Tcallas

What % RB are the guys at GG who win the leaderboards getting? This is not surprising to me, I see people 16 tables 14 hours straight to win that lb. GG really has it figured out. A few winners from RB + LB to give liquidity. Everyone else can be banned for "bumhunt".

This is great advice. I really need to start meditaing before my sessions. Bonus points if its a cold shower. I find that leaves me in such a calm and concentrated state. Great for meditation or poker.

• wake up and play a total of 8 hr daily, taking proper breaks.

Gonna revise this to 6 hours. I think 8 hr with good concentration is not possible for me.

• after go out and cycle/run/gym 1-3 hr to keep sanity.

Went for a short run. Was absolutly freezing cold and i was exhausted.

-100% focus on the tables, only non-distracting music allowed.

Tried my best here.

• update the blog here with whatever random nonsense after every day.

Done

• send some time reading and interacting with some other RIO members here, for
  motivation and potentially forging connections.

Done

• Eat 100% clean.

Failed miserably here. when I'm tired I tend to eat a whole load of junk food.

Focus Level: B
Energy Level: C
Quality of Play: C

Well, my first day of this was a mixed bag. Decided to aim for 6 hours as it seems far more sustainable as three two hours seems far more manageable.

The biggest issue I'm having right now is with my energy levels. Since I started playing poker again my caffeine intake has gone up and up steadily. I think this is causing an issue with my energy level peaking and crashing wildly. When I wake up, drink coffee, and play my first session, my energy and concentration feel really good. However, I have a big crash midway through the day and generally feel miserable, prone to tilt, poor concentration and end up raiding the fridge for junk food at night. My plan now is to cut back on the caffeine to two cups in the morning, and drink more water instead.

Overall, after my first session, my quality of play was affected drastically by my low energy levels. This is really what I need to focus on currently. My overall technical poker skill is still rather poor overall, as I have completely neglected any type of studying. However, I am still incapable of even playing to the best of my current abilities consistently right now for any real length of time, so my focus is on optimising my schedule, diet, sleep, etc. It does fill me with hope for the future that, even with my poor technical ability and constant C/B game, I am still able to profit at these low limits. I'm really just starting this journey and have so so much I can work on.

Damn. Future crusher right here!

Gl mate, subbed. The mental side really is the hardest.

I'm doing a very similar challenge in my thread. GL mate.

Hey guys, gonna set me a mini-challenge here for some accountability. It's not acceptable that I'm giving this a go full time, yet I'm only averaging about 3 hours a day playing time. My results have been decent even though my volume and focus have been poor, so it's time to change that.

Short term monk schedule/challenge, until the end of the month:
- wake up and play a total of 8 hr daily, taking proper breaks.
- after go out and cycle/run/gym 1-3 hr to keep sanity.
-100% focus on the tables, only non-distracting music allowed.
- update the blog here with whatever random nonsense after every day.
- send some time reading and interacting with some other RIO members here, for motivation and potentially forging connections.
- Eat 100% clean.

I've spent a lot of time optimising my grinding setup and schedule over the last few weeks, so now it's time to put it to use! I will write about it in one of these posts. It's a bit unorthodox, to say the least, but I'm feeling good with it so far. I feel like trying to maintain good health while griding is crucial. Sitting inside staring at a screen doing something that requires such concentration and creates such stress for long hours is incredibly challenging. At my current level and stakes, it's definitely the biggest challenge. It's going to be a real effort for me, a naturally very lazy person, to try to keep to this schedule, but I'm never going to make it to where I want to in this game if I cant dedicate myself 100%.

I've really been enjoying doing some long exercise outdoors after sitting inside all day. I live in a pretty scenic place so it's fantastic to get out into the great outdoors and get some fresh air after a long session. The weather should hopefully get better soon too. It's been snowing the last couple of days and the gyms are still shut from covid, unfortunately.

Probably the most tilting thing I have ever happened to me occured at the tables today. A fish shoved 200bb into me while I had the nuts and my internets just so happened to decide to lose connection right at that point. It literally happened right as he shoved the money. I have had no connection problems prior or since, just in the 20 seconds window where that happened. It was honestly slightly comical with the timing, and I knew I was just about to get FKed over. I honestly don't normally ever tilt, but I had to stop the session after that.

Cya tomorrow people!

Thanks, man, I hope so too!

Sick W/R so far mate. Your process seems top-notch.

Thanks man. I got a lot of dumb rants left in my head i wanna share, stay tuned!

My results are decent but since i have done it like 4 times its like I knew how to do it already, it would be much harder starting from square one. The hard part will be going higher than I have before, and actually being consistent.
Unfortunatly i dont have graphs as at Sky poker no database software i know of works there. I have some hands at GG but im not sure how it all works on that site. If stars ever bother to verify my details again I want to start putting in some volume there.

Hey just wanna say i misread the graphic. It looks not bad actually.

Yeah thats nitty as hell. I would just add one table at a time of higher limit, make sure its a good 1, when you have 15-20 BI for that limit. You get more comfortable with the new limit that way without having the swings of moving up all your tables at once.

GL dude. Also playing NL 100 and a fan of Detox/Nick Howard methodology if you wanna discord.

Hey dude, I think you are bang on, the hardest part if poker is the mental side of it, but i think thats why it will be + EV for a long time.

Since you are grinding it through the micros and i recently done that, I can give you two bits of advice.

1. Dont be scared of the next limit or the players at the next limit, there wont be a big difference. Move up as fast as possible.

2. Table select and focus on max winrate as best you can. The enemy at micros is not the regs its the rake. Play the best tables, not too many, and dont fall into the rake trap like i would say 95% of aspiring grinders do. GL!

Hey man, i read the whole thing an I honestly think your work ethic and persevere is inspiring. I come from a first world country where, honestly, most people are just lazy and entitled. You clearly have suffered and worked harder than the vast majority of people here in my country, yet most people here manage a relativity coushy, easy life just by the fact they are born here.

I hope you manage to work smarter and not just harder and really make some money from this silly game!

This journal is the nuts. Actually inspired me to stary my own.

For my first post, I want to reflect on my recent experiences griding it up again through the micros. I have a LOT of thoughts about this, the state of poker at the micros and the mistakes in approach players are making, so this may take multiple posts.

The elephant in the room:

Most players are delusional about poker and the nature of poker. The reality of Microstakes is that each player is paying around 12 bb/100 in rake. This is an absolutely incredible amount. Around, each hour, 66 bb is being raked off the table. To put this into perspective. if you fold every single hand, you will lose, 25bb/100. What this means that, if there is not enough dead money at the table coming from fish with substantial loss rates, assuming you are equal in skill with the average regular at your stake, you will almost certainly be losing money sitting at that table. Given that fact, you really need two fish with -40+ bb/100 -- remember, folding is only -25(!) -- or one huge whale with over -66bb/100. Luckily, with some table selection, this is not difficult to find at micro/small stakes even today in 2021.

Given these realities, it's not surprising so many players are seeming stuck forever at the micro stakes. Players with a relatively strong technical ability. The crazy thing is after three years off poker, I still see some of the same people playing the same micro games now as when I played with them in the past. Decent players, People who are smart, dedicated, study hard, yet they are forever stuck playing NL 25 or below? People consuming daily high-level content from places like here on RIO, or studying obsessively with a solver. It's incredible more people don't realise studying with a solver in such an environment is an incredible waste of time. This is an environment where just to see any profit due to rake, multiple players have to play worse than folding every hand, and people are really thinking that using a solver is the incentivized thing to do here?

Microstakes zoom, the ultimate casino game:

I'm not going to say zoom at micro stakes is unbeatable, it's not. When I played poker last, three years ago, I played some zoom. My w/r over around a hundred K hands was about 4 bb/100. Now, I'm not a crusher. I made plenty of technical mistakes, had plenty of mental leaks. Tilt, spews, you name it. I have no doubt a crusher could beat it for 10bb+. However, what percentile of player do you have to be in to have a reasonable win rate at zoom poker, and what variance are you going to be subject to.

To be a solid winner at zoom, lets say 3 bb/100, that player has to have an actual W/R of around 15bb/100! That is absolutely crushing. I would imagine that high a real win rate must be reserved for only a top few percentiles. Let's also consider what sort of variance you are subject to with such a winrate. Go to the poker dope website and you will see just how high the variance is with a 3 bb/100 winrate. The first time I ran it over 50k hands and 20 samples, the worst result lost 80 BI. Yes, it's possible someone with a real W/R of 15 bb/100, likely in the top few percentiles of players a such a stake, could lose 80 BI in 50k hands. No wonder aspiring players are suffering.

So what is the secret to beating micros, of rising up through the stakes? Table select, table select HARD. Table select and you can achieve a w'/r of well over 10bb/100, just by playing a solid style. You can rise up through the stakes easily with low variance and escape the micro-stakes casino.

Some may call this "bumhunting" and complain that it is a negative thing. I think in my next post I will talk about this nonsense idea, and the hypocritical nature of sites like GG poker who hire pro players as ambassadors while trying to turn poker into a casino by banning winners who are "bumhunters".

The splashes are a really cool innovation for sure, I just wish a site would take the rake in a way that doesn't so negatively impact the games at the smaller stakes.

People like a bit of gamble. What's the problem. There is a reason why recs love spin n goes. This kind of innovation is long overdue IMO as the biggest problem with poker is it has gotten stale for a lot of depositing players.

WM2K
I'm not saying the price to play is too high, I'm saying the way that it is being taken is causing the games to go in the wrong direction and rewarding and punishing the wrong players.

The site does rake those numbers which, is going to incentivise playing like a nit and waiting for splash pots, because opening anything that's not the nuts with a 5.75% 3 euro cap at nl50 rake is going to be pointless.

I mean 5.75% 3 euro cap at nl 50. Do you know how negatively that effects the games??? Do you want people to have no calling ranges and play 3-bet fold because rake rape. GTO on this site is gonna be play 20 VPIP and wait for splash. Remove stupid rake method that is not fit for purpose in 2019 and let people play poker.

I like the splash thing. if its fun for recs its good for regs as long as its fair.

What I really hate though is that you kept the traditional rake method. I dont know if people really understand how much worse the way rake works currently makes the games. It makes them substantially nittier and reduces edges. Its unfair to loose passive players and protects boring nits. Why cant a site just take a rake ante thing every BB. The games at small stakes and below would be so much better if this was the case.

I'm folding turn. Fish don't raise draws, especially IP versus an overbet. I also think we can rule out a merged raise given the overbet.

Yeah I do wall angels frequently or my posture goes to shit. I also do this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI&index=6&list=PLh4zJ2i6o6DKZT5K_RMlTwVtT3XzQiMYh

Amazing for your back if you have to sit a lot.

Grinding consistency. Frustrating myself putting in the work to become a decent winner yet being poor at actually putting in the hours at the tables.

Very strange. Your redline is super high while your WWSF is pretty low. Seems like you must be giving up on small pots a lot while spewing off in the large pots.

On second look your folding 54% to c-bet and 30% to turn and river c-bet. That's a massive leak

Samu Patronen
I think it would be a win win for the site and the players. The recs loss rate would likely be faster, sure, but they would likely win more often and have more fun. Ask any rec if the would rather play versus a table full of nits or a table full of people battling, playing loose and throwing stacks around. The rec will end up paying less rake also. At the end of the day, both the site and the regs owe there livelihood to the funplayer having fun and coming back for more.

It would punish the the type of player that noone likes and are bad for the game, the bumhunting nitty type. He would loes more to the rake and would loes harder to the regs.

Nick Steiner
Cant wait!

This is a cool idea, but I'm worried about people exploiting it using twitch viewer bots.

I'm wondering if you guys have considered revamping the rake system itself. It is a poor system that reduces edges and makes the optimal strategies more boring and nitty. A system that instead raked everyone at the table the same regardless--like a rake ante perhaps taken every BB--would reward loose players, punish the nits, increase the edges of skilled players and make the games more entertaining, action packed and high variance for the recreational players.

I'm not sure why we are still using a system that punishes loose players, protects nits, and reduces edge in 2018!

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