shoveling occasionally, I never helped setup a rink. I always took this for granted my whole childhood. So whether it was my dad building the rink in our front yard or the countless volunteers that spent many frozen hours building/maintaining the ice I'd like to thank them. As I walked by the local outdoor rink in the late/early hours of the evening in the -15 degree weather I noticed a guy working on patching up holes in the ice. After a small conversation I've been set up as a volunteer to help maintain the ice...it's time to give back a little bit to the community. I'll take some pics of this rink next time I'm there for you guys...it's pretty cool. Not to mention, it's pretty good exercise shoveling snow and it's good for the soul



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

A good friend of mine was dumped by his girlfriend of several years ~10 days ago. This abrupt end his relationship threw him into a bit of a negative downward spiral. I'm sure most of us can relate to this experience or perhaps we got fired from a job, lost a loved one, or went broke.

I guess something that I've realized is that these events of adversity are not only for certain in life, they are so often a blessing. The funny thing about adversity is that it often feels like the worst thing in the world at the moment, but in the future it often seems like the best thing in the world for us.

I truly believe that sometimes these negative events that happen to us are really a blessing in disguise. Times of hardship often force us to innovate, change, and grow. Maybe your girlfriend that you thought you were going to marry dumps you like a dress on prom night and you feel like your world is over. Next thing you know you've learned valuable relationship skills, working on yourself, and eventually finding a girl that was 10x better than that old girl.

I remember being a broke student in University and not having enough money to afford my rent let alone tuition. My parents refused to bail me out unless I got a real job. Times were tough for a bit and it involved a lot of cheap ass meals and lab work...but I got through it far tougher than I ever would have been had everything was handed to me. Part of making poker work meant skipping the majority of calculus and finance classes. I'm not ashamed to admit that my first time around MAT 197 I received a grade of 13%. The second time around I received a grade of 37%. The third time around I received a grade of 55%. Who would have thought that attending 2 classes all semester and trying to teach myself course material through youtube tutorials 3 days before the final exam would lead to failure? I guess I didn't.

My University had a policy that if you failed a business course twice you would be kicked out of the university. I remember this course called BFN200 (Intro to Finance) which was at 8 am on Monday mornings. Conveniently (or not so much), it was the morning after Sunday grinds. Long story short, I went to about 3 classes all semester and did 0 work...and got an 8% in the class. I was too embarassed to show up to the final exam so decided to sleep in and feel terrible about life.

The second time around I knew I was on my last strike. All of my money and time spent at University would be wasted if I failed. The dean warned me that I would be kicked out if I failed again. At this time I said fk it I've come too far to give up now. The second time around I didn't miss one class, did every homework problem, and went to the professor for extra help whenever I was unsure of something. I got 100% on the final exam. The adversity of failing those classes instilled a work ethic in myself that I never knew I had. Whether the degree is worth much in terms of $ value, I can guarantee you I learned how to be a man through those times and to rise to the occasion...you can't put a $ value on that.

Adversity is a given in poker and it is a given in life. Embracing the adversity and not succumbing to it can lead to some of the finest growth and experiences in life. If you are going through tough times just know if you keep working hard and making good decisions you will be thankful to yourself in the long run.


Phew, time for bed. I wish you all the best of luck on Sunday tomorrow. I think I'm due for a Sunday Warmup win or something GN

Sunday grind went pretty meh. Final tabled the 33 6m prog ko t but ended up coming 6th. Lost a pretty gross hand with 8 left for chip lead pot. Loose opener makes it 2.1x from MP off ~30bb stack. I 3 bet J9ss on BTN, he calls. Flop 1073ssx. He checked and i fired 40% pot with intention to jam turn. He jammed AA, I called and bricked. Tbh I would check that board a lot in this spot but felt folding out broadways or getting him to call one street with hands I can make fold by the turn or river is a big win. Equity is usually pretty good vs the range he x/j.

Agenda for the week ahead:
-Start/Complete Christmas shopping
-Meditate in the morning everyday this week as opposed to before bed.
-Play on the outdoor rink 2-3x this week and shovel/flood snow at least once.
-Start preparing year end post and looking into making a new 2018 post (I think I will do this but not 100% sure I'm gonna start another PGC just yet)
-4 workouts
-4 grind sessions
-Eat GTO
-Go out and socialize at least one night.

I'm feeling good about how this year has progressed and some of the friendships I've made. Really feel like I know what needs to be done in 2018 to start working on achieving some new dreams.

A lil' strat talk before bed:

I guess one of the most important things in MTT poker is attacking capped ranges. If you do not know what a "capped range" is it is this: when your opponent does not have enough strong holdings in their range to protect themselves, leaving their chips at your mercy. It is very important in tournaments to be able to identify when you opponent has a capped or weak range and when you can exploit that. It is also very relevant to consider players that have the ability to attack your capped ranges, and to build ranges that are not completely exploitable.

An example of attacking a capped range: Let's say we are 40bbs eff. deep. Villain A opens to 2.2x from MP, we call the SB, BB calls. FLOP: Q94r. Everyone checks. TURN:3x. We check, BB checks, Villain A bets 1/3 pot.

First, it's important to see how we perceive the range of villain A: At this stack depth it is highly unlikely he is checking many traps or strong hands (AA KK QQ 99 44 AQ KQ QJ (or even Qx). In general, most villains aren't checking J10 or K10 very often either. It is especially unlikely that he is checking something that needs protection in a 3 way pot.

What is he likely holding?: Most of the time in this spot villains will hold something like TT-JJ, or smaller pocket pairs 22-88, weak Qx or A high (sometimes they will have J10 or K10/108 type hands.) In other words, the villains range is mostly weak, and we can attack this relentlessly.

What hands can we choose for value: We can double check/ raise 99/44/Q9/33 or potentially AQ/KQ. What can we bluff with?: J10/108s/K10/KJ/smaller pocket pairs/jsut random airballs if we think it produces enough folds.

If we are in villains shoes, how can we protect our range here?: It's obvious that we could include some traps (the sets and Q9 sometimes), we can also choose to check some of our weaker Qx, especially that with backdoors...Q10, QJ, KQ, Q8s. We can also check our strong draws such as J10 with some frequency as we can call all turns really.

This hand is just a pure hypothetical example that I made up but I think that the idea of attacking capped ranges applied well can really bolster a winrate if you can identify spots where villains are generally capped (there is heaps of these spots that come up in tourneys everyday)...now go out there and find em

Hey guys this is going to be my last post in this blog before my year end summary post (which should be pretty thorough into setting up for 2018.) Hope you can take something away from this post though:


Life Beyond Poker

I was feeling quite bloated as I was in the process of digesting a large Thanksgiving/Christmas turkey dinner. I remember sitting on the couch in my parents basement teaching myself how to shuffle cards from some youtube tutorial. I was preparing for my first ever live poker tournament against my Uncle, brother, and dad. I viewed my uncle at the time as some type of poker icon, maybe a guy one tier below "the great" Daniel Negreanu, or Phil Helmuth. I had watched poker on tv and wanted to learn how to play, and my uncle agreed to teach us. After playing small home games with my family and friends I was instantly hooked on the game of poker. I really can not recall anything in my life that I had ever been so fascinated by.

Time flew by as I spent thousands of hours grinding and studying the game. I won't even begin to talk about the infinite thoughts or dreams I had about poker in the early stages. There was times where I couldn't sleep at night because I would be having nightmares about hands and would keep getting woken up by them in the middle of the night.

In the early stages all I cared about was fulfilling my dreams in the game: make enough money to support myself through University and to make it through University. I'm not sure whether I'm proud or embarrassed about the number of hours I spent studying/playing poker through Uni.

As I achieved more success in the game I was beginning to move from SNGs to tournaments and the swings started to get big. I acquired my first MTT backer in ~2013 and finally figured out what a "downswing" was. I told by parents about this "backer" and they were obviously worried about me. They thought it was some Russian mobster or mafia guy who would come kill me if I lost his money. I was on winter break from school and eating dinner at my parents house in the midst of my biggest poker downswing (at that point in my career). My mom asked me how much money I owed my staker and I told her "2 000$"...she was shocked at how big of a sum I had piled up....little did she know the figure was actually close to 30 000$...even I was losing faith in myself at that point.

If you are wondering whether I got out of makeup or not the answer is yes. I also went on to get in 10,20,30,40k makeup a few other times in my career when I was staked. I've also had a lot of great upswings along the way and used poker to pay for my life, school, car/condo, and travel the past years. I'm very proud of winning 2xwcoops and a Sunday Million, but hey, anyone can luckbox a tournament. The thing that I'm most proud about in this game is the journey and self-development that has come along the way.

The thing about poker (especially tournament poker) is that the roller coaster you will ride is so absurd that it changes the way you process and understand information. It's a constant battle of suppressing your emotions and making good logical decisions. Studying and grinding poker is one thing, but managing life outside the game is a whole other beast. It's like you need to have an unhealthy obsession with the game to get to the top.

I had a very unhealthy obsession with poker for many years but I knew that was a sacrifice I was willing to make. As my mental/physical health depleted my results continued to rise. Eventually, I achieved everything I could have ever dreamed of from poker but was feeling quite unhappy overall. If you could tell me when I was that 15 year old kid starting out that I would pay for and graduate University, buy a car, buy a condo, travel around the world, win a WCOOP, or whatever else I would think it was a dream.

This general unhappiness led me down a path of self and life exploration that I never would have found had I just worked a normal job and took a bunch of student loans through uni. I learned that my happiness in life is not the acquisition of material objects or money. My personal happiness was about searching inside myself and realizing that being happy was just....well...being happy. Forgetting about all this BS and materialistic stuff in life and just enjoying the journey for what it is. When it's all said and done, life is short and every journey has bumps along the road.

I do not enjoy poker nearly as much as I used to and it is nowhere near as lucrative as it used to be. I've made the decision that I need to quit poker eventually for good and move into something else. There is still some time in the game for me but not much. When it comes time to hang up the mouse and keyboard I will always remember and appreciate the journey for what it's been. You can take the man out of poker, but you can't take poker out of the man.

Great posts sir as always

it's funny to see that every BBV person has a favorite p&g poster, it's like we are pokemon haha.

nice story man, gl >D
Still playing 50z?

@ colin: thanks d00d!

@rapidesh: thanks! i really only am in that pool when I'm really bored or when I'm trying to play through $ (so that I can transfer them). I figure it's probably the stake where I lose the least when I try to do so

We don't stop playing because we get old; we get old because we stop playing
have a nice Christmas buddy

""We don't stop playing because we get old; we get old because we stop playing""

wise words....

best wishes and good luck in winter series !

Well, the time has come guys. This year has flown by so quickly and it just seems like yesterday that I was opening up this PGC in this same bed that I'm lying in now to close it out.

First, I want to say thank you to everyone who posted in here throughout the year or even just once or twice, or even if they just followed along and never posted. There was so many ups and downs in 2017 and sometimes knowing that there was guys out there following the journey gave me that little bit of motivation that I needed to keep pushing. There was so much random ranting and BS in this thread but I hope you guys learned a thing or two, or at least found it a half-entertaining read at the very least.

Without further delay, let's outline a few highlights from the year:

Poker: I improved so much as a player this year. It's really tough to say that when I've been pouring my heart and soul into a game for the past ~5 years that vast improvement seems unlikely. I had so many epiphanies in the game and have brought my mental control to a new level when I'm playing. Results wise, I made ~100k profit this year, and managed to obtain my 2nd WCOOP title. However, my proudest moment was winning the 215 Monday 6m for 30k. It felt really good to hold my own against some of the MTT/cash end bosses in a deep structured tournament.

Final Stats: https://gyazo.com/1c40d81f743dfcfbd8da7a097b75f922

That screenshot is just my PS results and I had ~10k profit or so on other sites and probably ~10k profit in live poker. Oh yeah, I also fulfilled a long time dream of mine in poker this year: getting a seat in the PCA main. I look forward to checking that off my bucket list in 2018.

Health: I lost some weight this year and am really feeling a lot healthier in general. Regular exercise has become a habit of mine and has actually become quite therapeutic for me. I would rate my fitness performance at a 6.5/10 this year. I'm not gonna lie at the start of the year I was intimidated about getting a gym membership and what not but when you get in there you realize your mind will tell you any excuse under the sun to not leave your comfort zone.

I wasn't as consistent with the gym as I wanted to be this year and my 2 big injuries did not help. Anyways, I look forward to continuing to improve my health in 2018 and I think with some dedication I could complete my goals...but it's an on going process...we' re never where we want to be.

Wealth: I added to my net worth this year and managed to meet all my life living/loving costs. Got involved in some crypto currencies (BTC/XRP/ADA/OMG). Definitely did a lot of research into stuff outside of poker but again, poker was my big bread winner.

Relationships: In terms of women I dabbled in some online dating a bit and went on a few dates and have been talking with a few women throughout the course of the year. However, the whole year was basically just set out for me to improve myself as a person and get more comfortable with myself/my life. I wanted to take care of myself first and make sure I'm the best man I can be before getting into anything more long term. I think in 2018 I want to take the bachelor life to the next level haha.

I wanted to make a note about how I've acquired some really good/healthy friendships in 2017. The group of guys that I grind with regularly has really helped and we understand eachother quite well. I guess I drifted from a few friends in 2017 but that is really just part of life. I'm sure I'd still get along quite well with those people and I love them a lot but sometimes it's just best for everyone to do their own thing. I shifted my overall mindset and grew a lot this year in that regard. For example in the past I would get butt hurt or upset if I wasn't invited somewhere by my friends and would get a lot of anxiety about that. This year I discovered a lot of those feelings were deeply rooted insecurities that I needed to face. I started being happy with my journey and really started appreciating people that wanted me in theirs. I stopped putting so much energy into thinking about people who put no energy into thinking about me...and not giving a **** feels amazing.

Alberta/Vegas Trip: I flew out to Alberta to meet a friend (who I had only talked to online) which turned out quite well. We never met but knew just over a few phone calls that we would get along quite well. I actually owe it to this guy for getting me set up in the gym and eating a lot healthier/living a lot healthier. Was cool to head out to Alberta for a few weeks and just sort of distance myself from my normal life...just to step out of it for a while. Met some cool people out there and had a great time. If you ever get the chance I highly would recommend hiking up a mountain in Banff. It's so nice to get some fresh air and see some beautiful nature (and get a good workout in along the way).

Final Notes: I matured a lot throughout 2017. Really worked to understand why I think the way I do and worked to understand some flaws in my mindset. Have really been enjoying this process and I know I will be a better person from this year. Have really noticed how short life is and how important it is to just enjoy things along the way. Everything here is temporary. Everything you own or is going well, you will not own/will not go well forever. Everything comes to an end at some point and it's so important to understand and be ok with that. Conversely, everything does not have to be bad or poor forever. Whether you are broke, fat, lonely, or whatever...it is never has to be permanent. Life is so much about change and its so important to embrace that and not fear it. I've got some very exciting, and very scary announcements for 2018...I encourage you to follow my 2018 PGC to find out more


It was at some point early this year where I walked by the same cemetery that I walk by every night and had the realization that so many dreams/desires were put to bed there. So many things those people wanted to say to other people went unsaid. Every night I walk by that cemetery I'm one more night closer to being in there...and that's a sad reality. I'm happy where I've ended up in 2017, but am excited to work my ass off in 2018. I'm loving this process.

I want to wish you all a happy and healthy 2018. This will be my last post in this thread. It's time to go spend the next few days celebrating and preparing for the incoming new year. I am PUMPED for 2018 and it all starts off with PCA Thanks for all the love along the way everyone, I appreciate y'all!!!

-Mike (WalmartCNXN)

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1.../#post53302504

GN 2017. The above link is to my PGC 2018 thread. Thanks for all the love this year guys!