emsterdad

Maybe should have been “if you no longer act rational [and can’t get yourself back to that state], move away from the tables.” Thanks for the feedback and have a great day :)

6 months ago I came back to on-line poker after almost 15 years of not playing at all. I just had a moment where I really missed it all. I got a bit nostalgic, I think that's the best word to describe it.

Back then, I played between 50 and 100nl. I had some on-line poker friends where I discussed other stuff with than poker. Then black friday happened and all of a sudden poker was gone from my life.

It was a weird come back. Looking at my first 6 months, it feels like I played poker in a time where it was version 2.0 and 2022 is more like version 5.0. A lot of things seems to have changed, not even just how poker is being played but also just the whole community around it.

I think I started of right, but then I got a bit obsessive about on-line poker again, which wasn't the plan. My goal was to just play regularly, become serious with it but really as a 3th/4th place hobby. I must admit I failed in that area. Looking back, I was browsing the forums and sometimes even watching poker videos during work lol My work is really something I am very passionate about so this was not working well for me. During holiday I watched a lot of mindset videos on RunItonce, especially from Chris Pimmer. Then, some really big projects on work took over, fortunately, and I am back to just playing low stakes / microstakes a couples of hours a week with some new gained knowledge.

In this thread I heard I got nuked by RunitTwice. I looked back and it seems to him that I'm the throll. Just to clarify: I am a throll, according to him, because he believes I live in my parents basement, I have no children, I don't have a diploma in psychology and I have been lying about many things. In our conversations this became the looping story and at some point I deleted my discord. I am def. no saint. I did try to push some buttons with him which I shouldn't have.

So the only reason I have not been much on RunItOnce is because I didnt have the time. I dont have any subscription running at the moment although I did bought Carrots course some time ago. And I have been playing with all the knowledge gained from the videos I was in, but didn't really feel like writing about it.

Life is good. I do notice in poker that I get easily swept away emotionally when things go too bad for too long and that's just because I hate losing that badly. But as I get older, it does get better. I like how one of the top coaches said: "Poker is just a math problem." So if you are not acting rational any longer, just move away from the tables.

ElSquancho is RunitTwice still at it? We had some discussion months ago during summer on Discord. I actually have not seen how I got nuked.

Hey man!

haha yeah, reading it back after all these months, I seen I have grown. But I will write an update in a couple of minutes! This might get included.

sauloCosta10 Don't focus to much on RunitTwice. Once he gets into it, he can't let go (emotionally) and he will take all his time he could be playing and making money argueing to the point where he in the end will play the victim :)

Seems like you have a good business running where some are happy to take on the journey. Focus on these people instead of the nay-sayers.

A capitalistic system might not be perfect but it’s the most optimal system we have and so we also sell our skill… :)

Would you say your brain is wired like that or is that frame of thinking you have build around the years playing poker (seeing it as a math problem)?

My core values are growth, knowledge and sharing. Poker has helped me
to grow both personally and financially and guaranteed me plenty of
free time to enjoy time with my family, my friends and my hobbies. I
enjoy coaching because I can give back to society something of what
helped me to get where I am today.

yah that's what I thought actually. It seems like a lot of great players also turn into coaches at some point. And yes, also def. true that 80% is for the money when it comes to jobs, maybe that's even on the low side :)

Very cynical comment. I am not saying anything about stealing. With stealing, you take something from somebody. This somebody is not aware of it and for sure does not approve you taking his/her stuff. That is not comparable with poker. And I refuse to engage in putting me in that framework of thinking. However, with poker, the goal is to take other peoples money. So my question is real. Do professional poker players forget about the money? Does it become a purely intellectual challenge? Does it become a mental challenge? Same goes for stock brokers. I am very interested in what frame of mind / believe system a professional poker player operates.

Good weekend, had a wedding and played some 20nl for the first time. Went pretty well, I believe I won a buy-in but overall, made some good decisions where I did not ran into the nuts but also where I coolerd the other regular. One skill I still have not developed is to ever hit my massive draw when I hit something like QK of diamonds on a TdJdx flop. I am just incapable of hitting any of the 90% of cards that is left in the deck lol. SO I think that was my biggest pot lost. Mindset wise, I still can get stronger. I notice myself saying "here comes AA again" when I had KK and a regular raised pre flop (and I 3-betted him). He folded. No need to be cynical about such a hand once you have it, however, I have not seen many QQ-JJ going all in pre flop and AK often just calls. But even that can be just biased thinking.

Alright, shorter update than normally. Have a nice workweek!

The goal of poker seems to be to take other peoples money. I always wonder how professional players get personal satisfaction from that. Is that why some also start to coach? What believe system have worked for you?

I always enjoy your calm way of explaining things. Are you also that calm playing?

Seeing the video you also might have had a tell. You checked your hand a second time and looked away. When people look away it can mean, unconsciously, that they want to leave the room (read, the situation)

Time flies. 13 days is the last time I wrote here and I have been playing a couple of times in these weeks. `

I just saw the video of Freenachos which was recorded 2 months ago and it's cool to see how i already got better. I am using fixed ranges pre flop and that is working like a charm for me. For me, this means no calling range in MP/CO. No calling range in SB. And a whole different strategy around 3-betting and 4-betting. Also what I open from what position is clear. I could have never figured that out on my own (what hand ranges versus what). So I think I took a lot of time from my learning curve there without cutting corners. Another thing I implemented like a month ago is always bet small when c-betting. I just don't have the time to be as serious to construct strategies post flop that would work for me, so for now, to keep it simple, a small c-bet on every flop works well (when I dont check, that is haha). It's interesting that I don't think it affects much how many folds I get and I am still able to build the pot because versus regulars, it's often cooler versus cooler that makes the pot big. I have a set, guy has a higher set, or the other way around. It seems like you just flip around who coolers who and the last couple of months I am a bit more coolerd that I coolerd the regular. With fish, it doesnt matter, I can overbet, min raise back.

Watching both Steves video and Freenachos, I think my overall conclusion is that I just need to think more. Take my time a bit when a decision needs to be made. Another conclusion that I made is that I just need to see myself as a complete beginner again. Sure, I played 100nl 12 years ago, but in those 12 years a lot has happend and i really have not been doing anything with poker in those 12 years. I think 6 years ago I played a bit on RunitOnce but came to the conclusion that it just didn't fit with the time.

Last week I actually had the same feeling again. My wife asked me if I was going to play poker tonight. I told her that I find it difficult that I just can't put in the time that's needed to become great. The overall conclusion of this conversation was that I can play poker simply because I enjoy it, there is no need to grind every day every night and I can simply view it as a hobby. Somewhere, this also feels like a cop out, but considering my important life goals it just makes sense. So a couple of hours of poker and learning from some videos every month is something I am experimenting with.

Holiday is over. It's back to work, sport, social, children back to school, children back to their sports and poker needs to fit in all that as a hobby. It's all about sacrifice (and what is most important and why). When I look back 12 years ago I remember how I ended poker. It was because I realized I was not able to become a pro in it and earn a living with it because of skill but also because I felt it was not the right career for me. In the end, it's all about taking other peoples money and that just felt a bit shallow at the time. I also didnt see myself grinding behind a screen for many hours a day at my 40s, and def. not at my 50s+. In some way, getting into stocks would have been an interesting direction but I am just terrible at math lol For many poker players who are decent or great at math, it might be a great transition fro professional poker player to becoming an investor. Especially if you have around 100-200k in your backaccount making that transition slowly but steady.. interesting! .. but I am getting sidetracked here..

This year I started poker again to treat it as a hobby, but before I knew it I stepped into the mistake to take it a bit too serious and spending too much time on it considering where it fits in my overal life goals. I am glad I think I now found the right place for it, where I might not be the most active regular at microstakes, but when I play, I play good and fearless (a goal. Not reality now). I think about the game instead of just clicking buttons. And maybe in a year from now, I am playing 20nl or 50nl depending on how good I get and how good I run. I need to leave my ego at the door and also realize even at lower stakes, some of the regulars will be better than me because they are a lot younger and are able to spend a lot more time on this game. And some of them might just have a better feel for the game. Some of them might also see themselves playing poker professionally and see it as their dream to become a highstakes roller. I think thats awesome and I will do my absolute best you will not succeed in that with my money. Some of them will be the Freenachos of the future. I see myself in the future as the pretty decent recreational player who is not splashing money but just views it as chess. An intellectual game where psychology is also a big part of the game.

Both videos of both coaches learned me where I can get better and I will just take my take to make that happen. I think my balance of playing versus learning will also change, where it will be more learning than playing. I am curious what that will do to my game as well.

How is the focus on more quality versus quantity going? If I remember correctly you have a young child now, right?

Not discouraged. When you are a beginner at something there is more room for improvement. I now also see that run bad + bad play at times + high rake might be making it really difficult to move up :)

I now stick more to a pre flop range that is constructed not by myself and what I’ve been doing a lot is actually always bet small on the flop no matter the hand strength. Something like 22%.

I appreciate how honest you have been in this video and I would say don’t feel bad “being harsh” as a coach! You are telling me what I need to hear :)

It’s also cool to see I got a bit better pre flop since the video Steve made was actually after yours :) some of my plays in this game pre flop was a bit embarrassing:)

❤️

Ps i hope everybody sees that AA is just a clear fold pre flop.

❤️

Probably an important video for almost everybody and even more for some. I think tilt is a way to get obsessed in a short timeframe about exactly the wrong things to be obsessed about.

Super!!

I think poker in general is just a very difficult game. There is a gambling element in it, where variance kicks your balls constantly which makes it difficult to really know if what you've done is right or wrong, also because there is a psychological element to it which is big.

Wow. 6 days already since I last posted. Having been working and working out a lot. Daily I go now to the driving range. I also ride my bike 30-60 minutes and weight lifting. Tennis will probably start soon. Work wise, best year ever.

Poker, played one session and I think it was a losing one. I think. I don’t check it anymore expect for when I notice it in my balance. I focus on a couple of hours of quality poker where I really think about my decisions. The need “to move up” is gone. I do still believe I can make it to 50-100nl but with the hours put in it’s probably going to take longer. Which is fine, poker will never be a source of income for me. I view it in that regard as chess, tennis, golf.. a hobby. A hobby i don’t lose money with and where I might some day buy a cool breitling from.

Hi I already changed that in HEM to fold to 3b after raise. Not sure if that’s already in this video or not. I think it is actually.

Just some thoughts on some of the questions from Steve:

I already started implementing small bets on the flop after our short conversation and I actually do this as a default now to make life easier for me haha so with the nuts, with bluffs… everything… my flop C bet is small. Might miss some EV on that but it really helps.

I can def be too fast in my decisions. Often versus fish. The reason for that is that the ranges are so wide I often just look at my own hand and don’t bother what they might have. The hand where I lost versus 104o is confirmation but I understand that this is also confirmation bias. I just need to think deeper in game. It’s true I almost always go to the button with my mouse what I think is right and then I start thinking. I also really dislike how little time there is on microstakes to think about stuff … so I just make it as fast as possible (I am not saying this makes any sense at all).

You were also right on betting big to just get it in. I think it’s a combination of laziness (easy to hit pot), but also really not knowing what a good size would be. This can be fixed with thinking more about ranges and what my bet looks like. There is also a mental game thing lingering in the background where I think I might want to make pots bigger so I win more quickly so I can move up quicker. Which is bad thinking but like i said, that’s not something I really base a decision on. I think this is just a subtle thing that affects me like 3-6% in my decision making. I also want them to pay more for draws and their hands. We bet for 2 reasons (I have this from a Janda book):
- denying equity
- Making the pot bigger when we want too

So it seems I am applying that knowledge wrong.

In general, I am a bit unbalanced in my bet sizing and can really work on that.

oh.. and, forgot to mention, edit: I did stay on the table for the video. Normally I want to have one big fish on the table. But still, the 60bb/100 explanation was eye opening. The rake where I play is 7,5%.

I don’t play fast tables. Holland Casino does not have it and I like regular tables.

Again, super thanks for this!

Back from our vacation in nature. The kids had a wonderful time playing and mom and dad had plenty of time to relax. I took a 24
inch screen, laptop, mouse, keyboard with me but after a couple of days playing I just decided to take a break. On vacation I want my brain activity as low as possible and poker was not helping with that. I ended up watching a ton of Chris Pimmer.

Now I am back all my social media is deleted from phone. I don’t have Facebook or instagram but I do enjoy YouTube a lot. I only allow social media in holiday breaks.

Coming home I saw the video Steve did about my play was live. For the comments I made there, see the video section. This is a paid side of runitonce so I don’t want to give away free information other people pay for.

Next for me is figuring out how poker is going to fit in my schedule. Picked up a new sport, tennis, so will have one night of tennis. I also weight lift twice a week but that can be done in the morning. I also decided to pick up my golf game for mental game purposes (I find the driving range relaxing) and i will do that during my lunch break since the range is a 5 minute drive. I work between 40-50 hours a week and also family is something I want and need to spend time on. Besides all this, I am doing an education in psychology which is like a master since I already have a bachelor in it (finished 15 years ago. I work in a different field but human nature has always been a major interest for me).

So I think I just need to focus more on quality in poker, a couple of nights a week where I really focus on playing well and forget about moving up for now. That will happen anyway if I play well enough, long enough.

❤️ that title is amazing. Thanks again man!

Nice job! How much time have you spent on poker to achieve that?

I am Asian. Would be proud to be called Asian Whale. Wouldn’t it mean I am like a billionaire?

For people who don’t have much time to play poker, would a good case be made for MTTs instead of cash games?

What does that look like? Business man or something who happen to play good poker?

(I got triggered by the title)

Just wondering.. do you ever come across rich recreational players who are good at poker?

Interesting and good to know for the future perhaps. What do you think about my thoughts about relentless routines?