[Poker Brothers] caltabiano's grinding + farming FTW!

This hand proves that I'm just a luckbox:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $2(BB) Replayer
SB ($190)
Hero ($206)
CO ($95)
BTN ($128)

Dealt to Hero Q♣ Q♠

CO calls $2, fold, SB raises to $10, Hero raises to $31, CO calls $29, SB raises to $190 (AI), Hero calls $159, CO calls $64 (AI)

FLOP ($475) 8♣ 9♦ T♦

TURN ($475) 8♣ 9♦ T♦ 9♣

RIVER ($475) 8♣ 9♦ T♦ 9♣ J♠

CO shows A♦ A♠
(Pre 67%, Flop 68.1%, Turn 81.0%)

SB shows K♣ K♥
(Pre 19%, Flop 8.4%, Turn 4.8%)

Hero shows Q♣ Q♠
(Pre 15%, Flop 23.5%, Turn 14.3%)

Hero wins $473

♦

AWESOME suckout, worthy of a Pro

When I grow up, I wanna be like you =D

CO deserves that, by calling!

Originally posted by harleytopper
CO deserves that, by calling!

Definitely! ♦

@skeat: lolz ♦ I'll teach you how to suck out on people!

So, even with such a hand, I still ran quite a bit under EV today... but hey, I'm the king of running under EV right?

Despite that I ran pretty good and made quite a few stacks

It's funny to see how the swings start getting bigger $$$-wise. I remember when making $100 in onde day was something like: "Woooooooooooooooow!"

Now I lose $1.6k and it's like: "Oh bummer... *sigh*"

And this is still NL200.. there's a lot more to go.

Money is always s relative. And our mind is so greedy. I remember when I started playing poker... I thought to myself: "Man, if I can make something like $300/month I'm gonna be able to save up money and buy so much stuff!!! I can have an iPod, buy my own computer, buy a playsation 3 and whatnot!"
But now, things changed completely! Suddenly I'm making a lot more than $300/month and yet I don't feel confortable spending $400 on an ipod for example. Why? Because I'm already thinking a lot bigger! Now I'm thinking of the next trip I'll make. Or I'm already thinking of when I'll be able to buy an apartment. What is up with that?! We have this tendency of not living NOW! We can't keep thinking of what we're gonna be able to do after we save up some money. I'm not against planning ahead, not at all. I think planning your life, saving up money is all very well. We just can't forget to live, thinking of that kind of stuff. We must look at our plans from outside. We're not part of them, so we don't have to live depending on these plans. They're just tools we use to make our life easier. Did you read that right? E-A-S-I-E-R
If the plans are leeching too much energy from you, or making you nervous, you're doing it wrong! If they prevent you from enjoying life now, you're doing it wrong!
Just let go of worries and things you think you MUST achieve in order to be happy, and instead simply BE happy. Find out what makes you happy NOW, not tomorrow.

So, lemme tell you a bit about my poker. In the past couple of weeks, I wasn't very happy with my studies, BUT I think I'm doing better now. I'm posting hands more frequently. I'm back to watching videos daily, and hopefully I'll start doing some sweats also.
Right now, I'm finishing Tommy Angelo's Eightfold path. And I gotta tell you something, this is the bestestestest series out there for a professional poker player. It won't make you the best player in the world, but it'll definitely help you to become a great PROFESSIONAL. So, it's a must see for all of you out there who want to go pro one day.

Other than that, I'm rading Sklansky's the Theory of Poker. He deals mainly with limit poker, BUT there are some really good concepts in there. Sometimes he says some very obvious things that I had never realised and it all just clicks in my head. I like that So, it's being worth the read for sure

Next Monday, I'll have a coaching with Mr TT! First one in NL200 I hope he teaches me how to destroy those regulars! Looking forward to it! Speaking of it, my Leakfinders video came out a few days ago and I really liked it It's like free coaching It's great to hear some words from an experience player telling you what's good about your game and what's not! I hope there are more opportunities such as this one and that Somnius public coaching somewhere in the future
Also, I might be coaching a couple of people in the next days or weeks, I don't know ♦ There are some people interested and I'm definitely interested in it because:
1 - It'll be great for my improvement as a poker player
2 - I'll be able to help other players
3 - It'll be great for my improvement as a poker player
4 - I'l be able to help other players
5 - It's some extra variance-free money

So I'm really eager for it!

This Sunday I'll have my first rowing competition! I've been rowing for almost 4 months now and I'm really enjoying it! It's a great sport! Hopefully I'll come back home with some gold around my neck ♠_cool:

Alright people, that's about it for now!
Take care!

♠_love: tommy angelo's 8fold path

true words in the "money is relative ... " paragraph

what i just thought after reading your post: pretty advanced thoughts/ideas in this blog on a regular basis.... i might copy/paste the "best of calta & dandy", publish a book and then make more money by selling the book than by playing

keep up the good posts, so i have enough content for my book

cu on monday sir!

Hey, this goes to both of you brothers :).

I know u already said plenty of times how many h/day u grind and learn poker.

But i would like to know how much your working routine has changed from when u first started playing as pro in your own apartment? How many tables u started with, how many are u playing now? How does your day routine look now in comparison from a year ago or whenever you started pro career.
Was it harder then or is it harder now when it all became a daily routine.

I know there is still a ton of new stuff to elarn about poker even for u two but still, u must feel things became more repetitive like they do in every job? Or was it just harder when u were starting out?

Cheers, and keep on improving, you two have goals set in right path not most of us, who arent able to think about poker in such way yet.

@TT: Sure, but make sure to ship us 20% of the profits ♦

@1wayman: Well, it has changed quite a lot. On our first month, we only had 1 computer. So we were in a "If you're not playing, I HAVE to be playing" mode. So we'd work something like 8h/day each (including studying). On the second month, we already had 2 computers, so we had a lot more freedom regarding when to work and when not to work. But still, back then, I was playing NL20 - NL50 and I had to put in decent volume in order to earn my rakeback and support myself. Today, I already have enough money saved to support myself for a long time, so I really don't worry about making enough money for next month and I'm a lot more easygoing about the hours I put in. I'm gonna check how many hands I played in each month since I started playing. Just give me a min. ♦

June - 74k
July - 45k
August - 18k (?? not sure if this is right, but it might be. I was playing 4 tables at everest if I'm not wrong)
September - 42k
October - 51k
November - 84k (20"10"k challenge
December - 69k (20"10"k challenge
January - 39k
February - 50k
March - 35k

So, as you can see, the first month was a lot crazier than all the others (except for the challenge), but that's because I had to play NL20 and I HAD to rake in $1k in order to get enough money to eat next month

But nowadays, things are easier, although I still work a decent amount. Here's how my day usually goes:

I wake up at 6h - 6h30 and go out to row and work out. I'm usually back at aorund 11h. I do some house chores before lunch, then I prepare lunch and eat it. At around 14h I start working. I study until 16h or so. I either see a video or review hands, or coach my brother, or anything that I count as study. And then, after a break I start playing. I play somewhere between 2h-4h, depending on my mood or any other plans I might have

And that's pretty much it. When I started in June, I used to play 9 tables, but today I try not to play more than 6.

So I think that the main change in the routine is that today, I'm have a lot more freedom IMO, because I already KNOW I can support myself and I don't have to make any extra effort for it. I still enjoy playing a LOT. But of course it's quite repetitive like you said. BUT, it's not repetitive in the sense that you should always be trying to play better than you did yesterday. So it's like something new everyday and I guess that goes for anything in life.

So, yes, I would say it's harder when we started. Poker consumed a much bigger part of my life back then than it does now.

I hope this answer your questions

Cheers

@ Calta

1- pics of the rowing contest plz!
2 -

Also, I might be coaching a couple of people in the next days or weeks, I don't know There are some people interested

Pick me! Pick me!

@ TT: We can record a few tunes of us singing some american country music, voice and guitar to go along with the book. In which case I think 50% of the profits + free coachings would be only fair.

@ Wayman:

I have been supporting myself with poker for nearly 1 year. I've recently had a devastating downsing and started learning SH theory for the first time and this really makes me feel like complete beginner yet again, which is awesome imo, because I love learning and I know there is so much still to learn.

My routine atm is pretty much as intensive as it was back when I started. I mean, I'm putting most of my daily hours into this. My brother can lay back a bit more now, because he's making some very decent cash already, but I'm starting it all over from NL10 while supporting myself with some money I saved up - which won't last forever (but still, many thanks to SSS for all the rakeback it earned me :f_cool:).

There were big changes in my mind-set as well. Today I'm playing 3 tables SH without a HU as opposed to 15-24 tabling SSS with "eventual" session reviews and studies (except for Nov&Dec 2009, when I studied a lot more). My focus is 80% on improving and 20% on grinding now.

This is what my routine has been lately:

7 - 9am: breakfast + exercising in the sun (the weather is almost always good here:D
9 - 10am: a bit of a break, some reading, some house chores etc.
10 - 12am: poker study - hand reviews, readings, videos etc
LUNCH! yummy
14-18pm: usually I put in a couple of sessions of SH (1~1.5hr each), often sweat sessions, with hand reviews in between.
18-22pm: either I go to my Aikido class or I put in yet another session of SH + some study.

I like travelling around from time to time (I'll be visiting Argentina yet again in a weel ♦), going to friend's farms on Sundays and meeting up people during the week for lunch or something. It's really important to keep a healthy life-style imo, otherwise your life will turn into hell and that is totally -EV

The post is quite long already, so I'll wrap it up and be gone. Peace guys! Oh yeah, and be awesome

Originally posted by dandycal
@ TT: We can record a few tunes of us singing some american country music, voice and guitar to go along with the book. In which case I think 50% of the profits + free coachings would be only fair.

muhahahah yeah. your next video blog update should be with some guitar+singing action imo!

w00t, u take 50% rake? sick. we have to negotiate the details of this deal ...

minraise war FTW:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $2(BB) Replayer
SB ($43)
BB ($44.80)
UTG ($411)
UTG+1 ($200)
CO ($134)
Hero ($342)

Dealt to Hero 8♦ 8♣

fold, fold, CO calls $2, Hero raises to $9, fold, fold, CO calls $7

FLOP ($21) Q♠ K♦ 8♠

CO bets $2, Hero raises to $17, CO raises to $32, Hero raises to $47, CO raises to $62, Hero raises to $77, CO raises to $92, Hero raises to $107, CO raises to $122, Hero raises to $137, CO calls $3.93 (AI)

TURN ($272) Q♠ K♦ 8♠ Q♦

RIVER ($272) Q♠ K♦ 8♠ Q♦ Q♣

CO shows K♥ J♣
(Pre 46%, Flop 5.2%, Turn 9.1%)

Hero shows 8♦ 8♣
(Pre 54%, Flop 94.8%, Turn 90.9%)

CO wins $269

Ok, maybe I'm NOT a luckbox afterall ♦

WOW!

CONGRATS CALTA How much left till nl400?

lol 473$ pot when sucking out on opponent

269$ pot when getting sucked out.....

Still luckboxing ♦

Yeah, true. BUT on the 1st pot I had 15% eq which meant I was entitled to $70.95.
On the 2nd pot I had 94.8% eq, meaning I was entitled to $255.
So in total I should have gotten $325.95

In reality I got $473 - $127 = $346

So fine, I lucked box I tiny bit ♦

@strong: Still a way to till NL400 I won't move up based on BRM alone. I'll move up when TwiceT says I'm ready ♦ What have you been up to btw? You never updated your blog again. Are you crushing NL600? Stabbing NL1k?

Hi there guys, a new week is starting off and I have a feeling it's going to be... awesome ♠_cool:

This weekend was awesome itself. I started off with practicing lots of spewy moves in Aikido on Saturday morning and then moving on to a ~24h lockdown for studying/grinding. Vonki sweated with me for about 3 hours on Saturday evening, which was super cool (thanks Vonki!), we discussed a lot about hands and moves and we cashed in the 100k$ stars monthly freeroll - nothing major though, $23 ♦

My SH bankroll doubled up already and I'm $125 short for NL25. But I'm not thinking much about results, it's all about learning atm. And since we're on that topic, my focus for this week will be on

I'm still missing far too much value out of passive plays and not betting big enough. I mean, what the hell, check this out:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.10(BB) Replayer
SB ($15.77)
BB ($7)
UTG ($10)
Hero ($25.41)
BTN ($5.33)

Dealt to Hero T♦ J♠

fold, Hero raises to $0.40, BTN calls $0.40, SB calls $0.35, fold

FLOP ($1.30) J♦ 9♦ 3♥

SB bets $0.97, Hero calls $0.97, BTN folds

TURN ($3.24) J♦ 9♦ 3♥ T♠

SB bets $2.43, Hero calls $2.43

RIVER ($8.10) J♦ 9♦ 3♥ T♠ 2♦

SB bets $1.60, Hero calls $1.60

Hero shows T♦ J♠
(Pre 27%, Flop 20.9%, Turn 75.0%)

SB shows J♣ Q♥
(Pre 73%, Flop 79.1%, Turn 25.0%)

Hero wins $10.55

I can't remember what I was thinking on the spot but I guess maybe the deep stack made me uncomfortable. I absolutely must fix this though. NL10 players are juiciy alright, but we have to SQUEEZE them!

I'll have to take the plane though, cause distances in between countries over here are not at all as they are in Europe. Brazil-Argentina can be pretty much like Russia-Spain or something, if you are far from the border as I am.
So yeah, this a good reason for me to put in some more hard work this week before I chill off down south.

I wish a great week to all of you. Keep it awesome!

P.S. EDIT: A bit of strategy then, how would you play the hand above? Raise flop, turn, river? ♦ (BTW: no particular reads on SB, but the BU was very loose pf).

Would play more or less the same but i`m a nit ^^. You can also go for a raise on the turn and then depending on the river check behind or go for a small value bet.

I would raise the turn . Your top two beats him high majority of the time, i dont believe he ends up with straights or sets that often on turn, his most likely range there is some toppair with draws or maybe just solid kicker.
And also due to FD being present i think it makes this turn spot easy raise.
When he still calls, and FD hits he then probably check and then u could go either way by checking or betting the river.
At least i am thinking that way.
I always tend to be more agressive then passive in such sitations.

Wow I haven't checked up on your blog since you first made it. I'm glad to see you and your brother are doing well. Keep up the good work

Personaly I dont mind the way it's being played, you COULD raise the turn I guess. But we both know we both struggle a bit with those spots

On the river however you can't really do much. He's blockbetting you and I'm not so sure that many worse hands will call you if you raise there.

and btw stop writing vonki with a capital V!

but yea, I remember a little convo going:

dandy: oh, I hit my top two on the turn! Lets raise him! Oh, he calls!
*river blanks and Villain checks*
dandy: Okay, let's bet the river now. I'm gonna bet big!! (pot beeing 8,60$ by now or so)
vonki: Yea, you can defenately make a bigger bet here.
dandy: Okay, so I'll bet like 4$ or something...
vonki: No no no! You should bet biiiiigger!
dandy: Bigger?
vonki: Bet AT LEAST 5,40$!
dandy: do you think he will call that much tho?
vonki: he bet flop, bet/called turn... he will deff call that.
*dandy bets 5,40$ and Villain calls*
us: Oh yea baby! Ship ship!

hihihi keep on practising!

and enjoy argentina!

xx vonki

I have some thoughts on the hand though. Raising T was already suggested and sounds rather decent. But how about

1- Raising Flop to make sure we're HU. Fine, we can have the second best hand sometimes, but we'll have decent equity and position. If we just call and BU comes along, our hand gets much weaker.
2 - Min-raising his block bet on the river. It's pretty clear he's ona TP kinda hand here but he'll have a hard time folding to a minraise I guess

@ Vonki: Sorry miss, from now on it'll be vonki ♦ But let's make it d-e-fi-n-i-t-e-l-y rather than defenately eh? haha sweating for each other's leaks even in spelling, that's the spirit!