Large Leak Identified

Decided to post a quick comment. I played a lot yesterday, and lost a chunk. I ran very far below EV, but also made some mistakes. Then today, I played a short session and lost a bunch quickly, mostly due to stacking off with AA vs a set facing a turn XR.

I knew immediately that I should have folded, and really villain messed up by making a very unbalanced turn XR on a dry board. I should have capitalized on that mistake by folding - they allowed me to lose the minimum, but I am bad at folding AA postflop.

I stopped my session immediately and started to look at some DB filters - and it's pretty clear that I am calling Turn/River raises in spots where I should just fold. Fortunately, this is probably the biggest leak I have at the moment, and it's an easy fix. I am about to review every hand so far this month where I faced these actions, and going to try to drill it in that I should be folding these spots.

There are at least 1 or 2 bad beats here (the 500NL spot was losing with 2nd nut FH vs quads, in a spot where we win a lot even if villain is only jamming FH+), but for the most part, there are a lot of errors here.

Hey Doug,
I can relate to the wish to play poker as some side event to the job. So I'd like to follow your journal.

Without poker, I feel like I don't really have a strong "why" that
pushes me to do these things...
But I can autopilot my way through my software career for the most
part.

This resonated with me especially.

Wish you GL

You have a good job, investments, house and a family, focus on these instead imo. You'll need to invest more than 20 hours a week to get near a +20k year playing 100nl, or even having a winrate at 500nl, and even then i assume you arent at a level to have a decent winrate off the bat at 100nl so theres a learning curve where you will probably lose. Play for fun and study the game because it is fun but treat it as a hobby and not a side hustle. To make good money at poker it needs to be more than a side hustle imo.

Good Luck

A Light Week

(weekly update)

Results: +$467. Won $576 in cash, lost $109 in MTT.
Volume: 6.35 hours
Study: 2.6 hours

This week was very light on volume, because I had family come to visit and stay with us all weekend. That is generally when I will get in most of my volume and also a chunk of my study.

I only played 4 really short sessions, and fortunately they were all winning sessions. I played around a 65/35 split of 100NL and 200NL (more 100NL). The games have been good, and I feel like I mostly played at or around my A-game, except for today's session. My brother in law and his wife came to stay, and last night we got pretty drunk and went bowling, and I got shit sleep. So today after some light exercise and a bath/rest, I played about 90 mins.

One logistical error I made this week was to register a $109 MTT on a weeknight. My plan when I registered was actually to play 2 MTT + 4 cash tables and have a long session. But pretty much immediately after I regged, Bovada software started freezing/crashing and generally having issues. I ended up finishing the MTT on my phone, and didn't last long. Probably kind of punted on my bustout hand.

I am OK with this light-volume week, since we haven't seen my BIL for a while, and did not get to see them for the holidays. We had a great time.

Didn't get in a ton of study, but I did review every hand I had marked and found/fixed a leak. A note on my study hours: I only count the time I spend at my computer reviewing hands/running sims as "study time". I probably spent close to 2h watching poker videos, and another 4 hours listening to strategical poker podcasts this week, but those activities don't count towards my "study hours".

Outside of poker, I am very happy with my fitness this week. I was very consistent and did 4 strength training sessions (which is my weekly goal), and did sauna/cold plunge on all of those days just before playing. Work kind of sucked this week - was a pretty stressful week, but am happy that I showed up every day and stayed committed to my exercise and logging what I eat. Today I installed a wall track for my MaxPro (if you are interested in fitness, this thing is the nuts when it comes to working out at home with limited budget/space). So now I can do a few of the exercises I haven't been able to.

I am looking forward to the upcoming week! I do have plans on Saturday again, but am planning to mostly play Saturday (on top of short weeknight sessions).

Targets for next week

• Review all tagged HH from this week
• Look into different HUD options - kind of want to get H2N to work (using PT4 now)
• Consider getting some hotkey/auto bet sizing software (Jurojin or equivalent)
• Spend some time reviewing downloaded HH with holecards. Focus on hands that went at least to turn but not to showdown

(>'.')> Go forth and crush! <('.'<)

Very useful information and i will cherish it
https://dgcustomerfirst.fun/

Emotional Rollercoaster

(weekly update)

Results: + $643.53
Volume: 10.3 hours
Study: 2 hours

Felt a little bit like I was on an emotional rollercoaster this week. Not actually because of poker, that went quite smoothly. But because of my job. It was a really tough week and I was quite frustrated with various aspects of work throughout the week.

I am getting pretty sick of some BS going on at work. Working at a large, soul sucking and soul-less corporation can sometimes be pretty draining. I feel like I am being asked to take on more and more, but not getting any more compensation for it. My team is severely under-staffed, and we never have enough time and resources to get our assigned work fully completed. It kind of sucks to always feel like you are never doing enough, and the mountain of work only gets bigger.

I am only playing on Bovada right now, and the software has been shit recently. The first two sessions I tried to play, I kept getting disconnected. The third time, I could not even get logged in. Customer support is totally useless, and no matter how many issues they clearly have with their software and servers, they always blame the customer and claim that "you must have had network issues". This is totally to be expected and is common for Bovada/Ignition, so not surprised at all.

Fortunately, I didn't give up when I could not log in, and eventually found a way to get into games by playing in a browser. I do not get to use a HUD or tag hands for review this way, which is not ideal, but at least it allowed me to play. I had a few nights I REALLY wanted to play longer, but was tired and stuck roughly to my bedtime so that I could be well rested and get things done at my job, and also play the next day.

Outside of poker/work, I stayed consistent and did all my workouts again. I am starting to see/feel some changes in my body from consistent exercise, and that feels good. It's something I can hold on to and be happy about when work is shit and I can't get in much play.

I hope to get in a little more volume next week, but can't be sure I will be able to. I am very seriously considering leaving my job soon. Sick of being so unhappy with it and don't see things changing any time soon.

Don't get me wrong - I am not delusional enough to think I can quit work and just play poker. I would be leaving to find a better job where employees are more valued, at a smaller company. I spent most of today reflecting on that, and looking at open positions I may be interested in. I have many valuable skills and a lot to offer, and if X-CORP is not going to reward and value it's high performers, I will find somewhere that will.

I am super tired and should probably already be in bed, and have 4 hours of meeting hell first thing tomorrow morning.

Targets for next week

• Aim to play 12h (may not be possible)
• Stay consistent with workouts
• Download and review holecards-up HH
• Spend a few hours looking at job market, possibly draft an email to my manager about unhappiness with the job

(>'.')> Just keep showing up! <('.'<)

I would be leaving to find a better job where employees are more
valued, at a smaller company.

I can second that. There is definately a different kind of motivation to work therewhen the staff is as valued as the customers. Though I see it also in companies in different sizes.

January Summary

Just posting a quick summary of my first month playing after the time off.

Cash
Profit: $886.38
Hours Played: 60.78
Hourly: $14.58

MTT
-$632

Not a great hourly, but I am feeling pretty good about these results. I think next month I am going to make some adjustments to my approach to the game. Mainly, I want to stick to only playing one session per day, max. I have noticed that I very consistently am a bit on the fence about playing a 2nd session, and it almost always goes bad. I lose back what I won in the first session. I think part of this is due to the time I start playing- I generally seem to get on decent tables in my first session, but when I start up a second one, I am often starting tables playing HU or battling with regs 3-4 handed to get tables going. I don't mind playing regs HU, it's actually pretty fun. But I think in my second sessions, my WR is lower based on the pool and I also am just playing worse.

Also, I have -$500 in losses in this sample from sitting $2/5 and losing an AI in 3 hands in a pretty sick FH over FH spot, and some losses from playing the Zone games. I think being more disciplined with my game selection and play times is the biggest improvement I can make for next month. If I had made zero game selection mistakes this month, it would be at least a + $1390 month. But hey - at least I came out ahead (just barely) despite those errors.

Unfortunately, I was dumb enough to register several MTTs this month, most of which were $109's. 2 of them I couldn't even finish playing due to software issues. It has recently been exposed that there is mass cheating and collusion going on in these MTTs: stables are late regging at the last moment, all getting seated together, and colluding to ensure they all cash. They are also allegedly card sharing. Hopefully, this is enough for me to stop being a dumbass, and focus entirely on cash games next month.

Overall, feeling good about my decision to put some time & effort into poker again.

Goals & Adjustments for next month
- Do not play a single MTT
- Only play one cash session per day (max, some days will not play)
- New volume goal is 10h per week. If I go over that, cool.

Slapped by Variance

(weekly update)

Results: - $118.37
Volume: 13.1 hours
Study: 1.1 hours

This week I got in solid volume, but did not study enough. I spent all of Saturday smelt fishing with friends (something I've not done before). Had a great time, but got kinda drunk and was mostly in recovery mode Sunday. Next week, I need to make study more of a priority. I hope to spend a good amount of time Mon-Wed studying, and Thurs-Sun playing. No plans for the weekend at the moment, which I am happy about. I want a low-key weekend at home!

The week was going well and was up a good bit going into the weekend, but had a brutal session Saturday where I lost about 5 buy-ins in just over an hour. I may have made some mistakes, but this was mostly horrible variance. I lost 3 all-ins with 85%, 65%, and 48.5% equity, all pretty standard spots where the money just goes in. The result really didn't bother me at all, and I reacted to it better than I have in the past. After that, I moved down from 200NL to 100NL, and won a few buy-ins back to end the week.

I noticed myself sometimes giving up on a few pots that I probably could have fought for more, and that is going to be the focus of my study for next week. I want to look for situations where I can win more with red line. I also called in spots where I was able to narrow my opponents to pretty much an exact holding (and was right), where I probably could have just folded sooner in the hand.

Targets for next week

• Study at least 4 hours, focusing on Turn+River in non-shown-down pots
• No volume target for a week: I will play when I can, but not gonna force it
• Get better sleep

(>'.')> Going with the flow <('.'<)

Meh.

(weekly update)

Results: - $94
Volume: 13 hours
Study: 4 hours

I am feeling unhappy about my results and on-table performance this week. However, I am feeling good about getting in 4h of quality study, and staying consistent with my exercise all week. I had a few days this week where I went through way too much mental/emotional struggle just because of losing. My worst single-session was just over -3 buy-ins, which is nothing and shouldn't bother me, but it did.

I also spent way too much time "multi-tasking" during sessions. A lot of watching YouTube videos while playing, which is very much not ideal. Actually, I think it is impossible for me to play my A-Game while doing anything else. I need to be fully focused on the tables.

I really believe that my A game is already enough to crush the 200NL FR games, but the problem is not playing my A game often enough. I think my B game is probably break-even at best, maybe winning like 1-2bb/100, and my C game is losing. I would be better off playing less volume and having it all be A-Game.

This week I reviewed every pot from past 1-2 weeks where I at least saw turn, and lost. I also reviewed some winning pots too. I feel like the study I did this week was really good, and will help me to make some adjustments.

Main thing I need to work on is my relationship to the game and how I handle results. It's silly to get upset about any single session - especially since losing really doesn't have any impact on my life, but that has been a challenge for me. I hired a mindset & performance coach and we have our first session together tomorrow- so hopefully that helps!

For next week, I want to try again to not play until Thursday-Sunday, or maybe even just Friday-Sunday. I failed to do that this week (played at least 1 short session almost every day). I think I would be better off to do study-only Monday-Thursday. Games are best on Fri-Sat evening anyway, and I can use the other time to level up my game through study and planning out some standard lines and heuristics.

Targets for next week

• Study 4h
• Avoid playing Monday - Wednesday

(>'.')> One brick at a time! <('.'<)

Not Ideal.

(weekly update)

Results: -$289.24
Volume: 9h 9 mins
Study: 4h 26 mins*

I've had a bad week. Results aren't great, but more so, I have struggled a lot this week with lack of sleep and back pain. This weekend I had a really hard time sleeping due to pain and some drinking. I received a bottle of whiskey as a gift on Valentine's day, and did some damage to it Friday night - before and during playing. However, Friday night was also a decent session - I won nearly 2 BI.

My first session with a mindset and performance coach was good. I feel like it is going to help a lot. I received a lot of homework (mostly poker related), and that has been the majority of my study this week. It forced me to sit down and reflect on how I approach poker, and what things need to change to get me where I want to be.

While I am not on track to reach the goals I set out, losing money doesn't affect my life basically at all. For now, I still plan to continue on this path, and will keep roughly the same goals for next week.

I have been thinking a lot lately that I should just abandon playing at all early in the week. Instead of a handful of short sessions and a few slightly longer sessions, I think just playing 2 really long sessions on the weekend might be optimal. Games are much better, I feel more relaxed playing knowing I don't have to be up early the next day for work, and that frees up more of my weeknights for study and other pursuits outside of poker.

I am going to try to implement this - but next week, I am going to a comedy show on Saturday and probably can't play. Still, one session of A-game poker in softer games is probably better than 5 sessions of mediocre poker in tougher games, even if that means much less volume.

Targets for next week

• Study 4 hours
• Do not force any sessions, even if that means I don't play at all.

(>'.')> Put yourself first! <('.'<)

BoldPlayer

Yes, I have been thinking about playing more 6max and actually my last 2 sessions were 6-max. There are tradeoffs. I believe the full ring games are softer and lower variance, but they are also pretty boring, and IMO optimal strategy for full ring is VERY different from 6max, and involves doing a lot of things that are far away from GTO, even preflop.

I think the main good reason to play online full ring is if you play a lot of live cash, as it is closer to the same format/meta and gets you more practice with common situations. I am not playing any live cash right now, but I may start doing 1-2 sessions per week soon.

I think actually this month though, my volume will shift more towards online 6-max. We will see how it goes ;)

I am working with Paul Salter, who works with Eliot Roe and his group of performance coaches. We have only had one session so far, but I already feel like I am getting a lot from it, and would highly recommend him if you are looking for someone to work with. After the first session I spent probably 3-4 hours the following week on some mindset "homework" he assigned, and he is in constant contact any time I need anything from him. Great guy.

A change of approach
(weekly? update)

What's up everyone!

I think it has actually been 2 weeks since my last update. I have been playing very little over that time. Lost around 2 BI over a handful of hours.

My net profit for all of February was - $1113. This mostly came from 200NL, with a few ill-advised 500NL shots in there. To be honest, I think I've played quite poorly for most of this month.

However, I have been making huge strides in the personal development/self-improvement department. I am feeling really good about the way things are currently going in my life. Losing at poker doesn't matter, really (especially in the short term).

What I think does matter is my approach to the game, and how it makes me feel. Since I started working with a mindset/performance coach, it has become pretty clear to me that my relationship to the game really needs work. I have a tendency to push myself way too hard. I work a ton of hours in a demanding career, and then try to compete in a difficult game at night, often drained of energy before the session even starts. I do have a great pre-session routine and do workouts/cold plunge etc- but that cannot make up for being over-tired, burnt out, etc.

I got obsessed with poker after the first couple times I played way back when I was 16 years old, and the only reason was because I loved to play. Over the years I think I've built up some poker trauma and often find myself not feeling good in the middle of a session. Beating myself up with negative self-talk, and unconstructive criticism. On one hand this can be motivating and lead to positive change, but on the other hand I am doing well in most other aspects of my life, and I don't really need to make money from poker right now. I definitely don't need to add more stress and pressure to my life - have a lot going on. What I need is to get back to a place where I am playing simply because I enjoy the game and the challenge, and enjoy improving at something competitive and engaging. I need to view the game differently, and not worry about winning X dollars next month. So, I am changing my approach for March.

For the month of March, I am completely getting rid of any volume or profit goals. I want to just take a month to play when I feel like it, study when I feel like it, and just focus on enjoying the game. TPLancaster commented something along these lines at the start of this blog, and I think they were right. My main focus is going to be holistic self-improvement and reflection. I am excited to have my next session with my mindset coach (Paul Salter) and to keep doing work on myself. I have already made huge changes, very hard changes.

I have not mentioned this yet in this blog - and actually haven't really told anyone in my personal life except for my Wife and a few close friends - but here goes:

For a very long time now, I have been heavily addicted to Kratom.

If you don't know what Kratom is, a quick Google search will tell you all you need to know - but to quickly explain: Kratom is a natural plant medication/drug/supplement whatever you want to call it. Here in the states, it is legal in most states, and highly illegal in others. Where I live, I can go to the store just down the street and buy it as much as I want. I started taking it to address severe back pain (which I am still struggling with) and it is the best thing I have found to help with the pain - but I have become far too dependent on it. So 2 weeks ago I decided to quit. I got to a point where I was taking 20-25 capsules every single day. I went 6 days without taking any, and felt like absolute shit for most of that time. I could barely sleep, felt like I had the flu, and was irritable all the time. Over the last 2 weeks, I have gone from 20+ capsules a day to not taking any during the week, and only taking one dose on the weekend, just one day a week. I started to get over the cravings and withdrawals this week, and I am really glad I made this change. I had to take a step back from poker to do this - but I am ready to get back in and play.

Instead of taking drugs as a band-aid for my back pain, I finally went and saw a doctor. I got a referral to OMT (Osteopathic Therapy), but they can't get me in until April. So I will suffer for a while longer and do the best I can to address the pain with ice baths, sauna, etc. I have tried tons of solutions over the years: chiropractor, yoga, hot yoga, sauna, acupuncture, strength training, etc. All of these things help a little bit, but nothing has resolved the root cause. It's time to get serious about fixing this problem so I can move forward and be the best version of myself.

I have a little whiteboard in my home office which I update each month with new poker "guidelines" for the month. For March, here are my guidelines:

• Play when you feel like it.
• Quit sessions when you feel like it.
• Study when you feel like it.
• NO volume or profit goals.
• NO pressure.

I am also gonna move down in stakes. My goal for this month is not to necessarily become much better at poker. My goal is to change my relationship to the game, and get back to loving it like I used to. So, when I play, I will be playing 1 table of 50z (fast fold) 6max, and that's it. I have to repair my logistical approach before I can move up, play more, and win consistently.

(>'.')> Just be a chill guy. <('.'<)

Hello Douggyfr3sh just read your entire journal. Happy you are openly sharing everything a long the way. Being honest about your play, work, workouts, & habits can go a long way. I found there are a lot of life crushers here on rio, but most are just lurkers who don't post, but will occasionally get a DM when you share things as you did in your journal.

One of your first goals was to make $20,000 this year playing poker 10-12 hours a week and 5 hours or so of study. I think playing 4 tables at a time, regular tables on bovada, will get you to around 250 hands per hour. On the zone games you will get vastly more but you can only play 2 tables per stake at a time. ACR might be worth looking into where you can play 5 blitz tables at a time for the same stake. Both sites are going to be filled with bots and or collusion, but the games are still beatable. If you can make 10bb/100 with an avg stake of $100NL that is $25/hr? With zone the winrate will be closer to 5bb/100 but you will get 3x as many hands per hour. I just wanted to talk about your 20k goal, where at $20/hr you still have to play 1,000 hours a year. I think a more realistic goal would be $10,000 for the year based on playing about 10 hours a week.

You mentioned you are learning from some youtube content like Hungry Horse. Mostly his heuristics are geared towards 200bb+ play, which is not very common online. I watch all of his videos myself and they are extremely helpful. He will throw out some heuristics for 100bb play as well. It's mostly to fast play yourself as its easier to get the money in over 3 streets in a BBB line. Where 200bb you need to find a XR at some street or an overbet. For online do you watch any Runitonce coaches? In terms of beating 50NL - 200NL there are a lot of solid coaches out there that are crushers and put in volume. Henry Lister doesn't make videos any more, but he helped me a lot when I got started online. Mark Lamers and Gary Chapelle have been crushing 200NL - 500NL for many years now. Also why don't you purchase GTO wizard? You can still do all the node locking you want on it. I have drills set up where I can play 4 tables against the trainer with custom bet sizes that match my blue print. Great for warmups before your session.

Throughout your journal its hard to tell what skill level you have in poker. We only see the results, which means nothing over a small sample. I would recommend checking out demondoink's journal where he post about life and shares some of his biggest pots. Probably a great coach as he is a long time winner 8bb/100 I believe in the 500z games and has moved up in stakes to shot take 10KNL.

Did you ever email your boss to set a meeting about how you feeling about not being compensated for adding on more work to your under staffed team?

I work a ton of hours in a demanding career, and then try to compete in a difficult game at night, often drained of energy before the session even starts. I do have a great pre-session routine and do workouts/cold plunge etc- but that cannot make up for being over-tired, burnt out, etc.

This part I have suffered from for years. I play "full time" for a living but I haven't been able to get out of this routine. Going to the gym has been inconsistent, studying has been consistent but not efficient, and then as you mentioned there is a ton of content out there that is frankly very whelming to try and keep up with. There is so much advice out there that tells you to workout in the mornings for the best results as you are drained from carbs and will burn more fat. Have a pre session warm up and study before your session. I will end up spending 3-4hrs a day studying either doing wizard drills, watching rio videos, youtube videos from Hungry Horse, carrot corner, chai poker, Luke Johnson, benabadbeat, Davidkay, Gary blackwood, and even here on RIo its just hard to keep up with all the content. By the time you try and keep up on everything, even at a faster speed your day has come and gone. Instead of playing poker at 5pm now its 9pm and the games suck after midnight. So I put "full time" in quotes because I have been spending way too much time studying. A piece of advice I can offer to avoid making the same mistakes I have is focus on runitonce videos since you are playing online. Pick one or two coaches and stick to their videos. Watching Luke Johnson vs Gary Chapelle for instance is night & day. Where Luke has a highly exploitable strategy geared for higher stakes and Gary has more of a blue print that works for 1kNL and below consistently without taking massive swings. Both make excellent videos but trying to apply both strategies will just confuse the hell out of you and you end up making more mistakes.

As Marc Goone says, "You don't have to do anything." There is a video where he opens QQ from EP and gets 3bet by a tight player and ends up just folding. As you mentioned you don't want to play GTO style. I was stuck in this GTO theory mindset for many years. Seeing Marc fold QQ preflop was eye opening for me. Knowing I was "allowed" to do things like this really helped me come out of a small hole I was digging at the time.

You already hired a mental game coach. I would look into hiring a coach for strategy. Going over your database and doing a couple of sessions. Maybe spend like $1,000 on 4-5 sessions with a coach can really scale your poker career instead of trying to figure it out for yourself. I only play live these days, but if you are willing to share some hands I would be more than happy to provide some free feed back. Recent guy from Canada I helped was breaking even over 150k or so hands. After going over his database and pointing out some obviously leaks the next 20k hands he was winning 19bb/100 at 50NL on stars. Having a fresh set of eyes can really help.

I think I have written too much, so I'll stop here. I tend to go on rants that people don't want to read. Looking forward to your next update.

Getting a coach to fix some mechanical things and do a database review will only take 2-3 hours max. The database review will give you plenty of homework to work and do on your own going forward. Maybe cost you $500 or so to get everything done. Do you have a fear of failure online? Like you don't think you can beat the game any more? I'm also a life time winner in all formats btw. But life time winner and post solver winner is completely different. It was free money back in the day. Now its more like a sport where you need to out work the other athletes to be a crusher. There are not enough fish around to just hit sets and get paid any more.

A Truthful conversation.

Maybe this video will help. I hope you have a rio subscription. I don't think private games are the way to go tbh. You need something that is flexible to your busy schedule. Allows you to play a couple hours whenever you want. A lot of CFPs suggest dropping down in stakes during this learning curve as well. What is wrong with playing 10NL blitz on ACR or 50NL blitz if you are just trying to learn rather than make money?

There is a Jarretman Podcast that talked about playing micro to low stakes and then 200z he said was tougher than $25/$50 live. He used online low stakes to learn to crush high stakes live.

I can't suggest how important getting a coach is even if its just for a couple of hours. It will likely change your mind about online poker. If you look at coaches here on RIO you have guys like PSEK who made $450k live last year. Gary Chapelle I forgot his annual income but passed 100k playing mostly 200NL and some 500NL. You are not going to make this amount in live private games. People will run out of money or kick you out before that happens.