ElSquancho

Trying to be ok with not having anything of value to add to the conversation.

Time to enjoy the stillness and recognize the underlying qualities of that stillness.

Best wishes :)

bump ;)

Great post! Thanks for the link!

Best wishes and GL Indifference!

This Woman Walks 100,000 Steps A Day

AGAME was a big boost for me.

GL!

Hi s_dot94!

For a new player, I would recommend making sure you are playing a correct pre flop strategy for each position.

Choose a spot (UTG), open your trainer/solver and make sure you are RFI/folding the correct range for your rake structure.

Have a notepad file open and start building heuristics. Find examples in your database of hands you misplayed, cut/paste them into your notes and review them daily. Once you have your RFI ranges from each position, expand out to other branches of the game tree.

By taking this approach first, you will fix leaks already in your database from later streets that have compounded from a pre flop error. This is the quickest way to boost your win rate.

This is not sexy or fun work but its the foundation of any winning strategy. Thankfully, most players aren't willing to put in the effort.

Hey Royalize!

The Vision discord has a lot of eyeballs...I highly recommend you post your solverland queries there!

https://discord.gg/ChPVxTB8

Hi Jonleblanc321,

If you spend $$$ on a trainer for only one month and only study 6max UTG fold or raise for one day, it will pay for itself in your first session of live play.

GL!

Hey Bryan S,

HorseofHell's first video for RIO is probably what you are looking for:

A Monker Solver Breakdown

25 + 50 PLO probably unbeatable 3+ with a $4 cap.

Hey MichealJMurphy,

It's worth playing on one condition:

You are playing micros to gain experience to move up.

With baseball season back in full swing, we get to see variance on display affecting uninitiated
fans.

Professional athletes all have systems of training in place to track, improve and maintain their skill set, just as any serious (or aspiring) pro card player does. They show up to train, study their opponents, play and then recover from play all with various coaching systems in place.

Last weekend my fav MLB team removed a left handed batter and subbed in a righty who was around 0-20 this season in a clutch spot. My friend exploded at the TV saying how bad this player was and how terrible a job the manager was doing (despite their obvious skillsets).
There was no convincing him otherwise.

The exact same situation arose today, and this happened:

Jansen hits a 2 run homer to tie the game

My friend declined to answer his phone when I called him 2 seconds after this hit ;)

Since OP made this post 4 years ago and dipped I will leave it at this:

You have to set up the correct systems for long term success to happen in todays games. We have all the tools on this site to build the right systems and maintain the right mindset to do this. You just have to put in the work.

Or perhaps I'm just being results oriented?

Hey haleljua, great post.

How do you guys balance poker/life?

I schedule out my day. I plan out specific goals/targets for a 4 week period and have systems in place to track and achieve them.

You should consider getting The AGAME Master Class. Elliot covers everything you are asking about and a lot more. Definitely leveled up my game.

GL!

IDK about live SS, but this is probably a good start:

https://www.runitonce.com/poker-training/videos/horseofhell-improve-your-shortstack-play-improve-your-winrate/

Go backpacking for 6 months in a place where you don't speak the language. Swim in the ocean. Sleep in hostels. Hook up. Do a meditation retreat. Go alone. Don't be a nit about it either ;)

Remember my sample is pretty much nit... oops fullring.

Same thing ;)

GL!

Please show lifetime rake paid. I'm super curious!

This clip comes to mind!

Great share Zamadhi108!

Cheers!

He mentioned in a couple posts last year that he is willing to sell it in pieces (I have no idea at what price). IMHO, the section "GTO Concepts" is worth the $1.6k price tag alone and is where you would start your journey.

GL and lmk if you pick it up!

This just posted:

David Goggins - How To Get Up Early Every Day

I did have this covered in my tree while breaking the spot down with a friend lol:

Disregard

Phil gets looked up here and says "the Q is a key blocker here and if Dan had K999 I'd be likely to get the fold".

"I'm repping QT specifically and I'm going to use TT blockers more than QQ blockers, so the Q is a really good card to have".

Why is the K worse than the Q? Wouldn't you rather unblock the Q?

Hand found here:

KTT3 River Bluff

Hey LGLO!

I'm pretty sure its Stars 500.

The place for everything Vision:

https://discord.com/invite/AXuqNrP

Battling RNGeebus, Making A Poker Friend + A Successful 500 Shot

I got insanely tilted this month...

Growing up in a ultra competitive household I'm no stranger to battling. I can still hear my mother's screeching voice from upstairs:

"IF IT'S NOT FUN, DON'T PLAY!!!!".

One of my brothers was probably button mashing and "being cheap" as we yelled at each other in front of the warm glow of a 4:3 resolution tv.

As a fellow HU Connoisseur, you might be wondering why I'm telling you this? Well, I recently commented in my favorite thread on RIO by: @Iranian96 found here:

https://www.runitonce.com/chatter/some-thoughts-on-poker/

The topic was on in-game-performance and the quality of your game. I won't rehash anything here as it would be a +EV decision to investigate the thread at your leisure. Given my absolute monkey tilt this month I've decided to share with you some of my reflections from lessons recently learned.

My AGAME vs Good + Bad Regs

When I'm reg battling someone for a HU table, I have only one in-game-performance rule:

If its not fun, don't play.

This doesn't mean I'm overly sensitive and rage quit when my AAxx loses vs your AAxx. I just stop playing against someone I probably don't have a massive win rate against and can pretty much battle with any day of the week when I'm enjoying the grind. It's simple.

I also come from a full time MTT schedule background. I'm no stranger to rotting in my chair for hours after busting a $530 on the bubble. Resilience is not an issue. Being able to put the game on pause is one of the biggest boosts to playing cash games...if you can ;)

Now this is a topic I had never considered until this month:

My AGAME vs A TOTAL FISH

As of today (Jan 31st) I had the honor of getting over 1.5k hands in this month vs a player I have nicknamed: "RNGeebus".

RNGeebus is a serious fish, but he loves PLO. I respect that.

At times I become aware that I feel entitled to his money, and before I allow myself to feel guilty about it, I let those feelings go. He also doesn't chat or throw emoji's and I extend this curtesy to him as well.

I'm not going to break down his game so you think I'm sick good at HU (I'm not) or divulge my tactical adjustments confirming to you that I'm wicked smart (definitely not).

Let's have a look at RNGeebus' graph vs me this month:

Again, that's not my graph and it doesn't look like anything to be tilted over in the 200 streets. I've mentioned previously why I don't look at the all in adjusted line. But since it's the end of the month, lets have a peak shall we...

So, what happens when I get tilted?

1. I become aware that the center of my chest has tightened.
2. My pulse quickens.
3. I feel heat in my face.
4. Expletives race through my mind.

What does this lead to?

I start to make very quick decisions. VERY QUICK. I'm playing speed poker now and that bet slider is getting closer and closer to pot. I gotta stack this guy before he quits!

I bring my awareness to my breath.

Look at this guy, clicking away with so much confidence!!! He must punt on slots so the site is letting him win so they can rake me and stack him!

I don't follow the breath to the abdomen, my awareness stays at the tip of my nose where the in/out breath touches the nostrils. I'm now aware of the change in my body and my racing thoughts and that my AGAME has slipped.

He is going to quit! I know it! Why am I not allowed to WIN!!!!!!!!!!!

After a minute or so I now allow my awareness to follow my breath from the tip of the nose all the way down to my abdomen. Then all the way back to my nose. Before this turns into a guided meditation, DM me if you want some really good free material.

My thoughts are influencing my feelings and my feelings are influencing my thoughts in a feedback loop. Now, I can't just "let go" of these thoughts and feelings but I can notice the truth about them...they are impermanent. They can't last. They are just arising and passing within my awareness. Because of this, they are not "me" or "mine".

A great line I heard during a 10 day silent meditation retreat was:

"No I, no self, no ego, only experience, only flow."

So now what? Since I have a tendency to play faster, I now rely on my timer. Scuba divers rely on dive computers to maintain a safe ascent rate when going up underwater. If you violate the 18m/60secs rule, even for only a couple feet, your computer will go ballistic with alarms, telling you to slow down and maybe adding extra time to your safety stop before surfacing. This prevents the nitrogen in your blood from forming bubbles and giving you decompression sickness. Think of shaking a coke can and instantly opening it compared to letting it sit or opening it very very slowly. The coke in the can is your blood and the nitrogen are the bubbles that will burst out the top if you open too fast. If you dive enough, you will already know when you are getting close to the alarm going off (muscle memory style).

I now treat that timer as my ascent rate indicator. I add more time bar to where I normally make my clicks as a buffer to really make sure these are the decisions I should be making. Basically, my clicks are ascending slower then the recommended safety standard.

Making A Poker Friend

I feel very fortunate to have linked up with a fellow grinder of Mikesell's HU book. He gave me some study advice that has ironically made me too busy to chat with him on the regular and boosted my study winrate/retention. We are both obviously big Cory fans and I have watched the video review they did together three or four times.

A Successful 500 Shot

I played some 500. Won some money. It's like 200 except you raise to $15 instead of $6 pre.

Going to wrap this up here on one last note...

Today I did something I have never done before. I was playing RNGeebus, lost two all ins with +80% equity over 20ish hands...and quit.

You already know why.

No, I.
No, self.
No, ego.
Only experience.
Only flow.