Grinding for No Reason
Starting one of these just because I think its cool to have a record for how far you've come since poker progress is never linear.
I'm a 23 y/o American currently in graduate school with 2 years left. I already have a job lined up (hiring cycle is so dumb I get my post-grad job with 1 year's worth of grades) so I basically have 2 more years of zero responsibility to see how good I can get at this stupid game. I have no delusions about playing poker as a career. I would hate dealing with that much variance when the money actually means something to me. So right now the plan is to get as good as possible, grind up the roll, and then do something ridiculously stupid with the money right after I graduate from school. Leading idea is to just blow it all on the most decadent vacation possible with some friends from high school. We could end up in Cancun or De Moines depending on how bad I play. Im sure i'll think of some other stupid thing to do over the next two years.
Currently mixing 50nl and shot taking 100nl on WPN. The pool is absolutely disgusting. Some of the most shameless nits I have ever seen which I'm sure I will flame at some point in this thread. Goal is to have a winning sample at 100nl and be bumhunting at 200nl by December 1st. Roll currently sits just over $4k.
Poker Background:
Started playing during covid. Played wayyyyy too many hands before ever studying and became a 10nl ****reg. Think I ended up winning at like 2evbb over 200k hands. Took shots at 25nl and 50nl, played bad and ran even worse and ultimately quit for like 2 years. Got bored like a year ago and decided to start playing again (but actually study and try to get better). Beat 25nl blitz for 5.5 evbb over 100k hands and 50nl for 4evbb over 75k hands. I wish I still had these graphs I had like multiple 15BI upswings and downswings it was so sick. They were on a laptop that utterly imploded.
New laptop has the last 30k hands from 50nl before I moved up. It is a disgusting sunrun that showcases absolutely zero information about my abilities. But why complain about running good.
Goals for the next few weeks are just to study/grind 40/60 instead of the usual 0/100 and play zero tournaments. Instant tilt from MTTs.
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Here is the graph for the 100nl shot so far. I feel like I'm "winning" but not winning if that makes any sense. I feel like I am spotting significant leaks and bad plays by my opponents, but I have run disgustingly well over this small sample and any good reg would be absolutely crushing with my distribution. Just have to get better and recognize the best way to capitalize on the mistakes I see my opponents making. Also stop trying to bluff nits repping two combos otr. Feel like I've gotten good at recognizing "solver" lines with specific hand classes but my frequencies are so terrible and i'm always overbluffing or over-trapping and constantly out of whack.
Here are a few of my favorite hands so far. I'm also a total fish at images on this site so this might look formatted awful.
Currently 0/7 jamming boat blockers but we go again
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Deliberately overbluffing here and I really really like it vs the player pool. Problem is a player was sitting out and I was 10-tabling and thought he opened UTG and not CO! Still think its such a sick spot for literally every other hand.
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What happens when youre a nit who might be the most unbalanced player in history. Literally doing this with range.
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Better to be lucky than good (vs 80/3 fish)
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Clicking buttons vs a known bot. Taken this line before and they just spaz jam 5x they raised.
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Worst session I've ever had. Lost 8 Buyins (4 BI under EV) over 1500 hands. WWSF of 28. Would highly highly recommend, was great fun. Lost 3 flips, AK
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Takeaways from 11k hand sample:
-Losing from the button so should expect some positive regression, other win rates at other positions seem normal
-Feel like i'm probably not winning in the pool. Have a high wwsf (52) + high wsd (59.3!!) and still losing. Suggests some big leaks or just really unlucky (i doubt) in some big spots.
I always hate the session following a day like today. I feel like in the past it has really affected my confidence and caused me to play nittier the first few hundred hands of the next session. I know it shouldn't but losing almost 20% of the roll is still jarring. These 11k hands have been super swingy (happens when you have little to no win rate) and it always takes me a few times to get used to the swings when moving up. Should have about 3.8k after rakeback hits so still rolled, but need to review these hands and get back to being confident. Also should probably play less tables. I get really bored when playing anything under 10, but that basically leads to always reg battling (even though there are no good "regs" at 100nl) on 2-4 of the tables. Until I get to $5k I should always try to make sure at least 1 fish is at the table.
Variance lol. Insane how different 2 sessions can be
Failed to stay away from MTTs and donked off $150 putting 3 bullets into the venom $55 thats gonna get like $200k in overlay. So tilting to watch these fish donating and then you lose a flip and youre out.
Currently trying to ride the swoongs. Caught the cooler bug lately which has been fun. Past 2 sessions grinding steady and then AQ vs KQ on QQxxx, AA cracked in 4bp. Gotta get better.
Full Shot to this point. Feels like getting closer to a breakout.
Favorite Hands from the past few sessions:
Sir?
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Dont ask me what my bluffs are here lol
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Absolutely necksnapped him
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Going thinnnnnnnnn OTT vs fish
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Had so much confidence this was getting through no one is calling a dry OE in this pool.
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Absolutely choked the rostucko but what can you do. These past 5k hands have been miserable. Multiple 200-300 hand stretches where I literally just have to fold down a BI, x/f in 3b and 4b pots, turning zero equity, just a permanent stretch of the most marginal spots ever. Feels impossible to get a stack, and that the nut low river comes so you just have to x/f a bluff.
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Entire 100nl shot:
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Unfortunately just a sh** reg and not a crusher but maybe we can change that soon. You can see on the graph that 5k stretch where my red line just tanks because I literally had to fold river in every big pot I played which was max tilt. Feel like lately been a little unlucky with distribution whereas first 4k hands or so I was running a little too hot. Main issue now is the disgusting state of the 100nl regs. Have about a 5k hand sample on most of the ones I play with and over half have a WSD when bet river of 85% or higher. Makes the games so boring to play because any close spot isnt ever close.
Breakthrough soon. Id also take an undeserved sun run. But it could all be worse, I could be losing.
Iced up this time and completed the rostucko. Though it would be nice to just have a normal session for once and not dump a million BI at the start. This was just a hilarious run of coolers both for and against, i think my play was pretty average to below average today.
Entire 200 shot:
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Also if anyone knows how to avoid the Javascript error on ACR that wipes handhistories until you restart the client lmk. So tilting to mid session have to restart everything. Also had to manually fill out 3 .txt files for 2 stacks I lost and 1 stack I won.
Caught some absolute HEAT the last 2k hands. Just an absolute sun run after I spent probably the least amount of time studying and working on my game in the past month. Also got to finally play with some true fish in what felt like forever. Made me reconsider my playing schedule. Thinking about shifting play to friday/saturday/sunday when i've found the pool is much better, and then really study intensively during the week. I am an addicted grinder, and always choose playing over studying. But to get to 200+ I think I really need to dedicate myself to actually working to get better instead of just playing 3k hands every day. I tag hands to review during my session and never end up doing so lol. This month I've already tagged 207 and have reviewed 3. Also with the BR nearing $5k hitting the $125 leaderboard tier is less important.
Funny hand where a fish unknowingly helps me collude vs a bot. Main reason I bet less than pot was to have the fish call, and as soon as he called I knew the bot was going to do this with pretty much any combo with a heart and I was so excited. Even P2P the fish 10% as a thank you lol. I actually really enjoy playing vs the known bots. Its fun to try to deliberately get them into lines where they just spazz based on population. Obviously get wrecked a few times by them too. But its nice that they aren't just GTO sim followers that would be incredibly frustrating to play against.
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Small sample size fun. 2 heaters and I go from **** reg to crusher. Like all things in life the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Very disappointed in my amount of study. I am just addicted to playing when I have time. But I feel like i'm playing very well while running great. Avoiding all marginal spots, and capitalizing on opponent mistakes. Need to figure out how to flop equity in 4bp thats my biggest leak right now.
Also decided to hop in 200z when the pool looked juicy to get used to playing a little bit higher. Pretty unremarkable session tbh no real interesting hands besides a stupid bluffcatch. As a broke college student I'd be lying if I wasnt *****ting myself during a $200 flip. The 200 reg table pool on ACR looks very trash, so its probably gonna be awhile before I actually take a shot there but still good to get used to playing higher. Roll is at a little over $6k, so I could shot take if I wanted, but part of me really wants to make like a sick 100k hand graph at 100nl.
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100nl Shot Graph:
Enjoy some spew. Against tight players who just won't call anything but the nuts, I like to push the envelope sometimes. But after reviewing these hands I have come to the determination that these are pretty terrible run good punts.
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I had very good timing tells on this hand in my defense. But this spot is such an easy overbluff. TT with a diamond, AKo with a diamond, KTs, and very little value besides flushes triples it off. Tight players are jamming any set OTT, and from the timing of his call on the flop/turn he never really has a flush draw or a set.
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This player is too trappy to ever have value. But floating to bluff in a cold 4b pot is ambitious at best.
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DONT ASK. I have no idea wtf I was thinking. I think I was studying merge jams in 3bps before the session, and completely misapplied/wanted to try it.
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Super tilted at last session to complete first 30k hands at 100nl. Run bad, grind all the way to get unstuck, and then run KK into AA BvB to the same reg literally back to back hands (different tables), complete with a slowroll on the second. Snap quit didnt even sit out BB lol. When you run good you forget that sometimes this game just doesnt even give you a chance. Plan is to grind tmrw for a few hours to hit the $125 beast tier, and then (actually, for f******* real this time) study hands and try to improve these next 4 or so days.
Entire Shot: (also when does it stop being a shot and I just become a 100nl reg lol)
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Takeaways from the shot:
-Despite the small sample I'm almost for sure winning in this pool
-These russian regs are a disgrace to the game we call poker
-FishnChips hasnt bluffed a river since 2022
-Ikeantkare shows up with bluffs against everyone in the pool, but has a 100 WSD when bet river vs me. I have no idea if its variance, if hes owning me, or if he just thinks im a station and wont bluff me but Id like to stop losing money to him.
-Redwhirl is on the greatest sunrun of his life rn or he just always has the nuts. Time will tell.
-You can see in the graph where I adjusted my game because a few toilet regs love to never fold and never bluff. Bold strategy cotton.
Future improvements:
-Start to try to implement an RNG for at least preflop decisions. I really rely on timings and sizings alot rn.
-Do some population study in discontinued aggression lines. I feel like the b/x/b line or the x/x/b line has far different ranges than in theory, and is a pretty big leak in my game where I am just completely guessing whether I am defending adequately vs these regs.
-Learn how to give up. A lot of the success I had later in this sample is just getting a better understanding of where players will arrive to the river stronger than in theory, or even spots where their turn calling range has zero folds on the river.
-TRUST MYSELF. The amount of times I will call a hand that I know is a fold just out of curiosity/tilt/"theory" has to be another 1-2BB/100 at this point. So many of the players I regularly face have glaring sizing tells or range composition issues that leave them with zero bluffs on a specific runout.
No time for lots of hands but enjoy a fish just absolutely soul reading me with one of the worst turn floats I could think of. I even B75 instead of B125 OTT because I was worried the sizing would look "bluffy" in the fish's eyes.
****NSFW****
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This is a positive comment
this is also a positive comment
positively commenting on how insane that aj call is lmao, what a genius probably.
good luck man, looking forward to the sick 100k graph at 100nl!
this is also a positive comment
positively commenting on how insane that aj call is lmao, what a genius probably.
good luck man, looking forward to the sick 100k graph at 100nl!
Appreciate the GL.
Actually been studying today for a change, and spots like these are always the most fun in game. The entire strat depends on (1) does he have a leading range and (2) does IP know that he should have a leading range. If he does have a leading range, then I get to cbet 60% of the time with my FDs and 30% of the time with Ax. If he doesn't have a leading range, I check back range. So on the turn its like a leveling war with 2 completely different strategies. Depending on how we perceive eachother, he should go giga-polar or split between blocks and big bets. His sizing on this specific turn is terrible regardless of whether he has a leading range and I check range or not. "Solver" value range is sets+, and his sizing just makes it extremely easy to defend against. Still cool to see the big differences in strategies. Spots like these are always extremely useful to me, as you can see a lot of different heuristics/concepts that can be applied to lots of other scenarios
No OOP leads; IP range check
OOP leading range; IP has bets
Pool is super juicy but I had to quit out because of entitlement tilt. Caught myself before Id go full tilt monkey like in the past, but just losing hands to the worst, nittiest regs in the pool in the most annoying ways kind of set me off. This game owes you nothing, and I started to feel myself thinking I deserved to win some hands because I was better. Fold button started to break, think my fold to 3b was like 20%, and it was time to dip out and take a breath. Always funny how my redline goes to the moon when I tilt.
This hand set me off this reg is so so so awful, and he runs so fkn pure vs me its insane.
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Did get 2 cool hands though before I had to quit out.
DO YOU FINK YOU CAN ANGLE ME
Played a short 4 tables no fish session and it was so much fun. 2 regs (that i actually think are good, not ****regs) and a bot until the bot's top up glitched out and they couldn't reload. Felt super focused and engaged. Since the BR is not an issue might play more of these I felt like I was learning way more and actually playing better because SH makes you focus more.
Be wary of your timings good sir. Hands like these are funny to me because in the moment I had pure confidence not even a sweat. Now i'm like holy **** that turn call. But always gotta live and die by instincts and reads because they are usually right.
I usually filter pt4 by stake or month, but updated it and I got shown this pretty graph of all the hands i've played on this new computer. 50/100/200(barely any). Need to get to 100k hands because round numbers please ape brain. I think I earn sunrunner status if Im 15 BI above EV at 100k hands.
I liked that graph
Have played 14 total hands in 7 days. Least amount of poker i've played in a really long time. Bunch of irl stuff + school starting back up + valorant came out on console and I am entirely addicted. Have come to the decision that grinding 100nl like I have been doing is just not really feasible at the moment. If I want to not be behind in school + exercise + get sleep ill have at most 2-3 hours a day to fit in for my free time. A normal session for me is like 3-4 hours. And I really don't want to just play low volume 100nl or completely abandon studying. The main goal was to prove a sick win rate over a big sample which now would just take way too long to accomplish. So the plan now is to just play 200nl+ whenever the pool is extremely good, and study when its not. Extremely low volume, spend a bunch of time actually getting better, and then when things cool down in a couple months start to grind again. The roll is at 6.6k right now, so even if Im losing at higher limits playing very low volume it shouldn't be a real issue. Also in a few weeks ideally i'm not wanting to spend all my free time grinding val.
The one hand of note from my 14 hand session. Always fun to sit down, immediately stack the fish, and break the game. Also fish love leveling themselves into calling jams when they block river.
Played for the first time since my last post. 39 days without poker, studying poker, or even watching it on twitch. kinda crazy how into things I get and how I just totally drop them when something new comes along (+ school obv). Was honestly just bored af on a friday night and decided I wanted to gamble a little. No hud, mild focus, 4 tables, just play like a rec would. Felt rusty and insecure when playing hands vs regs. Half the battle poker is just having full confidence in your decisions/reads. Ended up having a nice little session + won a flip. Kind of made me wish I had more free time to start grinding this again. Its such a fun, rewarding game.
I had no idea what to do on the turn. Betting makes sense because high equity + unblocks some folds. Checking makes sense because not alot is folding when BDFD comes in. I was honestly probably leaning towards x/j on the turn which I think is a mistake in hindsight. But river vs 200nl weak reg is the clearest: You have a medium strength hand and are a coward who will not call with enough bluff catchers.
Some crazy hands in here. LMAO. Love it. Subbed bro!
