wow! Really nice graph up there, I'll be following you closely, GL!
With that WR over that big of a sample in NL100, why haven't you tried NL200? You have only played 3k hands there. Don't you think you can be winning there?

Decent start for the month. Been working with goal setting, planning studies, mental game mapping etc. And i managed to get back to tables after holiday break. Goal for January is to play 50k hands total and minimum of 20k hands @ NL200. Longer term plan is to add NL200 volume gradually, as i get more used to playing at that stake.

And i managed to fail at one goal already :D (Checking session results while playing). That's one bad habit of mine, which influences the quality of my game. Had this habit almost removed last year, but ofc it come back at the end of the year. How often u guys check results ?

what is your sn if it is outed?

guess no idea, I play nl100 but time with not many entries. Anyway GL to you

@onkleb I am excited for you! I think you will find a ton of value from the journal.

There are many reasons which have been holding me back for moving up and most them are mental game issues. Scared money, lack of confidence, perfectionism, you name it. To be honest i think my A-game is good enough to be a winner at NL200 right now. Its just that im not able to deliver my A-game often enough while playing there.

What is your plan to resolve the mental game issues?

Best of luck in 2018!

Welcome!

Ja torille!

I have been super busy with life stuff so i havent had enough time for poker. We just sold our home, so we have about two months before we are homeless :D But gladly i have weekend time for poker and maybe i finally post some poker stuff here.

Played my first session @Nl200 zoom this weekend and i didn't get rekt :D I honestly felt like i was doing ok vs the pool with my strategy and i even managed to pull off some exploitable lines (maybe). Ofc the pool was maybe at its softest because of weekend evenings, but still im pretty happy to my start. I am aware that i have given too much respect to players exploiting me at higher stakes. Thats one area of my mental game which i have to bee super aware when playing higher.

Random thoughts about a hand @ Nl100
Villain is 2tabling, noted as reg. Only 300 hands but seems tight

Hand:
https://www.weaktight.com/h/5a5df0a7d39043800c8b456f

Std from both players, right?

Heres something that i took away for the future vs this villain. First is that villains is cbetting a flop thats favorable for me. I cant say for sure if its weighed toward bluff or value, but if i would have to pick its more valueheavy. This cbet combined with quite large sizing i assume that villains is usually pretty strong here.

Second is hes flop 3bet which is imo quite horrible. Hes cbet AND 3betting a flop where i have way more nuts than him. He should assume that im ready to fold 2pair+ otf or ott to make his "bluff" profitable. I dont think thats a range that tight player is trying to bluff. ( Thats why im staking off only with sets+ and never shoving sets otf)

Last and maybe the most important read i take is that when he checks or uses small cbet sizing on a flop like this hes screwed. Next time he does either of those he will face a ton of aggression from me. Im waaay overbluffing vs his checks. I think that majority of his range is not going to defend vs my stabs and overbets.

Vs this kind of player im ready to play very exploitable in the future, but keeping an eye if he tries to adjust to my play.

Ok, gl at the tables!

Really happy to my performance today. Had a rough day irl, lot of stressful events. Had low energy levels at evening, but i managed still to play quite solid b-game session. Its so easy to skip sessions when you feel tired, stressed etc. Pushing trough even when you arent on a perfect state of mind is quite satisfying.

Tomorrow some nl200 action, cant wait :)

Ran pretty hot vs weaker players at Nl200. Some regs are giving me a tough time, which was expected. Super results orientated, but its nice to book a solid winning session @nl200.

GL guys. (:

Hey man, feels like im in a similair situation as you. Been having good results at nl100 but just couldnt get established at nl200 for mental/bankroll reasons. Also somewhat of a Nick fanboy, hook me up on skype if you are interested in talking strategy or whatever :)
-adampwn1

Another pretty nice session @nl200z (: Its nice to get some hands in and realize that most of the pool plays very similar that nl100z plays. Fish are fish and weaker regs are weaker regs. Like i mentioned earlier there are some guys that are giving me a hard time, but i just have to get some volume vs them and then try to analyze their strategies.

Its funny how my redline tends to go up when i play pretty tight and nitty and go down when i make a lot of moves. Maybe that tells something about my handreading skills.. :DD

But yea, gl guys (:

Yeah or tells you to pool is just not getting pushed around much ? Anyways keep this going man. Crushing results for zoom imo!

That's a nice winrate for 100nl. Should be able to do well at 200. Gl and lots of $!

Ok its time for a quick month wrap-up.

Goal was to play 50k hands, of those 20k at nl200. This goal, especially the nl200 part was quite ambitious. Im still very pleased that i was able to get some hands at nl200 and honestly felt that i already have a chance at that limit. Sure there were sessions (like today) where i felt pretty run over, but those sessions occur regularly at nl100 as well.

What comes studying, i didnt really do anything special. Some regular pio study for strategy development. Still focusing a lot on improving my mental game, at all areas of my life.

Im very pleased for the support that i have received after starting this "blog". Have been getting numerous contacts and its been a lot of fun just chatting with fellow poker players. Hoping that i could offer some value to you guys as well.

Now some beer and Aoe2, gl guys (:

Graph

Stakes

Long time, no update. Too much irl stuff going on and not enough time for poker. :( We have been searching for a new home for some time, which has been very stressful. Fortunately today real estate agent called and told that our offer was accepted. Downside is that we are forced to move away from Helsinki, but no can do if your a nl100 soldier :)

Pokerwise things arent doing so well. Im having trouble playing my a-game during the evenings, mostly because of accumulated stress due to the housing issue. But now that thing is sorted out and excuses are off, its again time to grind and possibly crush! Lets throw my monthly graph so i dont lose my all three readers :)

Feb

Less stress, play better -> profit?
24.2

Or just run like god...

Nice profits!

Keep up the good work!

Last day of the month, time for month recap.

Stakes

Graph

Like i said earlier, month was filled with other stress factors besides poker. Taking that into consideration i am very pleased to my playing volume, both at 100 and 200 tables. Almost reached my 50k hand goal and decent amount of volume was at nl200.

Looking back im actually pretty pleased to my level of playing. Maybe a bit too much forcing on unclear spots, but all in all pretty okish.

Zoom games remain very soft, especially at evening and weekends. Happy to see lots of new recreational player every day and that old ones keep coming back. Really seems that zoom games arent going to die every time soon... (jinxed?)

Next month will be quite busy with irl stuff, so not as much time for poker as i would want to. Thats why im thinking about setting some kind of grind challenge for April, any ideas / suggestions?

Random thoughts, now some whisky and aoe2, gl guys! (:

Really impressive that you can continue following your game plan with so much moving/housing stress going on.

What's your strategy for minimizing the effect of you off-table stress on your game?

Thank you Bradley, i appreciate your kind words.

I would like to say that i have a well structured, sophisticated and clear strategy for dealing with stress. But that isnt the case.

I think what i have done ok and what has helped is awareness and recognition. Noticing before session that ok, you had a rough day and you have a lot of accumulated emotion. Then at start of the session i try to focus on very simple things: Taking a lot of notes on players, thinking how i will exploit certain players / player types, trying to play small pots as well as i can etc. That way i try to work my way into zone, where there is no room for "useless" emotions and stress.

Mmmm i think you are "J....P....." or something like that on Stars right?

Onkleb

Nice blog and nice to see ur doing well.
how much tables u playing ?

Good luck

Good blog, great results. Subbed, good luck!

End of the month for me, so time for monthly recap.

Graph

Stakes

Not happy to my performance this month. 30k hands in a month is so little, especially at zoom. Sure there was a lot going on that prevented me from playing, but still. Too many times i somehow talked myself away from playing, even though i would've been capable to play. I took the easy, comfortable route, instead of hard work. Thats just unacceptable to a person that tries to make a living by playing poker.

Resultwise pretty poor month as well. Too much forced aggression on spots that im not confident on. But still somewhat relieved that a was able to pull a winning month, despite my not so great plays.

Off-poker things are going quite nicely. We just finished moving to our new home, which is just so great. Over twice as big as our last place, so great playing conditions. Now im grinding middle of cardboard boxes and paris-wallpaper, but thats going to chance soon.

Tomorrow of to countryside for the weekend, and after that no excuses. Gl guys and girls!

Nice job dude. That's great you have good things going on outside for poker, huge life EV points there!

Regarding your performance this month, what are 2-3 things that things that were brilliant?

Month is of to a decent start. I have played a bit more during my normal day, which has been quite easy to be honest. Goal for April is to get 20k hands at Nl200 and total of 60k hands. Thats 15k hands a week -> 3k hands per day and two days off.

Mission 60k hands: Week 1

Very satisfied on my performance. Solid volume and even some nl200 hands at mix. Quality of play is quite nice, random spews happen ofc but thats fine.

Im starting to feel more comfortable playing higher and feel that im not that behind what comes to other regs. There is a lot of same players that play between nl100 and 200, who i feel really comfortable playing against. I just have to be super careful on not over-adjusting over small sample. Very delighted to see a lot of weaker players at 200 pool as well. After all that is where majority of players winrate comes from. Thats one reason why im always extremely interested how fun players play their ranges. There is so big deviation between fun players' play styles. Some profiles overcall consistently, where as some overfold. Thats why i feel there isnt one strat fits all vs weaker players.

Now one day off, gl !

Week is running somewhat ok. Getting rekt at nl200, but that fine and totally expected. Volume-wise things are looking quite good. Lets throw one fun hand to start the weekend:

hand

Lagasaurus

Haha, i dont know what u mean ;) But thanks!

week2

Good volume, okish results. Having i bit more tough time at nl200, but still playing ok. Sometimes im having trouble remembering that i dont have to try win every pot. Especially vs people who have decided that i am overbluffing. But its really fun to see that i have a chance at competing at higher stake.

brag: almost 20bb/100 at nl100
beat: cant beat nl2

-120bb/100 at nl2! I told that micro stakes are unbeatable!

Week 3

Even after lousy session still happy about my week. Not really anything special going on, getting into good day rhythm with my playing. Morning session at nl100 with some hands at nl200 if tables are good. Evening session warmup at nl100 and rest nl200.

Goals 20k hands nl200 and 60k hands total seen really doable (14,4k and 44,4k atm). If i remember not to overbluff people who underfold i might even be able to bink a winning month.

Run too good day : 25.4

Variance is brutal sometimes.

10k hands, 3 days, lets go.

Another fun hand to start the weekend: hh

Not much to say, vs a fellow regular who was having fun (:

April wrap-up :

STAKES GRAPH

Huh, a month filled with poker has come to end. Been quite mentally taxing 29 days. Increasing volume simultaneously when trying to move up stakes is double to amount of stress at once. I honestly feel like i handled this increased stress very well, focusing on my daily routines and on my std ABC-poker. Luckily i didnt encounter any big downswings this month, because they could've impacted severely on my game.

Results-wise pretty amazing month. Im especially pleased on my volume at nl200 (19k hands). I was so close at binking my first 5 figures month, but i think this will do just fine.

Plan for tomorrow includes a lot of beer. We have this holiday, which only purpose is to drink alcohol. Or maybe it has some purpose, but main goal is to get drunk. Not sure if this holiday is a thing anywhere else.

But anyway, klara vappen, dricka vatten!

Hooooly Moly. Nice blog and results! I definitely know who u are at stars, but didn't expected u are this kind of crusher :O Think I have lost many buy-ins for u as a hobby player. Teach me sensei!! Oppirahoja, oppirahoja..

seams like a gto strath vs the nl100 nl200 and 95% of nl500z pool :D

Ok, time for another month wrap-up:

STAKES

GRAPH

Disappointing month both playing and resultwise. Too many sessions where i didnt play according to my overall game plan.

Mentally im not in a good place when im playing right now. Living and dying depending on the results of the individual hand, session, day or week. Sure its ok to demand your absolute best every time you play, but that doesnt chance the fact that:
a) You cant win every session, day etc.
b) You are going to make mistakes, every time you play.

Short wrap-up for now, maybe some more thoughts later. Gl guys. (:

And heads of for stars players who play with different currencies. The exchange rate is different depending on if you withdraw from usd account or € account.

rate from usd account

rate from € account

So using usd withdraw you lose about 3%.

I always convert my funds to euros before withdrawing, since im always very skeptical when dealing with currency conversion. This might be a well known feature, but i still wanted to give heads up for someone who might not know this.

Hey... I only play US $ for now, are u saying when u withdraw to an EU bank, it’s better to convert those into euros first? Thx.

GL man! any interesting hands?

Sick results man. Any tips on how to get that crazy high WWSF and nice redline. Mine is 47 and my redline goes straight down at -10BB/100. Do you have a coach/offer coaching at all? I'm really looking to try to improve my game and stop being a blueline nit,and you seem to have it down. :D

Saulo Ribeiro

Maybe i reflect back to my struggles as a lone pokerplayer. Its so easy to get used to your own biased assumptions when you are the only one who sees them. Repeating the same thought pattern mistakes over and over again without realizing what is the problem. I dont necessary think you need a "coach", but some kind of network of other people that can help you detect your biases. Sure you can detect those on your own, but other people can speed this process significantly.

For me that wake up call was when i stumbled on Nick Howard stream.

Nice blog and amazing results, wish u all the best in the future!

Thanks! I really appreciate the support you guys are giving.

Lagasaurus

Here one spot id like to share:

HAND

Pretty std hand, but that doesnt mean it isnt interesting. Villain was 14/10 with low aggression. Spot where we are facing a MP coldcall from nit and we face a pot sized bet our correct approach (exploitable) is the fold almost our whole range.

More surprising result came when i threw the hand in pio. I analyzed the spot with 2 MP ranges, one wider and one tighter. Ev of our hand was about 1,1bb in first and 0bb in second. So our ev was surprisingly low even vs PIO, who is super aware of its range and acts accordingly.

Generally (and exploitable) speaking, its important to be aware when you are dealing with supertight and strong ranges and act accordingly (fold everything). When ranges are tight and strong its very hard to find natural bluffs from your range. That means you should be ready to turn sdv hand into bluffs, even on earlier streets. And im not ready to assume that 14/10 is capable of doing so.

Summary: Vs nit+potbet -> dont look your hand, just fold

First hands at 500z played!

Pool seemed quite soft so i decided to test it out. Breakeven session with almost zero interesting hands, but still big thing for me mentally. For a guy thats been playing nl100 from fulltilt times its a big step to play at those limits and actually feel good/relaxed while playing. Seeing progress in your mental game is so satisfying, since its so easy to not notice that kind of stuff.

great read , gll!!

Mid month update:

STAKES

GRAPH

Pokers going pretty smoothly atm. Feeling confident while im playing and have been able to deliver my A- or B-game almost every session. For my game self-trust is the key, since a lot of what i do is based on trying to exploit my opponents weaknesses. Hands that really disappoint me are ones where i know the "right", usually exploitable solution but i talk myself into doing something else. Usually that sort of hand goes something like: First instinct, fold, this line is notoriously underbluffed. Hmm my blockers are excellent. Hmm this guy is marked as active player. Hmm i have a note that he has done something active (but not in this spot). Call. Villain show nuts. GG.

Volume has been really good, i was shocked when i noticed how many hands i have played. On summer in trying to get a lot of volume while im home, since there is usually a lot off-poker things going on . Rest of the month goes mainly on countryside, but im hoping to get remain 20k hands in somehow.

Ot. Ive been getting into chess lately. Its fun to start a totally new game from zero, trying to learn the basics and improve. Kind of similar like first time playing poker and getting sucked right in. Im still a total noob, but you gotta start from somewhere. Been really enjoying Chessnetwork channel. Especially games between alphazero and stockfish8 is something i recommend watching even if you arent into chess.

Thats all for now, gl at tables! (:

hahaha this is so sick man , i play 100z a lot and i dont see a finland endboss haha maybe we play different hours , there are a couple of finland guys but they play too bad so i guess neither of those are u haha keep it up and add on skype if u want to talk about game or sth , im also doing the 100z and 200z shot grind ^^ glglglglgl

i send you PM with my skype ;)

Some hands from last session:

1. Good old slowplay vs fun player

2. Nice spot vs tight reg

3. No respect.

Downswing, finally.

Results have been breakeven / slightly losing almost the whole month. Ive been playing quite well the whole month, but majority of big pots have gone to villains. 200z is going okish, nothing special really. I should keep remind myself that im still trying to establish myself there, and not take winning there for granted. Take playing there more as an learning experience, and try to remember that you dont have to be the best reg at your limit.

Mentally i havent been in a good place while playing. Too much attention on short term results and on standard variance, instead of things that actually matter. Im shifting my studying focus more on mental game, since i think thats were i could gain the most winrate from. I bought Fedors app primed mind and first sessions have been really useful. Im trying to make meditation/mindfullnes a daily habit.

Quite random thoughts... Still few days left for this month and then its time for mid-year recap. Gl at tables! (:

I decided to take last day of the month off, so time for month recap:

STAKES

GRAPH

Pretty interesting month in many ways. Started off which a pretty sick heater, followed with somewhat long be-stretch. Volume was pretty decent actually, considering that it was a summer month. I managed to pull about 50/50 volume between stakes, which was my goal for the month. Its actually quite interesting to see that quite often 200z pool is softer than 100z in terms of fish-to-reg ratio. Also i feel that there is more really splashy fun players at 200z, but this is just a gut feeling.

Like i said on my earlier post mentally i wasnt in the best place. In glad that i have worked on my b-game so that i dont do huge mistakes that often. Its helps so much to have somewhat clear strategy while you play, so that you can do plays that you believe are good, even under stress.

Ok then time for mid-year recap:

STAKES 2018

GRAPH 2018

Im quite blown away how well year has gone results-wise. Many times this year i have been telling to myself that you are just running hot, and this cant be sustainable. And i still think that way, even though samplesize is starting to be noticeable, especially at 100z. But for me the biggest thing has been that im able to play 200z consistently and even bring my absolute a-game with me. Luckily for me my 200z journey started with an upswing, instead of something else. Who knows if i would be playing 200z if i wouldve dropped 10bins at first 5k hands. Luckily that didnt happen.

Im pretty happy to my overall gameplan and strategy atm. I feel my assumptions at the table come from somewhat balanced place, instead of from some irrelevant datapoints. Im still quite stunned how little people adjust to my extremely exploitable strategy. Sure there are guys out there that take advantage on my strategy, but most guys dont seem to care.

For upcoming month, my focus will be on adding more 200z and really working on my mental game. But more on that later.

Now its time for some chess action, gl guys! (:

That redline makes me jelly. Also decent greenline :)

Week one with primed mind:

Been doing sessions with primed mind app almost every day. I feel that only one short meditation/mindfulness session really helps you to do better decisions trough the day. You can focus more your energy on whats important for you and less on random, negative thoughts or things. I also started this exercise routine with another app. Its trainings are quite short, but still gets you sweating. Great for after session cooldown.

Pokerwise things are going ok, quite low volume but playing (and running) well. Been really focusing on my mental game, especially on my obsession over short term results. My main (and only) goals for sessions are 1. Try to be aware of your emotions 2. Try not to focus on short term variance . Ive been feeling so much lighter while playing when i havent put so much emphasis over whats the results of particular session. Still ofc a lot of work to do on that area, but still great to see some progress already.

WEEK1

Im taking a small break from poker, going to countryside to enjoy Finnish summer... That all for now, gl guys. (:

I noticed you 3bet a lot from EP so I assume you don't coldcall anything. Do you think this would be smart for me at 25nl zoom because of the high rake and because I would have to study fewer spots? I own Pio Unlocked so I can study 3bet pots IP with that.

zinhao

First, thanks for your compliments! Of course its motivating to hear that you are doing something right, especially if it comes from proven winner at your stake.

Yes im aware that self confidence, or lack of it, is one of my mental game weaknesses. What i tried to say about sustainable results was referring to my current run at 200z. Im pretty aware that i can beat current 100z pool with a pretty good winrate, but i am pretty shocked that 200z has gone so well results wise. I was assuming that my transition would be slower and more bumpy, not almost 10bb/100 in first 75k hands. So im trying to remind myself that things have gone very smoothly and i shouldnt be surprised when tougher times come.

zinhao

I agree with a lot what you said. I feel i dont deserve to be winning with such a high winrate, because i dont think im that great player. Imo im just average poker player, with many leaks, mental game issues etc. I dont feel that im any better than most regulars at my limit. Thats why sustaining 10bb/100 at 200z feels very assumptive for me.

Skill difference between stakes is totally my own projection. I still assume too much that players at higher limits are automatically more skilled than guys at lower limits.

And like i said earlier in many posts, i think mental game is the area that i should work most on.

Again thanks for your support, really means a lot to me! (:

Saulo Ribeiro

I havent played higher than nl200, and most of that volume has come this year. I was a student all these years, from high school to university. So i didnt play full time these years, but poker has always been my main source of income.

If i remember correctly my first poker hands were played around 2005, when i was 14 years old. At the time poker was really mainstream here at Finland (and around the world). There were a lot of pokershows running on major channels, especially i remember watching WPT final tables. Bankroll started from freerolls and no-deposit bonuses. I remember one freeroll, played at Betsson which was supergood, 50e to first place and only 200 players. But you would have to be just in time to register, otherwise you wouldnt get into the tournament. But yea, after few years from there i was playing nl50 and nl100 and making decent money for my age.

edit. I felt nostalgic so i imported some hands i played from 2010. Man poker was different back then, at least how i played :D Unfortunately i couldnt get my hud to work to see all the stats, but apparently 3betting, calling from the bb and check calling wasnt a thing. Nl100 crusher stats from 2010

Have a good weekend guys!

Hi mate, nice thread, quick question, are you quite stationy on rivers? I only ask because most guys I see using a high exploit(nick howard style) strat have lower than normal wtsd due to all the pop overfolding in small pots, yet yours seems high? :)

End of one disappointing month.

STAKES

GRAPH

Month started quite nice. But after taking break from games i got completely destroyed at tables. And that went on rest of the month.

My overall game was somewhere between C to Ö game almost every session. Focusing too much on areas that dont really matter and missing out those that matter. When playing my C game i tend to forgot where majority of my winrate comes from and focus too much on spots that can be marginally +Ev or massively -EV. When i play my A game im able to recognize those spots immediately and take 0-EV option of folding.

Outside of poker month was really nice. Lots of summer stuff, going to festivals, countryside and just enjoying summer. Actually im pretty satisfied that i managed to pull off ok-volume even though a took a lot days off this month.

Next month will be quite short as well, im planning on taking few weeks off then as well. But when fall comes with rain and darkness im ready to grind my ass off. But first , lets enjoy rest of this summer! (:

Hello everyone!

Summer is coming to an end, so maybe its time to update whats going on. Last month was really quiet what comes to poker. I took half of the month off, so volume was pretty low.

STAKES

AUGUST GRAPH

So i have had two break-even / results wise poor months in a row. Something to worry about? Not really when im ready to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

JANUARY-AUGUST

For me its so easy to focus only on shortterm results and forgot how well things are really going in long run. For me longer breaks (+1 week) from poker are extremely beneficial, since they swift my focus from short term to long run.

Goals for September:

-60k hands total, at least 30k at 200z
- create proper study routine and schedule
- check results at end of the month

Gl ! (:

Also to brag, i reached my main goal for the summer:

1000 ELO at chess.com!! :D

Enjoyable thread,it's good to get an insight into other grinders lives,keep crushing

Maybe the best month of my pokercareer. Not resultswise but on other areas of the game yes.

GRAPH SEPTEMBER

STAKES

I managed to reach few big goals for me which were playing over 50% volume at 200z and not looking results for the whole month. Especially ignoring results had a huge impact on my general mindset, on and off table. I recovered quicker from sessions and felt way less stressed while playing. Also its great to notice how you can focus so much better when you arent constantly worrying about last hand/session/day or month.

Goals for September:

-60k hands total, at least 30k at 200z (50k total, 40k 200z)
- create proper study routine and schedule (more relevant studying than in ages, so [x])
- check results at end of the month (x)

For october goals are quite similar. Play 200z, continue studying and focus on the long run. Gl everyone (:

kalciis

Ive been struggling with that as well. Maybe i finally truly understand how feudal and harmful focusing on short term results is for my game in real time and for my mental game on the long run. So every time i have urge to check results (usually after mistake or lost pot) i remind myself how there is no benefit in focusing on shortterm and made mistakes. First you have to really focus on it but now i feel it comes more automatic and the need for checking results has gone down. But in not so naive that i would think i have resolved this issue, but at least im on the right track.

Beat (or brag) of the day. I was looking a video from runitonce as a part of my warmup for the session. This coach had me marked as a recreational player. So maybe in doing stuff very wrong (or right), who knows... (:

Hi Onkleb, just read your blog from start to finish (or should I say Finnish) and it's really inspiring!

Do you have any recommendations for getting started in zoom? Like what videos would you say are good on RIO? What kind of HUD do you use for these games?

Good luck and I hope you continue to progress!

I did it ! First full month at 200z.

STAKES

GRAPH

Pretty descent month in terms of results and level of play. I have made some big changes to my overall strategy, which has been pretty challenging from time to time. But i feel im on the right track for sure. I managed to play whole month trough without looking at results, which like i said earlier, helps my mental game tremendously. All in all, things are going pretty smoothly pokerwise. Playing with confidence and i feel that i have some edge over good part of the pool. But most important, i feel that im playing way more accurately vs recreational players.

Thats all for now, gl guys ! (:

Luigi90250

Hmm good question for sure. I dont know that many nl100 regs by person, and those who i know are very good. So, these “leaks” are just my biased views based on what ive seen in tables and read from the forums.

1. Trying to split ranges on early streets. I see / hear guys trying to implement multiple sizes and actions on the flop, for example “I have a small cb, large cb and xb range on this board”. No you don’t. Or ofc you do, but there is no way you are going to be even remotely balanced with your frequencies. Also because game tree is, well a tree, choosing multiple actions on early decision node makes the whole tree just too massive to grasp on.

2. Playing your own fixed strategy. Its ok if you are constantly beating the games at good winrate (I mean 6bb/100+) to just play your own strategy and not care what your opponent is doing. But most of us (like myself) aren’t that good, so we need to pay close attention who we are playing against and deviate from your base strategy accordingly. For example defending ranges vs 2% and 20% checkraise ranges should vary tremendously and if you defend same range vs both opponents you are leaking in both spots.

3. Treating recreational/weaker players as the same. This relates to last point on fixed strategy. Recreational players are extremely interesting, since most of them have their own special strategy and view on poker. Some guys see poker as a game where you try to make your hand and go to showdown. Some see it as a game where your only purpose is to bluff or bluffcatch (put people on AK). And anything from between and beyond. So treating every player like they are the same will leave massive amounts of ev on the table. A lot of times you hear people saying “vs recreational I just go huge with my value and don’t bluff because they don’t fold.”. Yes that is true vs one type of funplayer, but vs another that will be very suboptimal strategy.

Saulo Ribeiro

I dont personally see Luigis question like that. Of course my thought behind hoping more questions and comments wasnt to start my own free coaching clinic trough forum posts. But im pretty open to answer even strategy related question in some degree for sure. Maybe im still stuck in those forum days where people shared their information pretty liberally without too much worry. After all, this blog is on a poker training site, not on that other pokerforum which is filled with negativity, doubt and anger. Dont remember its name but im sure it has something to do with some sort of math equation...

Goals for the rest of the year (1.11-31.12)

• Whole volume @ 200z
• Total 100k hands (ambitious goal, but still doable)
• Average 5 playing days and 2 off day per week
-3k hands / playing day -> 15k hands per week
• At least 1 handhistory review session / week
• At least one piosolver and/or hand2note session / week
• Descent break during Christmas
• Effort in social events
-Spending quality time with my girlfriend
-Christmas partys, hockey games etc.
-Always book a hangover day!
• Eat,move,sleep!

Something to get the rest of the year started. Lets see how it goes!

edit. - Check results end of the year or end of the month, depending on how i feel end of this month.

Sick results mate. It took me almost an hour to go thru your journal. But was definetely worth it. You seem to have a great attitude and seeing this kinda of results in 2018 in the Stars zoom pool is very impressive.

It is also very funny on the other side, since I know few people who play regulary with you and most of them describe you as very spewy.

Wish u gl with your goals for the rest of the year!

Luigi90250

Yes and somewhat yes.

I still enjoy playing a lot. It’s easiest to spot when I’m taking a longer (5days +) break. After longer break I can’t wait to get into tables and play. Why is that, I can’t give you an exact answer.

Of course, there are times where you first feel not like playing. People seek pleasure and are naturally trying to minimize effort, so it’s completely natural to feel more like watching Salatut elämät (finnish soap opera) and drinking beer than battling in a stressful environment.

To get yourself up and going something, you need to have purpose. And “I have to grind 50k hands this month” isn’t a purpose. For me this year it’s that I can proof to myself that I can move up and develop in poker. Of course, there are many deeper meanings which I’m not going through right now, but you get the point.

Theres so much more into this topic that I might do a decent post about this later, but theres something that came into mind.

Pape_Sux

But thats also the beautiful part of poker, that not just one way leads to success.

Exactly!

Concerning that and your earlier post, there's one thing i want to make crystal clear for everyone, especially for you guys that are playing small/microstakes and trying to move up and beat the games. You dont have to play theoretically accurate ("GTO") poker in order to win at your (or my) games. You dont have to bluffcatch correctly, play mixed strategies on every street and balance your five different cbetsizes. What you really need to do is to play strategy that is most incentivized by your player pool.

Does that mean that solvers and gto poker are useless and you are just better playing by feel? Of course not. Solvers really help you to understand this game in more deeper level. Also they make you (or at least have made me) humble when you see how complex the game really is and how difficult it is for average human to fully grasp. And when used correctly, solvers are excellent for building exploitable strategies.

Or thats the way i see it.

edit. My last few posts have sounded like i would think im the greatest player of my pool and that i would exploit everyone in every way. And thats from truth. There's a lot of players in the pool that i think are better than me and who are very hard to exploit. But my strategy isn't designed to beat the best regs on my limit, but to extract the most from weaker regulars and recreational players.

Hi Onkleb, congrats for that steady improvement. I wonder what are like the key parts of daily grind that have built up your confidence in your strategy?
I dont know if apart from having a winning graph are other things that made you feel confident, maybe in your daily performance or in some review after some x hands or days or grind.

Great journal and very inspirational!

Hi guys.

Quick month update. Volume is on the lower side (44,5k hands so far), but not super pathetic. Playing quality has been pretty descent overall. Feeling more confident with strategy changes and its motivating to see them working in action. Still planning to play three more days this month and then call it. Feels like im running super hot, but we will see that at the end of the month.. (:

Lets throw in some hands. Strategy content, zero. Entertainment value, very close to zero.

Im capped

bluff

No idea

Printing

Ok, few more days and then hopefully a winning month graph. If not winning, thats ok too.

boss

Any plans to move up to 500z in near future? Nice job!

I had a feeling that im running super hot and apparently i was right..

GRAPH

STAKES

Pretty sick month results wise. I played pretty descent trough whole month, but im pretty sure biggest factor for results was rungood. If im up 2k in all-in preflop that tells something. But anyways im super pleased how things are going right now. My current strategy seems to be working very well and im even finding new spots to maybe gain some more EV. Of course there are still a million things that i need to work on, both in game and away from tables. But im confident im on the right track.

Still one month of good quality playing and studying and the year is done. Basically whatever happens in December this year will be tremendous in almost all areas of poker. But before wrapping up the year there are still a lot of hands to be played..

Gl guys ! (:

Ok, last month of 2018. Planning to put volume in before Christmas and maybe play few days between Christmas and new year. Goals are still the same that i stated earlier :

Goals for the rest of the year (1.11-31.12)

• Whole volume @ 200z [so far check]
• Total 100k hands (ambitious goal, but still doable) [53/100]
• Average 5 playing days and 2 off day per week
-3k hands / playing day -> 15k hands per week
• At least 1 handhistory review session / week [have been doing a lot more]
• At least one piosolver and/or hand2note session / week [slipping here a bit]
• Descent break during Christmas
• Effort in social events
-Spending quality time with my girlfriend
-Christmas partys, hockey games etc.
-Always book a hangover day! [Yesterday wasnt that bad..]
• Eat,move,sleep!
- Check results end of the year or end of the month, depending on how i feel end of this month. [check]

Now its time for some good quality poker. GL!

Hey, I just wanted to say that this blog is really fucking inspiring.

Keep up the great work man!

Small mid-month update.

Getting absolutely crushed at tables :D Nothing special really, just some bad plays and probably lots of the other side of variance. But after running tremendously hot almost whole year its totally justified. Now i just have to play trough it, just take down small pots and avoid grey zone spots as much as possible.

Hoping to reach around 40-45k hands before Christmas. Around 20k so far so still some playing to do.

Lets throw in some random spews to brighten the day:

Btmpair value cr + get it in

Whoops.

Reads

Reg being cautious

Vol2

Also had my very first coaching session (me being a coach???) this week. It was actually pretty fun and hopefully useful to the student. It was pretty easy for me since student spoke Finnish and was pretty much on board with similar strategies that i use. No idea if im going to do coaching more often, but if nothing else it was a nice experience.

You're getting 3bet pretty light in UTG vs UTG+1 spots. I might have been a bit tilted with the AQo hand vs you in BB vs SB :) ...but I wouldn't have called on the river so I wouldn't have gotten to see it to be pissed. Entertaining hands for sure, funny too. Good luck with the coaching, and keep crushing.

I Decided that this week is the last poker week for 2018. Goal is to play 15k hands and 5 days. Then im going to take a longer break during holidays and come up with fresh mindset in 2019. I really feel that a longer break would be extremely beneficial right now. Its not like i would be burnt out or anything, i just somehow feel there has been enough poker for these last months. But before that im hoping to play solid ABC-poker for rest of the month and finish the year strong. Would be happy to bink a heater and finish the year with a winning month, but thats again me focusing on short-term results.

Anyways, gl me for the rest of 2018. Then hopefully some nice graphs and funny hands. (:

That does it, im done for this month.

STAKES DEC

GRAPH DEC

All in all ,well below average month. Run pretty poor whole month and played pretty poorly time to time as well. Somehow i just felt pretty stressed and a bit burnt out whole month. Yesterday i played a horrible session and even tilted a bit (which i normally dont do). Also i slipped and checked my results, which was a huge mistake. Today i tried to play but i felt immediately that my mind is not in a good place. I played 600 hands and made the best choice of the month and decided to call it. I felt no point in forcing extra 3-4k hands to meet some volume goal, if that comes in expense of long term stability. Sure you cant just decide not to play every time you dont feel like it, but this time im certain i made the right call.

But now for more positive stuff, which is the long run :

GRAPH 2018

STAKES 2018

I have to be honest, im pretty happy and a bit proud on my results. When i look back to start of this year, my main goal was just to try if its possible for me to move up in stakes. I didnt expect that i would be able to immediately start winning there and with pretty descent winrate as well. Now im able to jump into those games and feel confident playing there (not counting these last few days), which is probably the biggest leap forward for me. Also almost doubling the results $ wise is quite nice, since thats still the main reason to play this game.

Now im going to take well deserved break and get back to poker next year. Havent really thought about next year yet, but there is time for that later. Also i want to thank you guys who have been extremely positive and supportive trough this whole year. It has been really helpful to get support from other people, especially when you are in a dark place mentally and feel like the biggest fish in the pool. So thank you all.

But now im off. Merry Christmas and good luck for 2019.

Toni

Bingo 123 Thanks man, and happy new year! (:

ChaoRen123 With good table selection i cant really see why it would not would work. Some guys at 500z play 200z as well, and i feel i can do ok versus them. Fish are fish in all stakes, so if im able to do ok vs regulars and crush versus fish i should be able to make some EV. But really hard to tell which is more +EV, play 200z with higher winrate and lower variance (?) or 500z with lower winrate and higher variance (?).

Like i said i havent really though about poker year 2019 yet. Im going to devote one day just for deciding and searching goals for 2019. Past years have taught me that clarifying your goals and way to reach them is crucial. Having clear goals helps when times are tough and you start to wonder what am i doing / why am i doing this. But more on that later.

Havent really decided whether im doing to keep blogging or not. Its fun to just write and see what comes out. Also im quite amazed how so many gets something out of this, even though i just write something that comes into mind and thats basically it. But yea lets see how i feel when i get back into normal routines with poker.

Happy and +EV year for 2019!

Just found out about this thread recently and have read it all, really inspiring. I was one of those people who had you tagged as spewy reg too so this has opened my eyes haha!

Thanks for doing it and best of luck in 2019.

Started a new blog for 2019

If interested, keep following that. If not, i dont blame you.