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YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread)

05-25-2019 , 10:48 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by YugiohPro

3rd in 100e Night on Stars for 2518e
u couldn't even close after cracking my kings w v v debatable 4b jam, meh

gl tmrw
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-26-2019 , 10:50 AM
Hi man, I have been reading this thread at work for the last two days now. Good stuff, very inspiring. Keep up the good work! Also in for the freeroll I hope
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-26-2019 , 02:02 PM
Hey Dude,
thanks for writing down all that good stuff, haven't finished reading (yet) but already have a question for you. I see that you are overall being very solid with your grind and results.

So, What are the most important factors for you that contribute to being a solid grinder? I find it very tough to stay consistent with my B-Game and tend to slip into C-Game and worse a lot. Especially in the start of the session I always spew one buyin before I get back to normal and start to play good. But must say I'm on a long breakeven stretch now, couple of months, and it's frustrating. You probably have been there too. How did you get out of it? What things helped you the most to get out of a nasty slope? It feels like an endless battle I can't win, even though I was beating 55s with a solid ROI on party over a good sample.

Thanks in advance, and keep crushing! Your blog is awesome
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-27-2019 , 05:54 PM
Nice work man, read the whole thread and am subbed. I’m also trying to turn things around after a big heater followed by a big downswing myself. If you get complacent after wins I think it can be useful to set big goals, like buying a property, so that that 70k win just feels like a chip off where you need to get rather than the end goal.
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-28-2019 , 12:47 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by nomalice
u couldn't even close after cracking my kings w v v debatable 4b jam, meh

gl tmrw
Thanks. Did not know that was you. You are a tough customer at the Stars.com tables so I will make a note here

Quote:
Originally Posted by fikuuu
Hi man, I have been reading this thread at work for the last two days now. Good stuff, very inspiring. Keep up the good work! Also in for the freeroll I hope
Thank you.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TopBallerB
Hey Dude,
thanks for writing down all that good stuff, haven't finished reading (yet) but already have a question for you. I see that you are overall being very solid with your grind and results.

So, What are the most important factors for you that contribute to being a solid grinder? I find it very tough to stay consistent with my B-Game and tend to slip into C-Game and worse a lot. Especially in the start of the session I always spew one buyin before I get back to normal and start to play good. But must say I'm on a long breakeven stretch now, couple of months, and it's frustrating. You probably have been there too. How did you get out of it? What things helped you the most to get out of a nasty slope? It feels like an endless battle I can't win, even though I was beating 55s with a solid ROI on party over a good sample.

Thanks in advance, and keep crushing! Your blog is awesome
I'll incorporate this into my post below.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Simonsayscall
Nice work man, read the whole thread and am subbed. I’m also trying to turn things around after a big heater followed by a big downswing myself. If you get complacent after wins I think it can be useful to set big goals, like buying a property, so that that 70k win just feels like a chip off where you need to get rather than the end goal.
Thanks for joining Simon!
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-28-2019 , 02:15 AM
SCOOP Final Update: Mistakes were Made and Lessons were Learned




Final Numbers (Shallow= 0-40bb, Reshove= 0-25bb)

Adjusted bb/100: 6.12
Actual bb/100: 3.91

Adjusted Shallow bb/100: 6.69
Actual Shallow bb/100: 1.03

Adjusted Reshove bb/100: 5.93
Actual Reshove bb/100: 0.18

Notable Results

1/332 Sunday 109 Hyper for 6.5k
5/806 in Sunday Supersonic for 7k
20/679 in Monday 6-Max $215 for 1.1k
42/593 in $530 Bounty Builder High Roller for 2k
156/1123 in $530 Sunday Bounty Builder High Roller for 1.7k

SCOOPS

30/3458 in 17-M $109
50/5212 in 26-M $55
69/1913 in 52-M $215
639/3865 in 01-H $215 Phase

KO Fests

20/933 in KO Series 01-H $215 for 1.3k
39/323 in KO Series 03-HR $2100 for 6.1k
53/863 in KO-Series 17-H $320 for 1.5k
100/1976 in KO Series 52-H $215

SCOOP Events Played: 88
Avg Stake: $279
Profit: -$19,772
************************************************** *****************

Alright that is a lot of data! It felt a bit cathartic (for lack of a better word) to list out the actual finishes. It's all too easy for tournament grinders to be defined by their luck in a few high equity life-changing spots. When I write out exactly how deep I ran in some of these tournaments, see what I cashed for, and then compare it to the winners of each event, you and me we can see together that there's a thin line between success and failure. The key is to not mind success or failure at all. Letting your flips define you is a fool's game and I'm glad I learned that at the end.

Going forward the things I will care about and prioritize are the things I can directly control. Focus at the tables. EV bb/100. Red line. WWSF. Game selection. Sucka MCs slayed. Erectile function. You know the deal. The truth is the short term runs are temporary. My homie jdawg showed me some graphs recently of some notable folk. Even the sickest sickos are just dusting 200k, 400k, 600k straight down. Yes I got hit pretty hard right now but it was always going to happen at some point. Just a matter of when. Armed with what I know now I hope to avoid the come down in the future and always stay sharp and vigilant.

I don't have much $ to show for it but I'm proud of that red line tournaround you see from game 761 onward. WWSF from the point I changed my habits up on 05/23 was 48.69 compared to 45.88 from 05/11 to 05/22. That is a marked increase and I have that vroom vroom red line to show for it. I'm going to close with Sunday + Monday results and then some reflections and lessons learned.

Final Sunday + Monday

Me oh my I was getting destroyed. 4 bullets into the $1050 SCOOP-M. 2 bullets in the Party $1050 Million. 3 bullets in the Party $320 Million. And you know what? In the middle of it I realized I had already grown numb to the buy-ins being flung around and I realized I was having FUN. That's right, I said it. I wasn't focused on the financials. I was focused on playing the best I can even as I was busting both my Phases and all my runs left and right. For me personally it's just so fun focusing on the metrics, the win rate/red line/WWSF and trying to build a sustainable future. It almost removes the financial component and makes it more like a video game which is always good for me.

It could have been just blind luck or the poker gods smiling upon me but I started sun running the Supersonic and the $109 Hyper simultaneously. My hyper results this year have been incredible and I'm pretty sure my hyper gaming is the only reason I'm not stone BUSTO at this point. I've put up two fifth place finishes in the Supersonic over the past month! Ended up winning the $109 Hyper and getting 5th in the Sonic to eke out a small profit for the day. I had built several stacks in the WPN events but they were all cancelled. Holy **** the new WPN software is the biggest train wreck I've seen in a while. I will write a separate article hate hate hating on WPN later.

So I came back today and put together another grind. Played the $1,050 Million and the $109 PKO along with the $530 and $55 turbos. Again I ran like gonnorhea-tinged herpes aids at $530+ but again I was having fun. And again, at the end, I hyper gaming uped a $20 Midnight Express CHOO CHOOOOOOOOOOOO for the win. 2.8k Euro in the bank. And then I put up a 4th in the Bounty Builder $55, a 5th in the $215 Diablo, and another win in the 50 Euro NIGHT CLUB on IPoker for a winning Monday and my fourth winning session in a row.

Unfortunately I've only been booking small wins each day because I'm not outright winning the FT's like a Ship Ship McGee. But it is encouraging that this streak of winning sessions coincides with my re-dedication to the game. I will be taking a break until Sunday to pay attention to my lovely wife and daughter. I will leave you with a few nuggets I have learned during this most trying of times.

Lessons Learned

1. True Edges and Safety Nets

From Friday onward I've cut quite a few daily fires that have saved me a lot of money. I'm not going to write out a full list because blakkman and other value grinders will kill me but an example I've constantly referenced is the Winamax High Roller. Today I skipped the $200 Battle Royale on Winamax and fired the $100's and $50's instead. The nice thing about cutting the marginal $215+ is you can add 3 $33's in their place without feeling guilty. It saves me a lot of money and stress because I don't have to battle in the thinnest games against the better regulars.

I have a global alias of elite mtt regs and I do searches constantly, especially when I'm on a downer (lol), so none of it was really surprising to me. But two graphs I've seen recently have shocked me. Both are ranked by various metrics (Hendonmob/Sharkscope/GPI/PocketFives etc) as two of the best regulars in the world. And both are on 400k+ downers. This just confirms for me that it's very difficult to know what your true edge is especially if you're solo like me. After all, if dozens of the best MTTers ever are just eating 200k+ no big deal, how do you know what's what?! It's much easier for a legend, who is constantly talking to other legends, or someone like a bitB warrior to continue pursuing high stakes in the face of downswings because they have a group of successful people who can encourage them. I have a small circle of friends who believe in me and encourage me but it's not enough because I have a family to support.

One thing is clear. All games at $109+ become tougher during SCOOP. My final adjusted bb/100 was 6.12 (it improved after I regained focus) which is much lower than my overall sample putting up double digits. My adjusted bb/100 at $530+ is even lower (3.87 over 16,186 hands at $320+). There is a MARKED increase in difficulty battling against the tougher lineups on Party. And then deep into WPN birds and Winamax High Rollers I play against players who are so tough I like to call it "machine tough." This is when some of their frequencies are so robust and powerful it's almost like you're playing against a bot.

So here's my objective take on myself. I think in theory I'm good enough, especially at shallower stacks and ICM, where I belong in these games if I 6 table them and laser focus. 4 adjusted bb/100, especially in the 0-40bb range, should make money in these games. I think if I run well enough I have what it takes to win any tournament in the world. HOWEVER, in practice I'm not good enough. The cream of the crop players are fantastic and even against the meh regulars you're just playing tables filled with 3 elite regs, 3 meh regs, and no fish. I don't have the fortitude or life position to absorb the swings either so it doesn't make sense. And I'm okay with that. Others might enjoy looking into Lena's eyes and smelling his hair to gain a read. That might be for other sick players but that's not for me. I'm fine with staying in my midstakes lane with the occasional high shot.

It was a funny thing firing 4 bullets into the SCOOP-M Main with no problem at all. Fires like these are just so so so much better than investing in a $1,050 300k on Party. It just reaffirms for me that high stakes shots should be special. Also every site is running a series with such regularity that the average Jaes like me just can't keep up with all the $530+ out there.

2. Princess Twilight Sparkle's Friendship Rainbow Kingdom

Poker is a very isolating game and it's easy to succumb to the dark throes of tentacled madness when you're out there grinding by yourself and getting dusted. I really grew an appreciation for friends to talk to and just shoot the **** with. Wildawg and Team Hearthstone, kleath, alexos, jdawg, blakkman and more just came through in the clutch. Also got a decent $ from swaps sent my way which was great. I would encourage you by hook or by crook to find people who are playing your games to connect with. Different perspectives can be invaluable.

3. Personal Improvement and the Secret to MTTs

One of the bright sides of this downswing is it has motivated me to improve and I'm seeing gains. I've taken a deeper look at a ton of concepts such as future game ICM, BB vs SB play, 4-betting for fun and profit, check raising strategies, and more. And while grinding SCOOP I've come to realize the secret to MTTs. I've long known this but it's nice to just finally have it crystallize in me.

Almost everyone you meet in non-HS MTTs is a scum nit. People like Darwin, giraf, probirs, imluckbox, and totti have all the money at high stakes because they're some of the more notable players in replays for not nut peddling and bringing it big boss style. Even 80%+ of the regulars in HSMTT replays are just twirling daisy stems together to create a potpourri of scum nittery.

I'm obviously not going to list out every spot but there are so many common occurrences where I go through my database and see that most regulars just have it every time in these spots. I'm not talking about 1-2 situations but I'm talking about 10+ situations where they're just peddling nuts left and right like a vendor at Chavez Ravine. They like to teehee and pretend like they're capable of bluffing but nope. And this is where the scum part comes in. See I'd be okay with people just nitting quietly you know. But the amount of times I've seen them do something slightly different with Aces, or min bet/quarter pot a board because they have a monster hand, or show me the meaning of true have it artistry.. it's just pure knavery.

So for me the thing I learned during this series is MTTs are just a game of outracing the scum nits. There are oodles of spots that will print for you and then there are spots that will print for them disproportionately in their favor. And the key is to just avoid the scum-ridden spots that will give you venereal disease.

I am starting a club called G.R.O.S.S.W.N.P. Get Rid of Slimy NitS Who Nut Peddle. PM me if you want to join there will be free cake and lemonade. Honestly if I didn't work for PokerStars in the past I would start War Challenge #2 and start putting these sweethearts on BLAST.
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-28-2019 , 08:30 AM
The world needs War Challenge #2 RIGHT NOW
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-28-2019 , 10:14 AM
Count me in

I realized that same lol. And it annoys me when some GTO wizard comes and tells me I have to call in this spot because I am on top of my range.

And thanks for the last post, a lot of stuff is really eye-opening and makes me not wanna swing my dick in games anymore I don't have a big edge in.

Keep up the good work man!
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-28-2019 , 10:18 AM
In for the club and freroll if still open
Gg scoop
Nice post as always
Gl rest have fun with family
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-28-2019 , 11:46 AM
Cheaaaa, nice post

We're gonna getemm all summer long, lescooo
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-28-2019 , 03:11 PM
IN for NITclub

ow8
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-29-2019 , 02:06 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by blakkman08
IN for NITclub

ow8

lol

I think there is more to the story than hs mtt elite regs not nut peddling.
Nice post as always. I was wondering where you went while you were at isle of man.
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-29-2019 , 03:12 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by YugiohPro

I love poker so much and I also can't afford to lose.

$2100+- Not allowed. After 200k+ profit, series shots are allowed on case by case basis if they have $1m guaranteed+ with no re-entry
$1050- Series fires allowed on case by case basis. Minimum is $400k+ prize pool no re-entry.
$530- Sunday BBHR allowed as a one off shot. Re-evaluating the daily BBHR on a daily basis due to recommendations from a few respected friends. No other $530's.
$215 range- Cut down bad daily tournaments

There's never a shortage of tournaments to play on all sites. Stuff like random $33's and $55's add a decent chunk of $ to my pocket and provide zero stress.

FREEROLL ALERT: If I break the terms of this post I will send $500 to the next 50 posters in this thread.
Less stress and more $? Sounds great! Best of luck!

Quote:
Originally Posted by blakkman08
IN for NITclub
Nit reporting in

Last edited by Raistlyn M; 05-29-2019 at 03:20 AM.
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-29-2019 , 06:34 PM
Secret to MTTs...Post of the year
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
05-29-2019 , 08:00 PM
Great post, keep up the great work !

Subbed, will try to read the whole thread from the beginning these days !

Last edited by sqrt; 05-29-2019 at 08:29 PM.
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
06-13-2019 , 02:36 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by YugiohPro

3. Personal Improvement and the Secret to MTTs

One of the bright sides of this downswing is it has motivated me to improve and I'm seeing gains. I've taken a deeper look at a ton of concepts such as future game ICM, BB vs SB play, 4-betting for fun and profit, check raising strategies, and more. And while grinding SCOOP I've come to realize the secret to MTTs. I've long known this but it's nice to just finally have it crystallize in me.

Almost everyone you meet in non-HS MTTs is a scum nit. People like Darwin, giraf, probirs, imluckbox, and totti have all the money at high stakes because they're some of the more notable players in replays for not nut peddling and bringing it big boss style. Even 80%+ of the regulars in HSMTT replays are just twirling daisy stems together to create a potpourri of scum nittery.

I'm obviously not going to list out every spot but there are so many common occurrences where I go through my database and see that most regulars just have it every time in these spots. I'm not talking about 1-2 situations but I'm talking about 10+ situations where they're just peddling nuts left and right like a vendor at Chavez Ravine. They like to teehee and pretend like they're capable of bluffing but nope. And this is where the scum part comes in. See I'd be okay with people just nitting quietly you know. But the amount of times I've seen them do something slightly different with Aces, or min bet/quarter pot a board because they have a monster hand, or show me the meaning of true have it artistry.. it's just pure knavery.

So for me the thing I learned during this series is MTTs are just a game of outracing the scum nits. There are oodles of spots that will print for you and then there are spots that will print for them disproportionately in their favor. And the key is to just avoid the scum-ridden spots that will give you venereal disease.

I am starting a club called G.R.O.S.S.W.N.P. Get Rid of Slimy NitS Who Nut Peddle. PM me if you want to join there will be free cake and lemonade. Honestly if I didn't work for PokerStars in the past I would start War Challenge #2 and start putting these sweethearts on BLAST.
lol just read this war challenge 2 would be damn epic.

if you stick around the same schedule I play, then lets get em! fwiw I did see a morning schedule reg bluff a non std spot i think back in March cos I noted it. He got the "INSANE" tag now!

vamoooooooooo
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
06-20-2019 , 12:13 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by KingIdo87
The world needs War Challenge #2 RIGHT NOW
Quote:
Originally Posted by TopBallerB
Count me in

I realized that same lol. And it annoys me when some GTO wizard comes and tells me I have to call in this spot because I am on top of my range.

And thanks for the last post, a lot of stuff is really eye-opening and makes me not wanna swing my dick in games anymore I don't have a big edge in.

Keep up the good work man!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Re8uZ
In for the club and freroll if still open
Gg scoop
Nice post as always
Gl rest have fun with family
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdawg91
Cheaaaa, nice post

We're gonna getemm all summer long, lescooo
Quote:
Originally Posted by blakkman08
IN for NITclub

ow8
Quote:
Originally Posted by blank0909
lol

I think there is more to the story than hs mtt elite regs not nut peddling.
Nice post as always. I was wondering where you went while you were at isle of man.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raistlyn M
Less stress and more $? Sounds great! Best of luck!


Nit reporting in
Quote:
Originally Posted by djslumdog
Secret to MTTs...Post of the year
Quote:
Originally Posted by sqrt
Great post, keep up the great work !

Subbed, will try to read the whole thread from the beginning these days !
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solidthought
lol just read this war challenge 2 would be damn epic.

if you stick around the same schedule I play, then lets get em! fwiw I did see a morning schedule reg bluff a non std spot i think back in March cos I noted it. He got the "INSANE" tag now!

vamoooooooooo
Thanks for the kind words and funny comments guys. I agree with you blank that there is more to the story, that was a bit reductive :P
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
06-20-2019 , 01:40 AM
The Death of Greatness

My friend offered me an apple the other day and I refused to take it. We were going for breakfast immediately after. When is an apple not an apple?

Flashback to February 2019. Before the binks, before the glory hunting, I was just a humble grinder yo-yoing 0-20k and trying to make ends meet. Wilson, my coach, came to visit me in Seoul and we had the first of our meetings. We bonded extremely well and he left me with a few life tips that I wrote down here actually. Let's revisit.

Quote:
1) Health

Wildawg is pretty fit and studies body health and stuff. He has suggested taking a cold shower in the morning, eating an apple a day first thing in the morning, using variable caffeine amounts instead of sticking to the same drink in the morning, and getting more cardio in.
My weight lately has always fluctuated between 85-90kg. I'm about 179cm so this is definitely way overweight. I've been fit most of my life so most people don't notice this because my weight is concentrated in my gut like a pregnant belly. This is something I've been lugging around for a while now and I know it's unhealthy. My metabolism and tubing just doesn't work like it did in my 20's.

Again at the risk of being overly simplistic I think my weight management is a good microcosm of larger issues I have with my life. To me it's a simple matter of discipline. I've long known that lugging around this kind of weight is not good for me and I do it anyways because I don't have the discipline and control to get a hold of it.

When is an apple not an apple? When I rejected the apple so callously, so casually, so carelessly, it was an encapsulation of how much I had regressed from that February mindset.

Back to the Beginning

Wil and I always have a great time together. He's been getting pretty heavy into the dating game lately and we talk a lot about his experiences. I've actually thought of a book pitch: Here's a super analytic elite poker player, in the top 0.001% of observational tendencies almost to a neurotic level, who hasn't experienced much in the way of male-female relations and is kind of learning it over from scratch. Explore his journey on modern dating apps over dozens of first dates and follow-ups with a range of women with keen insights and observations. I feel like these experiences would be great for anyone looking for dating advice. Yes/no? Genuine thoughts appreciated. I do realize it's quite difficult getting published.

We always end up walking in fancy malls too surrounded by the wealthy elite and then I always have my Scarface moment where I want to get all of the loot and buy matching Fendi toddler totes for my baby and missus. Speaking with him though makes me reflect on where I'm at in life.

If I had to drill down to the pure essence of why I resigned from PokerStars, it was the pursuit of greatness. I saw a stable, comforting, and rewarding career on one hand and then I saw something bigger, potentially, on the other path. With one life to live, I wanted to give this one last shot with no regrets.

I've always had a pretty high opinion of myself. All my life I've been skating by on brainpower and "potential" while my gifted and hard-working classmates were telling me they wish they had it. Key life lesson: most of these classmates are doing much better than I am now and some of them are absolutely smashing it.

I can see alternate life paths where I could have done great work with writing, or comedy, or business, or law. Yet I often chose the path of least resistance in every situation and here we are. At a certain point the world gives up on the Anthony Bennett's and Freddy Adu's of the world. Potential is just that. You need to actually convert it. There were many, many days in college and law school where I was just nowhere near maximizing my potential. In a way I was fortunate to find poker and do well at it. And then I was fortunate to be accepted by PokerStars.

It's difficult for me to parse why I've pursued poker for this long. Is it because of an intrinsic love for the game (which I have) or is it because of the glory 2012-2014 years having more money than I knew what to do with?

The Pursuit of Greatness

As Sophie grows up so quickly in front of me I've been reading about different parenting profiles about people like Son Heung Min, Tiger Woods, Venus and Serena Williams, etc. One thing that's interesting to me is how big of a driving force the parents are in the child's lives. And how they sometimes have to give up their own goals to go all in on their child. I've come to accept my own place in life. Yes, I've lived for most of my life thinking I was destined to do great things. But maybe greatness isn't for everybody. And I'm okay with that.

At PokerStars it was an interesting mix when I got there. There was an infusion of younger/newer people and then some of the grizzled old guard from the glory days of old PokerStars. The younger people were mostly just happy to be there. Very cheerful/happy personalities and very hard working. We loved the excitement of the job and the rush of each new task accomplished. I noticed the older veterans were much more pragmatic and guarded. I attributed this to them having worked with so many people over the years that come and go. It's tough to give your heart to people when there is a decent bit of turnover. I could see over a period of years working at Stars that they had built nice lives with pretty much everything you could ask for in terms of creature comforts. One of them even had a molecular water spinner that I'm still confused at what it does. Outrageous! And I remember thinking to myself when pondering this resignation that this life would not be bad at all. It almost represents the pinnacle of existence, to have a beautiful family and great food and everything you could ask for in terms of quality goods. It would take someone really driven and out of line to pass on this and pursue something more.

Two of the veterans were pretty heavy readers and would discuss a lot of books in the office. Heavy stuff where you know they're pretty serious with their mahogany bindings and evening cigars. I often thought to myself I could just keep working hard, keep my nose clean, and join the Kindle club and eventually start reading and writing a lot. Maybe even write that novel I planned to one day. I've always loved reading and writing but as an adult I've just never had the time for it it deserves. The thing about poker is it takes a lot of time. I was doing a lot of study and then also playing on the weekends. Wanting to build wealth and own the island I suppose.

Side note: one of the interesting things about PokerStars Luke is that he is one of the few people at the company who did achieve greatness and chose to gave it up. And he gave it up, the hotel suites with the SHIP IT HOLLA BALLAS, feeding sushi to durrrrr, and binking big birds because the joy of delivering hot tournaments to the masses every day outweighs all of it. I always admired him for this and had trouble accepting the fact that the people at the top had so much more say and influence than someone like him.

Realizations and Moving Forward

We're somewhere near the half way point of the year. I've had my ups and downs. Pulling back all the way though I see a graph of +$119k in $0-$320 games from December 14 onward. I see another super boost from BTC that takes me easily above six figures at the halfway point despite this soul crushing downswing. It makes all of the moaning and self-loathing quite questionable in my eyes. And I think I've let the numbers dictate the narrative for far too long. I'm going to switch a few things up.

1. Refocus on the Goal. I left PokerStars for the pursuit of greatness. I am not giving up on this. I will continue working hard at my craft and aim to become the Midstakes King. If it's not enough, I will find a rewarding career and devote myself to it. This will free up time for gaming, reading, writing, and such that fall to the wayside due to poker's dominance over my life.

2. Health Matters. My health is important. It's supremely important on its own merits but then it's also important in the sense that conquering my belly will be a reflection of my discipline and willpower. Not doing it means I'm weak.

3. Change the Conversation. I'm not going to define myself by the numbers any more. I was telling Wilson that even when I was +140k I wasn't super happy and when I was -70k I was near depressed. It's just a losing battle to have your happiness and worth tied up to how much you're making in luck adjusted winnings.

4. Human After All. I remember when I first started writing this blog I was filled with so much positive spirit and desire to change the industry and help poker players. And slowly as I got back into old habits, I became supremely focused on just the individual grind and the money making. I still have a lot to offer this world outside of just grinding a living at poker and I'm going to try to keep these skills sharp instead of being a soulless poker robot.

I will be doing some light streaming just to see how it feels and interact more especially during the withered NA hours: https://www.twitch.tv/goyugiohpro

I'll be working hard on making high effort posts in this blog. That aren't just focused on raw numbers and swings. I'll just leave with this because I would appreciate your thoughts on this:

Quote:
I've actually thought of a book pitch: Here's a super analytic elite poker player, in the top 0.001% of observational tendencies almost to a neurotic level, who hasn't experienced much in the way of male-female relations and is kind of learning it over from scratch. Explore his journey on modern dating apps over dozens of first dates and follow-ups with a range of women with keen insights and observations. I feel like these experiences would be great for anyone looking for dating advice. Yes/no? Genuine thoughts appreciated. I do realize it's quite difficult getting published.
This would be a mainstream dating book, not poker-niche.

Last edited by YugiohPro; 06-20-2019 at 02:01 AM.
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
06-20-2019 , 06:40 AM
Hi,
stumbled over your blog and read it from the half on. Great read and thanks for the insights!

The dating book... there are several books like this out already, also documentaries or TV reports kind of things, but I would suppose it is mainly from the female perspective so a book about the experiences of a man could be succesful I guess.

I kind of can relate to you well, as I have also a kid daughter (she turned 4 a month ago), also quit my day job last year to try and give full time poker a shot. I cannot complain results wise at all, have been running approximately around expected EV. I play lower than you due to lower BR and probably lower skill.
I had started just aswell as you had, then had a mega downswing that had my BR almost completely crushed just to bounce back luckily and now run smoothly. I see a lot of parallels between our runs, as I have been also flying high and mighty after crushing for the first few months only to be absolutely devastated after running so far under EV. I began slipping hardcore, monkey tilting my ass off and just burning even more money that way ofc. I was lucky enough to turn things around and since then have been much more conservative when it comes to BR management, game selection etc.
So I hope for you too your regained confidence and plan to take it on step by step from now, cutting out the high variance stuff and focussing on each decision and the daily grind will see the line go up steadily . In fact I am sure itt will if you keep it up!


A few questions (sorry if some of it is too deep into leeching content, I obv understand if you do not want to answer).

- You have written about it and now also Rob Yong in relation to the new Party policies: live assistance by "GTO software". I know about that program Skier had written a few years back for HU SnGs and I know regs that had been using it had quite a success. Do you think this is happening a lot in MTTs these days? Even on Stars and Party where they have somewhat reasonable security departments?

- How do you organize your grind and manage to keep playing so many tables even when playing HSs...
I find it quite impressive that you average on 80-90MTTs for a session whiley playing a ~80$ ABI and still hit such nice numbers in the EVBB department. How many tables do you play? Also you playing quite a few sites which software do you use (I imagine you will not want to answer this, but I still ask...) I have tried TableTamer, but gave up on it even after extensive contact with the developper, because it was just too buggy for me.

- Coaching:
Did you come back in to the full time grind with the plan to take a coach right away? Considering your posts I would say you do not regret it...
Do you organize all of your studying together with him or do you have a lot of studying going on on the side?


Thanks again for the thread and gl on the journey. And good luck in Vegas if you go!
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
06-20-2019 , 03:14 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by YugiohPro
Wil and I always have a great time together. He's been getting pretty heavy into the dating game lately and we talk a lot about his experiences. I've actually thought of a book pitch: Here's a super analytic elite poker player, in the top 0.001% of observational tendencies almost to a neurotic level, who hasn't experienced much in the way of male-female relations and is kind of learning it over from scratch. Explore his journey on modern dating apps over dozens of first dates and follow-ups with a range of women with keen insights and observations. I feel like these experiences would be great for anyone looking for dating advice. Yes/no? Genuine thoughts appreciated. I do realize it's quite difficult getting published.
This is a book I would read

Amazon self publishing has really opened the game. If you can write it, you can get it printed
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
06-20-2019 , 06:51 PM
@yugiouhpro You have any fav books/recomendations for life/self improvements???

I would recomend few if you havent read them
-Switch ... ( Chip Heath and Dan Heath)
-No excuses!...( Brian Tracy)
-The one thing (Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan)
-The motivation myth (Jeff Haden)
-The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (Mark Manson) this is all time fav for me

And would also recomend to watch some inteviews on Impact theory (Tom Bilyeu)
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
06-20-2019 , 09:54 PM
Thanks for the recommendations Re8 I'm going to give these a thorough look see.

Going live with a stream for the first time in a long time. Check it out!

https://www.twitch.tv/yugiohpro
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
06-20-2019 , 10:54 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by YugiohPro
Thanks for the recommendations Re8 I'm going to give these a thorough look see.

Going live with a stream for the first time in a long time. Check it out!

https://www.twitch.tv/yugiohpro
Couldn't get the layout working so never mind on this I will have to take another look on an off day.
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
06-21-2019 , 01:47 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by krendipont
Hi,
stumbled over your blog and read it from the half on. Great read and thanks for the insights!

The dating book... there are several books like this out already, also documentaries or TV reports kind of things, but I would suppose it is mainly from the female perspective so a book about the experiences of a man could be succesful I guess.

I kind of can relate to you well, as I have also a kid daughter (she turned 4 a month ago), also quit my day job last year to try and give full time poker a shot. I cannot complain results wise at all, have been running approximately around expected EV. I play lower than you due to lower BR and probably lower skill.
I had started just aswell as you had, then had a mega downswing that had my BR almost completely crushed just to bounce back luckily and now run smoothly. I see a lot of parallels between our runs, as I have been also flying high and mighty after crushing for the first few months only to be absolutely devastated after running so far under EV. I began slipping hardcore, monkey tilting my ass off and just burning even more money that way ofc. I was lucky enough to turn things around and since then have been much more conservative when it comes to BR management, game selection etc.
So I hope for you too your regained confidence and plan to take it on step by step from now, cutting out the high variance stuff and focussing on each decision and the daily grind will see the line go up steadily . In fact I am sure itt will if you keep it up!


A few questions (sorry if some of it is too deep into leeching content, I obv understand if you do not want to answer).

- You have written about it and now also Rob Yong in relation to the new Party policies: live assistance by "GTO software". I know about that program Skier had written a few years back for HU SnGs and I know regs that had been using it had quite a success. Do you think this is happening a lot in MTTs these days? Even on Stars and Party where they have somewhat reasonable security departments?

- How do you organize your grind and manage to keep playing so many tables even when playing HSs...
I find it quite impressive that you average on 80-90MTTs for a session whiley playing a ~80$ ABI and still hit such nice numbers in the EVBB department. How many tables do you play? Also you playing quite a few sites which software do you use (I imagine you will not want to answer this, but I still ask...) I have tried TableTamer, but gave up on it even after extensive contact with the developper, because it was just too buggy for me.

- Coaching:
Did you come back in to the full time grind with the plan to take a coach right away? Considering your posts I would say you do not regret it...
Do you organize all of your studying together with him or do you have a lot of studying going on on the side?


Thanks again for the thread and gl on the journey. And good luck in Vegas if you go!
Hey krendipoint, thanks for the thoughtful post and kind words.

1) dating book- I did a light perusal of the Amazon best sellers and I don't think anything is that close to my pitch. One of the things I've noticed when discussing the game with Wilson is how a lot of these girls are nooblords. It could be because they're Asian and he's attracting a certain type (he is opening dozens of matches a week though). From my recollections of growing up in America I think the women were cagier than what I'm seeing right now.

2) I'm glad you turned things around for your daughter's sake. Every time I'm about to monkey punt I see my sweet Sophie's face looking at me, saying please don't. I mostly end up doing it anyways but I've seen the way she handles her toys and food. Pure monkey spew so I'm sure she will approve! Best of luck on the grind and I hope you keep it up.

3) live assistance by GTO Software: I will write a post about Party's new direction within the next few days. Want to clarify that I'm definitely not using live assistance. Pretty sure that's clearly against the rules and you will get banfiscated if you're doing it. I think I have some idea of what's going on in MTT's these days but I won't post my public thoughts. I will say that PokerStars is much safer than pretty much every other site out there by far. I run into some murky behavior on other sites.

4) Thank you for your nice words. It gave me a pep in my step a bit. I really believe small actions/gestures can empower others and I've always tried to do this as well. I've been getting more out of line with my table counts lately and kind of moved away from the 9-tabling "skill building" once I started winning a lot. I'm not winning a lot any more so they're probably correlated. It's something I'm still working on but generally I'll be playing 12-15 tables at peak. I should really try to get this down to 9-12 even with a lowered ABI. It's hard to do this though when I'm firing so many $22-33's with Petey Phat Stacks EV bb.

I do not use any software other than StarsHelper and PokerTracker4. I would like to see StarsHelper features being put into the normal client.

5) My coach: I've been working with him since 2015. We continued the staking/coaching relationship even when I was at PokerStars freelancing on the weekends. I do most of the study on my own nowadays and post hands/theory for him and we discuss. It's gotten more informal now and I've mostly been sticking around because he's been very good to me and deserves some $


Quote:
Originally Posted by xnbomb
This is a book I would read

Amazon self publishing has really opened the game. If you can write it, you can get it printed
Thanks for this. I'll take a look and do some research.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Re8uZ
@yugiouhpro You have any fav books/recomendations for life/self improvements???

I would recomend few if you havent read them
-Switch ... ( Chip Heath and Dan Heath)
-No excuses!...( Brian Tracy)
-The one thing (Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan)
-The motivation myth (Jeff Haden)
-The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (Mark Manson) this is all time fav for me

And would also recomend to watch some inteviews on Impact theory (Tom Bilyeu)
Any Impact theory interviews you recommend? I did a light reading of the synopses of these books you recommended and I think they're all pretty compelling. Some of them even had summaries written about them. Is this something you've actually been engaged in that's changed your life?

I've always found this self help kind of industry pretty gross overall but as I grow older I'm beginning to see it's more of a weakness than a strength. I think it's because of the way my mom raised me though (very tough no nonsense no medications). I just remember an ex-girlfriend of mine in Vegas just constantly posting Instagram pics with motivational captions in them and ew.

Shoutout to one of my colleagues at Stars the French Connection aka the Mountain Man aka the son of Thierry. I mentioned the late registration bug (tables wouldn't pop and you'd end up blinding out of the tournament) and he put a ticket in. He told me on Monday there's a new version that should have fixed the issue. I'm not sure if it's fully fixed at this point but I haven't had the issue all week! That was definitely the most frustrating thing about the Stars software and I really hope it's fixed. It's cost me (and them) thousands of dollars personally.
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote
06-21-2019 , 02:03 AM
Do you know much about the live mtt world? I find it pretty fascinating and am curious at a good mtt regs thoughts on it. These guys that are traveling around to a bunch of different stops all year (not the super high roller regs but like the avg solid reg that grinds a bunch of the $1-2k ish stuff and then fires the 5 or 10k main event for each series as well), do you think these guys are actually making a worthwhile amount ev wise? Can a strong reg get a million in buyins in the 1k-10k range per year at a 30-40% roi? No prob if you don't have any familiarity, but you seem like someone who might have an informed opinion with your long mtt background and your work with pokerstars.
YugiohPro: There and Back Again (MTT Discussion Thread) Quote

      
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