Omaha clicking, 8k€ to 50k€ BR challenge

Hi,

Some people may already know me as I have been somewhat active in English community over the years. Anyway with what happened to Finnish community I will open new blog here.

For some info and history you can look through my private coaching thread (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=264462).

During summer I started to seriously think of possibility to go for SNE next year. It has been bit of uncertain plan or semi dream so far. So during September I aimed for 60k VPP month. Managed to get bit less than 50k, but there was still lot of space for improvement both using time more efficiently and improve my multitabling skills. Overall I were ok with results.

During this month I went for even bigger goal. To hit 100k VPP in month. This challenge is basically to answer two questions:

1: Am I able to make enough volume? 2: If yes is that pace going to be maintainable for long period?

So far I have been in pace and will reach 40k+ today. It has been good test month for my grinding motivation so far as run has not been exactly hot. Graph in spoiler.

Spoiler

But so far I have been happy and bit surprised that I have been able to make this volume. Will post accurate daily information soon from other blog I have kept for this challenge.

Anyway as some might have noticed 100k per month is more than what is required for SNE. But I want to prevent situation where I would have 2 months left and 300k VPP to make. So I have though to make target to have 600k VPP in July 1 next year. That should also make second half of year way less stressful.

As said in blog name I am targeting for SNE with turbo games where as many will choose hyper games. Personally I enjoy to play turbo speed structure much more. Game wise I am playing mostly 30-100$ 6, 9 and 18mans. Also some 15$ 18man and 200$ stt. Have not tried 200$ 18man yet as swings can be pretty cruel in those.

Will be updating how this challenge goes and what I think of forthcoming challenge next year

1st! And good luck of course

Great! I'll follow this blog as I used to follow your previous blog on the Finnish site.

Hi! I’m planning to play SNE next year, doing both turbos and regular speed. It’ll be tough but I think it’s doable. Do you want to change Skype details?

GL!

Sick! Good luck!

Originally posted by Buhas

Hi! Im planing to do SNE next year playing turbos and reg speed aswell. t will be hard but i think is doable. Do you want to change skypes?

GL!

Yeah you can add me. Skype information is in my coaching thread.

Ok so here is data from this month so far:

Day 1:

Games played: 186

AVG bin: 39.41$

Time played: 8.6h

VPP points: 2896

Total VPP points: 2896/100000

Target speed: 3333/100000

Day 2:

Games played: 209

AVG bin: 41.89$

Time played: 8.5h

VPP points: 3466

Total VPP points: 6362/100000

Target speed: 6666/100000

Day 3:

Games played: 210

AVG bin: 43.67$

Time played: 9.4h

VPP points: 3630

Total VPP points: 9992/100000

Target speed: 10000/100000

Day 4:

Games played: 197

AVG bin: 41.12$

Time played: 8.6h

VPP points: 3235

Total VPP points: 13227/100000

Target speed: 13333/100000

Day 5:

Games played: 211

AVG bin: 46.47$

Time played: 8.4h

VPP points: 3903

Total VPP points: 17130/100000

Target speed: 16666/100000

Day 6:

Games played: 213

AVG bin: 46.62$

Time played: 8.5h

VPP points: 3960

Total VPP points: 21090/100000

Target speed: 20000/100000

Day 7:

Games played: 173

AVG bin: 47.25$

Time played: 7.1h

VPP points: 3233

Total VPP points: 24323/100000

Target speed: 23333/100000

Day 8:

Games played: 81

AVG bin: 37.35$

Time played: 4.2h

VPP points: 1204

Total VPP points: 25536/100000

Target speed: 26666/100000

Day 9:

Games played: 262

AVG bin: 47.12$

Time played: 11.2h

VPP points: 4866

Total VPP points: 30402/100000

Target speed: 30000/100000

Day 10:

Games played: 178

AVG bin: 44.07$

Time played: 7.5h

VPP points: 3130

Total VPP points: 33532/100000

Target speed: 33333/100000

Day 11:

Games played: 210

AVG bin: 39.67$

Time played: 8.7h

VPP points: 3335

Total VPP points: 36867/100000

Target speed: 36666/100000

Day 12:

Games played: 195

AVG bin: 45.28$

Time played: 8.2h

VPP points: 3481

Total VPP points: 40348/100000

Target speed: 40000/100000

Now clear problem here is that I have not had single actual holiday so far. Not necessarily problem in one month project, but not possible for SNE hunt obviously. So it would be good to achieve level where I could get around 4.5-5k VPP per playing day as that would allow me to have even two holidays per week. One holiday per week is anyway absolute minimum. Maintaining good energy level is not going to be possible otherwise.

Another problem with my poker and life style has been lack of routines. For this project I have started to create one. E.g.

• Wake by alarm clock (if necessary)

• Morning things done in ~half hour

• First session

• Small breakfast and sometimes sport

• Second session

• Lunch and sometimes sport and also some free time for other things

• Third session

• Free time

• Sometimes shorter fourth session

• Evening stuff and sleepy sleepy time

My day would roughly look like that. This allow me to use my time more efficiently and not waste it on some more or less useless stuff. Problem with my volume side has been that I played so randomly earlier. So some sort of routine was mandatory. I don't think I would have played 2325 games so far otherwise

subscribed, obviously. Good luck!

Sick, m8, I wish u all the best!

I can see a very big problem as you described — you can’t play that many hours every day without breaks. Not only will you have no life, you’ll certainly burn out. So yeah, raise the tabling I suppose, add some variance IMO about 5k VPP/day plan and you’ll have a great year!

GL

Good luck!

How many tables do you currently play?

What do you think are the differences between 18s and STTs are in terms of toughness of the games?

Originally posted by sngplayer90

Good luck!

How many tables are you running right now?

What do you feel are the distinctions between 18s and STTs regarding how tough the games are?

Tile, stack table?

Thanks for everyone who wants to follow my travel

Originally posted by sngplayer90

Good luck!

How many tables do you currently play?

What do you think are the differences between 18s and STTs are in terms of toughness of the games?

I can handle around 20 tables nicely now. At peak times I have had close to 30, but 23-25 is what I can handle without clear increase in misclicks and such.

18mans tend to be bit softer, but there is bad games in 60$+ sometimes. 30$ are almost always good for me and in 15$ I have never used table selection. Compared to STT where even 30$ are sometimes reg infested. Might not be that good regs, but even breakeven regs are bad if there is no losing players at all.

Originally posted by rmslobato

tile, stack table?

I have played stacked now for probably 1.5 years or so. Much easier for me to control bigger table amounts that way.

hey mate,

First off, good luck with your challenge.

Second, PM me for my Skype and message me if you want any help or tips about SNE grinding.

Third, my immediate advice is to find a way to raise your VPP/hr even if that requires sacrificing some ROI. You’ll burn out fast if you keep putting in such extreme hours every month.

ps. SUBBED OFC

Ghaleon subscribed and you have my total support man !

When you catch SNE with turbos you will be one of very few to do so since many guys go for hypers. Really wondering what your pre RB will be like when mixing 30-100s 6 to 18 man. If you manage to have positive ROI or at least BE, then it might be worth considering as a road to SNE.

Best of luck and keep on crushing

Originally posted by lessthanthreee

hey mate,

Firstly. Best of luck with your challenge.

Second, pm for my skype and msg me if you want any help/tips about SNE grinding.

Thirdly, my immediate advice would be to find some way to increase your VPP/hr even if that means sacrificing a bit of ROI. You will burn out quickly if you are putting in such crazy hours every month.

ps. SUBBED OFC

Will add you on skype.

Yeah idea is to improve hourly during this year and continuously next year. I have not played these sort of table amount for long yet so improvement will come over time. Also during this month I have started to add more 100$ and also to take 200$ stt into my sessions. Though those games tend to be reg infested most of time and e.g. 2 good regs, 2 mediocre regs and 1 fish is not very compelling for my table selection.

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77

Ghaleon subscribed and you have my total support man !

When you catch SNE with turbos you will be one of very few to do so since many guys go for hypers. Really wondering what your pre RB will be like when mixing 30-100s 6 to 18 man. If you manage to have positive ROI or at least BE, then it might be worth considering as a road to SNE.

Best of luck and keep on crushing

Well my target for this month was to hit 100k VPP. Profit wise I am actually decently happy with breakeven prerakeback month. Rakeback is going to give me around 7-8k$ alone and that is very nice money chunk for me

I think around 2-3% ROI would be very good in long run with this sort of volume and that would be realistic imo. So far this month I have 2.3% EV ROI, but obviously 2500 games is no sample at all.

Day 13:

Games played: 173

AVG bin: 41.56$

Time played: 6.6h

VPP points: 2810

Total VPP points: 43185/100000

Target speed: 43333/100000

Profit-wise today was, I believe, the second-best of my career. Post-rakeback profit reached a pleasant 2331$

Originally posted by ghaleon

Well my target for this month was to hit 100k VPP. Profit wise I am actually decently happy with breakeven prerakeback month. Rakeback is going to give me around 7-8k$ alone and that is very nice money chunk for me

I think around 2-3% ROI would be very good in long run with this sort of volume and that would be realistic imo. So far this month I have 2.3% EV ROI, but obviously 2500 games is no sample at all.

I agree, breakeven playing those formats and limits with SNE would be quite awesome.

I see guys on 30s having 2-3% but not sure about 60s and 100s if its possible to get the same roi.

I just read the blog and want to wish you the very best and lots of luck!

Originally posted by alxpoker91

I just read the blog and want to wish you the best of luck!

Thanks

Day 14:

Games played: 226

AVG bin: 44.16$

Time played: 8.6h

VPP points: 3912

Total VPP points: 47097/100000

Target speed: 46666/100000

Today probably had my best games per hour so far. Not by much, but it’s improving.

Day 15:

Games played: 179

AVG bin: 44.39$

Time played: 7.2h

VPP points: 3148

Total VPP points: 50245/100000

Target speed: 50000/100000

So month and challenge goal has both come to middle point. So lets make bit of summary:

Games played: 2903

AVG bin: 43.66$

Time played: 121.2h

So game amount is more than I would have expected at this point. I was aiming for bit higher avg bin though and that's reason why my original estimation of 5300-5500 games in month is not enough. So should try to get it bit higher. Maybe I have to decrease bit of my table selection standards.

Heh just noticed one funny fact when I checked month giraffe so far.

Spoiler

At least some of my lines are trying to follow each other ♦

Structure side games has gone as follow:

6man: 1116 games, 0.9% EV ROI

9man: 864 games, -3.7% EV ROI

18man: 923 games, +6% ROI

Run in 9man has not been great EV wise, but even so I have managed to run way below that in actual results. Well same goes for 6man. For 18man its not as easy to see how you run, but from cEV perspective winnings has been 316k and cEV 280k. So that side has been good.

Now biggest area of development should now be to improve my VPP generation as some of you has already pointed out. Half month and 121h played + some session analyze is huge and very heavy work load for longer period of time. Well have to see how month continues.

Some hands from today:

This is from 30$ 18man bubble. It's bit ugly spot when tightish BU reg shoves over UTG reg open. I didnt like situation at all, but folding QQ would be bit tight imo. But I think JJ or AKs is fold. Also I suppose UTG is going for non-allin play here, but considering he has bigger stack than BU I doubt he really should be folding. Obviously our ranges are strong, but still.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $400(BB) Replayer

Hero ($7,516)

BB ($6,901)

UTG ($4,703)

CO ($3,734)

BTN ($4,146)

Dealt to Hero Q♣ Q♦

UTG raises to $2,500, fold, BTN raises to $4,121 (AI), Hero raises to $7,491 (AI), fold, fold

FLOP ($11,267) A♠ J♣ K♥

TURN ($11,267) A♠ J♣ K♥ 9♥

RIVER ($11,267) A♠ J♣ K♥ 9♥ T♣

Spoiler BTN shows K♦ K♠

(Pre 82%, Flop 86.6%, Turn 90.9%)

Hero shows Q♣ Q♦

(Pre 18%, Flop 13.4%, Turn 9.1%)

Hero wins $11,267

Here was another really big WTF moment in 18man. BB is reg in these games...

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $200(BB) Replayer

SB ($1,656)

BB ($815)

Hero ($2,571)

UTG+1 ($1,272)

CO ($2,699)

BTN ($192)

Dealt to Hero A♣ T♣

Hero raises to $400, fold, fold, BTN calls $167 (AI), fold, BB calls $200

FLOP ($1,217) 2♣ 4♠ K♦

BB checks, Hero bets $730, BB folds

TURN ($1,217) 2♣ 4♠ K♦ A♠

RIVER ($1,217) 2♣ 4♠ K♦ A♠ 9♦

Hero shows A♣ T♣

(Pre 63%, Flop 27.2%, Turn 61.4%)

BTN shows 5♠ 2♠

(Pre 37%, Flop 72.8%, Turn 38.6%)

Hero wins $1,217

Here is hand from 30$ 6max. SB is decent reg, other villains unknown. Free flop and pretty nice hit. I don't see much point in raising flop + I dont mind if other two villains stay in pot. Turn SB bets bigger. I think he has very often some 2 pairs (Q8, Q9) here, maybe 22 (unlikely with our blocker). So I get 4 more straight draw outs, 2 is likely good and spades. Though my flush draw is not that strong so even though flush over flush tend to be quite rare in Holdem its still reasonable situation in these big multiway pots.

Anyway I do have decent pot odds to call and villains behind might be improving those. Probably quite rarely raising.

In river I hit my straight and SB bets very small. I do beat him almost always, but probably best line is to just call and hope villain behind calls also. For reg it's quite face up what I have if I raise and it's awkward spot to have much of bluff range when its still 3way.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $20(BB) Replayer

SB ($1,383)

Hero ($1,440)

UTG ($1,530)

UTG+1 ($270)

CO ($1,452)

BTN ($2,925)

Dealt to Hero J♠ 2♠

fold, fold, CO calls $20, BTN calls $20, SB calls $10, Hero checks

FLOP ($80) 2♣ Q♠ 8♠

SB bets $38, Hero calls $38, CO calls $38, BTN calls $38

TURN ($232) 2♣ Q♠ 8♠ 9♣

SB bets $146, Hero calls $146, CO folds, BTN calls $146

RIVER ($670) 2♣ Q♠ 8♠ 9♣ T♥

SB bets $171, Hero calls $171, BTN folds

Spoiler SB shows 9♦ Q♦

(Pre 63%, Flop 50.2%, Turn 70.5%)

Hero shows J♠ 2♠

(Pre 37%, Flop 49.8%, Turn 29.5%)

Hero wins $1,012

My 1M$ freeroll attempt didnt go far this time. In 60/120 blind level opened AK from CO to 300 and BB made big 3bet to ~1k. Had 8k stack for start of hand so made small 4bet to 2k and called a shove. Villain turned pocket rockets. Kind of standard line for late position action. Sauna was also warm so didnt really mind to gamble.

November goal is going according to plan vpp wise. Almost 55k now.

Had one funny hand today where I somehow managed to open raise TT from UTG (6max) to 520. Blinds were 10/20 so sizing might have been bit surprising. Anyway some unknown from BB calls, flop comes T8x and villain donk shoves. Turned AJ and my hand hold

Decided to change my sessions a bit. I try to play only 3 sessions with 80+ games per session. That should produce around 4.3-5k v3p per day. Also I dont play as much during late evening. Games run best at that time, but its very reggy in 60$+ games. With my game format mixing I can still get 15+ games running decently fast pretty much any moment of day.

Late evening session is option for next year, but without SNE goal I dont see much point to play those.

So today I tried to make 3 bit longer sessions and managed to get almost 250 games in 8.7h. Total VPP amount was around 4.35k. Soon going to hit target I set for this year, 300k vpp. Only 20k to make so 4-5 days

Have to check after this month whatever to aim for 400k vpp milestone or not. Would probably require around 70k for December.

Today I’m shooting for a special volume! It will be difficult, but definitely attainable. So the number of games to aim for is .....

Spoiler

If I fail to finish this challenge I solemnly vow to quit poker and call some “gameholic” help line!

Today has been quite hectic so far. 186 games in 2 sessions. Will play one more at some point. Possibly going for first time over 5k VPP day

Tried to use HRC today, but seems like it wont get connection to check license key. Anyone else having problems?

Mine is working fine. I just verified it.

Originally posted by ghaleon

Today has been quite hectic so far. 186 games in 2 sessions. Will play one more at some point. Possibly going for first time over 5k VPP day

Tried to use HRC today, but seems like it wont get connection to check license key. Anyone else having problems?

works ok, maybe your subscription is outdated?

Did you notice our Finnish corner (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/board.php?boardid=1665)?

For some reason my avast firewall was now blocking connection to license server.

Played "only" 257 games today resulting to bit ovet 4.4k VPP points. It took 9 hours. Would be happy with 5k day with around 8 hours. It would allow 100k months quite nicely withiut huge overload. Anyway this month has helped my work routines and multitabling skills a lot already. So have to say I am very happy for my decision to do this challenge.

Currently little bit behind 100k pace, but that is no problem with these 4k+ vpp days. Also managed to play 0 games yesterday.

Yeah Nutz, noticed it

Lets post updated giraffe. Run has been nasty also in 18mans recently.

Here was kind of interesting spot in 9max. Villain is reg playing biggest 9man/18man games running. SNE and so on. Point that he has 3bet-fold range with this sort of stack opens interesting possibilities. I should start to add few 4bet-bluff combos. Tough to know how polarized his range is here though. Have to do some database analyze at some point.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $100(BB) Replayer

SB ($1,610)

BB ($2,040)

UTG ($1,490)

UTG+1 ($1,745)

UTG+2 ($1,275)

Hero ($1,670)

MP2 ($1,160)

CO ($1,185)

BTN ($1,325)

Dealt to Hero Q♣ A♠

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $200, fold, fold, BTN raises to $350, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1,670 (AI), fold

Hero shows Q♣ A♠

Hero wins $850

bad regs do this in hypers a lot.

DO YOU EVEN POT ODDS?

what a fish

Originally posted by lessthanthreee

bad regs do this in hypers a lot.

DO YOU EVEN POT ODDS?

what a fish

indeed...and i know who is it, was surprised when I also got fold ♦

60$ 9max. Villain takes thin value line?

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $300(BB) Replayer

($6,905)

Hero ($6,595)

Dealt to Hero 7♥ T♣

Hero raises to $600, calls $300

FLOP ($1,250) 7♣ 9♥ T♠

bets $300, Hero raises to $1,200, raises to $2,100, Hero raises to $5,970 (AI), calls $3,870

TURN ($13,190) 7♣ 9♥ T♠ 8♦

RIVER ($13,190) 7♣ 9♥ T♠ 8♦ 5♥

Spoiler shows 3♦ A♥ (Pre 57%, Flop 4.0%, Turn 9.1%)

Such stupid induce line from high stake reg today in 100$ 6max.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $200(BB) Replayer

Hero ($3,740)

BB ($490)

CO ($2,070)

BTN ($2,700)

Dealt to Hero K♠ Q♠

fold, BTN raises to $500, Hero raises to $3,740 (AI), fold, BTN calls $2,200 (AI)

FLOP ($5,600) 6♣ 7♥ T♥

TURN ($5,600) 6♣ 7♥ T♥ A♣

RIVER ($5,600) 6♣ 7♥ T♥ A♣ 4♦

BTN shows 6♦ 6♠

(Pre 52%, Flop 96.0%, Turn 90.9%)

Hero shows K♠ Q♠

(Pre 48%, Flop 4.0%, Turn 9.1%)

BTN wins $5,600

1: ICM???

2: BB is so short ---> My shove range has to be relatively tight!

3: 2.5bb open? Fiiishy imo.

In nash open shoving would show +0.49% Minraise-calling versus nash 3bet shove range (17.1%, 44+ A3s+ ATo+ K9s+ KTo+ QTs+ JTs) will be -2.82% In practice I tend to be tighter than that range in these spots. So basically villain did over 3% mistake when choosing minraise-call over shove.

Checked also that only TT+, AQ+ would actually show more profit by inducing than shoving with nash range assumptions.

This is a somewhat odd hand overall. The villain is a reasonably decent regular, I think. The flop situation is pretty awkward. If I 3bet over his flop raise I expect action mainly from 44, 99, TT, possibly some overpairs and strong draws. Holding A should cut down many of those draw combos.

In his position I would simply call the flop and decide afterwards.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $30 (BB) Replayer

SB ($1,990)

BB ($1,500)

UTG ($1,490)

UTG+1 ($1,470)

UTG+2 ($1,660)

Hero ($1,470)

MP2 ($1,450)

CO ($1,200)

BTN ($1,270)

Dealt to Hero A♣ A♦

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $75, MP2 calls $75, fold, fold, fold, fold

FLOP ($195) 4♠ 9♦ T♦

Hero bets $120, MP2 raises to $240, Hero calls $120

TURN ($675) 4♠ 9♦ T♦ J♥

Hero checks, MP2 checks

RIVER ($675) 4♠ 9♦ T♦ J♥ 5♣

Hero bets $210, MP2 calls $210

Hero shows A♣ A♦

(Pre 82%, Flop 88.4%, Turn 77.3%)

MP2 shows Q♠ Q♦

(Pre 18%, Flop 11.6%, Turn 22.7%)

Hero wins $1,095

A bit of 18man bubble abuse. Could also min-raise and call versus short stacks. Standard shove even if villains would call a bit wider than they ought to. Well, it might be getting marginal. AQ call is obviously terrible for BB, but not surprising.

Captured by Hold'em Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Hold'em $800 (BB) Replayer

SB ($2,278)

BB ($6,147)

Hero ($11,289)

CO ($4,805)

BTN ($2,481)

Dealt to Hero 2♦ K♠

Hero raises to $11,239 (AI), fold, fold, fold, BB calls $5,297 (AI)

FLOP ($12,844) A♣ 7♥ 4♠

TURN ($12,844) A♣ 7♥ 4♠ 3♥

RIVER ($12,844) A♣ 7♥ 4♠ 3♥ 9♠

BB shows Q♥ A♠

(Pre 66%, Flop 96.9%, Turn 90.9%)

Hero shows 2♦ K♠

(Pre 34%, Flop 3.1%, Turn 9.1%)

BB wins $12,844

60$ 18man. Fish like to fold in weird spots sometimes

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $1,000(BB) Replayer

SB ($14,186)

BB ($10,500)

Hero ($2,314)

Dealt to Hero 5♦ A♥

Hero raises to $2,000, fold, BB calls $1,000

FLOP ($4,680) 7♥ A♦ 7♠

BB checks, Hero bets $254 (AI), BB folds

Hero shows 5♦ A♥

Hero wins $4,680

Its also funny how even many regs tend to just call in these non-allin spots from BB with very strong hands... I just dont get why they dont shove in spot where they would get call 100% of time. I suppose they want to create fe...

I really enjoy this blog! I'm subscribed!

30$ 9max. Villain is reg in these games. Is his play bad or just horrible?

Well it does help to flop top two anyway...

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $20(BB) Replayer

SB ($1,180)

BB ($1,400)

UTG ($1,500)

UTG+1 ($1,500)

UTG+2 ($1,480)

MP1 ($1,500)

MP2 ($1,500)

Hero ($1,490)

BTN ($1,950)

Dealt to Hero Q♥ Q♦

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $50, BTN raises to $135, fold, fold, Hero raises to $300, BTN calls $165

FLOP ($630) 8♥ 6♠ T♥

Hero bets $200, BTN raises to $1,650 (AI), Hero calls $990 (AI)

TURN ($3,010) 8♥ 6♠ T♥ 3♣

RIVER ($3,010) 8♥ 6♠ T♥ 3♣ 4♥

Hero shows Q♥ Q♦

(Pre 79%, Flop 31.4%, Turn 18.2%)

BTN shows 8♣ T♣

(Pre 21%, Flop 68.6%, Turn 81.8%)

BTN wins $3,010

These are bit questionable plays:

18man 3 handed so villain do have huge ICM tax and he is competent reg. 0.17% with nash ranges. Villain might call bit wider than nash if he likes to get fancy so profit will likely go to around 0.1% Other option would be to just fold. I don't like to raise small with this sort of crap as villain has stack depth to flat easily.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $600(BB) Replayer

Hero ($11,954)

BB ($10,770)

BTN ($4,276)

Dealt to Hero 5♦ 8♥

fold, Hero raises to $11,904 (AI), BB calls $10,120 (AI)

FLOP ($21,590) 2♦ 9♣ A♣

TURN ($21,590) 2♦ 9♣ A♣ 4♣

RIVER ($21,590) 2♦ 9♣ A♣ 4♣ 9♥

Hero shows 5♦ 8♥

(Pre 35%, Flop 4.4%, Turn 6.8%)

BB shows Q♣ A♦

(Pre 65%, Flop 95.6%, Turn 93.2%)

BB wins $21,590

Added some 30$ fifty50 games after following coaching from another Finnish coach. Probably not the best idea to play that limit with limited experience, but about breakeven so far across a huge sample (25 games). Nice volume boost from those games at start of a session or if it gets tough to keep 20 tables running.

I played 258 games today in 8.1 hours. Around 4600 VPP. Planning to play one more session after the sauna. Main aim is really to just hit some targets. For example, more than 300 games and over 5k VPP in a single day

Also my goal for this year is coming up quickly. Only 1400 more VPP to reach the yearly 300k goal

T8s he is getting 4:1 in position. I think his play is fine.

Originally posted by lessthanthreee

T8s he is getting 4:1 in position. I think his play is fine.

Its around 3:1?

Main problem I see in his flat is still going to be postflop spr. Most of time he is flopping some one pair or draw or air and has just 2x pot behind. He wont have much of idea where he is at that point. Even when I use only 1/3 of pot cbet it will make just 1 PSB left for turn.

yeh 3:1 my mistake. I still think it's fine, particularly when you have unpaired hands in your range. If you're only on JJ+ he won't flop well or force you to fold often enough.

Well I can have some bluffs and AK versus him, but it's still quite a guessing game for him. He is going to be very easily committed to pot by making any plays.

Anyway this year main goal achieved

Had second holiday yesterday for this month

Now have close to 82k VPP for month. So bit behind steady speed target, but 18k in following 4 days is not a problem.

Had today pretty close overcall spot in 100$ 18man. Both villains are competent regs.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $200(BB) Replayer

SB ($2,035)

Hero ($5,692)

UTG ($10,760)

UTG+1 ($2,614)

UTG+2 ($1,336)

MP1 ($1,310)

MP2 ($1,050)

CO ($1,430)

BTN ($773)

Dealt to Hero A♠ 7♣

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to $748 (AI), SB raises to $2,010 (AI), Hero calls $1,810

FLOP ($4,993) J♣ T♠ 5♣

TURN ($4,993) J♣ T♠ 5♣ Q♥

RIVER ($4,993) J♣ T♠ 5♣ Q♥ K♣

Hero shows A♠ 7♣

(Pre 44%, Flop 39.9%, Turn 4.8%)

BTN shows Q♣ 4♣

(Pre 33%, Flop 52.8%, Turn 83.3%)

SB shows K♦ 7♥

(Pre 23%, Flop 7.3%, Turn 11.9%)

Hero wins $2,524

BTN wins $2,469

Checked nash ranges.

BU: 51.7%, 22+ Kx+ Q2s+ Q5o+ J4s+ J8o+ T6s+ T8o+ 97s+ 87s

SB: 33.6%, 22+ Ax+ K3s+ K7o+ Q8s+ QTo+ J9s+ JTo T9s

Hero: 16.1%, 44+ A4s+ A8o+ KTs+ KJo+

With these ranges A7o is -0.03% Both villains are very active from late positions so I think they could be on bit wider than nash ranges.

Decided to take real slooooowwwwwwplay line versus one aggro fish today

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $100(BB) Replayer

SB ($604)

BB ($1,057)

UTG ($2,092)

Hero ($1,970)

CO ($1,839)

BTN ($1,438)

Dealt to Hero K♣ Q♠

fold, Hero raises to $200, CO calls $200, fold, fold, fold

FLOP ($550) Q♣ 2♠ 4♦

Hero checks, CO checks

TURN ($550) Q♣ 2♠ 4♦ 6♠

Hero checks, CO bets $200, Hero calls $200

RIVER ($950) Q♣ 2♠ 4♦ 6♠ 3♥

Hero checks, CO bets $900, Hero calls $900

Spoiler Hero shows K♣ Q♠

(Pre 65%, Flop 94.8%, Turn 81.8%)

CO shows 7♠ J♠

(Pre 35%, Flop 5.2%, Turn 18.2%)

Month is starting to wind down. Volume-wise I’m very pleased with what I’ve accomplished. Nearly 5000 games so far. The run side though has begun to feel like something of a joke.

A big upswing over the last three days would be welcome ♦

Spoiler

• roughly 200k under cEV in 18mans. That gap is mostly in 60$ games.

Look at the bright side: better now than next year

Sick graph tho

Reg had such bad beat today. He didn't apparently like the fact I had 3bet his BU opens like 4 times in last 6 orbits or something.

No idea how he managed to miss all those outs though.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $100(BB) Replayer

Hero ($3,469)

BB ($1,890)

BTN ($3,641)

Dealt to Hero K♥ A♦

BTN raises to $200, Hero raises to $500, fold, BTN calls $300

FLOP ($1,100) 4♣ K♠ 3♥

Hero bets $500, BTN calls $500

TURN ($2,100) 4♣ K♠ 3♥ T♥

Hero bets $700, BTN raises to $2,641 (AI), Hero calls $1,769 (AI)

RIVER ($7,038) 4♣ K♠ 3♥ T♥ T♠

BTN shows 6♥ 7♥

(Pre 40%, Flop 21.5%, Turn 25.0%)

Hero shows K♥ A♦

(Pre 60%, Flop 78.5%, Turn 75.0%)

Hero wins $7,038

Whew quite a day behind. Played 313 games which I would say to be quite respectable amount in turbo speed

Need around same sort of day tomorrow to hit 100k vpp month. But I wont leave it for few points missing!

Originally posted by ghaleon

Whew quite a day behind. Played 313 games which I would say to be quite respectable amount in turbo speed

Need around same sort of day tomorrow to hit 100k vpp month. But I wont leave it for few points missing!

Gogo man!

Originally posted by akrammon

Originally posted by ghaleon

Whew quite a day behind. Played 313 games which I would say to be quite respectable amount in turbo speed

Need around same sort of day tomorrow to hit 100k vpp month. But I wont leave it for few points missing!

Gogo man!

Around 1500 VPP anymore. Close close!!

Anyone know why I’ve been getting double PS points the last few days? Is there a campaign running?

I’m about to start the final session for the month. Only 500 vpp remain to reach 100k. I’ll likely draft the monthly report and share my thoughts on it tomorrow.

Winter promotions: five weeks of Double StrategyPoints! (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=284196)

We want recap! Now!

Originally posted by akrammon

We want recap! Now!

Currently in live game, but I try to do it at some point. Already did it in finnish in other forum.

Originally posted by sirdalux

Winter promotions: five weeks of Double StrategyPoints! (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=284196)

Ah alright that clears it up, thanks

November

Lets begin with total numbers and graph for whole month:

Games played: 5848

AVG bin: 43.92$

Played: 227.8h

Target VPPs: : 100171.5/100000 ♠_evil:

Profit prerakeback: -2778.87$

Rakeback: 8010.15$

Profit postrakeback: 5231.28$

Hourly rate: 23.36$

Spoiler

Result wise I cannot be that happy. I think even 5 figs profits would have been reasonable expectation. But anyway lets see how different formats and buyin levels worked out.

6man

30$:

Games: 1292

EV ROI: 4.5%

ROI: 5.2%

Spoiler

These games went very well. In long run with this sort of volume this would be extremely good.

60$:

Games: 685

EV ROI: -2.4%

ROI: -6%

Spoiler

60$ level was on other hand not that friendly to me. Games tend to be more tough in these, but not as much as these results would seem.

100$:

Games: 201

EV ROI: -1.8%

ROI: -2.2%

Spoiler

Better run in these during end of the month. Obviously this is only 20bin swing so nothing really.

200$:

Games: 51

EV ROI: 6.9%

ROI: 7.4%

Spoiler

So as you can see softest limit is 200$. Well sample size might be bit small... But in some way that is correct with good table selection. I have played these mostly just in morning session where there might be even two big fish on table. Some tough regs also, surprise surprise

9man

30$:

Games: 1190

EV ROI: 1.2%

ROI: -3.6%

Spoiler

30$ 9mans didn't go that well. I would assume to have bit bigger ROI even with big volumes.

60$:

Games: 451

EV ROI: -0.7%

ROI: -5%

Spoiler

These games didn't go exactly well either so 9mans were bit nasty for me even though I would say its my strongest game.

100$:

Games: 52

EV ROI: -2.9%

ROI: 5.9%

Spoiler

At least biggest limit went on profit with minimal sample. On 200$ limit I had only one game where I ended third

18man

I added these cEV and cWinnings values. We can discuss how good or valuable stats these are, but they still give some insight on run side. Problem with cEV is obviously fact that it doesn't take account ICM crtitical spots like situations in final table. Obviously I try to follow these lines accurately as even smallish error can mean lot in $EV.

15$:

Games: 213

ROI: -7.7%

cEV: -46600

cWinning: -22500

Spoiler

15$ limit my run seems to have been quite bad cEV wise also.

30$:

Games: 825

ROI: 6.3%

cEV: 265000

cWinning: 220000

Spoiler

Here run has been pretty good I would say. Though less than 1000 games is still little sample for 18mans.

60$:

Games: 540

ROI: -11.1%

cEV: 224000

cWinning: 33000

Spoiler

Seems like I spotted biggest money hole for month. In bins its around 67 at low point. These sort of swings are common for many regs who have big samples in 18mans. In practice my run has been just horrible in these around bubble. Also many clear chip lead situations has turned dramatically after running into few monster hands.

18man is extremely good format for chip leader close to bubble and ITM as ICM tax stay very high all the time. Strongest in actual 5 handed bubble situation.

100$:

Games: 96

ROI: 7.9%

cEV: 59000

cWinning: 18000

Spoiler

Heh that run in middle part is just "great". Very quickly burned ~4k$

Fifty50

30$ and 60$:

Games: 248

EV ROI: 5.1%

ROI: 13%

Spoiler

Adding fifty50 games into my sessions was quite extempore move. Was attending coaching kept by two fellow Finnish players and it kind of accidently came as topic. So decided to try first at start of session and later started to add more during later part of sessions. Have to study these more, but as you can see nothing beats beginners luck?!

Thoughts of month and future

This month was already big thing to throw out as challenge. I have to say that I had some doubts on completing it. Well I knew it was achievable to hit 100k VPP in month with skills I had, but volume has always been my weak point. So completion of this challenge was extremely nice even though run was not exactly hot. Though I might have had more problem in creating this sort of volume with hot run. Might sound weird, but in history I have tend to be lazy grinder with hot run

So was my run so damn horrible this month? Not really. When viewing these raw results above it could have been even quite much worse. So that get me into BRM side. Is it good enough currently? During this month I have come into conclusion that it might not be. Higher table amount (less edge) and bigger avg bin ---> Even bigger swings. So far I have had rule that I don't withdraw so much that it would make my Pokerstars bankroll less than 10k€. So far I have thought that safe enough, but I think it might be good to increase this "withdraw limit" to around 15k€. Its arguable that this might be taking BRM into too safe level and that its stupid to keep such money amount laying on cashier when it could be in some investment to make profit as well. But still fact is that in 60$+ limits its quite easy to burn few k$ as can be seen above. Especially in 18mans, which has biggest variance from these formats.

Another critical point is time played on this month... I did reach 100k VPP, but 227.8 hours? That is lot. F****ing lot to be precise. Not a big problem for one month, but if I would try to repeat this with second month in row it might get too tough. At least without breaking my game. Though it has started to be bit easier to produce bigger VPP days during this month. Lets make bit of comparison:

Day 2:

Games: 209

AVG bin: 41.89$

Played: 8.5h

VPPs: 3466

Day 14:

Games: 226

AVG bin: 44.16$

Played: 8.6h

VPPs: 3912

Day 20:

Games: 257

AVG bin: 43.39$

Played: 9.1h

VPPs: 4405

So from start of month there is clear improvement. Maybe not that much from half point onward. For future it would be good to be able to make 5k VPP day in closer to 8 hours. Easiest way for that is to loosen up my table selection and by that increasing my avg. bin. Also more eagerly taking 100$+ games into my sessions when those are not total reg fest. Main focus should probably still be to get my main limit more focused to 60$ games from 30$ ones. These should quite quickly get my avg. bin higher than 50$

I should also invest on quality working chair as one way to improve my working conditions. I actually planned to get one few months ago already, but somehow it has moved and moved... Also sport side has been decreasing during November, which is big minus. Have to get solutions on those.

From game quality I have to say it didn't stay on good level as much as it should. Might be partially because of heavier multitabling (more hectic sessions) and also biggest monthly swings so far. This sort of multitabling is still relatively new experience for me so improvement probably happens quite a bit in couple months. Also higher swings tend to be matter of getting used to. At some point of month my BR suffered loss of 20-30% before I could fix that with rakeback. With smaller BRM it might have been much more stressful.

I think here is most of things I wanted to add into my monthly report. If there is some questions or feedback or other comments you want to give, feel free to do so! Thanks if you managed to read to the end

Fantastic accomplishment! I ended up with a total of 20k VPP this month and it felt like I put in a lot of play... We’re playing the same limits. ♦ I hope I can develop that level of discipline someday — to grind 8h each day for an entire month.

Excellent blog; I’ll keep tracking your progress and good luck with SNE next year! It won’t be easy.

Well, first off, congrats! I think it’s an incredible achievement to put together such a massive volume/VPP using only turbos (no hypers).

I honestly can’t picture how fking brutal it must be to play 8.5-9 hours, and I imagine you need a few hours to analyze too — even if you keep that to a minimum, I’d guess it would be 0,5h/day on average, maybe 1h? Piling up to 9-10 hour days? Wow.

I’m glad it wasn’t an extremely hot month because that might have led you to decide about next year too hastily. That said, I have to ask: will you go for SNE?

If you’re planning a long grind I’d definitely recommend sizing your BR relative to the BI of the biggest limit you play, not the ABI you’re generating. A runbad on the largest limit can really damage you (mentally and BR-wise as well) if you aren’t prepared. So personally I’d say $30k if you regularly play $200s. I know that’s conservative, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

edit: you don’t need to keep everything on Stars, but it should be easy to access.

Anyway, again, I’m genuinely impressed by what you pulled off. Big congrats — excited to see what you do next year!

Thanks for both of you.

Am I going to go for SNE next year? That was question I didn't have real answer. It was main reason for this challenge in first place. This was not easy month for me, but in the end managed to do it and in process evolved myself bit more into direction needed for SNE hunt next year.

So yes I am going for SNE next year. It will not be easy, but its reachable for me. Now question is am I able to do such long time target and really commit myself into it? I believe so, but I guess only time will show

200$ games are far from my main limit currently. You could think it more like "taking shots", which is bit awkward when talking of sng, but anyway. But 100$ games are ones I am planning to start adding in volume that start to matter more. Will go for at least 15k€ I mentioned earlier. Personally I have always been bit of BRM nit, but I do agree with you on that one.

For december I have not put any real target. Planning to put decent volume now on golden sng week. After that I will look whatever to go for yearly 400k milestone or not. I think it required something like 76k VPP or something. Not that much with some 5k VPP days

Nice job! I'm confident you can hit SNE next year if you maintain strict discipline and meet your VPP targets each month. It will be extremely hard for you to achieve that in turbos with <100 ABI. Still, if anyone can pull it off, it's you!

Good luck!

Huge month, congrats

I guess we will be seeing a lot on the turbo tablers next yeat then ♦

I was wondering - how are you able to tableselect while playing so many tables and having to chose betweeen so many formats and buy ins - seems impossible to me.

P.S. - i dont think 30k is a nitty BR for 200s at all, i would say that its even quite agressive ♦

Originally posted by ghaleon

So yes, I'm aiming for SNE next year. It won't be easy, but it's attainable for me. Now the question is whether I can sustain such a long-term goal and truly commit to it. I think I can, but I suppose only time will tell.

♠_thumbsup:

Volume in November matters far more than your scores, in my opinion (those are still quite respectable). A genuine success; because you proved to yourself what it takes and you won't be heading in "blind."

Originally posted by Gavron23

P.S. - i dont think 30k is a nitty BR for 200s at all, i would say that its even quite agressive ♦

Considering less than 1% of his games was $200, I'd call it pretty conservative, but maybe I'm wrong!

Originally posted by Gavron23

Huge month, congrats

I guess we will be seeing a lot on the turbo tablers next yeat then ♦

I was wondering - how are you able to tableselect while playing so many tables and having to chose betweeen so many formats and buy ins - seems impossible to me.

P.S. - i dont think 30k is a nitty BR for 200s at all, i would say that its even quite agressive ♦

Might be we get few hands together. I dont really try to follow games where I have already registered. But when I notice some games see not that good I try to be last ones registering into those games. In 18mans its mostly just matter of playing time so no need to follow those much.

Yeah 30k for 200$ games only would be smallish bankroll, but most of my games are still in smaller than 100$

Originally posted by Tim64

Originally posted by ghaleon

So yes, I’m planning to go for SNE next year. It won’t be easy, but it’s within reach for me. The question now is whether I can commit to such a long-term goal and truly stick with it. I think I can, though time will tell.

♠_thumbsup:

I’d say the volume you put in during November matters more than your exact results, in my view (and those results are still pretty solid). It’s a genuine success because you learned what’s required and you won’t be entering the next run-up "blind."

Yeah, I also think the biggest payoffs here were a boost in confidence for next year and an improvement in multitabling skills.

Originally posted by lessthanthreee

nice work! I'm sure you can make SNE next year if you have really good discipline about making VPP targets every month. It will be very tough for you to do it in turbos with <100 ABI. But, if anyone can do it you can!

glglgl

I think getting ABI to around 55-60$ would already help a lot. But next year with actual SNE target its much more profitable to play bigger games and losen table selection.

Month has started as usual, 372 games and 1630$ below EV.

Fantastic month, congrats my friend — really well done!

I keep following and reading your updates, and I’m very much looking forward to your SNE chase.

If you manage to pull it off with 15k BR then you’ll become my biggest poker idol yet ♦

Honestly I don’t think that’s nearly enough, more like half that or 50k to be completely certain (especially since you’ll aim for higher buy‑ins later to make up the volume, etc).

Wishing you all the best — I’ll of course continue following this blog!

gogo Ghaleon

btw, redline for 18mans? this can't work... for fifty 50 — also doubtful, so maybe don't look at that EV...

GL

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77

Awesome month, congratulations my friend really well done!

I keep following and reading your updates, very much look forward to you SNE chase.

If you manage to pull it off with 15k BR then you will be my biggest idol in poker yet ♦

Seriously I think that is nowhere near enough, more like half that or 50k to be absolutely sure (especially considering you will go for higher buy ins later on to make up the volume etc)

Wish you all the best and will keep following this blog of course !

Thanks. Will be aiming for that 15k€ (20k$) BR for now. Bin wise I dont need to go much higher than what I did November. But yeah best to be on safe side with this.

Originally posted by MilanBurdych

gogo Ghaleon

btw, redline for 18mans? this cannot work...for fifty50 - also doubtful, so maybe dont look at that EV...

GL

EV line is always same as profit in HEM1 for 18mans. So that doesnt work correctly. For fifty50 it should work fine. I think pt4 would offer working EV side on 18man final tables.

Quite a sick bad beat today in 30$ 6max HU:

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $200(BB) Replayer

($4,735)

Hero ($4,265)

Dealt to Hero 8♦ 7♠

Hero raises to $400, calls $200

FLOP ($850) 4♠ 5♦ 6♣

checks, Hero bets $400, raises to $1,100, Hero calls $700

TURN ($3,050) 4♠ 5♦ 6♣ 8♠

bets $1,300, Hero raises to $2,740 (AI), calls $1,440

RIVER ($8,530) 4♠ 5♦ 6♣ 8♠ 7♦

shows T♣ 9♥

(Pre 65%, Flop 0.9%, Turn 6.8%)

Hero shows 8♦ 7♠

(Pre 35%, Flop 99.1%, Turn 93.2%)

wins $8,530

Originally posted by ghaleon

Quite a sick bad beat today in 30$ 6max HU:

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $200(BB) Replayer

($4,735)

Hero ($4,265)

Dealt to Hero 8♦ 7♠

Hero raises to $400, calls $200

FLOP ($850) 4♠ 5♦ 6♣

checks, Hero bets $400, raises to $1,100, Hero calls $700

TURN ($3,050) 4♠ 5♦ 6♣ 8♠

bets $1,300, Hero raises to $2,740 (AI), calls $1,440

RIVER ($8,530) 4♠ 5♦ 6♣ 8♠ 7♦

shows T♣ 9♥

(Pre 65%, Flop 0.9%, Turn 6.8%)

Hero shows 8♦ 7♠

(Pre 35%, Flop 99.1%, Turn 93.2%)

wins $8,530

Good morning session, 2.3h and 3114$ gain ♦

Aaaaaaand.... BOOOM!!!

Spoiler

Originally posted by ghaleon

Nice morning session, 2.3h and 3114$ profit ♦

Aaaaaaand.... BOOOM!!!

Spoiler

very nice, gratz and gratz for golden, am still 0/1200 games for last two promotions lol

End of the day didn't go as hot, but still 2585$ profit from day. Second best day ever

Few hands from today:

Here was nice recreational player in 30$ 18man. Especially bluff sizing villain use on flop!

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $1,000(BB) Replayer

SB ($7,741)

Hero ($7,409)

CO ($3,246)

BTN ($8,604)

Dealt to Hero 5♠ 3♥

fold, BTN calls $1,000, fold, Hero checks

FLOP ($2,740) 5♦ J♣ 3♣

Hero checks, BTN bets $4,000, Hero raises to $6,349 (AI), BTN folds

Hero shows 5♠ 3♥

Hero wins $10,740

This is HU from 15$ 18man. Villain had been extremely aggro preflop so I had hard time to believe to Ax, 22 or strong Kx. So imo villain rep basically just K2 in flop. In river I am mostly scared of random 5x or some stronger made hand he might be bluffing with. Like QJ, QT.

Stupid bluffs might burn your fingers. Well I did manage to lose this HU later.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $600(BB) Replayer

($10,225)

Hero ($16,775)

Dealt to Hero 9♣ Q♥

Hero calls $300, checks

FLOP ($1,300) A♦ K♠ 2♣

checks, Hero bets $600, raises to $1,800, Hero calls $1,200

TURN ($4,900) A♦ K♠ 2♣ 3♦

checks, Hero checks

RIVER ($4,900) A♦ K♠ 2♣ 3♦ 4♠

bets $4,200, Hero calls $4,200

shows 7♦ T♣

(Pre 36%, Flop 23.5%, Turn 13.6%)

Hero shows 9♣ Q♥

(Pre 64%, Flop 76.5%, Turn 86.4%)

Hero wins $13,300

Second HU hand from 6max this time. Villain had been pretty active in earlier situations. Calling machine cannot fold his high hand once again...

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $200(BB) Replayer

Hero ($4,810)

($4,190)

Dealt to Hero 7♠ K♥

raises to $400, Hero calls $200

FLOP ($800) A♦ A♠ A♣

Hero checks, bets $600, Hero calls $600

TURN ($2,000) A♦ A♠ A♣ 2♥

Hero checks, bets $1,000, Hero calls $1,000

RIVER ($4,000) A♦ A♠ A♣ 2♥ 4♠

Hero checks, bets $2,190 (AI), Hero calls $2,190

Hero shows 7♠ K♥

(Pre 56%, Flop 74.7%, Turn 83.0%)

shows 9♠ T♦

(Pre 44%, Flop 25.3%, Turn 17.0%)

Hero wins $8,380

This villain was persistent if nothing else...

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $20(BB) Replayer

SB ($1,500)

BB ($1,500)

UTG ($1,500)

UTG+1 ($1,500)

UTG+2 ($1,500)

MP1 ($1,500)

Hero ($1,500)

CO ($1,500)

BTN ($1,500)

Dealt to Hero J♦ J♠

fold, fold, UTG+2 calls $20, fold, Hero raises to $70, fold, fold, fold, fold, UTG+2 calls $50

FLOP ($170) T♠ 5♣ 9♠

UTG+2 bets $40, Hero raises to $200, UTG+2 calls $160

TURN ($570) T♠ 5♣ 9♠ 5♦

UTG+2 bets $60, Hero raises to $440, UTG+2 calls $380

RIVER ($1,450) T♠ 5♣ 9♠ 5♦ 4♥

UTG+2 bets $790 (AI), Hero calls $790 (AI)

UTG+2 shows Q♦ J♣

(Pre 33%, Flop 39.5%, Turn 25.0%)

Hero shows J♦ J♠

(Pre 67%, Flop 60.5%, Turn 75.0%)

Hero wins $3,030

Not sure of this hand. Its 18man buibble. BB seemed like randomly clicking buttons. Reg does nonallin play from UTG and he is most likely planning to fold if I shove and BB call. So to prevent that I only called preflop. Well postflop went as it went. Maybe best line would still be to shove preflop to prevent this situation?

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NL Holdem $600(BB) Replayer

Hero ($3,710)

BB ($9,992)

UTG ($3,444)

CO ($5,254)

BTN ($4,600)

Dealt to Hero 9♥ 9♣

UTG raises to $1,350, fold, fold, Hero calls $1,050, BB calls $750

FLOP ($4,300) 2♣ T♣ 7♦

Hero checks, BB bets $3,600, UTG folds, Hero folds

BB wins $4,300

Few hands in the end with theme: I fish! TT hand is from 200$ 6max

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $30(BB) Replayer

SB ($1,410)

BB ($1,450)

UTG ($1,300)

Hero ($1,500)

UTG+2 ($2,200)

MP1 ($1,490)

MP2 ($1,470)

CO ($1,430)

BTN ($1,250)

Dealt to Hero K♠ Q♦

fold, Hero raises to $75, UTG+2 calls $75, fold, fold, CO calls $75, fold, fold, fold

FLOP ($270) Q♥ T♦ A♦

Hero checks, UTG+2 bets $210, CO folds, Hero calls $210

TURN ($690) Q♥ T♦ A♦ J♠

Hero checks, UTG+2 bets $210, Hero calls $210

RIVER ($1,110) Q♥ T♦ A♦ J♠ 5♣

Hero checks, UTG+2 bets $240, Hero raises to $1,005 (AI), UTG+2 calls $765

UTG+2 shows A♠ 8♥

(Pre 57%, Flop 64.1%, Turn 3.4%)

Hero shows K♠ Q♦

(Pre 43%, Flop 35.9%, Turn 96.6%)

Hero wins $3,120

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $30(BB) Replayer

SB ($1,410)

Hero ($1,540)

UTG ($1,410)

UTG+1 ($1,680)

CO ($1,490)

BTN ($1,470)

Dealt to Hero T♠ T♦

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to $90, Hero raises to $240, SB calls $150

FLOP ($480) A♥ T♣ T♥

SB bets $150, Hero calls $150

TURN ($780) A♥ T♣ T♥ 9♠

SB bets $210, Hero calls $210

RIVER ($1,200) A♥ T♣ T♥ 9♠ 5♠

SB bets $270, Hero raises to $940 (AI), SB calls $540 (AI)

SB shows 3♥ 3♠

(Pre 19%, Flop 0.0%, Turn 0.0%)

Hero shows T♠ T♦

(Pre 81%, Flop 100.0%, Turn 100.0%)

Hero wins $2,820

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $30(BB) Replayer

SB ($2,853)

BB ($1,717)

UTG ($1,420)

CO ($1,420)

Hero ($1,590)

Dealt to Hero T♣ 9♥

fold, fold, Hero raises to $75, fold, BB calls $45

FLOP ($165) A♥ A♣ 9♣

BB checks, Hero bets $90, BB calls $90

TURN ($345) A♥ A♣ 9♣ 9♠

BB checks, Hero checks

RIVER ($345) A♥ A♣ 9♣ 9♠ 7♠

BB checks, Hero bets $180, BB calls $180

Hero shows T♣ 9♥

(Pre 51%, Flop 91.8%, Turn 97.7%)

BB shows 2♣ 2♦

(Pre 49%, Flop 8.2%, Turn 2.3%)

Hero wins $705

Good job in November. Pretty inspiring.

Good luck in 2014

see you at the tables

Originally posted by pLAYERsjsk

Good job in November. Pretty inspiring, actually.

Good luck in 2014

See you at the tables

Thanks. I like fish on my tables, but I guess there’s room for a regular or two...

Nice one! Great job, friend

Congrats on the gold SNG — go, go, go, Ghaleon!

Wp sir! ♠_cool:

And hey, remember to update your Finnish Corner blog too.

Did play first session as long as games were running, but server restart got in the way. 120 games in 3 hour

Here is one hand from 30$ fifty50. Villain is sne. Pretty standard with first sight, but imo villain line is just bad overall. He has seemingly great hand, blockers to AA, KK and TPTK. But when concidering positions and likely ranges he is actually turning his hand into bluff. Any worse hand versus his line would be pure bluff catcher. Also I am opening UTG in 10handed table... Quite unlikely I would have even KQs in my range.

So standard line for me in villain shoes would be to check-call flop and evaluate from there. Anyway with passive check-calling line he would at least give me opportunity to barrel as bluff. But anyway I think this villain is not that good reg.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $50(BB) Replayer

SB ($1,480)

BB ($1,499)

Hero ($1,440)

UTG+1 ($1,590)

UTG+2 ($1,616)

MP1 ($1,440)

MP2 ($1,920)

MP3 ($1,620)

CO ($1,495)

BTN ($900)

Dealt to Hero K♣ K♦

Hero raises to $100, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, SB calls $75, fold

FLOP ($250) K♥ 7♦ 3♠

SB checks, Hero bets $100, SB raises to $338, Hero calls $238

TURN ($926) K♥ 7♦ 3♠ 4♣

SB bets $490, Hero raises to $1,002 (AI), SB calls $512

RIVER ($2,930) K♥ 7♦ 3♠ 4♣ 9♦

SB shows K♠ A♣

(Pre 31%, Flop 0.3%, Turn 0.0%)

Hero shows K♣ K♦

(Pre 69%, Flop 99.7%, Turn 100.0%)

Hero wins $2,930

I really like your reasoning in the last hand, it's one of those spots that many players shake off as a cooler when in reality they only have a medium strength hand vs your continuing range. Can the BB in your opinion profitably check/call a triple barrel?

Originally posted by etro

I really like your reasoning in the last hand, it's one of those spots that many players shake off as a cooler when in reality they only have a medium strength hand vs your continuing range. Can the BB in your opinion profitably check/call a triple barrel?

Versus decent reg I would probably check-call twice and fold to third barrel as default. Especially if third barrel is big. Versus small third barrel its bit nasty as it can be for value with another AK. But versus good reg in my shoes with AK its questionable to go for 3barrel value as there should not be worse hands to call.

Insane work ethic. Logging so many hours each day. ♠_thumbsup:

What keeps you driven to sit down and grind for such long stretches every single day?

Depending on what your UTG % is and your defend vs 3b, It might be better to just 3b/fold pre as a blocker bluff. I hate his line also, but it is quite a 'standard' leak from a reg at those stakes. Hand reading is poor. Also, it is even worse taking his line in a 50/50 compared to a normal STT payout structure.

Originally posted by ursusmm

Sick work ethic. Putting in so many hours every day. ♠_thumbsup:

How do you stay motivated to sit down and grind for such a long period every day?

Well I have been grinding less this month. But planning to hit 400k milestone which does require around 50k vpp more. For motivation having clear goals help a lot. Well next year goal will be at least big enough. Or if I find that I am achieving it relatively easily I dont mind either

Originally posted by lessthanthreee

Depending on what your UTG % is and your defend vs 3b, It might be better to just 3b/fold pre as a blocker bluff. I hate his line also, but it is quite a 'standard' leak from a reg at those stakes. Hand reading is poor. Also, it is even worse taking his line in a 50/50 compared to a normal STT payout structure.

Yeah well he is playing a lot of limits. As said he is showing his SNE status. Weird fellow overall. Does lot of spewy stuff. Tried to sharkscope, but he was not opted in. Over 100k games, avg.bin 73.37$

Might be doing lot of profit postrakeback.

Seems like my mentioning of other community in FI vs EN tournament was not appreciated yesterday. Yeah it was unnecessary move. Though in my eyes it was just minor one. Anyway because of that my coach badge was removed, but in reality it was just that for me. A badge. After finnish community was closed I said I am not interested of searching coaching or video content producer position in this community and obviously have not produced any content in 1.5 months anyway.

[Edited by HollyMichelle] - Whilst I don't know what has happened you are not allowed to do this either. I trust you remember what you said and if not you can contact me and I will tell you.

So for me these are just minor trifles compared to next question: As finnish poker player which community I support more? One which will produce coaching and video material in finnish language now and in future or one which does not? For me answer is clear. Not that I have really anything against PS and will likely contribute for poker related stuff here as before.

Not sure if my hand evaluator rights have been removed or not. Might sometimes review those in future if not.

this makes me sad you are a great member of this community

That's such a bad news in so many ways man!

I purchased silver so that You and Kurkkabin can evaluate my hands. I was planing on taking occasional brush up sessions from you in January.

Its very sad news I hope that they can resolve it ASAP and return your rights for you.

BTW still not sure why they took it off of you anyways , didn't follow that whole community battle.

BTW with AK hand I agree with LTT. I would 3 bet there for value depending on your fold to 3 bet from EP (if you fold less than 60% I would definitely 3 bet it for value). Definitely would check your 4 bet range from UTG and then proceed in the hand. It is very bad to call triple barrel you without any reads that you will turn hands into a bluff (PPs such as QQ, JJ, 1010 etc) as well as pure bluffing with A high etc. So like you said Ghaleon calling double barrel could be OK here but fold to river bet is recommend for sure (expecting you to have there overpair or sets nothing less). On the other hand if you know that this guy is folding TPTK on this board on your triple barrel then you can exploit him a lot post flop with way weaker hands (your bluffing combos increase a lot and you can value bet way weaker hands).

His C-raise line on flop makes sense as he is on top of his range but what is he doing that for - value or bluff? What is he extracting value from on this flop? Does SNE guy think you would bet call here with mid pps and call him down to river? Its just unecessary leveling on his part , he should let you value town if you have KQ in your range let you barrel it off.

Overall very interesting hand it happens a lot on 15s also (I see people flatting AK, AQ, AJ a tons and then calling down 3 streets easy to bluff catch me without thinking of ranges too much).

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77

That's such a bad news in so many ways man!

I purchased silver so that You and Kurkkabin can evaluate my hands. I was planing on taking occasional brush up sessions from you in January.

Its very sad news I hope that they can resolve it ASAP and return your rights for you.

BTW still not sure why they took it off of you anyways , didn't follow that whole community battle.

Seems to have evaluation rights still so I will do those sometimes. Basically I mentioned web address of another community during that tournament. Can be seen as huge thing if I was considered as stuff of PS. But well already said my view on the matter earlier.

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77

BTW with AK hand I agree with LTT. I would 3 bet there for value depending on your fold to 3 bet from EP (if you fold less than 60% I would definitely 3 bet it for value). Definitely would check your 4 bet range from UTG and then proceed in the hand. It is very bad to call triple barrel you without any reads that you will turn hands into a bluff (PPs such as QQ, JJ, 1010 etc) as well as pure bluffing with A high etc. So like you said Ghaleon calling double barrel could be OK here but fold to river bet is recommend for sure (expecting you to have there overpair or sets nothing less). On the other hand if you know that this guy is folding TPTK on this board on your triple barrel then you can exploit him a lot post flop with way weaker hands (your bluffing combos increase a lot and you can value bet way weaker hands).

His C-raise line on flop makes sense as he is on top of his range but what is he doing that for - value or bluff? What is he extracting value from on this flop? Does SNE guy think you would bet call here with mid pps and call him down to river? Its just unecessary leveling on his part , he should let you value town if you have KQ in your range let you barrel it off.

Overall very interesting hand it happens a lot on 15s also (I see people flatting AK, AQ, AJ a tons and then calling down 3 streets easy to bluff catch me without thinking of ranges too much).

I might actually have no 4betting range when in position opening from UTG 10handed. That is kind of unnecessary imo. My value range can only be basically KK+ for somewhat clear value and not that many hands I want to 4bet bluff with. OOP its bit different.

He is obviously going for value line postflop not thinking in ranges at all or he thinks I have way wider range here than I really should have. It could be ok line if I had opened from later position. As bluff it makes little sense. Well if the thinks I will fold AK, AA by turn, which I might versus solid reg then it might make little bit sense. As if you think solid value range it would be just sets basically on this flop. Which means that if he doesnt have bluffing range he should never check-raise flop for value either. As then it would make more sense to just take check-call line with e.g. middle set and let me go for bluff or possibly try some thin value line.

Just checked my lifetime PS points. Almost 300k now. So few months to next year and I should be close to black member. Though not sure what value that would even offer? Some party stuff and suit, but anything else?

Good luck in 2014, man !

Not bad. 2 sessions today so far. A total of 6 hours played, 214 games, and roughly 4k VPP.

High stake fish reg spewing off nicely in 60$ 6max. EV line will thank him.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $30(BB) Replayer

SB ($1,610)

BB ($1,705)

UTG ($1,445)

UTG+1 ($1,530)

CO ($880)

Hero ($1,830)

Dealt to Hero K♠ K♥

UTG calls $30, UTG+1 raises to $90, fold, Hero raises to $240, fold, fold, UTG calls $210, UTG+1 raises to $480, Hero raises to $1,830 (AI), fold, UTG+1 calls $1,050 (AI)

FLOP ($3,345) 9♣ J♣ 4♣

TURN ($3,345) 9♣ J♣ 4♣ 7♣

RIVER ($3,345) 9♣ J♣ 4♣ 7♣ 6♦

Hero shows K♠ K♥

(Pre 68%, Flop 2.8%, Turn 0.0%)

UTG+1 shows 8♣ A♣

(Pre 32%, Flop 97.2%, Turn 100.0%)

UTG+1 wins $3,345

Not sure of this hand. Villain was around 50/10 during this hand with small sample. Seems fishy. This is kind of reason why I tend to question hero folds versus unknown players. Tried to go for value in river and ended up to sigh call still with these pot odds. We only need to win around 22% of time. He might be bluffing some flush draws or having same straight as we do. Or apparently he can shove two pair also. For value I would say.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $30(BB) Replayer

SB ($1,470)

BB ($1,480)

UTG ($1,480)

UTG+1 ($1,490)

UTG+2 ($3,080)

MP1 ($1,520)

CO ($1,515)

Hero ($1,465)

Dealt to Hero K♠ T♠

fold, fold, UTG+2 calls $30, fold, fold, Hero raises to $105, fold, fold, UTG+2 calls $75

FLOP ($255) 7♣ K♣ Q♣

UTG+2 checks, Hero bets $150, UTG+2 calls $150

TURN ($555) 7♣ K♣ Q♣ J♠

UTG+2 checks, Hero bets $300, UTG+2 calls $300

RIVER ($1,155) 7♣ K♣ Q♣ J♠ 9♠

UTG+2 checks, Hero bets $270, UTG+2 raises to $2,525 (AI), Hero calls $640 (AI)

UTG+2 shows K♥ 9♥

(Pre 31%, Flop 22.6%, Turn 18.2%)

Hero shows K♠ T♠

(Pre 69%, Flop 77.4%, Turn 81.8%)

Hero wins $2,975

These are annoying spots. 18man bubble. Monster hand, 5bb stack and yet you have to just fold...

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $300(BB) Replayer

SB ($12,666)

Hero ($1,794)

UTG ($2,959)

CO ($3,230)

BTN ($6,351)

Dealt to Hero J♥ J♦

fold, CO raises to $3,205 (AI), BTN calls $3,205, fold, fold

FLOP ($6,985) 2♣ 7♣ 4♦

TURN ($6,985) 2♣ 7♣ 4♦ Q♠

RIVER ($6,985) 2♣ 7♣ 4♦ Q♠ 2♦

CO shows J♣ K♣

(Pre 44%, Flop 54.8%, Turn 34.1%)

BTN shows A♥ 9♥

(Pre 56%, Flop 45.2%, Turn 65.9%)

BTN wins $6,985

Managed to get nice day. Played 7.7h, 275 games, 5285 vpp and avg bin 53.87$ So only 190 days like that next year and SNE achieved. Piece of cake

Originally posted by ghaleon

Just checked my lifetime PS points. Almost 300k now. Only a few months left in the year and I should be near black member status. Not sure what that actually gives you—some party items and a suit, but anything beyond that?

Pretty much. If you earn 75k SP in a quarter you also receive a travel token (600$).

I made an edit above — if you need clarification, please PM me. However, if you post something like that again, we will need to consider a time out.

Regards,

Gary.

Originally posted by Anssi

Originally posted by ghaleon

Just checked my lifetime PS points. Almost 300k now. So few months to next year and I should be close to black member. Though not sure what value that would even offer? Some party stuff and suit, but anything else?

Pretty much that. If you make 75k SP in quarter you also get travel token (600$).

Ok that is pretty nice add as well. 75k SP will come easily with SNE goal.

Originally posted by HollyMichelle

I updated the post above — if you need further clarification please PM me. However, if you create another post like that we will have to consider issuing a timeout.

Regards,

Gary.

Okay, thanks for the clarification.

Decided to go for 400k milestone. So need 40k vpp more to hit. Should be 8-10 playing days.

Originally posted by ghaleon

Decided to go for 400k milestone. So need 40k vpp more to hit. Should be 8-10 playing days.

Sounds awesome man !

I think you will do SNE next year , very impressed with your multi tabling skills playing various formats (6,9,18 mans) !

Running like this is always an amazing motivator for grinding

Spoiler

Well 30k more VPP toward the milestone. Right now I can manage roughly 30-40 games per hour. So 200+ game days are fairly typical.

It will turn around, great to see you are crushing with EV.

Could you please share number of tables you play as well as "how many of what" do you do in that setup?

Appreciate it my friend

I don't really keep track of how many of each format I'm running. But 25-30 tabling seems fine at least when games aren't centered on 6max. Occasionally misclicks happen and I need to be fully focused on actions or things get chaotic very quickly

Also tends to slip into "auto mode" when I'm mass-multitabling. For example, I had this hand against Tim today. Moments after shoving the river I wondered if I’d overplayed my hand. Against most opponents this would still be the standard line, in my view.

Grabbed byHoldem Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.net/)

NL Holdem $30(BB) Replayer

SB ($1,495)

Hero ($1,410)

UTG ($1,125)

UTG+1 ($1,640)

CO ($1,470)

BTN ($1,860)

Dealt to Hero 2♣ Q♣

fold, UTG+1 calls $30, fold, fold, SB calls $15, Hero checks

FLOP ($90) 9♣ 2♥ 2♠

SB bets $75, Hero calls $75, UTG+1 folds

TURN ($240) 9♣ 2♥ 2♠ 5♣

SB bets $195, Hero calls $195

RIVER ($630) 9♣ 2♥ 2♠ 5♣ 8♥

SB bets $390, Hero raises to $1,110 (AI), SB calls $720

SB shows 2♦ A♠

(Pre 71%, Flop 75.9%, Turn 68.2%)

Hero shows 2♣ Q♣

(Pre 29%, Flop 24.1%, Turn 31.8%)

SB wins $2,850

That was going to be my next question - 20-25 tabling 6 max at those caps would be very hard (I figure they play back at 60s and 100s frequently and get involved a lot post-flop). IF you ever get the chance, lay out the structure of limits and formats in those 20-25 tables for me - I’m really curious!

Hand vs Tim I think he always has trips or a full house on this flop, especially versus a reg (you) - the best-case is TPTK, but he’ll never turn that into a river bluff. Also he’s acting from the blinds versus UTG so when he donk-bets here he’s most of the time representing a very strong holding. If you face a river raise it’s trips or some full house — don’t expect any bluff there (my 2 cents).

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77

Hand vs Tim I think he always has trips or full house on this flop especially vs reg (you) - the best case scenario is TPTK, but he will never turn it into bluff on river. Also he is playing from blinds vs UTG so in this case when he donk bets he is most time repping really strong hand. When faced with river raise its trips or some full house - never expect him to have any bluff there (my 2 cents)

Well I would assume he has no full houses on this flop. 99 in only possibility, but I would assume he goes for preflop raise very often. He could easily have some weaker pockets in flop he goes more for set mine preflop, but this flop does offer nice possibility to take down pot. UTG was fish so I would not give much weight for his range. Though he might not give up overcard hands either on single bet which will decrease likelihood of light stabs. Even if flop is very good for it.

When he continues to bet turn and river his range get stronger and probably have very few bluffs. My river shove was obviously bad, but I dont see folding would be option either. In river I probably only lose to A2, K2s, 55. Obviously I have nice blocker for 2x combos.

Heh well my shove might have been close to work as bluff. When I see flop for free I can have 92, 82, 52, 55 which I am going to shove for value. But yeah when you make decisions in very short time these happen sometimes.

Decided to aim for a slightly bigger day. Played the first session, 150 games in 4.2 hours. A little over 2.5k VPP

Originally posted by ghaleon

Decided to aim for a slightly longer day. Played the first session, 150 games in 4.2 hours. A bit over 2.5k VPP

Targeted 300+ games and 6k+ VPP today. Ended up with 328 games and 5962 VPP, so I'd say it went pretty well

How do think games in December are? Tougher than rest of the year?

Probably bit tougher. But I dont usually play in most active time as high stake games are pure reg fest.

Had yesterday at one point 37 tables running. Games were starting bit faster than I thought so had to start unregging from them. Had only few 6max games so that sort of table amount was doable. Also fifty50 format is very easy for multitabling. Probably could play close to 50 of those if playing them purely

Any video material on those fifty50s ? Do you play them as DONs or you apply different technique (equity calculations when calling/shoving) ?I assume different ones but would like to know your approach.

Thanks my friend and amazing results 37 tabling that's what champions are made of!

Very little material for fifty50 format as I know. Not sure if any in PS. You cannot play them as DoN, because actual profit is got from chips and surviving (while obviously important) only gives your bin back (minus rake). So chip accumulation is important.

Also bubble situations are very interesting. In all other sng formats big stacks want to avoid collision, but not necessarily in this format. Because when big stacks collide chips value will kind of out-weight value from survival. Meaning that if you check some call situation versus aggro big stack your range will get wider more chips you have. Obviously depends also whatever player shoving will adjust to this fact.

Other way around when you get into micro stack survival will easily out-weight value from one double up with your few chips. So it gets more like folding war in DoNs. But not lot of experience in this format yet.

Originally posted by ghaleon

Very little material for fifty50 format as I know. Not sure if any in PS. You cannot play them as DoN, because actual profit is got from chips and surviving (while obviously important) only gives your bin back (minus rake). So chip accumulation is important.

Also bubble situations are very interesting. In all other sng formats big stacks want to avoid collision, but not necessarily in this format. Because when big stacks collide chips value will kind of out-weight value from survival. Meaning that if you check some call situation versus aggro big stack your range will get wider more chips you have. Obviously depends also whatever player shoving will adjust to this fact.

Other way around when you get into micro stack survival will easily out-weight value from one double up with your few chips. So it gets more like folding war in DoNs. But not lot of experience in this format yet.

exactly, thats why i am comin back to fifty50s after few months again, so much fun ♦

Sounds really interesting — thanks for your reply, my friend. I suppose I'll try some of those starting in January as I enjoy post-flop play and building my stack; I think I'd perform fairly well there (we'll see)

Bit over 8k vpp left. Got today almost 5k vpp in 6.7 hours so making these days a normal day start to be very reasonable. Going to write report for 2013 at Sunday or Monday. Bit of reflection on my improvement, results and so on.

Best of luck for the finish and looking 4ward to the report!

4674 VPP postponed until tomorrow. Today I reached 4000 — games are filled for the month. I have to admit those games have arrived fairly easily; I’m nearly feeling lazy.

So it appears the November challenge has indeed boosted my volume side quite nicely!

2 sessions and 241 games today so far. Only 305 vpp to 400k milestone reward

Will try my luck on triple shootout as well. Probably will drop in first round once again.

So I hit 400k milestone today. I'll probably post the report stuff tomorrow. December would have been close to 10k$ month with the EV run, but it was still a pretty decent month. I'll share more about it later.

Lush! Well played; looking forward to the read

December

Games: 4265

Played: 126.8h

Avg. bin: 49.78$

EV ROI: 1.5%

ROI: -0.5%

Game profit: -1118$

Rakeback: 6431$

Winnings: 5313$

VPP: 76907

Bit annoyed by somewhat bad run, but still month was nice so no need to be ashamed of it. Below giraffe:

Spoiler

So for December I took target to hit 400k milestone to get nice 3k$ bonus. To calculate VPP production in this month: 76907 / 126.8 = 606 vpp/h. With that 100k month will come in 165 hour. By the end of the month vpp/h was closer to 650-700. With that 100k month starts to be reachable with maintainable work load.

Yearly report coming up next

Year 2013

Basically I started to play as work already in 2012 when I got kicked from my job. It was also first year I achieved supernova. By the end of the year I had started to improve my multitabling skills a bit, but still it was quite "relaxed year" poker wise.

This year I took bit more serious approach. I thought at start to take 200k goal in "set my goal" campaign, but because of comment from fellow poker player I decided to go for 300k.

Start of the year was absurdly hot run wise. It was nice welcome for new year after not so run in late 2012 where I were clearly over 200 bin below EV. Few first months I had ROI around 10% or so, which was clearly unsustainable in long run. Probably my view of poker started to get skewed during that long hot run period. Playing poker was same as printing money as can be seen from later graphs.

Yearly target and results:

Games: 26531

Played: 1192.8h

Avg. bin: 39.32$

EV ROI: 1.7%

ROI: 1.6%

Game profit: 16343$

Rakeback: 33443$ (For rakeback percent I put 46% Pokerstars VIP page (http://www.pokerstars.eu/vip/tiers/) gives 400k target 44-48%)

Winnings: 49785$ + other bonuses (set your goal, BoP)

VPP: 400076

Going for 400k target was somewhat extempore decision resulted by success in my November result. So volume wise I can be very happy for the year even though most of it was still went through with relaxed style. Also profit side was success.

I stayed mostly on my target speed (300k) over the year, but it went more like in exams during school years. When deadlines (or exams) approach I started to put more decent volume in. Around August I were probably bit behind of my schedule. In September I decided to grab myself from neck and go for more serious month and managed to hit bit over 50k month.

October went more in other things, but November turned laziness around as can be read from this blog. Some picture of this can be seen from fact that I made 177k out of 400k during last two months. This as preparation for next year SNE hunt. Well obviously I didn't mind few extra k$ from hunting next milestone reward either.

Below graph for whole year:

Spoiler

So I managed to counterfeit good run in yearly year and EV/profit were very close to each other. I split this data to different formats below.

6max:

Games: 11837

Avg. bin: 43.21$

EV ROI: 0.8%

ROI: 1%

Game profit: 5016$

Rakeback: 16697$

Winnings: 21713$

Spoiler

6max has not been that strong area for myself. Results are quite breakeven so there is definitely space for improvement.

9max:

Games: 7815

Avg. bin: 37.39$

EV ROI: 3.2%

ROI: 2.4%

Game profit: 7150$

Rakeback: 9767$

Winnings: 16917$

Spoiler

I would say 9max is my main format. End of the year run was pretty swingy. Biggest drop between 5000-6000 games was around 130 bins.

18max:

Games: 4323

Avg. bin: 39.02$

ROI: 2.4%

Game profit: 4069$

Rakeback: 5724$

Winnings: 9793$

Spoiler

I started to put more weight to 18max during this year. This format has offered quite swingy results as well. Good run in bigger games can give quick growth, but goes for other way around as well. Like 40 bin almost straight down in 100$ games was bit naughty sight in November. Though 40 bins is obviously not much.

Fifty50:

Games: 1198

Avg. bin: 41.63$

EV ROI: -0.8%

ROI: -1.1%%

Game profit: -535$

Rakeback: 1050$

Winnings: 515$

Spoiler

Fifty50 is new format to me as I started them like 1.5 months ago and playing these has gone more with feeling than knowledge.

HU:

Games: 1348

Avg. bin: 14.91$

EV ROI: -0.1%

ROI: 0.5%

Game profit: 95$

Rakeback: 203$

Winnings: 298$

Spoiler

HU games has been pure fun side for me. Seems like last games have not been that great.

But anyway seems like I have managed to make profit in all formats I have played. Not necessarily prerakeback, but whatever. There is space for improvement and study side should never be forgotten. Still in sng rakeback is very important part of profits. Especially if massmultitabling in decently high bin level. But anyway postrakeback profits are most important for me.

Improvement during the year?

Biggest area of development has been in multitabling skills. I might be bit "special" sng player in that side. Meaning I have bring multitabling in quite late stage on my game. When I were playing as hobby I used to 4-6 table mostly. In 2012 I moved to 10-12 table. During second part of this year I have improved to stage where I can play pretty nicely with 25 tables. Have even had almost 40 games at some point, though that was accidentally...

Volume is important part of sng, but even today my opinion is to not rush with it. Preferably keep tables in amount where you are not forced into making quick decisions. When starting to have more experience and when big part of decisions comes easily its time to start testing your limits more. "By easily" I mean that one knows what he tries to achieve by his lines.

This gets me into area of coaching. I believe to have improved on this area also. Skill to play and skill to teach are two very different things. Losing coaching and material producer position was timed nicely (as far as there is nice timing for sad news) as my plan was to decrease those activities lot in next year anyway.

I have also continued to do session analysis, which is corner stone for any poker player. During November this was somewhat neglected as work load started to get bit too much. But this side should never be underestimated as relatively small time allocation can give nice boost to profits in long run.

Approaching storm in horizon?

So as this year starts to end my focus moves to next year. Challenge is going to be biggest so far, but still logical next step. In 2012 I reached supernova. In 2013 I went for 4xsupernova. In 2014 I just need to 2.5x this year. Easy!

With November and December my confidence in volume generation side has gone up nicely. Now real question is can I steer my ship through all the winds and into safe haven? This journey still feels pretty huge. Million VPP points... That's a lot.

There will definitely be many bad and good runs during the year, but I cannot let those affect my grinding motivation. Even good run can easily lure into laziness. I do believe into my chances. It might be fools childish believe. Next year will show it.

Congrats on hitting 400K VPPs, happy New Year and GL in 2014! This SNE thingy and the masstabling skill needed to make it are an absolute must for a (Stars) midstake SnGrinder (sadly), and it's great that you're entering the year well-prepared.

I'm yet getting my feet wet in the (serious stake) SnG waters... the game seems more robotic than cash (especially PLO), requires rather pattern recognition ('ICM intuition') than thought... but an upside is that downswings don't feel that bad - it's hard to reflect on bad beats when there are so many tables going - and it's a good game to hone the skill of being desensitised to results.

I still hope my hate for this game will eventually change into liking, I'm a mathematician after all, and math (though not my field, which is real analysis) is involved so heavily here.

Also, that's where I'll find peer support with regards to poor pre-cashback winnings, as SnGs are raked even heavier than PLO, it seems. A breakeven or slightly losing ROI is not a big shame unlike 'old school' cash players think - it still means that one is doing better than the field, as long as it's above -7.4% in Stars turbos; even if having -4% ROI there as a SNE, one will still print money faster than most of the world's population. So don't let downswings and misclicks disappoint you.

good job — wishing you all the best for 2014, it won't be easy