BRC Supporting Blog

After some time now, I decided to join the Bankroll Challenge (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=3255945#post3255945). Precondition: my own poker blog.

Well, I already have one (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/de/forum/thread.php?threadid=291151) (to be precise two (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/de/forum/thread.php?postid=4530106)) that got updated over 10 years ago. That is a long time and many things have changed since then. Therefore I decided to start over and also take the opportunity to explore another part of PS.com - the English community. The things that I hope for are: Improve my English and more input and value, as I think the community is bigger than the German one. I am also tired of the climate in there.

One thing that did not change: my passion for poker. I was contantly playing and trying out different games and formats over the last decade though with small to medium breaks. Along the way my bankroll did no change that much. Now the time has come that I want to have that changed.

I have no specific plan on how to manage the blog or on how to reach the not yet defined BRC goal. I have some ideas and key points in mind, but I would also like to not constrain it that much. Time will tell.

Welcome to the challenge!

Good luck!

I just looked and couldn't find the bankroll goals — make sure you posted them in the EN community forum.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Welcome to the challenge!

Best of luck!

I just checked and didn't see the bankroll goals — be sure you posted them in the EN community forum.

Thank you!

I have just posted my numbers (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=3316503#post3316503) now, as I wanted to finish playing without a challange for the very last time. From tomorrow on everthing counts.

The challenge is on!

Currently I think I will do updates for the challenge on a weekly basis as most of the participants do. But maybe I will switch to the minimal required two week interval in the future.

Reasons are simple. First: Starting something new, the motivation is extremly high most of the time. Second: As a German player I underly the newly integrated restrictions on legal platforms. The hardest thing is the table limit of up to four tables. So my volume will not be very high, especially the formats and platform I am playing.

This post is intended to introduce a little bit into where and what I am playing: I only have one platform at the moment and that is PokerStars. I am one of the lucky guys that are in shape to receive some PS.com points through playing there. Currently my main game is the 18 man 9-max turbo mtsng. It perfectly fits into my preferred time schedule. One game at most lasts about one hour of play and most of the time there is enough trafic to fill up to four tables in a reasonable amount of time.

Very very hard day for the challenge... but more on this on the weekly update on monday.

Today I am going to write about something else and I ask for your support. With the beginning of May I started scoring at the Scholars Leader Board (https://pokerstarslearn.de/promotions/poker-leader-board-scholars/). I first heard about it in someones blog here. After a short sighting I came to the conclution that it is worth a try. Every week there are three tourneys with a buy in of just $1.10 but $400 added on top to the price pool. Someone gets points based on the finishing place. The formula is given at the linked webpage. There is a price pool of T$6000 that is distributed over top 50 places with T$1000 for the first.

I am more and more thinking about the best strategy. Currently I buy in at the beginning if possible. As I busted because of bad luck before the late registration was closed for some times now, I recently started to make some statistics in Excel. Beside the finishing result, I record my stack and the player numbers when late registration closes. If you buy in late you are going with 12BB. The points are distributed very top heavy with one specialty: There is a jump when only 25% of the players remain. For an exemplary count of 360 players points distribution looks like this:

Given the formula you always get at least 5 points by just participating. This slowly grows to 10 and jumps to 20 at the 25% mark. 4th gets half of 1st and 18th gets half of 4th. This month 12/14 games are already played and the leader has ~417 points while 50th (which is the last rewared place) has ~220 points (so reaching always the 25% mark would be enough).

What do you think is the best or at least a good startegy for this. Buy in as late as possible and having a good amount of players already busted or going from the very begining giving yourself an edge over the field. Is it worth blinding out until the 25% mark is reached or would you just play the game and try to win it?

BRC Update

Bankroll: €864.94

Games: 192

Hands: 9048

Winnings: -€73.67

Rakeback: €63.34

Bonus: €0.00

Movement: -€10.33

Apologies — I don’t have time today to write a proper post. I’ll follow up with more tomorrow.

Originally posted by irieill

Very very hard day for the challenge... but more on this on the weekly update on monday.

Today I am going to write about something else and I ask for your support. With the beginning of May I started scoring at the Scholars Leader Board (https://pokerstarslearn.de/promotions/poker-leader-board-scholars/). I first heard about it in someones blog here. After a short sighting I came to the conclution that it is worth a try. Every week there are three tourneys with a buy in of just $1.10 but $400 added on top to the price pool. Someone gets points based on the finishing place. The formula is given at the linked webpage. There is a price pool of T$6000 that is distributed over top 50 places with T$1000 for the first.

I am more and more thinking about the best strategy. Currently I buy in at the beginning if possible. As I busted because of bad luck before the late registration was closed for some times now, I recently started to make some statistics in Excel. Beside the finishing result, I record my stack and the player numbers when late registration closes. If you buy in late you are going with 12BB. The points are distributed very top heavy with one specialty: There is a jump when only 25% of the players remain. For an exemplary count of 360 players points distribution looks like this:

Given the formula you always get at least 5 points by just participating. This slowly grows to 10 and jumps to 20 at the 25% mark. 4th gets half of 1st and 18th gets half of 4th. This month 12/14 games are already played and the leader has ~417 points while 50th (which is the last rewared place) has ~220 points (so reaching always the 25% mark would be enough).

What do you think is the best or at least a good startegy for this. Buy in as late as possible and having a good amount of players already busted or going from the very begining giving yourself an edge over the field. Is it worth blinding out until the 25% mark is reached or would you just play the game and try to win it?

The answer is to max late reg, you will notch up the most top 25% places that way. If you needed a win or two then play from the start. Play the game and try and win it, but maybe the blind out strategy is good if you are protecting a lead near the end of the promo

Proof - I cowrote a book on ICM and have done tons of stuff like this https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/content/122775/

I have mixed feelings on the first week of my BRC. The week started normally: low volume and unspectaculary results. Since Wednesday I am on vacation for two weeks. Sadly, that does not mean that I have plenty of time for poker. Currently I have to rearrange things in my apartment but progress on that is much greater than the BRC. Thursday was an official holiday in Germany that I spent with my friends. They left on Friday afternoon and that was the point when I started some grind.

My main goal was to finish my rakeback challenge on PokerStars. I was at something about 50% with 60 hours left. After having called it a day early on Friday (because of some nice concert) (https://www.stonerband.com/), I realized that I would not reach the goal with my normal schedule (4 x $5 18man), so I decided to mix in 2 x $10 18man on Saturday. Anyway, I mixed them in before to fill up tables on bad times and plan to mix in one regulary if my BR is over €1k and smoothly increment the count until €1250. Therefore I did not feel bad about it as my BR was about €950 at that point.

But I can tell you that Saturday was very very hard. I played about 12 hours with only two small breaks. For me this was very exhausting especially because I did not have a recovering night. I ran bad and would normally have quit poker for this day very early. In the end I dropped nearly two times my weekly winnngs only to be break even after rakeback. But hey, I completed the challenge!

I lost a huge amount at the $10s. So I ask myself is that jump really that challenging? Before Saturday I had good feelings about going up. And even now I have no fear. From my point of view there are more bad players in the games compared to the $5s. But maybe they are not bad but much better than me.

On Sunday I wanted to use the remaining 4 SCOOP tickets. I had three satellite tickets that i managed to transform into one entry to 98-L PKO and one ticket that I used to enter 94-L PKO. Sadly, no bounty and no prize in both.

Originally posted by BarryCarter

The answer is to max late reg, you will notch up the most top 25% places that way. If you needed a win or two then play from the start. Play the game and try and win it, but maybe the blind out strategy is good if you are protecting a lead near the end of the promo

Proof - I cowrote a book on ICM and have done tons of stuff like this https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/content/122775//blockquote >

Thank you for your input Barry. I have read the interesting linked article before. I am still not sure what to do here. I think to be on top of the board you will have to reach at least one final table. Maybe a mixed strategy will do the job, going for gold at the beginning and then switch to late reg (which does not mean you will not get to final table again). Well, I will investigate and think about in June too.

I missed ITM this month. I would have needed 8.11 points at least but only managed to get 5.79 with 88 < AKo. I am very exited on the upcoming final standing, especially if the only one tourney and 5 points that I missed would have had some impact. But I think it is not even close.

Short BRC update: 2 winning days and almost forgot about Saturday. Today I felt very comfortable in what I was doing. Will review the whole session tomorrow nevertheless.

Today I would like to share two hands that I think are very interesting. The first one I am totally confused. Maybe someone is able to explain to me as I do not get it:

I think I would have pushed KQs+ and 99+ but not KJs- and 22-88.

For the second one at the very first moment thinking about it after I was like, doooo you stupid donk. And ICMIZER also told me that I was. But with FGS turned on it is totally profitable. My thoughts in game where that for UTG it is an any two one and I have an ace so what?! BTN was not good, so the chance that he would move in the next hand was not bad. What would you have done?

K4 is a +0.02% push — that is so close to 0 it becomes important to take a look at who the other players are.

I agree — it looks like a fold to me.

2nd hand with a short stack, you might as well get it in I think.

You have 2BB left.

Originally posted by irieill

Maybe someone is able to explain to me as I do not get it:

I thought over it and played around with Equilab too. I think our pushing range is mainly constructed based on UTGs calling range that schould be JJ+, AKs, AKo. If we have an ace or king we block 17.5% of his calling range. That sounds huge to me. So why not pushing Axo and Kxo too? I speculate the reason simply is the equity advantage of suited hands if we get called. But we also push the top offsuited Ax and Kx nevertheless that perform well against JJ and QQ. Nearly the same counts for QJs. It blocks 15% out of his calling range and runs well. Whats left are all the small pockets up and including TT. And they flip against the 40% AK of his calling range. But what still confuses me are the A9s and 99 in red. Is that some line between our value and bluff hands?

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

K4 is a +0.02% push — that is so close to 0 it becomes important to take a look at who the other players are.

I agree — it looks like a fold to me.

Totally! I always try to think about the optimal play in theory and then adjust to the opponent. If I had known that K4s is positive I would have pushed because UTG was able to fold.

BRC Update

Bankroll: €930.55

Games: 71

Hands: 3853

Winnings: €58.16

Rakeback: €7.45

Bonus: €0.00

Movement: €65.61

The second week was ok and I managed to end it with some profit. I did not play that much. My final result on the Scholars LB in May was 62th with 232.14 points. I missed ITM by only 16.52 points. Unfortunately I busted in the first tourney of June very early.

Beside my regular schedule I try to win the Bounty Builder On-Demand with BIs $1.1 and $3.3 from time to time. Before the BRC my best result were two final tables. This week I had a deep run but unfortunately I finished 10th. I am not good at PKOs and I am looking forward to learn more about PKO strategy. So here are the three key hands (all against the same villain) out of 28 that led from I think 3rd in chips with 25BB when only 11 or 12 players where left to the end. I wanted to apply maximum pressure at this stage of the tourney. I already analyzed them with ICMIZER and I am fine with them, but I also want to ask you about your opinion and experience.

PokerStars - 6000/12000 Ante 1800 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

UTG: 15.21 BB

MP: 12.02 BB

CO: 33.08 BB

BTN: 17.03 BB

Hero (SB): 25.13 BB

BB: 9.58 BB

6 players post ante of 0.15 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.4 BB) Hero has 4♣ 7♥

fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 24.98 BB and is all-in, BB calls 8.43 BB and is all-in

Flop: (19.76 BB, 2 players) 8♣ 2♥ Q♣

Turn: (19.76 BB, 2 players) J♠

River: (19.76 BB, 2 players) A♠

Spoiler Hero shows 4♣ 7♥ (High Card, Ace)

(Pre 35%, Flop 27%, Turn 0%)

BB shows K♥ J♦ (One Pair, Jacks)

(Pre 65%, Flop 73%, Turn 100%)

BB wins 19.76 BB

PokerStars - 8000/16000 Ante 2400 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 5 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

UTG: 11.39 BB

CO: 11.98 BB

BTN: 8.01 BB

Hero (SB): 13.59 BB

BB: 10.16 BB

5 players post ante of 0.15 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.25 BB) Hero has 4♠ 8♦

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 13.44 BB and is all-in, BB calls 9.01 BB and is all-in

Flop: (20.78 BB, 2 players) J♦ 6♥ K♠

Turn: (20.78 BB, 2 players) 3♥

River: (20.78 BB, 2 players) 4♣

Spoiler Hero shows 4♠ 8♦ (One Pair, Fours)

(Pre 33%, Flop 3%, Turn 0%)

BB shows 9♠ K♣ (One Pair, Kings)

(Pre 67%, Flop 97%, Turn 100%)

BB wins 20.78 BB

PokerStars - 9000/18000 Ante 2700 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 5 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

UTG: 4.58 BB

CO: 10.65 BB

BTN: 13.97 BB

Hero (SB): 5.39 BB

BB: 14.42 BB

5 players post ante of 0.15 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.25 BB) Hero has 9♦ T♦

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 5.24 BB and is all-in, BB calls 4.24 BB

Flop: (11.23 BB, 2 players) 2♦ 5♦ K♠

Turn: (11.23 BB, 2 players) A♥

River: (11.23 BB, 2 players) 5♥

Spoiler Hero shows 9♦ T♦ (One Pair, Fives)

(Pre 46%, Flop 56%, Turn 34%)

BB shows J♣ 8♥ (One Pair, Fives)

(Pre 54%, Flop 44%, Turn 66%)

BB wins 11.23 BB

Some non poker related content. On Tuesday I set up my small balcony for this summer. As I’m really pleased with it and would like to share a photo with you. Maybe it will bring you some pleasure because I feel happy every time I step outside.

Today I made the FT of the Scholars LB tourney with the shortest stack. Sadly my hopes of taking the title were cut short on the fourth hand. Still, I’m pleased with the points. It’s my second-best finish to date and I already have 1/3 of last month’s points.

My first Razz tournament ever. And guess what... I registered at the very last moment on purpose. It was much fun and a good variety to my normal schedule. I think I am going to play it again in the future. Especially now to see if it was pure luck or some undiscoverd ability.

Originally posted by irieill

My first Razz tournament ever. And guess what... I registered at the very last moment on purpose. It was much fun and a good variety to my normal schedule. I think I am going to play it again in the future. Especially now to see if it was pure luck or some undiscoverd ability.

I'm impressed!

Razz is pure poker.

It's one of my favourite games, and one I don't play often enough any more

Well done

BRC Update

Bankroll: €1006.33

Games: 111

Hands: 3457

Winnings: €75.78

Rakeback: €0.00

Bonus: €0.00

Movement: €75.78

Week three of my BRC and again I managed to end it with some profit. That always feels good and motivates to keep on track. I had a peak on about €1050 and stopped playing today as I aproached the 1k mark. Just for my mind. This week I focused studying on bounty content. I trained and applied the new findings on the PokerStars Kick-Off. I managed to score the goal in a 5 sprint today. Nice outcome for the investment of $1. Of course this will not happen very often but I like this challenge and the fact that if you win the first sprint you freeroll with some chance for a big hit.

BRC Update

Bankroll: €1003.43

Games: 111

Hands: 2897

Winnings: -€2.90

Rakeback: €0.00

Bonus: €0.00

Movement: -€2.90

Week four finished in the red. It was a rather uneventful week. The most notable detail is that I am currently placed ITM at 31th after having played 7/13 Scholar LB tourneys. So keep your fingers crossed!

Those graphs look great!

Which software did you use to make them?

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

What program do you use to create them?

It is LibreOffice (https://www.libreoffice.org/) Calc. I am still playing around with the different possibilities but for the start I thought less is more.

Originally posted by irieill

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

What program do you use to create them?

It is LibreOffice (https://www.libreoffice.org/) Calc. I am still playing around with the different possibilities but for the start i thought less is more.

Cool

I've used OpenOffice, but not often, as I have a full copy of Excel

I have a leak in calling too tight. I know this and I am working on it. In todays session I had 8:1 blunders in terms of folding when I should have called vs. pushing when I should have folded. I am asking myself if and what has more impact on EV if we take our opponents into account. Let us assume that the pool has the tendency to fold to much but at the same time pushes a little more because of this.

If the pool folds to much we should widen our push range what I am not doing obviously. That means I loose some EV here.

If the pool pushes more because we are folding to much does that mean we should call more? But should we not tighten up if opponent is more loose? And does that in the end mean I gain some EV here?

That is confusing. Does anybody have some insights?

I often say that especially recreational players tend to have somewhat static calling ranges. Meaning if they should be very tight nash wise they likely call too wide and vice versa if they should call wide they likely call too tight. For shoves if nash wise any2 shove or close to it is fine its better to assume as default that they shove tighter.

Originally posted by ghaleon

I often say that especially recreational players tend to have somewhat static calling ranges. Meaning if they should be very tight nash wise they likely call too wide and vice versa if they should call wide they likely call too tight. For shoves if nash wise any2 shove or close to it is fine its better to assume as default that they shove tighter.

Thank you for the input. I can only agree with you. Do you have advices to review and evaluate situations with reads involved? For now what I do is to load all hands of some specific game type of the session into ICMIZER and auto-analyze them. But at the end of the session I do not always remeber all the preconditions, e.g. if some spot was the CL and so on, especially ICMIZER does not show nick names. So my in game thoughts and reads that might have very huge impact do not count.

The main problem is that although I feel comfortable at my main games, I still have not the fundamental confidence to only mark hands that I am unsure about. I want to have some score on my overall game and detect every mistake I made. But that is somewhat not effectice.

For example take this very very interesting hand.

PokerStars - 200/400 Ante 25 NL - Holdem - 5 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

BB: 8.38 BB

Hero (UTG): 36.91 BB

CO: 9.92 BB

BTN: 7.19 BB

SB: 5.1 BB

5 players post ante of 0.06 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.81 BB) Hero has 8♦ 3♥

fold, CO calls 1 BB, fold, SB raises to 5.04 BB and is all-in, BB raises to 8.32 BB and is all-in, CO calls 7.32 BB

Flop: (21.99 BB, 3 players) 9♠ 6♣ J♥

Turn: (21.99 BB, 3 players) T♥

River: (21.99 BB, 3 players) 6♥

Spoiler BB shows T♠ A♠ (Two Pair, Tens and Sixes)

Main Pot [15.43 BB]: (Pre 43%, Flop 57%, Turn 0%)

Side Pot#1 [6.56 BB]: (Pre 56%, Flop 66%, Turn 0%)

CO shows K♦ Q♦ (Straight, King High)

Main Pot [15.43 BB]: (Pre 42%, Flop 34%, Turn 100%)

Side Pot#1 [6.56 BB]: (Pre 44%, Flop 34%, Turn 100%)

SB shows A♣ 3♦ (One Pair, Sixes)

Main Pot [15.43 BB]: (Pre 15%, Flop 9%, Turn 0%)

CO wins 21.99 BB

In equilibrium this is an any two for me (I know it but omit the push). I gave CO what you called static calling range and folded. All the other players are regulars with solid stats. But look how crazy they go on the bubble with this guy involved. How to deal with that?

Change villains calling ranges to something you expect them to be. These are exactly the type of spots where they should call extremely tight. 18man direct bubble and heroes big stick size make ICM tax absurdly high.

I have not played these in long time but I think e.g. CO should call only TT+ or something in nash?

Originally posted by ghaleon

CO should call only TT+ or something in nash?

Exactly. To be 83o a negative shove I have to give him at least somthing like 99+, ATs+, AJo+, KQs and thats fairly reasonable for this guy.

I still do not understand what SB and BB are doing here and why. I mean CO had openlimp/folded before but I am pretty sure he would not fold to SB push at this stage and SB should know this. Because both SB and BB are solid there must be some point here that I am missing.

Originally posted by irieill

Originally posted by ghaleon

CO should call only TT+ or something in nash?

Exactly. To be 83o a negative shove I have to give him at least somthing like 99+, ATs+, AJo+, KQs and thats fairly reasonable for this guy.

I still do not understand what SB and BB are doing here and why. I mean CO had openlimp/folded before but I am pretty sure he would not fold to SB push at this stage and SB should know this. Because both SB and BB are solid there must be some point here that I am missing.

If these are small stake games you play even most regs have lot of leaks in their game in general. Otherwise they would already be in higher stakes. Also note that if you widen ranges for all players then they probably dont have to be calling quite as wide as you mentioned for 83o to be -EV shove.

Also versus recreational especially you might run into situations where they get annoyed by frequent shoving and just decide to call way too wide. Might be something to consider sometimes.

BRC Update

Bankroll: €1125.02

Games: 110

Hands: 5463

Winnings: €121.59

Rakeback: €0.00

Bonus: €0.00

Movement: €121.59

Week 5 was the best since the start of my BRC €-wise. But this is for some reason I would like to assert. I did a good portion of theory, especaially for the early game of 18-man where i definetely had leaks in terms of being way to tight. Now, being more loose/aggressive early I get into better situations at the final table which helps a lot. Still I have a very big leak in big stack vs. big stack situations. Take these two hands for example:

Spoiler PokerStars - 200/400 Ante 25 NL - Holdem - 5 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

UTG: 18.11 BB

CO: 4.93 BB

BTN: 9.93 BB

SB: 16.27 BB

Hero (BB): 18.26 BB

5 players post ante of 0.06 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.81 BB) Hero has J♣ J♦

UTG raises to 18.05 BB and is all-in, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 17.05 BB

Flop: (36.91 BB, 2 players) 9♠ 6♦ Q♦

Turn: (36.91 BB, 2 players) A♣

River: (36.91 BB, 2 players) K♠

Spoiler Hero shows J♣ J♦ (One Pair, Jacks)

(Pre 56%, Flop 15%, Turn 5%)

UTG shows Q♣ K♥ (Two Pair, Kings and Queens)

(Pre 44%, Flop 85%, Turn 95%)

UTG wins 36.91 BB

Spoiler PokerStars - 200/400 Ante 25 NL - Holdem - 4 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

Hero (BB): 17.24 BB

CO: 7.89 BB

BTN: 9.14 BB

SB: 33.22 BB

4 players post ante of 0.06 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.75 BB) Hero has T♣ A♥

fold, fold, SB raises to 33.16 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 16.18 BB and is all-in

Flop: (34.61 BB, 2 players) 7♦ K♣ 6♣

Turn: (34.61 BB, 2 players) 8♥

River: (34.61 BB, 2 players) 5♦

Spoiler SB shows 9♣ A♠ (Straight, Nine High)

(Pre 28%, Flop 18%, Turn 16%)

Hero shows T♣ A♥ (High Card, Ace)

(Pre 72%, Flop 82%, Turn 84%)

SB wins 34.61 BB

There is some space to justify the actions I have taken, but in the end I am not good with what I have done there. Just awoid those marigal situations and take advantage of the opportunity that to tight opponents give you. My BR now allows me to include more of the $10s. Even if the start was somewhat bumpy I still belive that there are more bad players than at the $5s. For sure there are better regs as well but overall I am looking forward to play these games regulary.

At the Scholars LB I managed to get 55 points which is OK and keeps me on track. With ~211 points after 10/13 tourneys another 55 points in the remaining tourneys would lead to some extra cash for sure. So again keep your fingers crossed!!!

So there is one point I am not sure about. I am differentiating between pure winnings, rakeback and bonus. How do you count the extras? For me tickets are nothing worth until you make some profit out of them. So I do not count them at all and only count profit made out of them like some kind of freeroll winnings. Rakeback is easy, as I can directly transform $ into € from my balance. And finally there is T$. I got some with my last treasurebox at PokerStars. But as I do not know the exact exchange rate ATM I recieve the bonus, I just go with it like tickets. I can buy in for free, but I have to make it ITM to gain some money. Is this reasonable? The last thing is StarsCoins: I already had some when I started the challenge, but did not mention/remeber them. Now I got some more. But for me they do not count until they are realized as some money. So should I instantly realize them as it is always 100:$1 or is it OK to "keep them" to beautiy results in bad times?

Sadly no payoff

Spoiler I do not see any/more value in checking turn, do you?

PokerStars - 30/60 Ante 7 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

BTN: 47.18 BB

SB: 58.43 BB

BB: 46.05 BB

UTG: 50 BB

Hero (MP): 46.8 BB

CO: 50 BB

6 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.2 BB) Hero has K♣ J♣

fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, CO calls 2.5 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (8.7 BB, 3 players) A♣ 6♣ T♣

BB checks, Hero bets 3.48 BB, CO calls 3.48 BB, fold

Turn: (15.67 BB, 2 players) Q♣

Hero bets 6.27 BB, fold

Spoiler Hero wins 15.67 BB

Originally posted by irieill

Unfortunately no payoff

I hate when that occurs

— well I dislike the lack of payoff, but the royal flush detail is neat.

Someone must hold a high club to keep betting on the turn, so it's genuinely tough to extract value.

If you check, a player with a club might fire, but otherwise you won't get anything further.

Great hand!

Did you pot turn? If so that is bad sizing in general as we also block big flushes. I would go like 1/3 pot with aim to potentially get some two pairs to continue along with small to medium flushes. Sets are calling likely pot size bet also but those are very rare with high card heavy board assuming single raised pot.

Originally posted by ghaleon

Did you pot turn? If so that is bad sizing in general as we also block big flushes. I would go like 1/3 pot with aim to potentially get some two pairs to continue along with small to medium flushes. Sets are calling likely pot size bet also but those are very rare with high card heavy board assuming single raised pot.

Have a look at the spoiler. The HH is in there.

Originally posted by irieill

Turn: (15.67 BB, 2 players) Q♣

Hero bets 6.27 BB, fold

40% with the same thoughts.

Ah I somehow missed the entire spoiler

God damn! I have to do some update just to exhaust. So maybe I am a little bit on tilt but not that much I used to be when things went in the wrong direction in the past :f_thumbsup:. Today I had I mind changing situation: I did a perfect +EV push on some table, then focus went to other tables and after I was back on the first one I had the hated PokerStars popup. But instead of going to the replayer I just hit the "register to another" button and forgot about that hand. Even now I have no need to look it up. I am sure I made the right decision and I am not interested in the outcome. I wish it was always like this. But I am only some human being. But nevertheless I am going to do it like this in the future.

But near the sessions end I got some bad beats that i noticed and they really hurt. Thankfully the hands happend when I already decided to call it a day, so in the end it is half that wild. It could have been a really good session today but the poker god did not want it to be...

Spoiler

The most bad thing about this hand... This guy sucked my D before in the session with this one.

Spoiler PokerStars - 80/160 Ante 20 NL - Holdem - 5 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

UTG: 14.47 BB

CO: 30.11 BB

BTN: 9.94 BB

SB: 17.29 BB

Hero (BB): 22.42 BB

5 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.12 BB) Hero has T♣ A♥

fold, fold, BTN raises to 9.82 BB and is all-in, fold, Hero calls 8.82 BB

Flop: (20.76 BB, 2 players) 5♦ A♠ 8♥

Turn: (20.76 BB, 2 players) 4♠

River: (20.76 BB, 2 players) 5♣

Spoiler Hero shows T♣ A♥ (Two Pair, Aces and Fives)

(Pre 70%, Flop 26%, Turn 14%)

BTN shows A♣ 5♠ (Full House, Fives full of Aces)

(Pre 30%, Flop 74%, Turn 86%)

BTN wins 20.76 BB

And it was a $10

PokerStars - 300/600 Ante 50 NL - Holdem - 3 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

Hero (SB): 12.91 BB

BB: 9.54 BB

BTN: 22.54 BB

3 players post ante of 0.08 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.75 BB) Hero has A♦ Q♦

fold, Hero raises to 12.83 BB and is all-in, BB calls 8.46 BB and is all-in

Flop: (19.17 BB, 2 players) J♣ 8♥ 5♠

Turn: (19.17 BB, 2 players) A♣

River: (19.17 BB, 2 players) 4♠

Spoiler Hero shows A♦ Q♦ (One Pair, Aces)

(Pre 75%, Flop 16%, Turn 14%)

BB shows A♠ 8♣ (Two Pair, Aces and Eights)

(Pre 25%, Flop 84%, Turn 86%)

BB wins 19.17 BB

Spoiler PokerStars - 80/160 Ante 20 NL - Holdem - 9 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

Hero (UTG+1): 16.83 BB

MP: 20.28 BB

MP+1: 10.73 BB

MP+2: 4.4 BB

CO: 35.65 BB

BTN: 20.67 BB

SB: 36.06 BB

BB: 12.01 BB

UTG: 12.11 BB

9 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.62 BB) Hero has K♥ K♣

fold, Hero raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB raises to 11.89 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 9.89 BB

Flop: (25.4 BB, 2 players) Q♣ 4♣ T♦

Turn: (25.4 BB, 2 players) A♦

River: (25.4 BB, 2 players) 5♠

Spoiler BB shows T♣ T♠ (Three of a Kind, Tens)

(Pre 19%, Flop 84%, Turn 86%)

Hero shows K♥ K♣ (One Pair, Kings)

(Pre 81%, Flop 16%, Turn 14%)

BB wins 25.4 BB

In the end I am still up with the highest BR since the start of my BRC but it just hurts as it could have been even more. There are two more things that hurt a little bit.

1. I did not manage my PokerStars monthly challenge and therefore miss a great portion of rakeback. Not sure about it if I compare to last month where I ended up BE clearing the challenge though.

2. I failed to score high in the Scholars LB in the last two tourneys. And now I am a little bit scared about the last one wich is not a good starting situation for tomorrow. On top of that I got trapped today by some guy that did also limp/fold before.

Spoiler PokerStars - 75/150 Ante 20 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

CO: 32.39 BB

BTN: 38.74 BB

Hero (SB): 14.33 BB

BB: 32.6 BB

UTG: 7.85 BB

MP: 21.13 BB

6 players post ante of 0.13 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.3 BB) Hero has K♣ J♦

fold, fold, fold, BTN calls 1 BB, Hero raises to 14.19 BB and is all-in, fold, BTN calls 13.19 BB

Flop: (30.19 BB, 2 players) Q♦ 5♠ 4♦

Turn: (30.19 BB, 2 players) Q♠

River: (30.19 BB, 2 players) 7♠

Spoiler Hero shows K♣ J♦ (One Pair, Queens)

(Pre 13%, Flop 4%, Turn 0%)

BTN shows A♦ A♣ (Two Pair, Aces and Queens)

(Pre 87%, Flop 96%, Turn 100%)

BTN wins 30.19 BB

Now as I wrote down all this, my mind is back on the right track. Sometimes you just need to shout it out and have some time to recover. Tomorrow I will make it to the FT in the Scholars LB tourney and I am also going to leave the $5s behind me. Always think positive!

Ok, here’s another question for you all... I still can’t classify myself, beyond winrate, ROI and similar metrics. Is there any other qualitative measure I can use? I’m using the ICMIZER MTT COACH every day. Are there indicators based on current streaks or overall percentages that I can trust? For example, who are the top 20 or top 1% players in a particular game type? I spotted exactly one player name appearing on my tables immediately. Does that mean their results span all stakes? I don’t get it.

Also, how valuable is Sharkscope, for instance? How do they compile their leaderboards? Is it based solely on net winnings? I noticed my color switched from red to green in a single day after I won a few bucks, which confused me.

If it makes any better, the first three was quite standard on both sides, maybe the A8o was a bit loose call, but you could shove there pretty wide, so I can understand that too. KJo push with a read is okay too, so it wasn't your fault to loose these pots. I totally understand these situations can be frustrating when you run under EV, but on the long run these kind of decisions will get you some $, more than you lost today.

Sharkscope is actually great, it has over 99% coverage of all tournaments played on supported sites. It has it's limitations tho, like it can't tell the exact number of rebuys, so it uses the average number of them in a tournament for all players who don't use the Sharkscope desktop app. You can read about their methods under the FAQ section on their site.

Thank you for your kind input! I am aware that all hands were played ok on both sides. It is just the result that hurts in that moment. To clear things up: I am not running under EV I just do not post the suckouts I spread around So in the end everthing is ok! Sometimes it is not only the pure probability and chances but also the context.

For example take the very last tourney of this months Scholar LB. I am defending some ITM place. I bet I am going to miss it with these key hands:

Spoiler PokerStars - 25/50 Ante 6 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

BTN: 55.92 BB

SB: 57.9 BB

BB: 58.7 BB

Hero (UTG): 59.76 BB

MP: 68.22 BB

CO: 56.4 BB

6 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.22 BB) Hero has A♣ A♠

Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, CO raises to 7 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 19 BB, CO raises to 56.28 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 37.28 BB

Flop: (114.78 BB, 2 players) 4♥ T♥ 9♦

Turn: (114.78 BB, 2 players) 9♥

River: (114.78 BB, 2 players) 6♣

Spoiler Hero shows A♣ A♠ (Two Pair, Aces and Nines)

(Pre 82%, Flop 84%, Turn 77%)

CO shows Q♥ Q♣ (Two Pair, Queens and Nines)

(Pre 18%, Flop 16%, Turn 23%)

Hero wins 114.78 BB

Not bad to start with in the 3rd hand!

Spoiler PokerStars - 125/250 Ante 30 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

BTN: 30.73 BB

SB: 10.76 BB

BB: 26.46 BB

Hero (UTG): 15.31 BB

MP: 15.91 BB

CO: 36.85 BB

6 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.22 BB) Hero has T♦ A♦

Hero raises to 2 BB, MP raises to 15.79 BB and is all-in, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 13.19 BB and is all-in

Flop: (32.6 BB, 2 players) 8♥ J♠ Q♠

Turn: (32.6 BB, 2 players) 9♣

River: (32.6 BB, 2 players) 3♣

Spoiler Hero shows T♦ A♦ (Straight, Queen High)

(Pre 47%, Flop 34%, Turn 74%)

MP shows 9♦ 9♥ (Three of a Kind, Nines)

(Pre 53%, Flop 66%, Turn 26%)

Hero wins 32.6 BB

Of course you also have to win some flips to win tourneys!

Spoiler PokerStars - 125/250 Ante 30 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

CO: 30.61 BB

BTN: 10.14 BB

SB: 25.34 BB

Hero (BB): 32.6 BB

UTG: 0.6 BB

MP: 36.73 BB

6 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.22 BB) Hero has Q♦ K♦

UTG calls 0.48 BB and is all-in, fold, CO raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (5.7 BB, 3 players) 3♥ Q♠ K♣

Hero checks, CO bets 2 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Turn: (9.7 BB, 3 players) T♦

Hero checks, CO bets 6.85 BB, Hero raises to 28.48 BB and is all-in, fold

River: (23.41 BB, 2 players) J♣

Spoiler Hero shows Q♦ K♦ (Two Pair, Kings and Queens)

(Pre 64%, Flop 96%, Turn 100%)

UTG shows 6♦ 5♣ (High Card, King)

(Pre 36%, Flop 4%, Turn 0%)

Hero wins 23.41 BB

Not sure about this one. I should have knocked out this guy (maniac) by letting him bluff all day long and just call down? In the end he would have shown me A4o FTW?!

Spoiler PokerStars - 125/250 Ante 30 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

BB: 19.52 BB

UTG: 9.9 BB

CO: 24.6 BB

Hero (BTN): 44.41 BB

SB: 37.59 BB

5 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Hero has A♠ K♦

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2 BB, SB raises to 6.5 BB, BB raises to 19.4 BB and is all-in, Hero raises to 44.29 BB and is all-in, SB calls 30.97 BB and is all-in

Flop: (94.94 BB, 3 players) A♣ J♠ K♥

Turn: (94.94 BB, 3 players) 9♥

River: (94.94 BB, 3 players) T♦

Spoiler SB shows A♥ A♦ (Three of a Kind, Aces)

Main Pot [58.8 BB]: (Pre 76%, Flop 85%, Turn 90%)

Side Pot#1 [36.14 BB]: (Pre 94%, Flop 99%, Turn 100%)

Hero shows A♠ K♦ (Two Pair, Aces and Kings)

Main Pot [58.8 BB]: (Pre 5%, Flop 0.4%, Turn 0%)

Side Pot#1 [36.14 BB]: (Pre 6%, Flop 1%, Turn 0%)

BB shows Q♣ Q♦ (Straight, Ace High)

Main Pot [58.8 BB]: (Pre 19%, Flop 15%, Turn 10%)

BB wins 58.8 BB

SB wins 36.14 BB

In the vacuum this is a shove all day long. Especially with the maniac in the hand. So why the hell does SB have to wake up with Aces here especially when I am blocking them.

Spoiler PokerStars - 150/300 Ante 40 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

BTN: 48.48 BB

SB: 7.22 BB

BB: 20.3 BB

Hero (UTG): 5.58 BB

MP: 10 BB

CO: 41.77 BB

6 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.3 BB) Hero has J♠ J♥

Hero raises to 5.45 BB and is all-in, fold, CO calls 5.45 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (13.2 BB, 2 players) 7♣ 6♣ 2♣

Turn: (13.2 BB, 2 players) 5♣

River: (13.2 BB, 2 players) 2♠

Spoiler Hero shows J♠ J♥ (Two Pair, Jacks and Twos)

(Pre 68%, Flop 81%, Turn 72%)

CO shows A♠ 8♠ (One Pair, Twos)

(Pre 32%, Flop 19%, Turn 28%)

Hero wins 13.2 BB

With this one hope got back!

Spoiler PokerStars - 150/300 Ante 40 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

MP: 48.22 BB

CO: 6.45 BB

BTN: 20.83 BB

Hero (SB): 12.07 BB

BB: 9.73 BB

UTG: 36.05 BB

6 players post ante of 0.13 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.3 BB) Hero has J♠ 5♠

fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 11.93 BB and is all-in, BB calls 8.6 BB and is all-in

Flop: (20 BB, 2 players) A♥ 9♠ K♥

Turn: (20 BB, 2 players) 4♥

River: (20 BB, 2 players) T♠

Spoiler Hero shows J♠ 5♠ (High Card, Ace)

(Pre 17%, Flop 7%, Turn 0%)

BB shows Q♦ Q♣ (One Pair, Queens)

(Pre 83%, Flop 93%, Turn 100%)

BB wins 20 BB

Hope? Right in your face!

Spoiler PokerStars - 150/300 Ante 40 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

UTG: 48.08 BB

MP: 6.32 BB

CO: 20.7 BB

Hero (BTN): 2.33 BB

SB: 20 BB

BB: 35.92 BB

6 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.3 BB) Hero has J♣ A♣

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.2 BB and is all-in, fold, BB calls 1.2 BB

Flop: (5.7 BB, 2 players) 3♦ 6♣ T♥

Turn: (5.7 BB, 2 players) 2♣

River: (5.7 BB, 2 players) A♥

Spoiler BB shows 5♠ 2♥ (One Pair, Twos)

(Pre 33%, Flop 34%, Turn 66%)

Hero shows J♣ A♣ (One Pair, Aces)

(Pre 67%, Flop 66%, Turn 34%)

Hero wins 5.7 BB

Ok maybe there is some small chance?

Spoiler PokerStars - 200/400 Ante 50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

UTG: 22.08 BB

MP: 29.35 BB

CO: 14.25 BB

Hero (BTN): 1.1 BB

SB: 10.85 BB

BB: 64.2 BB

6 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.25 BB) Hero has 3♥ K♥

UTG calls 1 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 0.98 BB and is all-in, fold, BB checks

Flop: (4.22 BB, 3 players) 4♠ 3♦ 4♥

BB checks, UTG bets 1 BB, BB raises to 4 BB, UTG calls 3 BB

Turn: (12.22 BB, 3 players) J♦

BB checks, UTG bets 5.11 BB, BB calls 5.11 BB

River: (22.45 BB, 3 players) 5♣

BB checks, UTG bets 11.84 BB and is all-in, BB calls 11.84 BB

Spoiler UTG shows 6♣ 4♣ (Three of a Kind, Fours)

Main Pot [4.17 BB]: (Pre 34%, Flop 91%, Turn 100%)

Side Pot#1 [41.95 BB]: (Pre 45%, Flop 96%, Turn 100%)

BB shows T♠ 3♠ (Two Pair, Fours and Threes)

Main Pot [4.17 BB]: (Pre 25%, Flop 4%, Turn 0%)

Side Pot#1 [41.95 BB]: (Pre 55%, Flop 4%, Turn 0%)

Hero shows 3♥ K♥ (Two Pair, Fours and Threes)

Main Pot [4.17 BB]: (Pre 41%, Flop 4%, Turn 0%)

UTG wins 46.13 BB

No! Because the maniac decides to go with crap.

BTW hand two to six where played within nine hands

BRC Update

Bankroll: €1043.01

Games: 116

Hands: 4951

Winnings: -€87.73

Rakeback: €5.72

Bonus: €0.00

Movement: -€82.01

Not a good week. First of all: as I predicted I failed to make it ITM in the Scholars LB. Because it was only 4.62 points as 56th it hurts double the time. But new month new chance! I made some graphs to get some visual clue about the results:

Not sure about what they should tell me though.

What else? I had a nice peak over €1.2k where I was able to include up to three $10s into my setup. Sadly it did not work out to leave the $5s behind. Instead I had some setback. Fortunately a new week is starting right away an I can leave all the bad stuff behind.

Interesting how thoroughly one can analyze a freeroll series. If everyone really examined as carefully as you could work out...

BRC Update

Bankroll: €1073.17

Games: 34

Hands: 1714

Winnings: €30.16

Rakeback: €0.00

Bonus: €0.00

Movement: €30.16

I didn’t play much in week seven. I had a full task list at work and also more important things than poker to attend to over the weekend. A pleasant side effect: three days away from poker have made me eager for this week.

BRC Update

Bankroll: €1101.57

Games: 31

Hands: 1889

Winnings: €28.40

Rakeback: €0.00

Bonus: €0.00

Movement: €28.40

Again, I did not play that much in week eight. I am very busy ATM and do not have that much time for poker.

BRC Update

Bankroll: €957.64

Games: 59

Hands: 2061

Winnings: -€143.93

Rakeback: €0.00

Bonus: €0.00

Movement: -€143.93

I attempted to play more hands during week 9 but wasn't able to. Running very poorly ATM also doesn't help motivate me to increase volume.

Originally posted by irieill

BRC Update

I tried to play some more hands in week 9 but failed to do so. Running very bad ATM does also not help to motivate for a higher volume.

Yup — sometimes you need to take a break.

Are you playing cash or some tournament format?

My main game still is the 18-man turbo sng. Sometimes I play other formats/games as well to complete some PS-challenges or to just have some variety in the routine.

BRC Progress Report

Bankroll: €905.70

Played Games: 30

Total Hands: 1275

Net Winnings: -€51.94

Rakeback Earned: €0.00

Bonuses: €0.00

Change: -€51.94

And another year has passed. Since I've been sitting at the tables more lately, I'm thinking about officially continuing my challenge...

That doesn't occur very often...

But I enjoy it

Only one hand HU... Villian was very aggressive. Could have been an interesting battle.

Spoiler PokerStars - 17500/35000 Ante 8750 NL (7 max) - Holdem - 2 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

EazzyKatka (BB): 46.88 BB

irieill (SB): 17.84 BB

2 players post ante of 0.25 BB, irieill posts SB 0.5 BB, EazzyKatka posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2 BB) irieill has 8♣ 8♦

irieill calls 0.5 BB, EazzyKatka raises to 46.63 BB and is all-in, irieill calls 16.59 BB and is all-in

Flop: (35.67 BB, 2 players) J♦ Q♦ A♣

Turn: (35.67 BB, 2 players) 7♦

River: (35.67 BB, 2 players) K♠

EazzyKatka shows T♥ 8♥ (Straight, Ace High)

(Pre 38%, Flop 41%, Turn 18%)

irieill shows 8♣ 8♦ (One Pair, Eights)

(Pre 62%, Flop 59%, Turn 82%)

EazzyKatka wins 35.67 BB

I have chosen to officially resume my challenge (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=3448117#post3448117). As some time has passed, circumstances have shifted a bit and PS support advised that it would be better to do so, so I’ll begin a fresh challenge to remain eligible for the raffle. The numbers have been configured as simple as namely: the starting BR equals my current overall BR minus any deposits made (for bonuses and new sites, of course) since my previous update (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=3373439#post3373439). The target remains unchanged. Thus the only change is in the percentage progress difference. That works for me.

Somehow I managed to win my first tourney on GG playing there not even for 10 days. I definetly made some bad ICM decisions but played a very good HU - at least I think so. I will post some hands in the next days but for now I just want to brag

From a monetary point of view, I already had a pretty good result on the second day. But it wasn't the first place.

nice one! you see that the challenge itself already brings a lot of luck! Or you just feel like you have some responsibility to bring your A-Game, others could say!

Here is the first hand I would like to share. I thought it was my biggest ICM blunder of the tourney. At the time of action it showed me 11 players left. After that hand I was placed on the FT with 9 players remaining in total. Either display was lame or someone at the other table busted too.

GG Poker - 1,250/2,500 Ante 300 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 5 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

SB: 6.79 BB

BB: 13.63 BB

UTG: 13.19 BB

CO: 6.63 BB

Hero (BTN): 9.61 BB

5 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Hero has 9♠ A♠

fold, CO raises to 6.51 BB and is all-in, Hero raises to 9.49 BB and is all-in, fold, fold

Flop: (15.12 BB, 2 players) 9♥ 4♠ T♣

Turn: (15.12 BB, 2 players) K♥

River: (15.12 BB, 2 players) 8♠

Spoiler Hero shows 9♠ A♠ (One Pair, Nines)

(Pre 31%, Flop 85%, Turn 84%)

CO shows A♦ Q♣ (High Card, Ace)

(Pre 69%, Flop 15%, Turn 16%)

Hero wins 15.12 BB

As I do not have an ICMIZER subscription anymore I needed another way of analyzing this spot. I did use HCR Beta before, so I started the app but it pop up some licence issue dialog. Fortunately I am able to use the 14 day trail of HCR Classic. Do you guys have recommendations for alternatives for the future that are not paid?

I imported the hand from my PT4 database and set it up for both cases - 11 and 10 players remaining - as I remember some statement that for tourneys the final table bubble has the most ICM impact. These are the results:

11 players remaining

10 players remaining

In the end no blunder Even if I vary the unknown stacksizes on the other table to have a really small stack A9s still remains proftible.

Here are hands of the tourney's early/mid stage with 10BB+ pots I was involved.

Spoiler GG Poker - 35/70 Ante 8 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 7 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

UTG+1: 42.31 BB

MP: 130.57 BB

CO: 32.79 BB

BTN: 47.04 BB

SB: 41.63 BB

Hero (BB): 40.41 BB

UTG: 47.54 BB

7 players post ante of 0.11 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.3 BB) Hero has A♥ Q♦

fold, fold, MP raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 7.3 BB, MP calls 5.3 BB

Flop: (15.9 BB, 2 players) Q♥ T♣ 5♦

Hero bets 5.57 BB, MP calls 5.57 BB

Turn: (27.04 BB, 2 players) 2♣

Hero checks, MP checks

River: (27.04 BB, 2 players) 4♦

Hero checks, MP bets 5 BB, Hero calls 5 BB

Spoiler MP shows Q♠ A♦ (One Pair, Queens)

(Pre 50%, Flop 50%, Turn 50%)

Hero shows A♥ Q♦ (One Pair, Queens)

(Pre 50%, Flop 50%, Turn 50%)

MP wins 18.51 BB

Hero wins 18.53 BB

Spoiler GG Poker - 50/100 Ante 12 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 7 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

SB: 27.88 BB

BB: 27.48 BB

UTG: 27.46 BB

UTG+1: 24.19 BB

MP: 35.11 BB

Hero (CO): 30.03 BB

BTN: 32.06 BB

7 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.34 BB) Hero has Q♠ A♦

fold, UTG+1 raises to 2 BB, fold, Hero calls 2 BB, BTN calls 2 BB, fold, BB calls 1 BB

Flop: (9.34 BB, 4 players) Q♦ 9♣ 9♥

BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero checks, BTN bets 2.8 BB, fold, UTG+1 calls 2.8 BB, Hero calls 2.8 BB

Turn: (17.74 BB, 3 players) A♠

UTG+1 checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (17.74 BB, 3 players) A♥

UTG+1 bets 7.86 BB, Hero raises to 25.11 BB and is all-in, fold, fold

Spoiler Hero wins 33.46 BB

Spoiler GG Poker - 125/250 Ante 30 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 8 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

BB: 12.23 BB

UTG: 14.46 BB

UTG+1: 23.53 BB

MP: 18.18 BB

MP+1: 62.07 BB

CO: 18.1 BB

Hero (BTN): 20.95 BB

SB: 57.38 BB

8 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.46 BB) Hero has Q♦ Q♠

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

Flop: (5.46 BB, 2 players) T♦ 3♥ 8♥

BB bets 10.11 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 10.11 BB

Turn: (25.68 BB, 2 players) J♣

River: (25.68 BB, 2 players) 4♥

Spoiler BB shows 6♠ 2♠ (High Card, Jack)

(Pre 17%, Flop 5%, Turn 0%)

Hero shows Q♦ Q♠ (One Pair, Queens)

(Pre 83%, Flop 95%, Turn 100%)

Hero wins 25.68 BB

Not sure. Really depends on BBs calling range. Would a preflop trap donk shove? Most of the time I should have my 40% here.

Spoiler GG Poker - 200/400 Ante 50 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 8 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

CO: 17.49 BB

BTN: 16.07 BB

SB: 8.3 BB

BB: 34.08 BB

UTG: 21.95 BB

UTG+1: 3.19 BB

MP: 37.72 BB

Hero (MP+1): 19.67 BB

8 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.5 BB) Hero has K♠ Q♠

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, SB raises to 8.18 BB and is all-in, fold, Hero calls 6.18 BB

Flop: (18.35 BB, 2 players) 7♥ 9♦ 7♠

Turn: (18.35 BB, 2 players) 3♠

River: (18.35 BB, 2 players) Q♥

Spoiler SB shows Q♣ K♣ (Two Pair, Queens and Sevens)

(Pre 50%, Flop 48%, Turn 40%)

Hero shows K♠ Q♠ (Two Pair, Queens and Sevens)

(Pre 50%, Flop 52%, Turn 60%)

SB wins 9.18 BB

Hero wins 9.18 BB

Normally if I am vs. FD here on the turn I lose the hand

Spoiler GG Poker - 250/500 Ante 60 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 7 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

SB: 10.37 BB

BB: 27.33 BB

UTG: 13.56 BB

UTG+1: 22.72 BB

MP: 24.4 BB

CO: 26.26 BB

Hero (BTN): 17.6 BB

7 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.34 BB) Hero has 7♥ 7♠

fold, UTG+1 raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 17.48 BB and is all-in, fold, fold, UTG+1 calls 14.48 BB

Flop: (37.3 BB, 2 players) 5♦ T♣ 8♠

Turn: (37.3 BB, 2 players) 6♥

River: (37.3 BB, 2 players) J♦

Spoiler Hero shows 7♥ 7♠ (One Pair, Sevens)

(Pre 55%, Flop 74%, Turn 86%)

UTG+1 shows A♣ K♦ (High Card, Ace)

(Pre 45%, Flop 26%, Turn 14%)

Hero wins 37.3 BB

Close and interesting spot where everything depends.

First AQ hand really ought to finish allin one way or another.

In QQ you clearly snap-call that against anyone.

Originally posted by ghaleon

First AQ hand really should end up in allin in one way or other.

Interesting! What is your line? Do you choose sizing for 2 or 3 streets? What do you expect to call? I know I have TPTK in 3bet pot but I do not feel very strong on the flop.

All FT hands up to HU. Feel free to request the details for a specific and.

I pre-selected one. Hopefully someone likes to give some input.

GG Poker - 1,750/3,500 Ante 450 NL - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

BB: 35.31 BB

UTG: 4.28 BB

MP: 6.04 BB

CO: 33.97 BB

Hero (BTN): 16.17 BB

SB: 8.81 BB

6 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.27 BB) Hero has J♣ J♠

fold, MP calls 1 BB, fold, Hero raises to 3.14 BB, fold, BB calls 2.14 BB, MP calls 2.14 BB

Flop: (10.68 BB, 3 players) 2♣ 8♣ A♥

BB checks, MP bets 2.77 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 2.77 BB, fold

Turn: (16.23 BB, 2 players) 3♠

River: (16.23 BB, 2 players) 6♠

Spoiler MP shows 6♣ K♦ (One Pair, Sixes)

(Pre 27%, Flop 12%, Turn 7%)

Hero shows J♣ J♠ (One Pair, Jacks)

(Pre 73%, Flop 88%, Turn 93%)

Hero wins 16.23 BB

I did not want to push my healthy stack right into the chipleader in the BB preflop, even if it should be proftible though. Raise should look very strong. If he pushes I have to and would fold. Flop play is without any alternative I think. I can not fold vs MP and I can not push into BB. Luckily BB folds.

Honeymoon challenge “completed”. Mission 26 (as well as mission 30) is not doable for me or 99.9% of all other players.

Originally posted by irieill

Honeymoon challenge “completed”. Mission 26 (as well as mission 30) is not doable for me or 99.9% of all other players.

I was one of those in 99.9%. Mission 26 I didn't even try because I don't play tournaments and this is KO-MTT, 0 changes to win. 30 I tried but stopped when lost too much. Other 28 are quite simple or at least reasonable.