Omaha rollercoaster

Celebrating my 1 year anniversary since being official with my girlfriend this weekend.

Yesterday we went to celebrate her sister's son's 2nd birthday. Then we got a new boardgame Cascadia and played that til the end of the night. Cascadia's super chill, relaxing, quite simple and fun. She actually won 3 out of 5 games which is great, I love it when she wins since as a professional poker player I tend to have a bit of an edge here in how to think about strategy in games and pick up on different nuances of games quite quickly. I'm happy that my partner loves boardgames. I played a bunch of Risk, Monopoly, Checkers, Chess, GO, UNO and Chinese chess in my pre-teen years when I was kid, but since then most of my gaming has been limited to consoles or PC. But since I met my gf, she made it clear I should stay away from console/PC games, but instead we picked up a new hobby in boardgames. I'm really glad I got this hobby with her tbh. It fills my gaming desire without being too obsessive or addictive and it doesn't seem like any danger to be a large timesink. We've been getting around 1 new boardgame each month and tbh nowadays boardgames seem to be going through some sort of golden age with all the great new titles coming out each year. For now most of the games we got are quite simple, as we've only been doing this for a year, but in the future we'd like to move onto some more middle or heavy weight games. If you have a similar addictive personality towards gaming like me, I'd recommend finding some friends to play boardgames with, much more chill and social and fills the same need.

Today we'll be paddling on a boat and going to a rooftop bar+restaurant. So not much poker played this week.

Though tbh, after my last session where I tilted off a lot of money. I kind of realized I play best in the mornings, I tend to always be playing A-game in the mornings while the afternoons/nights are more hit or miss as I already spent a good amount of energy. I think I'll try to switch more of my volume into grinding mornings consistently (almost every morning) with A-game, less grinding for leaderboards later in the day and more study in the afternoons.

i dont know anything about plo but this seems like a great bluff spot.. folding out QJ while your 3 pair is blocking all the boats?

do regs ever just see the missed FDs and paired board and call QJ here?

Some regs do it yeah ofc. And ofc many regs will bluff in that spot, it's nothing special. I've just been calling some river donks (or seeing showdowns) and not seeing nearly enough bluffs.

excited about this blog, gl

Thanks, gl to you too!

Monthly report

May 2024: GG PLO200 and PLO500
Hands played: 33,001
Hours played: 55.5
Hands per Hour: 600
Hours studied: 86
Hours worked: 141.5
Net Won: -$3878
Net won + RB: $4759
Net Won $/hour: $85.75
EV: -$5726
EV+RB: $2912.44
EV $/hour: $52.47

Very poor month. It started quite well and I put a good amount of volume in.

Second half of the month I barely grinded at all. I had to focus a lot on completing a spreadsheet for my study group (which I still have to complete. Basically 90% of my volume this month came in the first 2 weeks of the month.

I'm going to be changing my study methods soon, I wanted to study every spot, make some aggregate reports of exploits and basically solve every spot, but it takes far too much time. For one spot I have a spreadsheet of 800 different Flops, each requiring like 25 inputs in a field. The spreadsheet alone can take me 40 hours and it isn't real study, I feel more like an accountant than poker player sometimes. I refuse to do anything like this again even if it seems useful, it simply takes too much time and there has to be more efficient ways to study.

I'll be simply focusing on solvers more and less on spreadsheet work. Will focus on getting some heuristics and training in. I hope this opens up a lot more time for grinding and I can be more consistent with my volume. Plan on grinding most mornings from. Still got a bit of the spreadsheet to complete but after that I hope to put more hours into grinding, hopefully I can finish that spreadsheet in the next week. Last year I was grinding 100 hours a month, I hope if I spend less time on spreadsheets I can get back to that. Maybe in July it'll still be a bit less since I still have to finish this spreadsheet, but after that.

Regarding the play, game quality seemed fine. If I'm not focused or playing too many tables I can make some worse decisions, but overall was happy with my game quality. I'm hoping putting in some more consistency in the mornings will help with consistency in game quality. But although it's a pretty bad month results wise, nothing to be too concerned about yet. BBJ table share added $2500 to my RB and kinda saved it from being almost breakeven. Hope the EV next month is better.

I leave you with a hand vs a whale calling station. Flop bet is questionable, don't think the turn I can do much else with my equity and blockers, maybe XR bluff? River I mean he's a station but he should still have a bunch of folds imo.
[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $5 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

BB: $500.00 (100 bb)
UTG: $1,109.19 (221.8 bb)
MP: $500.00 (100 bb)
Hero (CO): $1,046.66 (209.3 bb)
BTN: $1,276.66 (255.3 bb)
SB: $505.20 (101 bb)

SB posts $2.00, BB posts $5.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $7.00) Hero has Q♦ 9♠ Q♠ 7♦
fold, MP raises to $17.00, Hero calls $17.00, BTN calls $17.00, fold, BB calls $12.00

Flop: ($70.00, 4 players) T♥ 9♦ 5♠
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $35.00, BTN calls $35.00, 2 folds

Turn: ($140.00, 2 players) K♠
Hero bets $93.80, BTN calls $93.80

River: ($327.60, 2 players) A♣
Hero bets $327.60, BTN calls $327.60

Results: $982.80 pot ($7.50 rake)
Final Board: T♥ 9♦ 5♠ K♠ A♣

Hero shows Q♦ 9♠ Q♠ 7♦: (One Pair, Queens)
(Pre 51%, Flop 64%, Turn 23%)

BTN shows 2♥ K♥ A♠ 2♠: (Two Pair, Aces and Kings)
(Pre 49%, Flop 36%, Turn 78%)

BTN wins $970.30
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

Serious question, what hands do you think BTN is b/f vs a x/r OTT given he is a (passive?) callingstation?

he wasn't passive.

And I think a lot of people bet too much when checked to IP and will have plenty of folds. But in a vacuum, I think the line I took is best.

You play plo5?

No I don't currently.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

This month has gotten off to an absolutely atrocious start, at one point I was down almost $6k. I felt like I might have my first losing month since 2022.

However last few sessions I started to run good, and once again I hit 2 BBJ table shares, this time on PLO200, which helped bring me back to robusto. Still a long way to go in the month let's see what it brings. I'm very lucky to hit 3 BBJ table shares in less than a month, before this I went over a year without any BBJ table shares, still waiting for myself to win the big prize though.

Today's theme for hands I'll share will be bluffcatching. Well people underbluff but sometimes you can still find the rare bluff.

I think you mean how much I study?

I study a lot, in fact this year I have spent more time studying than grinding. Almost 2/3 of my time have gone to studying and not grinding this year. Studying is very important to me and I see it as a huge form of growth and improvement, however I'm not proud of the fact that I haven't grinded much and I've made some changes in my study routine to put in more hours. I think studying more than you grind is simply too much. Part of the reason why I spent so much time studying was as I said, a result of me spending many hours in spreadsheets, which is in fact not so productive. With my new study routine, I'll have much less spreadsheets to take care of and more focus on deep work and learning.

Regarding methods of study. I like to use monker, lock some nodes based on data or personal assumptions, and then train it using PLO trainer custom sims, I can do quite a bit of training sometimes on various spots sometimes pausing to look deeper into how ranges are constructed.
I'll occasionally watch some training videos, although I don't think that's too useful.
I'll attend my study group meetings 3x a week.
I'll train preflop a bit quite often, maybe only like 15 min/day.
I'll mark some hands I play and quickly review them in GTO. If it's particularly interesting I might run a monker sim.

Hope this answer helps.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This month I've been running particularly bad. I've never run so bad in PLO.

If we look at my overall graph on GG we a relatively steady climb up with the yellow line (that includes 47% rakeback):

The past 70,000 hands have been quite horrific.

Despite this, my mental feels quite good. I have many other things in life to look forward to and when I judge my own play and performance, I'm overall quite happy. I'm being put in a lot of tough spots and I feel this is making me a much better player. I'm confident this will come to an end soon. However my confidence is lower and I realized I need to set up a few "rules". These rules should help me to stick to my routines, stay off autopilot, and get my confidence back.

Ecology rules:
1. I will play a maximum of 9 tables! I notice that when I play more than 9 tables I start to lose focus, miss some actions and play worse. It's also harder to table select when you constantly have to make a poker decision.
2. I will start by opening up as many tables of PLO200 as I can. Only after that will I look at PLO500 tables and sit into the softest ones! For now I think I should mainly be playing PLO200, after some confidence and roll comes back I'll tackle 500 again as my main stake.
3. Never play any heads up! My heads up winrate is just atrocious, not worth it to play heads up simply to try and get more leaderboard points. The fact is on GG the rake at heads up is way too high, maybe if I specialized in heads up I could beat it, but as a short-handed specialist, it feels like every time I play heads up I burn money.
4. Game selection is important! Pretty general rule, although this is especially important for when I do decide to sit in 500 tables.
5. Never play longer than 3 hours long! After this period of time, my focus dwindles. I need to take a break before resuming the grind.

The 5 core rules or grinding (inspired from Phil Galfond's 5 sticky notes):
1. Always ask WHY!!! Why is he taking this action? Why am I taking this action. Poker is story-telling. Don't autopilot or simply play according to "theory".
2. Patience, some pots are not mine! Don't think about how I can win this pot; think about how I can make the most money! Sometimes that means conceding the pot.
3. Keep it simple! If I have a read, and someone takes an action that is different from my read, don't overadjust!
4. Discipline and Power! This means sticking to our guns. Following through with our plan if we know it is +EV, and making the disciplined folds (or calls/raises)!
5. No protection! People overvalue protection and tend to fast play too much with a merged range. A weak hand on the Flop or Turn is unlikely to become super strong on the turn or river later on.

OP

I have you marked as one of the tougher regs and enjoy seeing your updates. Keep grinding and the results will come back, I think limiting your table count is one of the best things you can change for yourself personally. Gl!

Thanks bro, you play well too. I think things will go well!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news, a bit over a week ago I proposed and she said yes so I am now an engaged man. We went hiking in some mountains for the proposal and then went to a restaurant, so you see, even in downswings things are good 😀

Some pictures of us:

Maybe the start of the upswing?

Funny hand:

when you bluff 200+bbs deep

Vs fish

When you decide to bluff with showdown value, unfortunately he had a nice bluff catcher here

Congrats on the engagement! All the best to you and your future wife.

Lucky me

Small recovery the last week, although I didn't play too much.

I spent a lot of time the past week getting back into the crypto markets and creating my strategy for buying and selling.

It's going to be my 3rd bullrun I get involved in. TBH I've always been a complete fish in crypto, but every experience only gives me more... well experience and knowledge. And I'm not one to quit, as the saying goes, "you're only a loser if you quit", or "you only fail when you give up", or something like that lol.

I've lost over €100k through cryptos. And my current goal is going to be to be net profitable in this highly volatile market. I don't aim to be net profitable by the end of this bullrun, I simply don't have enough to invest right now. But I want to test my strategy and see if it works with money I can afford to lose. Then in the next market cycle I will aim to invest more and get everything I lost back.

My first bullrun of 2018 I was completely new to crypto and basically put €15k in at the top and cashed out as BTC was crashing to it's bottom in the cycle.

The 2nd time I got involved in 2020, correctly identifying the start of the bullrun and proceeded to make a lot of money. But when the market hit its peak in 2021 I expected it to simply keep going up. I never sold any profits and had over 80% of my net worth in cryptos basically losing my entire liferoll and being forced to get out of the market at the bottom as I needed ways to support myself and my living expenses.

This will be my 3rd foray into crypto. I would've invested earlier if I had the finances but well, I know not to make the same mistakes as before and put so much of my roll into a speculative asset class. I'm late to the party but the bullrun still has a ways to go. I don't want to do many short-term trades or predict what will happen in the future. I'll simply be Dynamic DCA-ing my way in according to certain metrics and DCA my way out as I hit certain risk levels. I learnt from my big mistakes in the past, especially not taking out profits early enough and not improving my skills in other areas (poker) so that I can make an income to keep investing and paying my life expenses.

My goal is to take out 100% of my money I put into crypto by the end of this bullrun, which I expect to be some time in 2025. Well as I said, I don't expect to make so much money from this bullrun, and I'll be sure not to lose so much money too, but rather just get some experience and test my strategy and be ready for the next cycle. We'll see how it goes.

Been reading this book called the 5AM club by Robin Sharma. Not my type of book, but my fiance really wanted me to read it since she was loving it and it turned out to be really well written. It's inspired me to wake up a bit earlier and have a bit more of a morning routine rather than simply waking up and grinding. It's quite an inspirational book and am looking forward to having a proper morning routine.

Gonna implement the 20/20/20 rule, which is basically
- 20 minutes of exercise
- followed by 20 minutes of self-reflection/journaling/meditation
- followed by 20 minutes of learning and growth

Only after that will I get into grinding.

How my schedule would look like:

Grinding would be split by breaks, both to reset my focus but also to reset my stack sizes (after 1 hour).
2 days off each week. Some of the grinding blocks would be used for study, etc.

----------------------------------------------------

Had a wonderful session today morning to put me back into the green this month somehow after the horrendous start. Well, it's possible my streak of not having a losing month in over 1.5 years continues afterall...

big pots from today:

July recap:

July 2024: GG PLO200 and PLO500
Hands played: 36261
Hours played: 65.5
Hands per Hour: 576.29
Hours studied: 66
Hours worked: 131.5
Net Won: -$2495
Net won + RB: $5992
Net Won $/hour: $91.48
EV: -$-4253
EV+RB: $4233
EV $/hour: $64.63

Another extremely tough month, although towards the end of the month I finally started to catch some heat. If we don't include the 3 BBJ table shares I got I would be barely above breakeven after rakeback+LB over the past 80k hands.

June and July have both been extremely tough, but tough times are what make you stronger. I got put in many tough spots and have learnt a lot from these experiences. I set some rules to follow encouraging better game selection and playing a bit less tables, I got a new morning routine to propel my day to live it to my full potential. These precautions have succeeded in getting myself fully into flow for my poker sessions. Days turn into weeks, which turn into months, which turn into years. I just need to stay consistent with my new habits. I don't believe it's a coincidence since I've made many of these changes that I've been on an upswing for the past 13k or so hands.

Considering how tough the past 2 months have been, I'm honestly quite pleased with my results, I mean, I can't complain making about $90/hour in 2 of my toughest months ever consecutively. and I'm very much looking forward to August and believe after such a tough stretch I could have a great month. I'm going in with no expectations but totally ready to tackle any challenges.

I'll be turning 35 in August so expecting to take a few days off poker during that period (although would like to still grind most mornings).

I studied and grinded about 50/50 this month, which isn't too bad compared to earlier in the year when I spent far more time studying. I'd like to increase the grinding ever so slightly while keeping up the study hours or slightly lowering them. Maybe 85 hours of grinding and 55 hours of study could sound good to me. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Few big hands:
[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $2 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

CO: $325.53 (162.8 bb)
BTN: $273.18 (136.6 bb)
SB: $374.02 (187 bb)
BB: $505.11 (252.6 bb)
Hero (UTG): $307.82 (153.9 bb)
MP: $209.15 (104.6 bb)

SB posts $1.00, BB posts $2.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $3.00) Hero has 6♣ 4♦ A♣ A♠
Hero raises to $7.00, 4 folds, BB calls $5.00

Flop: ($15.00, 2 players) 3♦ 9♣ 7♣
BB checks, Hero bets $10.50, BB raises to $46.50, Hero raises to $154.50, BB calls $108.00

Turn: ($324.00, 2 players) 2♣
BB bets $324.00, Hero calls $146.32 and is all-in

River: ($616.64, 2 players) 2♥

Results: $616.64 pot ($4.00 rake)
Final Board: 3♦ 9♣ 7♣ 2♣ 2♥

BB shows 3♠ K♠ T♠ 3♥: (Full House, Threes full of Twos)
(Pre 29%, Flop 58%, Turn 25%)

Hero shows 6♣ 4♦ A♣ A♠: (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 71%, Flop 42%, Turn 75%)

BB wins $610.64
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $5 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

SB: $535.45 (107.1 bb)
BB: $500.00 (100 bb)
UTG: $1,146.80 (229.4 bb)
MP: $500.00 (100 bb)
CO: $572.52 (114.5 bb)
Hero (BTN): $635.60 (127.1 bb)

SB posts $2.00, BB posts $5.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $7.00) Hero has 7♥ 5♣ 6♣ 6♥
2 folds, CO raises to $17.00, Hero calls $17.00, fold, BB raises to $70.00, fold, Hero calls $53.00

Flop: ($159.00, 2 players) 6♦ 3♠ 6♠
BB bets $50.88, Hero calls $50.88

Turn: ($260.76, 2 players) 9♣
BB bets $260.76, Hero raises to $514.72 and is all-in, BB calls $118.36 and is all-in

River: ($1,019.00, 2 players) 8♣

Results: $1,019.00 pot ($7.50 rake)
Final Board: 6♦ 3♠ 6♠ 9♣ 8♣

Hero shows 7♥ 5♣ 6♣ 6♥: (Four of a Kind, Sixes)
(Pre 43%, Flop 100%, Turn 100%)

BB shows 8♥ K♥ 7♠ 9♠: (Two Pair, Nines and Eights)
(Pre 57%, Flop 0%, Turn 0%)

Hero wins $1,006.50
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $2 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 5 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

UTG: $629.26 (314.6 bb)
Hero (CO): $217.75 (108.9 bb)
BTN: $200.00 (100 bb)
SB: $215.18 (107.6 bb)
BB: $308.45 (154.2 bb)

SB posts $1.00, BB posts $2.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $3.00) Hero has J♥ 9♠ 8♥ J♦
fold, Hero raises to $7.00, BTN raises to $24.00, 2 folds, Hero calls $17.00

Flop: ($51.00, 2 players) 3♠ 9♣ 8♣
Hero checks, BTN bets $25.50, Hero calls $25.50

Turn: ($102.00, 2 players) 4♦
Hero checks, BTN bets $102.00, Hero raises to $168.25 and is all-in, BTN calls $48.50 and is all-in

River: ($403.00, 2 players) 5♥

Players agreed to run it twice.

River #2: ($403.00, 2 players) Q♦

Results: $403.00 pot ($0.00 rake)
Final Board: 3♠ 9♣ 8♣ 4♦ 5♥ Q♦

Hero shows J♥ 9♠ 8♥ J♦: (Two Pair, Nines and Eights)
Board #1 : (Pre 49%, Flop 57%, Turn 78%)
(Two Pair, Nines and Eights)
Board #2 : (Pre 47%, Flop 56%, Turn 77%)

BTN shows A♣ T♣ K♦ Q♣: (High Card, Ace)
Board #1 : (Pre 51%, Flop 43%, Turn 23%)
(One Pair, Queens)
Board #2 : (Pre 53%, Flop 44%, Turn 23%)

Hero wins $198.50
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $2 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 5 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

Hero (SB): $206.90 (103.5 bb)
BB: $203.00 (101.5 bb)
UTG: $200.00 (100 bb)
CO: $281.00 (140.5 bb)
BTN: $172.33 (86.2 bb)

Hero posts SB $1.00, BB posts $2.00, UTG posts $2.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $5.00) Hero has 8♠ Q♥ Q♣ 8♥
UTG raises to $7.00, 2 folds, Hero raises to $23.00, fold, UTG calls $16.00

Flop: ($48.00, 2 players) 5♠ 2♥ 3♠
Hero checks, UTG bets $24.00, Hero calls $24.00

Turn: ($96.00, 2 players) T♥
Hero checks, UTG bets $96.00, Hero raises to $159.90 and is all-in, UTG calls $57.00 and is all-in

River: ($402.00, 2 players) 8♣

Results: $402.00 pot ($4.00 rake)
Final Board: 5♠ 2♥ 3♠ T♥ 8♣

Hero shows 8♠ Q♥ Q♣ 8♥: (Three of a Kind, Eights)
(Pre 57%, Flop 65%, Turn 88%)

UTG shows 6♠ 9♥ K♦ 7♦: (High Card, King)
(Pre 43%, Flop 35%, Turn 13%)

Hero wins $396.00
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $2 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

MP: $185.30 (92.7 bb)
CO: $175.00 (87.5 bb)
BTN: $207.64 (103.8 bb)
SB: $198.00 (99 bb)
BB: $265.85 (132.9 bb)
Hero (UTG): $277.64 (138.8 bb)

SB posts $1.00, BB posts $2.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $3.00) Hero has 9♠ K♠ A♥ J♦
Hero raises to $7.00, 2 folds, BTN calls $7.00, 2 folds

Flop: ($17.00, 2 players) 4♠ 9♣ J♣
Hero checks, BTN bets $17.00, Hero calls $17.00

Turn: ($51.00, 2 players) 9♦
Hero checks, BTN bets $32.00, Hero calls $32.00

River: ($115.00, 2 players) 8♣
Hero checks, BTN bets $86.25, Hero calls $86.25

Results: $287.50 pot ($4.00 rake)
Final Board: 4♠ 9♣ J♣ 9♦ 8♣

BTN shows 7♠ 3♠ Q♦ 4♦: (Two Pair, Nines and Fours)
(Pre 43%, Flop 19%, Turn 0%)

Hero shows 9♠ K♠ A♥ J♦: (Full House, Nines full of Jacks)
(Pre 57%, Flop 81%, Turn 100%)

Hero wins $281.50
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

Last 15k hands has been going extremely well.

When thin value goes right:
[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $2 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

UTG: $150.28 (75.1 bb)
MP: $170.60 (85.3 bb)
Hero (CO): $200.00 (100 bb)
BTN: $106.32 (53.2 bb)
SB: $200.00 (100 bb)
BB: $200.00 (100 bb)

SB posts $1.00, BB posts $2.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $3.00) Hero has 7♣ 9♦ J♣ J♦
2 folds, Hero raises to $7.00, 2 folds, BB raises to $22.00, Hero calls $15.00

Flop: ($45.00, 2 players) J♥ A♠ 8♣
BB bets $23.00, Hero calls $23.00

Turn: ($91.00, 2 players) T♥
BB checks, Hero bets $30.03, BB calls $30.03

River: ($151.06, 2 players) 9♣
BB checks, Hero bets $124.97 and is all-in, BB calls $124.97 and is all-in

Results: $401.00 pot ($4.00 rake)
Final Board: J♥ A♠ 8♣ T♥ 9♣

Hero shows 7♣ 9♦ J♣ J♦: (Straight, Jack High)
(Pre 63%, Flop 71%, Turn 86%)

BB shows 6♣ 9♥ T♠ A♣: (Two Pair, Aces and Tens)
(Pre 37%, Flop 29%, Turn 14%)

Hero wins $395.00
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

When you don't believe him and you're wrong:
[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $2 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

Hero (CO): $200.00 (100 bb)
BTN: $219.80 (109.9 bb)
SB: $262.00 (131 bb)
BB: $193.95 (97 bb)
UTG: $214.20 (107.1 bb)
MP: $204.40 (102.2 bb)

SB posts $1.00, BB posts $2.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $3.00) Hero has K♦ A♣ 5♦ K♣
2 folds, Hero raises to $7.00, 2 folds, BB calls $5.00

Flop: ($15.00, 2 players) 2♠ 2♦ 6♥
BB checks, Hero bets $7.50, BB raises to $22.50, Hero calls $15.00

Turn: ($60.00, 2 players) Q♣
BB bets $30.00, Hero calls $30.00

River: ($120.00, 2 players) 3♥
BB bets $120.00, Hero calls $120.00

Results: $360.00 pot ($4.00 rake)
Final Board: 2♠ 2♦ 6♥ Q♣ 3♥

BB shows 9♥ T♣ Q♥ 2♣: (Full House, Twos full of Queens)
(Pre 37%, Flop 85%, Turn 95%)

Hero shows K♦ A♣ 5♦ K♣: (Two Pair, Kings and Twos)
(Pre 63%, Flop 15%, Turn 5%)

BB wins $354.00
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

When you don't believe him and you're right:
[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $5 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

SB: $732.71 (146.5 bb)
Hero (BB): $500.00 (100 bb)
UTG: $1,112.56 (222.5 bb)
MP: $893.30 (178.7 bb)
CO: $579.81 (116 bb)
BTN: $500.00 (100 bb)

SB posts $2.00, Hero posts BB $5.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $7.00) Hero has A♦ 8♣ J♥ T♣
UTG raises to $17.00, MP calls $17.00, 3 folds, Hero calls $12.00

Flop: ($53.00, 3 players) 9♦ 6♠ 7♦
Hero bets $26.50, UTG calls $26.50, MP calls $26.50

Turn: ($132.50, 3 players) 4♥
Hero bets $132.50, fold, MP calls $132.50

River: ($397.50, 2 players) 4♦
Hero checks, MP bets $131.18, Hero calls $131.18

Results: $659.86 pot ($7.50 rake)
Final Board: 9♦ 6♠ 7♦ 4♥ 4♦

MP shows 6♣ 5♣ K♥ A♥: (Two Pair, Sixes and Fours)
(Pre 50%, Flop 3%, Turn 0%)

Hero shows A♦ 8♣ J♥ T♣: (Straight, Ten High)
(Pre 50%, Flop 97%, Turn 100%)

Hero wins $647.36
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

In other news, cryptos have crashed, which is actually perfect for me since I was looking for an opportunity to put some more money in. I'm hoping the next few months stay at quite low price levels as I would like to keep DCA-ing my way in.

I'm really not spending too much time following the action on cryptos, almost none at all. I just follow a couple of metrics.

The Moneyline metric which shows when a market turns bearish or bullish, I can find this on Messari https://messari.io . Although arguably this metrix is best used for knowing when to lump-sum in or sell.
And then I like following a risk metric, there's a new one here: https://alphasquared.io
In the last cycle I was following Ben Cowen's risk metric, but this one seems like a lot less work to follow. And it would be my main way I decide to buy/sell.

I'm only involved with BTC and ETH right now, but looking to get into Chainlink if they create a risk metric for that as it's one of my favorite coins that I believe has a great product. I think it's important to note, I'm keeping my poker bankroll and my crypto completely separate this time I take a forray into crypto. Any money I put into crypto is money I'm ready to completely lose.

I would basically follow this strategy for whenever BTC or ETH hits these risk levels according to their data (1 to 5 units for buying, and selling for total asset at start of selling):

AlphaSquared had some preset buying and selling strategies, but I found their aggressive strategy a bit too aggressive while their moderate strategy was a bit too conservative so I created something in the middle.

I enjoy the risk metric as it is more reactionary than predictive. It's not trying to predict the future but rather we act as a reaction based on data. Ben Cowen and AlphaSquared have different ways they calculated their risk metrics. Though after having joined AlphaSquared's telegram channel it seems like they are smart guys and included many different factors into how they calculate their risk metric, including AI work.

Happy that there's a downturn in crypto so I can DCA my way in, and looking forward to the next year or so 😀

Really appreciate your discipline. I am trying but I think this is my main fight in life 😀) . Anyway, i just wanted to wish you good luck and please keep posting.

If I'm reading your first post correctly you got 50% rakeback on GG during 30k hands of upswing? Normally they would reduce your PVI srastically after a couple k hands and slash your true rb to around a third. How did you manage to keep their advertised rb?

I calculated my PVI to be around 0.23.

My longterm rakeback is between 45-50% factoring in leaderboards, BBJ (never won the big prize, but got 5 table shares over 800k hands or so) and other promotions.

Hey thanks, I plan to keep posting until I'm playing 2k so at least another year of blogging I'd guess. After I reach that stake I'll take some time to think about my trajectory and see if I see any point in continuing this blog or doing some other things.

Your post brought up some interesting thoughts about discipline in me.

Discipline vs Consistency

I think I used to consider myself disciplined but not consistent. Discipline is more about avoiding impulses, doing hard uncomfortable things that you don't necessarily want to do. I'd force myself in the past to do many things I didn't enjoy. Things such as cold showers, nofap, dopamine detox, extreme diets such as veganism or carnivore, ridiculous sleep schedules such as polyphasic sleeping, working longer hours, playing more tables. I even enforced myself in the past to have a sleep pattern more similar to non-24 (which is a very serious sleep disorder), basically I'd willingly stay awake an hour or 2 later each day and live on a 25-26 hour clock rather than a 24 hour clock. All of these things I eventually end up quitting, as I didn't want to live like that long-term and I saw negative effects, not necessarily for poker but for my life, which is much more important.

Well I guess it's important to be disciplined sometimes but it leads to burnout quite easily. And I found the key really is sustainability and healthy habits. Don't get me wrong, discipline is important, because it forces you to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Anything you do that puts you out of your comfort zone is great and can be used as a tool for growth, and I think this is very important and I'm very much in favor of doing uncomfortable things in order to never be afraid of pushing yourself out of the comfort zone. It also helps in poker I believe, to find those crazy moves you would never do if you couldn't have the confidence to do it, to be willing to experiment and try new things just to see "what happens if I do this?!".

Right now I no longer even consider myself very disciplined. Instead I simply think about what habits and routines could lead me towards living the life I want.

For example, a relatively new habit of mine is waking up at 6AM each morning, followed by a "victory hour" included some intense exercise, meditation/reflection and quick study/training inspired by the 20/20/20 method from the book the 5AM club. After this I almost always play a 2-3 hour session of poker. At first this was kinda new and hard, but the longer I do this the easier it is and it no longer feels hard. In fact it feels a bit weird if I don't follow these routines. And if I do this every single day I would be happy with my life in general. And if I simply follow these routines and habits, the likelihood of succeeding in my goals is extremely high/

Sure maybe I wouldn't have these crazy volume months where I'm playing 80k+ hands but I'd ensure I play a minimum of 30k hands each month consistently (assuming I play 1k hands each morning, which is realistic). And the thing is after these motivation and discipline fueled 80k+ hand months I'd be likely to burn out and take a long time off grinding perhaps even months off poker. Overall the volume would actually be higher with the consistent model. The consistent model is also great when it comes to mindset, because I tend to not care about grinding anymore if I have a big winning month, but if I built the consistency, well then it's just natural to keep grinding, to keep doing what I'm doing, to keep fulfilling my life purpose and to stay loyal to the game of poker that has given me so much in my life.

Now that I've pretty much established the 6AM wake up routine, the question is how can add some volume on top of that. Well I can look for areas and time zones in which I can add some more grind blocks, how can I make these grind blocks a habit and be consistent with it. I've found some meditation and exercise to fuel me into the flow state for my morning sessions, what can I do to give me fuel in the afternoons or evenings? Perhaps next month I'll try to install some new habits. I'm thinking of going back to cold showers to use that as a wake up after my afternoon nap and fuel me into my afternoon sessions. IDK we'll see. But the key is adding one habit at a time, and adding a habit that is beneficial to my life, that I can see doing for many years ahead that lead towards the fruition of achieving my goals.

But I can't complain about how things are right now, I'm in the middle of a nice upswing. I've barely played any afternoon or evening sessions but still played over 11k hands as I've been grinding every single morning this month except one day when GG was under maintenance, and instead I've been enjoying my life doing many activities with friends and my fiance. I'm loving life and can see myself doing this for years to come. My birthday is coming up next week and I don't plan on grinding in the afternoons or evenings during that week either but I'll still be grinding the mornings ensuring I have a satisfactory month in volume despite barely grinding in the afternoons.

Consistency is the key, and some amount of discipline is important to establish consistency. They go hand in hand, but I'd say if I had to choose one, I'd choose consistency every time now. Consistency leads to compound interest, and that means if I improve myself everyday 1% then in a year we'll be 38 times better or 3800% better in a year.

I've read many books about these topics. Some of my favorites:
- The power of Habit
- GRIT
- The Slight Edge
- Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise
- The 5AM club
- Atomic Habits
- Mindset

If this topic interests you, check them out. I'm a big fan of reading.

Just finished reading the 5AM club and also The Biggest Bluff last week (I often read more than one book at a time).

Got another BBJ tableshare today at PLO200. 4th one of the year now, can't complain 😃

Last 25k hands including the latest BBJ I got this morning since my downswing ended. Only played 12.5k hands so far this month, celebrated a friends birthday last week and went out a bunch, this week my parents are visiting me for my own birthday and got lots of plans with them. Volume will pick up after this week as I got lots of things planned this week until my parents leave Budapest.

Very happy with my play. Even though I've done some terrible bluffs. Here's a small sample of how I torch money.

[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $5 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 5 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

Hero (BB): $547.20 (109.4 bb)
UTG: $429.47 (85.9 bb)
CO: $948.18 (189.6 bb)
BTN: $527.75 (105.6 bb)
SB: $134.55 (26.9 bb)

SB posts $2.00, Hero posts BB $5.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $7.00) Hero has 8♣ T♣ 5♦ 4♣
UTG calls $5.00, 2 folds, SB calls $3.00, Hero checks

Flop: ($15.00, 3 players) 2♣ 4♥ A♠
SB checks, Hero bets $10.50, UTG calls $10.50, fold

Turn: ($36.00, 2 players) 7♦
Hero bets $36.00, UTG raises to $117.00, Hero raises to $387.00, UTG raises to $413.97 and is all-in, Hero calls $26.97

River: ($863.94, 2 players) 3♥

Results: $863.94 pot ($7.50 rake)
Final Board: 2♣ 4♥ A♠ 7♦ 3♥

UTG shows J♣ 3♦ 5♥ 6♦: (Straight, Seven High)
(Pre 50%, Flop 92%, Turn 93%)

Hero shows 8♣ T♣ 5♦ 4♣: (Straight, Five High)
(Pre 50%, Flop 8%, Turn 8%)

UTG wins $851.44
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $2 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

BTN: $200.00 (100 bb)
SB: $621.87 (310.9 bb)
Hero (BB): $242.00 (121 bb)
UTG: $598.34 (299.2 bb)
MP: $221.10 (110.6 bb)
CO: $288.80 (144.4 bb)

SB posts $1.00, Hero posts BB $2.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $3.00) Hero has A♣ 7♦ 8♣ Q♦
2 folds, CO raises to $7.00, 2 folds, Hero raises to $22.00, CO calls $15.00

Flop: ($45.00, 2 players) 6♦ 7♠ K♦
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($45.00, 2 players) J♣
Hero bets $45.00, CO calls $45.00

River: ($135.00, 2 players) 9♠
Hero bets $135.00, CO raises to $221.80 and is all-in, Hero folds

Results: $405.00 pot ($4.00 rake)
Final Board: 6♦ 7♠ K♦ J♣ 9♠

CO wins $399.00
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $2 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 5 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

BTN: $33.86 (16.9 bb)
Hero (SB): $200.00 (100 bb)
BB: $200.00 (100 bb)
UTG: $200.00 (100 bb)
CO: $241.80 (120.9 bb)

Hero posts SB $1.00, BB posts $2.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $3.00) Hero has J♣ J♥ A♥ 7♣
UTG raises to $7.00, fold, BTN calls $7.00, Hero raises to $30.00, fold, UTG calls $23.00, BTN calls $23.00

Flop: ($92.00, 3 players) 9♠ 9♣ 2♠
Hero bets $18.40, UTG calls $18.40, BTN calls $3.86 and is all-in

Turn: ($132.66, 3 players) 7♠
Hero bets $26.54, UTG calls $26.54

River: ($185.74, 3 players) 6♦
Hero bets $125.06 and is all-in, UTG calls $125.06 and is all-in

Results: $435.86 pot ($3.99 rake)
Final Board: 9♠ 9♣ 2♠ 7♠ 6♦

Hero shows J♣ J♥ A♥ 7♣: (Two Pair, Jacks and Nines)
Main Pot: [$103.58]: (Pre 46%, Flop 0%, Turn 0%)
Side Pot: [$332.28]: (Pre 69%, Flop 0%, Turn 0%)

UTG shows 9♦ 7♥ 8♠ 9♥: (Four of a Kind, Nines)
Main Pot: [$103.58]: (Pre 27%, Flop 100%, Turn 100%)
Side Pot: [$332.28]: (Pre 31%, Flop 100%, Turn 100%)

BTN shows 2♣ T♠ T♣ Q♥: (Two Pair, Tens and Nines)
Main Pot: [$103.58]: (Pre 26%, Flop 0%, Turn 0%)

UTG wins $429.87
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $2 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 5 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

BTN: $474.76 (237.4 bb)
SB: $562.35 (281.2 bb)
Hero (BB): $430.21 (215.1 bb)
UTG: $219.05 (109.5 bb)
CO: $211.65 (105.8 bb)

SB posts $1.00, Hero posts BB $2.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $3.00) Hero has T♠ A♦ 8♥ 9♦
fold, CO raises to $7.00, 2 folds, Hero raises to $22.00, CO calls $15.00

Flop: ($45.00, 2 players) 9♥ 6♣ 5♦
Hero checks, CO bets $28.80, Hero calls $28.80

Turn: ($102.60, 2 players) K♠
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($102.60, 2 players) J♥
Hero bets $102.60, CO raises to $160.85 and is all-in, Hero folds

Results: $307.80 pot ($4.00 rake)
Final Board: 9♥ 6♣ 5♦ K♠ J♥

CO wins $301.80
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $5 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

UTG: $703.67 (140.7 bb)
MP: $500.00 (100 bb)
Hero (CO): $524.00 (104.8 bb)
BTN: $776.18 (155.2 bb)
SB: $263.24 (52.6 bb)
BB: $615.58 (123.1 bb)

SB posts $2.00, BB posts $5.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $7.00) Hero has 7♣ A♠ 4♥ J♠
2 folds, Hero raises to $17.00, BTN calls $17.00, SB calls $15.00, fold

Flop: ($56.00, 3 players) 5♥ 8♦ 3♣
SB bets $18.48, Hero calls $18.48, BTN calls $18.48

Turn: ($111.44, 3 players) T♣
SB bets $36.78, Hero calls $36.78, BTN calls $36.78

River: ($221.78, 3 players) Q♥
SB checks, Hero bets $221.78, BTN calls $221.78, fold

Results: $665.34 pot ($7.50 rake)
Final Board: 5♥ 8♦ 3♣ T♣ Q♥

Hero shows 7♣ A♠ 4♥ J♠: (High Card, Ace)
(Pre 42%, Flop 45%, Turn 28%)

BTN shows Q♦ 8♥ Q♣ J♥: (Three of a Kind, Queens)
(Pre 58%, Flop 55%, Turn 73%)

BTN wins $652.84
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

[converted_hand][hand_history]GG Poker - $5 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

BTN: $159.38 (31.9 bb)
SB: $540.50 (108.1 bb)
Hero (BB): $655.59 (131.1 bb)
UTG: $532.77 (106.6 bb)
MP: $1,204.61 (240.9 bb)
CO: $500.00 (100 bb)

SB posts $2.00, Hero posts BB $5.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $7.00) Hero has 3♥ 3♦ 8♦ K♥
4 folds, SB raises to $15.00, Hero calls $10.00

Flop: ($30.00, 2 players) 2♣ K♣ 7♣
SB bets $9.90, Hero calls $9.90

Turn: ($49.80, 2 players) 7♠
SB checks, Hero bets $49.80, SB calls $49.80

River: ($149.40, 2 players) J♠
SB checks, Hero bets $149.40, SB calls $149.40

Results: $448.20 pot ($7.50 rake)
Final Board: 2♣ K♣ 7♣ 7♠ J♠

Hero shows 3♥ 3♦ 8♦ K♥: (Two Pair, Kings and Sevens)
(Pre 47%, Flop 3%, Turn 5%)

SB shows J♣ 5♣ 7♥ A♠: (Full House, Sevens full of Jacks)
(Pre 53%, Flop 97%, Turn 95%)

SB wins $435.70
[/hand_history][/converted_hand]

Actually most of these are very reasonable plays except the T854 on A247, I would say utg very rarely bluff raises there vs your psb turn barrel and has a straight most of the time.

The AJ74 is reasonable, expect OOP to rarely look you up here. The button sometimes wakes up with J9 or QQJ but overall his range is wide enough that this is still profitable. I wonder if 3/4ths also gets the job done here.

The K883 I don’t mind just letting it go on the flop vs population but it’s not bad and turn riv obv fine.

Amazing post. Seems like you PLO boys are much smarter than us NLHE boys.