Love & Hate Poker

I am mtt player but this is really motivating.

Firstly I would like to say that, despite having nice graphs (in my not so humble opinion ) and as a final result everything looking smooth and nice, if you look more closely, I was having 10 BIs swings on daily basis even on lowest limits out there. Keep in mind that I kind of "know what to do", so in those times, despite running bad, I jut kept on playing the right game. That being said I completely understand when less experienced players run bad, they start to do lots of random shit, which will make make everything even worse. It is important to have trust in your game even in those shitty times and maybe double up on studying.

That is my 1 st problem and i try very hard to end it .

Another week behind me, did not play that much, but overall happy with results I guess:

I need roughly 25k hands more on this limit to move up... I mean I am way too overrolled already but that's never bad thing I had too much real life going on, like preparing to leave Belgium (leaving on 31st so lots of packing going on), visiting places I didn't manage to visit till now yet always wanted, you know all the good stuff.

So yep next week is going to be in the name of big grind and packing, I want to leave this country as well as these baby stakes I will throw in update as soon as I am done, with current routine could be wednesday/thurstday I believe, if everything goes smoothly.

Other than that, I slacked on studying poker but it doesn't matter too much. It is almost hilarious that I put in same exploit against same players all the time yet they come back next day unprepared again lol. For over a month they still just click buttons and wonder why they 1bb/100 at best, completely beyond me but well, same as in real life, same as in all other industries. People are people I expect next limit to be more serious but what the hell do I know

Originally posted by ionut7bc
That is my 1 st problem and i try very hard to end it .

Good job! Step one passed - you already know what your problem is, so fix it

GL at the tables

Nice, didn't know you are also from Belgium 😅.
Have a nice trip hope you keep crushing 🤞🏻

Hello, it has been exactly a week since my last post, I wanted to finish nl100 grind before leaving Belgium (I left 31.st) but moving preparation was more demanding than I actually expected, then setting up new place... I got internet going yesterday, I mean to get this shit done in 1 day is fastest I have ever managed and my sample size on moving between countries is pretty high.

I got grind part done today, played remaining 7k hands or so but honestly I am not happy with how I performed but I just wanted to get this shit over with and also it was less of the pain than unpacking so I procrastinated on that with poker, yay.

I will throw nl100 report in tomorrow, and the way I see it I will play some nl200 rather than unpacking my stuff just to piss off my girlfriend a little hah

Originally posted by Fredjen
Nice, didn't know you are also from Belgium 😅.
Have a nice trip hope you keep crushing 🤞🏻

I'm not from Belgium, but I lived there this year, it was fun fun experience. Darn if I started blogging earlier, we might've go for beers, now its kind of difficult but I will come back, already planned trip for march next year, we can make it happen in there

GL at the tables

Originally posted by N3bojsa
I'm not from Belgium, but I lived there this year, it was fun fun experience. Darn if I started blogging earlier, we might've go for beers, now its kind of difficult but I will come back, already planned trip for march next year, we can make it happen in there

Yh would def love to pick your pokerbrain over some beers

Everybody bad, I am the best, end of story I win

Now more on a serious side...It looks to me like this is the spot for players, where lots of them make decision to do this full time and go for it instead of pursuing other careers, I mean money one can win at this limit are good, way more than at nl50 obviously, so that makes games feel more professional.

It also might be because of the site, it is first limit I played on Stars instead of GG. Either way NL100 ain't that easy, some players are actually pretty tough. They start to adjust properly, know how to play, make my time at the tables not comfortable at all. But then there is rest 80% of the field or so still make same mistakes, some of them in almost zombie mode.

Don't get me wrong, people play "fine", better in almost every node than on lower limits, but regs still make mistakes, pretty costly ones. And if you spot them, then you can punish them over and over and over and those 80% never adjust. It might be just the way they think about the game, safe. Maybe that's how would define average reg at these stakes, "safe but fine"

GL At the tables

that's impressive winrate! giving me hope that nl10-nl100 is beatable. (haven't played it ever)

So I started playing nl200 and all I can say so far is... It never hurts to jump into the new limit on MASSIVE heater, I am not sure if I even lost hand:

Still settling in new country, I mean I didn't even unpack my shit yet but if everything goes like grind in last two days went, then all good, cannot really complain Today I am taking my girlfriend out, we will check out fancy restaurant as a well deserved reward for successfully moving and not killing each other (well mostly me not killing her, girls just carry too much shit)

Originally posted by Fredjen
Yh would def love to pick your pokerbrain over some beers
Deal brother

Originally posted by taavi1337
that's impressive winrate! giving me hope that nl10-nl100 is beatable. (haven't played it ever)

It definitely is, I mean there are players that crush it completely... There are players that crush higher stakes too, so why not us?

GL at the tables guys

great read, congratz for hitting your BRC Goal and all the best for settling in the new country.

Hello Pokerstrategy!

Long time no see, I spent lots of time in a lab, I wanted to dig deeper into less frequent spots. Also worked on adjusting my strategy against players who noticed what I am doing to them...

I played little bit less than I wanted due to lack of discipline. I mostly prioritized girlfriend and real life studies (finally reading enough books, satisfied in that area...). Grind wasn't bad at all when I played, but with this little volume I can only dream about moving up this year. Well, there is still december.

Here are my results, nl200 so far (PS Zoom only that is)

This week I want to pick myself up and implement fixed grind schedule, will see how it goes...

Originally posted by grindmore
great read, congratz for hitting your BRC Goal and all the best for settling in the new country.

Thanks! Working really hard on settling part

GL at the tables guys

Had a very long grind weekend, and it was worth it... After all the studying I showed up pumped how I am about to own everyone and exactly opposite happened... I am roughly 20k hands closer to my goal which is cool, I am few $$$ further from my goal, which is not cool

I am getting outplayed by this one reg (or maybe he is just lucky on hands vs me, either of those), I think he doesn't belong to small stakes but I am glad for opportunity to have games together, I learned something from getting rekt by him so that is good.

Also I swear, every ime I hit cashout I have downswing afterwards, every single time

GL at the tables

Love the mindset! 🫡😎

Hello pokerstrategy, another week behind me:

so yep, not much else to say really, approaching 100k hands at this limit rather slowly. I mean, competition feels way tougher than at micros so I count playing 4k hands a day as a success. Some regs at 200 zoom are very tough, I am almost surprised (but not really). It takes lost of energy to compete with those tough cookies, but players who crush them still exist, so yep.

Variance could've been better too, not gonna lie I made bunch of tough decisions where I was right and still lost (you know those spots, where you herocall for stack and guy is bluffing with better hand, so tilting)

Originally posted by Fredjen
Love the mindset! 🫡😎

Hah yes thank you, I am surprised myself that I am handling well losing 30 BIs in two days. If I grinded for a week lost 10 BIs slowly bleeding, then it would be different than losing 30 BIs and then winning 20 back, feels like almost being a winner haha

Until next time, GL at the tables guys

Edit: Also, where the F is my Challenge finisher badge What do I need to do besides finishing challenge to get it?

regwars.. nice content! good to hear about that world

Solid week, not gonna complain:

I must say that frustrating part for me is Christmas. I have zero gifts, none. And I start to panic because of that. I just have no fkin idea what to give to people over and over again. Like, shaving foam, bottle of whatever goo shit and socks are general go to for me, but it feels crap I hate this, and older I get the more I hate it, because people buy what they want. Everything. So yep...

Next weekend we are leaving back to home country for few days, to see parents etc. so I am not sure how much volume will I pump in, Christmas madness is real lol. Worst part is that my gf loves this time, have no idea why lol she has everything she needs also

GL at the tables guys

Originally posted by taavi1337
regwars.. nice content! good to hear about that world

My favorite regwar is with a fish, at best case scenario, five of them at the table

Next weekend we are leaving back to home country for few days, to see parents etc. so I am not sure how much volume will I pump in, Christmas madness is real lol. Worst part is that my gf loves this time, have no idea why lol she has everything she needs also

Same here lol, she's like "let's go to his parents place like every year with car all together, it is only 3 hours driving".. im like ripping my driving licence apart.

Had a philosophical moment after coaching session. Student came up with this thought, I believe everyone had it - imagine you could keep your knowledge from now and you could go back in time, how easy would poker be. Hell how easy would everything be, because you would just know. Very nice thought indeed.

Now, lets play around with that thought - what if I tell you that it is actually possible? Because it is. I mean, no time travel shit, but you can achieve same effect - from results perspective, only difference between you right now and you in the past with nowadays knowledge is "only" the knowledge. Yours edge in the past would be great sure...

So, rather than imagining how awesome would it be, what about putting in some study work and getting ahead of yourself? Imagine if you study fucking hard every day, then in a about a year your edge would be miles away compared to you who didn't study at all... The time travel trick is just being aware of the fact that only knowledge can set you apart (and work of course)...

Thinking about how great it would be to have nowadays knowledge in the past has nothing to do with improving your future... So rather tunnel that energy and time into future where you literally are the one with knowledge from the future I mean I get it, It is same with fitness, people spend hours imagining how cool it would be to have sixpack and all that shit instead of putting in real work and actually having results in the future...

I guess all I wanted to say is, don't be that guy Chose to be the one who is ahead in the future. Choice is yours as always

Originally posted by taavi1337
Same here lol, she's like "let's go to his parents place like every year with car all together, it is only 3 hours driving".. im like ripping my driving licence apart.

Man I knew I am not the only one but this is almost like a disease. Gils, nothing else has to be said lol they all same in a way

Hey i just wanted to post here also and say hello, even tho im on this blog for quite some time

Thank you for the time you took to share this with the rest of us, it is truly an inspiring example!

Im studying this blog from Day 1, taking notes of all the posted hands and advices, very helpful and i am urging others to do the same!

For example, the position where i was burning the most money is BTN and i am fixing that with a little piece of advice to stop cold calling and start 3-betting.

There is so much content here that can improve your game!

Btw. i love the thought of going back in time with current knowledge and the conclusion that time will never come if we don't change and improve something now!

Hello Pokerstrategy,

last week has been... something. Panic attack because of Christmas and all the stuff coming with it (going to see my parents, my gf parents, gifts, getting drunk with childhood friends, sobering up...). But I survived, as I do every year. Volume wise not quite what I hoped for, but results were satisfying, kind of:

Since all this madness is behind me, I will push really hard in the upcoming days, I want to put in as much work as possible and I hope for at least getting taste of nl500, still in this year.

Originally posted by VPIPOver9000
Hey i just wanted to post here also and say hello, even tho im on this blog for quite some time

Thank you for the time you took to share this with the rest of us, it is truly an inspiring example!

Im studying this blog from Day 1, taking notes of all the posted hands and advices, very helpful and i am urging others to do the same!

For example, the position where i was burning the most money is BTN and i am fixing that with a little piece of advice to stop cold calling and start 3-betting.

There is so much content here that can improve your game!

Btw. i love the thought of going back in time with current knowledge and the conclusion that time will never come if we don't change and improve something now!

hello brother, thank you for support, it motivates me to keep going. I hope you got some value and put in practice new stuff

GL at the tables

Great blog! I'm amazed by your progress, starting at NL5 only half a year ago (I noticed that you are coming back after a break, but still it's very fast progress). Now you are playing the toughest cash games online, Stars Zoom 200 that is, isn't that pretty much the toughest player pool there is?