thx for the book recommandation, will try to read it at some point.

Nice post's Mike, will be subscribing and coming along for the ride!

Best of luck for 2017 fella

thanks man i'll be giving it my all! haha i might have to pick up one of them. they were ~80$ @ staples which seems a little bit overpriced for some plastic, but might have to bite the bullet there

np, hopefully you can learn some good stuff from it!

thanks scoop, i'll try to make the thread somewhat interesting haha. all the best in 2017 meht!

well boys just in time for TCOOP i got something set up that is very very very important...

https://gyazo.com/b3feca7aa494acfd99ada03b1166b12b

Finally got my fish tank moved into my new place. Ofc there is a lot of work that needs to be done on this tank as it needs some live plants/the wood isnt supposed to be floating/a background/missing a few fish still.

I find this to be very soothing especially when tilted on break after a bad hour to just watch the fish and hear running water. I'm sure I will need it from time to time during this TCOOP season.

Time to do some lab work for TCOOP and also put in a few DFS hockey lineups for a big slate tonight. GLGL everyone!

I was watching a Thailand documentary on the BBC the other day and it showed Siamese Fighting fish in one episode which I thought were cool and I would'nt mind getting some myself...

Thanks for this, good watch/listen

Problem is the males are the only ones that look cool and they kill eachother, so you can only have 1 per tank. They are not a lot of maintenance and only require a small space/don't need running water like other fish.

np, it opened my eyes to a lot of new ideas

I like your write up / anecdote relating to that vid, will listen to vid on treadmill tommorow ty for suggestion, makes you think how it's so easy to take things for granted and always look at things you need instead of reflecting on what you have and being happy with that
(obv goals are good but after each goal you will just set another goal and always be chasing that one thing that you NEED instead of being happy with what you have but still chasing a goal out of bettering yourself / enjoyment / something to work towards instead of just 'if I hit 50k I will be happy with my life' or if I just get that one job I will be happy because what do you do if you don't hit that goal or you get it then lose it.)


OP maybe I missed it but do you have certain weight goals or just be healthy overall? I just started working out again recently after being in good shape playing div 1 football in highschool then now ~5 yrs later being a fat lazy POS lol hopefully we both hit our health goals this year if you ever want to bounce motivation off each other / goals for fun hmu

Totally! In the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss (highly recommend that book) he talks about "The fat man in the red BMW". Basically what this symbolizes is the guy who sells his soul for a pay cheque and chases materialistic things. Yeah he drives a nice car and has a lot of money but his health goes to **** and he is miserable because money is all he chases.

In regards to weight goals I would like to shed roughly 40 lbs. in the next 20 weeks (2 lbs./week). My main focus though is living a healthy lifestyle overall and getting my mindset to the point that I enjoy it. For example getting into the mindset where I look at junk food and think "I don't understand why I would punish my body with this." or when it's time for my daily workout I think "damn I'm going to love how I look and feel after this workout and enjoy pushing myself." As opposed to: "god I hate this and cant wait for it to be over."

I can definitely relate to you in the sense of playing a high level of sport and then plunging off the deep end upon retiring from it. We got some hard work ahead of us this year but we gotta love the process more than we love the prize! I'd love to bounce some ideas or talk some fitness etc. pm me your skype if you want.

Played a decent sized session today for first day of TCOOPs. Actually cashed every TCOOP event today and made phase 2 in the 1st one I played as a bonus. Felt very good at the tables but I still need some fine tuning and need to spend more time in the lab as a whole. Here is a few hands:

https://www.boomplayer.com/22345599_5E8090F4F9
I had some villain reads for this one ofc. Idk if it's a good call down, would definitely burn money vs the population but i think with enough reads its fine.

https://www.boomplayer.com/22340327_5F6B86E6A6
hmm i used an exploitative sizing on the flop for the exact reason when he raises I can still have a lot of fold equity. really not sure if checking/betting big/betting small is best here.

https://www.boomplayer.com/22338759_3B8451ED39
was jamming the Q high for value boys no worries!

https://www.boomplayer.com/22337664_A26B1E7558
running it. villain goes into time bank on river and i was cringing because i find guys always talk themselves into the call in these spots.

got another session tomorrow hopefully can get a good rest now and ship some donuts. glgl y'all!

Do you find that specific villain makes moves in that spot in 3b pots more often or do you find the population tendency in that spot might lead towards the exploitative smaller sizing cbet being best? (I find my default would always be to cbet larger on this wet board if i'm going to and then be in an eh/awkward spot if they raise but i'm bad and I don't adjust enough in this kind of spot )

lol @ the villains play in the Q hand, poker is dead!


glgl with the sesions, ship a tcoop!


(Sweet sounds good, sent you a pm with my skype!^^)

To be honest I think the general population vs 3 bets in EP vs EP/MP plays very nitty in general. I think what i should be doing here is betting like ~23k/calling off/jamming most turns, and thats what i ll be doing almost always. all my bluffs are essentially heart draws here and value would be AK KJs AA JJ (KK i prob play diff). as i said though villain was a brazillian blaster and i felt he would tool out a lot of vs my smaller sizing, but probably should just stick to the game plan in hindsight

thanks a lot dude will add you up

https://www.boomplayer.com/22338759_3B8451ED39
was jamming the Q high for value boys no worries!

Lol good read
GL with TCOOP

"Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing." -Vince Lombardi

Supsup my hombres?

Damn, I wish I could come on here and tell you guys that I worked my ass off this week and made a lot of progress. Unfortunately, this ride isn't all sunshine and rainbows and I need to ride the lows just as much as I ride the highs. This week was unacceptable from most standpoints and fairly detrimental to my long term goals. Part of this ride is noting and improving on my failures just as much as it is noting my successes, it sucks, but here it goes:

Health:

Workouts Completed this week: (1/6)
Cheat meal: 5/1
Cold Showers: 7/7... I have now completed this challenge and can go back to warmer showers. This was a good test of willpower. It sucks having to get into a cold shower every morning, especially at the beginning, but I started to get used to it. Besides, there is apparently some health benefits with showering in cold.
20 Minute Meditation Session: 3/7
Books Read: .5/1
Body Weight +/-: -6 lbs. (since beginning of year)

Wealth:

Training Videos Watched: 1/1
Hours in the lab: 0/2
Sessions played: 4/4
Hours put into researching new avenues of revenue generation: 0
Weekly Proft: -1945
https://gyazo.com/573a80d6d568922c8f7f473d37e7814e
Yearly Profit: -2536
https://gyazo.com/34ca87a7ee37c499ea449581df6a73f2

Live Poker Profit This Year: +795


Miscellaneous: So yeah, as you can see above my week was pretty brutal from a process and results standpoint across the board. This is unacceptable and I will not tolerate that from myself this upcoming week. Any day where I don't stick to my diet or follow my workout regime I will be donating 25$ to the most recent poster in here.

Story of leaving my comfort zone: I went and talked to a homeless person on the street. I've never really thought about this too much in the past but the general attitude towards the homeless (in Canada, idk about other places) is extremely derogatory. People just ignore them and view them as scum for the most part. In general they are asking for handouts (not always to buy aiding things). It's just weird how nobody talks to them or acknowledges them (although you can probably assume why). Yeah, they may use the money to go buy drugs...but what caused their drug habits in the first place?

Any points worth mentioning about weekly book or readings: This is another part that I dropped the ball this week. I actually started re-reading "The Game" by Neil Strauss. It's a very interesting story about the original guys who created the "Pick-up Community". It's pretty corny at times but there is a tonne of great information in there. The book that I will be reading this week is "Zero to One".

Hands: I actually think I played pretty solid poker for the most part this week. Here is a few hands of interest:

https://www.boomplayer.com/22404362_5000A2B314
this hand is probably a bit of a disaster from me on the river. villain is a very loose opener hence why i flat pre+i flat a tonne of hands in BB here pre so i like to include strong hands too. i guess x/c flop and turn is all i can do really, sucks tehre isnt too many hands he can have here. river sucks because i dont think he bluffs it ever, or jams for thin value so i just jammed and hope he finds the cape. i would have some bluffs here, i just think he checks behind close to 100% on this river.

https://www.boomplayer.com/22404098_7089473026
villain had 38cc

https://www.boomplayer.com/22400924_67ED74F7BF
felt like a punt but gross spot. maybe can just start calling pre here. i think his call down is probably bad given i seldomly have bluffs here other than exactly AKss prob.

https://www.boomplayer.com/22400689_4D23F29B32
i guess hes turning top pair into a bluff? vamoo brazil

https://www.boomplayer.com/22399863_8EC8551F10
sums up the day. should obv just put him in on turn obv but didnt read stack proper.


Random Rant of the Week:

So as you all probably know (unless you live under a rock), Donald J. Trump became the president of the USA this week. I honestly don't think I've seen a person ever be such a focal point of: jokes, criticism, praise, media, conversation, confrontation, or interest. It's amazing to see all of these people up in arms about who the president of the USA is (even those outside of it). Don't ask me how the American electoral system ever allowed this guy to be El Presidente. I also find it amazing to see how many people are expending copious amounts of time and energy worrying about what this guy will implement or how life will be like under a Trump America. To throw a wild guess out there I don't think changes will be drastic, but I'm far from an expert. That being said: Donald Trump will not stop you from: losing weight, enjoying life, being a good person, or achieving your life goals. (Maybe in some cases he would haha). So anyways, no need to worry about stuff out of our control that will have little effect on our lives. Don't let external factors be an excuse for not being the best version of yourself.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a side note I went and spoke with a mentor of mine this week. In conversation they asked me: Mike, if you were to die today, and a newspaper article was written about you...what would you want it to say? What would it say? I guess I started thinking very deeply about this question and it took me quite a long time to conjure up a coherent answer. It was tougher to answer than it sounded. I mean long story short I've realized that whenever I'm on my death bed, I want to say "I've lived a fulfilled life and I didn't leave anything on the table." I'm so close to that, yet so ****ing far! Right now I have so many things that I want to do, places I want to see, and people I want to spend time with. Time is precious. Life beckons.


"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts." -Winston Churchill

Thanks for all the love so far in 2017 y'all!

The game is a fantastic read. I read it when I was a kid for the cringe worthy factors, but glad I did to this day. The book relates really well to the Vince Lombardi quote. In order to make the odd lot of misfits successful at their desired craft, they had to recreate their habits. This had and has value in so many areas of life. Actually being able to execute is another story. Neil's ability to drop his inhibitions on a whim was what made him "one of them".

As for the comfort zone aspect. A lot of these people are honestly just down on their luck. I'm not saying someone stole all their money and forged the deed of their home. They were just never put in a place to succeed in the first place. Talking to them can gain perspective, but its tough to do when your anxious to get form A to B.

The news article exercise is great. Also how I know i'm no where ready to die.

GL this week.

Yeah, a very eye opening book for sure! Reading it definitely led to a few paradigm shifts for me. I agree with you in the sense that some people are born in a worse boat to begin with and are unlucky because of that. Maybe we didn't all win the genetic lottery, or have perfect upbringings, or weren't born social geniuses...but I think realizing those imperfections and becoming comfortable with them can catapult a person to be far better off than being born with those fortunes. (Although most will never take those steps)

Just like a person with an average or below average IQ might be hugely disadvantaged in the game of poker, they will blow a genius out of the water..if they put in the work that the genius fails to. (ofc ceteris paribus the genius will win).

The 4th hand is such a chip graph ruiner , adds to the annoyance of getting sucked out on UL

For the homeless thing I think it's hard for most people to talk to them because usually we are raised to look down on them because when you are a kid and have parents turning away the people begging for money you just never have a good image of them, idk there's some really popular inspirational vids of people talking to homeless people and finding a really good person who just made mistakes in life. I guess it's just easier for people to not get involved in things such as talking to homeless people / acknowledging them because they fear they will have to stop to talk. Are there many homeless people where you are? I live in a big city but you don't see many/any homeless unless you go downtown near the homeless shelters etc.
What was your experience talking to him?

Yeah I definitely think it's within good reason that parents tell their kids to avoid them etc for the most part. I think as humans we also form stereotypes and snap judgements for good reason (and usually there is a lot of truth in them.) ie when our ancestors grew up in the jungle or w/e they had to form judgements quickly and accurately, or else they could end up on the dinner plate of a sabre tooth tiger. There is so much more than meets the eye to the average homeless person (I would assume)...genetic predisposition issues, childhood traumas, etc. Unfortunately, we just chalk them up quickly with a snap judgement. In Kitchener/Waterloo there is a few in the downtown. Obviously nothing like a large American city or Toronto. The experience was interesting, although short. At first he was quite shocked that I was genuinely talking to him, and it was a little bit too uncomfortable so I didn't really want to scratch much beneath the surface. Definitely felt good though reaching out to another human in need, gave me a warm feeling.

Week is off to a good start. First poker session was today, had a lot of deep runs and my level of play and focus is quite high. Got 4th in a 27 hyper the FT was pretty gross but w/e nice lottery win for ~900$. Here's a few hands:

https://www.boomplayer.com/22432138_96199FF3A4
yeah i mean enough said, had some villain reads. if he didnt size up on the turn so much i probably would have laid this down on the river. However, i think its tough to call turn and then fold river given sizing.

https://www.boomplayer.com/22431350_39EBD85A44
std i think. i like my river sizing given i ll have a lot of bluffs here too (or perceived bluffs). i also value bet a lot in these spots too ofc.

https://www.boomplayer.com/22430864_3AF71123B4
when u gotta turn ur trapped KK into a bluff on FT bubble

https://www.boomplayer.com/22430586_7E4D42F287
is this jam too wide vs a nitty silver star?

https://www.boomplayer.com/22429599_4B80D0A693
im always clueless in these spots. idk if its ok to be flatting AJo here vs a somewhat nitty villain. i think river is a pretty clear v bet. i'll definitely need to do some lab work for 3 bet pots this week.

anyways gonna probably take most of tomorrow off to do some lab work/irl stuff like get groceries etc. might play a nightly session. GL y'all!

The 96o is even a jam in cev equilibrium, 25% antes are no joke. Can probably go 100% vs described villain (72o is +cev once they call less than 43.7%, 33+ Ax K2s+ K4o+ Q4s+ Q7o+ J7s+ J8o+ T8s+ T9o).

gl this year, solid read so far

Gg in the $27 hyper and good to hear your session went solid!

Regarding your hands,

A5o - I am folding the turn here and definitely the river. I find it hard for villain to really show up with worse here unless he is just a complete spaz. This is a terrible runout for him to bluff and he can bet turn/river pretty thin (all 2pr's, sets, AJ+, given your range is somewhat face up.

A2o - I like your river sizing, it's very hard for us to show up with value hands here, so betting on the larger side gets us more value.

KK - Wpwp, love the river x/r.

96o - Give that the antes are 25% of the Big Blind, I'm pretty sure Nash would say 95o+ here, not to mention a nitty silverstar isn't going to be calling correctly here (I'd assume much tighter than he should). A quick glance at the Nash chart and it is indeed a 95o+ spot and this assumes villain is calling perfectly.

AJo - Flatting here is definitely fine given how small villain 3bet, even if he is a NIT. Just make sure you are very cautious postflop unless you hammer the board. River sizing looks good.

thanks bro! yeah i think it has to be a jam as well. just had someone telling me its better to limp vs a tight villain but idk if there is merit to that. jamming seems to print.

A5o yeah i agree he should like never be bluffing here as my range is super protected, especially when i call the turn my range is soo strong. i only called cuz this specific villain is a spazz but im normally just folding turn.

A2- agree. in spots where we can have a tonne of bluffs and our perceived betting range is very polarized we can extend value range. ie if villain thinks we only bet the nuts here with this sizing and they are bluff catching with any pair, it owns them when we v bet like 2 pair +

agree with all else tyvm for your thoughts sir.

pretty drunk atm. a friend and i are starting a thing where we go out every tuesday night and push ourselves to leave our comfort zones each week. note to my sober self: this is crucial to personal development and must be done.

actually had a great time tonight fwiw. talked to a lot of people and it felt good to let loose on a weekday.

Grats on the $27 score,


going out on a weekday evening always seems to be more enjoyable, way too crowded and obnoxious on weekends or maybe I am just anti social

glad you had a good time dude