Name: (AUS) – Variance, Mental Game (Tilt) & Victory: My Poker Journey

1st post: Introduction Well every Blog should start with a hey right? So hey you the reader how you doin? (yes this is a

Post 2: how do I tilt? and smart goals what are they? & how will they help? Intro to the post: So the main reason I started this personal blog and well my biggest leak, tilt management/ the mental game. It’s something ive spent hours trying to correct, learn or better understand. It’s an area I can give great advice on but can never seem to personally take any of that advice onboard. So its probably best to identify what makes me tilt how do I tilt and what smart goals will do to help. Tilt- the how the why and the effect: How do I tilt is split into the physical and the mentally, on some days the physical doesn’t occur which im grateful for but after many accumulative bad sessions it usually ends in a 15min snap of me physically punting stacks at 5/10 PLO5 or 6 trying to get unstuck. The mental tilt is constant though. Its a lot of I cant win anymore, I cant beat the games, I have to quit as im no good and its vicious cycle that leaves me sleepless at night some times. This leads to less volume, time off and tbh me just running away from the problem. This has probably lead to my 25k downswing being 25k instead of 15-20k. All because I cant regulate what is good from the variance and all the other mental baggage etc. I also think a lot of this comes down to how I view success and track success in poker.

Goals, how they have previously impact and the new view that will hopefully help: The mental book of poker advocates for understanding your goals and what success looks like. I have struggled with what success looks like for poker for years. TBH I truly do not know what success is anymore for me. For a long time my goals was to win a certain amount each year and progressively increase that amount. Problem is the result is so often out of your control especially when you focus on MTTs. So for the 1st time ive decided to use a Smart goal approach for the year. I have experience with smart goals in my daily work life. As a team leader for an insurance company, I use the smart goal system to help my fellow team members become the best they can in a professional setting. For those that don’t know what smart goals they are the following: S=Specific, M=Measurable, A=Achievable, R= realistic & T= Timely.

The goals are below and please leave feedback on them! (please note as I have a job some of this volume will seem low to you but allows for me to have a work life balance). Mindset goal: Specific goal- don’t change the below process until enough data has been achieved (I often switch plan with 3 different strategies over the past 8 weeks for how to tackle this year). Measurable- In how long we stick to the below process Achievable- by sticking to the plan/process outlined in the goals below Realistic- yes as its following a process Timely- Evaluate the process after x amount of MTTs and x amount of sessions and see if it is working for me. Study Goal: Specific- Look to study 20hrs a month (focusing on these 3 topics BB/SB defending, ICM & NLH cash spots) Measurable- in how many hours we are study Achievable- yes works out to be 40 mins a day roughly. Realistic – yes because we can set time aside to study each day or make up time on free days. Timely- can be timed over a monthly period each month. Play time goals: Specific (live mtts) – Play 50 MTTs this year (roughly my average in 12months). Specific (online mtts) – play 16 online MTTs a month in my current home game. Specific (online/live cash) – 20hrs a month of cash focusing on NLH or Lower stakes PLO6 as soft. Measurable - yes each goal can be tracked over a month or year. Achievable- Yes all volume allows for a work life balance and time to grind as well Realistic- Yes each goal can be easily fitted into our daily life routine throughout the year. Timely – can be tracked easily over a set time frame.

How will this help? In short having goals that take away the result and allow us to focus on building a process to achieve a successful year in poker allow for the pressure of tilt to be lifted. Is it a bad day yes but who cares we achieved another session towards our goal. It also keeps us accountable for putting in enough volume or studying enough each month to improve the game. If you enjoyed this post leave a comment below & try leave a Smart goal that you’ll follow below.

GL! Following.

by LordShinRee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58921021#post58921021)

GL! Following.

Hey mate, Thanks for Following! Hopefully you enjoy the Journey

Hey team, So now we got the above foundational work around the why for the blog my current goals etc, its time to start going to the more daily poker journal that your all here for, I am using this as a bit of a cool down exercise post sessions and will try to update as often as possible (life does get busy) So im going to quickly recap:

• my 1st live event of the year on 8th and 9th of March (yes we made a day 2)
• how this week has gone Mon Tues and Wed
• And sorta what a schedule will look like. From then onwards ill try and update after each session or couple of sessions etc. 1st live event
• Simply put it felt amazing to play live! Usually i have a series or 2 under my belt, but i tried to stick to just playing online till Lex Live 4 to increase hands i see and study spots, I found this to be quite annoying and a drag as I do love the social aspect of going to play live MTTs or cash. With this said I put two bullets into the main event and made day 2 with 30bb for Sunday. Unfortunately result wise i was 43/73 going into day 2 with ITM @ 25 and i finished 58th (approx.). How I played gave me alot of confidence as i went more exploitive than normal and found myself picking up alot more than I usually do in the live setting. I usually go very towards this is GTO and if things don't make sense in theory try to over think and analyze. By making things more exploitive i found a lot of spots where I was able to execute the game plan i want. Our Bust out hand had some context to it. I had a player on my right who is a live reg but not a good one, with obvs sizing tells etc. In the last two orbits he would open button to 2-2.5x and from previous play with this OPP this is his weaker holdings. With strong holdings he makes it 4-4.5x. With this said both orbits i 3bet 44 of 25bb and JTs of 28bb vs this Opp and took both down (both aren't 3bets in theory and 44 prefers a jam than a 3bet but im exploiting). Our bust out hand he is in MP and opens to 4.2x and We look at AKo..... Folding isn't an option and i think flatting of 30bb is a mistake here with others to act.
• I Like both A) 3bet to 10bb and vs a jam find a very exploitive fold vs a super nutted range or B) Jam for 30bb- We block AA and KK and likely flipping vs a call (if he has AA or KK sick cooler gg) or and we also have fold equity if he folds... I take option B- After a 4.5min tank and him asking 2x if we show if he folds he calls of with QQ and holds. I like our jam vs this player Opp who nearly folded QQ but i will say i don't mind 10bb fold to 4bet jam and still have 20bb in the mtt with less than 60 left. Monday Session: Like most of the week Monday wasn't a full session, I spent 1hr playing cash on X-poker 2/4 and made 3 buy ins- ran pretty hot including flopping a set of 3s in a 3bet pot very early on and then being gifted chips- I however busted all 3 of my MTTs pretty early in the night and felt slightly annoyed by the end of it with how the online mtts went. Luckly I had my GF with me who reminded me of my smarter goals and that was just some volume towards my goal. Tuesday Session: went the exact same, 2x mtts 2x busts early, however made 3x buyin's at 2/4 cash on X-poker. This time i made in theory what i think is a bad call with QJs on 76T Q 4 with no flush available. full hand detail: Hero (QdJd) Btn- fold to CO limp, Hero 4,5bb BB and CO call 6t7r flop - X X X turn Q- x X 70% pot CO call, River 4 X Hero 70% pot, Villian 2.5x Jam for 600 eff, Tank call Villian had a spewing label and we went with a read and he had Kd8d and we are good, i hate our hand in theory but vs this Opp it is fine!. Wednesday Session: GF had a bad day at work and i love being the supportive BF so i took the evening off to cater to her needs as its important to understand life comes 1st before the grind. I was able to put in 40min of cash before her arrival and managed again to sun run to just under a 3 buy in win at 2/4. I was lucky this time as i backed into a straight with 33 vs KK on K67 4 5 and Villain called a 1,5 SPR jam on the river as he should as how often do i have a straight here apart from 99. In short, good week cash, not so much with the mtts but playing well and finding these notes really do help! Thanks for reading, leave a comment about these rough hands as well (i usually post all big hand histories as they happen on DAMMO_23 on insta just in case you want the visual) See you all after i play a live $200 mtt here in Adelaide Tonight. Moving forward my schedule is mostly online but i do have a live series starting end of march that ill be recaping in this vlog. Have a good one- DAMMO_23.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2024/07/damiano-aloi-crowned-lex-live-main-event-champion-46580.htm pokernews Damiano Aloi Crowned Lex Live Main Event Champion; Community Members Take Top Three Spots (https://www.pokernews.com/news/2024/07/damiano-aloi-crowned-lex-live-main-event-champion-46580.htm)

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58922567#post58922567)

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2024/07/damiano-aloi-crowned-lex-live-main-event-champion-46580.htm pokernews Damiano Aloi Crowned Lex Live Main Event Champion; Community Members Take Top Three Spots (https://www.pokernews.com/news/2024/07/damiano-aloi-crowned-lex-live-main-event-champion-46580.htm)

Thats me! <3

Thursday Initial thoughts Bad Session over all, 62 Runners finished 21st for $0, 3 bullets total...... in a $200 MTT....... 1st bullet I wasted, 2nd Bullet was just annoying and 3rd bullet I actually played well but yet again like it has been for about 6 months I've found a big spot with a big hand and ran into it. Also played a $33 Horse on my iPad and well went from 2/8 on the ft top 4 paid to out in 7th.................... So results no good! Mental side of the game, look tbh no good either. Bullet 1 and the Horse MTT It started off well, won a few small spots and gathered my stack up 13k from SS early on, Felt in the groove and ready to battle. I was in the flow in Horse as well, and I looked likely to at least cash that mtt, Then the 5mins of madness that I think was caused from playing a live mtt whilst trying to concentrate on a horse mtt with changing games and dynamics. Game must of moved from Razz to stud, (every mix game player has been there) and I didn't notice as i was in a 3bet pot in my live mtt, by the time i knew what was happening it was 6 street and I've piled in over half my stack vs the guy 3rd in chips..... - While this happened I chose on a light 3bet vs a fish and I don't think I was 100% thinking about my live hand while trying to work out what to do in this Horse hand on the IPAD- In the end I Punted of 55bb live because i wasn't thinking. If you want the exact hand and line comment below happy to share, already roasted myself on INSTA for it. So busted the live mtt, i waited to rebuy while in the horse which lasted another 10mins and 1x big spot and 1x okay stack both gone in really 1 big moment of madness. Bullet 2 and Bullet 3 I was only intending of putting in two bullets and MLR the 2nd however it was early and 30bb thought i could spin, A level went by before we busted with QT on QT7 turn A vs a UTG limper and couple of calls, We bet flop got a call, and on the Turn with SPR of 1 jammed into the UTG limp call with KJo.... Games are soft people. Bullet 3 we MLR, Found AK of 15bb and doubled vs a Q4s jam Blind vs Blind. Before again of 20bb with 21 left, Woke up with AKs utg+1 - 2x, mp raises to 4x snap min click 3bet and the SB decided on a flat, Obvs and easy jam for 21bb and MP has KK, (SB some how calls 44 here....) - Dont win on QT6 flop to give us more outs.... Havent won one of these spots or a big flips in live or online deep in a mtt for a while... So key take aways and learning points/reframing -1st point is to do this straight after the session as a cool down- I got lazy said ill do it in the morning with my coffee and yet again had a sleepless night of thinking about mistakes that im closer to a 30k downswing then where i was after lex live and just wasn't a nice mental night. I feel if im using this Blog as a cool down method it has to be straight after the session. (reframing- I now know the power of a post game and will drive to do better moving forward).

• 2nd Point - I am unable to multi table with live whilst being present enough to understand the game dynamic and pick up on cues/ game flow live. (Re-framing, if playing live thats not a time to grind online as well, sink your focus into trying to play live) -3rd Point- Detach from the Bankroll and the downswing and just focus on the next mtt, I have this urge to try and get back to over 100k in profit as soon as possible but i know that's not possible, I have an issue with this as all i see is my results every time i open my tracking app. (Re frame by- focus on the volume and the SMART goals not the results, yes you see them but is it the end result? (no) are you still profitable? (yes), are you only down 3k this year and you can easily work back to profit with the right volume? (yes). Actions for the next session
• To do a post game straight after the session, its just as important as the pre game cold shower we take before every session.
• Hire a coach (already in talks with one)! I've studied and self trained for long enough its time for outside help to progress the game and get an outside view on how good or how bad i truly am.
• Commit to what your playing and focus 100% on this- Also includes limited phone use which i have a bad habit of in-between hands when things aren't going well. (Live) Hope you enjoyed! I apologies for all these long posts I just seem to get the keyboard and write away haha! If you want the hand I Busted out and bluffed off let me know. Have a good day or night, leave a comment below for support & Next session is either tonight post work (thinking its online) or it will be next week.

Friday -Post 5!

So changed up the volume type today. After an annoying day yesterday decided to have a bit more fun with the grind today while working from home GG Poker $25 Battle Royales Decided to play $25 Mystery Battle Royales on GG- I used to Grind the Old school $10 30man back last year to some success. I will say I don't believe the current Mystery format is long term profitable due to the variance that the Mystery Bounties provide, & the fact its a top 3 ITM structure. However they are fun enjoyable and since I'm moving away from playing on GG thought lets have fun. played 19x $25 mans with 3x wins 1x 2nd (2x $6 KO without a top 3). one of the wins was for $400+ as well! That means once converting from USD to aud $790+ session over a few hours!. I don't really care about the GG balance after withdrawing a large chunk at the end of Feb. But Nice to Run it it up a bit. X-poker (usually grind) Played 1x MTT got KK in vs A5s in a 4bet pre pot for 35bb and well didn't win on a K high flop haha happens! Played cash only 45mins though and well made another 50bb in that time at 2/4- I will say the room i play in is in MYR so that's only like $70 bucks but good Hourly rate! Felt in the zone and feel the NLH cash game skills are improving the more volume I put in. Its the GF and Is 11 month tomorrow so no nightly MTT live or online grind as ive invited her to watch the AFL and stay over. Also going out for lunch tomorrow and usually Im with my friends Sat night. On Sunday I am at the AFL followed by the F1 Aus GP and MAFS (yes i watch MAFS). So likely this was my last session of the week.

Relating To the goals

Live MTTs played: 2/50 (year) Online MTTs Played: 5/16(month) Cash Hours played: 4.3/20hrs (month) Study Hours: 3/20hr(month)

how do you play on GG poker in australia? What other sites do u play on? I only play on ignition. i got a gg account but its from a different country where i signed up. u watch married at first sight? is it ****?

ya can't make a living playing live mtts. Can ya make a living playing live cash even in australia with the high rakes? Or do you have to play underground games and online?

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58923340#post58923340)

how do you play on GG poker in australia? What other sites do u play on? I only play on ignition. i got a gg account but its from a different country where i signed up. u watch married at first sight? is it ****?

Hey mate to the 1st question- Message me on insta for the GG side of things. I agent on X-poker for the Cash games that I play in and I've dabbled in Iggy but not for a long time. 7+ years had an issue trying to withdraw after shipping a Sunday mtt for 3k. I also play in a home game on another site as well. I do watch Married at 1st Sight! and well it ain't Sh**!!! Love the drama, its so silly, honestly its a nice funny drama field time at how silly the show is. The GF and I love it 😀

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58923405#post58923405)

ya can't make a living playing live mtts. Can ya make a living playing live cash even in Australia with the high rakes? Or do you have to play underground games and online?

Ya can’t make a living playing live MTTs I do think this is incorrect as I know quite a lot of people who do make a living playing live MTTs. It just takes a lot of volume and time to grind a profitable year. Also you do need to have some variance go your way in the big spots. Defiantly possible to be a full time live mtt player in AUS, it’s not my goal to do this anymore as in getting probably a little old to follow this pipe line dream & I have a good paying job with a great GF so it doesn't make sense for me to play 52 weeks of the year traveling around. Plus you need a huge bankroll to withstand the swings. Can ya make a living playing live cash even in Aus even with the High rake- Again i know regs that have got a very good win rate playing 2/2 2/5 5/10 live that are making a living playing live. Yes the rake is an issue in Aus however because the games are that soft you can with good strategy and skill make more than 20BB and hour comfortably. My biggest leak is I probably don’t play enough live cash due to how soft it is. I will say this yet again requires a lot of time and effort to be this good and to crush the games consistently. Do you have to play underground games and online? I’m going to answer this based on the advice one of the above regs gave me and it stuck with me and changed my approach to poker for this year. Live MTTs are difficult to make a living (not impossible) due to the variance and how much it costs to do this full time and sometimes its long stretches without reward. Live Cash is a solid way to make a living full time but you have to grind your way up to the 5/10 stakes to start making a good living after all the rake is introduced. Online MTTs are the hardest of the lot! On GG for example there are so many regs the $20 fields are harder than the 1.5k Jackstar MTTs. So to make a living just playing online mtts is slime to no chance. You have to be in the top 1% of the field to crush enough to win consistently. This is Super hard to do so your Hr win rate is very small and not worth the time. Online cash- Rake on the reputable sites is just insane so again with edge being smaller on online cash (especially rush/zoom) to be profitable you are forced to go to the APPs and the underground online cash games to earn a decent living. These games are super soft, profitable but you have to deal with more variance and swings due to the nature of it. So what's the answer to all the above, to be consistent and make a living the advice given to me was, You should Grind your online APPs and underground cash, with a good mix of Live cash especially if your rolled to play 5/10. This way your getting in good volume in soft games and yes the rake is high but because they are so soft they are beatable. You then should only play live MTTs during the big series or just the big events to see if you can bink a nice score along the year (i do agree with this but I’ll still be playing more live mtts than this as i just think they are super soft). And Last online MTTs avoid them unless it’s a series and your prepared to go on 100-200 downswing even if your ITM% is 15% + because it’s all down to how much you top 3 in that 15%. I will note the online app based MTTs are just super soft and have smaller fields with less variance and are probably worth firing more than the reputable site mtts because of this. Long story short, we shouldn't be looking to play one format and sticking to it. It’s about the balance of all the formats and game selection to give you the biggest chance of a profitable year. So what about me? For me I'm trying to play more cash to supplement my MTTs and hopefully Bink a couple throughout the year in the live setting. I’ll be playing my app based MTTs as well due to the lower fields and less variance than gg. I will occasionally put in the GG 18 man $25 Mystery's as they are fun and a decent training tool for sub 30bb play live. Hopefully this answers the above questions, great questions as well keep them coming!

Do you think $50-$100 mtts are beatable? Live mtts in australia.

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58924362#post58924362)

Do you think $50-$100 mtts are beatable? Live mtts in australia.

Yes they are, this price point is like $2 on gg- it’s soft as - just need some luck in a few flips and good strategy with some exploits and you’ll win. Problem is the $50-$100 price points mtts don’t run often- they are usually self dealt pub games which isn’t the best place to play your poker. Plus self dealt is yuck! I’ll fire these type of games during APL millions due to the inflated prizepool but that’s it $150-$550 weekly mtts are just as soft (close to) and are dealer dealt and this is what I would focus on

New Week- The Plan for the volume (lll try do these each week). Well today marks a new week and thought ill share quickly what I think I am playing this week for volume. (please note when I plan my week out its all relative to work the gf and other life stuff). Monday is either A) - Come home from work grind $25 GG mystery's 2x home game MTTs 1x X-poker MTT and some Online cash. This however could be changed as I am hopefully that my live coach that I'm in talks with can do our 1st session tonight. Tuesday- I may try the $300 10k GTD at the Matchroom- seen some 3k+ Payouts and its super soft, however with a live series around the corner there are 2x train of thoughts, A) Play cash/win more buy ins for the live series or B) Play bust could put in 3 bullets and dent confidence before the live series.... Which one would you go with? Wed- Usually and off day for me and I don't see myself playing on Tuesday. Thursday- The $200 5k GTD (seems it will get 10k every week or close to) at stacked poker- this will be the weekly live mtt. Friday- Again either its a home session of a couple of MTTs and some online cash or could be our 1st live cash session since we started the blog. (could also be a night off with the footy or another opp for a coaching session and then a night off). Saturday - usually and off day for myself and I do plan on watching my GFs son play his 1st game of Football (soccer) this year. Sunday- depends on where i sleep on sat night, if at home it will be a Sunday morning online and GG $25 Mystery grind. If i stay at my GFs another day off. What would you do with the schedule? Would you play 2x live MTTs a week? have over a $50k BR so 100 buyins x 300 is 30k so probably makes sense to play the weekly $300 and $200 but unsure if that's a good choice of game selection with how much variance is with MTTs. Lastly think my biggest leak is not having solid schedule and sticking to it. Let me know your thoughts? what does your volume look like this week or weekly? Like Rate all that Jazz see you after todays session or coaching session.

Fri and sat nights you should be getting drunk with ya mates at a local tavern then getting a taxi to a strip joint and getting booted out for being to drunk. not doing this and watching married at first sight is ur biggest leak.

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58926068#post58926068)

Fri and sat nights you should be getting drunk with ya mates at a local tavern then getting a taxi to a strip joint and getting booted out for being to drunk. not doing this and watching married at first sight is ur biggest leak.

Hahah Never been much of the party type myself, every sat night me and my friends since high school (few since primary school 1 since kindy) go out to eat dinner and go back to someone's hows to watch AFL and EPL. Safer and allows for the occasional sat night grind on the ipad which they sweat. This mentality in your post is probably a big leak for most players but i do agree nights off are good!

Monday Session Side note- positive is I am doing this straight after my session after having a losing day, so this is already a better cool down positive then previous posts/sessions (important to note progression on the mental game). Volume wise - X-Poker cash So not a good day at the 2/4 tables- Lost a buy in and a bit at 2/4. The result and loss doesn't concern me what does is how we lost the buyin with our mental game. The leak was playing whilst at work on our lunch break in the office. I’ll explain why I do this then leave it you guys below to comment on what I should do moving forward. So why do I play on my 40min lunch break and whilst I’m back at my desk if needs be to finish of a cash session- A) Volume, may sound funny but that volume could be difference to getting 2-3hrs of play in on some days then not getting enough play in, think then the answer becomes quality or quantity and decision has to be made on this B)- I play because I think in those 40mins I can still play my best and I can be profitable- this is proven by a couple of last week results where I did play whilst at work and made a few buyins. Why I think it’s a leak- If I don’t start well or I don’t get ahead of my start stack to call time on for my 20min count down, I feel forced to increase action/variance in marginal spots to make the 45mins on my phone worth my time. This is a mental leak as A) it could be hate losing tilt and defiantly affects my mood for the afternoon and wanting to grind after work. B) It also allows for sub optimal play to occur which increase the chances of mistakes and thus losing. So what’s better, no volume which could lead to not enough volume being played (cash wise) and thus not completing the goal. (And could be leaving money on the table) Or play once we done a pre-game you’re ready to play and have time to play so it doesn’t matter if you start bad. (I’m personally leaning towards using this time to study if I want to do something poker related but i always feel in the back of my mine this time should be spent grinding to improve and increase win rate). X-Poker MTT and Home Game MTT The X-poker MTT was 100% affected from me mentally not being 100% in the mood to play and being angry at myself for playing while at work and not focusing on what I needed to do today. As a result i put two bullets into a $12 mtt and was busted within half hour. Just forcing action making mistakes etc... The home game I played this evening while on stream and was a complete turnaround- I didn’t cash I came 8/21 with top 5 being paid- I played very solid found a lot of spots and got unlucky in a couple that lead to the non-cashing. I was happy with the turn around and I’ll explain more how I turn this around later in the post. $25 18man Battle Royales It was a solid 3hr session of 18man Battle royales. It led to 2x sessions in a row of booking a win since moving back to playing this format and viewing it more as a study tool than it could be profitable long term. I played 14 SNGs cashed 3 and of those 3 I won all 3 for a small $200_+ win. - This is now two sessions of above 21% ITM and I now avg a 4.8 out of 9 on the Final table (top 3 paid + PKO). If I was to set a goal for these it would be to try and keep an above 20% ITM rate and try to get my finish avg to 4.5 or better. This will lead to more chances of higher bounties being pulled and thus increasing the win rate further. This will also help with final table ICM study spots as well which could come in handy in the live arena when stacks are so shallow on live final tables. So how did I turn my day around? Simply put I actually did some obscure study whilst I was finished with my work today before driving home to play my session. I have an obsession with sports science (did 2 years at uni) and I believe there has to be an impact to listening to music while you play. I have always been a hard style man for hour’s straight headphone on or speaker on during my sessions. So I decided to read a case study and make some notes: In short Novice and Intermediate players are prone to have improved concentration and performance with slow up beating lifting music. (increasing arousal levels and focus). While advance/ long term player’s actual see a drop with music as it pulls attention from their cognitive brain. (due to to much brain active or over/under stimulated with arousal levels). I was stunned and when playing live ill be look to spend more time with no music then playing with music.

I will however say that if you want to listen to music the best type of music is anything that doesn’t have lyrics and is used for calming, anxiety or meditation purposes as it will relax your brain and will aid clear thoughtful thinking. This study really gave me some things to think about (when to use music and not to use it) and well it got my mental state back on track and allowed me to be motivated for my evening session. This is the sole reason i turned it around tonight to have a very slight ($78) losing day then a massive losing day. Interested to know your thoughts and ill link the case study below if you want to read. Any Questions or thoughts on the way these post are done would be helpful! have a great one day/night! (remember to leave a Like or Rate for the Blog as well)! https://mjir.um.edu.my/index.php/tiraipa... (https://mjir.um.edu.my/index.php/tiraipanggung/article/view/51099/16834) (link to case study I used earlier today).

I would rather listen to a sports channel like kayo sports, Optus sports, stan sports etc and keep up to date with the latest sports for sports betting. Also listening to the horses or dogs can be good 2 to find +EV bets. Also buy lotto so play re-runs of lotto draws.

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58927091#post58927091)

I would rather listen to a sports channel like kayo sports, Optus sports, stan sports etc and keep up to date with the latest sports for sports betting. Also listening to the horses or dogs can be good 2 to find +EV bets. Also buy lotto so play re-runs of lotto draws.

Haha sounding like a true grinder lol

Tuesday Well it’s the morning after so again the cool down period was missed; it was a late night so a little slack given however it needs to be done straight away. I played the $300 at the Matchroom and to be honest I played pretty shocking I feel and some obvs leaks are showing in the live game. Some people will say that there is no difference between Live and online it’s all the same. I disagree you need to find some discipline more vamos like folds live because it’s a different ball game especially when you have a stack. (Maybe being to risk adverse and annoyed but yeah)! Over all ill split this into 1st bullet and 2nd bullet as I did need 2 and i finished 18/50 with top 7 itm so again if we look at it we were in a position to cash/win again if we just won some hands but honestly I think this is the one that got away. 1st bullet I tired the no music approach as per the above case study and found myself spacing out, paying attention to the TVs in the background etc. instead of getting into the flow, table talk just really annoyed me. In the end I go my 50k SS up to 80k and made a huge blunder which ill out line belo blinds are 400/800 (800) Hero UTG AcQd Pre flop: Min raises to 2k (2,5)bb. MP and CO call Btn a Player who I bluffed off a pot earlier and perceive as tight decided to make it 11K (13.75) BB What do you do?? - In Theory we call or fold as a mix, explotively vs some really argo regs this performs okay as a 4bet bluff jam as we block the really strong part of the range Vs this opp it’s a slam dunk easy fold. I initially was just going to snap fold then talked myself into the I can make him fold with a Jam Bullshit- which once he puts in 13bb he is gonna call of for 38bb total..... - So yeah we jam get snapped by AK - and another live bullet needed because of stupidity and a bad bluff that will never work. I ended up folding down to 19bb before i see 66 in the bb raise of 3x utg+1 3 calls we wack and the UTG+1 has 77 and GG. Bullet 2 the Pain of too much study?? Bullet 2 started off insanely well, scooped a 20bb pot 1st hand, from there inside 20mins went for 50k to 180k - made 2x full houses played them very well and got paid in both spots! Then this hand another mistake happens. blinds are 1.5/3k- Folds to me SB make it 8.2k with AQo - I normally play limp vs most opps to trap and go post- however our BB villain is a tight old guy who I've only seen bigish hand raised and just flats or folds pre if not something strong (the read anyway he gets out of line later so it’s not as solid as i thought), He gives me a speech about I should give him a walk and I’m winning to many hands before he looks down - He looks at his cards then ship for 94k..... (31bb) What do you do? - you have AQo- you went with a larger sizing pre sb vs bb in theory he is just attacking right and you have to call??? - He should just 3bet AA KK QQ JJ etc. I snapped- Big mistake, vs this player type who doesn't study and is tight again it’s going to not be theoretical just there hand is nutted you fold. But again i can’t differentiate from live and online and snap as imp at the top of range. He has KK we lose a massive over 60bb pot. You May think this is myself being too tough- but once imp at 180k at 1.5/3k in this field i should final table a lot and win a fair chunk if i think I’m good Problem is I’m not good I’m a live fish; these are folds, if you have discipline understand the dynamic and there is no bluff- **** great players are somehow going to find a fold with TT here or Ako even..... So again I punt of my stack like the 1st bullet above because I'm incapable of making a good lay down, again to much inside your head thinking of ranges and theory, ITS JUST ****ING BULLSHIT EGOTISIC THINKING!!!- I SUCK AND I KNOW IT! Anyhow drop to 100k make a set of 9s get paid end late rego with 195k at blinds 2/4k Post break I played 8 hands and lost all 8 hands...... Failed to find a theoretical correct bluff with J9 on AAJTK where my hand should bluff Jam River... I Raise 88 to 2bb got jammed on for 9bb and a reg flatted who can flat traps- call to find an 8 A23 flop- Fold to cbet AJ vs A6...... Whiffed a few times then ANOTHER ****ING MISTAKE BROOO I’m down to 130k 2/4k- I look down at KJo utg short-handed table is tight and i decide I can 2x here probably take it down just fold to 3bets... BTN bad reg (FISH) wild player jams 14bb- I've just seen him jam QTo and lose and is he just trying to tilt off... Again in theory this is never a call, it’s a snap fold but somehow the wizard of stupidly I am i find a call... How start telling myself oh future game if I win 18 left I have 40bb I can ship, if he is as wild and bad as i think is this ever KT K9 K8s??- I have to call right vs this player type? - JUST DUMB THINKING, FIND A ****ING EASY FOLD AND MOVE ALONG!!! Instead he has A5o not a jam vs an utg open but he holds and yeah down to 12bb... Get moved table 1st hand BB A7s a good reg opens to 4x???? late pos, in theory this is never a thing, AA KK QQ Etc. open to 2x- this is a reg he knows this, so probably just stealing or max pressure, so A7s performs great vs all his steals- This hand isn’t a mistake vs this size it’s a clear jam of 12bb.... the times he does fold its unreal and if call a lot of the time ahead. Instead somehow after making it 4bb its AA????????????- GG 18th. Again i prove to myself I’m crap shocking and I can’t beat the live weekly games. All because I’m incapable of folding or finding some really standard but huge lay downs (both AQ hands). In these spots when you have a huge stacks yes hunt yes apply pressure etc. but when you are starting face very big agro action I need to find bigger and better folds. Any positives or was it all bad? I found music in with slow beat/ anxiety calming etc., really but me in the zone 2nd bullet so I’m not changing that sticking by music which vie done for so long When i was hit with the deck I made it count and found a pretty big stack. I Know I’m **** and I’m sure I’ll start over folding and next min be showed randomly bluffs but I know now I am to agro and too much of a station to win at this game live. Am I being too harsh on myself? I don’t think so, if the end goal is to make 20k-40k a year on top of my job I need to do better, be better etc./ Last point my GF thinks i just over think every spot. I study so much that it clouds judgement and that I’m trying to find the perfect decision every time, I don’t know how to feel about this? Is studying bad? Is thinking about every spot bad?? - Maybe my thought process is too ****ed up because of this 26k downswing? Questions for next time...... Lastly what about next time? - I don’t like doing it I have goals, but is this just a sign of burn out- I’ve played 556 hours of poker already this year (online and live) that’s 23 days, i work on top of that? Is this just me burning out not being able to play my A game for long enough? Let me know maybe I need a few weeks off but when you’re down 4k in 3 months 26k in 6 months nearly 9 months can you really afford to take time off?? A long rambley one! ty for reading, it’s not positive but its honest and well I probably the worst player positing in these forums so feel free to unsub!-

Wed Session Wasn't planning on playing today and tbh wanted to take the rest of the week of after last night, however after the very brutally honest blog above and a cold shower mixed in with some calming music I decided on a 3 hour online session while working from home today. This decision stemmed from finally feeling the ability to let yesterday go and just not focus on how much I am down this year, and the fact that this month is now into 4 figures down. I just wanted to get into a session and grind my best and result will be what it will be. 18man Mystery SNGs So, with working from home and not wanting to 1 table X-Poker cash (games don't run to much at 9am) decided just on a mystery Battle Royale grind. I played 16 of them- I cashed 6 of them with 1x 3rd 2x 2nd and 3x 1st (also pulled a $250 bounty!). Outside the monetary result I was very pleased with helping my monthly goals become achievable. I made 10 final tables from 16 - if I look at my soft goals for the 18mans it’s to A) get my rush stage clearance to over 50% (at 49.42%), and B) average finish of 4.5/9 (at 4.62 and come down from 5). These results today really help increase these averages and highlight the work going into the game with ICM. Also my other goal is ITM % of 20% in these 18mans and achieving this each month. Today was a 37% ITM day so again this session was really helpful in achieving this goal! (Overall ITM % this month = 16x ITM/63 total sngs X 100% = 23.80%) During the session I felt in the zone and prepared to play my best and often found a dominating stack due to being in the correct spots and avoiding marginal spots. I feel this is down to A) doing the blog which acted as a warm-up, B) a Shower to mentally prepare for what is to come and C) the calming lo fi music allowed me to stay pretty present and calm during the 3hr session. So moving forward what can I take from this session

• Look to study or maybe mentally blog my pre game thoughts before heading to live or to play an online session (this may increase posts here)
• not over think the process- music on, make sure its calming and relax and just let the game flow.
• Trust the process and know if the game is soft continued to play it, stick to your bankroll and continue on grinding away. Conclusion Great session felt really good to grind today. Always nice to be able to say to myself "I am capable when I want to be and I am able to crush these games." Result wise, today sees me go over 2k + (AUD) ** (always convert to Aud) on this online site, which is great considering how bad the results were in Feb online. It brings the monthly from 4 figures (just over 1k) to with $30 of a breakeven month. I shouldn't be looking too much into the monetary result but it gives a good indicator when I stick a process and game type I can achieve the goals. My smarter goal won’t change I still want to have live success and play some online tournaments but I have to seriously consider adapting in these 18mans to be part of the Smart goal process for the year. Lastly I wanted to study today, but with the session and work was unable to find time and Girlfriend will be over later in the day after my next meeting, so this will mean no real study time today, I'm sure I can find time to study later this week. I think watching back todays VOD (as this was streamed) would be a good exercise to see what a calm prepared to grind DAMMO looked like. Have a great one, thanks for reading! And please leave a reply regarding this post or probably more importantly the one above in relation to our bad live session!

by LordShinRee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58921021#post58921021)

GL! Following.

Hey mate how are you enjoying it so far? any changes you would like to structure or content?

Thursday Session Pre -game As promised/noted above here are some pre game thoughts before going to play the $200 deep stack at stacked social. (usually a 5k gtd but will get close to 10k gtd). Thoughts are:

• Try and find these exploitive folds that was mentioned above - but how can we achieve this? Simply put, the goal tonight is to try note every player at the table like I would with an online sessions. I cant give a green Tag or Red tag etc. What I can do is I can bring up my notes on my phone and I can note each player at the table, I can note them as "Do they study" or "do they not study." This way in these spots with hands like AQ, if we label them as do not study and they don't have enough bluffs in there range we can just start over folding, we can also take some other lines to extract value or exploit in other ways. If they are labelled as "Do study" we can moved to a more GTO approach and exploit when needed etc. I think the above exercise of labeling players live at the table will help me focus in more to the game awareness and look to clear the thought process more than it was on tuesday night at the Matchroom. I know poker bankroll tracker on iPhone has a player note system but I may trial with that at a later date. Lets keep it simple 1st and test this method.
• Staying present and focused, not letting to much future game/ poor mental game affect my thought process in tough spots. This one is quite simple for me to fix, I've been trialing with and without music with live poker. I usually been listening to hardstyle when I play, however based on the case study and how the music allowed me to be in the flow state on wed, the fix here is to use calming anxiety reducing lo fi music to help remain present focused and allow for the A game to flow. I think this will also help clear the thought process a lot and just allow for a stress free night of making your best decision and living with the result afterwards.

Conclusion So these two areas are the focus with the view that they will both allow me to make better decisions, stay present and focused at the tables when playing live. I actually feel ready to go and play after writing this which is cool but i still have 45mins till I leave, so note for next time is do this right before I go. To fill the time I could study and then blog before going. Hope this post was a good read, hope your enjoying the blog.

Thursday Session Well where the F*** do we begin with tonight, what a frustrating make you wanna go jump off a bridge sort of night. I dont even know how to split this up, becasue its just so all over the shop. I guess the begin middle and end? Im not even sure? The start of the MTT Felt ready and raring to go, hoodie on lo fi music in time to grind, and well lads we were on A+ game in full swing, found it very easy to find value and get paid when we had it! I noted every player at the table only one opp i never encountered and sticking to those notes and playing that strategy everything made sense. I made some big hands got paid double start stack over 100bb its finally our time right? The DAMMO PUNT OF THE DAYYYYYYY!!! So hand before - vs two limps look down at A9s - Squeeze to 5,5bb- BB cold calls, so do the limpers, T85 flop no back doors, I cant cbet in theory here so X through, Turn 9, We bet BB calls, river J x x - had has T3o - says in his blinds he cant fold.. So legit next hand over limp limp A5s- decide on limp- unknown players squeezes to 5bb- call call we obvs call. flop is 345 one club- we have back doors, x through to orginal raiser and he snap doubles his bet, everyone folds and I think we have a clear continue. Turn 6h - We dont have hearts but we have range adv- we have all the 7x we ar the only one that has 87 and only one that has any 2x (22 and A2s) So we lead here from 2/3 pot- Why is this a punt, I thought my opp had 80+k behind, he had 31k jams, we have to mathmatical call every hand we bet now as its not even double our bet Unknown player has K7s..................... - hand in theory he can sorta squeeze but like he has f____ all 7x here. So why is this a punt, if we take our notes and what our A game was it was to be over folding in these spots especially when marginal and when we had a stack.... We didnt got punsihed, Should of just squeezed again pre but the hand before made me adpat. The bad and ugly 5min later its break, all i can think about is we were 2.5x start stack, now we just over start stack (by 20k still a fair bit and if offered me that pre MTT ill snap your hand off) but because of how it all happened im just annoyed tilted already know we are going to bust and I just wanna go home and never play again. Another big spot to dominate an MTT and we f**** it up again!!! The comeback??? So after acting like a 5 year old who was denied getting a fizzy drink while mum does the weekly food shop at coles, we find AKs get value vs a whale, We raise KT board comes T high and get x jammed on for 15bb by middle pair and we hold... We are back to where we were is it happening??? are we going to A) make it past late rego without a rebuy? B) we actually finally going to crush a live mtt after a long stretch of not?? The answer to the above is no- because here comes the rollercoaster!! 1st major hand (and this ones important as it leads to later on)- 3x limps we find JJ on the btn and squeeze to 6bb it folds to the last limper in the HJ and he wacks 14bb- we snap JJ vs 44- AA2 9 ..............4.............. - yep alright at least it wasnt a big stack, but would be nice and this river would end up costing me basically my mtt life.. We find a couple of spots to pick up chips and rego ends we are down to 20 people from 40 - this is a good spot with 40bb we are one of the larger stacks in the room, i have refound my zone ive got some good 3bets through and here we go... in the SB and look down at A9o- UTG jams for 7bb mp flats who is a reg but not one that traps to often here, we squeeze to 22bb and he folds, We are up agains K6s- JJ6 flop and he holds,, annoying buts its okay its a small one.... Win a few pots again then the ending happens abruptly! How it ended 19 left, the guy who doubled with his 44 vs my JJ has got a few jams through lost a couple and is down to 11bb- he limps late pos, we know he is getting in when he limps for what we have seen we are on the BTN and see AhKH- Oh yess time to knock him out and have over 50bb- we squeeze to 6.5bb Sb folds, BB who is the whale with T3o above, thinks for a bit before moving all in for 38bb obvs the short stack limper calls off- What do we do? - easy call right its AKs and this guy is wild.... Some how this ****ing wizard decides to jam 33 vs the only opp that covers him when we both have a top 5 stack and ICM is increasing.. as you have guest it- QT5 7 4 - We lose to 33, the limp caller had K2s and was jamming vs our AK squeeze......................... Yet again if the 44 doesn't find a 4 on the river 15mins earlier he is out the mtt this hand above never happens I'm still in the mtt and probably end up cashing the MTT. We have 1.5bb - find Q9o before the BB jam win vs J8, find 22 utg jam get called by Q6s and hold to get back to 9bb- then in the SB find A7s, folds to btn who raises 2.5x we obvs jam BB folds, he tank calls T8s (same suit).... Flop is KQ5 turn K river 8............. and GG - win this flip I go from 1,5bb to 5bb to 10bb to 18bb and im back in the mtt but no river always coming 8 or T when your all in vs DAMMO in 2025. Was there any good out of this

• for the mental game no, my emotions ran pretty high throughout because i just want one f)***** live deep run this year and we keep having this Fd up spots every week.
• from a finding the A game and playing your best (regarding the above post) IT did work! Noting the table made my decisions clearer and my punt came against a guy i didn't know, and music wise I remained focused even if I vented and tilted at myself, the music kept me present and redrew me back to my somewhat A game, It allowed for me to make good decisions. Conclusion So moving forward, note taking players and music is a yes, is live for me moving forward?? I dont know I seem to run like donkey poop and players are just to much of wizards, the fact I had 4 people telling me you cant call AKs here you can only call QQ+ shows you how soft the game is... but if we cant beat the game why play it?? maybe im just a full time 18man myserty guy and thats alll my poker career is good for.. Peace out another bad day at the office, who knows maybe there isnt many more days at the office with how its going.

Friday Session Look Mental game wise another very poor performance, again when push comes to shove and the going gets bad we decide on punting, which is not good but there is a little more to it than that. [18man Battle So we continued with the 18man grind and well it was one of those high variance days where nothing held and nothing went right. We play 29 x $25 18mans, we final Tabled 15, so just over 50% rush stage clearance (tick for the goals!), however only managed 3x cashes all 2nds with no heads up win....... This means ITM % was 10% (big under achievement) and our average FT finish position dipped from 4.6 to 4.75....... So what was the cause of this, without sounding too much like a "oh we run the worst" etc., we lost multiple 80/20s (AK vs AQ or AK vs AJ) and when we did have a flip we lost them too. Hard to be profitable when you can’t hold in any spot. 2 of the 3 heads up we had the chip lead and in 1 we were one river away from winning ($250 bounty as well was pulled when i finished 2nd). So on a different day with a few gold chests and maybe some normal variance we would have been profitable. The bad- The PUNT So I rage quit my stream which is never a good sign, I lost another of these spots and failed to make it to the FT stage 2x right at the end, so I rage quit. Decided to fire a $20 dollar hyper turbo MTT to cool off, finished 11th for $36..... However 11 left AA utg for 6bb jam and CL calls of 22, 34K 5 ...... 6 just standard, this sent me into a rage Another deep mtt spot another 80/20, another bad beat..... - I sound like a broken record and I hate it. So we decided well this is it I’m done I’m going to play cash this afternoon on X-Poker and this is it...... So we sat 2/4 our normal stake and well, it was the sushi sb game (every hand is an ante by the sb and if you win a pot in the sb you win the ante) - we had a 40bb Ante, passive table. Hero: J8s in sb 2x limps MP and CO, we squeeze to 8bb with J8s, 1st limper now re squeezes to 20bb and we are 140bb deep, Easy call. Flop is QT4 one heart: x- Villian bets 1/3rd, we have a good x/r candidate, so we decide on the x/r to 2/3, - call. turn 5h - have a flush draw and a gushot, HERO decided to get tricky and X, I am hoping if he beats small we can jam for SPR 1 and villain fold as this line is super nutted, he cant really call beause he is so capped. If villian bets big, we have odds with the sb ante of 40bb to call and make our hand and if we miss we fold, VILLIAN BETS SMALLL.... so we X jam for 1.2x pot.... A tank and two-time banks later he Heros with ATo........- We brick............. We should of never of gotten called in theory and of course we brick the world (any heart any J and any 9). So what do we do we go play 5/10 - We lose a sizeable one with AK, and then we punted off the rest of our 100bb with middle pair So how much did 5/10 cost? Not much?? - I reloaded for 300bb (my roll on x-poker) turned the music on, cancelled a meeting and was like this is it let’s crush.... there were 2x massive fish to target and we got both.... We found 33 and on T34 got it in for 110bb vs a fish who had a flush draw, turned a boat easy game, Then found AA utg, one of the fishes just wanted to raise big pre every hand, so we limp, he raises to 8bb- we re raise to 24bb- he makes it 60bb we flat 150bb deep, 846 flops x he jams we snap he has AQo we hold... Play for a bit longer ended up making $300 MYR on x-poker and lot of rake back as i have a good deal with my agent. Lucky variance swang but really it isn’t good we ended up here... In conclusion We were lucky today to not be done more, I thought I was over yesterday and I was until the run bad truly kicked in with the 18 man’s today. We need to find a way to deal with losses better and how we can walk away from a bad day and come back another day... What we did well, is when we said that it time to snap out of it, music back on fully locked into to play and we crushed. We also in theory crushed all day on the 18mans but look you can’t win every hand you’re meant to and if we won half the hands we were today it was probably another very positive day on this site. In future I’ll work on just ending the session, blogging as this really helps and then closing it down for the day, however it’s hard when I have no other hobbies and everyone I know is at work. The joys of playing poker full time, at least I have a job. Thanks for reading!

MTT variance would be too much for me to grind, seems like you have to basically be ok with losing lots and often until you have a big score to even out all the losses. have you played any of the cash games at stacked social, if so how are they and how much is the time charge?

by Quanny m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58930788#post58930788)

MTT variance would be too much for me to grind, seems like you have to basically be ok with losing lots and often until you have a big score to even out all the losses. have you played any of the cash games at stacked social, if so how are they and how much is the time charge?

Hey Quanny, I’ve played a few! - checking my br tracker- played 8hrs mainly before tournaments and up 5k (I’ll share the graph)- seems quite splashy but of course there are some great regs that will put you in some hard spots 5/10+ Highly recommend it for cash- by memory the seat charge is $20 an hour - get dinner included and drinks too I think! Please note for the below graph the hands per hour is probably off- 4 sessions for 8hrs isn’t to much volume

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by Quanny m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58930788#post58930788)

MTT variance would be too much for me to grind, seems like you have to basically be ok with losing lots and often until you have a big score to even out all the losses. have you played any of the cash games at stacked social, if so how are they and how much is the time charge?

Also hope you’re enjoying the blog! - and let me know if there is anything you would like me to write about or share! Thanks for reading

Sunday Session Pre game work Woke up at 7:30am - made a coffee and decided before starting the session to watch back the stream of a 18man SNG session where I think I played my best this week. I watched at 1.5x speed and got in half hour of viewing as pre-game study. I Evaluated my play, and it looked okay, some spots to tighten up on the FT to over fold but that's about it... I don't think it is too bad to get it in really wide for multiple mystery bounties but could be a potential leak and costing me some ITM %. The Session Notes Was a good day today, after doing the above study felt ready to grind and get after the regs in the 18man streets. Off the bat found some run good and made a few deep runs and some small cashes with some bounties. Our session was dictated by 15mins of madness where I pulled 2x $250 bounties and won another 18man after this... - was a weird day result wise, I had one win however had 3 other cashes where the result was bigger than my win thanks to the bounties. Stats wise today - 31 x $25 18mans, 18x Final tables (58% stage clear - this is over 50% which is a tick), 9x cashes with 1x win (ITM = 29% - 9/31 x 100 = 29.xx). This is day where I hit every metric I’m tracking! Small X-poker session last night While I was out with friends watching the AFL, I put in a small 2/4 sushi session on my phone for half hour. I generally don’t like doing this however I wanted to grind with some friends watching, I Made 1x buyin and decided to call it a night which was a nice little bit of profit. Relating To the goals Live MTTs played: 4/50 (year) Online MTTs Played: 7/16(month) Cash Hours played: 7.5/20hrs (month) Study Hours: 4.5/20hr (month) 18man goals (for the month) Rush clearance: 53 non stage clearances - 123 played = 70 Final tables made- 70/123 x 100 = 56.9% (tick over goal of 50% and current over all is 49.85% goal is 50% overall). ITM % (for the month): 27/123 x 100 = 21.95% (goal = 20% so tick!!) Avg Pos (overall): 4.74/9 (goal 4.5/9) *please note this is with all historical data I have on poker craft, its going to take a lot of results to get this to the 4.5avg target- thus this is a yearly goal. Conclusion So, it's a good month so far on the 18man SNG grind, I'm behind in study, cash game hrs played and online MTTs (non 18mans). If I had to priorities one of these it would be study! Next week, I'll look to have a study heavy week and focus on the 18mans as well. I have a live series starting at the end of the week, and I think not playing live till then will help me be in the best condition to attack this live series! Hopefully another good week to follow, also nice to report after todays session and mainly thanks to the 18man SNGs I am up for the month!! Any questions sing out and let me know if your enjoying/following along.

Monday Session Hey everyone, its start of another week, just want to say thanks for the support with the likes on posts or comments! Great source of motivation. Going to split today into pre-game, in session and a post- game/conclusion. Pre game study My mental game book (All in on mindset) was due to arrive today - Somehow amazon despite my notes saying no weekend delivery tried to make a delivery on Sunday, meaning my mental game study of reading this book has to be delayed. (They are now trying to deliver it between 4 and 8pm- my office closes at 5:30 and I leave at 4pm everyday.....)! - With this delay I decided once I was on top of my workload to use an hour to focus on SB vs BB defending. I've been seeing more and more spots blind vs blind or vs late open defending and decided this could be a good use of time for study today. I am hoping with increased awareness I am able to build a decent stack easier in the live setting and can really help increase the win rate in the 18man SNG arena. Once home decided on actually starting my session by writing the above out and then using that as a way to get my brain to switch focus from work and onto the task at hand, another good session of 18man SNG success. In Session- 18man SNGs Again I've decided to focus on the 18mans, I love the format, the strategy is fun and Tbh i have an okay win rate with limited study on the format. Its also a great study tool for sub 30bb spots in the live arena so putting time and effort into this format is both fun and can be seen as extra study. Best of both worlds (ill not be counting these hours to study but sessions watched back I will). The session its self-went as followed: Wasn't a great session but did super well to not lose a lot of buy ins today. I lost just under 3 buyins which for the high variance of mystery bounty rush SNGs, that's a win in my book sometimes. By the stats it wasn’t great, 27x $25 buy ins, 13 Final tables (so only a 48% rush clear today) - only 4 cashes for 14% itm however 3x wins out of those 4 saved the day. No luck with any bounties our biggest being 1x $25 dollar bounty. With the Variance of bounty pulls & these stats being low, to only lose 3x buy ins ($67usd) is a great result. How did I achieve a decent day then? Well two things, A) I found myself over thinking early in the session when it didn’t start well. I was over thinking about the BB/SB defending study I did today and thus over analysing every spot. B) I also watched a short video on mystery bounty strategy and how wide holdem resource calc wants you to call in a mystery bounty mtt. This is good knowledge, but the bounties are pre-determined in a Mystery MTT and can be calculated and used in a solve. These 18mans mysteries are not pre-determined so the theory being shown in the video I watched isnt optimal for these 18mans. (long story short the vid was about how wide you should call vs 1-2-3 all ins and how basically you can have a 100% jam range with any two). What I did well is I recognized this, said focus on the game you have been playing and slowly implement these small strategy improvements. After making this decision I won my next two SNGs and look poised for a great day, just unfortunate my next cash and win didn't come for over an hour after this. Conclusion Over moon to get in 1 hour of study today especially on an area I can keep improving in (SB vs BB etc.). Grateful I didn’t lose too much tonight in a session where I didn’t play my A game but at times found the correct plays. Has to be said I ran into it a bit today pre the final stage which hurt the stats as well. If I can lose small and win big on days where the variance is on our side we can continue to meet the metrics to achieve our goals for these 18mans. Looking forward to another couple of days of 18man SNGs before switching to focusing on the live series, Ill post what my goals are and what I’m playing during this series in the next few days. Thanks for reading and give this post a comment or like! �� P.S. - Amazon tried to deliver at 6:31 once everyone at my work had gone home Jeeezzz talk about IRL run bad haha!

Live series Goals & Schedule Starting on Friday I have a Live Series starting at the Matchroom. Its the Adelaide Poker Showdown with a 100k gtd 1.5k main event. Below are some goals for the series and the schedule I am going to play. Goals for the series

• To focus on implementing a good live game process and being in the zone (A game for long periods) - This is achieved via the lo fi music and table presence (body language).
• Avoid Big marginal spots and look to make tighter folds in spots where there aren't enough bluffs live due to lack of study. This is achieved by overfolding in spots I am unsure off vs non regs.
• To help the above the goal I can look to note every player at every table we play at. Use these notes to aid with our decision making. Achieved by continuing what I tried last live MTT by using my phone to note each seat.
• Vs Good Regs if possible, avoid big spots as we will find easier spots vs the fish in the live mtt arena. Again, achieved by picking the correct spots and yes may lead to me being bluffed a touch more but over folding in spots vs regs to avoid blowing up a massive pot in a marginal spot.
• To finish top 10 in the player of the series - I never been a fan of saying "I'm going to finish 1st and grind every event etc"., Its not realistic for me anymore, I have a job, a GF etc. So if a day or 2 off is needed during a live series ill take it. Also a great way to remain fresh as burnout has been a thing in the past. Achieved by sticking the below schedule and the last point on this list.
• Play as many of the sattys as possible to increase points to finish top 10 in the player of the series race. - Achieved by planning to play the sattys before the event. The Matchroom includes all satty buy ins as 1x point, all sattys fts as more points and satty wins as even more points. This is to encouraging people to play sattys. So if I want to finish top 10 this is paramount in achieving the above goal. (plus a couple of deep runs will help finish top 10. I don't have a "result goal" but these process goals should all add up to help achieve some great results") Events I Plan To Play
• Opening event $300 & the $50 Satty beforehand for the event. (Friday 28th)
• Mega Main Satty 3x seats gtd $250 MLR after hanging out with friends on (Saturday 29th) - could also be an off day depending
• Mini Main Flight B $400 (Sunday 30th) - can't play satty as at the AFL beforehand.
• Mega Sat 3x seats $250 (Monday 31th)
• Monster stack $350 and the $60 satty beforehand (Tuesday 1st)
• 2nd and 3rd are rest days however if im in the player of the series race I can look to move my GF catch up day to thursday and fire the wed plo for points.
• Main event flight 2 $1500 (Friday 4th) - if I havent got a ticket can look at the pre game satty.
• Main event Day 2 $1500 (Sunday 6th) - Either buy into day 2 or MLR and try to spin with half the field gone. I haven't planned on anything post the main event as once a main event is done, I'm mentally done with the series. However, if I am in the player of the series race there are more events from the 7th - 9th and will fire if required to win/ top 3 player of the series. Thanks for reading, I found the above helpful to know exactly what I am doing, now hopefully time to execute the above in a few days.

Phil Ivey might be playing the main.

Tuesday Well what a day to recap and a couple of questions that I may ask for you to answer below. As always, we will go pre-game, in session and the post-game. Pre Game Study wise not to much today, again my mental book was delayed (and boy I need it with how much my head runs away from me in session). I was able to watch the In the mind of a pro series by Winamax! Highly recommend for study content as Adrain Mateos is just a freak of a human and it's so informative to watch. Got home and re implement the cold shower, Lo -fi music was on and felt ready to get underway and grind out a solid day. The Session Another Woeful day on the 18mans stat wise- making it two in a row that were quite bad. Unlike yesterday not even the small amount of cashes could save me from an over 10 buyin losing day. I played 22 before I stopped the bleeding, got through to 13 final stages (59% which is good!) but.... 2 cashes with only 1 win for a 9% ITM.... Dont know if this is just variance or showing how hard it actually is to meet the metrics I set out for myself. So because it was early decided to fire some GG MTTs, I played 5 to end out the session. I cashed 3x of them for 60% ITM and came 7th in the $32 speed racer for $208 to make some profit on the MTT side to slowly claw back the losing day to not to much ($200 AUD loss). Post Session- So The questions that need to be asked Where to from here for my poker? - Are mystery bounties 18man SNGs worth playing? and what do I do if they are not? I think they are if you can grind the leaderboards and play 12-14hr sessions every day. Grind your small edges avg a 15% itm and 50% clearance, get on the leaderboard and earn a solid bankroll. However the above I cant do, I have a full time job, A life outside of poker with a beautiful GF and TBH I'm to old to give up a day to job to grind a format that may not even be profitable after the above. So I think that these are a waste of time unless your insanely good and meet the metrics I bang on about so you are profitable in your short sessions. SO then online MTTs? - I don't know about them, because there are so many great regs battling it out in the low-mid stake buy ins- its hard to win- you need to be in the top 1% to be a consistent enough winner to grind a solid living. If not, you are earning about maybe $6 and hour and then you just have no point playing. So is it cash for me? - I hate playing it, I hate streaming it, and im scared to sink time into it because all my bad results online have come from me tilting off and just giving money away playing cash after a session. So it doesn't make sense for me to play cash and increase this likely hood. SO where to from my poker? Accept im a bad player that has gotten lucky once- and failed to convert 5 other main event final table spots? Or is there a format out there that I can actually grind a solid win rate at? - Im starting to lean to im 29, my bankroll isnt over 500k, and if you dont know the answer to this youll never know which means, im no good I got lucky and its time give up now and walk away now. No one likes the has been champion that overextended their stay in the sport. Maybe I'm that guy? I don't want to do the above, but I honestly don't see a format I can consistently win at anymore. I will say maybe im just super harsh on myself as well. Conclusion Some good out of today, A) I think i played great, put myself in a lot of great spots in the 18mans and didn't convert. I put myself in some great MTT spots and didnt convert. B) Some good recognition of strategy spots with icm or bounty hunting that we took and it didn't work out... I'm sure there were some mistakes but i felt i played close to an A game.. So you can make a case for if you continue to show up it will turn, but it hasn't turned for nearly a year now and all the great players (or really bad live regs) seem to go on massive heaters of winning multiple events and I can't seem to do this. I win one major event and then its. 2-5 years of dust for me until my next decent score....... So yeah this is just another rage piece of how I'm bad and I'm no good etc..... I don't have a play book to win. I know what to do study more, play more, work your socks off till point you cant breathe and get the rewards, but I think im doing that and well I have nothing to show for it and likely tbh never will unless we someone how find this heater. Hard to do this when you don't even know what to grind anymore because your head is so messed up due to a downswing.... . So thanks for reading yay another I feel like crap post because I cant win...... sigh

Thursday Session Okay Strap yourself in there will be some numbers in this blog! - We had an interesting day and im ready to share what was a losing day but maybe the turning of the tide in terms of tracking results etc. Intro and Study So finally the All in on mindset book came yesterday, I've read 25 pages and 2x exercises and wow. Some big things to take away. The main reason I still play poker is because I actually do want to play full time still. The Why is down to financial freedom but not for money! Its to care for others (loved ones)! I am a big believer in giving to my loved ones and well it seems to be a massive driving factor in why I still play a large volume. The second part of the Why is the be your own boss freedom, so with this said I know my why and what to work towards. I'm 30 this year so I said when im 40 ill look to do this full time if I can! The Book also helped pin point my motivation and a lot come down to negative emotion and belief. So like risk adverse due to the neg on the bankroll or what others may think etc... So hopefully throughout more exercises we can move to a more positive motivation. Hopefully move away from seeking justification but motivation in playing correctly and making good choices. THIS IS A MAJOR PART OF WHAT ILL DISCUSS NEXT SO YES I CAPS THIS!!!. The Session The Stats and Good bye 18man SNGs I started the day with the 18mans and like usual found a lot of final tables and didn't convert many, I have also now gone 2,5 days without a major gold chest (only 1 in this time for $37). So I was annoyed and fed up with just grinding losses. SO I said that's it i need to know if I'm profitable. I always had issues with PT4 (poker tracker 4) and getting the GG poker stats to load into their properly. Lucky with my insta community I was able to finally get this figured out. For Mystery's I was at +15bb per 100 which sounds good, but Adjusted was at 3.25 BB per 100. This is due to hunting bounties wide getting lucky etc... 3.25BB is solid but in a field with high variance + the need for big bounties its not a strong enough win rate to withstand the game. As such they are -ev over time... So now that I had PT4 working It was time to see how bad I was at the MTTs on gg, to my Suprise after downloading and importing the 32k hands (last 3 months of data - all the gg lets you download) these were my stats.

() Wow +7.21 BB per 100 - All in Adjusted it goes up to 8.10bb per 100! - this is a great rate, Chat GPT says this about MTTs and BB per 100

() So im now over the moon, a lot of my punt off on GG is cash game based after bad mtt days, however if I can create a goal that is surrounding improving my BB/100 adjusted all in ev, results will improve and begin to increase over time. Conclusion So its back to MTTs for me. The self doubt is still there because my ROI on GG is super low but overall including live is 28% (which is decent)! A goal for the future is to improve this BB/100 Adjusted to 9bb and then to 10bb per 100. If I can do that I may still lose due to variance but in the long term it will = out and I will win again. So studying the book is great, poker Tracker 4 is working and it says I can crush online MTTs if I don't punt of rolls playing cash! Hello motivation and what a great day except the losing part of course. Hope you enjoyed some photos and some stats! See you tomorrow after the opening event at my live event

I hate playing cash 2 but i think this is the only format long term ya can make profit from without trying to win the poker lotto of varience in mtts and actually earn a decent living for the year from mtts.

Friday Pre Live Event Didnt plan on posting but I have more data to share regarding PT4 and I think it is a good way to highlight my findings. Big thanks to alot of friends who reached out to let me dive deep into the stats break down of my GG MTTs. So I played A Session Was MTT session while working from home, got crushed complained a lot, however had some friends get in chat really help with the below stats to actually help me understand what games I should be playing. As such the below of this post will be lot of photos, and outline what the data is saying. The Graphs- The Data & The Numbers So below will be some graphs relating to the 32k hands I have in PT4. What I will say is I love the numbers side of sport and immediately feel motivation to just improve these numbers and who cares about the $$.

() So the above graph shows BB all in ev for $0-$11 dollar MTTS (no daily flip outs included).

() So the above graph shows BB per 100 & All in Adjusted BB per 100 for GG tournaments from $0 - $11 (no daily flip outs included). Whats the key take away? - 1st the BB all in ev - over the 741 MTTs I am under EV however mentally I thought it was a lot worse than it was, this was due to the big period around the 360-game mark where I ran 500bb above EV. SO I think I'm running -1100 BB in my head but actually it's not that bad just slight below at -300 BB. 2nd the BB per 100 over 23k hand shows a consistent high crushing win rate. This is proven by the BB adjusted EV graph which is just consistently going up and up and up.

()

() The above two graphs are the same and are for $11-100000 Dollar MTTs. Key Take aways here- I have a good set of stats for these games over a small sample size, However I have run below ev for the large % of this small sample size. If we ignore the large spike up in a recent game the consistent trend is actually slight down in both EV and BB made. So I can win but not at a large rate atm. I mentally think its a lot worse because of the variance that this graph shows. Outliers and Errors

() Tournaments that come under the "normal" filter seem to be bugged on PT4 and GG hand histories. This may be down to picking up different stages of MTTs under different times of the MTT, the above data disagrees from the overall number and could be an error.

() If we filter for all MTTs between 0-11 that do not include normal, I am winning at an extreme rate, I also believe that this could be error affected and thus the overall number could be alot closer but slightly increased for the above two graphs that relate to $0-$11 dollar MTTs. So Where does my win rate come? In short $0-$11 MTTs but specifically the below graph format.

()

() 0-$11 Turbos are a gold mine for me, I need to stop max late rego them and just fire from the start or early on and build my edge. There is a clear big win rate and a consistent upwards trend for the Chip EV graph as well. Conclusion So in conclusion, the lower stake MTTs on GG we can beat and well I'm modest but crush, I should go back to focusing on these for a long-term grind (like I was when I was doing my bankroll challenge). This will allow me to play the games I'm most profitable at and improve my over all stats along the way. Great to see I am not as a bad that I mentally think. If you have any questions regarding the stats or any comments, please leave it below. Thanks for listening onto my live event later.

Friday live session Im on my phone so no proper formatting In short - satty I finished 8th so I got extra points for the player of the series race yay! - but soft bubbled a ticket (top 5) The opening event we played really well I was able to lock in by table noting and even jotted down a mistake I made in a hand Unfortunately you can’t beat the live wizards 40left - top 16 itm had 12bb in the bb Passive fish limps utg+1 folds to sb who calls We jam A9s - fish tank calls 73s???! 223 flop K k oh well gg - pretty annoying after 5hrs of play to get dicked like that but it’s a 60/40 and was a good spot for my all in adjusted bb/100 Have a goodnight next update after Sunday!

Sunday Session Hey Guys its super late here (1am) and I have work tomorrow morning so I am going to try keep this brief! Today was the Mini Main event at the Matchroom an event that will shape the series if we can run deep. Pre-Game Pre-game was slightly different today. I was coming from the AFL as I went to the match at Adelaide Oval beforehand, so my usual pre- game of cold shower study etc didn't occur. I was also mentally off it in the car ride home as even though the Crows won it became apparent that I was going to lose my 3rd straight AFL fantasy game in the friend comp I'm in. Somehow this put me into a wild negative spin that TBH I really couldn't sake. So on the car ride to poker, I went radical with the pre-game. I have David Goggins motivational YouTube speeches on and I came up with a saying, I believe I can, I will, I am! Im going to play my A game today because I believe I can, I will and I am. This was a saying that I started screaming at myself the whole 12min car ride into the Matchroom, by the end of it I really believed I was going to play my A-game and what ever will happen will be. Some of the sayings went if today isn't my day tomorrow will be because I believe I am playing well. So long story short people were watching some 29 year old male shout tribal positive talk to himself and well look I actually think it really helped! The Session The 1st bullet brought me down to earth 30 mins in I found 2x mistakes I made, I got put in a blender of a spot where i made a great fold and in the end busted with 20bb. Bullet 2 thought the magic happened. 1st hand 65s - multi way 789 flop get 3 streets of value. Pocket 8s defend multi way in the BB vs utg open A78 flop get a x/r and a call and we are on our way. We were never all in for our MTT life but just accumulated chips throughout. As we approached the bubble I could feel the anxiety creep in, why? Because online I've Bubbled 19x this year 12 with QQ, today with QQ 7 of the money we got it in vs KTs for 12bb K window followed by a Q today was our day because of all the positive talk. We kept repeating the above in my head, we picked some chips up and it was looking like a smooth ride to the finish line. Unfortunately with 18left and 15 was the magical number for the day 2 and ITM, I found A4s on the btn - opened up of 30bb and sb had 5bb and found a jam, cant fold he has TT, T on the flop and we are down to 25bb Blinds go up lose a couple of more hands in orbits before we are down to 15 and bagging. Conclusion So, in the end we made day 2- we have 17bb (202k at 6/12k) (12k BB ante). we are 17/24 I believe and will confirm tomorrow, Im GTD $800 (so breakeven) and $14,000 for 1st! Tomorrow, I believe I can, and I Will because I am able to win this tournament from here and If not the day after will be our day. Things that worked well

• A mantra/ positive quote to keep repeating to focus on the positive reinforcement in big spots.
• On break actually doing breathing exercises to remain fresh
• I played mostly without headphones tonight once I was in the A game zone, I was talkative with the table and picking up on a few things, so maybe something to think about in the future.
• Lastly, I noted every player on every table we sat at, I trusted these notes and adjusted accordingly, this and noting down mistakes has really helped! It keeps me honest in game about how well I am playing and what to look out for. A great day which is nice to blog about, hopefully tomorrow is a really long night as we restart at 6pm after work. If not we will take our cash come home and grind some online! Thanks for reading, leave an upvote if you think we are going to ship it or leave a comment if you think we can as well!

Monday It was Mini Main Day 2 day! and well lets find out how went, we came in 20/24 with 17bb and a dream! $14,000 for 1st Day 2 Wasn't our day today- 1st orbit folded, 2nd orbit folded, 3 players busted in this time, we now are on the btn with 14bb and look at KQs Raise to 2x, sb an okay reg bit tighter but okay, raises to 13bb to basically put us in (CL in the bb so guessing if CL jams he folds) - Anyhow KQs is an easy min raise call. Unfortunately he has AKo and we do not find a lady or the gutty we turned. So all the pre-game prep and motivational mantra for 10-15min appearance on day 2 A small online Session Decided to not waste the pre game and when home fired 10x MTTs on GG. With poker tracker 4 working to import hands Ive restarted the Bankroll challenge on stream and one of my goals for next month is to improve my BB/100 at the low stake to over 9bb all in adjusted BB/100. We came $15 in the $10 hyper for $40 and Final tabled a low stake zodiac finishing 4th for $57 so an okay day of $70+ profit for the account. Conclusion I mentally felt good about the grind today, the mini main wasn't our day but look it happens and when your sub 20bb it can be all over pretty quickly. On lack of sleep due to the day 1 happy we grinded for so long and grateful for a couple of runs on GG, Hopefully more to come. I usually break down my goals for the week etc but they are changing now due to PT4 working so Ill have to re clarify them for the upcoming month. We are also 100% moving away from the 18 man mystery SNGs and working on a solid couple of months of an ABI under $15 online to get this 1.2k BR up to 2-4k if possible (i went from $100 to 2.5k in a month in jan before punting it off in FEB). Have a good one guys talk soon!.

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58941027#post58941027)

MondayIt was Mini Main Day 2 day! and well lets find out how went, we came in 20/24 with 17bb and a dream! $14,000 for 1st Day 2Wasn't our day today- 1st orbit folded, 2nd orbit folded, 3 players busted in this time, we now are on the btn with 14bb and look at KQs Raise to 2x, sb an okay reg bit tighter but okay, raises to 13bb to basically put us in (CL in the bb so guess... See full post

what did you punt it of in?

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58941043#post58941043)

what did you punt it of in?

Hey mate dont understand the question??

April Goals Post So with PokerTracker 4 now working and showing us our stats, Ill be looking to move our focus from the below stats per month/year to a more statistical focus. The Goals ATM: Live MTTs played: 4/50 (year) - This we still will continue Online MTTs Played: 7/16(month) - This will change drastically to accommodate the below PT4 stats. Cash Hours played: 7.5/20hrs (month) - Going to move these stats to a very low volume due to PT4. Study Hours: 4.5/20hr (month) - going to look to keep this the same. Battle Royale 18man SNG Goals: No longer playing this format due to the PT4 data we have downloaded. The New Goals and the WHY! Live MTTs Played: 8/50 (yearly Goal) - I did have a goal regarding the Matchroom series, but without a deep run in the 1st two events and wanting a night off on wed, ill be only playing the main event from here, plenty of volume to come! Some other good series soon around the corner! hopefully will blow past this 50 mtt goal! The increased volume will allow us to realize our 28% ROI. Online MTTs played (NEW GOAL): 0/500 - May sound like a lot- but with a solid schedule and work ethic I think this is achievable, I played 800 online MTTs in Jan playing most days, I do plan for a small break at some point this month, so hopefully we start the month strong and get to this goal. If I do I may take the rest of the month off. The why is simple for this goal. Solid volume will allow for variance to become smaller as we will put in time to let it correct itself over the long term. If our goal is to improve BB/100 (goal below) then volume will allow for this to be a true reflection of the stats for this month. BB/100: improve my all in adjusted to 9.00 overall. After 33,400 hands from 1/1/25 to 1/4/25 im currently at 8.14BB per 100 All in adjusted. This is a very high rate. To improve this Ill A) lower my ABI to $2-$15 MTTs to support to the BR challenge and improve the edge i have in the field B) Will allow me to focus on just trying to improve my A game and put in my best each session to improve this stat. C) will also highlight areas of leaks to focus on in play- ATM the Big one is Calling 3bets at a 45% from EP- Massive leak as it should be closer to 20 and something Ill work on. Study Hours: 0/20hr (month) - managed to get to roughly 8 last month. Ill start this month strong with trying to finish the mental game of poker book! hopefully with some increase study the rest will become great! Conclusion The above goals will allow me to focus on the correct volume, look to keep me accountable to improve my game and hopefully complete the below result oriented goals. Results goals are usual monetary outcomes that we are taught to avoid. However the All in poker mindset loves a result goal if we have the right process goals in place (the above). So Result goals

Get the BR from the 1300 to 1800 by the end of the month on GG long term result goal to achieve a $4K BR on GG by August grinding an ABI of $2-$15 ($10 AVG) mtts before looking to move up in stake. And hey if we fall just short that's okay as well! Thanks for reading these goals. Will be back with the post session review later today.

Tuesday Session Long story short we punted off and we are just horrid at the game, we take another mental hit for us to store...... Pre Session Ruined by time due to work and a meeting running over, I wasnt able to do exactly what I wanted, I wanted to walk the block eat then meditate and get on for a 12:30 start. In the end walked for 5mins, tried to meditate before playing, this was interupted by work so in the end start the stream still trying to eat and not properly prepared. Session its self Just yeah one of these sessions. In short- Started of with the omen for the session, JJ 1st hand of the stream lose JJ vs Ak for 100bb, We then bust 7 MTTs in 5 mins later in the stream, we then have a few fake runs of 20-30th places.... Then the hand that started the mental spiral here is a photo but in short raise MP we flat to induce sb 3bet mp call we pile... YES ITS A FLIP I KNOW BUT DONT DO IT LIKE THIS!!!

() Dont give me a flop thats basically 90% and then give the guy his one ****ing out!- at least let it be the J he has 2 outs. The Mental game struggle So this sent me off an edge, i kept saying thats it im done I wanna get off not point if im losing every flip or running into deep into an mtt or we get one outted again etcc...... Just stupid idoic victim behaviour. Hard to self regulate in session. We try grinding through then this happens...... Get KK 1st hand of the MTT, do the good old rip 200bb because no beleives, get called by AQ we hold 400bb lets go, next hand AA oh lets do it, raise 2x calls we 3bet to like 16bb huge size- one call K63 flop bet big call Q turn x because he has KQ and QQ - fish bets we call river J we lose to everything now- x wil the intention of folding less than spr 1 villian jams easy ****ing fold and you have 300bb - nope tilted stupid me decided i guess we beat some Ak and random like k8s etc, and call, Lose to the random I call a 16bb 3bet with K6s bs....... So this again sent me down the path of im done i want out im not good enough, if im making this mistake and cant fold whats the point im a fish etc (MISTAKE TILT) two hands later talk myself into getting TT in for 200bb to punt off lose to AA as we should.. Bust another mtt in 14 where we jam KTo for 5bb in a turbo with a bb roll back - fish has 9bb and calls and loses is crippled- Q9o call........ 9high flop............. we go off the cliff again I stop regging and in the $10 daily special which has 900 up top - we just start jamming any two to either get to 100bb or bust- we of course lose and we end the session.. Again mentally I decided thats it, I dont deserve to play because I am making a mistake a rookie would make. I dont desreve to play because Im **** and cant beat the game, I dont deserve to play because if this was live you would be out and on the way home so why continue this session. Pure stupidity and idotic behaviour. Conclusion In short im a fish because my mental game is crap, there is a lot of injecting logic into this mess of a post that i could use to keep myself sane. Instead here i am complaining because the BR went from 1309 to 1220. TBH i don't think i care about that, its more I've been one outted again, i lose so many flips my PT4 stats says i should crush yet here i am putting in all this effort when will it be my time.... I think this all points to burnout we have put in over 600hrs of poker so far this year, maybe its time for an extended break, hard to do so when you have goals you want to accomplish Tonight though Ill study a bit then catch up on the sleep i missed thanks to the mini main event day 1 which meant I only got 3 hours of sleep the other night, that could be a factor as well. Only positive i really tired hard to have a pre game and even planned what mtts I was going to play ill do this for the future... Ill try be better team but hard when I'm in my bubble on stream on the PC, maybe streaming is the issue too who knows.

Thursday Well I just wrote this big post about my day, the pre game post of 2x sessions where i finished 2nd in the $8 turbo had a losing day $9 because I ran pretty poor, The 2+2 severs crashed and I cant re submit the post i had. So in short ill summaries the below. Got 3 outed and 2 outed a lot today deep in mtts, bubbled a few where I was 5th of 27 with 23 remaining and I would bubble, e.g. $10 turbo KK vs ATo for piles A this type of stuff. I mentally though thanks to my pre game routine and the meditation course i paid for on the calm app stayed pretty strong and kept firing. It really helped me today and I played over 60 MTTs! Other thing that helped is knowing when I import the hands into PT4 from my sessions at the end of the week the graphs are going to look so funny. What could have been today with some run good!! Below is a photo of our 2nd place, only found this score and $60 score in the $10 Powerhouse PKO series on GG (came 24th out of thousands).

() And this summed up the day 26 left Daily $10 hyper 777 up top to get back to and avg stack after running AJ into 44 on AJ4 flop.

() Last thing that was important in my actual post was this, Ive decided to not play the $1500 main at the Matchroom. I am going to reinvest this into either A) a sports psychologist or B) a Hypnotherapist to help with the tilt problems which stem from emotional regulation, anxiety and self pressure. Odd to have a losing day get crushed by the deck run super under ev and feel normal. May just maybe I am finally growing?? Uncharted territory this, feels nice though!

Friday Session Decided to work from home again today. Wanted to give myself no excuse to not study and have a pre-game before a session. Also wanted to put in a large session in if possible so I can have the weekend off to watch sports, hang with my friends and enjoy my Girlfriends son's 1st soccer game. So in today’s post as always will discuss the pre-game and what I've worked on study wise, the In session and lastly a conclusion. - Ill also highlight what the goals are for the month/year again and when I come back home on Sunday Ill update you with these goals. Pre-Game / Study Today was a great morning; I woke up feeling productive after feeling somewhat normal after a losing day yesterday. Still feel strange and quite refreshing to feel okay after so many spots didn’t go our way. Decided on getting in as much study as possible before my 1st meeting of the work day. Put in over 3 hours of reading with the All in on mindset book and completing the exercises in the pages outlined. I really feel this book is helping and giving me a blueprint to overcome my demons. The exercises were focus on emotional regulation and how the game itself is just got so much risk/unpredictable outcomes. In terms of pre-game, I decided to make the below and stick it on my wall in my office room where I play. This isn’t part of the all in on mindset book however all these points are highlighted throughout the 121 pages I have read so far. I really think even if we aren’t winning on the felt we can really see the progress of us winning off the felt. I completed the below today and was ready for my session where I planned to play my longest session to date- 4-6 tables of MTTs from 12:30-9pm roughly give or take.

() In Session Well this session tested the new mental feelings that’s for sure! 7hrs of mtts, only 2 ITMs of note, which were 2x final tables (3rd and a 5th) with 2x other min cashes! So in short it wasn’t our day today. Again without sounding like the broken record we ran not great today but what I will say is after the above pregame routine I found it easier to just say to myself what decision did I make is it okay etc.. . To finish off the session I was 3k pts. off a rake back spin, I decided on finally getting this done as I have 5 days to get it completed and I’m away for the next 3. Decided on Spin n Gold’s, No good ran awful! Switched to All in and fold, ran worse, according to the ev graph only meant to lose $12 lost 120odd. However, I was prepared for this to happen to get my spin. Luckily for us we span the $250 Rake back option which was the 2nd highest! Giving us a small losing day and now the option to lock in 35% rake back (which I have taken because a the ABI I’m playing I’ll never get a fish buffet spin without punting in cash or spins).

Conclusion So in conclusion a session that tested us and trial us a lot, I found I played well again and had a lot of close spots to go deep in big fields but never quite seem to hold the important spots. I’ll be interested to see the PT4 Data on Sunday night when I return. Also I am quite happy with the pre and post-game routine and how that allowed me to play for 7hrs with only slight amounts of tilt. I’m sure moving forward more results will come and the BR will grow on GG. Below are the goals for Sunday! See you then! Reminder of the Goals For Sunday Live MTTs Played: 8/50 (yearly Goal) Online MTTs played (NEW GOAL): 0/500 BB/100: improve my all in adjusted to 9.00 overall- (current 8.14 AJ/Actual = 7.10) xxx/9.00 Study Hours: 0/20hr (month) GG BR xxxx/ $1,800 (month) GG BR xxxx/ $4,000 (By August)

Watched one of your streams where u were banning someone and swearing.

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58944860#post58944860)

Watched one of your streams where u were banning someone and swearing.

Did ya enjoy? - it’s probably sally my mod who loves to be a troll 😂😂😂

Sunday Weekly Update As promised in the previous post I'll be updating my goals for the month so far down below. Ill split it into each segment with some discovery info etc. Before looking at the stats, I am keen to see how the BB/100 and all in adjusted BB/100 is for this week. Be good to see if its standard, or as bad as I think, or that I'm just super bias to the end result. Live MTTs Played: 8/50 (yearly Goal) Quick update on the Live MTTs played, I am up to 8 now after the mini main event run at the Matchroom. As previously mentioned, I've decided to skip the 1.5k main event to instead put that money towards mental game improvement. I still haven't decided on hypnotherapy or a Sport Psychologist but once I'll do, I'll let you all know. I still think this is the correct decision especially with so many other live events to come in the year. (Lex Live and the APL Millions). Study Hours: 8/20hr (month) 99% of these 8 hrs have been reading the All In On Mindset book. I have been looking to set aside at least 1hr a day mon-fri to read the book and complete the exercises when they come up. I did a 3-hour session (give or take may be slightly longer) before our Friday MTT session. I can honestly say I am starting to see some small steps forward. I'll be looking to re-read the book once it's completed to hopefully get the info to fully sink in before I move back to some more GTO/IN game study. Online MTTs played (NEW GOAL): 118/500 Week 1 of the month down. We currently sit at 118 mtts played. We played on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. With this current volume we would fall just short at 472 MTTs played. If it happens to go that way this is okay but was only a 3-day week for the month. So with more days available to play next week looking forward to reach this goal. If I can really apply myself and look passed the results, I am sure I can get in a 10-12hr session on one of my work from home days to increase volume.

BB/100: improve my all in adjusted to 9.00 overall- (current 8.14 AJ/Actual = 7.10) xxx/9.00 The one your all waiting for, the BB/100 data. Below is a screenshot of all the 33k hands we started with before the month data is loaded.

( With the overall stats we took a massive hit, went from the above to the below here

() Chip ev wise overall we a running about 500 BB under the ev which is slightly annoying

( we look just at this weeks data we ran below but didnt play well either. Some major outliers and errors?? We went looking into the data because I was Suprise to see such a drop in BB/100 over a very small 3 day sample, this really shouldn't be affecting this data that much as 33k hands compared to this small data is insufficient and really shouldn't see much of a change. Below is what I believe the major error/outlier data error is.

() Single Table Tournaments (which makes no sense as all mTTs are multi table) is showing a massive -368bb per 100????? - Which would by phsyically impossible as this worse than shoving any two. So there has to be an error with this data. Over the sample from 1st - 6th of April the data shows the below (all single table tournaments hands) = -500 / -208.77bb Again no mtt on gg starts this deep, so again for the few games I've pre Rego this data would be physically impossible.

() I know that there is an error with GG and PT4 talking to each other with certain mtts splitting the early stage as a Single MTT and then the rest under MTTs, It also isn't just from final tables as I have had a look at the data base. One comes from a zodiac event where I got it in pretty horridly for 40bb with 20mins of late Rego left as the CL (so more than 3x tables in play) and it comes up under here. So my conclusion is the Single Table data is very heavily skewing the results due to an issue between PT4 and GG hand downloads. So ill be discounting these moving forward. After figuring out how to filter out all Single Table Tournaments the below data shows this.

()

Overall BB/100 7.96 and the All in adjusted = 6.77BB/100 - So we took a small hit in the adjusted data and went down slightly in our overall data.

() Played horrid last week with the STT errors filter out, will say small sample size and when your not cashing tournaments your losing so this data makes sense. In the end I don't know if this data is correct Ill play around with PT4, I thought this data was very straight in plug and play after figuring out the errors with the flip data last time, but it seems not. If we cant get an accurate read of this over the next month Ill look to have someone help with the data or then not look to use it. It does highlight over the week we lost more than we should of but only by 2bb, so we were just under our all in ev, so yes we ran bad, but not by as much as I thought. GG BR $1155/ $1,800 (month) GG BR $1155/ $4,000 (By August) As from the above data you can tell we didn't have the best week and lost money over all, early days for the above two goals and one good MTT run can change all of this. Conclusion In the end study and live we are tracking well overall. The BB/100 data may need some work with PT4 proving to be handful with the GG hand History data. Overall We ran under ev in some spots but we also didn't play our best. Onto next week and beyond!

Monday Session Another one of those days, very annoying and alot of what could of been with some holds in the right spots. For someone who thinks they can win at this game, we are going on a bit of a stretch without stringing together a winning day now......... With that said lets recap the day with the blog Pre-game Really it was just a warm shower, no meditation or study! I am forced this week to grind a big Monday due to Gather Round. I'll be attending the AFL Thursday - Sunday which I didn't think about when I set the 500 MTT goal for this month. Also with MAFS Reunion on tonight which I am not missing had no choice but to hop on straight away. Also with meetings throughout the middle of the day I had to either Start now or only put in a small session in the afternoon. As you can probably tell this didnt lead to the best prep.

Also the warm shower over the cold shower was okay, I will think there is a major difference to mood and if I really want to be elite, I need to schedule in my sessions in advance including the pre-game! Did it affect the session lets find out? The Session Well again in the big spots it didn't hold for most part of the day. We started off really poorly and again my mental game went to shite and with me wanting to get off. I stuck it out though and was reward towards the middle/end of the day with 2x deep runs in the $10 Turbo and $10 Big.

() **Daily Big Deal done heads up at the CL and was awarded largest prize money, lost two blind all ins to not win the trophy (99 vs 54s on 9J2 - yes we lost that to lose the trophy lol). So it was nice to find a couple of runs however, every hyper and speed racer was annoying! You get towards the min cash lose AQ vs Q5s for a small one make the money lose the next flip and min cash. Unfortunately, unless you're having Multi deep runs or large amount of cashes you're not going to cut it on GG. Maybe its time to look to other sites with smaller player pools who knows?? I am thinking ACR and IGGY to throw into the mix to see how we go over time! - In the end I made a grand total of $8 dollars today- which over 6hrs and 48mtts really isnt enough. You can look at today two ways, a waste of a day or to be happy that it was a Sunday (Monday for me but Sunday on the site) and we didn't lose! - Tell me which way I should take that? I cant help at the end of the session calculating my ROI on GG which is 4.7% yet overall on my tracker on my phones its at 29% for all MTTs live and on other sites I sometimes grind on. At some point I'm going to have to start converting more to reach my BR goals and more just to improve confidence. Conclusion A Weird day, I am annoyed because A) I didn't do a pre-game and B) a lot of spots for deep runs didn't go our way (especially the $5 hyper at the end which stung) I am also annoyed that our win rate is so low on GG and I can't seem to make enough profit for the BR to grow to hit our goal for this month. However, I am also feeling confident that this ABI of $10 and lower I can crush enough over the long term to hit my goal if I grind the volume. I really think in reflection a lot of my mental gaps today came from no pregame warm up with a cold shower and meditation. It shouldn't matter to much, you should be able to wake up get a coffee and play if you're trying to be good or great. It seems I need it to be able to regulate my emotions better. Let me know at what point you go you cant win enough and just try something else (how much data or time) and at what point do I try other sites like ACR and IGGY? Thanks for reading yet again! sorry team at some point ill have a breakout day this month, I really think we can.

Iggy is soft as shiit. coin poker might also be soft to and small fields like Iggy. also try stock poker.

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58947855#post58947855)

Iggy is soft as shiit. coin poker might also be soft to and small fields like Iggy. also try stock poker.

Thanks mate, currently got iggy trying to re verify me as I haven't used that account in years. Should be good, Ill look into the others!

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58948899#post58948899)

Thanks mate, currently got iggy trying to re verify me as I haven't used that account in years. Should be good, Ill look into the others!

no worries mate. 200nl is soft. take ur 1000 roll and run it up. simple Rick won $5000 US at 1/2 and he said he isn't skilled and just is lucky. if your the best player very skilled and lucky u could have a 20k bankroll in no time playing. Rick won 5k in 1 month.

Tuesday Well a day of 1sts for me, I got ACR up and running today and decided on a session on ACR along with GG I have got the ball rolling on getting Iggy up and running as well And decided to for 1st time in ages play without streaming to see what affect that has on me. Pre-game Started this while at the office with some more reading of the all in on mindset book. After work I decided on a warm shower (not cold as my neck is killing me) and some meditation. I took my time to really make sure I was ready to grind and started 6 mins later than what I needed to. I felt refreshed clam and relaxed! I was motivated to get into the session and grind on a new site along with GG. The Session If we get the results side out the way it wasn't bad.

GG I played 20 Mtts lost on the day about $200 AUD over 20mtts- so this isn't great. The session notes on GG: I went on a massive run in the 5.50 stacker coming 79th out 5000 odd runners. Unfortunately got 77 in vs AK for 14bb pre and got out flopped. These are the spots that won't come in often (slang for shipping it) but all you need is one run to make up for any run bad at this ABI. Super soft field and Ill keep firing this mtt along with the rest. On top of that had a run in a $10 hyper and got it in for 20bb with AKs vs JTs (villain min raise btn I jam sb to look weak and he tank calls JTs) river J :(! Hold here with 40 people left I have the CL and great shot of another deep run! So, Result wise yeah shocking session in terms of BR (from 1155 to 1071) but in terms of how we played I think we played fine, and I put myself in spots for some really big deep runs and good scores. On ACR it was a slightly different story. Result wises meh- we made a grand total of $26 dollars over 18mtts that I played. So in terms of a massive profitable 1st session no. In terms of how we played and how we went in the player pools pretty good. I am focusing on ACR to play $16 mtts and lower. so a low stake ABI and try build up the 550ish usd I loaded in. In these fields I found 3x Final tables- A FT in the 16.50 1,5k gtd for 8th for $57. $3.30 PKO super hyper which i came 4th for $9.50 and lastly a 2nd in the 5.50 $500 gtd Daily for $52. We should of won as well as you can tell from the below screenshot. All in on the turn of the win and well........... From there we lost our CL and couldn't do to much to turn it around! would of been nice to ship it for $70 and our 1st ACR title. From what I saw lots of potential for some deep runs on the site. We may not win as much $$$ for shipping the MTTs but we should find a higher ITM and ROI% than GG.

() Conclusion and No stream?? Decided to try the no stream for this session, Why?? - 2x reasons. 1st I hadn't set up any OBS filters for scenes with ACR but more importantly 2nd I wanted to see how I would be emotionally if I was just in my bubble playing. I used to stream because I found it helped me get into the zone and play my best because I was discussing decisions. This was at a time where I hadn't studied as much. Tonight not streaming, I found myself with a touch more time to think about the spots I was in, found myself less tired because I wasn't talking all the time & Most importantly and as you probably can tell from the tone of this post- Found myself way less emotional. I think it comes down to a pride thing. Yes I was annoyed when I lost in some big spots (like the AK vs JTs hand for 40bb in the hyper) but I kinda was like well that's quite dumb and move along. I think when its on stream the want to go deep in everything takes over and makes these spots 1000 times worse. So in short I am going to continue with this approach for a while especially as I work on the mental game. If I can find myself being way less emotional Ill try streaming again if I feel like it. However I will say I actually really enjoyed being in my own room not on camera and just playing poker because I wanted to. Probably a good mental game trait this moving forward. So yeah results wise whatever another day of what could of been, but a day I am quite happy with. I had some runs and with some better variance and some more improvement on our game I believe the scores are right around the corner. Thanks for reading see you guys later on I have the AFL gather round all week so may find it hard to play!

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58948916#post58948916)

TuesdayWell a day of 1sts for me, I got ACR up and running today and decided on a session on ACR along with GG I have got the ball rolling on getting Iggy up and running as well And decided to for 1st time in ages play without streaming to see what affect that has on me. Pre-gameStarted this while at the office with some more reading of the all in on mindset book. After wor... See full post

collingwood will win the flag. u should put on $500 on the magpies to win gf. easy 5k.

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58948922#post58948922)

collingwood will win the flag. u should put on $500 on the magpies to win gf. easy 5k.

Why doesn’t it surprise me your a pies fan 😂😂😂😂 I will say I’m very impressed by them- will say hawks and Brisbane will go close with them this year

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58949657#post58949657)

Why doesn’t it surprise me your a pies fan 😂😂😂😂 I will say I’m very impressed by them- will say hawks and Brisbane will go close with them this year

I go for west coast. they will get the wooden spoon

Blog will be back after todays session, I have played a little bit over gather round and the last couple of days mainly cash! Today will be an MTT day and then Ill be back to blog later in the day

We are Back So this blog will be short as its a busy day for me today, however ill discuss what we played during and post gather round and yesterday’s session quickly. Gather Round It was fun to not grind 6-12hrs of mtts every day and nice to reset a bit with footy on every day. However I found myself playing cash in-between games on XPoker- I get 60% RB which is good however I also find that I win one session lose the next etc. which doesn’t help too much. In the end was down overall for the weekend about 5-7 buyins of 2/4. No other poker was played spent the time hanging with friends, eating food and a little bit of slapping on the pokies which I don’t normally do, The week until yesterday Because of the RB that I generated I calculated that I have made $500 AUD from rake back in 2k hands so far on XPoker. So I thought hey lets actually try a few sessions of this to try and increase my RB. Played 2 short less than 1hr session on Monday and Tuesday and ended up profitable each day. So on Wed decided on a Full 2,5hr 3 table (max you can play on the PC grind) and well...... - A horrid night where any flip in the sushi game we lost and any time we made a buy in we would flop a set and lose, Lost 850 AUD (about 2.5k MYR) which is over half my roll on XPoker. The rake back should be decent but again it raises questions. What the Hell do I play and grind. I also have to be realistic I have a potential mortgage in 1-2 years’ time, should I be investing this much time into a game that I am finding very hard to beat this year compared to previous years. Yet again it’s all mental jargon, So decision made, I know I;m not a cash player, all my results life time have come from MTTs, I have only really studied MTTs. While I will say cash is simple, nit it up make a hand get paid have instant profit and go again, MTTs for me is the heights of poker. So on Thursday I didn’t kid myself, back to what I know, what I like to grind and what I am probably most successful at even though the results don’t show it. I’ll still play cash occasionally and the Rake back probably warrants me at least one table on the side when I do play mtts. Something I’ll look into later down the track, Thursday So I made the decision to remove money of GG! Why?? - I have IGGY and ACR working and the player field compared to GG is softer. While I left a touch of money on GG I don’t expect to play much there the games are too hard to beat. Secondly both ACR and IGGY are compatible with PT4 so I can track and tag hands in real time! I was surprised in how soft IGGY is. The 27man $10 SITnGOs are so soft. Didn’t cash any but losing AK vs 64s and stuff like this just highlights we can crush these games. Had a monster stack in the 5.50 1.5k gtd with 80 left and top 39 paid ($400 up top) - was 9th in chips Raise AK utg- 2x flat- btn 3 bet to 9bb we obvs ship AK for 40bb and the BTN calls of with JJ covering us as he had a top 3 stack, Lose the flip.... Hold here I am in the top 3 and in that player field probably likely to go on a massive run. So some promising sigh! On ACR we also played great, the day itself (low sample size) we avg 59.9 BB/100 and 79.9 BB/100 All in adjusted. I cashed the $22 PKO and the $6.60 PKO. the 6.60 was annoying 11th in chips get into the money, Jam from a 10bb stack on the BTN with 66 we iso jam and the BB who has 90% of our stack wakes up AK, flops an A and we are short and bust for a min cash. If we hold there again monster stack and already ITM, would of had a serious shot for $250+ bounties. Lastly I cashed a $10 on demand turbo. Came 4th top 4th paid for $18- however got very unlucky here. Was chip leading the whole time, 5 left top 4 paid- a fishy reg opens utg 3rd in chips High ICM one person sitting out with less than 5bb and one other less than 5bb- He opens of 15bb we have 27 and obvs find a Jam with ATo from the SB with ICM. He snap calls A8s and finds a flush..... We then fold down till ITM and the opp who is sitting out is forced all in the BB while sitting out. This guy jams as he should any 2 - we find AJs and since the opp in the BB is sitting out his hand will be mucked we GTD a 3rd place finish for $36 and should be massively ahead of our OPP. WRONGGGGG- on ACR if you’re sitting out you don’t get auto mucked your hands turned up and you can double........- AJ vs T9 for all in blind opp and T7o for our CL Flop is 974 brick- our sitting out opp triples to .7bb and I bust in 4th. Bunch of BS if you ask me that you can sit out and not be auto mucked. Something to note for next time.. Conclusion In short- we are back, back to MTTs after a small dabble in cash. I was up for the month now down for the month again and look destined to have another losing month. However Iggy and ACR are soft at my abi of $15- ($22 to $2 mtts). I am hopefully it will turn at some point. Lastly looking into more study options and thinking about buying the Super High Roller DTO packages. If you have used it let me know!. Wasnt short this one was it haha!

Tuesday Session Back to grind after 4 days off over easter! Was good to have a few days off and felt refresh and raring to go for today's session! Pre game Finish the all in on mindset book at work, had about 15 pages to go! Cant recommend it enough and will be looking to re-read the book Also ordered a modern theory book called = Modern Poker Theory- Its by Michael A (cant remember the last name), It was recommended to me and ill be looking to add this to the study did some pre game warm up- A warm shower and some breathing exercises before getting into the action The Session Another small losing session however welcome to MTT poker this will happen often. On ACR we did win $86 dollars on the day but it was what could of been. 3x final tables and no win...... It will come one day on ACR. Ft the $16,50 Super Bounty FT paid only- came 2nd for $101 however had AJ vs A4o heads up all in to get back the chip lead and villian found a 4..... sigh FT the $6.30 6max PKO hyper, 2nd for $32 - was an alright showing but got whittled down heads up and lost. FT the $6 on demand 6max - 2nd for $12 - small mtt doesn't even really count, had the CL number of times, Q4 vs 33 on Q34 flop in a limp pot before AJ into AQ for the rest. So putting myself in the spots on ACR- in a short sample we have a pretty good BB/100 so the move away from GG is justified but yet to find a big profitable session. Once I feel more confident in my play with this downswing ill start to include the 33s and 55s that I am rolled for and add them into the ACR mix.

() BB/100 and all in adjusted on ACR (only down due to some $50spin n gos i fired on day one to test them out)! Iggy was similar- was yet to cash and mtt in two small sessions but today was the day, I min cashed the $25 Niner MTT for $44 scrapped in with 2bb!! and then finsihed 12 for $23 in the $15 KO mtt ($5 per KO)- knocked out 2 people as well, Super soft fields and highly recommend, lost a fun pot where we squeeze vs limps with AhJd and on A4Q Q 7 hearts on the river our OPP somehow limp called of 20bb with T3 of hearts.... so we can crush these fields long term. Again once I have confidence back will look to increase the ABI slowly on the site. Also the SNGs are quite soft and quite fun to play as well on IGGY. Unfortunately down over 3 figures on Iggy today as we bricked basically everything else bar the above. Below is the IGGY graph (please note like ACR super small sample size so will come down over time).

() Conclusion Mentally had a great day, I also played pretty well without results. 3x FTs so I should be grateful for the runs I had. I'm sure in the future it will turn and we can convert more of these spots especially on IGGY! The Short term stats show its been a great decision to move away from GG to battle the weaker fields however its also means there is less selection to play hints why the ABI might need to come up to create more volume (I am rolled for this anyhow but while confidence is low looking to keep the ABI down). So promising signs again! look forward to seeing you all Thursday!

()

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58963078#post58963078)

Post to remind yourself? Your Blog is wild- I should troll back and post it in your blog XD - Hope your well lad

Friday and Saturday grind I was able to grind both Friday morning being ANZAC day and Saturday morning, many thanks to the GF who stayed over and actually let me play and sweat the session! I’ll recap both and see how we went. I’ll also give a short review on the Modern Poker Theory book I’m currently reading, have read 100 pages in 2.5 days! Pre Game & Study Pre-game on Friday was okay, was up relaxing with the GF, and decided to do some study. So I have DTO trainer for a month- haven’t used is as much as a like and didn’t use it Friday or Saturday. What I am also doing is tagging any hand on PT4 that I was all in pre with to decide if the decision was correct or not. Couple of leaks found of 10-15bb (jamming a touch to wide) and a couple of spots which I thought was wrong and was correct in re jamming (3bet sb vs btn or co of 30bb and less). No mediation, however I really need to get back on that train. On Saturday not as much study was done but did mentally do some breathing before playing. Friday Session Friday I played on ACR and IGGY, Played pretty well on both but nothing major to report. Went on a run in the $25 monster stack on Iggy busting in approx. 60th for more than min cash. Also had a stack in the $15 major but made and mistake before losing a flip 20 off the money. ACR was similar a couple of small cashes but losing days. Mentally felt quite happy and content with the day even though it was a slight losing day. Saturday Session Well what a day, let’s start with the bad shall we! - I signed up for Coin poker- sent money and well it didn’t come through!- I also sent money to IGGY for a reload and that didn’t come through I was on ACR and found myself 2x tabling with 2x live chats going with support. In the end Coin base blocked both transactions and called me to confirm. In the end no danger but still was annoying and titling. Coin Poker- was a fun experience, has the 1st deposit bonus going, however, only played 3x mtts, and can’t seem to find if you can change your preferred seat so it took some getting used too. $50 freeze out MLR- busted pretty quick $10 PKO 1x bounty busted 15 off the money. $50 PKO- MLR doubled up- got to within 7 of the money and have 14bb UTG jams 11bb in the sb wake up QQ snap it off- up vs AQ flop TT,,,,,,,,,,A sigh.......... - hold here and we would of had a $50 bounty so money back and would of been 6/12 with top 7 itm... Seemed pretty soft but small volume interesting site. IGGY- Not much to report- 4x mtts cashed the $15 mini high roller again for $26 didnt cash the other 3 60 people left in the $15 im AVG stack with 20bb- in the SBB with KK- Late pos opens of 13bb- jam looks weaker so we re jam-he just has the lazy AA and we a crippled - we bust not long after Another deepish run on the site which we run into the coconuts. If we can have some variance in not finding these coolers a massive deep run or two is coming on this site! ACR- WELLL HELLO EVERYONE WE HAD A DEEP RUN FINALLY!!!! $22 PKO 7.5k gtd- and well we did all we could to secure the below (626 total including KO).

() We played very well, out of our skin in fact! We however did get a little lucky to win a 3 way flip of 6bb with 25 left (33 vs KQ and KQ). Unfortunately got a little unlucky to bust in 3rd. If we hold in the below photo 3 handed we are all pretty even with $770+ PKO up top.

() A profitable Saturday by over 600 AUD- could have been way better with some variance too! A Big day is coming I can feel it! Conclusion Played very well all week and the move away from GG was deffs worth it! I’m up for the month just! What a turn of events. More noticeably just feel mentally pretty calm at the current moment, have been finding myself dealing with the losses and swings this month a lot better and finding My head to be a lot clearer. BOOK REVIEW: The Modern Poker Theory by Michael Acevedo is super dense so far and a lot of math that is way over my head- however from all reports the pre flop and flop section is fantastic so will crank that shortly. Also can’t recommend The Poker Mindset book enough! It's Flipping great- have to re-read that a few times but finding it has already helped! Hopefully better days to come! A positive step forward- See you all on the flip side!

Sunday Session Saturday for those around Europe etc but a Sunday for us in AUS, unfortunately as most Sundays go a bigish losing day today- however lets break it down and see how we went. Pre Game So not much of a pre-game, got to bed super late (post 1:30am) due to watching the EPL last night. Sweating hard in a few paid H2H leagues and my overall Rank is at 32k. I have never finished inside the top 50k with 3x top 100k finishes the last few years. So it was worth staying up seeing how the free hit chip went. (was meh for those wondering had tripper but transferred out SA and Sessenong for Leno and Robinson to be safe) What this meant is that by the time I fell asleep and woke up at 7:30am to grind I was pretty wrecked with a low volume of sleep. I neglected the traditional shower and meditation pre game for a quick breathing session , a slight little bit of PT4 research and then getting into the session. In the future we have to be on top of the pre game to maintain high level of performance. Session Well a very rough day after a fantastic day yesterday I cashed one tournament over all. On Coin Poker only played 3x MTTs and well didn't get a run going in any of them..... On ACR I bricked every MTT however ran extremely horrid in a lot of spots (graph below will highlight this). Most notable $22 5k 1x Rebuy- AA vs TT 15 off the money guy finds an T for 15bb. Also in the Broski - raise 55 get flatted by btn and SB- 345 flop- lead, get shoved on by a 20bb stack he has 88 turn and river club club to give him a flush. This isn't me complaining btw just explaining why the below graph is so big between the BB/100 and the Adjusted per 100. I also had about 10min of rage which wasn't good that caused me to bust 2x mtts as well. - Not a great day on ACR (graph below).

() On Iggy- slightly the same but different. for the 3rd time in 4 sessions cashed the $15 Low roller in 70th for more than a min cash. However the graph below will say we played horrid but it was just some sick coolers on Iggy today. In a $25 2 hands in of 50bb- defend pocket 44s mutli way, flop is 482 - x x bet from raiser - we x/r - he calls, turn is an A, we bet he calls, river is a Q, x to induce a jam for SPR of 1 he jams we snap - has had 88. Also had the good old KK into AA again on Iggy- and had JJ vs TT approaching the money in the $15 and the guy found a T- So a day where the results say i Played woeful but was coolered in every big pot today on iggy.

() Ill also note 2 things, while its good to see the BB/100 and adjusted to get a gauge on how you played and run, there is bugger all volume here. 269 hands on IGGY is nothing to see truly how bad or good it was and same with ACR. However both databases are growing and ill make an assessment on both when i get to 10k hands. [Conclusion As always not nice to have a losing day after a good winning day. Not nice to have a losing day on ACR when you played pretty well and got quiet unlucky. Lastly not nice to get coolered a ton on IGGY when approaching money bubbles. What I will say is the mental game------------- Man it feels so different, I did have to turn the stream off today to concentrate more (moving further away from wanting to stream and play) - but today I felt indifferent for the 1st time. I didn't care if I held or not etc (not because of lack of passion) because honestly does it matter. Tomorrow if I run better I win, if i don't i lose, what I can control is how I play and the study I do outside of the session. So to conclude a okay day, played great, no result, the best part is..... I have 50 odd hands to review in PT4 right now and I may even do some DTO work. Feel motivated to study more so mentally we are growing gang! See you next time!

Hey team, Update from todays session is going to be short. I am tired, didnt sleep the best last night worked all day and grinded for the last 5hrs. In short another losing day which means another likely losing month, making it 3 on the spin. ($400 AUD down). Today we lost mainly due to my own lack of discipline to not call the session and the want to have a winning month. After it was looking likely I was going to have a winning yesterday the poker gods didnt like us and well we ran like my mum who is overweight and has a long term ankle issue. SO today when all the MTTs turned into more of the same, I punted off playing some cash on IGGy (137 AUD). I did play some PLO on coin poker and made 140 aud but still would rather both of these didnt happen. I only did both because I had one table left on IGGY for the $15 5 dollar KO 1k gtd but felt compelled to play cash after another losing month. Long story short, if your not feeling your best your tired hungry and annoyed with variance just end the session, I should of just one tabled while doing other things instead of trying my hardest. In terms of spots today. 1st final table on coinpoker in the $10 PKO i was CL 1/6 top 5 in the money and came 5th.... 99 vs AK for a huge stack vs the 2nd in chips on the bubble. 2nd in chips opens of 25bb I have 35bb and two other stacks are below 10bb, I obvs 3bet jam and he calls AK which is fair enough, river A......... standard for 2025. On IGGY i did cash the $15 but in the money in the same orbit lost AK vs 88 and AK vs 66 had 30bb post bubble and then 0bb after the next orbit.

() had the above spot top of my buy in range on coin poker (i am throwing in the $50s on there to try and build a roll with the 1st deposit bonus they have on). I am 5/8 top 5 ITM, 6 and 7th has the same stacks as me. BTN 3rd in chips 2x, SB CL 7bb- We obvs have a 4bet jam hand as the SB CL should be so wide. He just has the KK.... Last hand ill post that sums up the day in the $25 PKO on IGGY I just crippled the BB who has .5bb and we wake up AA - we squeeze to 5bb pre flop vs UTG limp BTN is the CL in the MTT and well this is the run out, I bet Flop turn and jam river (which could be a mistake tbh as what do we really beat) but anyhow like the whole of 2025 I just have the top of my range and get done....

() We also lost AA vs KK and another Set over Set today.. Lots of moaning but im tired annoyed and I just want to see some bloody light at the end of the tunnel. What I will say is up until the last 10-15mins of the session I was mentally good. So there is a positive in that. The other Positive is over the small sample size my BB/100 on ACR and IGGY is good. Just no major reward especially on IGGY. Coin poker doesn't have a tracker unless you buy a hand grabber, I may do it if I find a BR on the site. Wordy annoying and a bit tilty this one, but it is a mental game and variance journey/blog. Not our best day ever but we will re gather and go again.

Also side note- I think most of my punts come after 10:30Pm, I think ill shorten my regging to 8:30pm and earlier unless i am MLR a MTT while deep in a few more. (like the IGGY MLR are very profitable). I think just calling a session earlier can avoid the above tilt issue of being stuck and trying to win some buyins back while the table count is low. Let me know if you think this is a good idea. I heard somewhere if you treat poker like a business and no matter what you stop your session at a certain time like a bank closes for the day it's a good way to approach it. I think building a schedule is something I should look into to help this, again let me know your thoughts

Tuesday Last session of the month for me today. Put in a session while I worked from home. Unfortunately it wasnt a good day again and we are further into the hole. On Saturday we were profitable $106 bucks for the month and we sit here come Tuesday $1k down for the month.... Lets recap the monthly results - This blog will be graph heavy! so Sit back and enjoy! Todays breakdown before getting into the graph and the monthly breakdowns from PT4. Ill quickly recap todays session. On ACR I had two major spots. in the $16.50 Broski day 1A - Had AK vs A9 and A2 for piles- 22bb past late rego (2x ss) utg jams 10bb- a fish off 30 bb Re jams A2s MP- We obvs snap AK turn 2.... In the $22 PKO Hyper 20 off the money- Raise KK MP- Reg 3bets of 30bb to 5bb AQs- Obvs when we raise KK of 35bb and get 3bet on we just most of the time jam. Also he had 2x bounty so we want the money going in. Anyhow Flop AQx. So the run bad has continued. CoinPoker I did final table the $10 flash for 7th for $23. Was in of a free ticket so that was nice. IGGY well another min cash in $5 mini roller- but outside of that got wasted on iggy. The below graph sums up the day pretty well- pretty funny to see how bad we ran today and got justification from it. I probably shouldn't look at these to much but I enjoy seeing the pain.

() The Month of April So below is going to be graphs from the 3 sites we have played on for the month (CoinPoker Iggy and ACR). We will look at the BB/100 and The BB/100 Adjusted scores. We will do this for an overall but also filter from low stakes $15 and less and for MTTs $15 + In terms of the BB/100 readings - traditionally a player with the below scores fit into this category. 0BB or Less - Losing player 1-2BB/100 = Breakeven player 3-4 BB/100 = Solid win rate if you can sustain it for long periods of a strong sample size. 5-9BB/100 = High win rate and if sustaining over a long period is a key to success. 10+BB/100 = Crushing the game. This comes from a couple of sources - 1st AI generated and B) there is a Run it once post from Stephen Chidwick which outlines this. Ill also say before getting into the below. Its great to achieve the above ranges if you fall into it but also ROI is super important to track as well. COINPOKER

() So the above is for CoinPoker- We cant track buy ins or the actual MTT amount won etc as we dont have a PT4 hand grabber. However if you msg support they will send you the hand histories for a period and you can import them into PT4 to get your BB/100 and Adjusted. my ABI in the small amount of games played is $27 USD which is too high for my ability. I will note I did just want to try a few $50s to see what the fields are like (they are soft). As you can see we lost at -8.13BB per 100 and we should of won at +4.53BB per 100 once adjusted. - So in the small sample we have run -ev, Its to small of a sample to judge so we will look into coinpoker at a future date. I will say the small stakes seem super soft and profitable. Iggy.

() This month on IGGY we have put in an okay amount of volume. Our BB/100 6.69 and our adjusted is BB/100 is 7.10 - Thus meaning we have run slightly under EV. - The BB/100 win rate that we have should = to us having a winning month however as you can see we are down $448 with a -ROI on IGGY. If we filter from MTTs under $15 dollars (USD) - you get the below graph.

() You have a 21.24BB/100 win rate and our all in adjusted is 18.88BB/100 - so we are crushing the small stakes on IGGY, again -$$ROI though due to a lot of the big spots not going our way. IF you look at the above $15 on IGGY you get this graph.

() We are running at -44.66 BB/100 and our all in adjusted is at -34.48 BB per 100. SO, we are running under ev by 10bb in the larger buy ins. Also in the larger buy ins we are a massive losing player for this month. However, there is a lot of Max Late rego in this data which I do to limit bullets at the top of my buy in range. Lastly there is only 484 hands in this data so the sample is quite small. In conclusion on IGGY we can take away a few things from the graph. We are down nearly $1k AUD on the site this month (basically our loss for this month- also due to a small amount of cash punt off). We have a great winning BB/100 rate in the smaller stakes games on IGGY. At the top of our Buy in range we have a small sample size but we are a losing player. So for next month- we should focus on $15(USD) and less MTTs on IGGY and try and build a solid win rate with a decent ROI before moving back up. If we do play at the top of our buy in range ($25usd mtts roughly) we should look to early reg instead of MLR to increase the likelihood of positive EV for BB/100 ACR

() On ACR as you can see from the above graph we have a +BB/100 at 17.57 overall. All in Adjusted is 7.03 BB/100 this is really solid for the month and I would love to sustain this moving forward. We are also + for the month on ACR +514 AUD Below is the graph for $11 mtt and less on ACR (i dropped it compare to IGGY as IGGY doesn't let you filter by buy in and includes the $15 in the low stakes category)

() As you can see, we are crushing at this lower stake in BB per 100- we are currently at 20.91 BB/100 however at 12.98BB/100 once adjusted. This is still a fantastic achievement over this sample however please note the -NET C won which is a -42% ROI. What this equal out to is variance and number of games played. If we fired constantly at this stake over a very large sample, the BB/100 would indicate a likelihood of a + ROI (big one) at this stake. At the top of my buy in range on ACR $11- $25 the below graph looks a little different.

() We overall had a great month at 9.55bb/100 however should of ran at -7.92 BB/100. This means that yes we won overall at this stake but we got more than a little lucky here this month. I will say this is all down to one MTT which we came 3rd in the other day ($22 PKO) - but still shows that some work and more volume is needed to beat the higher stakes on ACR long term. It is nice to have a + ROI though on ACR and look forward to hopefully increasing this over time next month and beyond. Conclusion- What does the above all mean Well the key take aways are from the above date:

• our ROI is - because we are down for the month in results (money won from MTTs).
• If we look at the key Metrics overall though on all 3 sites the data shows that we can be a: Winning player on ACR at a very solid rate at our current ABI $16.28 Winning Player on Iggy at a moderate rate at our current ABI $15.73 and a decent winning player on CoinPoker at our current ABI $27 (approx manually worked out and super small sample).
• The top of these above ABI ranges though is where our BB/100 are the worst overall once adjusted. This means the below things: We have been lucky on ACR to be profitable at a +ROI 29% at the top of the buy in range and this is due to 1 score. Overall on all sites once adjusted we should be losing more often at the top of these ranges. this means we have to increase study to improve to get better to beat the top of our buy in ranges Also means over the next few months we should look to move towards less games played at the $20-$25 buy in ranges to increase our win rate according to BB/100 -Lastly at our lower ABI Ranges $15 and less on IGGY and $11 and less on ACR: We have some really fantastic BB/100 data that indicates over the long term some really solid win rates. We are probably a little unlucky we haven't converted as many lower buy in spots into solid ROI on MTTs If we put in more volume then we currently do at this lower buy in stake we could combat the variance and have solid long term success in BB/100 and ROI. Study is still important to consistently win. So this all means that we should look to lower our ABI slightly across all the sites and increase our volume at the lower stakes. This should = out to a more successful month in ROI as the data suggests we are a winning player at the lower stakes. Only problem is due to working full time and only having limited time to play we have to also fire the top of the buy in range for our volume over a smaller sample size then a full time reg. As such our overall ROI and results will be heavily skewed by A) not enough volume if we don't close out the big lower stakes spots and B) like on coinpoker and iggy a poor ROI overall because the top of the buy in range hasn't gone to plan. Action for next month is to A) Increase the study I am doing which I have been which is great B) look to build a schedule that allows for more lower stakes play and reduce all my ABIs to below $15 for the next month C) track how the BB/100 is looking with a slightly lower ABI and use that as an indicator to see long term success. Lots to be positive about this month however a losing ROI month none the less. Hope you enjoyed the long write up. Ill leave you with both my ACR and IGGY overview of results for the month so you can see amount of MTTs ITM% and ROI%.

() ACR

() IGGY (as you can see from the above ITM% is high on both which is great but we are just not converting those spots! a great MTT reg would like a 15% ITM money rate and on both sites I'm over 20%) Lots of indicators to better months ahead! can't win them all, will go again next month and see how I go!

The 1st Session of the new month its the 1/5/25 - i had a very easy day at work so today I had no excuse to grind my butt off after the GF left for work. I had the above plan to lower the ABI on Iggy and CoinPoker and said to myself that this month could be the turn around if I worked hard. Now the month is long and we can end up with a losing month, However today was our day! There is alot to unpack but it is all worth it! Pre Game Post the GF leaving I spent the 1st half hour actually studying before my session. I have been tagging every all in spot pre flop on PT4- I have the RYE masterclass so i have the expert viewer. What I am doing is cross referencing these spots I'm tagging with the spots on RYE. I am just trying to drill down all the all-in spots I face to make them better. This should really improve BB/100 - After going through 50 hands I had tagged on ACR we said okay its time to load the session and boy what a session. Todays Results So the long short of it is - we played 14hrs of poker today- split by a half hour nap a warm shower and some more reviewing of tagged hands for half hour before restarting. over these 14hrs i made 4 or 5 final tables and we profited 1.3k AUD on the day......... - This is by far my best day playing online poker in terms of multiple final tables and big spots. I have had much larger scores online and live but today well its going down as one of my Fav days of playing poker. ACR It didnt look like it was going to be a great day then of a sudden we found ourselves deep in the $21 PKO Hyper. we built a stack and dominated the final table to have a huge chip lead with $344 + PKO up top. Hunting my 1st ACR trophy I though this would be it:

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() as you can tell from the above 3 photos in the space of 2mins I went from massive Chip lead to 3rd place finisher. Reg opens 2,5x btn we 3bet jam QQ to balance our weaker 3bet jam hands because the SB is 3/3 (ICM gotta love it). And well no good!- Then 2nd of 3 fish has $110 bounty- so important to win- sb jam we snap K7 and well 4 outs on the turn drill us dead! Still great for the spot but the days not done on ACR. We load back up for the evening session and too our disappointment we find its going down for Maintenace soon! - oh well a few mtts before Maintenace should be good volume along with the other nightly schedule.

() Final tabled the $16 downtime turbo- came in 4/9 so to finish 8th was disapointing- but the MTT overlayed as not many people were on the site so it was a juicy score none the less.

() Then finally with the last MTT on ACR before maintance it happened! the $10 lighting- basically a speed Racer for the GG regs!- We dominated got a stack and on the FT we went to town with our big stack- we held in basically every spot and finally after a month of trying WE ARE A MTT WINNER ON ACR! - huge heads up for bounties too being the PKO daddy! A Very juicy score for the day! IGGY Well on IGGY i only played 2x mtts. In the morning session with lack of table room I only fired 1x mtt, in the evening session PT4 wasn't picking up any tables. SO decided okay for the evening ill focus on CoinPoker. Lucky the MTT we ran deep in was this morning so all the hands were tracked

() We final tabled the $15 PKO 2,5k gtd and came 4th for 218 + PKO!! - Our 1st ft on iggy and the 1st day we decided to drop the ABI on there. We were 4/9 on the ft but lost a big pot early to be 8/9 so to ladder into 4th was great! What I will say is we managed to get to 3/4 then had a fun spot to get into 2nd and a bounty. 4th in chips is in the sb folds to him and he jams 6bb and we have 10bb - we have A8o thinking great win this we are really on! he has TT and its GG - we jam 4bb with Q7o utg and bust! CoinPoker Finally got to put in a bit more volume on coinpoker with the issues i was having with PT4 and the ACR maintance and well the Fts didnt stop. Did we find our 1st coinpoker win lets find out.

() A small one but they count- PLO $5 mtt MLR spin up a stack and came 4th for $17 But the big one for us on coinpoker with our last mtt of the day was $10 deepstack. We had a free ticket to this mtt so we were in for free!

() We turned the ticket into a 2nd place finish for $136 - we found oursevles 12/13 with ITM 11 - we played a great ICM bubble and got into 3rd. On the FT again with ICM managed to ladder and was 4/4 - again found some jams and got to 3/3 - then a sick flush vs flush hand happened and i got heads up vs a stack that had 65bb vs my 9bb. - We havent won on coinpoker and I really wanted this but knew it was gonna be tough. I found a few doubles but couldn't get the CL and overall I'm very happy with 2nd! Conclusion So outside of the result of a number of FTs and actually find a win why was today one of my Fav days. Its because we treated it how the best poker player in the world would of treated it. Woke up had time with their partner, study 1st before getting into the session. Few hours off to recovery and study again before getting back to it. The fact I could grind 14hrs and play at a high level all day and study just shows you can really do it if you try! So, a great day for me to remember when the times get tough again! Onto the next one speak with you all later!

Sunday session Saturday for the euro an American players but the Sunday morning here in AUS. Let’s recap what was a longish grind after a 5:30am start. Pre game Spent 20mins doing some hand reviews with PT4, made a coffee and was ready to grind with the earlier start time. I feel that as long as I make the decision that I want to play and do some form of pre-game (study or shower or mediation or a combination), I generally do okay. Biggest leak for myself is waking up and hoping straight into the grind or coming home from work and hoping straight into the grind. Long story short, pre-game is important and do something even if it’s small just to get the brain going! Session breakdown Look a mixed session with mixed feelings, I am profitable for the day by $139 Aud which is great, but a day of what could have been. Also a day where I don’t think I played my exact best and should of called the session slightly earlier than I did. ACR- Not much to write about here, played a number of MTTs, Didn't cash a single one! I had a couple of spots with some stacks in the PKO and the $10 lighting trying to go back to back. Punted the lighting, top 5 paid in 3rd with 8bb- SB and BB both have 10bb and I decided to be a fish with ICM...... - ( MP T9s I know that sb and bb cant call as we all have similar stack and BTN has 1bb and a bounty- jam T9s- SB has KK and GG we bubble). Coin Poker A profitable day on Coin Poker with the limited MTTs I play on there each session. Due to PT4 working in game with ACR and Iggy I focus most of my action there then on Coin. If I had to choose IGGY then Coin then ACR just due to how soft IGGY and Coin is. In the $25 PKO early on came 11th for $50 inc bounties. Had a stack in this one and lost a couple of flips approaching the bubble. Would of been great MTT to ft. which looked likely with 15 left. and then the below in our other ITM tourney on coin poker.

() Played a decent MTT, tried to punish the bubble but had a couple of fish who didn’t understand ICM re jam KJo etc. for 10-15bb when there is less than 5bb stacks out there. Anyhow managed to ladder into 2nd. Made a good fold 3handed, had 88 on the btn of 15bb open 2x, sb jams for 11bb - bb re jams for 32bb we fold. AQo vs JJ, JJ hold and we ladder. Unfortunately for the 2nd session in a row unable to win the tourney on coin poker. Iggy Well we had a spot on iggy today, outside of this spot i didn’t cash another mtt, I soft bubble the $15 low roller, and my AA got cracked by KQ for 20bb in the $10 crazy 8s So the spot- the $9 2k gtd (well smashed) Mystery bounty.

()

() Got chips early, lost a couple of spots before winning them back, got to the bounty stage in 3rd, KO 4 opps quickly and wasn’t able to pull the $300 big bounty but pulled a $50. Got the ft. 3/9 - so to finish 4th is a tad annoying. More annoying is the way we finished 4th. The guy with8.64bb came back from .7bb so that’s annoying. Then JJ in the BB 2nd in chips open we Jam, A3o never a call with ICM, but we love the fact he calls. Just standard for this year In our biggest spot of the day with $524 usd for 1st we get 3 outted. I also then decided after busting this spot playing 5hrs on only 4-5hrs sleep to fire 2x more mtts on ACR and 1x $25 on coinpoker. This is a massive leak, if you mentally start saying your getting off after this spot and then you become annoyed at how you bust. Don't be a Hero just get off. We tired to be a Hero and busted all 3 of these in MTTs in quick succession with 1x being a massive punt.... Conclusion Long story short I am happy we are positive, but I think we missed played a few spots in the mystery and on ACR. With some better play from myself and some variance it could have been another big winning day which at our stake and volume would of gone a long way to finally having a winning month. Back to studying and an afternoon off before we go back to our normal nightly (morning for the euro an American players) schedule. catch you next time!

you think online mtts are beatable?

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58974766#post58974766)

you think online mtts are beatable?

Yes they are look at people like Patrick Lenoard etc! - they are all crushing the game - low stakes is beatable just takes a long time and hard work!

Coin Poker Upcoming Series Thought I would write some quick goals/plans for the upcoming series on coin poker- I would do the same with ACR but I cant find the schedule for this anywhere. Update on coin poker stats. Unfortantely not a tracked site- but ill put some stats down here for coin poker - this is basically of all time which includes a touch of last month which I am okay with inculding here.

() So atm run under EV but over the 1st 1700 hands playing quite well on a soft site. because PT4 is not supported unless you pay for a converter I am unable to track ROI and ITM % via PT4- I might manually set something up in excel spread sheets to track this in my own time in Terms of the ROI goal to lower it from $27 to $15 approx- I have achieved this over the small sample size - atm oer 33 MTTs ive bought in for $370 dollars / by 33 mtts = $11.21 abi - Few free $10 tickets has helped lower this. plans for the series I work full time so I cant go crazy however I have a few plans to play a few events. Ill be booking a day off to play the $5 and $50 main events! - Hopefully a few sattys to the $500 as well On my WFH days ill try wake up at before 4am to pre game and play the 4:30am and 6:30 am MTTs. On the 18th and 25th which is a sat into Sunday here in Aus. Ill try play the full schedule with $25 and lower buying straight into and sattys for the $50 and $100s. Hopefully it allows me to put in extra volume on the site. During this Time I may cut down the IGGY volume to play in Coin Poker and ACR with both series on!

Monday Tuesday Wed update! Okay Team 3x days and session update, had a few late night finishes which have left me pretty tired to do a write up blog. As we current start typing this im 1/10 in the iggy $5.50 1k gtd mirco. So trying to multi task as a punish some med stacks with icm. Study So keep it quite short- over the past few days I have been reviewing hands with PT4, mainly post flop all in hands but some defending and some 3bet or flatting spots. Also have been reading the Modern Poker Theory and up to MTT section of the book. It is insanely in depth and I cant wait to continue it. Lastly I have made a start on the mindset book I previously read. Made it through 1.5 chapters already so a solid start to my 2nd time reading the book. Session Recaps So in short I played Monday Night, Tuesday during the day while wfh and I am currently finishing my Wed night session. Ill be as brief as possible with the update and will look to move back to a daily update. Monday So it looked likely this would be our 1st losing session of the month as we bricked every mtt on coinpoker & we ended up down on ACR after final tabling the $11 PKO- had a nice spot there 3/9 but finished 9th after this sick run out 1st hand of the ft

() win this we are in a massive spot, However the day wasnt over and our attention turned to Iggy. We went on a massive run in the $15 1.2k gtd $5 per ko.

() Nice to finish the day with a little bit of heat and to have a postive day just! Tuesday We played a morning session, usually this means more buy ins and more variance as the fields are bigger. This also means better MTTs and a chance to be have a big winning day like the sunday not long ago. Overall we lost on the day in terms of money made. On Coinpoker we came 3rd in the $10 hyper for $71 but didnt cash anything else. We bricked every MTT on iggy. On ACR however we techincally profitable for the day but not in the BR but in terms of what we won. See below

() So we have a $109 ticket which ill be using for the ACR super series coming up. Ill use this either on a sunday session or one of my overnight saturday sessions. Wed So on ACR woeful, I played 1.5hrs lost at 20bb per 100 and called it a night there because well it was woeful! over on coinpoker we had a decent night, played a few mtts and found 2x cashes for 2x final tables and 2x 2nd places as you can see below! - Im still yet to win on coinpoker but it will come! Again though in our 2x $25 buy ins no heat and no luck with the flips. I have created an excel spreadsheet for coin poker which i am tracking ITM % ROI % and ABI. (SIMILAR TO SHARKSCOPE).

()

() An finally on IGGY played only a few mtts didnt cash much until this $5 1k gtd micro were i currently sit 2/4 atm. I grabbed the chip lead early on. within the 1st 30mins of play I flopped 3x sets and got paid. From there we basically sun runned till ITM and then lost a few all ins with 20 or so left to go. we steadied the ship and found heat on the FT bubble as we abused the middling stacks. On the FT its self a guy playing 74vp 57pr and 35% 3bet ran rampant knocking people out with 95o etc making it a fun ft. We came into 3handed with a slight chip lead but lost it after flopping the nut flush draw vs our friend and he made middle pair and we weren;t able to get there after playing x raise and he decided to get it in (AQs on T93 two clubs vs K9o no club). Then out of no where the two other big stacks got it in pre for 30bb- Raise from our friend and the chip leader jams KQs - our friend has TT and well the KQs gets there to lock up 2nd. In the end our opp had over 100bb and we had 23 the blinds went up and vs an open jam we called of QJs up vs A4o and we dont find the heat.

() Grateful for the run and another score on IGGY but would be nice to close out one of these spots to say we shipped an mtt. Its coming though gang I really believe it is!. Conclusion A pretty good few days where im profitable! - Lots of Fts with no wins. The move away from GG and to keep an ABI of $15 approx on all sites seems to really be helping. Hopefully some more runs to follow before we up the ABI slighty with the ACR and CoinPoker series' that are coming up!

good **** bro. do u play lag or tag?

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58978006#post58978006)

good **** bro. do u play lag or tag?

Depends on the situation with ICM and against what opp etc.

Thursday Session So here we are another day and a morning one of that, more chance of a losing day due to the amount of buy ins but a bigger chance to have a nice score or two! Let’s find out how we went. Pre- Game Started with some hand reviews of the deep run the other night we had tagged on iggy. Went through all hands before a quick coffee and into the grind at 7:30am The Session Coin Poker was rubbish today- didn’t cash any mtts and called it early - was losing when we had flips losing when we were ahead by miles etc. As such not much to write about. ACR- Well over the last few days we have been hit hard on ACR. I need to stop looking at my shark scope on ACR as I keep seeing my Avg ROI at -2% because of the low volume and it affects me mentally. Shark scope won’t be useful for my stats until 1000 games +. Also PT4 tracks most of what I veiw anyway apart from AVG ROI (it is handy to see if your beating the games enough on avg). I will say actual just ROI % is king and for us on ACR its still quite positive but steadily decreasing. In terms of the session well early on we got wrecked and look like we were going to be in the hole big time. We lost the big flips and when we had our opps crushed. PT4 says we won at -39bb today and should of run at -15bb so quite a bad variance day. Allot of early rego bust situations. But we found a run in the 16.50 6k gtd with 1.6k for 1st. unfortunately we finished 13th for $60 getting JJ into QQ for 14bb pre..... We also had a run in the 6.60 3k PKO finishing in the top 30 and we did have a big stack in the 8.8 pko hyper before getting in a flip for 50% of the chips in play vs the CL and we didn’t get there. On another day with some variance and with a bit better play from myself at a deep stack depth we could have had a really good day on ACR. This means our very profitable start to the month on ACR is turning into a break even month. With some big events ahead though it could swing really well or bad and I can’t wait to find out. Iggy- Good old IGGY oh I love you! - the games are soft, the fields don’t know icm enough and as long as you avoid the very marginal spots at the low stakes you have a big chance to be profitable. Today was another day where IGGY saved the day and provided us another winning day.

() Today was the deep run in the $15.50 6k low roller. We were down to one table, and we grind the daylights out of this one. After getting into the money till the FT we never had over 20bb we had 6-15bb from 30 left. On the FT we ran pretty hot. Got AQs in against AK and we won. With 5 left jammed bvb with K8o vs a tight opp with less than us he had AT we made a boat. At 3 handed though this luck ran out. We never had the Chip lead and never really got into 2nd apart from at the start of 3 handed. So to turn $15 into 500+ USD is great! I do think there is a problem emerging though. Lots of deep runs but we can't seem to find that last little push to win mtts. As such something to monitor but if more and more 4th-2nds creep in we really need to evaluate if we are good enough to play on a consistent basis. Why?? Because the best win MTTs! you dont hear about that professional reg that never wins tourneys? Conclusion Maybe we are being a little harsh in the last line above, but we have had chances to win and have an outstanding month, we haven't done that yet! Im grateful for the 1st 8 days of this month and its nice to see the move down to a $15abi across all the sites we play on is paying off with more deep runs etc. Almost tempted even though there is a series on ACR and Coinpoker starting this month in just sticking to the ABI because how well we are doing. Like I dont play MTTs over 26 usually when having a $15abi. I should increase this during series months. After a few really bad months though is it bad I kinda wanna stick to what we are doing and grind out a winning month for confidence? Who knows. Ill probably get fomo and still fire the $33-$55 mtts I would during a series. I am rolled for it! Its just I want to be profitable mental thing. There is always the chance it turns in the higher buy ins for us and we have a few runs too! Anyhow enough chit chat - have a great day guys! Few days off for me with the GFs Bday and yeah! Ill see you probably on monday or tuesday where it will be championship online poker time on ACR & CoinPoker. Ill also leave you with these two photos of my iggy stats! - Our stats were great last month yet had a -roi %! This just shows the importance of sticking to your ABI and grinding! Nice up swing!

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hi mate fellow player from adl here play on iggy glgl max

by max85 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58978710#post58978710)

hi mate fellow player from adl here play on iggy glgl max

Hey Max, GLGL on your grind, IGGY is a gold mine- Feel free to say hey if your at a live series etc and see me!

Monday- Championship Monday One of the biggest days of the year, the 1st sunday session for the CoinPoker Coin Masters and the OSSXL on ACR. a 4am start time for us today and a long grind! Lets see how I went today. Pre-Game 3am Wake up call, Straight into a cold walk outside in the winter morning, Felt great to be up at that time and walking around! Awesome to feel like a true grinder for an online series finally Warm shower afterwards to relax and make sure I was ready to focus on the grind ahead. prepared the station and then its time to hit the grind. The Session IGGY- Decided to only fire a 200k $150 seat satty- busted 2nd hand QQ vs A4 oh well was for 5bb - so all good and not much to note. CoinPoker- A day of break even - During a series you take these. I came 19th in the $25 PKO event 4 for $60. Had a stack then went card dead around the bubble. In the End 3bet jam 66 vs a late open in the sb for 16bb eff, BB CL wakes up wtih KK and GG I Min cashed the $5 6max sunday for a 2x and then we had a big spot in the $50 6max event 5. Unfortantley the bubble took its toll and we became quite short. From there we managed 1 double and ladder but with 16 left, 3bet jam vs a late ep open on the btn with KQ and the raiser had A9 and we dont win the flip- Cashed for $111. (was 1,6k up top). Bricked a few others and yeah! ACR- Oh ACR how its turned in a horrid way here. We had some big spots in a lot of mtts today and nothing went our way. A day where I think its best the let the stats do the talking.

() So as you can see we ran very horrid but played super great all day. With a slice of luck we could of had some major runs. Our biggest spots was a 16.50 OSSXL Series event - Got AK in vs A7 for 110bb pot on 7k4 A - River 7 with 95% Our other big spot was the $11 Broski A - We had the below hand 20 off the money for 10x ss and 40bb in a turbo with 2k up top... (THE GUY WAS JAMMING ANY 2 BASICALLY and lost 3x all in before this).

() We grinding from 4am to 3:30pm give or take so happy with the effort put in just really wish it went different on one of our biggest buy in days of the year online. (unless we move up in stake of course) We didn't use the $109 ticket ill wait for an event I like for that. 25 buy in down swing with a $20 abi today on ACR. Conclusion A Day of Promise but like so many days during an online or live series a day of not much to write about. On a different day we could of had a big winning day but that isnt going to always happen. If I continue to show up and play this well, we can be profitable this series - who knows maybe it could be a great winning month! I will say as much as i am trying to be positive the fact that on ACR so many big money spots went begging I can't help but be a bit annoyed and tilted at the fact we really should have been up quite a bit today. Can't help but look at my shark scope even though there is bugger all volume and see the big downturn it really hurts. I don't want that fish tag on shark scope as I am better than that. Anyhow doesn't matter. Onto the next session- likely a normal Tuesday night session for me followed by a couple of days off before a Friday morning championship session when i WFH next. GLGL to all of you fighting it out in your respected series.

Well lads logged into gg because ill play a few series events on the site on friday decided to basically MLR the $21 speedracer while i tidy my desk and well.......

() DAY SAVER!!!! insane ROI 52mins of play! Bang!

well done mate. make sure u put a big bet on the maggies this week. $500 bet will give ya $750 ATM.

by TournamentFitness m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58983567#post58983567)

well done mate. make sure u put a big bet on the maggies this week. $500 bet will give ya $750 ATM.

Could be my crows bias, but with the amount of injuries Collingwood have I think we beat them at the MCG just due to how tall our fwd line is

Update Tuesday & Wed So a quick update from the last two days. We had a small session on tuesday (normal nightly grind) and WFH on Wed with a big session that was from 6am-3:30pm Pre-game For the night session it was home, walk around outside for 15mins and shower. For Yesterday session I kinda just fell into playing so I did some warm up routine stuff in the 1st two breaks of the day. (quick walk in the back yard, and a super quick shower). Warm Down?? Yes I finally started doing a warm down, I enjoyed walking outside so much after each session so far i have gone for a 15min walk followed by a warm shower. I do plan to blog after the session, but on tuesday it was late and wed I had the GF over by the time I finished doing the above warm down. I really think both a warm up and a warm down is super important especially during a series. Tuesday Recap On tuesday our normal nightly grind took place. On ACR we got wrecked and we are back into a -ROI after having quite a good positive ROI. We had another day of Great Adjusted BB/100 but ran under ev. On GG we bricked most mtts with only a few min cashes. On coinpoker its been a **** show of late nothing going our way, re jamming into the top of everyons range. How on IGGY I cashed 3 out of 4 mtts. Ran super deep into the 5.50 low roller before running flush into flush with 12 left. Ended up down around $200 for the day. Wed Recap Well what a wild day! Always remember your biggest mtt can be your last like the GG speedracer was on monday! On Coinpoker I played 2 mtts busted both quick, I missed the last CSOP MTT of the day due to sleeping in so decided to not fire on coin poker for the day. I didnt play anything on iggy with the series on GG and ACR. On GG I had 2x spots, in the $15 Big bounties where I won 2 bounties but lost a flip 15 off the money with 55 vs A7. We lost a big pot 99 vs A4 for a bounty an orbit earlier for a top 200 stack. in the $5 Festival Turbo we had a great stack and got into the money in 60/421 - we looked like flying (avg was 14bb we had 25bb) then KK vs AQ for piles, guy found an A.... We ended up just over a min cash... ON ACR OH LADS>>> - In both Broski A and B we found the Chip lead before the end of late rego!!!! Everything went right and we were flying. All that -bb per 100 ev we were losing was all coming back to us today. In the Broski B however the heat stopped got AQ in vs A7 bvb and the guy found a 7 to KO us in 78th. In broski A though the below happened!!

() So close to a series title. Came 5th for piles of ROI. Puts the account well back into the positive land on ACR and tbh outside of one spot which i punted on (unfortunately on the final table hand below) we played our A game for hours.

() So important to post your mistakes. This is not a call risk premium and ICM spot is too high, I talked myself into a call because he is a bit of a whale and a mirco stakes grinder who is probably jamming way to wide here. Still make a bad GTO call, was correct lost but a great learning lesson in just focusing in these big MTTs in being overly tighter with ICM. Conclusion So far a winning series month thanks to some scores on Monday and yesterday. Hopefully it continues as I plan to play a full session tomorrow and Saturday. Ill also be firing a WFH day session shortly after this. One thing I will say is own your breaks guys! It really helps! each break ive been walking in the back yard looking at the sun and talking to myself what I was grateful for in regards to the session and spots I am in. Great way to keep you locked in and fight tooth and nail for every spot you have! See you after another session!

Thursday A truly awful day, I kinda just want to rage write so no real process here just gonna get thoughts on paper so I can re focus to study later today and grind championship thursday tomorrow We had a Ft on Iggy a 9th for $50 in the $15 PKO- Grateful for the 9th because i was short af from 30 people left or so... Outside of that that was all for Iggy and I didnt play on CoinPoker today again.. ACR- Started okay top 100 in the broski again, FT the 4.40 3k and came 6th but this was the start of the mental downfall today.... Came in 3/9 played an awful final table and was very demotivated and harsh on my play. Lots of Neg self talk etc should of ended the session.. Instead we played an extra 3,.5hrs and just wasted money because I am a ****ing moron. I bubbled the Stud Hi/LO event coming 15th top 13 ITM, got it in with a flush vs a high draw and a guy found running flush for a higher flush (Kh vs Jh....) This sent me over the edge. I rage entered a few 33 and didn't play well at all, probably costing myself 100 on ACR and about 150 on GG Rage quit my last couple of MTTs and now feel really awful about myself and my confidence. I was sky high coming into today, and now I feel like Im the worst player in the world with the worst mental game in the world. At least we are not broke.... gg

put ur money where ur mouth is and put the roll on the crows to beat the magpies. big payday or broke.

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58985535#post58985535)

put ur money where ur mouth is and put the roll on the crows to beat the magpies. big payday or broke.

Glad I didn’t listen to this advice 😂😂😂 was a decent game though Yesterday session was an awful one both mentally and in session I played great for hours and found myself with 6/8 in the $25 plo series event on Coin poker- got it in pretty good vs the cl and lost ….. Then made a mistake in the $50 6max series event 15 left utg opens of 16bb I have AJ mp and re jam HRC and gto wizard both lean to AQo+ being a re jam and I know this but made a mistake in game. Came 15th as I ran into KK only for $124 Should have had two spots for over a 1k usd to score…… This caused me to not recover and tilt of my session due to my mistakes and wasted a couple of good spots on gg Was a losing day day and down to only 2.3k profit this month….. I have a live series starting tomorrow which I’ll be firing! So wish us luck for that!

by TournamentFitness m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58983567#post58983567)

well done mate. make sure u put a big bet on the maggies this week. $500 bet will give ya $750 ATM.

if u listened to my advice u would be $250 richer.

by TournamentFitness m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58987338#post58987338)

if u listened to my advice u would be $250 richer.

Hah This is very true! Hindsight! oh well

Rough day today, Put 3 bullets into the opening $330. 1st bullet ran a good bluff vs a good reg who made a correct and great call with 3rd pair. 2nd bullet annoyed a bit at my line and chosing a spot vs a reg, Punted off the 2nd bullet. 3rd bullet went great. Looked unstopable at one stage. Had 380k at 2/4k with one hand till the break. avg stack was 121k 38 left top 12 paid.... Hand that cripples us goes as followed Hero SB AhAd UTG reg bit wild, opens at 2/4k to 8.5k btn fish, calls, Hero raise to 18.5k both players call. Js 47d, hero leads for 31k, UTG re raises to 75k, BTN fold, Hero call. Turn 5s, Hero x, utg now bets 90k, After thinking it over for a bit and with some scare cards on the river, we jam for value. Villian tanks, says i think you have 99 and calls, he has KJs of Clubs............ River J.................. Hold we have 700k at 3/6k with 37 left avg stack about 130k, instead we have 10bb and we bust. I will say mentally this screwed us, we when full tirade on people. Instagram stories were woeful and entilted and I really need to work on getting better at our response to the result not focusing on the result. We came home had a shower some warm soup, we debfried with my fantastic partner and decided to fling a $25 hyper on coin poker while watching the EPL early kick off. 58mins late reward for calming down and playing your best poker, Also helps when 2x people launch 20bb vs your open with AA and your hold....

() So in short, a losing day, a day where we mentally weren't good enough but a day where we did play very well on the 3rd bullet and got into the zone and was crushing, A Live result is coming. Grateful for the hyper run at the end of the day as well. I will say on the drive home I wanted to retire from this game, but that's not the answer is to get better with the response and not dwell on the outcome.

A Live result is coming.

Looking forward to seeing the future live poker results. We need to see more of these victories.

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Monday Live Session and Tuesday Morning MTT online session So recapping both the monday live session after an awful run sunday night and the following Tuesday morning session. Monday Live Session Pre game was surrounded by work activities, pre-game walk slight study motivational videos felt ready to grind and attack this $750 HR. The Session, well it started great inside the 1st 3 levels went from 50k ss to 95k ss and was flying then in 1 hand we played a 250bb pot and no good. Last hand before the break, have 64s (CLUBS) on the btn CO raises to 2.2x very passive and fishy player, We flat, SB not a player ive played a lot with but has squeezed alot squeezes again to 10bb, In my head i was folding and we got break, passive player calls, now we are on the btn with a nut cracking hand, this now becomes a call over 100bb deep. Flop Ac 5c 8d,, gut shot and flush draw for the HERO. (you can see where this is going). SB plays 60% bet quite big, passive player in CO folds, Hero makes a the 1st mistake here, should of put in the jam instead we flat............... turn- 2h, well double gut shot and a flush draw. Villian now leads big again, mistake from hero again is not to jam, we somehow flat with 6 high and the draw.............. was worried by the size i was walking into AA.. anyhow 6 river..... - spr is less than one, Opp jams.... Obvs we have a 6 we should fold right,,,, i go to start giving my hand a funeral, and noitce a quick change in my opps behaviour, I then start looking into tells and saying im gonna tank for 3mins and see what reads i get. He starts changing colour, he starts his feet tapping, his heart rate starting going through the rooof the longer I tank (neck pulse).... This all points to a bluff, what are the bluffs? KQs (clubs or dimonds) QTs QJs KTs, - then there is bluffs i dont beat, a random TT or JJ, I kid you not after this tank i was certain, my god he is weak, can my hand beat a bluff, a few... And right before calling i say this line "i beat some bluffs just sucks when you have TT or JJ and turn it into a bluff and I cant beat that".... Call he has TT, outrageous read wrong outcome and well if we played re raise flop jam turn or jam flop we get a fold but oh well. Was happy that I trusted the live read was right but wrong haha So I flicked the $100 6max Self dealt, great game and saw some wild stuff, went from a 40k ss to 136k at peak crushing this table and having fun, got moved sigh and found a table of old guys taking it seriosuly,,, boring..... Luckly I got moved to a table of a few regs having fun flicking the $100 self dealt and one of the TDs from another series. Was a great fun table however this hand happens...... AsQc BB HERO UTG limp, TD very tight female player, squeeze to 5bb from BTN............ our hand of 50bb is to strong to fold, we flat and limper flats. Flop KJ6 two clubs 1x dimonds, X X female player bets 5bb again, I call and utg calls, Turn Td - jackpot the nuts, - x UTG bets 10k, td tight female player jams 35bb we have 40ish BB and obvs snap......... UTG player sigh calls off UTG A6s Dimonds (flush draw and a pair), TD female player (AcKc for top pair gut shot and a flush draw) and Hero AQ with the nut straight! River 7 offff clubs.............- huge pot right before end of late rego no good. To top it off with less than 10bb- we jam AK in AK and KK........ no good there haha.... We rebuy run 99 vs AT no good, MLR and Jam K4s of 8bb and SB wakes up AJ and we are no good..... 3 bullets in 10mins fun! So live well no good we are really running below ev and maybe should of played the above hand (High roller) alot better. **** small ball live exploits put them in spots! would of worked. Online Tuesday Session Pre game was woeful we wont go there. In coin poker had 2x stacks in the $25 PKO and the $10 sprint. $25 PKO we bricked a flush draw, then defended a 3bet with KQs of clubs, Q43 1 club, turn 7clubs get it in vs KK and GG in the $10 im 9 off the money 3/38 - we have AQ we raise of 33bb, btn flats and bb then jams 22bb, has he hasnt chosen a 3bet size and ripped he doesnt have AK AA KK QQ, so we call he has QJs turn J............... we bust shortly after... ON GG we brick everything, had a big spot in the $3 monster stack PKO, got QQ in for 40bb vs AK AK and JJ for piles, Flop A in the window..... ACR well it started off poor busted the $16.50 and $33 i was in, I was down to 1 table in event 156m $22 20k PKO and well....................

() Decided to come 2nd, lost the heads up battle vs a very good reg according to SS. never had the chip lead on the FT, was 5/5 4/4 before finding a big double when i got to 2/4 through the chip lead, called of his any two jam (yes he had that many chips) with AK and held..... Heads up was out classed in the end got it in with a flip on the flop and lost. I am really happy with this score. Awesome ROI and helps pay for all these live series bullets. $34 AUD into 2.6k AUD we take it and run. Conclusion Not great with live, but online we found our 2nd OSSXL series final table and we did pretty well to find a 2nd! Hopefully it turns live i have the $575 main event which I won a $100 flip into so in for cheap! Lets see how this goes! Its gonna turn I can feel it.

Rest of the SPT series Update Well not a great end to the series as we will discuss below, we will discuss both the mental side of the game and the results of the series. I’ll also discuss how close i stuck to my pre series plan (we didn’t) and why it’s important for us to discuss that moving forward. Series result since our last update So overall not so great, at one point it looked like we could turn it around but couldn’t do it in the end. After the High roller update we had another day of the $575 storm day 1 which we won a ticket in above. We busted that in 3 levels, never got above start stack (seem to suck over 100bb deep at the early stage of a MTT). Why do we suck? - we want to make a great start but i get ancy, I play to many hands try to out play our opponents and inflate pots with hands with potential but not enough nuttiness. Long story short I don’t respect the live early game enough, your eV comes from playing live from the early levels and stacking fish, but we have some fundamental leaks deep in MTTs. So next up was the $100 Freeze out I made the FT and came 4th for $695. Was nice to end the day with a positive note after the storm, would have been nice to come 1st for the 2k roughly up top but was 8/9 on the ft. and saw 2x double KO by the 2x big stacks. In the end i doubled back to 10bb 4/4 before finding A9s in the SB and jam 10bb and the big stack in the BB woke up QQ and gg.

() Since that run the rest of the series was woeful we only found 1 more cash, min cash in the $75 crazy pineapple which I had a stack lost 2x flips on the bubble, scrapped into the money Found a double, got it in with A2Q on AA2 discarded by Q, opp had AKx and found a k.............. (2.1k for 1st in a soft field). We played the 1.5k SHR, we lost TT vs KJo for 10bb (+ a cold call and fold vs my BB jam for 22bb)- found a double before last hand of late rego, had 44 in the bb sb jams 10bb we snap he has A7o he turns a 7 to leave us with 8bb post rego. Few hands post rego we jam 8bb with TT get called by the btn and bb who had A8s and A6s........ A8s makes a straight on 679 4 T........... So 1,5k down the drain, win that double SS and a dream with 19 left. Still feel okay of regging this with 20bb.... The Storm i refired in on day 2, late pos open we have 20bb and 3bet jam 99btn and sb wakes up KK bullet 1 on day 2 gone, I rebuy get to basically double a SS before losing a nice pot with AK vs JT and KQ, KQ8 flop Q turn A river, we fold river after cbet flop and x x x turn. We bust when we 3bet jam vs an old lady open with KJs and she tank calls of AJs for 10bb..... So in the end few too many rebuys in the series and the SHR no good, we lost a lot of big spots where we were ahead for piles of chips. TBH THOUGH I ALSO HAD SOME MENTAL STRUGGLES AND ILL DISCUSS THIS BELOW The Mental Side SO going into this series I was happy I had a plan I was ready to grind and to go play my best. I immediately start awful Sunday with being way to splashy for live in the early stages of the Sunday opener and took 2x bullets to get going, this would be a common theme, taking multi bullets for me to lock in and go okay now I have to play my best to achieve this series. I don’t know if this is a lack of respect for live players or the fact I think I’m too good for my own shoes, but I played awful in a number of mtts in a number of tournaments. Mentally this caused me to spiral, why can’t I play my best, how can I not crush these fields yet I’m having such a good time online etc. Throw in the bad beats that I copped throughout the week, AA vs KJ as mentioned above, the TT in the SHR, and then no good bluff got through even though it was theoretically correct really set me off. Why did it set me off?? The game isn’t played in theory it’s played live in person by people and I was mad I wasn’t able to adapt. You can’t bluff people who play pub tournaments for fun and see they have top pair no blockers and don’t understand range and nut advantage I don’t have to bluff every spot in every position you find yourself in with an inferior hand. You don’t have to re-jam correctly to be balanced in live, **** balance just over flat hit nutted hands and extract value. Basically I wasn't able to adapt. I did all this study and was ready to crush but I didn't mentally adjust and exploit, in short I was the fish this series. On top of that pre game plans out the window, no real post-game done on most nights and I took every bad loss to heart, there was bad self-talk, suicidal self-talk (very bad trait of mine) and complained to anyone that would listen about how bad 2025 was. So 3 steps forward 2 steps back in the mental game again............ At the end of the day, I should be lucky I'm not broke, I get to play poker and I want to play poker. Be grateful for the day not ungrateful for all the runs we are think we are owed. Lots work to be done but we will achieve a better mental game one day. So did I stick to the Plan No I didn’t, I fired too many re=entries into to many tournaments, I didn’t have the discipline to call time on days earlier and go home. I fired the SHR and I said I wasn’t (glad I did soft field and all) but wasn’t the plan. Why is the Plan important? Bankroll management, if I want to take this game seriously even though I have a day Job I really need to look at sticking to the plan and staying with the BR guidelines I set. Plan for re-entries, if I have to wait around 2hrs to MLR then wait around go do something else..... I don’t have the discipline to do this. I think I was so mentally gone because I didn’t stick the plan, I want success too quickly and too much. Let it go, stick to the process, put in a lot of work into the game and crush. So in conclusion, a horrid series, and it’s basically put us down for the month. I have 1x session left before a month off from playing to relax before a big lex live grind. This series was self-inflected and why my downswing for 20k can’t be clawed back in this mind set. Lots of work to do but I do believe I can do it. I will leave you with this; if we held AA vs KJ at the start of the series would we be having this convo? Probably not because we would of likely final tabled/ship that mtt, how much 1x river can change a series or a year. With that said nothing stops that happening to me later in the year in a big event and turning this year around.

Nice update. Pat yourself on the back for trying. That's always the first step. Getting out there and giving it a go. Most people don't have the guts to get out and try and invest in themselves. Don't get too down on yourself, mistakes happen nobody is perfect. The main thing is opening yourself up to the opportunity that will inevitably come your way the more times you keep trying. A big score is coming your way.

by pokerstudent#5004 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58994463#post58994463)

Nice update. Pat yourself on the back for trying. That's always the first step. Getting out there and giving it a go. Most people don't have the guts to get out and try and invest in themselves. Don't get too down on yourself, mistakes happen nobody is perfect. The main thing is opening yourself up to the opportunity that will inevitably come your way the more times you keep tr... See full post

hey thanks mate, means a lot, strange to say I think a good score is coming at some point just hard to see so many spots go by the wayside. Variance is cruel but it is also what keeps people playing. Hope you enjoy the blog! For those wondering where the updates are I have two which ill post below in another post. I have championship Sunday (my last online session before Lex Live 4) and Adelaide Champs is on a stacked social so I have an update from the Mini Main Event I played last night as always this will be raw. I also want to post a plan for myself and this blog moving forward

Session update As mentioned above 2x quick updates from my last two sessions. Championship sunday (monday morning) and Stacked Social Mini Main Day 1 Champo Sunday A day of main events on coinpoker and a big series grind on ACR lets see how we did. In short ACR was okay, finally fired that $109 ticket, we didnt cash. We had less than 1/4 a starting stack in under an orbit.... Found a way to get to triple SS and then lost two big flips right on end of rego to bust. Got 99 in vs AK for 20bb btn vs sb and we didnt hold, Then open AQ next orbit in the CO and BB jams 88 we dont win that flip and we bust. We went on another deep run in the $33 PKO and came 95th out of a large field for $134. So an okay day on ACR CoinPoker, Main event Sunday, we are in the $5 the $50 and tried as we might to satty into the $500, Satty for the $500 no good, won a $5 satty into the $50 and the $5 we put in 3 bullets and didnt make it past late rego. the $50 main event though turned into a run for the ages. 27 left, pay jump accuried 6k+ for 1st and a main event title- all in vs a fellow Aus reg and.......

() 2bb and a dream a soul curshing river, however our story didnt end, we won a 3 way all in with K5s going runner runner, found another double AJ vs A8 and we found ourselves 3/14

() Unfortunately with 12 left I lost QJ vs AT for 5bb flip, then vs the same open raise called off KQ for 10bb he had AJ and again no dice, put me from 3/14 to 8/9 Did very well to ladder to 7th and a main event final table. Unable yet again to close it out! but a nice score before lex live. A confidence booster maybe? Stacked Mini Main Since that monday I have come down with a nasty head cold, I also didnt really want to fire the stacked series so close to Lex live with time off, however its my fav venue and I feel bad not firing after putting in some much time into SPT. So with the head cold I said F it ill go fire day 1b as its the only day with work and other commitments I can fire. Was a mistake, I felt good for about 20mins before the body basically blocked up and I was hot sweaty and couldnt even really focus. In the end played awful and really dented my confidence...... Again another live mtt where I fail to win a hand lose 10k of a SS and bust not long afterwards..... this is becoming a consisten theme of late. Rego a live mtt, lose the 1st few hands get annoyed wonder how we will lose all my chips and proceed to lose it all. MY bust out hand is woeful.... KTo MP 40bb raise 2.5x good rego CO calls and BB calls, Flop 234 two clubs 1 spade I i have Ts, X cbet small CO calls, bb folds Turn Kh, I now bet 75% pot to set up a river jam, Reg jams on me...... No one ever jams turn here with a bluff or its very rare. In the end as much as I wanted to fold, said this is the best turn in the deck can I really fold a K, Ill get exploited if I fold top pair on this turn............. Really bad thought process (AGAIN) Called it off- he has 65s we dead. So a really bad night, the GF thinks its just down to being sick, Myself I think its another MTT a common trend, cant find the A game, cant win a hand when deep stacked in a MTT and cant deal with losing and the variance of MTT poker.... As for the rest of the series they have a 5 game mixed event on which is a 1k, ill fire because I love my Mixed, and ill throw in a 1.2k SA camps main bullet before calling it a day before lex live. Hopefully pride and fomo doesn't become a thing and I fire more than this as I want as many bullets as needed for Lex Live 4. Again feel okay have a decent session then have a 0/10 session. No consistency atm which was annoys me most. I used to be constant now I feel I am just a bad reg. Decided to get some live coaching before I leave for Lex Live 4, where hopefully this turns around.

Future Goal? I mentioned above a future goal/ a plan for this blog moving forward. I think the goal for myself is to have this blog document a progression of a mental game and performance as a whole. I think we have lacked a clear goal with a way to achieve how to get there. So with that said the below is the outline of a draft of what I would like to achieve and roughly how I think the best way is to achieve this. Goal/Aim to complete Increase my BR to 300k in 10 years of playing Semi pro on top of working my full-time job. (BR is roughly 50k) 10 years is 521 weeks 521/300k = $575 per week. (x4 roughly 2.5k a month). Why this as a goal? - That will bring me to the age of 40 give or take a few months, If I can really highlight consistent growth in my game over this 10 year period (growth in mental game, strategy, game selection and good old fashion results) then at that time I can look into trialing going full time as a player and look to have some time off work to pursue a career in poker.

Do I think its achievable? I do over ten years and with some changes that are needed to be made to my current strategy and have a reward that I'll do when I achieve this goal. One of my fav quotes is " people overestimate what they can do in 1 year but underestimate what they can do in 10 years." How to achieve? Very simply make more money playing poker, however there is many ways to do this in the modern age of the game. Long gone are the days where online was soft as anything and there were genuine dead money players in live MTT fields. I have always maintained, and I probably will continue to do so, I am a MTT reg. I have done most (90%) of my study on MTTs. I enjoy MTTs I like the strategic battle and the changes in game flow depending on stack depth MTT stage etc. However, if we are looking to achieve a BR goal and entertain the idea of becoming a full-time player then we need to change our thinking. I need to re-evaluate what I play and when I play. While working full time its not feasible to play majority of sessions as MTT sessions. This limits the volume I can get in and the $HR I can make. As such the change to achieve the above is to move to a split of 80% cash and 20% MTTs as a ratio (give or take- this isnt a perfect ratio). Ill still find time to grind the occasional Sunday sessions and the appropriate live series but we have to move away from the 4-6hr Tuesday night MTT grinds were the fields are small and I play 10-15 MTTs total. By moving to cash, I can achieve a few different things that I currently lack. In short these are below

• Time to play sessions that will have a good $hr expected value and ROI- after work sessions for 2-3hrs is plenty for solid volume.
• Ability to grind in-between a busy work and life schedule outside of poker
• limit variance that is quite high in MTTs and less high in cash (can still go on downswings in cash however not at the rate and for as long as in MTTs). By making this move we are breaking down the barrier with my current process. (Time to grind a full session of MTTs and variance which is the biggest leak of my mental game). Once we have a larger BR we can plan for more MTTs series live and look to really try and improve the MTT game at this time. We also need to break the barrier of fear of going broke, I often get afraid of playing games I am rolled for after going broke 2x before playing poker. So 50 buy in method which is quite standard for online BRs and shot take the level above when I get to 40+ buy ins for that level and give myself a 3 buy in shot. Also note that it would be silly to move straight to 500nl as well being a cash game fish- so starting low and slow and working up from 25 or 50nl to 100nl to 200nl seems the best approach moving forward. What are the next steps So we cant just go from MTTs to cash like its a flick of the switch and the same game. We need to be prepared to grind online/live cash. So our next steps is to increase studying cash game related content and move away from the very heavy focus of MTT study. Our MTT game will suffer a bit however our fundamentals is good enough to get by in most short stack scenarios so its not bad time to make the change. (ill be making this change post Lex Live 4) After increasing study its to work out what games to play and what we can beat. I have a good deal with X-Poker for rake back and I have other options online that Im sure I can beat. (ignition cash for example). However It could be that we need to focus on playing live cash a bit more to increase the win rate. We still can look to plan for live MTTs series and online MTTs series that do arise. We can also look to take shots on the Sunday (Monday morning) MTT grind. Goals and rewards No Goals in today's blog but goals should be related to study-based, volume based (number of sessions or hours played) and short to mid term Monetary goals. Also time off goals to recover are great to factor in as well. I look to start including some Short and Midterm goals in the blogs after APL Millions (SEPT). Rewards wise- upon completing this 300k BR I want to celebrate by playing the WSOP main event and a few WSOP mix game MTTs! So 2035 (maybe before with some luck) I can achieve this goal and reward myself with a WSOP trip. Hope this helps explain some thought process and where I would like to move my game going forward. Ill still be playing MTTs but I think in our current environment and mental game state cash will be the preferred method of play. Let me know your thoughts! Lets go study hard, crush slowly and over the long term and lets hope to get to 300k in 10 years!

playing live cash

I can't imagine live cash in a legal poker setting is beatable long term in Australia. Maybe only 5/10 which doesn't play often. Not 2/5 and 2/3 is unbeatable due to the rake for most of the time. If you can play deep which they allow at 2/3 to buy-in for $500 then it might be worth playing towards the end of the night. And you gotta play nitty to beat rake still if its even beatable. 2/5 you want everyone to be buying in for $500 and I still don't think its beatable for much more than min wage or it might be -ev and your drawing dead. PLO is not beatable due to rake at low stakes. Unregulated games may be beatable. dunno what their rakes are. But seriously mate someone is going busto every 50-60 hands or so due to rake. hundreds of dollars per hour coming off the tables for rake. Rake has also increased to $25 and players were talking its unbeatable at $15. Players can be terrible though.

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59000065#post59000065)

I can't imagine live cash in a legal poker setting is beatable long term in Australia. Maybe only 5/10 which doesn't play often. Not 2/5 and 2/3 is unbeatable due to the rake for most of the time.If you can play deep which they allow at 2/3 to buy-in for $500 then it might be worth playing towards the end of the night. And you gotta play nitty to beat rake still if its even bea... See full post

Yeah I tend to agree- be playing mainly online in my little dungeon- will say may play more plo then nlh as I have more experience in this field when it comes to cash - but will still learn both

going full time as a player and look to have some time off work to pursue a career in poker.

Poker is not career mate. It's not a honest living. Sure making money from it for entertainment and builidng a roll to play poker is fine. To pay your bills from poker is not recommended. Keep ya job and play poker part time. Starting a legit business from your work monies you get and building that up so you can play more poker when you want would be a good idea if your able to earn enough from current job. Some people ain't mearnt to be the boss though.

Gl in your grind! Will be following your updates.

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59000623#post59000623)

Gl in your grind! Will be following your updates.

Thanks dee I’ve been seen your likes in the occasional post- how are you enjoying the blog so far? Any feedback for improvement

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59001037#post59001037)

Thanks dee I’ve been seen your likes in the occasional post- how are you enjoying the blog so far? Any feedback for improvement

I like it a lot. Mixing cash/mtts, did a lot of mixing myself this year, but my cash game (main game) results/performance droped significantly so I'm cutting online mtts for next few months... Not sure if this is a problem for you as mtt is your main game. Spoiler Show

Spoiler Show

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If you really want it... you are the only one who can make it work. I'm very happy with decision to go pro in November 2024.

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59001267#post59001267)

I like it a lot. Mixing cash/mtts, did a lot of mixing myself this year, but my cash game (main game) results/performance droped significantly so I'm cutting online mtts for next few months...Not sure if this is a problem for you as mtt is your main game.... See full post

Congrats on going pro! - I sorta have always played the occasional cash session- but yeah heard specialising is preferred to playing both - I guess I’ll find out if it’s a problem or not moving forward - time to put some work into trying to get better at cash!- thanks for the vote of confidence

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59001323#post59001323)

Congrats on going pro! - I sorta have always played the occasional cash session- but yeah heard specialising is preferred to playing both - I guess I’ll find out if it’s a problem or not moving forward - time to put some work into trying to get better at cash!- thanks for the vote of confidence

You could take your laptop to work and get four mobile phones and play 8 tables of cash games on your smoko breaks. Also get another laptop and hop onto the TAB and bet on the crows.

Sorry for the quietness lads- update in coming - put it this way have slept for 14hrs over 3 different sessions on Friday night Saturday so update will be positive!

The Rest of the Stacked Series to date So since our last update our cold has gotten better and we have had 3x more sessions done at stacked during the Adelaide poker champs, ill recap all of them quickly! Monster Stack Monday So the monster stack Monday was an mtt I wasn't planning on playing. However after my 1st coaching session with a well-known live coach I felt extremely motivated and made my way down to stacked. I spent my 1st bullet whiffing everything and didn't play bad but couldn't make a hand and after 1.5hrs of play eventually blinded down and lost a flip to bust bullet 1! Bullet 2 didn't go much better, I flopped a boat 1st hand extracted value and was like okay here we go I have a larger chip stack in 1 hand on bullet 2 then I did my whole 1st bullet. 2nd hand I flopped an over pair and made a great fold on 958 after I got x jammed on by the sb and the BB called, so nearly back to SS, I played a good short stack game finding lots of doubles of 10-15bb as the blinds went up but right at the end of rego (15mins away) I found AQ 3bet jammed vs a utg open got called by 77 and somehow a flatter in MP called KTo vs raise flat jam re jam and he called and we lost to both opps on K46 8 2......... Another Flip another lose. I didn't plan on bullet 3 but the TD and my GF said if you think your playing well and its 30k prize pool for a $350 you should MLR bullet 3. So we did sort we jumped in with 10mins of play before the break and won a couple of small pots and found myself at nearly double SS. Post break I won an all in AQ vs KQ to be above average, I got in AA vs A7s after we raise we got jammed on for 20bb and we snapped and held and AQ vs A3 and faded a wheel and flush draw on the turn!! - Approaching the bubble we had a big stack before losing AQ vs A7 after getting x/r on A42 by the bb we called and the turn was a 7..... We lost this pot and were a middling stack 2 off the money. Thankfully we found some heat got a couple of jams through picked off a bluff made the money and the FT.... However we finished in 6th place for 2k... Our bust out hand was funny a reg who has won 2 mtts already this series (he wins this one too) jams on me bvb when we have 7bb we called of A2s and he had 32o..... Flop A45........... I have video was funny but nice to profit on bullet 3! 5 game mix game 1k (limit holdem, O8, stud, limit Omaha and 2-7 triple As someone who has played a bit of mixed to me this was the main event of the series. I hold Mixed MTTs in high regard. To be the best you need to prove yourself over multi disciplines. As such we really wanted this one. I started great dominated our table in a small field and got to over double SS without too much fuss. We lost a big cooler in stud with 3mins before late rego, We were in the bring in with a 2 showing with A3 buried 2 to a suit, somehow 3 calls and we got to see 4 street for free, we found a 4, we called a small bet and then on 5th st caught a 5 and played x/r.......... Long story short I then catch club and have 4 clubs to go with our wheel and opp has open JJ with 2 clubs and our other opp has 55 on board.... Long story short on 7th we get x raised from the opp showing JJ with 3 clubs, i find just a call and somehow with us having 4 clubs he has found 5 clubs for a flush..................... So he was pretty slim in making his flush and he found it...... the other opp had trip 5s- we would of had a monster stack. However in mixed it’s about being there for your rush and we found it. Post rego we folded down to 3big bets - then we doubled with split KK in stud vs buried 77 and then in 2-7 we made the number 1 and got paid before drawing to an 87 and made it on the 3rd draw to beat a 95, I then hero vs a fish with a made Q (nut draw bricked made a Q) and he lead into me after draw 2 draw 2 draw 2, i called thinking its bluff and sure enough he had a Qhigh flush.......... We made the FT with the chip lead but only top 3 paid, we leant on the small stacks grew our chip lead and got 4 handed, we then lost a few pots to the guy 2nd in chips and he ko the other 2 opps and went into heads up with a 2-1 chip deficit, We started well found the chip lead and was crushing, then it was all over in 16 hands, I had the nut draw 3 out of the 4 hands in 2-7 and lost I made an 87 in the 4th hand and witness my opp draw 2 and find an 86..... - We lost every limit holdem hand, we lost a crazy 08 hand where we flopped a wheel and managed to only get half with our opp going running boat, and in limit Omaha our opp called a 3bet with K854 on suit vs AQKT double suit flop 664 two hearts 1 diamond turn 8 d, we have two flush draws overs etc. and our opp called a bet flop and a x/r turn and a lead on the river when we bricked,,,,,,,, Anyhow we eventually lost after having a dominating position and had such an equity edge in a lot of hands vs an opp playing his 1st mix game mtt...... I broke my headphones made a dick of myself and overall I was extremely annoyed. I sit here now happy with the 5.1k and my play but i really wish mentally we just do a bit better in dealing with adversity and the swings of not closing out mtts. However another close spot bites the dust... Main event day 1b A very cold high wind rainy night in SA saw only 12 runners, we played 1 table all night and 5 handed for 3 hours plus, we got our 50k ss to 220k exact when we got to 3 handed with two levels of play and all 3 players agreed to sit out and just tank out the clock as we all had over 30bb for day 2 (2/3k blind levels one stack of 290k ours at 220k and 14 130k), we sat had a drink talked the shift till 1am and the clock ran out of play. We saw no point in playing 3 handed fighting it out in such a small field but we had to sit there in case someone decided to come and reg the last 2 or last level of the day. We built our stack by A) 3 betting a bit more an winning lot of small pots on flop or turn B) KO a 20bb stack with AA when the re jam ATs C) KO and opp who re jammed 25bb vs our open on btn in the sb with QJ when we had QQ. In the end a very easy day 1 and 73bb for day 2 with 150k GTD prize pool. Due to the wild weather it looks like there could be overlay as well!! Hopefully a great day 2 showing Below are some photos of the fts! I’m extremely happy with my play and the coaching session however I really wish I took coming 2nd a lot better. My reaction was awful; I broke my JBL headphones and made myself look like a real dick in a place i really love playing. Anyhow this will all be part of the improvement. A very profitable series with a potential big score coming in the main (fingers crossed) I’ll keep you updated!

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Main Event Update & Series Conclusion So the main event has concluded an another series has finished. Lets recap the last event we were in and provide and update as to what is next. Day 2 We came into day 2 with 220k stack, we had only 30 or so players out of the 124 that played day 1s. With rego still open this eventually got out to 30 players left with 143 runners. In this time we had 3 bigish spots. We had KK UTG + 1 3bet vs a utg open bet flop on TT5 size up turn on the 6 and river another 6 and jam for value, unfortunately got a 2min tank and fold for huge amount of chips. I doubled up a 10bb stack (this opp would finish 2nd)- he jammed J9s co, we have KQ sb and call off, flop is 995...... We then lost a decent pot with 64s after defending multi way vs utg open and the btn flat, flop a flush draw on AjT, turn gave us a flush and river was another spade and lost to Q6o from the btn with the Q of spades....... So in the 1st bit of play we started with 220k peaked at nearly 400k and finished at 230k. The rest of day 2 was a bit of blur till the bubble, I was on the feature table on stream and was really locked in, I got a few 3bets through, some raise fold takes down and grew my stack back to 400k , as only 30 people were left with 18 ITM we found ourselves very close to the bubble with 25bb, lucky for us we caught heat. We won a massive pot with JJ, we raises MP btn a good reg (he finishes 3rd in this mtt) 3bets and we call, a Q was exposed pre by the BB and the flop comes QQ5, x call, turn is a J, we x call, river is 2 and we lead for value villain tanks forever and folds..... From there we picked off a bluff vs the other big stack and went to town on the direct bubble which lasted a little bit. We ended up going from 300k- 900k by the time the bubble burst. ITM and we had a great stack, we won a number of small pots cracked the 1m mark with 15 left, unfortunately post this break we lost a few pots however we found the final table of the main event and bagged 755k and good for 30bb and 5/9 come the final table. Final Table Monday So we had great prep, go karting with friends a nice steak and I dressed up in suit to feel my sharpest best (I also promised the owner I would do this). The day started pretty standard not too many spots, found a couple of ladders and took down a few pots with some 3bets or cbets after being called and I got my stack passed the 1m mark. Then with 6 left what felt like the changing point happened. We are in the SB, our Opp has opened 32s 65s etc. (30min delay stream on) and has shown aggression a lot, we have also joked about how much we both love clicking back. he opens 2.1x on the btn of 35bb we have 30bb and in the SB with AQo, the BB has 10bb at this stage. I 3bet to 6bb, BB folds and our btn opp thinks for abit before moving all in..... What do we do?? can we ever fold sb vs btn with AQo, does he have bluffs etc???? - After a couple of time banks I call it off, AK sighhhhh- Window QQQQQQQQQ we win!! We have the chip lead!!!!! shortly he busts and there is 5 left!!!! We go into the break 1 of 5 and think this might be our time finally its changing that big deep run and win ive said might be coming is happening! Unfortunately, this wouldn't be the case. Post break I lose a few small pots before losing the below 3 hands in about a 30min span.... We have AKo btn- good reg opens CO of 25bb we have 40bb- sb has 10bb and bb has 13bb- we decide to trap and flat call to induce a sb and/or a bb jam, and if co iso jams we snap call of course. This happens SB folds BB goes all, CO does fold and we snap, unlucky he has pocket 99 not a hand we crush (Have Ajo one time sir), we lose the flip 13bb gone that brings us back to the field. Blinds go up then this happens, in the sb J2s, our opp in the bb now has 12bb we have 20- Decided on limp fold with ICM, BB will jam correctly but also check back a lot in pos as a reg. he checks flop J2Q wow 2 pair, we go for value with 1.1bb bet, he calls, turn 3h bringing 3hearts on board, alot of his suited hands would raise pre so he has some really bad suited hands but not many. So with this we go half pot to set up for a river jam if we get a blank. He calls, river off suit 6..... pretty clean river, however something doesn't feel right, you just get a vibe live that things arent all good, so i actually size down and bet 40% pot where spr was less than 1....- our opp thinks for a bit and calls We think we are good and table two pair (J2) he has J6o with the 6 hearts, so flopped middle pair called a small bet, called a down bet on the turn with a pair and flush draw and found two pair on the river........................ We are left with 7bb as the blinds go up next hand, we wake up 22 utg a hand later jam it in 5 handed and the sb wakes up 77 and its game over........... we bust in 5th for 9.6k after being 1/5,,,,, So an annoying feeling we were a flip away from a commanding chip lead (AK vs 99) and we would of been back in the chip lead if our two pair held up (J2s vs J6o BVB) However this wasn't the case. I can't help but feel a slight bit annoyed considering what could have been and the downswing could have been long over if we just ran well for 30mins more. Thats tournament poker. Conclusion We cant complain, we should of busted in 6th with AQ vs AK, we ran unreal around the bubble to build our stack and in review we played fantastically overall in this tournament. (very little mistakes) Since our 1st coaching session where my coach plugged one leak off the bat, we played 3 tournaments for 3fts and over 13k profit. Immediate ROI on the session and future sessions however it won't always be like this. We still didn't run the best in the biggest spot but nice to find a Q in a big spot. Overall, I cant complain and ill say it again if I keep playing like this a big result will come!! My next series is Lex Live I can't wait!!! - ill speak to all shortly after a little bit of time off, below is the photos of the FT and the result! speak to you all shortly

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GG, Nice run!

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59009346#post59009346)

GG, Nice run!

Ty Ty - would have been nice with a podium finish but wasn’t meant to be- I was pretty happy with how I played!

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59010975#post59010975)

Ty Ty - would have been nice with a podium finish but wasn’t meant to be- I was pretty happy with how I played!

r u good enough 2 win WSOP main?

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59016150#post59016150)

r u good enough 2 win WSOP main?

Interesting question, in a field of that size anyone that buys into the MTT is good enough to win. Some players may have small % to win some would have a larger % because of their skill set, however, to say if your good enough to win the main is hard. Maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to play it and play my best. Combine with the sickest run of variance then maybe I could but so could you! In other news, only a couple of days till I leave for Lex Live, I have most my bags packed and everything in order. I'm really looking forward to seeing people again that I haven't seen in a year. Also keen to hopefully play my best and showcase that I am decent at this game to the community again. Grateful to be bringing my partner along as well so its not just all about the poker and results this trip! Next update will be as we travel! Feel free to ask questions below etc. and ill try answer over the next few days.

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59018096#post59018096)

Interesting question, in a field of that size anyone that buys into the MTT is good enough to win. Some players may have small % to win some would have a larger % because of their skill set, however, to say if your good enough to win the main is hard. Maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to play it and play my best. Combine with the sickest run of variance then maybe I could bu... See full post

u should buyin with ur own money. bink it. then go to high roller pits and run a measly 10 million or whatever up to a measly 100m.

Hey everyone from Bratislava! So travel and jet lag have taken it out of me writing this at 5:28 am - (12pm in Adelaide give or take)! Travel wise - never had to run in an airport but due to delays nearly missed 2 flights! Beautiful city though highly recommend! Was really nice to see everyone again and they welcomed my gf with open arms �� In terms of poker only played day 1 of the opener and soft bubbled 10 off the money Played decent with the body clock being shot- had 4x ss then played awful for 20mins before end of rego. Built back to 4x ss before losing a flip for 12bb bvb (we had 20bb exact) One of the community members jam 12sb look at A7o call they have K8 - K high flop - left with 8bb jam KJo for 8bb utg into QQ and GG! Win the flip probably bag itm in the top 15% but oh well! Here are some photos more updates to come! Looking forward to trying to grind some long hours once the gf goes to bed tonight so I can get my body clock on euro time!

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We are Back! Post Lex Live Update, will keep it brief as there was a lot to cover but in short, we had a great time! Seeing people I only get to see once a year. Having my partner experience her 1st poker series (and now she wants to learn the basics to play the small sit n go's we run during Lex Live) & obvs the poker side of travelling abroad was really cool. Poker wise not our best series. Down 1.5k AUD on the trip. We had 2x deep runs which we weren't able to convert. Our events were alot of side events. In short the opening event finished 10 off the money and a day 2, lost a flip for 12bb eff with A7o in the bb after sb jam 12 bb with K8o hold and we make the money and day 2. Ended up jamming KJo for 6bb into QQ not long after. We busted the PLO event and a couple of hypers. We came 9th in the 8-game off 1 bullet soft bubbling the FT but making a couple of hundred euros back. We weren't able to play the high roller due to this event and we also bricked a couple of other side events. Main event title defence Well 4 bullets in the main event no bag, I did get my 30k ss up to 110k on bullet 4 before losing some absurd hands. I just never held a flip or I would open JJ on the btn get 3 bet get it in it would be KK or AA, so just ran into the top of everyones range. I was pretty upset and annoyed but we MLR day 2 with 15bb and then finally the luck turned in the main. We won our 1st flip AK vs JJ finding a K on the flop. Then we won some small pots doubled again with JJ vs 99 before squeaking into the money with 13bb- We got to 21bb in the money before a couple of bad run outs and folding down to 9bb with 92 people left. Our bust out hand was pretty simple, reg on the btn with decent stack covering SB hero with 9bb and BB reg with 12bb. BTN open jams we look down at A8s of diamonds, we should be ahead of this jam range alot and flipping at worst. Unfortunately the reg went for the jam with ATo instead of the min raise induce, we are basically flopped dead on a T high flop and GG. I actually really dont like his Jam, as he loses a lot of value and potential re jams from worse hands but anyhow it is what it is. we come 92/953 runners. If you offered me this as a title defense before the series I would of snapped your hand off! So im pretty happy with the result, just wish it didn't take bullet number 5 to win a flip or not just run into the nuts. This mean I have played 3 Lex Live main events, for a 39th in London a 1st in Braca and a 92nd in Slovakia! 3 out 3 cashed with 1 win! Conclusion So are we a little annoyed poker didn't go the way we wanted. Yeah we are! However, it was a great trip with great people and amazing food! I really cant wait for the next Lex Live. Plus life is short just be happy, Im a little shook by Diogo Jota dying a guy I watch each week for Liverpool so I am just glad right now I am home safe I am healthy and I can fire again! Tells someone you love them give them a hug and be happy for what you have! Cant wait for the next update from a session. Taking a little time off to recover before we go back to the online streets again!

1st online session post lex live So decided to fire up a quick 2hr session on iggy and coin poker for some cash. I know I want to move to playing more cash to accomdate work. The more time i spent with Online MTT regs I really get swayed to sticking to what I know which is mTTs, however with our time constraits with work, GF and other lifestyle habbits (family etc) its hard to justify the time I put into online MTTs. So we fired up a cash session. I believe I am better a PLO then NLH cash so decided to see how I would fair at 50PLO stakes. Lost 4 buy in in 2 hours playing super loose agro (did get unlucky 2x on IGGY). The games seem super soft but are also super swingy. As such if we do decided to go down the cash game online root, even though I find it boring it has to be NLH. Two reasons as to why! 1st its less swingy there is also less edge but controlling the swings is key to long term success. 2nd it will improve our MTT game when deep stacked early in MTTs. This can only be a good thing for the future live series I have and my long term goals of moving to full time play. As such not a good day down $200 in 2hrs and a nice kick back to reality of thinking your good but your just meh! Hopefully moving forward Ill play some more online cash or if I find the time play more online MTT session which I am used too. Outside of the live mtt game I really need to figure out what I want to do to improve my bankroll to 300k in 10 years. I think cash is the best way but I am far and away a better MTT player considering the time and effort I have spent studying. Maybe its time to just move up the MTT stakes from our $15abi which we are betting on ACR and IGGY and see how we go at a $25 to $30 ABI. This however increases swings which tbh I really want to avoid at the early stage of building up to this 300k mark. I think deep down I know the answer long term will always be MTT poker just the variance can be super cruel and I dont think I am ready to live with those swings just yet. Anyhow food for thought! Off to a mates 30th and the rest of the weekend off. I think next week ill have some time to either fire a few online MTT sessions on coin iggy and ACR or some small online cash sessions. May have to throw GG in the mix for extra volume too. Writing all of this all I can think about is how silly it is to move away from a game I do well at to reduce swings in a game I havent studied to much Hahah! I think Ive written my own answer.

Morning team how are we all! Didn’t know DKB who occasionally posts in the blog has his own blog! Highly recommend - read 6/ out of 10 pages and hooked! On a side note after reading a pros blog cash is just so important to master and play majority of the time! So think I’m gonna make myself a goal for next week Find days I can grind (atm think it’s Tuesday Thursday and Friday) Spend 1hr studying a cash game course before playing Then play 2hrs each day on GG and Coinpoker focusing on (25nl) Finish the session and review the next day I hope to hit over 2k hands to start and work my way up from there! Also as some of you are aware I play some mix games - and finally my local room are looking to run some mix game cash (20/40 limits) little steep but I have the br for it! So if these game run I’ll have to check it out (player pool is super soft for mix games here in SA) Basically in short - I’ll save MTTs for the live series and the online series/Sunday Monday mornings if I can play! I’ll let you know how I go either after each session or the end of the week!

Slight change of plan lads! A series that was meant to run in Adelaide while I was at lex live has been pushed back till this week and I wasn’t aware. As such we will now be playing another mtt live series! Unfortunately the super soft 1.5k we have to skip as day 2 falls on Saturday and I have a 1st bday party to attend. I also can’t play the 2.5k 75k gtd as day 3 (final table) falls on a Friday while I am at work. My schedule for the series is Tuesday Thursday Friday Sunday I’ll be playing the $450 100k gtd main event and some of the side events. Let’s hope to run well

glgl

by theblezenjoyer m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59037277#post59037277)

glgl

🎉 Thanks Blez! Hope you enjoy the blog. 🃏 Quick Update – Main Event Flight 1: Chip leader: DAMMO_23, who bagged a massive 455k – that’s 9 starting stacks! We’re coming back to 4k/8k blinds (unless they repeat 3k/6k). The 100k GTD prize pool is sure to get crushed. After a rough Lex Live (poker-wise), it feels great to build a big stack in a main event. No crazy hands to report – I was card dead most of the day. Then, in the final level, I decided to knock out three opponents and run it up. 💥 Key Hand That Got Us to 320k: This one was pretty standard but pivotal. Hero (UTG): JJ Blinds: 2k/4k Stack: 110k Preflop: UTG (Hero) opens to 8k MP (recreational player, didn’t know what “bagging up” or “multi-flights” meant) calls SB (older cash game reg) calls Flop: J♠ 5♦ 3♣ (rainbow) Hero c-bets 6k, MP calls, SB folds Turn: Q♦ (adds diamond draw) Hero sizes up to 28k MP snap-raises to 75k – basically putting us all in We snap it off with top set Villain: A♠ Q♣ Hero: J♥ J♦ River: K♦ – which might’ve cost us if we weren’t already in ✅ Hero holds – stack jumps to 320k, and we finish the night with 455k! 📅 Upcoming Plans: Wednesday: Nice chill day Today: Planning to late reg the $600 Freezeout after work. I can either: Arrive at 6pm with ~20bb Or head straight there after work (4–4:30pm) and start with ~40bb – leaning toward this If that doesn’t work out, there’s a $350 PLO MTT as backup Friday: PLO/NLH switch event Saturday: Day off Sunday: Day 2 of the Main Event – and we’re going for the win 💪 💻 Side Note – Cash Game Grind: Working from home today, so I fired up 1.5 hours of 25NL on GG to test how well PT4 tracks cash vs. MTT data. Played 539 hands in 1.5 hours across 4 tables PT4 tracked everything perfectly – cash data imports cleanly, unlike MTTs Super hyped to grind more and get accurate graphs/stats 🎯 Plan is to keep playing on GG (35% rakeback + slick UI), mix in some CoinPoker (33% RB), and Xpoker (60% RB despite the clunky app). Also got a 60% RB offer from an agent on PPP – UI is rough and I tend to punt there, but might be worth it for volume and guaranteed rakeback.

Thursday Update from APL PT Hey team! Hope everyone’s doing well. Thursday brought a mix of swings and stories from the live series—here's the breakdown. 🎯 $600 Deep Freeze: Left work early for this one, and it had a stellar prize pool—$11k up top. Had 30% of a mate in the event too, so extra sweat equity. For me, not ideal. Played two hours and won exactly one hand—AQs 4-bet jam for 30bb vs MP open and BTN 3-bet. That was the highlight. Lost every other hand—played five total. Eventually jammed A8o for 7bb from MP into AK on the BTN. GG. Fortunately, our buddy went deep and cashed, finishing 10th. He got it in AJ vs A7, and unfortunately the villain rivered a 7. Still, we locked up 30% of his $1.7k score, so a sweet little rakeback. 🃏 $350 PLO 8-Max: Jumped into this one next—I've FT’d it 2 of the last 3 years (3rd place three years ago, 7th two years ago; skipped last year). Built a monster stack after late reg—5x starting stack with 2 tables left. Sitting in a commanding spot before the break. Post-break, lost two big hands and dropped half the stack. Regrouped and made the final table (pic below), starting 5th out of 9. Top 5 paid—min cash $815, $4k up top. Got into the money as the shortest stack—17bb—before our bust-out hand. Preflop, 2x open and three calls—I'm in the BB and priced in. Led out and pot-committed, got it in versus top set. Bricked the runout—2-K—and busted in 5th. 📊 Overall: Slightly profitable day. Playing sharp, another deep run—just waiting on the breakthrough. Still alive in the Main Event with the 3rd biggest stack and the $100k GTD is about to be smashed. Fingers crossed this is the one we convert! 💻 Bonus Grind: Been mixing in some 25NL on GG—will break it all down after the series. Really enjoying the cash side of things lately! Thanks for following along—good vibes only. FT photo + bust-out equity photo below!

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🎬 Main Event Day 2 – Vlog Recap What’s up legends! Time to break down a wild Day 2 from the APL PT Main Event, and spoiler alert—it was an absolute heater. We came in as chip leader from Tuesday’s flight, sitting 7th of ~110 players, with 509 total entries, and a juicy $41k up top, plus a ticket to APL Millions. 63 players made the money, so there was work to do! 🔸 Early Momentum: Started strong—we got AQ all-in vs AK and binked the river Queen. Later, jammed A2s for 10bb blind vs blind into TT… and spiked an Ace. Two lucky shots early, and suddenly we had one of the biggest stacks in the room. 📈 Midday Domination: We rampaged through the field, built a monster stack and were chipleading with 24 left. Got on the feature stream table and just punished spots hard in a soft field. And yeah, we ran pure too—no complaints! 🚧 Road Bump at 14 Left: Blind vs blind, 15bb effective. We limp KK vs an aggressive reg. He rips AK, we snap. Flop: Q-9-J Turn: 3 River: A Brutal. That pot would’ve given us over 50% of the chips in play. Instead, we limped onto the final table with a 1bb chip lead. 🔹 Final Table Highlights: Kicked off the FT with a clean check-raise on 6♣ T♠ 8♥, holding K♠ Q♣ vs a fishy c-bet. He had A♦ 2♦, folded instantly. From there, we chipped away, won small pots, and then hit turbo mode. We knocked out 4 opponents in 3 levels and found ourselves heads-up with a 3:1 chip lead. Still, 20bb in play kept it interesting. 💰 The Deal: To take some pressure off, we chopped a little off the top—sent $4.1k from 1st to 2nd, locking up $30k for them and just over $36k for us. Honestly? I didn’t care about the money—I wanted that trophy, especially in my home state. I’ve never won in SA. That was the goal. 🔥 Heads-Up Madness: First bullet: A6o vs Q5s—flopped top pair but villain hit running two pair to survive. Next hand? It was destiny. We’re in BB with K♠ J♠, villain limps, we raise to 850k, he calls. Flop: 4♠ T♥ 7♠ — flush draw + two overs We down-bet 550k, he overjammed (never a strong hand here), and we snap. Villain flips 3♥ 4♥. Turn: 7♦ (extra outs) River: 3♠ — we hit the flush! 🏆 SA APL PT Main Event Champion – DAMMO_23! After 4 years grinding, we finally ship one in South Australia. We ran hotter than the sun, played with confidence, and converted a massive score. 🙏 Big love to all who supported, commented, and lurked! Every view means a lot. 📌 Next up: APL Millions Taking a few days off before hitting the online streets again. Sitting up over $40k on the year—let’s keep the heater alive!

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by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=58984980#post58984980)

Update Tuesday & WedSo a quick update from the last two days. We had a small session on tuesday (normal nightly grind) and WFH on Wed with a big session that was from 6am-3:30pmPre-gameFor the night session it was home, walk around outside for 15mins and shower. For Yesterday session I kinda just fell into playing so I did some warm up routine stuff in the 1st two breaks of th... See full post

How are you playing on GG? did you buy an account or is there a workaround to sign up? Well done on the recent bink as well.

by UserAbuser m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59047966#post59047966)

How are you playing on GG? did you buy an account or is there a workaround to sign up? Well done on the recent bink as well.

Hey Mate, yes there is a work around, feel free to follow my insta and DM me (think you can even do it through here) and ill be happy to share the insight. Thank you for the congrats on the recent bink! Love seeing both trophies in the office together when I walk in

🧢 Weekly Update – Riding the Momentum Hey everyone! It’s been a week since we locked up that APL PT SA Main Event title, and I figured it’s a good time to check in. Let’s run through where we’re at, what’s happening online, and what’s ahead with the live grind. Settle in—there’s graphs, reflections, and a whole lot of strategy. ♠️ Live MTT Arena After last weekend’s win, I’m itching to get back to live poker. But we’ve got a bit of a wait—the next stop is the APL Millions in August, mid to late month. 🗓️ Time off is locked in, and the Gold Coast calls again. As always, I’ll be there for the second week, aiming to fire the two mix game tournaments on the schedule. From there: We’ve got a Main Event seat already paid via the SA win I’ll be selling action for the $1.5K Jackstar and $2.5K Centurion For everything else, I’ll likely take my own action, depending on the flow of the series Worth noting—last year, I played 20 events, didn’t cash once, and walked away $15K in the hole. And I had just come off another big win (Lex Live Main Event) back then too. So here’s the lesson: momentum is great, but this game humbles you fast. The plan this time is to be mentally locked in, trust the work I’ve been doing with my coach, and embrace the possibility that variance might still show up. Hard work and process over everything. 🌐 Online Grind Update The long-term goal: $300K bankroll over 10 years, so we can realistically assess a shift into poker full-time. Most of that will come from live tournaments—that’s just where the skill edge and volume meet up best. But I’ve been experimenting with online formats again, and here’s the honest assessment: 💥 NLH Cash? Not for me. It felt like a robotic multi-table factory. Wait for a good hand. Ship it. Hope you hold or don’t get sucked out. Repeat. There’s nothing about that format that clicks with me emotionally or mentally. Zero fulfillment. 💻 Online MTTs? Love them—but schedule's tough. If I can fire a Sunday slate (Monday morning here in AUS), I’ll take it. But weeknights after full-time work don’t align. The idea of prepping for a 7-hour grind after a 7-hour shift, then waking up six hours later? Not it. It’s mentally draining and disrupts everything else. 🔁 So What’s the Play? Spin & Golds on GG This is a format I dabbled in last year—and this time, I’m doing it right. ✅ Fast-paced ✅ Guaranteed prize pools (based on spin multiplier) ✅ Strategic depth, especially postflop HU and 3-max scenarios ✅ Great training tool for shallow stack endgame situations Last time, I had no bankroll management, no tracking system, and no awareness of how crucial rakeback is. I just jumped into $50 Spins and let variance decide. Breakeven overall, with most wins coming from lucky 5x and 10x spins—because I was sitting in a reg-heavy pool with zero study behind me. Terrible game selection. This time, we’re locked in: Playing $5 Spins, bankrolled properly Tracking everything with PokerTracker 4 and a custom RB spreadsheet Studying the format more seriously to see if it's a viable edge long-term 📊 Metrics I’m Using to Gauge Performance These are what I’m focusing on consistently: ROI% 0–2% = breakeven 2–5% = solid 5–10%+ = crushing ITM% 33–37% + Rakeback = long-term winner Chip EV / game $1–$5 Spins = 20–30 chips is good, 35+ is strong $10–$25 = 15–25 good, 30+ crushing $50+ = 10–20 chips is good, 25+ is elite BB/100 Not a key stat here, but 3–5bb/100 = winning, 5–8bb/100 = crushing (variance-heavy though) 📈 Early Sample Results (July so far):

()

() 203 games played Chip EV/game = 24.63 (4,999 adjusted chips / 203 games) Rakeback tracked separately in a custom sheet Historic PT4 data imported for bigger sample comparisons ⚠️ Data Tip for PT4 users on GG: GG Pokercraft imports Spins as flat win amounts (e.g., 3max $5 Spin= $13.95 win for all games). I manually adjusted each game to reflect the actual win based on multiplier—tedious but necessary. Removed hourly metrics for simplicity. 🧠 Why Spins Make Sense I can’t commit to online MTT volume with my current schedule. But Spin & Golds offer the flexibility of cash, the strategic arc of MTT/SNG formats, and way more postflop dynamics than meets the eye. My goal is to put in 5,000–10,000 games, even at stakes lower than I’m rolled for, to see if I can build a consistent edge and meaningful sample. If I crush—awesome. If not—I still improve HU decision making, postflop play, and overall MTT readiness. Thanks for tuning in. Writing this out is part of my own prep before tonight’s session. No leaderboards, no ego—just pure volume and focused improvement. Until next week, — DAMMO_23

Online cash is that easy? Just wait for good hands?

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59048870#post59048870)

Online cash is that easy? Just wait for good hands?

I would say so at the low stakes, play a very tight VPIP PFR strat, and then just fast play all your nutted hands, lots of QQ into AA or other way around etc, and if you hold you win and if you dont you lose, and you just repeat it. I personally dont like it, yet there are crazy crusher like DKB who is in this thread and has his own thread. He finds max profit and lots of cool exploitive lines vs regs and fish, thats the skill level, I just dont like cash enough to spend hours studying it.

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59049313#post59049313)

I would say so at the low stakes, play a very tight VPIP PFR strat, and then just fast play all your nutted hands, lots of QQ into AA or other way around etc, and if you hold you win and if you dont you lose, and you just repeat it. I personally dont like it, yet there are crazy crusher like DKB who is in this thread and has his own thread. He finds max profit and lots of coo... See full post

Mtts are sexy. I like them. Whatever you do don't play pit games. 300k bankroll in 10 years? are you hoping to play live MTTs full time?

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59053602#post59053602)

Mtts are sexy. I like them. Whatever you do don't play pit games. 300k bankroll in 10 years? are you hoping to play live MTTs full time?

Yeah I dont play casino games often if at all, and yeah the idea if I can be a long term winning reg is to play live and online mtts full time.

Weekly Grind – Spinning Out, MTTs Locked In Hey legends, time for another update—and this one's got some clarity, grit, and a bit of soul-searching. 💀 Spin & Go Verdict: Kinda Cooked After a solid week of testing Spin & Golds, I’m pulling the pin on the original plan to grind out 5K games. Why? Because the answer is in the data—and the data says meh. Even with rakeback, I’m looking like a breakeven player long-term. I had two brutal 7-hour stretches that really tanked the stats, but outside of those, the graph’s mostly hovering around breakeven or a slight win post RB. So while Spin & Golds aren’t my ticket to the online grind but, they’re not a total waste either.

() 🧭 Where to From Here? MTTs will stay front and center as the bread and butter, but I’ll sprinkle in some $5 or $10 Spin & Golds when I’m time-crunched and still want to get hands in. They’re great for volume, decent for rakeback, and won’t tilt the whole ship off-course. 🔥 MTTs—Back Where I Belong Let’s be honest: MTTs demand sacrifice. Whether it’s three hours of sleep after a deep run, or skipping post-work social gatherings to get volume in, this is the reality of the grind. And I’m here for it. Jumping back into MTTs this week reminded me why I commit to this path: ✅ Ran above EV (love to see it) ✅ Felt sharp, focused, and hungry ✅ Results? 🔥 Screenshots are below, but trust me—it’s been a refreshing return.

()

() A few solid deep runs this week across fewer than 20 MTTs—variance impacted of course. But the real highlight? Bagging a tidy stack off a single bullet in the $25 PLO Mystery Bounty. Could’ve multi-fired and tried to stack higher, but sticking with one entry means a boosted ROI if we min cash. (already GTD a Min cash). Day 2 looking promising with 30+ big blinds, so there’s plenty of play ahead of the 1 bullet stack. 🧠 Data Game Strong One big win this week was finally learning how to manually edit session data in PokerTracker 4 so my GG results are dialed. I reviewed every cash, corrected the missed MTTs (especially GG Masters and special events), and fine-tuned all my Spin & Gold stats. Now I’ve got accurate ROI%, ITM%, BB/100, and Chip EV readings that blow PokerCraft’s default tracking out of the water. It’s a solid foundation for analyzing sessions and planning the next moves. (below results dont include rakeback).

()

() 📅 Looking Ahead Time to draw up a proper schedule and keep the MTT momentum going. (obvs add in more than GG as its the site i find the hardest to win on as shown by the graphs) I’ll pepper in Spin & Golds when needed—but the focus is back where it should be. Thanks for reading another blog—let’s keep climbing. 👊

I’ll post some pretty raw/unfiltered thoughts from my mind regarding tilt/confidence/self doubt/emotions etc. Hope that’s ok, didn’t read thru the whole thread, I read thru the first few posts and def recognized some similarities tho Here we go…. Been playing for 20 years, had a few years off but it’s been 85% NL cash thus far and the last few years been mostly PLO for the other 15%. I’ve always been a pretty confident player, only in my worst downswings/long stretches did I face major self doubt but in those times it showed up at such an insane level that it completely consumed me and made me question everything. I never even fully overcame this until recently, I just ran good enough over the years to only be put in this situation fully 1 time and maybe 2 other times partially. I always knew I was good enough to make it in poker tho honestly but having horrendous results for a few months did truly challenge that belief and like I said I never actually overcame it back in the day due to taking a stake and having a backer that believed in me more than I believed in myself. Turned out he was right tho but that really isn’t a win when you get there but it was the fuel of some else’s belief in you rather than your own Fast forward to the last few years and I’ve transitioned to mostly PLO cash. On my own BR tho I’ve done many stupid things with my $$ outside poker that have massively hindered me. I find a regular live PLO game that is pretty amazing overall that happens to have 2 of the better PLO players in America as regulars in it, 1 of whom would be considered as one or the biggest PLO Legends in the live scene over the last 20 years and I just started at the bottom building from 30bb buy ins to 150-200bb buy ins and gained major confidence in myself and my PLO game Fast forward another 18 months and I’ve made terrible life decisions outside poker again and found myself at the bottom once again but this time playing app games all by myself where I could let my tilt and self doubt out w/o fear of being judged by anyone other than myself. The games I have access to are amazing and the first 4 months are pretty smooth despite running a bit poor overall. I’m slightly frustrated by this but overall feel really good about my spot. The next 4 months however are the worst I’ve ever faced in terms of adversity and running bad. It’s a rewind back 17 years to when I played online, went on a downswing and lost belief in myself and took a stake. This one wasn’t as bad in terms of buy ins lost/downswing…I’m actually in better games now than 17 years ago but the beats are even more brutal. I’m losing 75-80% of hands I get all in vs where I have 60-80% equity and if I get it in behind I’m losing almost all of them. For the first 1.5-2 months I took it in stride pretty well. After that I started having a lot of “poor me, I run so bad” kind of thoughts that were consuming my sessions and starting to consume my life. I was determined not to take a stake again, to move down in stakes if necessary, basically whatever but I was going to face my own fear of failure head on by myself w/o needing someone else to intervene and help me believe in me. I def did not always believe in myself during this time. I mostly did but there were days I would succumb to my negative thoughts. And I didn’t actually pull out of this DS into BE stretch for almost another 1.5 months….but…… A funny thing happened that I didn’t allow to happen the 1st time when I gave up and took the stake. My thoughts of “I can’t win anymore, why is this happening to me, will I ever win again, etc etc…” slowly turned into….”I just ran awful for 2 months straight and they never got me down more than 20 buy ins…..this run would have broken most decent to good players and I’m still here, this is shaping me to be great….only maybe 10% or less of the players I face will have dealt with any kind of adversity in poker like this, I’m gonna be very tough for almost everyone to deal with” I basically sat thru the alchemization process of seeing my negative thoughts of self doubt transform into belief in myself and my ability to handle adversity and be resilient. Having skipped this earlier in my career it actually hindered me and prolonged my process of learning to face what seems unfaceable and insurmountable and transcend it purely in my own mind wo outside reassurance I hope you take what I wrote and use it as a guide to face your own doubts and demons and come to a conclusion in your on mind about where you stand…and then press forward in the face of any adversity and actually learning to welcome it as it will be the very thing that forges your into greatness itself. Greatness only comes after facing our darkest fears and summoning courage we didn’t even know we had inside us. This is why so few people attempt to achieve such a feat as every fear we’ve ever avoided must surface and be conquered before we can achieve this task

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59054760#post59054760)

Yeah I dont play casino games often if at all, and yeah the idea if I can be a long term winning reg is to play live and online mtts full time.

Can this be done in Australia you think? Playing in America with the new bill been put through makes taxes HUGE!

Do you put any study hours in? What software do you use to study MTTs?

by LucidDream m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59054783#post59054783)

I’ll post some pretty raw/unfiltered thoughts from my mind regarding tilt/confidence/self doubt/emotions etc. Hope that’s ok, didn’t read thru the whole thread, I read thru the first few posts and def recognized some similarities thoHere we go….Been playing for 20 years, had a few years off but it’s been 85% NL cash thus far and the last few years been mostly PLO for the other... See full post

That is very well written and quite inspiring! Hopefully I’ll conquered the above as well! Hope you enjoyed the read! Love the fact you provided so much depth

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59054891#post59054891)

Can this be done in Australia you think? Playing in America with the new bill been put through makes taxes HUGE!

Yeah plenty of players doing so! - our tax situation is not the same as the USA

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59054961#post59054961)

Do you put any study hours in? What software do you use to study MTTs?

I do put study in - atm just maintenance stuff with a live coach - also I have the old school raise your edge masterclass I still go over Lex on twitch is a great resource for free Rye and guys like pav are great to watch on YouTube for free content as well

Have you considered just playing live MTTs full time? Update?

Hello all from APL Millions!!! Well about to be im writing in the airport after a 45min delay to my flight time. I have taken 2 weeks off from playing to be prep for this series and I cant wait to get going! Today I have the Heros mix game event $600 and I have the 1.1k 6-max championship if I dont run deep in the mix I sold 35% of my action for the series at 1.03 MU. Its pretty cool people believe in you enough to buy a % of your action, its also nice to lower the variance on my bankroll after not cashing an event last year in gold coast. Hopefully a much better series around and ill update you guys each day! Looking forward to a fun 1.5 weeks! lets go try and ship the main event or something else to add to the collection!

How do people buy % of ur action get paid? Bitcoin?

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59075033#post59075033)

How do people buy % of ur action get paid? Bitcoin?

Follow my insta- i put a package up they inbox to buy a piece (or %) I sell them that Piece, I then at the end of the series tally up the wins and losses (i create a an excel spreadsheet to track throughout a series) and then if I am positive they get a % of that profit.

�� APL Millions Day 1 Recap & Day 2 Strategy Day 1 was a grind. We played two MTTs—the $600 HEROS and the $1.1K 6-Max—and while the fields were soft and the spots promising, the deck didn’t cooperate. In the HEROS, we hovered around 15 big bets most of the day, repeatedly rebuilding from 2–4bb only to get outdrawn in key spots. Razz hands bricked, Stud hands got rivered, and even a high-low scoop turned into a chop when our opponent hit a wheel. We busted 18th on the soft bubble with $11K up top—frustrating, but played well throughout. The 6-Max was a short-lived affair. Late regged, doubled once, then lost a flip and had to jam 5bb J9o UTG with the BB ante looming. Ran into AQ and that was that. Still, the field was massive—up 30–40% from last year—and $67K up top shows how much value is in these events. �� Day 2 Plan: Strategic Pivot Originally planned to play both the $1K 8-Game and the $2.5K Centurion, but leaning toward skipping the 8-Game to focus fully on the Centurion. The 8-Game is +EV and fun, but only ~$20K up top. The Centurion could crack $200K, has streamed tables, and is packed with crushers—exactly the kind of challenge I want. Refunding backers for their 8-Game piece feels right, and keeps things clean. I’ve sold 31% across the series, so risk is well-managed even if variance bites early. Let’s hope Day 2 ends with a bag in the Centurion and a juicy Day 3 plan of going deep in one of the major MTTs of the year! Appreciate all the support, more updates coming tomorrow.

Best of luck

People here would love to see you win big mtts, going to las vegas and winning the wsop main event 3x in a row and going down in history as the greatest no limit poker tournament player of all time. also like stu unger are u going to make big bets on sports? AFL finals is coming up. freo got good odds.

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59075727#post59075727)

Best of luck

Thanks DeeKayBee

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59075952#post59075952)

People here would love to see you win big mtts, going to las vegas and winning the wsop main event 3x in a row and going down in history as the greatest no limit poker tournament player of all time. also like stu unger are u going to make big bets on sports? AFL finals is coming up. freo got good odds.

Looking winning 3x mains would be tough as - never say never i guess but i would highly doubt this. No a big sports better but will have a few small multis on here and there throughout the finals series.

APL Millions 2025 – Day 2 Recap Day 2 of the APL Millions was a grind — and we’re right in the thick of it. We made the call to skip the 8-Game Champs and focus fully on the $2.5K Centurion. That decision’s already looking sharp: over 500 runners in the field, and late reg is still open for two more one-hour levels. Pretty wild numbers for a buy-in at this level. Our own start? Swingy. Mentally off, tilted early, and by the first break we were down to 35K from the 100K starting stack. Frustration was high, and honestly, I didn’t feel like I belonged at the table. But having my partner here made all the difference — a few grounding words flipped the switch, and the A-game started to show. We hung tough, grinding back until we found a dream spot with 7♠6♠. Multi-way pot pre, I flatted a c-bet on 4♣5♦J♠ alongside the BB. Turn brought the 8♠ — the nuts. X to me I bet small to set up a river SPR < 1, and the original raiser jammed with KJo. We snapped. He was drawing dead. From there, momentum built. We hit 114K by second break, then surged to 160K after the third. The table was soft — perfect for a $2.5K — and we were dialed in. Unfortunately, we got moved. The new table was tougher, but manageable. We cruised to 215K by the final break. In the last two levels, we peaked at 248K after boating up and getting paid. Then came a cold stretch — card dead, played just two hands, both folded river. Still, we bagged 193,400 heading into Day 3. That’s 81BB at 1.2K/2.4K blinds. Not bad at all considering we were down to 35K inside the first two hours. Now, the real test begins. My Day 3 table draw is stacked — Khale Burns and Jarrod Thatcher on my left, Adam Thaagard on my right, plus a few other familiar crushers. Easily one of the toughest tables in the room. With so much soft dead wood in the field, it’s a brutal draw. But I’m embracing it. This is the kind of spot I’ve been preparing for all year. It’s a chance to showcase the work, the study, and prove I belong. These won’t be the last battles with these guys — and today’s a great opportunity to level up. Hopefully I’ll be back with a Day 3 write-up that includes a deep run in the Centurion. If not, there’s a $600 Sprint and $1K PLO tonight to bounce back. See you all on the flip side!

Do u believe its worth playing daily $100 mtts with 15-30 players? What sort of roi? Live

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59076584#post59076584)

Do u believe its worth playing daily $100 mtts with 15-30 players? What sort of roi? Live

Im unsure need more info on the tourneys and were they are etc, but in short yes they are beatable- since its live 20% ROI + probably over a long sample size Im currently at 40% ROI live life time according to my Pokertracker APP in tourenys but that a short sample because i dont grind live mtts every weeke etc.

Day 3 Recap Well… it was one of those days. The $2.5k didn’t go to plan, and the $1.1k PLO gave us a solid 25 minutes before disaster struck. Here's the rundown — frustrating, yes, but we move forward. $2.5k Centurion We sat down at a table full of crushers, ready to battle. Third hand in, we pick up QQ in the big blind. CO opens, BTN — a strong reg — 3-bets to 7bb. We 4-bet to 20bb off an 80bb stack. CO jams for 60bb, BTN folds. What do you do? I threw it to Instagram — split between call and fold. Honestly, it’s player-dependent. Against a solid reg, you call all day. Against Old Man Coffee, you fold. My read? Tight, but a little spazzy — mostly based on his outfit. No solid info. I leaned on GTO here — it’s a razor-thin spot. We call. He shows AA. We go from 194k to 18k in three hands. From there, we grind. Folded down to 5bb, then doubled A3o vs KTo. Doubled again with 33 vs A8o. Then, right before end of rego, we get it in with 22 vs AJ for 20bb — spike a deuce on the flop. So: 194k → 18k → 12.9k → 123k by end of rego. Starting stack is 100k, blinds 2k/4k. We’re alive. That’s the one bright spot of the day. Then came the freeze. Card dead for two hours. Played just three hands — all from the BB. Re-jammed KTo vs SB open for 13bb. Defended 45s and 64s, missed both. Just couldn’t find a spot. Post-break, folded down to 6bb. Then finally saw AT — jammed from MP, CO wakes up with 99. Board runs out QJ8J5. Flip lost. Dream of 344k gone. We finish 224/771. Honestly, we played well. Outside the QQ hand and maybe the 22 spot, we did everything we could. Stayed mentally tough, clawed back, kept fighting. With a little variance and better distribution, a deep run was brewing. $1.1k PLO Missed the $600 we wanted while hanging around the $2.5k, so jumped into the $1.1k with 40bb and a dream. Made it to break, then this hand hits: BB with AA9J single-suited. BTN (a reg) opens to 3bb, SB flats, we pot. BTN re-pots — basically puts us all in. We run it. He shows KKA9 single-suited. We’ve got him crushed — 71% preflop. Flop comes Ks4sKc. Yep. Quads. GG. Early night. Nothing we could do. What we could control, we nailed. First few days have been solid play, zero reward. Feels like déjà vu from last year — fire bullets, brick everything. Either get it in behind or they catch up. Haven’t had a deep run in Australia’s biggest series since 2023. Still a week to go — hoping the tide turns. Next Up: $1.5k Jackstar Soft field. $200k+ up top. Would be a great one to bag Day 1. If not, early night before Day 2 of MLR. Catch you on the flip side. We keep grinding, keep controlling what we can. PEACE

Hey team, in bed so just a quick one We played awful- calling like 58s from the sb awful like a whale - was clearly annoyed at the last few days and when we didn’t start well we clearly weren’t in the mood to play Anyhow from our 80k ss in the 1.5k drop to 35k before calling an 18bb 3bet jam with AQs vs AK- we found a Q to stay alive and get to 50k and 50bb Next orbit in the bb again- we look down at QQ again like the 2.5k Instead a fish raises to 3.5bb a good reg 3bets to 12bb - so bigger pot similar situation - decide on just get it in instead of 4bet and have to fold Original raiser has KK and gg Brutal game running into everything - but played really bad today too I’ll mlr- kinda still feel like it doesn’t matter what we do I just fly up to QLD to lose 99% of the time- but who knows maybe I won’t go card dead for the 1st two hours like the 2.5k anyhow an annoyed and frustrated Damo out speak to you tomorrow - sighhh

You could be runner up at aussie millions 15x in a row mate. I will win it 15x in a row. u could also be runner up at wsop main 9x in a row. I will win it 9x in a row. u could go down as second on hendon mob all time winnings.

Day 5 Recap Another tough day in the books. The $1.5k Jackstar drew more runners than the Centurion — 1,477 entries chasing $344k up top — but unfortunately, we couldn’t spin our MLR into anything meaningful. We didn't have many of spots, and I’m happy with how I played the only four hands we were dealt that were playable: Kh call‑down blind vs. blind over two streets to take a small pot. TT from MP (2x raise) — button clicks it to 4.1x. Given the size, I call. Flop comes A‑7‑3 rainbow; we fold. TT jam for 9bb from UTG+1. QTs shove for 8bb UTG, but run into ATo and 99 — no queen, no flush. That’s been the pattern in these bigger buy‑ins: play a solid Day 1, run a big hand into another big hand, and either bag a short stack or a MLR stack for Day 2… then go card‑dead. It’s variance, but still frustrating. All we can do is focus on making the best decisions and keep moving forward.

$450 Big Bounty ($200 per KO) The “variance gods” clearly don’t like me when I’m in the Gold Coast for this series. Flatted 44 from MP vs. a UTG open; BB defends. Flop J‑5‑4, checked to me; I down‑bet, BB calls. Turn Q♣, I overbet pot to set up a river jam, BB calls, leaving ~0.6 SPR. River 7♣, BB lead‑jams; I have to call due to size of pot and bounties— and he turns over 9♣5♣. Later, MP raise, SB flats, BB jams, I iso. SB tanks with a short stack and folds ATo; flop comes T‑high — I would’ve been out if he’d called. Then came the hand… Player with 1.2bb UTG jams. MP re‑jams for ~35bb. Next player jams for 33bb. I’m in SB, peel K♠K♦ — let’s go! We’re up against A5o (UTG), Q9s (35bb), and 44 (33bb). Lady at the table says she folded a four… then the window card is the 4♥. Yep — we get one‑outered for a massive stack that would’ve set me up to bounty hunt + scoop 3 more KOs. Instead, we’re crippled — but covered the Q9s player, so at least we grabbed his bounty and were effectively freerolling the tournament. Busted soon after trying to isolate another bounty with 97o and we bust, Player UTG jams 2bb MP and SB flat we jam bb for 13bb and MP calls KTo and we dont get there.

Looking Ahead Another frustrating day of having the big hand and not holding. One day here in the Gold Coast we will hold with the best hand in a big spot. Hopefully it’s today as we take our first shot at the Main Event. If we bust (and use our one rebuy), I’ll be firing the $400 Mini High Roller ($100k GTD). For now, the plan is simple: keep playing the best game possible and let the cards fall how they may. The variance gods can’t say “no” forever. On to the next one.

how much do you spend on travel/accomodation food etc for these series? If you have a 50% roi in these mtts you only make $750 for the mtt. if u played 10 $500 mtt avg buyin u only make $2500. Time u pay for travel, time off work accomodation food ur better off working ya job and making coin. Online mtts if ya grind $22 avg buyins and have a 10% roi ya make $2.20 a mtt and if ya play 20 a day your making $44. thats close to $70 australian dollars a day. if ya get a 30% roi then its $210 a day. 1k for 5 days. Seems better to just grind online than playing live in a different state purely for profit reasons.

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59079709#post59079709)

how much do you spend on travel/accomodation food etc for these series?If you have a 50% roi in these mtts you only make $750 for the mtt. if u played 10 $500 mtt avg buyin u only make $2500. Time u pay for travel, time off work accomodation food ur better off working ya job and making coin.Online mtts if ya grind $22 avg buyins and have a 10% roi ya make $2.20 a mtt and if ya ... See full post

Online way harder field, and not as many mtts with juiced up prizepools- So have to factor that in as well, Only play a handful of series a year when I travel. As i work full time I take that travel out my life budget.

Day 6 — Double Bags and Big Dreams What. A. Day. Rolled out of bed at 10 a.m. after a 3 a.m. finish — usually the sign that something big just happened. Spoiler: it just might be brewing. Let’s recap. �� Main Event Madness We shifted our Main Event Day 1 to today instead of Friday, and wow… the turnout is insane. First place is projected around $1 million. I jumped in a day early to (A) give myself more chances to fire bullets, and (B) earn a rest day before Day 2 if I bagged up. Played out of my skin for 90% of the day — a couple of small mistakes — but I still bagged 148k from a 30k starting stack. We come back at 2/4k blinds with 30+ BB and a dream. Close call right before the finish: Raised in MP from a reg, I’m on the button with JJ and 3‑bet. SB cold‑flats (covering me), MP calls. Flop: 7♦ 6♣ 2♦ — checks to me, I c‑bet small. SB check‑raises, MP jams. I fold, SB calls: 77 vs nut flush draw. Disaster narrowly avoided. �� Mini High Roller — $450 (100k GTD) 920 runners. I couldn’t resist. Late‑reg’d with 25 BB during the ME break, deep enough to work with. Won a pot to double up while sprinting between tables, then came this beauty: Blinds 1.5/3k, I have 106k. BTN with T♣ 9♣. UTG raises, I flat; SB flats; BB tanks, then flats. Flop: T T 9 — absolute dream. UTG bets small, I flat, BB calls. Turn: J♣ — only losing to JT or JJ now. Checks to me, I bet 30k. BB jams, UTG jams, I snap. BB: KQo (stone dead). UTG: ATo. River bricks — monster stack acquired. Made a big ICM fold 3 off the money with A K s after 4‑betting into a shove. Then the swings hit: lost a few flips, down to 10 BB. Doubled with AA… slipped again… and then came the trap: BTN with AA and 9.5 BB: limp. SB calls, BB checks. Flop: A K 2 ♥ ♥ — top set. Checks all round. Turn: 9♠ — BB bets small, I call. SB folds. River: J — BB jams over‑pot. I snap. He’d been barreling 4‑5o after flopping a gutshot. We, end the night with 21 left. Coming back for Day 2 with 20 BB and a live shot at $51k in a $450. ✌️ Summary The double bag in one day — Main Event and Mini High Roller — is done. Two stacks, two dreams, and a shot at a very big score. Next update: let’s chase that FT.

I just looked at the schedule. Looks like rake is insanely high? Like the millions was 1300+200 am i reading that correctly? Is this just completely irrelevent/negligible tho because its live and 50%+ of the player pool is bad? Also GL hope u make 2 FT

I hope you become a professional poker mtt player mate. 😀

by BigBananas m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59080151#post59080151)

I just looked at the schedule. Looks like rake is insanely high? Like the millions was 1300+200 am i reading that correctly? Is this just completely irrelevent/negligible tho because its live and 50%+ of the player pool is bad? Also GL hope u make 2 FT

Hey Big Bananas, thanks for the luck may or may not of helped 😉 - Yeah the rake is insane in AUS, and especially at millions time. We had quite a number of notable regs complain (especially for the 2.5k). In saying that the player pool kinda makes it worth playing because there are people in the field that are just free money. I myself only play one 2.5k a year or maybe 2 because I don't belong in those fields every day either. So if im jumping in and then there are people worst than me jumping in - makes the rake sorta tolerable.

Day 7 – The Mini High Roller, Day 2 Recap We came back with 21 players left, sitting 12th in chips thanks to a clutch double-up right before bagging. The question was: would we spin it up, make the final table, and maybe even take it down? Spoiler: Oh yes, it was our day. Early Momentum We started hot — scooping the first few pots and bluffing our way to 2M chips. Then came a knockout: button vs big blind, AK vs K3s for 6bb. Clean runout, stack climbing. But then… the chip leader moved to our left. Time to tighten up. Lost a few pots, dropped to 13bb, and with 14 left, found a crucial flip: SB: AJo (limp) BB (CL): 4bb squeeze We jam, he snaps with TT Flop QJ9, turn 5, river 2 — we hold and climb back toward the top. Bubble Play & Final Table On the bubble, we mixed aggression with well-timed pressure, sneaking into the chip lead by just 1bb heading into the FT. Even better — a fellow SA reg was seated right next to me, so the banter was top-tier. Early FT didn’t go our way — from 1/9 to 6/6. But a couple of perfectly timed 10bb bluff jams kept us alive. Then came a key spot: SA reg jams button for 11bb (eff he is CL) We’re in SB with 55, BB has 9bb Snap call — 55 vs ATs, board runs clean. Back into the chip lead. With four left, stacks were even until the SA reg scooped a big one. Time to grind. Three-Handed Battle We wrestled back the lead with some 3-bet aggression and wide jams against “Asian uncle.” Then: He jams button for 10bb We peel AKo in BB — snap! Flop AK2 (locked), turn Q, river Q… ouch. Old me might’ve tilted into oblivion, but thanks to my partner’s box-breathing drills, I stayed calm. We laughed it off and soon after won a flip — his T9s vs our 55 — flopping him dead on AA5.

Heads-Up & The Deal We started HU with a 4bb lead (34bb vs 30bb). With pay jumps from $31k to $51k, we agreed to an ICM deal: I locked $42k, my mate $40k, plus $1.2k and the trophy left to play for. A few hands in, the big one hit: We 3-bet A♦J♦ preflop, he calls Flop K♦8♦5♦ — we bet small, he jams ~2x pot Never a flush here, so we call… but he’s got 85h for two pair. No help on the runout. Shortly after, we jam KQo for 15bb into A5o and bow out in 2nd — but with 1st-place money locked. Final Thoughts No trophy, but I’m ecstatic with how I played. Multiple comebacks from sub-10bb stacks, mental game on point, and another huge score: 2nd $35k+ score this month 3rd in 13 months New personal best by $2k over my Lex Live Main Event win Next Up Day 2 of the Main Event — 775 players left, I’m 334th. Top 355 get paid, $740k up top. Let’s run it up!

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which one are u bro? i think red jumper. such a happy lad.

Nice,congrats on the good score!🍰

by BigBananas m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59081123#post59081123)

which one are u bro i think red jumper. such a happy lad.

Bottom right hand corner. soccer shirt. Hes crushing mtts. Pity he couldnt finish the deal and get 1st but oh well,

$42k whats the roll at now bro?

by BigBananas m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59081123#post59081123)

which one are u bro i think red jumper. such a happy lad.

Inter Miami top <3

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59081173#post59081173)

Nice,congrats on the good score!🍰

Thanks DeeKayBee taking inspiration from you and your curshing ways over the long sample you have in your journey

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59081201#post59081201)

Bottom right hand corner. soccer shirt. Hes crushing mtts. Pity he couldnt finish the deal and get 1st but oh well,

Dont know if im curshing but live MTTs my ROI is pretty decent over a few years of taking it seriously. Happy for Dylan- its been a long time between drinks, we did lock up 1st place money! However lets not focus on no trophy but instead how well another reg played and beat us heads up in a match he deserved to win. Much better way to think then we threw it away etc. In terms of the 2nd question the roll. Somewhere in the range of 50k-175K- Dont want to fully disclose it. Also with my partner and I buying a block of land and then building soon Ive moved some funds around as well. But the roll is healthy, selling action helps if we are losing and using a good BR management will protect it (60-100 buyins since we have a full time job).

Day 8 Recap

Main Event – Day 2 Recap Day 2 didn’t quite go to script. Early on, I defended the big blind with Q2s against a min-open and a call, flopped a flush… only for the board to pair and run me straight into a boat. Not long after, I jammed my 10bb from the button with ATo, got looked up by an older Asian uncle holding K8o — and he found a way to get there. Short-lived, but still an awesome experience. A deep run in this Main will come one day — I can feel it. Switching Gears With the rest of the day free, I jumped into the commentary booth. Honestly, I love being behind the mic, calling the action for a live stream. Jordan, Mike, and I had great chemistry and plenty of laughs. If I get the chance to commentate again, I’ll grab it with both hands. Good Luck to the Runners GLGL to everyone still in the Main — $740k up top would make for one insane sweat. Today’s Plan Feeling a little under the weather, so it’s either: A chill, recovery day, or The $350 100k GTD Monster Stack, with a small PLO MTT on the side. See you on the flip side ❤️

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59081943#post59081943)

Dont know if im curshing but live MTTs my ROI is pretty decent over a few years of taking it seriously. Happy for Dylan- its been a long time between drinks, we did lock up 1st place money! However lets not focus on no trophy but instead how well another reg played and beat us heads up in a match he deserved to win. Much better way to think then we threw it away etc. In ter... See full post

Family man soon. Enjoy ur travels now while it lasts.

2nd-to-Last Day Recap – APL Milly 2025 We’re nearly at the end of the APL Milly 2025 journey, and today brought another shot at a $40k payday in the $350 100k GTD Monster Stack. Did we run it up again? Let’s find out.

Late Reg & Early Grind With two-hour wait times, a late reg was inevitable. I killed time watching some junior AFL grand finals with the GF, grabbed some food, and then settled in for another long grind — sore throat and all. Despite feeling under the weather, I doubled my stack without showdown within a few orbits. Then: AJ vs AT for 10bb — KO. Defended 89o vs CO min-open + BTN flat, flopped K84, turned a 9, but missed river value when it checked through on the Js. The Swings Begin Two lost flips dropped me to 150k at 25/50k (avg ~13bb — basically a live hyper). Found a double with 87o on 822 after x/r jamming a multi-way pot. Held in key spots: 88 vs AJ (flip) AK vs 76s on 38Khh (held vs flush draw) We bullied the bubble and had over 2x average when it burst — 81 players between me and another 40k shot.

Monster Pot UTG (25bb) with KTs♥, I open 2x, UTG+1 flats, SB jams 2.3bb, BB calls. I flat (can’t reopen action), UTG+1 calls. Flop: 7♥6♦J♥ — BB checks, I check to trap, UTG+1 bets 1.5bb, BB folds, I call. Turn: T♠ — I check planning to x/jam middle pair + flush draw, but UTG+1 jams pot. Easy call. He shows AQ♥ — we’re ahead. River brings another T, no heart, and we scoop a 3.4M pot. With 70 left, I’ve got 4x average and feel like I’m steamrolling to the FT. The Slide New table, second hand: AKo on BTN. UTG limp, MP limp, I raise to 5bb (30bb stack). BB — a reg I know from the Mini High Roller FT — jams 19bb. Tough spot, but AK is a call. She has KK, we brick, and I’m back to 2M. Then: Lose to a 4bb stack (A6s vs AA) Lose to another shorty (AKo vs ATo) On break: 36 left, 1M stack at 75/150k (avg 1.2M). Everyone’s short except the KK crusher. Final Hand SB with 8bb, CO opens 2x (10bb stack). I peel JJ — snap jam. CO has KK. No help, and from a mountain of chips an hour ago, I’m out in 29th for $915. Takeaways Good profit, unlucky not to go deeper. Sometimes the deck just says “no.” Next Up Today: the $600 Deep Stack — last event of the series before I rest up and shake this cold. Final update coming soon.

Are u mates with James Obst or Joey Hachem?

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59083052#post59083052)

Are u mates with James Obst or Joey Hachem?

James Obst Ive never met Ive played against Joe at stacked and at APT, Nice guy, probably more sp called "friends" (more interactions) with Tony Hachem, then Joe. Both great guys and nice fellas. So friends no have I met spoken and played against, yes!

Final day recap I closed out the trip with one last shot — the $600 Deepstack MTT. I wasn’t feeling 100%, so I only fired a single bullet. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a run or build a stack, and my tournament ended earlier than I’d hoped. That bust‑out also marked the end of my APL Milly campaign. After tallying up all my buy‑ins and the action I sold, I’m finishing this trip up over $30,000. That’s especially satisfying when I think back to last year’s APL Milly, where I walked away down $20k. What a turnaround. Next up, I’ll be playing a few local series around Adelaide — but for now, it’s time to head home, rest, and recharge away from the felt. Thanks to everyone who followed along with this series. I’ll see you next time for another update from the grind.

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59083597#post59083597)

Final day recapI closed out the trip with one last shot — the $600 Deepstack MTT. I wasn’t feeling 100%, so I only fired a single bullet. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a run or build a stack, and my tournament ended earlier than I’d hoped.That bust‑out also marked the end of my APL Milly campaign. After tallying up all my buy‑ins and the action I sold, I’m finishin... See full post

Grind the job + online. Eat a whole bag 500g of brocolli a day

Home safe and sound, Flu has come and is starting to go, Ill come back to the blog next week with some rough plans of what my year looks like moving forward. Thanks for being part of the journey again!

Rest-of-Year Forecast – Live Poker, Study Grind & What’s Next Hey team—hope everyone’s doing well! As promised, here’s a rough overview of what’s coming up for me for the rest of 2025. It’s been a wild 13 months (yes, I’m counting the extra one to keep Lex’s live score in this preview), and the trend is clear: live poker is where the ROI shines. So that’s where I’ll be focusing my volume moving forward. 🎯 Live Schedule Still working full-time, but I’ve got enough flexibility to hit most of the major series here in Adelaide. Here’s what’s locked in (or close to it): 🏆 Stacked Poker – Adelaide Poker Festival (Oct 1–13) Likely events (not guaranteed): $350 Mini Main Event $350 5-Game Mixed Event $600 6-Max $400 Monster Stack (2-day) $1,000 Mix Game Challenge $1,250 Main Event Possibly the $2,200 Croc High Roller (would sell action if I fire) Stacked is a great venue—solid regs, good vibes, and always a fun battle. Highly recommend coming down if you’re local. 🍷 Southern Poker Tour – Battle of the Barossa (Nov 5–9) $250 Main Event (multi-day) $450 High Roller (1-day) $1,150 Super High Roller (2-day) $350 Monster Stack This tour isn’t high-roller prestige, but it’s well-run and has a great mix of mid-stakes regs and pub players. If I’m in the Player of the Series race, I’ll likely jump into a few extra self-dealt events too. 🥊 Matchroom – SA Super Series (Dec 2–16) I’ve had a rough patch with Stacked lately—14-hour days, no Day 2 MLR rego, staff changes, and the royal flush scandal haven’t helped. But if I want volume, I might still play: $1,250 SA Super Series Main Event No interstate or overseas travel planned for the rest of 2025, but that could change. I’ll be in Melbourne for AFL Grand Final weekend and will try to play a $500 satellite for an Aussie Millions Main Event ticket. Fingers crossed Stacked runs a few sattys for it. 💻 Online Schedule With three live series coming up, online volume will take a back seat. GG is great for learning, ACR is solid for profit, and CoinPoker’s not bad either—but none of them fit my full-time work schedule or historical ROI data. If I get the itch: A) I’ll jump into a live weekly MTT or cash game (better ROI than grinding $15 ABI online streets) B) I’ll focus on study to sharpen my edge and chase the long-term goal: $300k profit in 10 years and a shot at going pro 📚 Study Plan After three big scores, study is ramping up. I’ll be booking another session with my coach Josh and reviewing hands from the upcoming series. I’m also finally pulling the trigger on GTO Wizard—their drills should help refine my decision-making and boost online ROI. Study fits well into my post-work routine: short sessions, downtime with FM26 (yes, I’m producing content again), and eventually easing back into online with a sharper edge.

🔄 Final Thoughts This is the roadmap for the rest of the year. I’m leaning into live poker—it’s more volatile, sure, but the ROI is stronger and more consistent long-term. To succeed, I believe you need both live and online in your toolkit. But with full-time work, live events are easier to plan around than nightly online grinds that leave no room for loved ones or downtime. I’ll keep you posted on how things go—hopefully the heater continues! See you next time for a Stacked Series update!

PS>>>> Now, I’ll be the first to say: for some regs, online is absolutely the better fit. It’s a life balance thing. While I’m working full-time, the structure and ROI of live events work better for me. But I get it—some will argue that online offers stronger ROI, especially with volume and tools. That said, I truly believe the bigger scores and softer fields are still found in live series—not the nightly $15 ABI grind. Sundays and major online series are exceptions, but they’re tough to commit to with full-time work and limited flexibility. It’s not about saying one format is better than the other—it’s about knowing your edge, your lifestyle, and where you can realistically perform. For me, live poker fits that mold right now.

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59092610#post59092610)

PS>>>> Now, I’ll be the first to say: for some regs, online is absolutely the better fit. It’s a life balance thing. While I’m working full-time, the structure and ROI of live events work better for me. But I get it—some will argue that online offers stronger ROI, especially with volume and tools.That said, I truly believe the bigger scores and softer fi... See full post

Online at 15abi lets say you win at 30% and play 30 mtts a day thats $135US a day for say 10 hours say. thats $13.50 an hour. 20 bucks a hour aussie. Most likely you wont be winning at 30% long term. Your better off getting a part time job at dominos pizza. Delivering pizzas is probably more sexy than 6 tabling online mtts. I think live is the better fit for you. High stakes online ur basically drawing dead. Plus live poker is awesome. Live however moving up to the 2ks, 10ks etc u can still be winner. ur live mtts if ur winning at 40% roi for the upcoming series u will earn $268.80 per mtt. ($672 avg buyin). u will make more money playing live long term and have more fun. I'm doing the same as well. Online poker is boring especially cash games.

Back in the Game: APL Millions Aftermath & Mixed Emotions Hey everyone — finally, a poker update after nearly a month off following APL Millions! We kicked things off at Stacked with our first event: the RHOBS 5-Game Mix (Razz, Limit Hold’em, Omaha 8 or Better, Badugi, and Stud). Confidence was high, energy was buzzing, and we were eager to dive back in. That didn’t last long. It’s wild how just one month away from live cards can mess with your rhythm — both in terms of gameplay and mental sharpness. We showed up expecting another deep run in the mix games, but instead played our F-game. For the first time in years, I had to rebuy in a mix tournament. Bricking nut Badugi draws didn’t help, and every decision felt off. Our second bullet started strong — even picked up AAA in Stud (only the third time ever!) — but couldn’t boat up. We blocked our opponents’ straight and boat outs on a T89T board holding A-T-K. One opponent folded showing J-K, and we ran into KQJ. Brutal. That left us with just three big bets. We busted shortly after. From dominating mix events in July and August to this — it was a soul-crushing reality check. I found myself spiraling: “Am I still good? Has the game passed me by? Why did I take a month off?” All the usual self-doubt. But the truth? We didn’t respect the game, the player pool, or ourselves enough to take it seriously. Instead of heading home, I decided to late reg the Mini Main Event flight. As of writing, Day 2 has a prize pool north of $100K — for a $350 buy-in! Switching to NLH was a breath of fresh air. The transition was smooth, and soon I was locked in — deep breathing, disciplined, and back in A-game mode. Within 15 minutes, we went from a 50K stack to 250K with 18 players left. Top 8 made Day 2. Then came the table move. Action slowed, and with 12 players left, I made a bad bluff catch against the nuts and was left with 6BB. Somehow won A7 vs A6 (no chop!) before the final hand of the night: Button opens with 30BB, I jam 44 from the SB with 9BB, and he tank-calls with JTo. Flop Q88, turn Q — we’re drawing dead. Still, the magic returned quickly in NLH. Strategy was sharp, rust shaken off. Unfortunately, we busted just 3–5 players shy of Day 2. No re-entry — had to take Dad to the airport Sunday. Shame. But the grind didn’t stop there. We jumped into the $600 6-Max the next day. Tried the $120 satellite first — busted two spots off a ticket. Oh well. In the $600, we mostly played our A-game. Made a sick jam that forced a fold from a 7-high flush: Holding KQo (Qc) in the BB, an elderly lady raised MP to 2.5x. SB called, and I flatted. Flop: Kc-3c-5d. Check-check, bet 3BB, both call. Turn: Ac — second pair and nut flush draw. Check-check — elderly lady bets 8BB, SB check-raises to 22BB. I jam for 80BB, applying max pressure with redraw equity. After a long tank, SB folds the flush, saying there are barely any bluffs. True — but we found one of the few semi-bluff combos. That hand set us up nicely. We doubled our starting stack by the first break, peaked at 306K (starting stack was 66K), then got moved tables 10 minutes before late reg. In that short window, we went from A-game to C-game, lost four pots, and dropped to 104K. Note to self: don’t bluff players who don’t understand folding middle pair. We had 25BB at the end of reg. With 19 players left and top 7 paid (around $6–7K for first), we were dreaming of a deep run. Instead, it turned into a nightmare. First hand post-break: I raise ATo on the button to 2x. Same reg from earlier jams 20BB from the SB. Standard call — his jam range includes A2–A9 and small pairs. We’re up against 66. Flop J62. Dead. Rivered an A, but too late. Down to 6BB. Folded until BB, picked up KJs. Button (short) jams 8BB, chip leader calls from SB, and I’m priced in. It’s A9 vs 88 vs KJs. Can we get there? Nope. 88 holds. Busto. Played 90% of that tournament at A-game, but a rough 10-minute stretch before rego put us in the sub-30BB danger zone. That’s poker — you can play well and still lose. So, a rocky start to the series. After dropping Dad off today, it’s time for the 2-Day Monster Stack — expected $40K prize pool, and it’ll get smashed. Still got the Main Event, the $2K, and the $1K 5-Game Championship ahead. Plenty to play for.

Busted 2 hands before day 2- pretty annoyed and tilted!- coped the rough end of it post rego again today- im 6 all ins this series post the end of rego in 2x events 0 wins......

Series Update: Grinding Through the Madness It’s been a hectic week juggling work and managing three different teams, but we’ve still managed to play most of the events. Results-wise, we’re slightly down overall—nothing major, just under $1k—but the grind continues. We bagged Day 2 of the Main Event with 225k chips from a 100k starting stack! Back in action today with 39 players left out of 56, and a $200k prize pool still growing as late registration remains open. Should’ve had 400k+ after getting AA in vs QQ for 22bb late—only to see a brutal Q river. Ouch. That hand knocked us down from 340k to 50k, but we clawed back with two double-ups holding AK and a late 3-bet shove with KQs that got through, bringing us back to 225k. Blinds restart at 3k/6k, so we’re still in the mix. We also made two final tables this week. One was in the wild “Red Deuce” tournament—a NLH format where the red 2 acts as a wild card. I max late regged, played just three hands while still in the Main Event, bagged the Main, doubled up at the FT, and ICM-ed my way to a 2nd place finish. $300 buy-in, cashed for $2.6k. Not bad for a side hustle! The $1k Mixed Game Championship was a battle. Play wrapped around 4am, and we made another final table—top 3 paid, but I finished 4th. Managed a bubble deal with the other short stack, so in for $1k, out for $2k. We played lights out, had multiple huge pots where we were favorite to scoop 75% or more—but got outdrawn every time. The eventual champ was all-in six times before the FT and survived them all. I was all-in twice: once 6-handed and once on the bust-out hand. Some players just run pure in the mix formats… Despite the variance, we’ve been playing great. Slightly down for the series, but trending in the right direction. Hoping Day 2 of the Main goes smoothly—no rebuy needed—and we find ourselves deep again, which is becoming a bit of a habit lately. Catch you in the next update!

Main Event Day 2 Recap: From the Trenches to the Chip Lead Another Day 2 in a Main Event. We started around 38th out of 59 runners — plenty of work ahead. What followed was a marathon grind through a minefield, full of setbacks, resilience, and a late surge that shocked even me. Early Grind: Card Dead and Climbing We arrived feeling good, on time, and with a decent stack — 30+ BB thanks to a BB rollback to 3k/6k. But the tone was set early: card dead, folding down, and losing the first pot we played. Three levels in, we were down to 140k. Finally, a couple of pots went our way, and we clawed back to 200k by the end of registration at the 5k/10k level.

Short Stack Survival and Bubble Play Post-reg, we hovered around 20 BB. The player to my right built a big stack and was aggressive. He opened the button, and I flatted J9s. Flop came TT3 rainbow, turn Qs gave us an open-ender, and I barreled small. River was a blank 7, and I went for a big bluff — 90% pot. He tank-called with KK. Down to 10 BB. That was the theme: stuck below average all day. Out of 218 entries, 59 remained past late reg. 27 paid. First place: $60k. Min cash: $2.5k. We needed help. Got three jams through, then with 13 left to the money, we faced our first all-in at risk. Folded down to 8 BB, then peeled A3o from the BB. Flop A89, turn Kd, river 8 — we held vs QJo and doubled to 20 BB. Ten off the money. AQ vs AK: The Turning Point Five spots from the money, sitting on 12 BB, I opened AQo UTG. The BB — a reg — snap-jammed. Tough spot. ICM pressure was real, but I used the time bank and called. He had AK. Main event over? Nope — Q in the window! We held. Back to 20 BB. Bubble dragged on for over two hours. With 10 BB, we jammed AJo vs an aggressive button opener. He called with A9s — we flopped a J and turned him dead. ITM secured. Dinner break. In the Money, Still Short Back from break, 27 left. I was 24th in chips. Still card dead. Folded for what felt like eternity. Then, with 12 BB, I opened AQs from the CO. Button jammed for 10 BB — we snapped. He had KQs. Flopped him dead with three spades. Back to 20 BB. Double KO on the feature table redraw dropped us below average again. With 17 left, we grinded small pots, lost some, won some. Made the pay jump at 15. At the next break, 13 left — I was 12th with 10 BB. The player to my left had 5 BB. Next jump: $3.6k.

Final Table Bubble: The Spin Begins Post-break, two busts brought us to 11 left. I had 9 BB and joked, “Happy to come 11th if it happens.” But then — a spark. Defended 65s of hearts from the BB. Flop K53 all spades. Turn 5d, river 2d — I led for 2 BB and took it down. Small win, but momentum. Then, the shocker. From Short Stack to Chip Lead in 15 Minutes Next orbit, in the BB again. SB — a hyper-aggressive reg — jammed 11 BB. I peeled K7o. He had 42o. Flop JJ5, turn 5 — turned him dead. Up to 22 BB. Next hand, in the SB. Button jammed 15 BB. I looked down at JJ — re-jammed. BB folded. He had TT. We held. Boom — 36 BB. Final table bubble. First hand, a 4 BB stack doubled. Second hand, SB — one of Australia’s top regs — jammed 11 BB. I peeled AQo. He had ATs. Flop 853 all spades — I had the Qs. Turn: fourth spade. Turned him dead. From 11/11 to 1/9 in 15 minutes. Unreal. Final Table Bound We bagged up 4.925 million with 21 million in play. Day 3 resumes tonight at 6:30 PM. Guaranteed $5k, playing for $60k. This marks my fourth major final table in three months. Can we ship another?

Gratitude and Grit Extremely grateful for the run good and proud of playing my A-game. One of the regs came back from a smoke and said, “Dammo, that’s not your stack!” That moment hit different — because it came out of nowhere. Like Rocky vs Apollo — taking hit after hit all day, then finally landing a shot to the ribs in Round 14. Will this be Rocky I — a valiant effort but short of the win? Or Rocky II — where I finally take down the Main Event at Stacked Social? Third time lucky? See you tomorrow to find out.

Good luck at FT.

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59125531#post59125531)

Good luck at FT.

Thanks mate! - hopefully we go well

Beers pre-game?

Not quite good enough. 4th for a measly 16k in the main. Next mtt u will hopefully bink.

�� Main Event Final Table Recap: The Jacket Chase Four major final tables in three months. What a heater: �� Stacked Poker Main Event – 5th �� Adelaide APL PT Main Event – Champion �� APL Millions Mini Main Event – 2nd �� Big Stack Poker Festival Main Event @ Stacked – the latest battlefield We came in as chip leader. Was this finally our moment to claim the coveted Stacked Social winner’s jacket—the poker equivalent of the Masters green jacket? Or would heartbreak strike again? �� A Rocky Start Our game plan was clear: apply ICM pressure and go ultra-aggressive. With so many middling stacks, we thought we could bully our way through. But live poker isn’t online poker—people don’t fold just because they should. �� Pivotal Hand: 9 Players Left Blinds: 50k/75k We open from MP with ♠6♠4 to 175k BB (2nd in chips, tight player) calls Flop: ♣5♣3♠K We c-bet 100k BB calls Turn: ♦J We size up to 450k BB calls again River: ♦A We fire 1.1M BB tanks, time banks twice, and calls with ♣A♣Q We show 6-high “I actually love everything post-flop. Small c-bet with range advantage, bigger turn bet on a card that favors us, and bombing the ace river—perfect bluff spot. He shouldn’t have AA, KK, maybe JJ. Ax of clubs is all he can really have. Just wish I’d folded pre!” Down to 2.9M. From chip leader to 4/9. But still in the fight. �� A Slow Middle We played tight, picked our spots, and watched the table shrink: Bust-outs: 9th → 8th → 7th Stack fluctuated between 2.2M and 3.3M Fold, steal blinds, repeat No fireworks, just survival. �� To Dream the Dream? 5-handed. Blinds 100k/200k. We hold 4.2M (21bb). CO opens BTN (Asian reg) jams 20bb We peek at… ���� QQ! CO tanks and folds JJ BTN shows TT Flop: 8♣8♦Q♥ – BOOM! River: J♠ – irrelevant “We scoop a monster. Now holding 40% of chips in play. Chip leader again. Momentum is ours… or is it?” �� From Hero to Zero in 15 Minutes 15 minutes before break. We’re CL. Then two brutal hands vs Billy “The Croc”—a legend and Hall of Famer. �� Hand 1: UTG (4-handed) We open T♠9♥ to 500k (Td - the co-pilot graphics didn't want to play ball) Billy defends BB Flop: 7♦8♦3♣ Billy checks We c-bet 300k Billy calls Turn: 6♦ – we hit the straight! Billy checks We bet 800k Billy tanks, calls River: 7♦ – flush completes Billy leads 250k We call with T-high flush Billy shows A♦K♥ – nut flush “A non-diamond river and we likely win the tournament. I honestly think we go on to win the MTT from here.” �� Hand 2: BvB Billy limps We raise QQ to 875k Billy calls Flop: A♥8♥4♣ We c-bet small Billy calls Turn: K♠ River: K♦ Billy shows A♠9♣ “From 9.1M and a river away from 12–13M… to 6.1M in two hands. The slide begins.” �� The Final Stretch Card dead. We dwindle to 3M. From 1st to 4th. Two all-ins shift the chip lead. We reach the break. �� A deal is struck: Original 4th payout: $16K Deal locks in: $26K With just 10bb, this is a massive win Final Hand We jam Q♠T♦ Tight opponent calls with A♠7♠ No help. GG. “I really wanted that Stacked Social winners jacket. To me, that’s the Masters Green Jacket. But I’m Rory McIlroy—can’t seem to get it done until the twilight of my career.” �� The Scoreboard Despite the heartbreak, the run is unreal: Total Buy-ins for the 4 tournaments mentioned above: $3,500 Total Winnings from the above: $115,255 Profit: $111,755 (Excludes sold action in APL Millions) �� Gratitude & Grind “This heater is the best of my career. We’ve worked hard, studied deep, and executed consistently. The results are showing.” Now, a well-earned break. Time for some Football Manager, a new game, and the day job. But one day—maybe this becomes the day job. Until the SPT series in a few weeks… See you at the felt. ����

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FT suit , is this something you iften do for FT?

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59126974#post59126974)

FT suit , is this something you iften do for FT?

Just at stacked social- me and one of the owners made a deal if we both ft the main we would wear a suit- we did but he was unwell and pulled out- everyone loved it though! So did it again 😂😂😂

update? any more binks?

Hey Everyone, quick update, due to being busy (work, life and football manager coming out) - skipped the very small SPT series in early Nov! However back to the grind in Dec with the matchroom series, and ill play more than what the schedule says above. This is due to location and closeness to the tournaments compared to the SPT series. Hopefully we can end the year with a bang! More updates to follow!

�� Back to the Online Felt Hey everyone, After a bit of downtime, I might be making my way back to the online streets. It’s been a quiet stretch without much play, but I’m ready to fire things up again — and yes, I’ll be hopping back on stream! �� Catch me live at DAMMO_23 on YouTube or Twitch. ⏰ Stream kicks off in about 6 hours from this post (5am ACST). �� Games: CoinPoker, ACR, and Iggy. Quick tech note: PPP doesn’t run if PT4 is open, but I’ll likely keep PT4 running for proper tracking on Iggy and ACR. I’m hoping for a smooth session back, and more importantly, it’s time to start ramping up the volume. If we want to make the most out of 2025, consistency is key — so let’s get after it. See you on the tables!

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59164885#post59164885)

�� Back to the Online FeltHey everyone,After a bit of downtime, I might be making my way back to the online streets. It’s been a quiet stretch without much play, but I’m ready to fire things up again — and yes, I’ll be hopping back on stream!�� Catch me live at DAMMO_23 on YouTube or Twitch.⏰ Stream kicks off in about 6 ... See full post

im going to watch ur stream bro. when u going to wsop? its going to be great summer!

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59165033#post59165033)

im going to watch ur stream bro. when u going to wsop? its going to be great summer!

Next year I have a Family Vacation planned in europe around WSOP time- so hopefully the year after that! I am building a house atm so it might be 2028 that I finally get to the tackle WSOP

First Stream Back – Update 🎥♠️ I won’t make a habit of posting after every single stream, but after a few months away it felt amazing to be back in the saddle — playing online and streaming again! A huge thank you to everyone who tuned in on YouTube or Twitch. Numbers were expectedly low after the break, but the support means a lot. More importantly, we came back sharp, played our A‑game, and found ourselves in some deep runs across multiple sites. CoinPoker & Iggy Two of the softest sites we can grind with PT4 running. Unfortunately, no big scores this time — down $110 on Iggy and $150 on CoinPoker. On CoinPoker, I made it to the final 26 of the $50 Saturday Main and the final 14 of the $25 Saturday Hyper, but bubbled both. Classic story: no big flips won late, and you simply can’t ship MTTs without those crucial spots going your way. ACR Looked like more of the same here. I built stacks in the $33 Marathon and the $11 Mystery Bounty, but neither made it ITM after some tough spots. Just when it seemed like all three sites would be a losing day, the $11 Freezeout came in clutch. I spun up to a 70bb stack and took a massive chip lead with 8 left. With over 70% of the chips in play 5‑handed, it was pure ICM aggression — jamming relentlessly. No real sweat heads‑up, ran hot, played sharp, and shipped it for $151. That turned ACR into a profitable stop for the day. PPPoker Our softest site, with plenty of Aussie/USA action, makes it worth firing higher ABI events. I jumped into the $152 PKO High Roller as my only MTT here. Started strong with 3 KOs before late reg, but dipped hard from 4/16 to 17/21. Stayed composed, doubled a few times, and clawed back to the FT (7/8, GTD $248 + PKO). From short stack survival to heads‑up against an 80bb monster with a $650 bounty, it was a grind. Mixed strategies, picked up timing/sizing tells live on stream, and eventually trusted my reads. The result: shipped it for $2,898.04, making the day over $2.5k in profit! Conclusion Overall, a hugely profitable return stream. Played well, stayed disciplined, and it was just great to be back live. GG wasn’t available due to some verification issues with my agency, but that should be sorted within a week. Looking ahead, I’ll likely settle into a Sunday, Monday, and Thursday morning routine (Aus time) — which lines up as Saturday night, Sunday night, and Wednesday night for USA/Europe viewers. Perfect timing to catch the bigger events. Here’s to more profitable and fun streams ahead — and don’t miss the photos and final‑hand clip from the $152 PKO High Roller

https://www.twitch.tv/dammo_23/clip/CallousEnergeticKiwiCoolCat-PrrekYwLtrRxN-Vf Twitch Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/dammo_23/clip/CallousEnergeticKiwiCoolCat-PrrekYwLtrRxN-Vf)

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Weekly Update: Live & Online Results Hey team, welcome back to another update! Hope your week’s been a good one. Mine was packed with action both live and online—between the Mini Main Event at the Matchroom and grinding Mystery Battle Royales, there’s plenty to recap. 🎲 Live Poker: Mini Main Event Recap This weekend lined up perfectly—my partner had her work Christmas party, so I headed into town to jump into Day 1C of the $450 Mini Main Event (50k GTD). With just 1.5 levels left, the plan was simple: fire one bullet, re-enter if needed. But within half an hour I’d tripled my stack—no second bullet required. From there, it was a rollercoaster: • Post-break, I lost nearly every hand and slid back to 2x starting stack. • A key AK vs KJ hand brought me back to 270k. • Momentum built—3-bets landing, confidence high—until running AK into AA four spots off the money. Back down to 3x start stack. • Another swing: QJo vs KQ on KT9 flop held strong, pushing me to 4.5x stack with just 25 players left. But variance had other plans. AK into AA again, then a lost flip, and suddenly I was on the bubble with 14bb. After grinding down to 5bb, I squeaked into Day 2 with a min-cash of $900. Day 2 started with 8bb and a dream. I doubled KJ vs KQ, J flop! Laddered to $950, but the run ended when AQ jammed into AJ. Flop KQ2 Turn T 3x hearts, river crushed 3h 4 hearts on board GG. Out in 18th. That spot could’ve been worth 16k—but that’s poker. 💻 Online Grind: Mystery Battle Royales MTTs have taken a back seat this month with work keeping me busy, but streaming Mystery Battle Royales has been a blast. Why? • They’re quick and fun to play. • Viewers love the excitement of bounty pulls. • PT4 data shows I’m crushing them over a small sample. Of course, variance is huge—final tables and bounty pulls can swing results wildly—but the numbers speak for themselves. 📊 Year-to-Date Stats (USD → AUD converted) • Games played: 270 MTTs / 8,276 hands • Profit: $2,388 USD ($3,597 AUD) • ROI: 35.38% • Hourly rate: $51.65 USD ($77.80 AUD) - (HR played - 46.23) 📈 December Results So Far • Games played: 56 tournaments / 1,699 hands • Profit: $1,630 USD ($2,454 AUD) • Hourly rate: $169.79 USD ($255.64 AUD) (HR Played - 9.60) • BB/100: 22.86 (8.95 adjusted) Highlights include pulling two $250 bounties in the same game—variance working in my favor for once! 🔮 Looking Ahead With a strong bankroll and confidence in the format, I’ll keep firing Mystery Battle Royales and see how the run continues. On the live side, the Matchroom $1.5k Main Event (100k GTD) is coming up—one last shot at a big final table before year’s end. Thanks for following along, and I’ll be back next week with more updates. Let’s keep the momentum rolling! Appendix data from PT4

() All data results page PT4 (please dont take avg finish into consideration as the data doesnt import properly into PT4 from Pokercraft)

() BB/100 and adjusted stats for all data

() This month data to date BB/100 and adjusted

() Results data for this month to date

() Highest score recorded

Wsop main event winner 2028. One drop winner 2029.

Weekly Update – Matchroom Battles, Online Swings & A GG Masters Sweat This week felt like living three poker lives at once. I’m typing this while 4/7 in a $20 daily turbo on GG, chasing $295 USD — but the real story is everything that happened before this moment. 🎲 The Matchroom Saga Midweek, I sat down for the $600 one-shot, 20k GTD. From the first hand, I was locked in. Early bird entry, stack climbing, confidence rising — then the kind of hand that makes you shake your head. AQo in the cutoff, cash game reg squeezes, we get it in against AJo. Perfect spot… until the board runs out a four-card flush. Just like that, I’m back to 30bb and a dream. The re-buy felt like déjà vu. Spun 10bb up to 25bb, fought tooth and nail, only to jam A6s near the bubble and watch a whale tank-call with 98o. Sometimes poker feels like a cruel joke. Then came the Main Event. Because of family commitments, I jumped straight into Day 2 — short stack, one bullet, grinding from behind. All day I lived under 20bb, never above average, just clawing for survival. With 17 left, I opened KK, only to see AQo flat me. Flop: AQ4. Bet, jam, fold. Down to fumes. But poker gods gave me a lifeline. A couple busts, and suddenly I’m ITM with 6bb. From there, it was pure short-stack artistry — spinning up to 20bb, winning key pots, even limping QQ and springing a trap. For a moment, I was 5/10 and dreaming of the final table. Then the hand. AK UTG, CO jams 20bb with QQ. The flip for glory. If we win, I’m second in chips. If we lose… well, we know how that story ends. QQ held. I busted 10th for $3.3k. A great score, but one coin flip away from rewriting the week.

💻 The Online Grind Mystery Bounties? Let’s just say they’ve been merciless. Thirty-plus games, not a single big bounty. Variance doing its thing. But the regular MTTs gave me hope: • $88 Midnight Hyper: 11th for $360. • $50 Hypersonic: 5th for $400. • And the crown jewel — the $150 GG Masters, $1M GTD. Out of 8,508 runners, I battled all the way to 50th. $1.4k locked up, a deep sweat, and some of the most intense late-stage spots of the year. Twice I got lucky, but when it mattered most, the turbo structure forced my hand. Final moment: A8o in the small blind, 9bb, staring down TT. No miracle three-outer. Out in 50th. 📖 Closing Thoughts This week was a story of resilience. From live flips that didn’t fall my way to online runs that ended just shy of glory, it’s been about staying in the fight. The bankroll is up, the confidence is steady, and the dream of finishing the year north of $90k AUD — maybe even touching $100k — is alive. Poker is variance, but it’s also narrative. And this week’s chapter was about grit, sweat, and the reminder that one flip can change everything. See you next week for the next grind.

() BB/100 Actual and all in adjusted for our mtts this month on gg. Should be winning at 13bb/100 actually losing at -4bb/100 imgaine if we had some variance this week!!

() GG masters deep run! so close to 155k usd and a massive pay day! Played very well in this one!

() And forgot this close to a massive score in the $15 Hyper PKO 4th for a solid score as well!

() Us grinding the short stack day 2 matchroom main event before cashing in 10th for 3.3k AUD

Didnt ship lost a fun one vs a reg was 4/5 and over call a river pot jam with top pair on 33Q57 vs 55.

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Weekly Update – Rolling Into Christmas It’s been a busy lead‑up to Christmas with a mix of live poker, online volume, and a surprising return to a format I probably should’ve been playing more of all along. Let’s dive in. 🎄 Xmas Cup – Live Poker Recap This time of year is chaos for me — work is still rolling, I had family Christmas on Saturday, and I’ve got tickets to the Adelaide Oval Test (go Aussies). That meant I only had one real shot at the Xmas Cup: Thursday night’s MLR flight. We finished five spots off the money and a day 2. The final hand was a 6bb jam with 55 into KQ, and that was that. Found a double early, then went completely card dead and couldn’t build anything meaningful. Even so, what a year for live poker. Truly blessed. • 2× Main Event runs at Stacked Social • 1× Main Event victory in Adelaide (finally!) • APL Millions Mini High Roller chop • Over $85k profit in live MTTs as a part‑time grinder No complaints. What a ride. 🖥️ Online Recap We’re up to 182 tournaments this month. Couldn’t go back‑to‑back deep in the $150 1M GTD, but we did make Day 2 of the $25 Weekender PKO before running JJ into QQ for 40bb with ~670 left. Rough. Sunday was shaping up to be a disaster… until the PLO MTTs stepped in. 🔥 The Return of PLO MTTs PLO tournaments have always been a format I enjoy and feel naturally comfortable in. There isn’t much free MTT‑specific PLO study out there, but there’s plenty of cash‑game content on YouTube, so I decided to fire a few events on Sunday. Great decision. $32 Sunday Omaha Bounty – 2nd Place We saved the session with a deep run, finishing 2nd after getting brutally one‑outered heads‑up. • We 4‑bet KK76 on the button • Opponent calls 7754 • Flop 3‑2‑7 (one suit) • We get it in for less than pot • Only one 7 in the deck… and it lands to basically have us dead. A ~$2k heads‑up pot slips away. Pain. But the momentum was real. More PLO Success • Won the $21.60 PLO bounty on Saturday • Cashed the $100 PLO5 • Came super close to a huge run in the $108 Winter Series PLO Main And the graph for the month? 28 PLO MTTs → 216% ROI → 50% ITM Tiny sample, but elite numbers. It reminds me of the old $100 → $10k bankroll challenge, where most of the profit came from low‑stakes PLO MTTs before burnout hit at $2k. Looks like it’s time to bring them back into the rotation.

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() 🎁 Wrapping Up All in all, a great week. Below this update I’ll drop the graphs for the month so far — the close calls, the deep runs, and the overall volume. With Christmas and the Boxing Day Test coming up, I’ll be playing a bit less, but I’ll recap whatever I do fire. And for those wondering: barely any Battle Royales this week. Too many good MTTs running right now. Hope you all have an amazing Christmas period.

() Total profit/loss for this month on PT4 for MTTs- please note avg position is very skewed - for thos wondering 2977.53 over / 63.42hrs = $46.95 per hr USD or aud 4466.89/63.42 = 70.43 per hr (JUST PLO MTTs is 2366.23/21.90hrs = $108.05 per hr or in aud 3549.82/21.9 = 162.09 per hr)

() 1st place sat 21.60 PLO bounty

() the Sunday 2nd place in the $32 PLO

() The 108 PLO main winter series- came oh so close to a massive run.

Welcome to 2026 We wrapped up 2025 with a late‑session heater and rolled straight into the new year with a very clear focus — and maybe, just maybe, we’ve already kicked off 2026 with a bang.

Farewell 2025 I spent the final days of the year in Melbourne: cricket at the MCG, celebrating my partner’s son’s 18th at Crown, and enjoying a few days to reset. The G was absolutely rocking with 90k+ fans — unreal atmosphere. When I got home, I only managed two sessions to close out the year… but they were worth it. We shipped our third‑to‑last tournament of 2025, keeping the PLO run‑good alive.

() That win capped off a strong December online. We finished the month just under $5k USD profit ($7,332.71 AUD). As expected, most of the profit came from PLO.

() Results for the month of dec

() PLO results for the month of dec NLH was a small win — $723 AUD — after a hot start cooled off. The $25 Mystery 18‑mans were a rollercoaster: up over $3.5k at one point, finishing +$2k before the downswing hit. But here’s the big one… After importing everything from PT4 into the bankroll tracker, we officially locked in a $100,000 profit year (AUD) — clearing the mark by just $200. Honestly, I’d mentally given up on the 100k chase after a rough Matchroom series, but the late‑year PLO MTT surge saved the 6 figure year.

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() Starting 2026 With a Bang Not going to lie — the first session of the year didn’t start pretty. I woke up late, fired a PLO‑only schedule, and immediately found myself down over $600 USD, punting off bullets everywhere (including 2x in the $108 Main). Down to one table — the $54 PLO PKO — I decided to flick in a $30 satellite to the $150 PLO Winter Series Heater. Won the satty. And then things got wild. The $150 Heater Four hands in: • 3 knockouts • 4x starting stack • Instant profit locked The sun‑run continued and I finished with 12 total KOs. The $54 PKO Won a 3‑way all‑in for two bounties, cruised to the bubble with a healthy stack, and then absolutely bulldozed the final table. • Took the chip lead from 4/7 to 1/6 • Knocked out the rest of the field • Finished with 10 KOs • Shipped it for $1.5k Profit secured for the day — let’s go.

() Back to the $150 We lost a huge pot 5 off the money (set + flush draw vs naked open‑ender), limped into the money with <20bb, then heated up again to reach the FT and take the chip lead with 5 left. But unlike the $54, the run‑good didn’t hold. • Lost a massive $448 bounty flip (straight draw + nut FD vs top pair) • Then this gem: BTN opens, SB folds, I 3‑bet pot with AA (As blockers), he calls. Flop: I pot‑jam, he calls off with T‑high flush draw — horrendous call pre and on the flop. Turn: he binks. GG me in 4th.

() Still an insane score from a $30 satty, but brutal to miss what would’ve been a $5k+ total. Incredibly, those two deep runs made nearly half of last month’s PLO profit — in just two tournaments. 2026 is officially underway.

() Goals for 2026

1. Try to Beat 2025 It won’t be easy — $100k profit as a semi‑pro is a huge benchmark — but with more volume and sharper game selection, who knows.
2. Focus on PLO MTTs The PLO To date graph says it all. Even with a tiny sample, the ROI, BB/100, and adjusted numbers show we’re crushing mid‑stakes PLO fields. I’ve never formally studied PLO MTTs, so at some point I’ll look into proper study material. But for now, the natural feel is carrying us strong.

() Results to date note the 42% ITM and ROI of 189% - will say ITM is skewed because PT4 says that if I bust an mtt but have a KO (even a min KO) we have cashed the mtt

() BB/100 is 25.30 crushing the field, anything over 10bb/100 it mtts is considered great so curshing over the small sample. Our Adj BB/100 says we should of won at 27.06 so we actually have run slightly under EV so far over 3k hands 3. Keep Playing All My Usual Live Events Live poker treated me well in 2025. If we can continue that momentum, another six‑figure year is absolutely in play — and if we fall short, that’s fine too. Happy New Year Wishing everyone a safe, happy, and profitable 2026. May you run better this year than you did last year.

Ask Co-pilot that 10bb/100 is still crushing in PLO mtts as its crushing in NLH MTTs and this was the answer FYI

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Bink BIG and bink OFTEN!

Weekly(ish) Update

Hey everyone — time for a fresh update. PLO has been in full swing, and after an absolutely insane session on January 2nd, the run has continued strong over the past week. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, though. When volume dips, I’ve been mixing in some PLO cash as well. So let’s break everything down and see where we’re at. NLH MTTs — The Ugly NLH MTTs have really dragged down the overall monthly grind so far. They’ve always been my bread and butter, but the edge in mid–high stakes is razor thin right now. With PLO MTTs being such a gold mine, shifting my focus makes way more sense. I’ve also been table‑hunting Lex now that he’s back — it’s been 12 years since we last shared an online table — but that hasn’t helped the results either. With so much of the monthly EV tied to one massive deep run, I’ll be avoiding most NLH MTTs for the time being.

() NLH MTT graph! Just awful straight down- I have run below BB/100 ev but still not a great graph to see. Very small sample size however PLO MTTs — The Great The upswing continues. After a rough session immediately following a small withdrawal on GG, we bounced back hard and kept crushing. Plenty of cashes, deep runs, and even a couple of binks. I’ll post some of those results below. The data so far shows that at mid–low stakes, I’m printing — even if it’s still a short sample. I’m over the 5k‑hand mark now, so it’ll be interesting to see how things trend as the volume grows. Still early days, but the momentum is real.

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() PLO MTT graph - thes are going great. 2.3k hands this month an unreal BB/100 and adjusted data. ROI % is huge and up a fair amount. These do look promising over the small smaple size

() All PLO MTTs since dec 22 when I have been tracking, the data here looks fantastic but 5k hands is to early to tell.

PLO Cash — The New I’ve started dipping into PLO cash as part of studying the game more broadly. Most good PLO content is cash‑focused with some MTT adjustments sprinkled in, so it feels like the right move. I’m tempted to grab the Upswing PLO course, but for now I’ve got enough free study material to work through. So far, I feel comfortable in these games. The jump from 25PLO to 200PLO isn’t huge in terms of pool quality — the regs at 200PLO are strong, but there are still plenty of weaker players. Again, tiny sample size, but the early results are promising. The graph below shows the win/loss for all PLO cash in January. It’s a super small sample and doesn’t include rakeback yet. With GG changing their RB system, adding some cash volume to boost RB makes sense, but the main focus will stay on PLO MTTs.

() The cash graph for PLO - I am up as you can see over 718 hands, however I have a poor BB/100 and adjusted - this highlights I have either been A) lucky in some all in spots or B) (and what its more been) - getting it completely dead in some cooler spots. - sample size makes this wing a bit. Conclusion The month is shaping up nicely, and PLO MTTs have been an absolute gold mine. I’ve got a clear focus now: keep improving, keep grinding, and reassess where I’m at in 2–3 months. Have a great one, and I’ll catch you all soon.

() shipped the 32 PLO PKO for piles

() very close to another 4-figure score here in the $54 PLO PKO

() Turbo $30 lost the heads up but we did deal! another solid 10x result

() The small ones count shipping the $10 PLO

yes but how much did u lose?

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59201001#post59201001)

yes but how much did u lose

Hey mate all the graph there is profit loss not total- it’s from the results page of pt4 - if your talking about my poker tracker bankroll app data - I input every live session straight away and then the pt4 data end of each month so that is profit loss

u are poker pro. keep binking and remember if you aint first your last. BINK BIG and BINK OFTEN! Don't never forget that.

SERIOUS coins are made in blackjack roulette and slots. poker is a mugs game.

Weekly Update: Riding the PLO Waves About nine days have passed since the last update, and there’s been no shortage of PLO action. Time to break down how things have gone and what the rest of the month might hold. PLO MTTs The past week in PLO MTTs has been on the rougher side. Our hot run and strong conversion rate cooled off, with a mix of soft bubbles, brutal coolers, and a couple of spots where we simply didn’t play our best. The good news: we’re still up for the month and the overall data looks solid. The downside: no major scores over the last stretch to keep the momentum rolling. One highlight, though — the $32 Winter Series PLO event. It took 13 bullets to make Day 2, but bullet number 13 finally delivered. We bagged 13 starting stacks, picked up a pile of KOs, and finished the flight 2nd out of 13. Last check had us sitting 331/1479 with 81bb heading into Day 2. With $15k + PKO up top, a deep run here would more than make up for the week’s frustrations.

() Very rough stretch of mtts over this point - have run under the data but still should be losing BB/100 - 1 poor week doesnt shape the month though PLO Cash Cash games have been… interesting. At 25PLO, the pool has been giving us absolute headaches — losing big pots, running into coolers, and not improving in key spots. But the story flips completely at 50PLO, where we’re winning comfortably against the field. Even the occasional shot-take at higher stakes has gone well when we’ve spotted a soft table. So overall, we’re up a respectable amount in cash games. The BB/100 graph looks ugly because the big losses are concentrated at 25PLO, while the wins at 50–100PLO tend to be small-to-medium pots. But profit is profit, and between winnings and rakeback, the cash grind is doing its job. On top of that, I’ve now got access to the Upswing PLO Masterclass at a fraction of the cost. With more structured study, the goal is to turn a solid win rate into a great one.

() Winning over $700 usd or ($1,058.96 aud) at $43.78usd an hr or $65.49 aud. - however note still down on BB/100 due to the poor run at 25plo Live MTTs Live poker is back. The Stacked Poker Championship kicked off yesterday, marking our first live stop of 2026. Last year we final-tabled the Main Event in two out of three stops — hoping to repeat that success this time around. The schedule includes a $100k GTD Mini Main, a Stud event, and a couple of PLO tournaments. I haven’t locked in my full schedule yet, but I’ll update you all as I decide what to fire. Conclusion All things considered, it’s been a decent week. The month is still shaping up to be a winning one, and with a deep run or two, January could turn into a fantastic start to 2026. I’ll keep you posted — and below you’ll find the month-to-date results for both cash and PLO MTTs.

() Month to date PLO cash graph

() Month to date PLO MTT graph- still showing some really strong data even after losing 1k in a week

() so close to a massive run in the $32 PLO winter series day 2 - played very well- got a little unlucky in a few spots final 200 - makes that MTT PLO graph for the month look alot better!

Our First Live Series of 2026 + Weekly Online Recap The first live event of 2026 is in the books, and it’s been an interesting mix of online cash, study, and our first live event of the year. Between transitioning formats, diving deeper into PLO theory, and taking a couple of shots live, there’s plenty to break down. Online MTTs Not a huge volume week on the MTT front, but we did make Day 2 of the Weekender PLO off the first bullet. Unfortunately, we came into Day 2 with just 18bb, blinded down to 11bb, and then picked up KKxx double‑suited in the big blind. Chip leader opens 100bb deep. Easy jam. He wakes up with AAxx, we brick despite turning both a straight and flush draw with KK54, and that was that. Outside of that, not much to report — volume was tiny and nothing else really went our way. PLO Cash This was the real focus of the week. I’ve shifted almost entirely to two tables of Rush PLO cash while studying the Upswing course. The idea is simple: • More hands per hour • More rakeback • Higher focus and quality of play • Better ability to apply new concepts immediately The strange part? I’m losing at the smallest stake I play — and losing at a surprisingly high clip. It’s skewing the BB/100 graph for the month, but the bigger picture is still solid. Overall, we’re up for January so far, which is what matters. PLO Study This week’s study block exposed a couple of clear leaks: • Opening the wrong classes of hands from early position • Over‑3‑betting certain KKxx combos • Misclassifying hands that should be flats vs 3-bets based on blocker structure I’ve never done a deep structured PLO study before, and honestly, it’s been eye‑opening. The game is so much richer than it looks on the surface. I’m confident we’ll stabilise and start crushing 25PLO again — even though I’ve mostly been playing 50PLO due to the two‑table setup. $400 Monster Stack + Live Series Update The first live event of 2026 kicked off with the $400 Monster Stack ($40k GTD), and things started beautifully. Early Run‑Up Within the first orbit, we spun our 100k starting stack up to 300k, holding the biggest stack in the room for a good while. We had 370k after the first six levels and were cruising. Then… live poker did what live poker does. Key Hands Hand 1 – AQs vs 54s EP opens, we 3-bet AQs from the SB to 5.5bb. BB — a wild, splashy player — flats 20bb with 54s. EP calls. Flop J♣ 4x 6x. We c‑bet small, BB jams, EP folds. We’re priced in with two overs + backdoors. Brick brick. Down we go. Hand 2 – AQs vs A5o MP jams 12bb with A5o. We reshove AQs on the button. Board runs 9 8 8 3 … 5. Down to 200k. We rebuild to 370k, then the big one hits. Hand 3 – JJ vs AA (Cooler City) UTG opens 2.5x. We flat JJ on the button to keep the crazy SB in the pot. SB 3-bets to 9bb. UTG folds. We call. We start with 45bb. Pot is already 20bb. Flop 8 2 3 rainbow. SB bets 17bb. It’s a gross spot — calling turns our hand face‑up, and this player can absolutely have worse pairs or random 8x. We rip it in. He snaps with AA. And that’s the tournament. Theoretical Review Even if we play the hand “by the book” — 3-bet pre, call the 4-bet, call flop, call turn, call river — we still lose our stack. (run out was 832r 4x 3x - so never folding). It’s simply a cooler in a high‑SPR spot. Despite the exit, I felt sharp, composed, and very comfortable. That bodes well for the rest of the series. Events Still to Come • $250 Stud (I’m hosting a “how to play” walkthrough an hour before to help boost numbers) • $350 Mini Main – 100k GTD • $1250 Main Event (FT’d 2 of 3 attempts last year) • $400 Mystery Bounty – 2 Day Event • $250 PLO PKO • $250 5‑Card PLO Plenty of action ahead. (could fire the 2k as well and sell action). Conclusion A pretty “meh” week overall — nothing disastrous, nothing spectacular. January is still shaping up to be a winning month, and historically I always start the year strong before hitting a rough Feb–Apr stretch. Maybe this is the year we break the pattern. Maybe this is the year we just win every month. Why the hell not. Graphs for the week will be below. I’ll be back later in the week with a full live event recap.

() This Month so far PLO MTTs- small dip as you can see over the last week but only 8 mtts played.

() This month PLO Cash- As you can see -$355 at -142bb 25 plo........- yet winning at 50plo and higher....... Very strange. Overall -15bb/100 due to 25plo but up $499 or $641 for the pots we didn't take a Cash out option which I have done a few times. I've also decided to exclude the 5/10 PLO session we played with the cash dollars we had- It skews the data and I want to give a fair picture of where we are without pumping up the overall winning month to much for you guys. (did win over $100 at 68bb- see previous update).

Bink big and bink OFTEN! Remember if u aint first ur last!

Pile do you reaaly have to come in everywhere whit your same oll BS..... man your annoying

by DAMMO_23 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59215928#post59215928)

This month PLO Cash- As you can see -$355 at -142bb 25 plo........- yet winning at 50plo and higher....... Very strange.

Only 1k hands and PLO variance can be crazy, would worry after 10k hands. Gl in grind.

plo the great game of pot limit omaha. remember the varience is high and some pros wont play it due to the swings.

January Wrap-Up: Not Quite the Finish I Had Planned Hey everyone, Definitely not the end of January I was hoping to write about. Since Tuesday I’ve been seriously unwell — bad enough that I ended up in hospital on Thursday night. Long story short, I managed to pick up one of the worst cases of gastro the team at the QEH had seen. My temperature wouldn’t settle, I couldn’t keep down any fluids, and I dropped 2kg in just a few days. After three IV drips and a pretty rough stretch, I’m finally back home and recovering. As you can imagine, poker volume this week was basically non‑existent. I barely played a hand online… although this morning I did manage to late reg the $54 PLO Weekender, played 27 hands, and somehow bagged nine starting stacks. So at least February kicks off with a Day 2. Live poker was a write‑off too. I missed a bunch of events, but I did still teach the Stud session on Monday night before everything went downhill. That part was actually great — seven people joined, five of them jumped straight into the MTT afterwards, and one of them finished second. As for my own run, we had endless chances to make huge hands and bricked every single one. One of the regs even joked, “If Dammo was playing like he has in the 10k 8‑Game at WSOP, he’d have all the chips… but here vs the newbies he got none.” Ended up 16th for $0 Despite the chaos, January still finished as a winning month: +$3.5k AUD across live and online, all tracked in the bankroll app. The online graph includes the 5/10 punt with cash dollars — if you take that out, the month looks even better. Hoping to feel good enough to fire a Day 1 of the Main Event next week and chase another deep run. For now, just focusing on getting fully healthy again. Stay well, DAMMO_23

() MTT Results graph up 3.1k usd or 4.5k AUD over 114 mtts and 42hrs of play

() Stats for the MTTs showing im running above EV by about 10bb but still crushing over 14bb/100 when adjusted

() Losing month our 1st time playing cash- take out that 5/10 shot we are up swimmingly. Great fight back to even too! excited to see where the study takes us next.

10k lol nice troll, more like 1Mhh even that still not enough for theoric wr

At least you remember if you aint first your last! Bink big and bink often is a common saying around here. keep trying to bink mtts.

() Important to post the losses - tried moving up got rekt over two days.................. didnt run good but towards the end deffs got in my head and tilted will get back to the drawing board and move back down to 50PLO likely a losing month this month oh well..

February Update: A Tough Start, but Clear Positives Ahead Hey guys, quick update for the month. It hasn’t been the greatest start, but there are some positives and a clearer direction moving forward. PLO Cash After giving PLO cash a proper try over the past month, I’ve decided to put it on the back burner. The reality is I’m just too far behind the curve in this format right now, and there’s no point putting volume into a game where I don’t have an edge. Simple as that — focus goes where the EV is, and PLO cash isn’t it for me at the moment. PLO MTTs A combination of factors has made this one tricky: • Night‑time (Asian timezone) PLO MTT volume has been extremely low • Because of that, I haven’t been able to put in the reps or build momentum • I’m still firing them when table space allows, especially during morning sessions The results reflect the lack of volume and some run bad: sitting at –17bb/100, when I should realistically be around breakeven. So the downswing has shown up here. NLH MTTs It’s been nice returning to the format I’ve studied the most and have the deepest experience in. I took a shot at a bigger Sunday schedule (around 2–3k USD worth of high‑stakes buy‑ins) and bricked everything. Outside of that, the regular ABI grind has actually gone pretty well with some solid scores. The frustrating part: I’m running at –5.5bb/100, when the expectation for the month based on spots played is +9.59bb/100. Amazing how a rough start to the month can drag down the whole graph. But the important thing is the play has been strong — the results just haven’t followed yet.

() Stacked Main Event Still wasn’t feeling 100% after being sick, but I gave the second‑to‑last flight a go. Doubled up early, then played my F‑game and busted nowhere near Day 2. Opted for a normal online Sunday grind instead, plus a Day 2 MLR — which, as you can see from above, didn’t go our way despite playing well. Final Thoughts It’s probably going to end up a losing month, but there are real positives: • Playing well across formats • No reward yet, but the fundamentals are strong • With consistent grinding at the 30 ABI, we can reduce the damage • Momentum can swing quickly — next month is a fresh slate The key takeaway: the process is good. The results will catch up.

() Close to an unreal score in the $32 speedracer folded down to .4bb and got a ladder on the FT

() A unreal run in the $30 hyper and again close to a big score- AT vs QT for the last of it which is unlucky

() Lost a brutal one heads up vs a great reg- Lost A8 vs A7 and J7 vs 87 3-handed

() Todays session as you can see with the BB/100 vs the all in adjusted - kinda how the month is going with a lot of semi - deep runs but losing the big important hands.

you need to remember to BINK BIG and BINK OFTEN! Move up the stakes on gg where u can really BINK BIG. Do it often.

by Pileupthecoins m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59232668#post59232668)

you need to remember to BINK BIG and BINK OFTEN! Move up the stakes on gg where u can really BINK BIG. Do it often.

Think this is why you have lost a pile?- it should be based on stats and br management- clearly good enough to grind where I am (all in adjusted ev) - which is a decent ABI - I think moving to $100+ abi is quite difficult without full time commitment to study and playing - will still shot take some Sunday mtts - but yeah pacing your moving up would be my advice

February: One of the Toughest Months of My Career Well… this has been rough. Honestly, one of the worst months I’ve had since taking poker semi‑professionally. Online—especially on GG—absolutely buried me. I’m down over 5k this month between MTTs and a sprinkle of cash, and the decision to shift almost entirely to online play has basically nuked what was shaping up to be a great start to the year. A Pattern I Can’t Ignore I went back through five years of results, and something jumped out immediately: I’ve been profitable in every month except two—December (down 2k, which is fine given the big SA series) and February. But February? Lifetime I’m down 19k in this month alone. Every other month is comfortably positive. That’s not a coincidence. So next year, skipping February might be the move.

Stepping Back Before I Break Right now, GG has me mentally cooked. Based on the volume and spots I’m playing, I should be running around +2bb/100. Nothing crazy, but enough to be breakeven. Instead, I’m deep in the bin. Some of this is self‑inflicted. I tried moving up in stakes this month and got eaten alive. The small amount of GTO work I’ve done this week made it painfully clear: I’m nowhere near ready to battle at a 50–100 ABI online. Accepting Who I Am as a Player The truth is simple: I’m a better live reg. Always have been. All my biggest scores are live. The games are softer. And with my partner moving in next month, I’ll have more freedom and stability to play live consistently again. I’ll still fire up GG occasionally with the small roll I’ve left there—mainly to test new concepts and stay sharp—but the days of grinding online volume are done for now. What’s Next For the rest of February, it’s study mode. March brings a regional live series, including a team event with 3.5k up top for the winners. Never played a team event before, so that’ll be a fun change of pace—and a good excuse for a road trip. I’ll likely mix in some live cash too. I was profitable years ago at 1/3, 2/5, and 5/5 locally; I just never had the consistent schedule back then. Posting the Bad With the Good This blog is about variance and mental game, and this month tested both hard. The deeper I went into the hole, the longer I played. The longer I played, the deeper the hole got. My ability to quit, reset, or stay positive completely evaporated. It’s been a long time since I’ve spiraled like this—punting late‑night cash, feeling negative after sessions, losing the mental edge that usually keeps me grounded. Variance in MTTs is brutal. And honestly, this stretch isn’t even that bad compared to what others go through. But it still stings. The Plan Moving Forward There’s nothing to do except study, reset, grow, and get back to what I do best: Putting in the work. Showing up to live games. Crushing souls. It’s a different kind of update this time—coming off a -6k online swing and looking at a -9k month overall—but the bad deserves to be posted just as much as the good. The year is still salvageable. My biggest losing year ever is only 4k (2023), and we’ve got plenty of time to turn this around. Until next time — catch ya.

Our First Live Cash Session of the Year It’s been a long time coming. Since I started tracking my results in 2021, I’ve only played 38 cash game sessions — but in that small sample, I’m up $98/hr and a solid chunk overall. The funny part? I hadn’t played a single live cash session since early 2024. So walking back into a 5/10 game felt equal parts daunting and exciting. A bit of rust, a bit of adrenaline, and a whole lot of curiosity about how the night would unfold. And wow… it had everything: a heater, a collapse, a mental battle, and a comeback. Starting Hot The game kicked off 5‑handed, and within two orbits our $1,500 buy‑in had ballooned to $2.9k. Key Hand #1 — J♥T♥ vs KQo • HJ (active reg I know well) opens to $25 • CO (new reg to me) 3bets to $75 • I look down at J♥T♥ on the button • Flatting is fine, but heads‑up in position is my happy place → I 4bet to $225 • HJ folds, CO calls Flop: Q♦9♦3♣ Before I even decide between c‑betting or checking back, villain leads $175 into me. Weird line, but our hand plays great as a flat. Turn: K♦ Flush completes, but we make the straight. Pot is just over $900, I’ve got $1.1k behind. Villain checks. Easy jam. I’m targeting Kx, Qx with a diamond, or AA with a diamond. He tanks, calls, and we run it twice: 6♠, 3♣. He shows KQo. We scoop. Up almost 1.5k in minutes. Life is good. The Slide Then the table fills to 9‑handed… and the dynamic flips instantly. Every open gets 3bet. Every defend vs 3bet turns into top pair, worst kicker. (KJ vs KQ or KT vs AT etc). Every pot feels uphill with a big decision on the river. We drop from $2.9k to $1.8k. Then I torch $1k bluffing into what I now know is a nit. Suddenly I’m down $800. I reload $1,300. And lose almost every pot I play. At one point, it looked like a $2.8k losing night was locked in. The Hand That Saved the Session Key Hand #2 — JJ vs a splashy reg I’m in the BB with $700. Splashy Asian reg opens to $50. I 3bet to $150, he calls. Flop: A♣K♣6♦ I c‑bet $125 with range advantage. He calls. Turn: 7♥ I check with the plan to call river if it checks through — which it does. River: K♥ Board pairs. His value range is mostly boats. His missed range is flush draws, weaker pairs that may bluff like 99, TT to fold out my weak Ax. I check, fully prepared to call. He jams. I tank. I call. He mucks. This pot didn’t just save money — it saved my mindset. After hours of losing, whiffing, and feeling outclassed, trusting a read and being right was exactly what I needed. The Comeback From there: • climbed back to $1.4k • won a few more pots • 4bet KTs vs a wide range and took it down on AJ9♣♣ • rebuilt to $2.8k We ended the night –$20. Given how deep in the hole I was, that’s a massive win in disguise. And with the free BBQ they put on for players… we probably ended up net positive overall. Mental Game Reflections This session was a reminder of why I write these blogs. Three hours earlier, down $1.3k, I messaged my partner saying I might be home in half an hour. I felt out of my depth, frustrated, and tilted. But I reset. I focused on making the best decision in front of me. And it worked. That said, there were leaks: • Some hate‑losing tilt • Some negative self‑talk • Some loose calls OOP vs Villian 3bets • Some spots where discipline slipped (calling these 3bets to wide) These aren’t massive blow‑ups, but in these games, folding marginal hands OOP is where the money is. Deviating from that is tilt — even if it doesn’t look like tilt. Recognising it is step one. Fixing it is step two. Final Thoughts I’m proud I hung in there. Proud I found my A‑game when I needed it. Proud I didn’t let a brutal stretch turn into a disaster. This session gives me confidence moving forward — confidence that I can still battle when down piles, still reset, still trust my reads. Next session update coming soon. Scores for the night: • Focus: 9/10 • Mentality: 7/10 (room to grow) • Poker Play: 7/10 (cash game spots need work) Have a great night — see you next time.

Session Recap – 5/5 After watching MAFS with the missus, I decided to sneak in a short 5/5 session at Stacked Social — played from about 10pm until the game broke at 1:30am. A quick one, but with a couple of interesting spots. Early Cooler: QQ vs AA Bought in for $1k, and before long I’m sitting on $800 with a $10/$20 straddle on. Folds to me in the CO and I find QQ, make it $80. The $20 straddle bumps it up to $250. He’s capable of squeezing light, so jamming felt standard. He snaps with AA and that’s that. Down $1k straight away. Reload. Building Back + The Main Hand I chipped up through a few small pots and got to around $1.5k, playing about $1.3k effective with the main villain. Straddle is still on. I open KJo from MP to $30, HJ calls, BTN makes it $115. I decide to call — could fold, but it’s fine — and villain calls as well. Flop: J♣ 8♣ 6x I check, villain leads $125, BTN folds, and I call with top pair. Turn: Q♠ I check again, villain checks back. That check caps him heavily — most strong hands continue here. River: 4x (no flush) I don’t think he has many good Qx combos. Maybe QT/Q9s, some Jx. I go for a small $50 block bet to get looked up by worse. Then he clicks it to $125. Strange line. Hard to find value he’s repping. After some table talk and tanking, I decide to turn my hand into a bluff and re-raise to $625. If he somehow has weak Qx, he’s in hell. I still credibly rep straights and sets. He tanks for ages — long enough for the table to get annoyed — and eventually folds. Cool spot, and nice to find the non-standard line, but it also highlighted a bigger leak that’s shown up over the last two sessions. Leak Identified: Early-Position Over-Opens Outside of the QQ vs AA cooler, most of the pots I’ve lost have come from opening too wide early: • suited connectors • weaker offsuit broadways (KJo, KQo, QTo) • small/mid pairs (22–66) At Stacked, players are splashy and 3-bet wider than your average casino lineup. That means: • you end up in bloated pots OOP • you miss most flops with SCs and small pairs • offsuit broadways make dominated top pairs • and these guys will fire three streets Coming from an MTT background, I’m used to opening wider and navigating postflop. But in this environment, the adjustment is clear: tighten up early, overfold happily, and wait to get money in with a nutted, condensed range. From CO and later, obviously we can widen again. Location Matters This is very room-dependent. Back when I played at the casino, the games were passive — lots of flats, very few 3-bets. In that environment, you can open bigger and wider without getting punished. Stacked is the opposite: aggressive, splashy, and full of people who want to put money in. Mental Game Check-In Mentally I was okay tonight, but I can still feel that “hate losing” tilt in cash. A few of the wider opens happened right after the QQ vs AA hand, which is a sign of wanting to get even. Combine that with having my worst month ever, and yeah — it adds a bit of pressure. The good news is I’ve got a busy rest of February and won’t play again until next month, which should help reset things. Session Scoring Focus: 9.5/10 Everyone was asleep, so I could just grind in peace. Mentality: 8/10 Better than last session, with only small dips. Poker Play: 6/10 A bit harsh, but fair — too many early opens and loose calls. (Also punted three $100 flips at the end and won two of them four ways, which helped the result.) Final Result In for: $2,000 Out for: $2,444 Hourly: $129/hr Solid win, but the session could’ve been much cleaner without the early-position leaks and the mental pressure I’m putting on myself. On to next month — catch you all then.

Solid start to the month with a great run on acr in the loncar - hopefully a sign of good things to come - keep studying working hard and I’ll put in the live volume too! Catch ya next time

() ()

Solid Start to the Month Kicked off March with some momentum. While I had the chance, I fired up a few ACR MTTs again, and the online streets treated us well. There’ll still be plenty of live cash this week—likely Thursday, Friday, maybe Saturday night, and Sunday—but for now, let’s dive into today’s online results which proved game selection matters!

Deep Run #1 — $33 6-Max PLO After last month’s heavy PLO study and a strong run of PLO MTT results on GG, it made sense to mix this one into the grind. The work paid off immediately. We were hovering around the bottom of the pack for a while—13/14, 12/12, 11/11, 10/10 with nine paid—but navigated the bubble beautifully and entered the money in 3rd. From there, we picked up the chip lead with eight left and reached the FT sitting 2/7. We knocked out a couple of players and then found ourselves heads-up. First hand of HU, we get this gem: Stacks: Hero 40bb, Villain 60bb Hero (BB): Ad Ah Qd 3s Villain opens to 3bb → we pot to 9bb → call. Flop: A♣ 3♦ 4♥ (absolute dream) Into 18bb, we lead 4.5bb → villain insta-pots → we rip → he calls. Villain: Ks 6s 4d 5d — pair + open-ender + backdoors Hero: Top set Turn: K♦ (adds more outs) River: 3♣ — we boat up and take a massive lead. No deals, no chops after this cooler. Two all-ins later, we close it out and ship our first PLO MTT on ACR, continuing the PLO MTT heater for 2026 (even with the rough February on GG, we’re still way up overall).

()

() Deep Run #2 — $88 Loncar This used to be a $55, but looks like it bumps to $88 on weekends. MLR and we found a double early (AQ > KQ), won some small pots, then dipped to 58/70 with 61 paid. Played tight on the bubble, snuck in with 6bb, then doubled again (KTs > A4o). We picked up another KO for 8bb (we jam A6o BTN vs BB who calls 7bb KJo) and climbed into the top 30 with $8.3k up top. A win here would’ve wiped out February completely. Unfortunately, we ran AKs vs AKo and chopped. Then AK vs AK again—another chop. Never found that clean double to get into the top 10. Blinded down to 6bb with 17 left. Five-handed, UTG, 7bb, pocket 22. It’s a jam for chip EV. BTN wakes up with 77 and that’s the end—16th for $271. I ran the spot in GTO Wizard afterward: • With 3 tables left, 22 is a clear jam. • With 2 tables left, it becomes a fold and jamming starts at 44+. Since the hand started 3 tables out and I couldn’t find a perfect 7bb sim, I’m comfortable saying the jam was fine. Another profitable day in the ACR streets.

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Why Game Selection Matters I mentioned game selection earlier in the intro, and today is a perfect example of why it matters so much. • GG fields are bigger, tougher, and more variance-heavy. The player pool is stronger, and the PKO-heavy schedule doesn’t suit my strengths. February showed how brutal those fields can be. • ACR fields are smaller and softer. The site isn’t as popular, lots of US players, and the overall pool is weaker. Variance drops significantly. The long late reg is annoying, but it brings in tons of recreational players and creates great non-PKO MTT environments where my edge shines. • Choosing where you have the edge is part of the mental game. It’s easy to let ego push you toward battling the best on GG. But the smarter, more profitable move is to play where your win rate is highest. That’s not weakness—that’s discipline. Yes, ACR has its downsides (bots, some safety concerns), but across 300+ MTTs I haven’t seen anything alarming. So moving volume away from GG and toward ACR + some club MTTs on PPP/Xpoker seems like the right direction. Wrapping Up From my worst losing month ever in February to +$1k in the first two days of March—this is exactly the kind of momentum shift we needed. If the mental game stays sharp and we keep making good decisions with game selection, we’ll be back on track for a big year in no time. Till next time—catch you later.

() Forgot to post the month graph with BB/100 as per my previous posts. Wont let me edit add it in. Only 22 mtts to start the month but a solid start - results in PT4 are in USD I always convert to AUD when I add to my BR app on my phone. in short BB/100 won is increased greatly by the PLO win - overall a hot start to the month but not really enough data to make this sample meaningful. Overall, over the two days 836.70 usd profit = $1,184.27 profit AUD played 12.93hrs = $91.59 an hour. Probably not sustainable but we take it! For those interested only been playing on and off ACR for a year and below is my overall graph at 306 MTTs. BB/100 is a 20.14 and adjusted is 8.42bb/100. deffs running hot over our 1st 15k hands on the site.

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I Am a Series Champion! With the OSSXL Series running on ACR, I fired a few more MTTs today—and the final tournament of the session delivered in the biggest way possible. This is the story of how I became an ACR Series Champion. Event: OSSXL #43 — $10k GTD $52.20 Hyper (Mid) This event counts toward the Mid leaderboard, and after coming 2nd in the Boski Series event last May, I’ve been hungry to lock up my first online series title. Today, the opportunity finally came. The session didn’t start smoothly. In the $33 OSSXL 6‑Max, I had 3x starting stack in the first hour before losing AK < AQ, AK < J9s, and 99 < AA. Other events fell apart too. Then I busted this Hyper two minutes before late reg closed—AQ < 55. I rebought, decided to one‑table the Hyper, and call it a night. Best decision of the day. Max Late Reg, 20bb, and a Dream Third hand back, I open AQo in the CO, SB jams 90bb, and we snap. Hold vs A9o. From there the run began: small pots, a few KOs, and then a huge bubble hand that pushed us into the top three.

() A dream river for 9bb four from the money—massive in a Hyper. Cooler spot! You can never fold here with QQ however, with so many short stacks and his jam range being so tight your massively fold vs all in here. Then came the dip. Lost two sub‑5bb all‑ins chasing bounties. Doubled the guy who eventually finished 4th—twice—while he held a huge bounty. The KJs vs T9o hand summed up the chaos between the bubble bursting and the final table.

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() Final Table Run: A Masterclass We reached the FT—our second in three days and third deep run in a major event—starting 9/9 with 10bb thanks to the blind rollback. What followed was one of the cleanest ladders I’ve ever played. • Hand 1: Jam AQo for 8.8bb UTG. SB (10bb) iso-jams A3s. Never a call for his tournament life, especially with my small bounty. We turn him dead and jump to 20bb. • Hand 2: Next hand, CL opens, short stack flicks in 1.1bb, we defend 95s for 1bb more. Board runs out four diamonds, we beat both players, and suddenly we’re 3/8. A few bustouts later we’re 3/4, then this key hand arrives:

() SB jams BvB, covering me by less than a blind. His bounty is huge ($189). I call with KQ, flop a queen vs AJo, and take the chip lead. (what's the worst hand you call here- I don't even know if this call is good with ICM - find out tomorrow when I study it). Then the punt of the century: Next hand, BTN has 0.9bb, the “fish” opens 2.2bb, and I wake up with AA. I 3bet to 5.5bb, he calls, flop 2‑3‑5r. I c‑bet small, he instantly jams 2x pot with 88 - Snap!!!. Turn 4 (cant lose), river 9, and we now have everything—40bb—with 2nd on 7bb and 3rd on 0.9bb. Somehow 3rd spins back to 10bb, but eventually gets KO’d by our HU opponent. And now it’s heads‑up for the trophy, with a 3:1 chip lead and a $540 bounty on the line. The Winning Moment Villain has 7.8bb in the SB, jams, and we look down at A6o with 22bb. Standard call. He rolls over 9♣3♣. Flop: A♠ 6♣ 8♦ Turn: Q♦ (dead!!) River: Doesn't Matter I'm a Champion!!!!! And just like that—we are an ACR Series Champion, shipping $2,273.24 USD plus the trophy.

() Reflection It was a surreal moment. Three days into March and we’re already +$4k, cutting last month’s deficit in half. The move to ACR and softer fields has been a massive win, but it’s important not to get ahead of ourselves. There’s still a live event later this month and plenty of live cash to play. Variance can swing both ways. But for now, it feels incredible to see the study paying off and to finally secure that first online series title. Below is today’s MTT graph—yes, the BB/100 is absurd because winning a tournament means you literally win every chip in play. Unreal run, grateful for the momentum, and excited for what’s next.

() (Todays graph) See you in the next update.

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() Difference between having 1k losing day a break even day or our largest score online. Bad few sessions down like 2k or so the swings are real- so gutting. SO close to kick starting 2026 back into gear and instead we stare more into the hole...........................................

Finally Time for an Update! It’s been a minute since the last post. After the six‑hour drive to Mount Gambier for a small live stop and then coming home to a mountain of work, finding time to write has been tough. But I’ve finally got a moment, so let’s dive into how the grind has been going — there’s plenty to cover, so strap in.

Mount Gambier Live Stop The trip kicked off with a classic bit of run bad: 30 minutes from town, not paying attention, and bang — $500 speeding fine. Not ideal. Thankfully, that was the only downside of what turned out to be an awesome weekend. Great food, a solid score, and some quality time with one of SA’s top regs and his partner. That alone made the trip worth it — he’s a full‑time pro and gave me some really valuable advice about my future grind. My partner also had a great time, which made it much easier to reset mentally whenever I busted an event and needed to chill before the next one. Events Played I fired four events (well… three plus a punt in the PLO): • $1.2k Championship Event • $600 High Roller • $300 Teams Event • $300 PLO (the punt bullet before heading back to watch the Crows beat Collingwood) Championship Event Run This was easily the softest $1.2k I’ve played in Australia. • Bullet 1: Lost a few small pots, then got JJ in on 2‑4‑6 for 30bb vs SB’s flatted 22. GG. • Bullet 2: Pulled off a sick bluff on the last hand of rego, then settled in and started accumulating. Made the FT as chip leader 1/9, with top 6 paid and $20k up top — a real chance to turn the year around. I turned down two deal offers to restructure and pay top 9, which ended up biting me. I doubled up two short stacks (<10bb), and trying to pressure a live FT with a 40bb average just doesn’t work the same as online. A couple of 3-bets and a 4-bet went the wrong way, and suddenly I went from 1/9 to 7/9. We eventually agreed to restructure and pay top 9. I laddered where I could. With 7 left, I found a full double: CO open with AK for 13bb, BB jams AJ for 10bb, and we hold. Bagged 5/5 for $4k locked. Day 2 started with 9bb. Folded down to 5bb before jamming JTs CO into BB’s AK. Out in 5th. A good score — but with that field and that FT chip lead, I should be winning this event at a high frequency. Big note to self: you can’t run over a live FT when the average stack is 20–25bb+. Online regs understand ICM; live recs don’t. Different game. Other Events • $600 High Roller: Crushed early, big stack at end of rego, then bricked everything for 3 hours. Made a mistake 4-bet jamming ATo for 22bb vs a reg who snapped TT. Out 10 from the money. • $300 PLO: Flicked a bullet at halftime of the footy. Didn’t spin. • $300 Teams: No one made it through their first shootout table. I got AK in vs AT for 4x start with 6 left at the table — villain found a T. Overall: a fun trip, a small profit, and another deep run that didn’t convert.

() Online Grind & Game Selection Fix Over the weekend I spent a lot of time talking with the SA reg I mentioned earlier. We’ve always been friendly, but after double‑dating with our partners we’re a lot closer now — and he gave me some brutally honest but much‑needed feedback. I’ve been struggling with what to play. I even tried a local $250 live event with only 32 runners and a 9x up top — felt like a waste of time. Multiple people told me the same thing: this isn’t the play. So I asked my mate to look at my online schedule on GG, ACR, etc. His verdict? My game selection has been completely off. I also checked in with a good NZ friend who streams — same feedback. The Fix We built a schedule focusing on: • Smaller‑field MTTs on GG/ACR during weeknights (only playing the bigger fields on the sunday grind) • Avoiding reg‑heavy turbos, hypers, and PKOs • Using PPPoker and PokerBros for softer, bigger games at night or midday or morning grind non Monday morning (Sunday Grind) Immediately the results improved. Recent FTs • $50 Daily Monster Stack (GG) — 8th • $55 2.5k PKO (ACR) — 4th • $125 Daily Special (GG) — 6th (on bullet 2) No heat at any FT, but the deep runs confirmed the new schedule is correct. WSOP $150 PLO Main Event Today I only fired one event: the $150 WSOP PLO Main. Massive early stack, cruised into the money, then down to the final 18. • Got AA43ss in vs KK32ds for 30bb — villain found a K to stop us becoming 2nd in chips with a $166 bounty. • With 10 left, BTN open, SB 3bets, BB CL 4bets, I 5bet AAxx… SB also has AAxx, BB has KQT6ds and goes with it. • Board runs Q‑T‑X‑T and we bust in 9th. A 5x is always nice, but the winner took home $7k and we were right there again with no luck deep.

() ($297 usd with bounties)

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() Where Things Stand February was rough — didn’t cash anything meaningful and ended the month down $9k. In a different universe with normal variance, I’m probably up $30k this year with the runs i had in Jan and Mar. But here we are. March, though, is currently a winning month (+$2k), and the new schedule feels right. I’ll keep grinding and see how we close it out. Until next time — catch you all later.

Hey team, quick update! I took the last couple of weeks off from the grind, only jumping into a handful of PLO6 online cash sessions. The break was needed, and I used the time to make a pretty big decision: I’ve committed $2.4k to hypnotherapy to work on performance and tackle some of the mental‑game demons that have been holding me back. The goal is simple — remove another barrier between me and the level I know I can reach in poker. If this helps me elevate my game and build stronger foundations, it’ll be worth every cent. This month I’m firing the usual events at the upcoming Matchroom series, and I’m shifting back into a heavy focus on PLO MTTs and PLO6 cash online. The rakeback has been solid, and when I’m disciplined, the games are genuinely soft. I’m aiming for a big winning month to turn the year around. Let’s make it happen — see you all on the flip side.

Small Update

Hey all — quick update. The break ended up stretching longer than planned. I took some time off over Easter, then Gather Round hit Adelaide and I decided to just roll with the downtime. But that ends today. The Matchroom Series kicks off for me tonight. A mate of mine actually shipped the Mini Main over the weekend, which was awesome to see — I didn’t play it because I had tickets to every Adelaide Oval game during Gather Round. Below is my schedule for the upcoming series:

Matchroom Series Schedule April 13 — 15k Monster Stack ($350) • 1x MLR • Likely firing the Hyper Satty beforehand April 14 — 6-Max PLO 8-Max (8k GTD) • 2x bullets • 1x MLR if needed April 16 — 100k GTD Main Event ($1150) • FT’d this event four times • 1x re-entry if early April 19 — 100k GTD Main Event ($1150) • Day 2 direct buy-in at the start • 1x MLR if needed • Finished 10th last year using this strat April 20 — 10k GTD Shot Clock ($250) • 1x MLR if needed April 22 — 10k GTD Self-Dealt Championship ($115) • 1x rebuy if needed April 24 — 10k GTD Series Saver ($300) • 1x MLR if needed It’s a really solid run of events for me, and I’m grateful to be properly rolled for the entire series even if variance hits. Still, I’d love a strong series to turn this year around. Upcoming Live Poker May brings the APT (starting May 15), so there’s plenty of live volume coming up — which I’m genuinely excited for. Live poker has historically been where I’ve made the most money, and hopefully that continues. APL also announced their Adelaide dates (June 9–14), which lines up perfectly before I head to Europe on June 18. That means I’ll get the chance to defend my APL PT Main Event title from last year. Online Poker & Study Online has taken a back seat and probably will for a bit. I’m still committed to PLO MTTs and PLO6 cash, but with so many live events coming up — plus full-time work — I’ll need to be selective with online volume. Likely more cash-focused sessions to allow proper recovery before live MTT days. I’ve started studying PLO6 cash and it’s been interesting. Most of my study lately is PLO-focused so I can keep building my edge in low–mid stakes PLO MTTs and eventually become a winning player in mid–high stakes online. I’ll still review hands and study NLH MTTs, especially with all the live events, so it should be a good mix. Hypnotherapy Update I’ve officially booked the four sessions my hypno coach recommended: • 1 × 2‑hour session exploring the past • 2 × 1.5‑hour sessions focused on the present and future • 1 × 2‑hour closing session I’m also working through a course and completed a strict 14‑day journaling block tracking emotional responses — mostly negative ones, but also noting positive moments. I’m genuinely curious to see what comes from these sessions. I’m hoping it elevates my game the same way working with a live MTT coach did before my big 100k+ run in early 2025. So that’s the update. Lots of live poker ahead with some online sprinkled in. With disciplined study and consistent mental‑game work, I’m hoping for a big few months before heading overseas. After that, it’ll be APL Millions time — and I’ll see what time off I can take and what I can grind. Aussie Millions is also around the corner; probably outside the bankroll for now, but I might still fly over for the $1k $1M GTD opener. Peace — and updates to come from the Matchroom Series.

Monster Stack Update from last night’s Monster Stack. I’m breaking this one into three parts: pre‑game (with a focus on the hypnotherapy work), in‑game, and post‑game reflections. Pre‑Game

About an hour before the event, I decided to restart a proper pre‑game routine. I went for a walk at the local park — barefoot on the grass, which is meant to help ground you. Surprisingly relaxing, especially with the hypnotherapy track my coach gave me playing in the background. I chose a warm shower instead of a cold one, which I think was a mistake. Cold showers give that dopamine spike and build discipline, and I want that pre‑session. Warm showers can stay in the post‑game routine where they belong. I ran out of time for a full study block, but I squeezed in 10 minutes of mental‑game work from Elliot Roe’s A‑Game Poker. I wanted 30 minutes, but at least I did something. Overall, for my first semi‑structured pre‑game routine back, it wasn’t bad. I’ll give myself a 7/10 — earlier start, more mental‑game work, and a cold shower next time. In‑Game Session 1 (Start → First Break) I felt great. Calm, focused, and ready for a long battle — exactly what the pre‑game routine was meant to do. Poker-wise, I started around 75k, dipped to 60k with some whiffed boards and 3‑bet folds, then picked up a big pot: Hand Breakdown • CO: AA • Blinds: 300/600 • BTN: massive whale calling any suited two, recently won big pots with 74s and K9o • SB: 50k stack, main villain I open to 2k (exploit vs BTN), BTN calls, SB calls. Flop: 2♠ 2♣ 3♦ SB checks, I c‑bet 2.5k, BTN calls, SB min‑raises to 5k. I expect some 2x/33, but also a ton of overpairs he might just rip in. I make it 15k, BTN folds, SB calls. Turn: 2♦ He’s got ~1.1x pot left. I bet 10k to set up a clean SPR jam. He calls. River: 8♦ He checks, I jam, he snap‑calls with K3s. Up to ~110k. Strong session overall — clear thinking, no rush, no tilt. Session 2 (Break 1 → End of Rego) This is where things slipped. It was the final episode of MAFS, and I decided to watch it on 9Now at the table so I could talk about it with my partner later. Fun idea, terrible poker decision. It completely broke the flow I built in Session 1. I played maybe three hands total, missed spots, and drifted into C‑game. Card dead, distracted, not present. Final hand of re‑entry: • Stack: 89k (75k start) • Blinds: 2k/4k → 3k/6k next • I open AQo to 8k • 90% VPIP opp flats • Reg flats CO • BTN (tight) 3‑bets to 30k I’m ready to fold — his range is nutted. But SB has 44k and is jamming any two to rebuy. He rips it in. There’s 80k+ in the middle, we crush SB’s range, and BTN can fold some hands knowing SB is over‑jamming. I reluctantly go with it. BTN snaps with KK. We rebuy. Session 3 (Post‑Rebuy) With MAFS done, I felt locked back in — but with 13bb MLR, there wasn’t much room to maneuver. • Jammed AQs over three limps — no call • Down to 9bb next level • UTG (8bb) jams, folds to me in BB with A9s • Easy call vs a reg who knows he needs to take spots • He has A5o • Board runs T T 5 • Forced all‑in next hand with 0.5bb • GG Post‑Game Thoughts Overall, I played well — but Session 2 was a self‑inflicted wound. MAFS at the table was fun but absolutely killed my focus. I don’t like headphones, but music that matches arousal levels is fine. Reality TV mid‑session? Not so much. I’ll give myself a 6/10 for the night. Losing start to the series, but no more MAFS distractions. I’ll tighten the pre‑game routine and add some post‑game structure too. Tonight is the PLO event — excited to see how all the study translates. No guarantees, but my live PLO MTT track record in the <$650 range is strong, and this one fits right into that zone. See you tomorrow.

PLO UPDATE – Main Event Pre‑Game Hello everyone — hope you’re all well. Here’s the latest session review from the PLO event. This one’s a day late, but that’s fine. As always, I’ll break it down into pre‑game, in‑session, and post‑session. PLO gets complex fast, so I’ll keep it to one key hand per session. Pre‑Game[/B]

I wanted to continue the pre‑game routine because Monday’s Session 1 felt great. But Tuesday’s version wasn’t as sharp — for different reasons. On Monday, the mistake was choosing a warm shower over a cold one. On Tuesday, the issue was distraction. I had AFL Fantasy Draft trades coming through, and I have a terrible habit of replying the moment I see a message. So during my 15‑minute barefoot walk on the oval, instead of grounding myself and focusing, I spent the whole time negotiating trades. I made up for it with a proper cold shower — around three minutes (1.5–2 songs). I also started earlier, which gave me 20 minutes of mental‑game study. I worked through a theory module from my hypno coach, and that helped bring me into the zone before heading off to battle in the PLO.

In‑Game

Session 1

The plan was simple: accumulate or go home. Dylan Wiseman’s PLO MTT philosophy — build a stack early so you can apply pressure later — and I wanted to lean into that. Early on, I moved from 50k to 62k without much resistance. Then came the big one: Hand: Q998 (One suit) Blinds: 200/400 I open to 1k, BTN/SB/BB all call. Flop: Q‑9‑8 rainbow BB leads pot. I call, others fold. Turn: 5♦ Now we’ve got: • Middle set • Gutshot • Flush draw • Boat outs BB pots again. I can call and play rivers, but if I hit, I rarely get paid. Or… I can repot, get it in vs the very obvious JTxx, and take my ~40% equity. I choose violence. We get it in. He has JT T6 (no diamonds). River: 8♦ — full house. Stack: ~130k I finished Session 1 at 129k (peaked at 151k). Toward the end I felt lethargic, warm, and headachy, which cost me a couple of pots. Time to reset for Session 2.

Session 2

Pre‑session routine felt great. During my walk I found myself naturally repeating: “I’m confident in my PLO study. I’m going to play my A‑game. I’m worthy of my A‑game. I will put myself in position to win this tournament.” No huge hands this session — just clean, controlled accumulation. Moved from 129k to 200k without showdown, mostly through 3‑bet pots and pressure. Late reg closed with: • 67 runners • 9 paid • 5.6k up top • 19 left ICM already real.

Session 3

Kept the positive self‑talk going. Three tables of six (8‑max event). The BB in this hand is a strong reg and friend — very capable, understands ICM, and already sitting on 1.1m of the 3.6m chips in play. I’m at 300k (3/6k) and open K‑6‑5‑4 double‑suited to 15k from MP. SB calls, BB calls. Flop: 4‑4‑7 rainbow BB checks. I c‑bet small (12k). SB folds. BB pots. I call — expecting heat on later streets. Turn: K♣ Full house. BB pots again. Could be 77, 47, or a bluff — he’s capable of all of it. I call, leaving an ~0.8 SPR. River: Q♥ He tanks, then checks. Easy jam? Not really. What calls us? • A4 folds • 47 might fold • We lose to 77 • We lose to weird QQ4x/QQ7x that rivered boats • We beat bluffs, but bluffs don’t call After a two‑minute tank, I check back. He shows a 7 — pure bluff line, planning to rip non‑picture rivers. Huge pot our way. We get moved with 16 left and unfortunately the chip leader lands on my left. Bubble‑pressure dreams die, but we make the FT 2/9 with 432k at 8/16k. Third has 417k. CL has 1.3m. Tough spot, but I’m ready to fight.

Session 4 – Final Table

Started well — got two flop x/r pots through with top pair + draws. Climbed to 500k before doubling a short stack. From there, folded into 6‑left before the key hand: Hand: J‑T‑9‑7 double‑suited Blinds: 10/20k I open to 40k from 280k. SB/BB (both cover) call. Flop: K‑9‑4 rainbow Two backdoor flush draws, pair, gutshot — good enough. They check, I pot, leaving 8bb behind. SB folds, BB calls. If he has Kx without Q, we have 40–45%. If he has KQxx, we have ~30%. Plenty of good turns. Turn: K Basically kills us. Goes check‑check. River A. X X He shows KQ85. Bust Hand: A‑8‑7‑3 double‑suited. CL limps 20k. I decide to limp SB instead of potting — mistake. BB checks. Flop: 5‑8‑J rainbow Two backdoors. I pot, CL calls. Turn: 2♦ Pair + flush draw. We get it in for 2bb. He calls with TT64 no FD. If I pot pre, he may fold. Over a raise, I would’ve potted. So yes — misplay. We brick the river. 6th for $1,175 on a single $350 bullet. Solid night.

Post‑Session Thoughts

Not the trophy I wanted, but I’m proud of the performance. I found my A‑game easily, PLO feels so natural, and everything I’ve been studying translated cleanly. It reinforces that a heavy PLO focus is the right direction for the rest of the year. Scores: • Pre‑game: 8/10 • Play: 8/10 • Mental state after: 10/10 — normally I’m frustrated after another deep run, but not this time.

Now onto the Main Event tonight — basically a free bullet thanks to the PLO cash. Let’s see if we can run up another Matchroom Main Event FT.

() photo from last night to keep in tune with FT photos throughout the blog!

Matchroom Main Event – Our Biggest Score of 2026 The Matchroom Main Event has been the tournament for me over the years — four final tables since 2021. The question this week: can we make it five? This run had everything: discipline, adversity, luck, mental‑game breakthroughs, and the best poker I’ve played all year. Let’s break it down. Pre‑Game (Day 1 & Day 2) I kept the routine consistent across both days: • Barefoot walk on the oval • Meditation music • Warm shower (seems to be the winning formula) • Study block before leaving Day 2 was the best pre‑game I’ve ever done. I started almost two hours early, muted group chats, partner out shopping, coffee in hand, and drilled sub‑20bb chip‑EV + ICM spots on GTO Wizard for ~40 minutes. Completely locked in. Pre‑game score: 9/10 Day 1 – The Disaster This was, without exaggeration, the worst poker I’ve played in 2026. I couldn’t find the zone. Couldn’t focus. Felt tired, annoyed, disconnected. I punted a spot, then jammed AJs for 14bb into 55 and lost the flip. That meant the plan kicked in: rebuy for Day 2 with either 20bb or a 10bb MLR. Reset. Regroup. Come back sharper. Day 2 – The Run Begins I woke up feeling like it was my day. Calm, positive, and repeating to myself: “Good things are going to happen today.” Early Chaos First hand: defend A7o vs four players (bad defend), get punished, lose a chunk. But mentally? Completely fine. Let it go instantly. Three hands later: QQ in a 3‑way → back to start stack. Then fold to 10bb- 99 > A6o → back again to start stack. Then the hand that lit the fuse: UTG jam 88 for 13bb → tight MP reshoves → he has TT → 8 in the window. Maybe it is our day. End of Session 1: • Start 60k → Peak 180k → end of session 170k • 154 entries → 36 left → 21 paid → 33.3k up top • ICM officially real Session 2 – The Heater At 200k, I open A7s UTG+1 to 12k at 3/6k. BB calls. Flop: 3‑4‑7 (two diamonds) This board smashes BB, but I’ve been studying big c‑bet sizing here. I go 16.5k → call. Turn: A♥ Two flush draws, straight draws, and we make two pair. I size up to 55k to set up river jam. Villain — an agro reg — rips it for my tournament life. I call. He has 66 turned into a bluff. We fade the 5 and jump to 500k+. Then the Q5s Pain Raise UTG, splashy MP calls and I Defend T8s (hearts) Flop 6d‑7d‑9h. X/Raise flop to 30k vs MP probe of 10k vs x x, barrel turn for 85k on 2s, river 3d, I x He bets down to 120k with Q5s of diamonds I call. Back to 300k. Bubble Madness Four from the money: • I win an 8bb all‑in KQo vs A6o CO vs SB • Then this spot on the direct bubble: CO opens 2x of 30bb, I 3‑bet A3s hearts from SB of 32bb, he calls. Flop Q♥ J♥ A♦ — dream. I bet small, he rips. Tank fold. He shows KT♦♦. Solver says call Axs hearts — small mistake, but fine. Then the AA Trap LJ open AA on the bubble. CL 3‑bets from BB. If I jam, I kill his bluffs. So I flat. Flop Q‑9‑8 two clubs. I have Ac. He bets big → I jam → he calls with AKs of spades. We hold. Back to 400k+- build to 700k lose a bit to 500k, Then the Monster Pot 11 left. CL opens, 25K at 6/12k I flat SB with BB stack at 5bb and a money jump next KO - he folds. Flop 5‑6‑8 two clubs. I x/r vs 20k cbet to 75k → call. Turn J♦ → bet 120l to set up Jam river → call. River J♣ → I jam 315k leaving 24k behind for balance with bluffs. He tanks forever and calls with AA. We’re over 1 million. Final Table – The Grind We enter 4/9 with 980k at 8/16k. But three huge stacks, three mid stacks (including me), and two shorties meant ICM hell. The short stacks kept doubling. In the first two hours, I played two hands. In the first four hours, I played four hands. Finally, at 10bb in the SB, my friend in the BB has 9bb I have 10bb I shove 55 → he snaps AJ → we hold. FT started at 9:40pm. I KO him at just after 1am. Laddering to 6th I stayed out of the big stacks’ way, picked good 3‑bet jams, and laddered to 5 left with ~10bb. The Bust Hand UTG (2bb) jams. I peel AJo flat of 12bb. CO flats. CL rips in sb! I hate it, but CL can easily be isolating wide vs UTG very Wide jam for 2bb. I call. AJ vs KJ vs AQ. No help 2x KO. We bust in 4th for $13,000 — our biggest score of 2026.

Post‑Session Reflection I’m genuinely over the moon. Not just with the result — but with the mental game. I used self‑talk constantly: • “I am worthy to play my best.” • “My best looks like discipline and focus.” • “I will take it one decision at a time.” Instead of spiraling into “what ifs,” I acknowledged emotions, let them pass, and stayed present. This was the best MTT I’ve played in 2026 — even better than the Mt Gambier Championship run. Scores: • Pre‑game: 9/10 • Poker: 9/10 • Mental game: 10/10 Play like this and another major trophy is coming. I’m taking tonight off (sleep deprivation is real), then firing a couple of smaller events to close out the series. Looking forward to the rest of the year — and hopefully with a touch of luck, another big title. Peace from a very tired but very happy DAMMO_23

() Forgot to add the Ft photo again- 1980s rebok top- 1990s Copa Mundials on was a good drip to run deep ������

Copy and paste from discord (Lex) FYI- But have to do something between live events. Hey all, Most of you already know the story, but back in 2025 (right before Lex Live 4) I attempted a $100 → $5k bankroll challenge on GG. I actually spun it from $100 to $2.4k in a month… before absolutely punting it off on stream in spectacular fashion. Croaks can confirm I went nuclear. Fast‑forward to now: A) I’ve been working with a professional mental‑game hypnotherapist/coach, and B) I haven’t streamed in over a year… So it feels like the perfect time to give it another crack. I’ll be running a $500 → $5k bankroll challenge on GG, streamed over on Twitch. This isn’t a viewer grab — just letting people know since most haven’t seen my face on camera since 2024. I’ll still be updating everything on Insta, and I’ll still be battling my usual $300–$2.5k live MTT events. But I’m genuinely excited to see: A) how the new mental framework helps with in‑game self‑regulation, and B) how much discipline I’ve actually built — because let’s be honest, that was the leak last time. If you’re interested in watching, you already know where to find me. (DAMMO_23 on socials, online etc) Looking forward to seeing if I can get this done properly this time around.

1st update BR challenge Taken from the forum update post in the lex community discord. Started this run with $500, and I’m finishing the first week at $2,026. It’s been a really fortunate start — 5 final tables and a win in the $5.50 pko hyper for $918. I’m genuinely grateful for the early results, but also keeping perspective. I had a similar start last time, and when things didn’t keep going my way straight after, I let it affect my decision‑making. (Tilited off trying to get to 3k quickly) - This time the goal is to stay steady, stay disciplined, and not get ahead of myself. Appreciate everyone following along. I’ll share another update next week.

() bb/100 graph and ev graph- only 64 mtts and 2634 hands so not a true trend.

() our biggest win so far in the challenge - came back from 4bb 80 players left. Live update APT kicks off today, and I’m going in with a very clear plan. Most of my best results have come from MLR or Day 2 registrations — the APL Milly mini‑main chop was an MLR, the recent Main Event 4th place was a Day 2 rego, and a bunch of my deeper runs in stacked Matchroom and APT mains have followed the same pattern. So for this series, I’m leaning fully into that strength. I’ll be drilling short‑stack (20bb and under) sims on GTO Wizard and treating every event over $1k as a Day 2 rego spot. The logic is simple: A) It means I only need Day 2s off work, which keeps the schedule realistic. B) It plays directly into my strongest format — shallow‑stack poker. I’ve put in thousands of hands of MLR online MTT volume, and that experience translates extremely well to these spots. Add in the ICM benefit of entering when half the field is already gone and you’re often close to the money, and the strategy becomes even more appealing. Now, I’ll admit: playing deeper live does give you more time to exploit recs at meaningful stack depths, and that’s a real edge. But I expect the $1k+ fields at APT to be tougher than the average local series. Entering later helps smooth that out — fewer marginal deep‑stack spots versus regs, more high‑leverage short‑stack decisions where I’m most comfortable. Plenty of pros take the MLR/Day 2 rego approach, and for this series, it feels like the right balance of EV, schedule, and skill set. So updates of the BR challenge and APT to follow- Have a great day guys!

how much did u tilt off? 2k+? any degen stories?

by iris78 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59304260#post59304260)

how much did u tilt off? 2k+? any degen stories?

Br still at 2k for this challenge barely played with the live , last time I constantly got to 2,5k then brick 50mtts back to 2k 1.8k then one day I tilted my marbles off on stream and then put 2k through 6 tables of ALL in and fold and bye bye BR challenge. Wont happen this time - mental game in a much better place! 😀

APT Update So Far It’s been a massive week — poker every day, roughly 12 hours a day — so let’s run through how the series has gone so far and what’s coming up next.

Bankroll Challenge The BR challenge has been on pause during the series. I’ve played maybe 10 online MTTs total, nothing notable, and the roll is sitting just over $2k (or around $1.9k if I fire a couple before today’s live session).

Event 1 — $350 Freezeout Quick one. Hero’d off with middle pair vs a splashy Asian uncle on 665K BTN vs BB. He had 63o. Cool. Then jammed TT into AK for the rest and didn’t win the flip. GG. Event 2 — $600 Hachem Deepstack Day 1 Late regged with 50bb and managed to bag for Day 2. The day was… strange. Won a 4‑bet pot vs a guy who called 43s pre and then called a turn jam on KJJ8 with a flush draw when I had AKo. Lost a big one with AcJh on JJ3cc after opening UTG and getting four callers — including Q2s from MP. We peaked at 3x start stack but bagged 1.5x. Played well, not perfectly. Day 2 This was a grind. Stayed below average all day but picked up hands at the right times. Started at a table of death but survived to the break. Later picked up JJ vs TT for 20bb which helped. We reached the bubble: 17 left, 15 paid, $17k up top. I chipped up to 30bb with four stacks under 10bb — feeling good. First hand after dinner: UTG opens, I peel AA in the BB, 3‑bet, he tanks two timebanks then jams. He has QQ. Q in the window. We bubble in brutal fashion. If we hold, we’re near a million chips and likely on a deep run. That one stung. Event 3 — $1250 Grind After bubbling the $600, I fired Day 2 of the $1250 instead of day 1 after bubbling. Played four hands, lost all four, and had to MLR rebuy. Spun it up with a few pots and held 77 vs AJ to stabilize. Made it down to the final two tables with ~30bb average. Key Hand vs CL Open AKs (diamonds) UTG, CL calls. Flop T46r — I c‑bet small, he calls. Turn 6♠ — he should lead this card but doesn’t. I probe 30% to target his weak middling stuff. He calls. River 8c — only 97 gets there. He leads small. His line makes no sense. I tank, use two timebanks, get a live read, and call. He shows 53s. We win. Set Over… Flush Later, flat 66 on the BTN vs CL open. Flop J62cc, turn 2s, river 7c. - We call flop and on turn he x we size down to keep flush draws in he calls. On river he leads half pot, easy raise to basically an all in size for me, he calls, and we’re up to 700k. Final Table We make the money and the FT, but the seat draw is a nightmare — Brazilian super‑reg CL on my left. Even as 3/9 I had to fold everything. Fold down and lose some small pots and 5/5 we are down to 5bb, double with 88 vs K7s, then next hand shove 98s SB for 13bb. Solver says jam if shortest, 3x/fold if equal stacks. I chose violence. Brazil wakes up with A9o. We bust 5th for $5.4k.

Event 4 — $350 6‑Max Bullet 1 Wild old gentleman overbet-jamming every flop. I call a 5x squeeze with 55. Flop 986hh, he overbets. I don’t think he has a premium or a set, so with 6 outs + maybe ahead, I call. He has ATo. Turn T. Bullet 1 gone. Bullet 2 (MLR) Spin to 60k, then pick up AA vs AQ and hold. Win a few pots including a nice one with J9s on KQT. Then the key hand: Average 130k at 4/8k, I have 178k. Open Aks HJ, BB (MTT CL) jams 20+bb. Snap. He has 99. Flop K65 — let’s go. Turn 9 — let’s not. Another 90% spot lost. Soft bubble. If we hold, we’re chip leader and likely win the event. Event 5 — $600 ADL Champs Main (Day 1A) Frustrating day. Every time I built a stack, I lost a big pot immediately after. Got below starting stack three times, fought back to 80k, then this hand with 40 minutes left: BTN opens, SB (tight-ish but splashy reg) 3‑bets. I look down at AJs in BB. Solver jams this always — and so do I. BTN folds, SB tanks and calls with… 99. Yes, 99 again. Yes, we lose again. If we hold, we bag 2x average and come into Day 2 with 30bb+ in a shallow structure. Instead, we bust before the bag. Summary So Far We’ve played well. We’ve put ourselves in multiple high‑equity spots. We’ve been on the wrong side of variance in every major moment. If AA holds, AKs holds after flop, or AJs wins a flip in their key spots, we’re talking about: A deep run or win in the $600 A deep run or win in the 6‑max A big bag in the Main Instead, we have one cash and are slightly profitable for the series. What’s Next Coming up: $1.15k Adelaide Players Champs $2.5k Goliath $600 Main Event (another flight) Possibly the $350 Mid‑Stack Plenty of poker left. Plenty of chances to run good. Next update soon.

End of APT & BR Challenge Update APT has wrapped up, and while the series didn’t go the way I hoped, it wasn’t a disaster either. “Okay” is probably the fairest description. The BR challenge, on the other hand, hit a nice milestone — so let’s break it all down. APT Recap In short: 4 final tables, breakeven series, and a lingering sense of “what could’ve been.” After the FT in the $1.2k Grind (covered in the last blog), I was excited for momentum. Instead, I’m left a bit disappointed — not at the cards, but at myself and some of the decisions I made along the way. Across the series, I made four final tables: $1.2k Grind $350 PLO 4/5 Rotation $450 Flipper $350 Matchroom M33 So why am I unhappy with four FTs? A) It was still a breakeven series. I fired too many bullets chasing Player of the Series points — a mistake I won’t repeat. The PLO FT alone took four bullets. A couple of the $350–$450 events took two bullets. Breakeven with four FTs tells you everything about the re‑entry volume. B) I missed Player of the Series. I needed one deep run in a major event to lock it up. I couldn’t find it. (ended up 5th as we gave up last day after not gaining a top 40 finish in the main event) Late Rego = My Superpower Every deep run — including the Grind — came from Day 2 rego or max late rego with 15bb. It’s just who I am as an MTT grinder. Half the field is gone, the structure is shallow, and live players make huge mistakes vs sub‑20bb stacks. It’s money‑printing territory for me. If I simply max‑late‑rego’d every mid‑to‑low buy‑in event, I’m up piles. Instead, I let discipline slip and chased points. Lucky to walk away breakeven. The Four FTs — All with Shots to Win Across all four final tables, I had real chances to close.

1. The Grind One key decision with 13bb could’ve kept me alive with a different line. Whatever — that’s poker.
2. $450 Flipper 3‑handed, 12bb, 77 vs AJ. Flop JJx. We lose, finish 3rd. If we win, half the chips in play are ours.
3. $350 Matchroom M33 4‑handed, I’m CL. BTN (2nd in chips) jams 11bb. I snap AKo. He has 77. This time 77 holds. Again, winning = likely trophy.
4. $350 PLO FT Turn: I have QT3AK with hearts on J849, turn gives me the nuts. Villain has JT99x. River pairs the J. He boats. I lose a 70/30 for the tournament lead. If I win the two 50/50s and the 70/30, I’m chip leader short‑handed in all three events and likely win my first APT trophy. Instead: 0/4 and breakeven. Main Event This one hurt. 13 from the money, SB (super reg) 3.2x opens 18bb. I have A9o with 30bb. Perfect pressure spot. I 3‑bet jam. He snaps KTs. Solver world: KTs should 3x Facing jam, KTs is a fold this close to the money in ICM. Chip EV world is a clear call- in game: He calls Flop QJ2, turn 4♥, river 8♥ — runner‑runner flush. This pot was worth a lot in Player of the Series equity and would’ve given me 2x average on the bubble. We did well to min‑cash from 11bb, then lost a flip for 7bb with 46 left. If we run even slightly better in flips, this series is huge. Key Takeaways A) My game is in great shape. I’m playing well, improving, and consistently putting myself in high‑EV spots. B) Discipline matters more than ever. Re‑entering too much and chasing Player of the Series points is -EV and kills win rate. C) For my strengths, the strategy is simple: MLR every event. Every deep run came from it. Even in the $2.5k, I spun 16bb MLR to 3x start before running 99 into KK for 20bb.

() Grind ft 5th for 5.4k

() $350 M33 event 4th for 1.4k

() $450 Flipper - 3rd for 3.1k

() PLO4 PLO5 Roation 3rd for 2k. BR Challenge Update These are taken from my Lex Veldhuis Discord thread. Extract 1 Not much volume due to the live series. Only ~5 MTTs and an hour of cash in the last week. BR moved from $2k → $2.3k thanks to one strong PLO cash session (short‑stacking 50c/1 with $20 buy‑ins). Extract 2 Work has limited volume, but I’ve been doing small sessions of short‑stack PLO Rush (PLO25/50/100, 20bb buy‑ins, leaving at 70bb+). Variance has been kind.

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() We’re halfway to $5k inside a month — the same point I reached last time before punting it off. This time, with better mental game work, the goal is to avoid “punt‑off‑ville” and keep the climb steady. Conclusion APT was an okay series — not great, not terrible — and the BR challenge is still trending upward. I’m looking forward to grinding more online, mixing in some live events, and then heading off to Europe on June 19th. Until the next update — stay safe, run good, and catch ya!

End of Month Update — $500 → $5,000 Challenge Hey all — end of the month means time for a proper challenge update. We close out the first month of the $500 → $5,000 challenge at $2,160. That’s a fantastic result. One more month like this and we’re already knocking on the door of the finish line. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. The Highs, the Dip, and the Mental Game Battle I flew out of the gates early — hit $2.5k very quickly before and during APT. But after a slightly disappointing APT run, I found it surprisingly hard to regulate my emotions when returning to the challenge. Two big reasons: A) Fatigue. APT was long hours, long days, and mentally draining. B) Old scars. I’ve hit $2.5k so many times in past GG challenges and never broken through to $3k. That history sits in the back of my mind, and it triggered the urge to “blast through” the barrier instead of playing normally. That urge led to a small punt — a five‑minute lapse on a brutal Saturday morning session where the bankroll dropped from $2.3k → $1.9k. But here’s the important part: I stopped. I closed the session. I walked away. It sounds small, but it’s a huge step forward. In the past, that moment would’ve turned into a full spiral. This time, it didn’t. My partner pointed it out immediately, and my hypnotherapist reinforced it later that afternoon.

What We Uncovered in Hypnotherapy The session was eye‑opening. A few key takeaways: A) Stopping the spiral is progress. It won’t be perfect — the goal is to build the mental muscle to respond better to setbacks. B) There are still unresolved mental programs. The feelings of anger → anxiety → fear are old patterns that trigger punting behaviour. We’re working through them. C) The “lost years” narrative is dangerous. Because I punted off my bankroll at 24 and stepped away from poker for two years, part of me feels like I’m “behind” and need to catch up fast. This creates a toxic internal pressure: “I should be further ahead.” “I should be full‑time by 30.” “If I didn’t punt at 24, I’d have a 500k roll by now.” These thoughts aren’t logical — but they’re powerful. They make losing $100 feel like losing months of progress. This challenge is as much about fixing those mental programs as it is about doing a bankroll challenge for content. The Good News Despite the wobble, the mental game work is helping. I’ve felt more confident, more stable, and more in control than I have in years. The results reflect that: Great first month of the challenge Four final tables at APT Break‑even month overall (+$83) despite the live series swings No major punts, no spirals, no self‑destruction That’s growth. I’ve also loved getting back into streaming — shoutout to everyone who’s been hanging out in chat. It’s been fun sharing the grind again. Looking Ahead The next 18 days will be a mix of: A few live events More streaming More challenge volume Then I’m off to Europe for a month before tackling the second half of 2026. Will we get to $5k? I genuinely believe so. Will I punt again? I can’t guarantee perfection — but I’m doing everything I can to build the mental framework to avoid it. Below are the graphs from the challenge so far (MTTs + cash since 8/5/26). Thanks for following along — see you in the next update. Run good and take care.

() (cash game results- we have been lucky with variance to say the least)

() (mtt results- roughly an $8 ABI - have crushed it and will hopefully continue too)

Sounds like you got a gambling problem. one of the first signs is trying to chase losses. Say no to catching up and start where u are right now.

by iris78 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59316915#post59316915)

Sounds like you got a gambling problem. one of the first signs is trying to chase losses. Say no to catching up and start where u are right now.

I think I can agree with this to an extent - where I haven't got your classic have to gamble on everything like horses etc I still feel I have the ability to chase loses like this which is what's being worked on, comes from hate losing tilt if you go by the poker definition but good spot. (edit - I use a pretty strict BR management for my actual Poker roll now to mitigate this and has been working well the last 5 years of playing semi pro).

Another Final Table in a Mixed Event Can we finally win a mixed‑game MTT? At this point it feels like the running joke. I’ve got a stack of 2nds, 3rds, and deep runs without a trophy. Two years ago I famously finished 2nd in the old $1k version of this event at Stacked — blew a 5‑to‑1 chip lead, got sucked out on four times, snapped my headphones. People still remind me of it every time I make a mixed FT. So… could today be the day? Bullet 1 Super card dead. In Stud, started with buried 9s, made two pair, only flatted 7th, lost to a straight. In Badugi, started with a nice 5‑6‑7 draw, bricked out, lost to a Q‑Badugi. Bullet 1 gone.

Bullet 2 Much better start. Won some pots, then misread an O8 spot — thought I was getting quartered with A2T8, didn’t realise I rivered a gutshot, flatted nut‑nut and got a warning. Honestly, it woke me up. From 15 left to 4‑handed, I played some of the best mixed poker I’ve ever played. My draw games felt sharp, especially in Badugi. Made the FT 4/9 with $4.1k up top. Pulled off a beautiful Stud bluff — 6th‑street check‑raise, 7th‑street lead — blocking all his straights while every heart was dead. Got to 4‑handed with the chip lead, then 3‑handed in 2nd. The Swings Mixed games gonna mix. Lost a big O8 pot where I was 90% to scoop Lost a Badugi hand where I was dealt a J‑Badugi and villain drew 2 → 1 → 1 to make a better J Won some Razz and Stud pots to recover Then lost a huge Stud pot 3 handed where I had two pair vs our villians open‑ender — he squeezed a 6 on 7th to make a 2-6 straight Eventually KO’d the other player and got heads‑up against a fellow SA reg — solid mixed player, great NLH player, good guy. Déjà Vu — Again a Bridesmaid Just like two years ago, lost the first few hands and were down to four big bets. Then the massive O8 spot: I had AAQ8 with the nut flush draw and overpair vs not much… and he rivers an offsuit 9 for two pair. Lost the last bet in Stud and that was that — another 2nd place. But unlike two years ago: No blow‑up, no grief, no disbelief. I accepted it, shook his hand, had a laugh, took a photo, went home. I only play 3–4 mixed MTTs a year — variance is huge — and honestly I’m probably doing great. One day it’ll click. Bankroll Challenge Update The BR challenge is flying again. We’ve gone from $2.3k → $2.8k, thanks to short‑stacking PLO Rush cash — absolute gold mine so far. $400 in (well, $800 with the rebuy), $2.6k out, and a BR boost on top. Happy with the result.

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Burnout in your car at the round about for celebrations? The misses would enjoy that more than married at first shiiite

by iris78 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59318624#post59318624)

Burnout in your car at the round about for celebrations? The misses would enjoy that more than married at first shiiite

My partner had a chuckle at this <3

Cash is better than MTTs. you will probably have more money playing cash.

by iris78 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59323159#post59323159)

Cash is better than MTTs. you will probably have more money playing cash.

I would say most will agree or you have a more consistent win rate in cash games then MTTs due to variance. I think it depends on a players skill set and line up etc. I know at 100bb+ im not great playing any form of poker. Alot of my study is focused at sub 30bb for mtts with ICM etc. What I will say in the great words of Nelson Dong (Aus poker coach and influencer - would check him out on insta) - Stick to one format "learn it master it" then branch out. For him it was cash and now he crushes mtts outside of playing cash. For me its MTTs over cash until I can put a heap of time into studying 100+ BB etc. With that said I hate playing NLH cash and much prefer PLO cash. Also I love the comment etc- but probs wrong timing as we just had our largest score of 2026 in a mtt which ill update soon!

APL PT Adelaide Series Recap What a series — and what a whirlwind of emotions. Here’s how it all played out. I came into the week battling a head cold, so I trimmed the schedule down to: MLR Freezeout → MLR $600 6‑Max → MLR Jackstar → Main Event → a couple of PLO events.

Freezeout Quick run, min‑cashed, busted around 30th. $600 6‑Max Finished 13th with only 5 paid. Jam JJ over BTN open for 20bb, he calls ATo, finds an ace. GG.

Jackstar MLR, doubled early, played well… then tried bluffing someone who literally cannot spell “poker.” Four to a straight, three to a flush, blockers everywhere — he hero‑calls top + middle two pair 20 from the money. Lesson: don’t bluff the wrong player type. Main Event — The Big One This deserves its own section. Day 1 After busting the Freezeout, I jumped into the Main with 40bb. Only then did I realise they added two extra levels to Day 1 — so with a cold, cough, and headache, I had to grind until 1:30am. But we got it done. 50k → 152k bag, peaking at 240k. Made a huge fold late: 3‑bet AQo, CL 4‑bet jams, I tank‑fold, he shows AK. Day 2 Started with 19bb. Lost a little early, then opened KK UTG for 15bb. BB (a rec who fast‑plays everything) 3‑bets to 100k at 5/10k — we jam, he snaps JJ, we hold. From there we went off. KO’d short stacks, won key pots, 3‑bet successfully, and hero‑called QQ on K9843 vs a triple‑barrel bluff from 45s. Suddenly we were chip leader, pressuring the bubble with over 1M when average was 400k. After the bubble burst, we climbed to 2.6M with 16 left. Then… the dreaded table move. Moved from feature to an outer table, CL on our left, lost TT vs 87s for 10bb. Momentum dipped — but not for long. We opened JTs, SB + BB call. Flop 983♦♦, BB donk‑jams 12bb. We call, beat A3♦ on Tc Ts runout, and get back on track. Final Table Run Came in 2nd of 9, quickly took a massive chip lead. Two bustouts happened without us, then we KO’d a 5bb shorty. Then the hand of the tournament: BTN open → BB jams 25bb with ATo → we snap QQ → we hold. From there we dominated 5‑handed and 4‑handed. 3‑Handed Deal 15.8M chips in play — I had 7.4M. Payouts: 28k / 17k / 10.4k. We agreed to an ICM deal where I locked 25k, both others locked 15.5k. (yes they accepted a deal where they both recieved less than 2nd...) A dream deal. Good thing too — short stack doubled, then KO’d the other player. Heads Up Old‑man‑coffee reg. Lost a few early pots, then the key one: I open AQo, he 3‑bets 25bb effective. Even vs OMC, it’s a jam. He snaps JJ. Board runs clean. We jam our last 10bb with K9o, run into A5s, and that’s the end.

Final Result 2nd of 317 for $25,000 — basically first‑place money thanks to the deal. A fantastic title defence, our biggest score of 2026, and a perfect way to wrap the series given the cold/flu limiting volume. Now it’s time for a well‑earned break — a month in Europe, my first proper non‑poker holiday in five years. A great start to 2026, and we’re only just getting going. See you after the holiday — catch ya!

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N1 Damo

Update — Back From Europe & Ready for the Second Half of 2026 Guess who’s back! Fresh off the Europe trip — well, mostly fresh. A bit of Bali belly knocked me around the last few days, but we’re back home, recharged, and ready to attack the second half of the year. A couple of small poker things happened while I was away. I played 4–5 CoinPoker MTTs on a rest day (nothing notable), and I got through about 500 hands of GTO Wizard drills before Wizard decided to update their MTT drill section mid‑trip. Annoying timing, but it was nice to study without playing and feel genuinely motivated while travelling. It’s a good reminder that poker has helped create the freedom to take trips like this alongside my job. Coaching Shake‑Up The bigger development: I lost my coach. He’s fine and in good health — but he decided he no longer wants to work with someone who’s exploring additional coaching options. The short version: A friend of mine is launching an Aussie coaching site (Deep Blue Academy) with Malcolm Traynor. They’re not fully operating until November, but they’re posting content and answering questions. I asked about pricing, got @mentioned in their story, reshared it, and said I’d still be working with my coach. My coach didn’t like that and ended things after 12 months. It’s frustrating because: A) He was a great coach B) We had strong results together But maybe it’s a silver lining. I was only asking about cost, and their model is more “Netflix‑style” video library content — something I could easily use alongside 1‑on‑1 coaching. Maybe there was an underlying reason, who knows. If you know who he is, I still recommend him highly for your coaching and will continue to do so. So the plan now is to switch fully to the new academy in November and hopefully add some 1‑on‑1 coaching through them. In the meantime, a close friend — who coaches deep‑stack cash and plays the same SA games I do — has offered to coach me until November. He thinks one of my leaks is deep‑stack play and wants me playing more live cash to generate hands to review. The bonus is our partners know each other, so sessions can be done in person while they catch up. What the Second Half of the Year Looks Like MTTs APL Millions is around the corner. Last year I had a huge results — 42k in the Mini High Roller + Other cashes — though I sold 35% of my action. This year I’ll likely only sell for the 1k+ events and some mixed games. The smaller $600s and below will be 100% me, and the Main Event will be fully self‑funded. Work gave me time off again, but I got the sense my boss wasn’t thrilled, so for the rest of the year I’ll keep travel minimal. I’ll focus on the SA live series — one Stacked series and one Matchroom series left. If APL Millions goes well, I might flick in a weekend trip to WPT GC or APT Melbourne, which only requires one day off work. With the new coaching direction, I’ll be entering bigger buy‑ins with longer structures from the early levels (1–4) to collect deep‑stack hands. I’ll still drill sub‑20bb, sub‑30bb, and FT ICM spots with Wizard. Cash Games Live cash will become more regular: A) Less travel = more time at home B) Weekly SA MTTs aren’t great value C) Deep‑stack practice is a priority now with the new interim coach 2–3 sessions a week is manageable with work, a partner, and life outside poker. Wrapping Up Europe was great — first proper non‑poker holiday in five years. I’ve added a few photos below. (YES I PUT ON 6KG) Plenty of updates to come as we roll into the second half of 2026. With a strong APL Millions, a 100k profit year isn’t impossible — but I could also lose the full 25–30k I’m up this year at that series. That’s poker. That’s why we love it. See you in the next update.

() my partner Candice and I at the Trevi Fountain with a strong Tan

() When in Rome at the collosum

() My Sister and Mother with one of many sandwhich stops

() My Brother in Law and I getting drench on a rough transit day on Lake Como

() Well a bit of Fat DAMMO Corn for you all

Pre‑APL Millions Update It’s been pretty quiet since the Europe trip, but that’s about to change fast. APL Millions is already underway, and we’re flying up in a few days for eight straight days of non‑stop MTT action. I’ve run the numbers: if I max‑bullet everything, the total buy‑ins land somewhere around $20–24k, with a best‑case scenario closer to $13k. Last year was a great series — the $450 Mini High Roller chop for $42k was a highlight, even if I did lose two flips heads‑up for the trophy after locking up more than my opponent. But the echoes of a couple of years ago are still there too — the year I bricked everything, bubbled everything, and swung $18k in six days. Variance doesn’t forget. Excitement vs Preparation I’m always fired up for this series, but it’s important not to let that energy tip into overwhelm. Have I stayed sharp? Sort of. I haven’t studied as much MTT theory as I should have, but that’s mostly because I’ve been deep in the 6‑card PLO streets — plus a couple of streams thrown in. Why 6‑Card PLO? A few reasons: A) My coach specialises in 5‑ and 6‑card PLO, playing high‑stakes HU online. Quality coaching at mate’s rates is a no‑brainer. B) PokerBros gives me 40% rakeback weekly, and 45% on losing weeks, so putting in volume makes sense. C) Long online MTT sessions are hard to fit around work and life right now. So for the last five weeks, it’s been almost all 6‑card. Here’s the breakdown: Site‑by‑Site Results GG Poker Down around 10 bullets at .5/1, with some 1/2 mixed in. I’ve got a mental block on GG — I tend to punt, and keeping a small balance means the swings feel bigger, which doesn’t help. PPP Barely played. Mostly 5‑card runs there, but I should be playing because the rakeback is 50%. Again, discipline and game selection are the key. ClubGG Down around $2k AUD. One rough session at 3/6 where I lost three rivers in 25 minutes with over 70% equity each time. It was a shot take because the lineup was too good to pass up. But this isn’t a bad‑beat story. PokerBros This is where the magic has happened. Up $11k AUD over five weeks, crushing .5/1, 1/2, and some 2/4 or 3/6 HU. Rakeback adds another $1–1.5k, so around $9k raw profit. The games are soft, and with discipline, it’s been fantastic. I keep a $3k cap on the site and cash out anything above that weekly — it’s a great system and keeps the swings manageable. Looking Ahead I need more volume overall, but it’s been a fantastic start in a new format. I’m over $5k for the month heading into APL Millions. Discipline still slips at times, and I’m not sure how to increase volume outside PokerBros. One thing I like about Bros is that high‑stakes tables are phone‑only, and I play on PC — so I physically can’t play higher than 3/6. It’s nice protection, but realistically, I shouldn’t rely on that to stop myself from punting. GG offers good rakeback (50%), but gems are so hard to accumulate that you never realise the full value unless you grind nonstop. So I’ll likely move back to ClubGG (45% RB) or PPP (50% RB) for more structured volume. Final Thoughts That’s the update. I’m excited for APL Millions, and I’m happy with how the 6‑card experiment has gone. It might even become a long‑term format after the series.

APL Millions – Day 1 Trip Report A day that was supposed to be all about the $600 6‑Max turned into something completely different — and one of the biggest spots of my career. A great start to the series, but plenty of work still ahead. Let’s dive in. Arrival & the Sliding‑Doors Moment The flight in was smooth, and funny enough, a high‑stakes reg I know happened to be on the same flight and staying at the same hotel. We grabbed an Uber together, chatting about the schedule. He was here to play the $2.5k PLO. I wasn’t planning on touching it… until he casually said he’d take 20% if I jumped in. When we arrived, our rooms weren’t ready — not for a couple of hours. So instead of resting, showering, and prepping for the 6‑Max, the noon $2.5k PLO suddenly looked like the perfect way to fill the gap. I sold an extra 20% to one of my usual backers, ended up selling 40% total, and registered for the biggest PLO MTT I’ve ever played. I’m confident in my PLO game, but this was still a huge spot. And honestly, without the hotel delay and that Uber ride with the reg, I wouldn’t have played it. A true sliding‑doors moment.

The $2.5k PLO – Early Grind The start was slow. Very card‑dead, bleeding chips, just trying to stay afloat. Eventually things turned around after knocking out the defending champion twice. Hand 1: Hero‑called with A K T T (KT clubs) on 8 6 3 8 two clubs vs a donk‑lead and pot‑jam. Opponent had A Q 6 4 for nut clubs + a 6. We held. Hand 2: Flopped top pair + nut flush draw from the BB, turned two pair, rivered the nut flush. Donk‑lead jam, got tank‑called by a lower flush. From there I hovered around 130–160k for hours. Entries kept piling in and the prize pool ballooned to $413k, with $104k up top. The Hand That Put Us in Contention Six‑handed, I opened K T 9 7 double‑suited and got two callers. Flop: J 8 7 rainbow — absolute bink. Bet flop, BB calls. Turn: 3 — bet big to set up <1 SPR. River: 5 — check, BB tanks and calls our jam with JJxx. We beat top set and jumped to 300k with 50 left, 21 paid. Bubble Play & a Huge Fold The bubble dragged forever. I made a big hero fold with 7 6 4 4 on 8 4 6 after defending. Donk flop, bet turn J, river Q. Opp insta‑potted river. Based on what I know now, that sizing is always the nuts — he goes smaller with bluffs. Pretty sure it was a great fold. Eventually we squeaked into the money with 8bb, locking up $4.1k. Post‑Bubble Laddering Found A J J T one‑suited UTG and limped (folding to a pot). Four callers. Flop: K J 9. Donk‑potted for 90% of my stack, BB called with a gutshot + low flush draw. We held and climbed to 17bb. From there it was disciplined folding, laddering a few spots, and finally bagging at around 2:30am. Super tired, but proud. End‑of‑Day Position Coming back with 11bb, 15 players left. Locked up $6.1k–$6.4k, playing for $104k. If we can spin, we have a real shot at our first six‑figure score. Can we? Will we spin? Whatever happens, I’m grateful for the sliding‑doors moment and proud of how I executed in the biggest PLO MTT of my career.

APL Millions – Update 2 Welcome to the chaos of the week: the Jackstar $1.5k, the $2.5k Centurion, lack of sleep, late nights, and dreams of six‑figure scores. Unfortunately, not everything went to plan — so here’s the breakdown. Off the Felt – The Sleep Battle I’ve found it hard to sleep. My hotel room is insanely bright in the mornings, and my body clock insists on waking up at 6:30am. Painful. But honestly, I don’t think it’s affected my play — it’s just meant I’ve had to pour a lot more energy into staying locked in. Mentally, I’m proud. Variance hasn’t been on our side, but I’ve stayed tough and fought every spot. $2.5k Centurion I fired Day 2 and sold 50%. Not long in, I pick up AK on the button with 25bb. CO opens, I 3‑bet, he 4‑bet jams, and we snap. He has KK. No ace. GG. Later, I ran a bluff that’s approved in GTO Wizard, but the reg played his hand perfectly. GG the 2.5k. Jackstar $1.5k Bullet 1 was a dream table: one of WA’s best players and the rest recs. We joked about avoiding each other… until one level later. I open KK in MP to 2.5bb, reg 3‑bets to 11bb, I 4‑bet to 25bb, and he jams 101bb. We hate life but call. He has AK as a bluff. This time the A‑high flop comes. Grind sub‑10bb for over an hour. GG. Luckily I got a seat straight after. Ran hot and bagged 200k+ for Day 2. Day 2 saw a $2M+ prize pool with over 1,500 runners. We had a real shot after this hand: I open UTG opens to 2bb with AJs, MP jams 18bb, BB doesn’t see the action and puts out one chip. TD rules it a call. BB has 35k behind (~10bb). With dead money and BB range, I have to jam and get BB to call off and hopefully win the side pot- he does call. MP: AKo BB: 44 We flop a J, win the side pot, and jump to 380k (avg 100k). We grind well for hours, hovering above average, until this hand vs a rec: UTG limps, I peel AJs in CO, squeeze to 3.5bb, rec calls. Flop: K Q Q — check, range‑bet 2bb, call. Turn: J — check, I go thin for value, 40% pot, call. River: T — we make broadway. He checks, I size up for value… and get jammed on. Talk myself into a call. He has KQo. Back to grinding 10–20bb. Get within 100 spots of the money. SB jam ATo for 9bb, BB wakes up with 99. No win. GG. Main Event This meant I got to fire the Main last night before my partner arrives. Bagging would give me Friday off before Day 2, plus the Mini High Roller (which I finished 2nd in last year). Start at level 3, cooler someone early and go from 30k → 50k. Then hours of grinding with no card distribution. Lose QQ vs 88 (turn 8). Hover 20–30k. Finally get moved off the dead table. Mental game stayed strong. Found a double with pair + flush draw vs pair, rivered two pair. Then stacked AA with 54s on 8 6 3, turn 2, river Q — overbet jam, tank‑call. From 19k → 300k by end of rego. Post‑rego we played great, heading toward a big Day 2 stack… until this orbit: Short stack jams 13bb, I call KK, they have TT, flop T. Two hands later: Open KJo, BB calls. Flop gutshot + second‑nut flush draw. C‑bet, call. Turn brick, check, bet big to set up river jams or bluff with blockers. Reg clicks it. Have to call — equity is huge if live. River brick, reg jams, we fold. Apparently he was bluffing. If we hit, we win a monster. Lose another flip. 300k → 120k in one orbit. Gutting. Win a few small pots, then: BTN opens 180k (1.2k/2k/4k), I click 3‑bet to 9bb, he 4‑bet jams. We have AK — never folding. He has 77. No help flop… K on the turn. Back to 375k. Lose a decent pot JJ vs AQ (river A), which would’ve put us over 400k, but we bag 288k — nine starting stacks — off bullet 1 in the Main. This is also my freeroll bullet from finishing 2nd in the Adelaide APT PT Main earlier this year. Where We Stand The dream of a six‑figure score is alive. I’ve never cashed the APL Millions Main, and I’ve never bagged this big. I owe it to staying mentally tough, hanging around, and trusting things will turn if you give yourself the chance. I’m roughly break‑even for the series with some great events still to come — and the Main Event run ahead. See you all for the next update later.

Great mindset. Patience and mental toughness are really important, especially when you’re still waiting for that big score. Do you feel like your game or mindset has changed compared to previous series where, as I understand it, you weren’t able to make a deep run?

by Funpokerrr m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59386826#post59386826)

Great mindset. Patience and mental toughness are really important, especially when you’re still waiting for that big score. Do you feel like your game or mindset has changed compared to previous series where, as I understand it, you weren’t able to make a deep run?

Great question - Feel like it has changed a fair bit since the start of this blog however isnt perfect- I still feel quite angry or upset at the outcome in the immediate aftermath but takes way less time to get over the feeling of being oh so close, bad variance or just playing awful. So positives in the right direction I would say.

Small Update – Post APL Millions Long story short: I got COVID, and the grind basically stopped right after the last post. Main Event My Main Event run lasted about two orbits. Opened a straight‑flush draw → bricked. Then opened AKo in MP, good reg 3‑bets CO, I 4‑bet to 35bb, he snaps with AA… GG. Not the finish I wanted, especially after how much I was looking forward to this series. I tried to push through and play the PLO/NLH Switch, but it was more of the same. KK vs AK for the third or fourth time this series — no good. Then 98s on 4‑8‑3‑9 vs KK and TT… rivered again. Should’ve had 5x starting stack after rego, instead I was busto 20 minutes after rego closed. I also jumped into the NLH Deepstack, but that was my only real punt of the series. Reality Check When you’re tired and dealing with COVID brain, you’ve got to be kind to yourself. I slept most of the series away after that — just wasn’t well enough to play properly. Ended the month slightly up overall, but down just over 4k for the series. With normal variance, it could’ve been a completely different story. Moving Forward Travel will slow down for a bit. There are a few good Adelaide series coming up, and some decent interstate ones too, but I’ll be stretched for time off work. PLO6 Cash PLO6 cash has been going well, and I’ll be increasing volume here. It’s been the most consistent part of my game lately. GG Updates GG has updated their PLO schedule — heaps of daily 4‑ and 5‑card PLO MTTs plus WSOP Online PLO events. I’ll be grinding those alongside cash. But first: a few days of rest. I’ll restart the grind Sunday/Monday once the brain fog clears.

Mid‑Month Update – September A very swingy September so far, with a few big spots still to come. Here’s a full recap of results, what’s been happening across formats, and where the mental game is sitting. PLO6 Cash What the chips giveth, the chips taketh away. Started the month up around 3k playing PLO6 on both ClubGG and Bros. Then came a brutal –2k session that knocked the momentum out. I ground it back to +3k… only to drop another 3–4k shortly after. The issue? I can’t help myself but battle at 2/4 (800 buy‑in) or 3/6 (1.2k buy‑in) when the fish are wild. But in PLO6, when people are ripping in most of their stack preflop, equities run close — and variance hits hard. The first downswing was pure brutality. The second one was on me. Mentally I’ve felt off this month, and I’ll get into that later. PLO4 Cash I’ve got a bit of a bankroll on GG at the moment thanks to some MTT runs, so I’ve been mixing in 1/2 PLO4. It’s swingy. I’ve gone from +1.4k → breakeven → up again. Whenever I sit down for a proper multi‑table session, I seem to lose. Whenever it’s just a side table or a quick 20–30 minute hit‑and‑run, I run hot and move on. I’ll definitely keep mixing PLO cash in, especially with the PLO MTT volume this month. I don’t have a huge sample, but here’s the Rush & Cash 1/2 data for the month so far.

() MTTs – PLO Some real runs this month, and overall we’re above EV — but the story is more complicated. A few notes on the data: PT4 doesn’t support 5‑ or 6‑card PLO So I’ve manually added PLO6 cash results + rakeback + PLO MTT results Profit/loss is accurate, hands aren’t affected Results PLO has been so close to a monster month. Three deep runs in the $77 7‑Max PLO Best finish: 4th Plus three other top‑20s Deep in the $215 PLO Bounty Deep in the $54 PKO Main Three top‑20s in the PLO5 WSOP Fast 5 No final tables… but the EV chart tells the real story We’ve run horrendously in the big moments. With even average run‑good, we’re talking multiple wins or FTs. The $215 PKO was the killer: chip‑leading 4‑handed, bounty daddy spot, then lost three 80/20s on the flop to the eventual winner. Also got screwed on the bubble twice in the $77. Still — nice scores, solid profit, and momentum. I’ve also got 6 starting stacks for the Weekender tomorrow and $100 in bounties locked, coming in around 70th with 40bb and a dream. Revenge loading.

() (not the BB/100 being neg yet i should be winning at 18.77....) MTTs – NLH I’ve been bouncing back and forth on NLH MTTs. PLO feels more natural online — more deep runs, more confidence, less fatigue. NLH has bigger fields, tougher regs, and more variance. I got advice to drop my ABI and focus on softer fields. I tried it. Had some runs. But mentally it felt like a lot of effort for not much reward. Two fake WSOP deep runs (top 30 in the $77 and $55) with 5k up top but nothing meaningful to show for it. After talking with my partner, I decided to increase my ABI again — not punting, but playing the $108–$250 reg fields where I actually improve and take it seriously. Yes, it’s a mental‑game leak. Yes, it contributed to my February downswing. But I also ran under EV back then, and long‑term these fields are better for development. Still scared to fire them consistently, but we’ve had success: Won the $215 Bounty Hunters Final tabled the $88 Daily Special Final tabled the $108 Bounty Hunters Sitting on 60bb for the $25 PKO Weekender tomorrow

() (running above ev in NLH though which is good an makes up for some PLO run bad) Mental Game – Honest Review This has been the hardest part of the month. I’ve felt flat, spewy, punty — especially after the two bad PLO6 losing days. Every session has left me annoyed. I’ve played over 90 hours on GG alone this month, on top of full‑time work and family/partner commitments. I’ve been too hard on myself, almost willing bad decisions into existence. This has led to: Bad late regos Registering PKOs too high in the ABI range Sessions running longer than needed Not wanting to quit after losing big spots Feeling “compelled” to grind a big winning month Playing when tired, frustrated, or mentally cooked When I get like this, it usually leads to: A massive losing MTT session Followed by a big losing PLO session Followed by an all‑in‑or‑fold punt Because the brain is tired and the body is done It’s wild what fatigue does to decision‑making. I probably need a few days off — but with WSOP and the series running, it’s hard to step away. Hopefully the feeling passes soon. Where We Stand We’re up for the month on GG and overall. Will it stay that way? Tomorrow’s big session will decide a lot. Maybe I need to revisit firing so many $150+ events. Even though I’m bankrolled, they clearly affect my mood. Either way — this is an open, honest review of a month where I’ve run under EV but might actually be lucky to be up as much as I am.

() (overall MTT graph for the month)

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() (Finally a top of buy in bink)

September Recap: A Reset, A Reality Check, and a New Long‑Term Goal

Well hello everyone — time for the end‑of‑month recap. And to be honest, things didn’t go exactly to plan. So let’s dive in. A Tough Month on the Felt After binking at the top of my buy‑in range, I became extremely confident. But pretty early on I kept saying the same thing: I didn’t feel mentally sharp. Burnout, swinginess, and a general lack of discipline crept in, and the results reflected it. I swung all the way back toward breakeven on GG. Not ideal — but not wasted either. The Mental Game Work Begins The biggest positive this month was realising how much mental game work I haven’t been doing. So I’ve made some changes: • Daily journaling • Daily note‑taking • Reading a new mental game book • Actively identifying emotional leaks The impact has been immediate. I’ve already uncovered small but important issues that were quietly sabotaging my play — burnout, discipline lapses, and a resistance to accepting poker for what it truly is: a long‑term mix of skill, luck, and variance. A Hard Truth About MTTs I’ve also taken a step back and accepted something I’ve been avoiding: I’m a tournament player at heart — but working full‑time and trying to grind/study online MTTs in my time zone is basically impossible. The schedule, the very early mornings , the mental load…+ full time work = it’s not sustainable. The New Focus: PLO Rush Cash So the focus moving forward is PLO cash (always seems to be)— but with a major shift in how I set goals. For too long my goals have been monetary: Grow bankroll to X. Move up to stake Y. Generate Z rake. None of those are fully in my control. They rely on variance unless you’re looking at a massive sample over a very long term view. (True win rate) So I’m changing the approach completely. The Goal: 1 Million Hands of PLO Rush Cash Over the next 12–14 months, I’m committing to playing 1,000,000 hands of PLO Rush. This is a goal I can control. For context: • 1M hands in 12 months = 2,740 hands/day • ~83,500 hands/month • With 25–30 hours/week at ~700 hands/hour (3‑tabling), it’s achievable. This goal gives me: • A real sample size • A focus on process, not results • A way to detach from short‑term variance • Space to study a game type properly • A structure that fits my full‑time work schedule I may win or lose over the sample — that’s poker. But I’ll have meaningful data, improved skill, and a clear path forward. My bankroll is big enough to handle swings at 1/2 PLO Rush, and if I need to drop all the way to 1c/2c for part of the million‑hand sample, it doesn’t matter. The goal is the volume, not the stake. Tracking the Journey Each month I’ll track: • Hands played/hours played • all in adjusted ev (secondary metric) • Study hours Win rate/EV only matters if it becomes massively negative and forces a stake drop due to loss of bankroll. Otherwise, it’s just information about performance over the long sample. Live MTTs Still in the Mix I’ll still play live MTT series — they’re my strongest format and best ROI — but this million‑hand challenge gives me structure for the daily grind while balancing: • Work • Family • Friends • Study • Recovery And yes, hopefully I’ll earn enough gems and rakeback to eventually chase the 62M gem → $100k cashout. But realistically, that’s a 2–3 year project with pvi on gg. Wrapping Up Thanks for listening. I’m excited for this next chapter and the clarity that comes with a long‑term, controllable goal. I’ll share updates as I go — and once I finish the mental game book, I’ll post my key takeaways.

() Book I’m reading which is providing great insight into a few of my flaws when having success or failing in the online world of the game

by singletablemtts m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59411360#post59411360)

plently of burnouts at roundabouts instead of married at first shiit on the telly coming up after u bink big mtts.

Burnouts in the vz commie with the west end in the back- shouting hold the beam👀🔥 For those wondering this as Aussie slang as it gets 😅

the poker mindset recap Finishing The Poker Mindset hit me harder than I expected. It wasn’t just an “interesting read” — it exposed a lot of the exact issues I’ve been battling in my game, some obvious and some embarrassingly subtle. This post breaks down the biggest takeaways, how they apply to my current grind, and whether I’d recommend the book. Spoiler: I would. Accepting What Poker Actually Is My biggest realisation — and the one the book drills into relentlessly — is that I haven’t fully accepted what poker is at its core. Poker is a long‑term game of skill + luck, built on small edges, high variance, and continuous improvement. And in PLO? Multiply that variance by ten. The book describes players who struggle to see past short‑term results. I’ve said this to my partner multiple times while reading: I felt attacked. It nailed me perfectly. I’ve been living session‑to‑session emotionally, instead of embracing the long arc of the grind. Ego, Identity & Why I Post My Results One section that hit me hard was about ego It forced me to ask uncomfortable questions: Why do I post every live MTT result on Instagram? Why did I stream? Why do I feel the need to “show” my poker journey? The honest answer: ego. I used poker as identity, not just as a long‑term skill game or a source of extra income. The book makes it clear — ego is poison for decision‑making, discipline, and emotional stability. Leaving ego at the door isn’t optional. It’s mandatory. Tilt Isn’t Just Rage — It’s Anything Below Your A‑Game The book’s definition of tilt is simple: any time you’re playing below your optimal level. That includes: Entitlement tilt, hate-losing tilt, frustration tilt, and the one that punched me in the face: formula tilt Formula tilt = zoning out, autopiloting, clicking buttons without thinking. Since starting the PLO Rush challenge, I’ve already caught myself in spots where I genuinely don’t remember how I got there. That’s autopilot. That’s formula tilt. And it’s costing me. This is now a major focus area. My Biggest Weakness Right Now: Short‑Term Emotional Attachment Even with a 1M‑hand goal, I’m still obsessing over: This session, last session, the last 10 buy ins, how it affects my overall gg bankroll. Despite having 100+ buy-ins for my stake, I still feel the emotional pull of short-term results. That’s the exact mindset the book warns against. This challenge is designed to break that habit. 1,000,000 hands forces long-term thinking. It forces detachment. It forces discipline. I’ll be rereading the book to reinforce this. The 7 Principles of a Strong Poker Mindset The book says if you can internalise these eight principles, you’ll build a mindset that can actually win long-term:

• Accept the realities of poker • Play for the long-term • Leave ego at the door • Continuously improve • Remove emotion from decisions • Desensitise yourself to money • Treat poker as a game These are simple to write down, brutal to execute.

Challenge Update: 1M Hands of PLO Rush Quick update on the grind: • 13,000+ hands in the first 7 days • Slightly behind pace due to some big life events (more on that in the next post) • Still aiming for 75,000 hands by month-end • Early sample looks promising • Autopilot spots are already becoming more obvious • Mindset work is already paying off The real test will come when variance punches me in the face — and it will.

Final Thoughts Reading The Poker Mindset has already changed how I approach the game. I’ve made progress, but there’s a long way to go. This challenge is about building the mental game I’ve lacked for years — not chasing short-term results. I’ll post a full end‑of‑month update with: • stats • graphs • win rate • volume • and how the mindset work is holding up For now, I’m locked in. 1,000,000 hands. One decision at a time.

1M Hands Challenge – Early Progress Report (25,000+ Hands) The first phase of the 1M Hands Challenge has provided a clear picture of both my current strengths and the areas requiring significant refinement. Although the initial plan was to produce monthly updates, the amount of structural adjustment in the early weeks warrants a more detailed progress report now. The foundation is finally stabilising, and the next stage will focus on building meaningful sample sizes and evaluating long‑term performance. Phase One: 200PLO Rush – An Immediate Reality Check The challenge began with a 4,000‑hand sample at 200PLO Rush, which proved to be an overreach. My background includes PLO MTT study and limited cash‑game range work, but not the depth required to compete effectively in this pool. Discussions with established PLO cash grinders confirmed the level of competition: Most full‑time 200PLO Rush regulars are 5/10–10/20 live professionals with extensive technical knowledge. Although the graph shows I ran under EV, the more important takeaway is that I was not technically prepared for this environment. The decision to move down was necessary.

() Phase Two: 100PLO Rush – Bankroll Structure and Variance Management To create a realistic framework for the challenge, I deposited $10,000 USD on GG and treated it as a working bankroll. The early results were promising — a rapid gain of +19 buy‑ins — followed by a sharp correction over two days that returned the roll to baseline. Since then, the bankroll has oscillated between $9.5k and $10.8k, reflecting both natural variance and ongoing technical leaks. To stabilise decision‑making, I implemented strict bankroll rules: $100 maximum bet limit $1,000 daily stop‑loss These constraints have been effective in preventing emotional escalation, though the 24‑hour lockout after hitting stop‑loss can be mentally challenging. For a long‑term volume challenge, however, this structure is essential. Phase Three: Temporary Move to 25PLO – Understanding Tilt Dynamics Frustration with variance led to a temporary shift down to 25PLO. While the games were significantly softer, the results were inconsistent, particularly toward the end of sessions. During study, I recognised that dropping too far down in stakes was not strategic — it was a form of tilt. The lack of financial consequence removed discipline and did not contribute to long‑term development. As a result, I returned to 100PLO, though the adjustment period has been difficult. Long‑Term Plan: Building a Foundation at 50PLO and 100PLO After consulting multiple experienced PLO cash regs I know, the consensus was clear: 200PLO is the eventual target, but only after demonstrating sustained winning over large samples. GG’s rake structure significantly suppresses winrates, making small edges difficult to realise. A realistic benchmark for success at mid‑stakes is 1.5bb/100 or higher, given that rake can consume up to 13bb/100 in some pools. Next Steps: Reduce maximum bet to $50, Maintain $1,000 stop‑loss, Grind 100,000 hands at PLO50 If the bankroll remains stable and results are positive, move back to 100PLO Only consider 200PLO after 200,000–250,000 hands of proven performance The small existing sample at PLO50 (played mostly during frustration) will be statistically irrelevant over 100k hands. Technical and Mental Study – Key Insights Technical Study: Upswing PLO Cash Course The course has already produced measurable improvements: Increased preflop 3‑bet frequency, Better structural tightening in marginal positions. Identification of BB over‑defending tendencies Recognition of overly loose calls in 3‑bet pots Ongoing difficulty with AAxx OOP in 3‑bet pots — potentially a mix of leaks and short‑term variance The volume of technical adjustments required is substantial, but the trajectory is positive. Mental Game Study: Elliot Roe – A‑Game Program Key takeaways: Excessive emotional investment in short‑term outcomes, Difficulty detaching from daily results, Need to redirect focus toward decision quality rather than immediate profit/loss Active reframing during sessions to maintain strategic clarity Study Routine A structured daily process: 1 technical video, 1 mental‑game video , Daily journalling, Pre‑session and post‑session routines Over 1M hands, this should produce durable habits and measurable improvement. Rake, PVI, and the GG Ecosystem The contrast between PT4 and Pokercraft results is stark: (results below post) Pre‑rake, I am clearly winning at PLO100 Post‑rake, the winrate is near breakeven PVI further reduces effective rakeback: Actual rakeback earned: 15–20% Advertised rakeback: 50% Gems are not paid out as cash Approaching the 60% mark, but still insufficient for long‑term profitability at higher stakes Mitigation Strategy: Streaming The most viable solution is obtaining the Streamer Mode tag, which provides 100% rakeback paid weekly in cash. I will resume streaming with the goal of re‑applying around Christmas. Twitch: twitch.tv/dammo_23 Next Steps and Outlook The plan moving forward: Commit to PLO50 Rush for a 100,000‑hand sample, Evaluate winrate and bankroll stability, Transition back to PLO100 if results justify it, Continue technical and mental study Strengthen off‑table routines, Maintain detailed tracking through PT4 and Pokercraft.

() Monthly Graph of without PLO200 - BB/100 overall -.38 was 1.9 before this morning losing session - very break even

() Pokercraft month to date so even with a 2k loss pre rake at 200PLO still up to 2k overall pre rake- mostly at PLO100 - Crazy if the rake was normal in GG :(

I QUIT THE CHALLENGE A) Rake is unbeatable, B) I run pretty bad C) Im no where near good enough to play this game seriously. SO stay tuned - I may quit- and thats okay take the skills ive learnt and studied and apply them elsewhere in life. I would love to travel and play live mtts, but family building a house and full time job stop this. Live Cash I find boring but yeah anyhow might be GG on this Journey

gg

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59419469#post59419469)

gg

GG big fella, you are the inspiration! - keep crushing