Demondoink

Hey man, great series! I'd like to see another series for matches like Linus v Prodigy, for example.

Also would be cool to review at least one or two hands per video in the solver. This format is very good, but I still think looking at a sim or two per video to review the most weird or interesting hands could be beneficial- though I guess it's a little difficult cos both players seem to be deviating (Linus especially) quite a lot.

I think people will read anything that adds value to their life; poker
forum or not. If you're reading poker blogs on the internet, you're
likely looking for something you can take away, whether it be
inspiration or insight.

I think that is true, but at the same time this is a poker training site so the vast majority of people have signed up to RIO with the goal of improving at poker and on moving up in stakes as opposed to reading about travelling or achieving spiritual enlightenment. I am sure there are much better places to read about these sorts of topics than on RIO.

Which is why I also try to have some sort of balance in my blog of life/travel/self improvement stuff but also poker focused posts as well as hand histories.

So ultimately, no, they don't care about your graph; they care about
their graph.

They do care about your graph and results though. If you look at the most popular blogs on RIO (Freenachos, Neo, Demondoink, CD9 and Onklebs before us) then these are also the guys that are playing the highest stakes and have at one point or another shared graphs, results and hand histories.

Now you could argue that these guys are simply the best writers, or have the best ideas, but I know people more intelligent than myself (for example the guy I used to study with who played 200nl) who likely wouldn't get a fraction of the readers were he to start his own blog on RIO.

The fact that you shared a picture of your poker profits gives you the credibility to share your thoughts and have people believe that what you are telling them is the truth, or at the very least is pointing in the right direction.

If someone playing $50nl makes the exact same blog, comments etc but is down $10k lifetime in cash games then he will get almost no interaction, and even if he does, it will likely be tinged with distrust due to the nature of his poker results.

The poker players in this thread trust you to help them to move up in stakes simply because you have shown to be a crusher in poker.

That's why my blog is written in the way it is. I'm doing my best to
speak directly to people actually reading it, and I don't feel like I
really need to share my results aside from post 1, which only really
establishes my credibility.

But doesn't the fact that you titled the thread 'making ten million' suggest that you will be sharing your poker results throughout the thread?

It's quite a fun style of poker to play every so often because it essentially becomes a game of chicken and a bit of a levelling war. For example, lets say that you think that your opponent won't react appropriately to your over aggression, then you can just raise or click it back a bunch and print.

Conversely, if you think that your opponent will react too aggressively (as in spazzing every time you click it back) then you can actually just do it for value and allow them to level themselves in to thinking that you are bluffing.

I throw in these plays every so often just to keep my opponents honest, or if I think that it will work too well in a vacuum. It just makes you a bit tougher to play against and essentially throws the solver out of the window for this one hand.

RunItTw1ce

None of the journals are sharing anything in terms of strategy, so
putting journals behind a paywall doesn't make sense.

There is more to poker than simply discussing hand histories. You can be giving away information in so many different ways- for example showing or suggesting to people how to study more efficiently and on what tools to use, telling people your daily routine that optimizes your performance for each poker session, discussing how to achieve an elite level poker mindset etc.

All of this information is extremely valuable and is part of becoming an elite poker player. Strategy is merely another aspect of striving towards poker mastery.

I am not saying that I will put my blog behind a paywall (like I said my blog atm is more about my life/travels/thoughts etc), but at the same time I think Sam's suggestion was very reasonable and more importantly we should not take for granted the advice of elite level poker players (like Neo) who have absolutely zero obligation to share anything with us.

For example, if Linus or OTB said that I can sign up for a poker blog for $100 per year where we can discuss everything except from poker strategy, then I would sign up for that in one millisecond. The information you would get from that blog would easily 10x whatever you spent, even if you aren't discussing actual poker strategy.

Also didn't RIO reach out to you about making videos and you passed? I
thought this was a year ago?

I just checked my Skype, I was asked once almost four years ago. Obviously I passed at the time, but I'm just highlighting the fact that you'd assume guys posting blogs on RIO and playing high stakes would be hounded in to being coaches for the site. If I were asked now I'm not entirely sure what I would say tbh, I would have a think.

I am able to pick your brain here and there about strategy, but you
have to admit its very limited on what you are willing to share.

I'd say I've been pretty good over the years at discussing hand histories/strategy etc, especially when Sauce was around and I would talk a lot about strategy in the comments sections on those videos- as well as on other videos too.

I do agree that in recent years I've not really continued this, but that's more so because I don't really watch many RIO videos. If Sauce came back then I am sure I would go back in his comments section again, but that seems unlikely to happen!

Even in this thread I have responded to your questions on certain hands. I also do private coaching, so if someone wants a more precise description of my poker and study methodology then I will explain it all there. Obviously it doesn't make any sense to write that all out on a RIO blog for free. After all I have to pay bills too and I've spent hundreds if not thousands of hours staring at a solver and trying to figure out the logic behind it's outputs.

Australia trip and the line a day journal

Prior to this trip the longest flight I had taken was around six hours when I flew to Toronto in the Summer of 2019. A couple of years ago I downloaded an app called 'skratch', which allows you to select the countries that you have visited, and then shades them in on the map to give you a good visual representation of the places that you have travelled to.

It's funny that you don't even really realise how unconscious you often are when selecting a place to go on holiday. If you are from the UK then you are likely to default towards countries in the West of Europe like France, Italy, Spain etc and shy away from ones in the East. After filling out the countries I had visited, I realised that there was a gap in my travels in the East, so I decided to book a trip through the Balkans- which was a great experience!

Nine different countries in one month, and all done via public transport- in this case the bus! Many times the drivers of the buses would block off the toilet and say it was out of order, apparently so that they didn't have to clean it post journey. That meant, at least for me, basically not eating or drinking anything throughout the bus journey. Some of these journeys could be eight or ten hours long!

Looking back now, it's not something that I would rush to sign up for again. Rushing from place to place spending only a couple of nights in each country and long bus journeys without a toilet isn't exactly top class travel, but it was an experience and one that I am happy to have had.

The Australia trip was more of a socially focused one, as opposed to one where I was determined to do a bunch of sightseeing etc. My brother moved out there several years ago now and I was long overdue a visit- plus it was a bonus to visit a third continent, having travelled to around 50% of Europe, and visited North America once for a Canada/US trip.

My brother lives in Melbourne, and a friend from school lives on the east coast near Byron Bay.

First up was Melbourne, where I spend around a week living with my brother and going to the gym, going to the (golf) driving range, going on walks and going out for food. He was working some days too, so on those days I would do my own thing and head in to the centre of Melbourne via Flinders station and have a wander, often ending up in China town for some food.

We then went to Tasmania and done a road trip from Launceston to Hobart, going to a couple of national parks in the process and seeing some Tasmanian devils at a nature reserve. It was also fun to feed the kangaroos, and pretty surreal given I have seen them so often on the TV, but never in person. Kangaroos are a lot more rough when eating out of your hand than a Wallaby is!

After that my brother went back to Melbourne, and I continued my travels to Sydney and then on to Ballina Byron where my friend picked me up and I spent six days on the East coast, hanging out with him. We spent a night camping in Byron Bay, before he went to some hippy bonfire thing and I decided to just crash at a hostel in Byron instead, as it wasn't my cup of tea. We went on walks along the beach and spent a lot of time grinding a remastered version of crash bandicoot- managing to complete the first game before moving on to the second one. We also got through most of the LOTR trilogy, before I finished it off myself on the flight home to Scotland.

Then it was back to Melbourne for the last week or so, where I would play golf with my brother a couple of times at Yarra Bend golf club, which was a surprisingly nice course, given how cheap it was ($50 for one round and $33 for another as it was 4pm). We also had a night out with some of his friends, which was fun.

Early on in the trip I went in to this little store and seen a 'line a day journal'. Last year I bought a daily journal, but I would go long periods without filling it in, and ultimately gave up on it. This, however, seemed much more manageable, as the purpose of the journal is essentially to just write down one sentence (or perhaps even a word or two) to do with your day.

I liked this idea as I feel like writing down something about your day focuses you to be more conscious of your day. You don't want to write down that you just done the exact same thing ten days in a row. The eagerness to write a different entry to what you wrote yesterday, forces you to be more present and thus live a slightly different day to the one you had yesterday.

I have managed to fill it in every day since I got it, and I often catch myself thinking 'how can I make today different' throughout my day, as I am eager to write a different entry at the culmination of each day.

Overall it was a great trip. I met lots of cool people, got out of my comfort zone (asking out girls etc), seen some cool animals, hung out with friends, got PR's on bench/squat/deadlift and visited a third continent. When I look forward to the rest of the year I feel a sense of excitement. I have literally no idea where I will be in six months time. I could be in Europe, I could be in Asia, I could be in Oceania. I could be single, I could be in a relationship. I could be playing nosebleeds or I might not even be playing poker.

I have realised that, at least for now, I thrive on novelty. Routines and repetition are on the backburner. I want to go headfirst in to the unknown and see what happens.

Now, what to write in my daily journal...

RunItTw1ce

Luke Johnson created a journal on 2+2 and also a youtube channel. I
strongly disagree with this stuff being behind a paywall. I think this
is the approach Josh is going towards.

I can understand why he would say that this should be behind a paywall, I mean is there any debate that Neo's thread is of more importance than a random RIO coach making a play and explain?

These guys are getting paid $500 per video for information that is of much less importance than Neo's, and to a lesser extent my own (as I talk a bit less about poker strategy).

I honestly think it's a decent idea. Sure the viewership/interactions would reduce, but if you got 100 guys signing up for $100 then they could all post a bunch of questions and pick the mind of a guy playing high stakes. Then that $10k would motivate the guy making the thread to give their all, post/respond consistently and to share things that they may not be willing to share, on a free, public platform.

Realistically this won't happen any time soon, but it's honestly quite a good idea.

You can't tell me that paying $100 per year to have access to the mind of a high stakes player isn't great value. I mean a monthly RIO sub costs $200.

That way you could also leave a thread like my current one up for free (as there isn't enough poker strategy to charge a fee) but one like Neo's or my old 500z challenges behind a paywall where members can interact with one another, ask direct questions to the OP and see behind the curtain of high stakes.

Cos realistically people will never reveal a ton of poker strategy with free content. I would argue that many coaches are even holding back a bunch during their RIO videos, so that they can attract private clients and then reveal all then.

A Youtube play and explain may be a good means of getting students in the door for a coach, but making a free training course on Youtube makes literally zero sense, unless you just don't care about attracting students or making money.

Sam Crowe Hey mate. Tbh I have considered stopping the blog for a while. My intention was never to have one and was more just to do my own 500z OTB style thread a few years ago. I just kind of ended up doing a new one at the start of each year, even though for the past couple of years I have strongly considered not doing one again.

Anyways I think that if I start one I should finish it. Perhaps I won't bother with one next year, or maybe I will feel a burning desire at the beginning of 2026 to shift my focus back towards poker again and I will do a OTB/Neo style challenge thread again. We shall see.

Either way I will continue with this thread until the end of the year, and I'll share more photos etc so that the thread looks a bit more interesting for the casual who just wants to flick through once in a while to see whats going on.

I'll just go back to the weekly entries. However, when I am away then I'll likely not post at all- like what has happened since I've been in Australia. I am back in Scotland now though, so I'll be posting again!

P.S: I agree about the access to these journals and have thought about
it before. I think journals should be paywalled, if Phil could make
that happen. This stuff is personal, and valuable to readers, and
should be reserved to members of the community

Do you mean as part of the RIO monthly memberships?

I guess it would be weird though, cos then you would think that the authors of each thread should be entitled to some form of compensation, if that were the case. Arguably they should be (for example free annual membership if you get x amount of likes/comments/views) because the more interactions in the forums, the better it is for the site. They pay coaches to make the most mediocre videos imaginable, 30 minutes of play and explain every couple of weeks, but then you have guys like me, CD9 and Neo who all play high stakes (though they play a little higher than me) putting hours in to their journals and not getting a penny.

I would argue that these journals, especially poker focused ones like Neo's, are much more beneficial for the average RIO user than some crappy play and explain from a 200z reg.

Anyways, RIO will continue to employ large numbers of mediocre coaches, and consistently overlook the guys right under their nose. They should have pushed the boat out to get at least one of us to make videos. It's quite baffling honestly. I have been contacted once about making videos, and that was years ago, having been a member for 8/9 years.

This is why I've been considering for a while to make my own training site. I know I could make a much better one than RIO currently have, at least in terms of training content. They have literally zero structure to their videos (no training path) and are saturated with so many coaches, most of whom are mediocre players and mediocre coaches. I'd much rather watch a site that has 3-4 very good coaches creating a clear pathway on how to improve.

Instead they have 'elite' coaches that are playing 200nl.

You have a lot to offer, but you have to remember as you mentioned
above people are focused a lot on short term results. If short term
results like graphs gain more views and likes, then you should post
them. Even if 90% of the crap you don't believe in or in your words
you find disingenuous where people can challenge your credibility, the
10% that actually matters will be found by someone and have an impact.

Thanks mate I appreciate that. I think that in the future I may focus more on poker again in a blog, but for this year at least that isn't my main priority. Don't get me wrong I will play poker, share hands, study, coach etc but what excites me most about the upcoming year and beyond is to meet new people, date, travel, have new experiences etc.

Sure it would be nice to crush the nosebleeds, but that wouldn't make a big difference to my daily happiness and fulfillment in life. Once I have the other areas of my life in order, then I'll likely shift back towards focusing on poker again- or perhaps even start a coaching site or shift careers entirely, who knows!

Your view on what poker players provide to society was an excellent
take and pulling babies out of a vagina had me rolling!

Haha thanks man. I think that we can do lots of little things in our daily lives that make the lives of others better. For example last year I cut my elderly neighbours grass for them. I also carried one old lady's bag to the bus stop as she looked as if she was struggling. Obviously these are just small things, but people appreciate them and you also never know that your interaction with them might make their day. Often elderly people can be isolated and lonely, as their husband/wife may have died and they live alone.

So even if our actual job may not be the best for society, we can still be vital cogs within it by being good people in our day to day interactions with others. Then in the future we may decide to switch to a job that gives back more- such as being a firefighter or a tradesman.

The other facts like Australia having 38% gamblers was mind blowing.
I've played with quite a few at bellagio here in Vegas. They are
definitely very fun to play with!

I'm pretty sure that was the number that I heard being quoted. They seem to be the biggest gamblers in the world, in terms of percentage of population. I'd imagine that the live poker games could be pretty juicy, I guess I'd just have to figure out that rake structure to see how worthwhile it is to play.

Please post pictures of your travel! Also if you want more coaching
opportunities graphs are very important!

Thanks for the suggestion, I will post more pictures again! I am going to continue with the blog after peoples positive responses, as well as their feedback on what I can do better, and on what they are enjoying etc. I might not share a ton of poker grapsh (though my 500z one is likely coming soon) but I will continue to share cool hands and pictures from my daily life, travels etc.

IAmNeo

In terms of reach, social media is way better of course, but it's also
a different format. You're more beholden to the algorithm and need to
create content that stops people from scrolling with click bait /
trendy topics / pretty pictures.

Yes I think that's why I don't really like using Instagram, at least for poker and advertising coaching etc. I like Insta for my own personal profile, as I only have a small amount of followers on there (I deleted all my social media accounts a few years ago and Insta was the only one I got back). It's a good way of keeping in touch with people that I meet through travelling etc, and seeing what they are up to. Where as on my poker account its just all poker, and it just feels like a mosh pit of people self promotion, bragging about results/lifestyle etc.

Anyways I will post sometimes on Insta and may use it more in the future, but I can't see myself using any other social media platform as one is enough.

You're mulling over some pretty high-minded topics in your blog, which
will never be as sexy, but it's always here and people can come back
to read it and take something away from it.

I agree, I don't think that most poker players, and especially the casual readers, care that much about reading about mindfulness, happiness, self improvement etc on a poker forum, they would much prefer to read a poker blog where results and graphs are shared, and especially one that involves some kind of challenge- like your $10m goal!

People loved the OTB blogs back in the day, myself included, and I think they probably stand alone as the best ever poker blogs posted online. Both in terms of motivation and in terms of his own progress throughout them.

Obviously your blogs are sick as well, but I think we can relate well to the guy grinding 500z (essentially mid stakes) at the start of the challenge, and then ending up battling $5k or $10k short handed towards the end of it. Eventually culminating in that epic $200/400 battle with battle with him Ivey and Kanu before disappearing off in to the sunset with bags of cash.

Anyways maybe I'll do more of a poker focused blog again in the future, but for now my main focus is on my social life, travelling and spirituality/happiness.

Thanks for your response and I'll see you over on your blog too!

Hey Matt. I'm going to get back on to the poker grind in the next couple days, and I'll slowly work my way through your blog.

I look forward to reading it and to interacting in the thread. Good luck on the grind and on the sick challenge!

rhalala

Hey, first of all, thank you. I find myself in a similar situation. It
seems to me that blogging hasn’t evolved much, and I feel it could be
a lot better with it—simple things like having a view count for each
post, the ability to edit old posts and keep discussing the same topic
over time (while somehow notifying your audience about updates),
emails when new posts etc etc.

Hey mate, thanks for the comment! I agree I think that adding something like a view counter would be a big improvement, cos I know people who will read a blog but won't even log in to a RIO account while doing so- meaning no likes and no comments, both of which are essential for the OP to know they are actually interacting with others and aren't simply talking to themselves.

I am rethinking about cancelling the blog, but at the same time this format is kind of dying a slow death as people much prefer Instagram, Youtube, Twitch etc to interact with other poker players and hear their thoughts. I do enjoy writing though and find it good to be able to articulate my thoughts and explore different ideas.

Twitter could be fun, or even just writing your own journal on a piece of paper might be good enough? I have started a daily 'line a day' journal, and have been really enjoying it so far. It forces me to become more conscious of each day, as I want to write something new in each journal entry, instead of writing the same entry every single day of- went to gym, played poker, ate, went to sleep.

I hope to find you in a new format that fits you better!

Thanks, good luck to you too!

RunItTw1ce

Pictures are worth a million words. When you scroll through this
journal there is only one picture. People honestly don't want to read
a bunch of stuff. That is why Insta and youtube shorts are so popular.
If you want to reach a large audience I would suggest one of those.
90% of people are simple human beings. The key is not to be shocked by
how dumb some people can be. If you are not shocked, then you are not
irritated by it.

Yeah I agree I think that Instagram etc are much more popular ways of communicating to the current generation, however I don't really enjoy that medium as it feels a bit fake and disingenuous. I just feel kind of dirty when I make a post of there sharing some random results or trying to promote coaching or whatever, but obviously I should be doing this because coaching is a side hustle where I make a form of revenue, and the students that I coach tend to improve quite substantially meaning its a positive for the both of us.

I do agree that I should post more photos in there though. Obviously I do share hand histories, deep mtt runs via the hyperlinks, but I should post more photos directly to the blog that can be viewed by simply scrolling down through the thread.

I have considered doing Youtube for a while, but I'm not sure what direction I would head down with it- whether it be poker podcasts, discussing hands with other online regulars, theory, commenting on random TV/streamed hands etc. I think I'll be more likely to start a Youtube channel at some point and focus on that, compared to positing regularly on Instagram, but we shall see.

Post graphs, more pictures of places you are traveling to, pictures of
your house, maps of places you do your running / marathons, big names
of people you play against online, maybe some pictures of casinos you
travel to.

Thanks for the suggestions. Personally I can't see myself posting graphs very often on here. I prefer not to focus on short term results and I think poker is more of a process anyways, so short term results don't really matter. Also, whether people admit it or not, short term results can impact the credibility of the poster. The average viewer cares way too much about short term results than they should. If they see x/y/z player has gone on a big downswing, they now think there is a good chance that they either suck at poker, or were just running hot before then.

At the present moment I am focusing much less on poker this year (treating it as more of a part time job) and much more on my social life, fixing up/selling the house and travelling/moving abroad.

I don't think that adding x amount of money to my bank account or poker bankroll would improve my happiness atm, but I think that some of these other aspects that I mentioned would be able to.

Obviously people would much rather read about a poker blog chasing $10m in profit (as profit is the focus of the game) compared to one that is more presently focused on happiness, fulfillment, spirituality etc.

At the moment I just don't really care that much about chasing poker profits.

Tohuwabohu Hey mate, thank you for the very kind words! I am glad that you are enjoying the blog, and I now feel a bit guilty that I said I would end it (which I am currently reconsidering).

Its one thing to journal for yourself, but inspiring others along the
way may be some nice side effect?

Yes of course, that's a great point. However, the problem is that this blog gets a lot less interactions than my blogs from previous years (in terms of both comments and likes) so when that's the case I just assume, either correctly or incorrectly, that less people are bothered about reading it.

If I received more comments like yours then I would feel more of a purpose behind the blog, even if it was merely to provide inspiration for others- either on their poker journey or on their spiritual/happiness journey.

I had a really good trip to Australia, and going to get back on the coaching/playing grind again tomorrow.

RunItTw1ce I found out that Australia has the highest proportion of gamblers in the world, with 38% of people gambling on a weekly basis iirc. However a lot of this is slot machine related as they are placed in most pubs/bars etc. I didn't play any poker while I was away. Probably should've visited their casinos at least once to check out the poker action, but too late now!

What are your plans there? Any types of food you are interested in
trying? I forget are you vegetarian?

This trip was more of a socially focused one, instead of one intensely focused on either sightseeing or poker. Obviously I done some sightseeing, but I was more concerned about hanging out with people and meeting new people, instead of trying to tick off things from a travel to do list. I am Vegan (for over eight years now), so I wouldn't have been able to try those meats :D

A few minutes before this he was just talking about waking up each day
on earth and being grateful. Pretty solid podcast so far.

Thanks for the book suggestion, I'll look that one up!

What are your thoughts on how people view poker players? Around the 22
minute mark the host was saying how poker players don't provide
anything to society.

I think that most people view poker players as degenerate gamblers who are deluded in to thinking they can make a living from gambling. So many people ask me questions like 'are you addicted', which is like asking a professional footballer or musician if they are addicted to kicking a ball or playing an instrument.

The fact that they have such a low opinion of the profession to begin with means that they are unlikely to think that you are contributing much to society.

Obviously if we are in countries where we aren't paying tax then we are contributing less than the average person. However we still pay tax on lots of other things- property, cars, fuel, food, energy etc. We aren't directly improving the lives of people in the way that a nurse, doctor, personal trainer, teacher etc are, we are essentially just playing a game for a living, which I guess is a fairly selfish pursuit in that we are striving for mastery in a career that brings almost no improvement for anyone else other than ourselves, and perhaps those who we provide for.

However, I think that we can provide value to others by being genuinely good people. Poker is an amazing game because it forces you to be incredibly introspective and look at all your strengths, but especially your weaknesses and flaws. As a result you will, eventually, become a much better, kinder, well rounded person than the average joe who simply overlooks his insecurities, lack of physical exercises, lack of education, his poor social skills etc and instead blames external forces for the underwhelming results in his life- like his family, the government, his upbringing etc.

Even just today I was discussing a family member and his girlfriend, and about how his girlfriend has some very strong insecurities that I was able to pick up on, despite our relatively short time together. A good poker player would have identified these insecurities years ago and would have either focused on them through reading self improvement books, listened to podcasts, done meditation or sought some form of therapy.

So a good poker player should have better relationships with friends, family, seek to avoid unnecessary conflict with others by being better at controlling their emotions (for example how can you get road rage if you've lost a $10k pot before). You are better at identifying weaknesses in yourself, but also in others. Meaning you should be better at avoiding toxic people, toxic relationships, dangerous situations etc.

Also, as someone who realises how little they know due to the insane complexity of poker, you should be a more humble person. As a result you are much more pleasant to interact with. You brighten peoples days when you talk with them, you put a smile on their face and show acts of kindness to random strangers.

Perhaps as poker players we don't pull out babies from a vagina, we don't teach the next generation of kids at school and we don't put out a fire in a building, but we are able to be insanely introspective, to work on our flaws and try to improve the lives of people around us- even if that simply means opening the door for an elderly person or smiling at a random stranger. After all, we are all just human beings trying to be happy in this life.

I'm out.

Thanks everyone for commenting on these blogs throughout the years and especially RunItTw1ce this year. It just seems like the right time to end the blogs as the interest in them has slowly dwindled over the years and I am unwilling to spend one hour or more each week on something where I don't feel like the effort is reciprocated.

See you guys around :)

EDIT: I WILL CONTINUE THIS THREAD FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR!

Big pot at $2k

I wasn't trying to get quads to fold

What would you do if today was your last day?

I am most of the way through the book 'the wisdom of groundhog day', and all I can say is that I will almost certainly read it again in the near future. Imo I think we only absorb maybe 5-10% of each book that we read, assuming it's some sort of self improvement/psychology/spiritual book (obviously there is much less point in reading a novel multiple times as we are simply following a storyline).

If there are over 300 pages of a book to try and absorb, it just makes sense that we will manage to retain a very low percentage of that information- unless we have a photographic memory or something.

I think that many people will read a book once and then think that's them 'done' with it. I was the same to tbf, but in recent years I have read several books two and even three times. Each time you read the book, it can almost feel as if you are reading it for the first time.

What I really enjoy about this book is that so many of the issues that he discusses in it are so relatable. About how monotonous daily life can be. About how we are so disengaged from life with our (lack) of daily interactions with other people- whether that be the cashier, the cleaner, our neighbour, the person in the sauna or at the gym etc. About the conflict between our conditioned self and our authentic self. About our striving for material gains and less on fulfillment and happiness. About our yearning for qualities in a partner that we do not yet possess in ourselves.

At one point the author poses the question to the reader- what would you do today if it was your last day?

Of course we could come up with extreme things to do if this was truly the case, but I think his intention here is more to shock us in to realising that today may be our last day, and even if it is (hopefully) not, time will soon pass us by to the point where this reality will eventually hit us. So we must live in a manner that honours this eventuality.

Would we continue to live the same day on repeat? Or would we do some of the things that we have always promised to do 'some day'?

I do notice myself having pretty similar days during the week when I am going to the gym, grinding, studying, coaching etc, but within this I still try to retain some degree of flexibility and unpredictability. Some days I will go to the sauna 2x then leave, others I will sauna, then jacuzzi, then steam room, other days I will sauna, jacuzzi and then cold shower for one minute (instead of around thirty seconds). Usually I will read a book in between these activities, but other days I will be struggling for time and won't bother. Some days I will wash the dishes before I head to the gym, and other days when I get back from it. Some days I will walk to the gym, and others I will drive. Some weeks I won't bother going to a yoga class cos I have no interest in going, and other weeks I'll go twice. I will try to vary my meals so that I am not eating the same thing every day. I will study different topics so I am not doing 3bet pots every single day.

Even within routine there can be unpredictability and creativity. The unpredictability of whether I will grind today or not, and the creativity of studying a new spot or taking a cool line in game.

Then of course at weekends or whatever, we can actually get out of this routine and go and visit a friend, or a family member for a couple of days.

Just the other weekend, me and my friend went bowling. He said he hadn't been in years, and I hadn't either. I actually really like bowling, but I do it so infrequently. In some ways it brings up some form of nostalgia, because as a kid we would go to birthday parties at the bowling and then go and get a cheeseburger and a coke afterwards from Wimpies or McDonalds.

On Saturday I am leaving Scotland for a month and going to visit my brother in Australia. I have been to a lot of countries in Europe, but I have only left Europe once to go to North America, so it'll be fun going to another new continent. In the past I never really fancied going to Australia, but now I am quite excited to go. I am meeting up with a couple of other people there that I know too, and going to various different cities (as well as Tasmania).

I'm not sure if I will post while I am away or not, because I don't think that I will take my laptop with me, but I will see.

Last year I only went abroad twice (one for a week and the other for around 1.5 weeks) so I vowed to do much more travelling this year. I think that I might as well take advantage of the freedom that I currently have to travel to some of these places, cos if I have kids etc in the future then these opportunities will probably evaporate for a while.

In some ways it's tough seeing your bank accounts decreasing (paying for a new bathroom, this expensive holiday to Australia) but as highlighted in the wisdom of groundhog day, we shouldn't always strive for material gains and instead prioritise our internal happiness and fulfillment.

Is it necessary to spend an hour each day chilling in the sauna, jacuzzi, steam room etc? Probably not. But is it relaxing, enjoyable and satisfying for the soul? Yes!

At the moment I am not maximising my hourly, far from it. I am only playing sporadically and I want to prioritise travelling, socialising etc this year. But at the end of the day, if this indeed were my last day, would I wish to spend it glued to my computer for the entire day, or reading a good book after a sweaty fifteen minute sauna session?

GG.

RunItTw1ce Yes I think that in heads up it's a bit more of an exploitative game compared to 6max (at least in my opinion). Ranges are so wide that it can be easy going too far in either direction with bluffs, or lack of bluffs (on certain textures/run outs).

In game I knew that A9 was a pure river fold, but I had two reasons that I called- neither of which are that he can have lots of bluffs on this board, but of course that made me consider the bluff catch.

Don't really wanna get in to either reason in case any of my opponents read this and take a mental note.

seems ok but when you pot raise the river and villain pot raises back,
what are targeting with a river 4bet to call you down? Definitely a
leveling war.

Yes in hindsight I should have just called his large raise otr, instead of jamming for thin value myself, however I think against this opponent he may be going thin for value and thus value jamming myself is okay. I think I'm always supposed to get stacked here, so not gonna lose too much sleep over this hand tbh. But yeah I can definitely see reasons for just calling instead of jamming.

Max value

Non GTO call down

Questionable line rewarded

Losing a stack in 5bb river pot

A week of going with the flow

Gym + meal plans-

Since the start of the year I have been doing a strength and hypertrophy programme that involves going to the gym 4x per week. Last year it felt like I had to force myself to go to the gym (I'd go around 2x per week) but it would be easy for me to go and play golf or to go to a yoga class. Now it's the opposite.

I have kind of lost interest in yoga, at least with the studio that I'm signed up for here, and it's not golfing season so I haven't hit a ball in a couple months. In all honesty I would cancel my yoga membership were it not for the fact that I signed up for a year and feel obligated to go through with that commitment, given the fact that they are a small business and have always been nice to me.

I think the reason that I stopped enjoying the gym was because I was just going and working out while being in autopilot and without any clear goals or vision. I would often do much the same exercises and I'd stagnated or even regressed on quite a few exercises.

However, now I have a clear plan, and I don't know exactly what the next workout is until I check my spreadsheet the night before- which keeps things fresh and exciting!

Recently I've noticed that my protein intake is a bit too low. It's easy to get enough protein on a vegan diet for the average person to function (you only need around 40-60g) but if you want to put on muscle then obviously you need a lot more than that. I would often get somewhere between 100g-120g of protein per day, but I wanted this to be more like 130g-150g per day.

My current daily caloric goals are around 3500 calories, so assuming I eat 3x meals per day then each meal should have somewhere between 40-50g protein. My porridge has around 35g of protein at just over 1k calories, but adding half a scoop of protein powder (which I just bought) increases that to 45g and hits my target. Usually I'd have one other meal with a protein source (beans/lentils/tofu) but the other meal or snack wouldn't contain one, and would more just be about the calories. However, now every meal needs to contain a protein source.

So todays menu was;

Breakfast- 1,050 calories -150g oats, 40g peanut butter, 250ml oat milk, 15g chia seeds, 100g frozen berries, 12.5g protein powder.
Main meal- 1400ish calories -250g pasta, 100g dry lentils, 0.25 can tomato pulp (I only had half a can left instead of a full one, and I cooked 2x portions so I can save cooking time tomorrow), 0.25 tbsp olive oil and a small banana.
Late meal- Around 900 calories -Heinz baked beans, 2x seeded bagels, 2x small chocolates.
The total was just under 3400 calories, with 140g of protein- which is the highest amount that I have had for a while.

Personally I don't really eat the fake meat because it is just processed rubbish, though I will have beyond burgers every so often as I like the taste of them. Obviously tofu is processed a bit, but it's still quite healthy imo and is a staple in Asian cultures who have historically been some of the healthiest people in the world. I also started using dry beans instead of buying the pre cooked canned ones. I think they taste a bit better and are also cheaper if you do them this way. Plus it's a good way to save waste- as one small bag can equal the same amount of 6x cans, which often don't get recycled, even if you put them in for recycling.

I am already excited for tomorrows workout!

The only slight problem is that the final two weeks of the programme coincide with going to Australia, so I will have to do 4x workouts per week for the first two weeks of that holiday, which might not be easy given that me and my brother also plan to play golf etc too.

Poker + socialising

Asides from going to the gym, I have been prioritising my social life this year, even above poker. Most weeks I am heading off at least once per week for a couple of days, while driving 2-3 hours each way in the process. Essentially it makes zero sense to live here any longer, as my friends/family are all 2+ hours away. So I'm just getting the house in to a sellable state then hopefully I will get rid of it asap.

I went to Edinburgh on Thursday for a couple of days, then went to Wishaw to visit my friend who has a young kid. It's quite funny as his baby would literally just stare at me for long periods of time. A baby can be happy to just stare at a face for several minutes at a time, but as we grow up we become less and less patient- to the point where we are in an almost constant state of requiring mental stimulation, typically from a phone or an electronic device.

I started reading 'the wisdom of groundhog day' again, and I think it's an even better book the second time around! It talks about the importance of changing your inner state, as opposed to always striving to change your outer state. Ultimately we can only achieve a sustained level of happiness through our inner state, instead of through outer factors such as money, status, possessions, experiences etc.

Of course outer factors are important, but only to a certain extent, and they will never bring us any lasting happiness.

For the past couple of months I have probably been too disengaged when it comes to living in Inverness, as I am planning to leave here. However, I've been trying to focus more recently on enjoying the time I have here, on being present, on interacting with people, instead of just going through the motions and counting down the days until Australia, or until I sell my house and move away for good.

In terms of poker, I only played twice in the past week. Some days I will have a look at the Stars lobby, see it's dead, and not even bother to start a session. However there are other days when I just don't feel like playing at all, so I end up doing something else instead.

I have four days remaining to clear a chest on Stars, so the plan is to up the volume this week in order to achieve that. Hopefully there are a decent number of games running, so that clearing this bonus won't be too much of an issue.

I'm pretty busy tomorrow, but I definitely plan on playing again! Let's hope I can catch some heat in the next couple of weeks before I go on holiday.

GG.

RunItTw1ce I just checked my DB and in 2.4m hands (including a ton of 100z/200z etc) my hourly is indeed higher than $100/hour.

What you also have to factor in to this sample size (the graph I shared) is that an hour playing $10knl is not equal to an hour playing $1knl. When I play something like $10k (albeit which isn't often) then my hourly there will be insanely high.

I tend to play in games at this stake where I'm winning at around 10bb/100. Assuming I play 80 hands per hour then I'm making $800 an hour one tabling this. I tend to sell half, but I'm still making $400 an hour- at least in theory.

I wouldn't really one table $1k though, where my WR will be lower (higher rake).

The one tabling decreases my hands played per hour, and thus my 'hourly' in my PT4 DB- even though I will make more one tabling $10k than I will by four tabling $1k.

Also sometimes I will make more four tabling 500z than playing $1k, $2k etc. I can get in a ton of hands per hour and I have such a big edge over the pool that it's not really worth playing those higher stake reg tables. Though this is a relatively rare occurrence- but it happened earlier this year when a guy was streaming for his Youtube channel in the 500z pool.

RunItTw1ce They are the same graph but one is filtered by stake (with the highest at the top) and the other is filtered by hands played (with the most hands at the top).

I'm curious about the hourly rate you have with $66/100 one would
think your hourly is higher than $100/hr. But $162,885 / 1634 hrs says
other wise.

I wouldn't worry too much about hourly rate for this sample tbh. These hands are often played alongside 500z, for example. Sometimes 200z if 500z wasn't running. You'd need all my hands for a more accurate hourly, and it's not going to be as high as it 'should' cos it's difficult to get in a lot of hands on Stars nowadays and I'm bad at mixing sites.

Someone who is good at playing multiple sites, with the same WR, could achieve a much higher hourly.

Nobody01 Thanks mate!

1.2m hands at 500z, so the bulk of my volume has been there. Another 500k hands at 200z. I have 2.4m hands in my PT4 database.

Coaching

I have never liked the idea of self promotion for some reason. In the past I would just rely on potential students to contact me randomly through this or via my Instagram, however it has become abundantly clear that this passive approach is not a good means of attracting new students.

Creating videos (either on Youtube, a training site or streaming on Twitch) is almost certainly the best way. Guys who have done this (for example Jarretman) managed to gain notoriety, despite their relatively short term in the online poker spotlight.

Essentially people like to hear your thought process and put a face to the (screen) name. They seem to care less about win rates and more about these factors. Which is why you see guys with breakeven graphs, or guys who hardly even play poker, managing to constantly (at least according to them) attract new students.

Anyways, as someone who nowadays plays as high as $10k, and has beaten the game for over ten years and never had a losing year in the process, then I feel like I am a pretty good option for someone who wants to move up in stakes at 6max NL cash.

I will share my graph for $1k+ below, and if you have any other questions, then feel free to drop me a message.

I apologise to those who just want to read my blog and couldn't care less about coaching, but last week I was almost certain that I was going to stop posting on here as I couldn't think of a valid reason to continue to do so. In previous years I have always had at least one underlying reason to post (attracting students, meeting new people, being part of a community, accountability, exploring ideas, accepting my own flaws etc) but this year I lacked any underlying purpose behind each post.
So I will occasionally post about coaching on here, which will help to justify the time I spend writing all of these posts.

I hope everyone has a good week :)

Graph by stake

Graph by volume

RunItTw1ce There is a bug with the Pokerstars software just now that means when both players have 'run it twice' selected in the client, it only runs the pot once. This has been kind of disastrous for me given that I have lost two huge pots this year when both of them were run once. One was against a fish (so he may have not had the option turned on) but the other one was against a reg who told me he also had the 'run it twice' option turned on- yet the pot was just run once due to the software bug.

It's been going on for a couple months now and they still haven't fixed it.

Oh and Pokerstars, please fix this run it twice bug- so that we don't have to run it once for every single one of my biggest ever pots :P

Has anyone else experienced this same bug in the software?

High stakes, high variance

In previous years and throughout my poker career, I have tended to take the safe option and play lower stakes than I should be playing. I have attempted to avoid the variance that high stakes will inevitably bring, and in return I have made a fairly consistent, variance free income.

However, if you want to make serious money from this game then you have two options;

1. Insane volume. You can make a lot of money if you put in a lot of hands, but the reality is that (at least at $1k+) it is difficult to get in a ton of volume. Gone are the days when 500z would run 24/7, and gone are the days when you could log on and have access to as high stakes as you wished to play.

2. Bum hunt the highest stakes, selling action if you are not rolled to play those games (or if you wish to slightly decrease the variance). You might not get in a ton of volume this way, but you can make a lot of money- or at the very least, a lot of EV.

Lets say you get in to a $10k game where you are playing 80 hands per hour while one tabling. There is a big fish at the table, and the rake is almost none existent, so your win rate is around 10bb/100. That means that you are making $1k for every 100 hands, and $800 per hour. Even if you sell half your action you are still making $400 per hour- and that is just playing one table. You could easily have some other $1k, $2k, $5k games on the side, or perhaps some $500nl if you want to play some extra tables.

Of course if you take this approach the variance will increase dramatically. You are not playing many hands per hour, and the swings at $10knl will be very large- especially when your ABI is a fraction of this stake.

In the past I have always taken the volume/playing lower stakes approach, of being more conservative and only shot taking $5k+ very occasionally. However so far this year I have just been playing $5k/10k whenever they run. Unfortunately for me, I have ran way below EV at $10k. I lost the one all in with 80% equity for an $18k pot, and then last night I lost another 55% equity favourite for a $20k pot.

My average stake last year was probably around $1knl, so running around $27.5k below EV this year is far from ideal. The good thing is that I have sold action for my $10k shots, so that lessens the blow a bit. My EV so far this year is very good in a small sample, and I think I am playing really well at these stakes.

Last week I fell off my chair when I lost that 80% equity pot, but last night I just laughed sarcastically at another lost all in at my highest stake. The only way to get used to playing the nosebleeds is to play them. Meditation, reading books etc cannot prepare you for the feeling of seeing a pot that could have bought you a new car, sliding across the table to your opponent.

I don't know how much longer I will play this game for tbh, but I feel like I need to at least give myself one shot at reaching the nosebleeds and making serious, life changing money. So far the swings are hard, but with each session I see myself caring less and less. It's becoming more about making good plays, and less about sweating on whether I win or lose the pot. After all, the best players in this game are just seeing the chips at the table as poker chips, and nothing else. They know that they will make money at the end of the year, regardless of the outcome of this hand and whether their bluff gets a fold, or whether their value bet gets paid off.

I am no longer sitting on the sidelines and watching guys that I used to play with achieving great success at the highest stakes. I am forging my own path forwards and destroying mental blockages in the process.

GG.

$20k pot

Douggyfr3sh Cheers mate, I appreciate that! I have recommended the book to a few people now (including on here). I think it's great at enabling us to be introspective and see where we are biased etc in our own thought patterns.

Hope you enjoy it too! :)

RunItTw1ce

This reminded me of this MunEZ_StaRR podcast. It has been a long time
since I have heard it, but it was quite the opposite of being risk
averse at the nosebleeds. When they are playing for cars and houses,
it seems redlining is a good approach. As most people are under rolled
for these stakes.

I started watching that podcast but never finished it, so I will go back and watch it all the way through! I've actually been having some nostalgic Sauce cravings recently. I loved interacting with him in the comments section, and it was also funny as you two guys didn't always agree with each other haha.

'Red lining' is definitely overrated imo. I wrote out a long passage on this, but then I felt like I was giving too much away and deleted it. I do agree that being aggressive, fearless and capable of bluffing etc is very important though.

This one is interesting! Because even though he is reckless we still
don't know how bad the strategy was.

I didn't play enough against him to garner any decent reads (we played together in some random mid stakes tournaments at one point haha) but I don't doubt that he had immense poker talent and a very aggressive and likely winning style, however he was extremely reckless in terms of things like bankroll management etc. It doesn't matter how good of a player you are if you continuously put yourself in the crosshairs of busting your roll.

A lot of advertising of weak hands get these players paid in bigger
pots.

Tbh this is a pretty good strategy. Your opponents can adjust to over call you in the big pots (as they see you bluffing a lot in the smaller ones) and you can just under bluff when in a big pot and get paid too often when you have a value hand. Thats why it's important not to get too attached to your adjustments against regulars that are capable of counter adjusting against you.

Hard not to do some times. We want to vent, but we are much more
respected when we don't.

I am someone who gets emotionally invested when it comes to poker and watching sports. Outside that I am a very calm person, but when it comes to these competitive endeavours I will always feel the highs and lows. It's somewhat admirable when people are able to be stoic when facing defeat, but personally I think it's also fine to see some emotions. After all, we are humans with emotions and suppressing them isn't any more healthy than letting them out once in a while.

Also, I would argue that experiencing some level of anger etc leads towards determination and improvement. Your opponent pissed you off and now you are going to destroy them. If you always remain indifferent then perhaps you don't put in the extra work to become better than other regs because you see poker as more of a game of stoicism as opposed to a game of war.

As a Scot Andy Murray is someone whom I have always admired, but he has always shown his emotions and frustrations while on the tennis court.

Anyways I'm not justifying breaking the odd mouse, but at this point I am honestly fine with the odd angry outburst as it's a part of who I am. I still meditate etc and I am much better than I was in the past, but unless I want to suppress my emotions then I will always react at some point to a Rangers/Scotland loss, or to losing an $18k pot with 80% equity.

What do you think of using a replayer format for your $18k pot? Easier
for people to watch it step by step. I put this one in as an example.
Let me know how you like it.

That's a good idea and looks much cleaner than a basic HH. How do you use that, and is it free to make an account?