Costa Blanca grinder 2025

Nice comeback.

I would fold T7h @button where you busted two players. I think we are dominated too much here, even though we actually dominate CU 97o flat and bust two players, after MP punting away his stack (not sure how many BB he had at turn but ye)

How much did you get in total for 3rd? 😀 Vamos

Without knowing the stack sizes or bounty %, it's impossible to analyze, but yeah T8s is an easy fold in this spot nearly always.

Mooie wandeling 😉

BE or NL?

Gl at the tables!

Too busy at work coming months but will join a tournament for sure in the future.

I usually play in Ondara.

Que frio hoy!

1 February, 2025

Thanks, It was Th8h to be exact, i’ll once watched a database review of the Pokerstars pro “peace and love” (also famous twitch streamer) or he talked about it in one of his videos, not sure anymore. But anyway he was explaining that his poker coach told him that he was folding too many suited connected hands IP, especially on the BTN. Although it is not always GTO approved, his coach said it was plus EV with weaker players in the hand, i thougth it was interesting and made a note about it. In my case it was against three weak players. I understand the domination issue, but I will never play a big pot with a naked T or 8. In this case it worked out really well, just to give you the thinking behind my call, not to defend it is a good play. It was a 505€ score, payout + bounty’s.

See explanation above, and i don’t know the exact bounty percentages by heart anymore.

Thanks, I'm BE, let me know when you are around. I don’t play a lot in Ondara because it is the longest drive for me. I play the most in Orihuela and Alicante. Since this year the mensual from Ondara and Orihuela are played on the same weekend. So that was normally the only tournament I played in Ondara, or sometimes special events like SPF a few weeks ago.

Last thursday i played the Turbo Bounty in Alicante 60€ BI - 40k stack and 15 minutes levels.

We did’nt play a lot of hands and within two hours i busted two bullets.

Busting hands where KsJs where i raise 11x in the BB against a raise and 3 callers.
2 callers pre flop
Flop KJ3, i bet ½ pot, initial raiser folds and BTN shoves for a bit more then my bet, i call and he shows 33…

Second bullet i got it in with ATs CO vs BB, he shows AJo and flop is TJx, bye bye hero!

Alright first month in the books

Time to look at our goals that we set for the year. I use these goals as a daily reminder to do certain things. And also to look where I can improve of course.

Overall we got a 52% score, not that great i would say, but let’s walk through them all and explain a bit where we stand.

Quit smoking: The most important one, we score 100%. I quit smoking last christmas, not that i was a chain smoker, rather more of an occasional smoker. Nevertheless it was a bad habit. Let’s keep this one at 100%,
Blog every day, we score 90%, i am satisfied with that number, almost daily updates throughout the month.
Another important one, drink less alcohol, score is 75%, i didn't expect a 100% here. I just want to remind myself that drinking every day is a bad habit, even if it is only one glass. So satisfied with these number.
Read 1 hour a day, although I read every day we managed to score 56% which means I read 1 hour or more half the month. My goal is to read at least 30 books this year. So we are on track for that, but i prefer to read more next month.
1 hour of investing, also 56%. I like to read all the headlines of the Q4 figures of my holdings. And also update DCF’s etc…
8 hours of sleep every day. 50%, I struggle with this one, i like to have it at 100% to be honest, but I can't sleep long, if I'm awake I can't lay in bed for an hour longer. Let’s work on this to get that percentage higher next month.
10k steps a day, 43%, i walk every day and i aim for 10k, i walked everyday last month so that is fine.
Lose weight, 31%, without a diet i lost 2kg last month, a combination of healthy food and daily exercise.
Two hour poker study a day, 18%, the same as with reading, i studied almost everyday, but not for the full two hours, i’ll try to do better this month.
30 minutes of Spanish every day: 6%, this is a big fail. Although I learn a lot of words by playing live poker, I could do more study work, let’s work on this in february.

Altogether I'm ok with the results, like said before it is more like a daily reminder than an obsession to score as high as possible.

Poker wise we played 12 MTT which is a bit less then expected but the year is still young so we have a lot ahead. Next week I'm visiting a friend abroad for two days so I'll probably be playing again on Wednesday or Thursday. I'll keep you guys posted!

And to finish this long post, a few pics of our morning hike, we did 17km with 250 altitude meters on a rocky underground.

First 11km where on paths like this with some steep climbs, it was only 10C this morning so great to warm up.

Nice view on the Alicante from the mountain top!

Old watch tower along the coast

I'm the king of the world (at least from my world 😃)

At the end of our hike it was around 18C, perfect timing for a terras in the sun and some tapas!

Adios!

Bankroll: 38645€
Average Buy in: 202€
Final tables: 3
ITM%: 13%
12/200

1 February, 2025

Thanks, It was Th8h to be exact, i’ll once watched a database review of the Pokerstars pro “peace and love” (also famous twitch streamer) or he talked about it in one of his videos, not sure anymore. But anyway he was explaining that his poker coach told him that he was folding too many connected hands IP, especially on the BTN. Although it is not always GTO approved, his coach said it was plus EV with weaker players in the hand, i thougth it was interestgin and made a note about it. In my case it was against three weak players. I understand the domination issue, but I will never play a big pot with a naked T or 8. In this case it worked out really well, just to give you the thinking behind my call, not to defend it is a good play. It was a 505€ score, payout + bounty’s.

See explanation above, and i don’t know the exact bounty percentages by heart anymore.

Thanks, I'm BE, let me know when you are around. I don’t play a lot in Ondara because it is the longest drive for me. I play the most in Orihuela and Alicante. Since this year the mensual from Ondara and Orihuela are played on the same weekend. So that was normally the only tournament I played in Ondara, or sometimes special events like SPF a few weeks ago.

Last thursday i played the Turbo Bounty in Alicante 60€ BI - 40k stack and 15 minutes levels.

We did’nt play a lot of hands and within two hours i busted two bullets.

Busting hands where KsJs where i raise 11x in the BB against a raise and 3 callers.
2 callers pre flop
Flop KJ3, i bet ½ pot, initial raiser folds and BTN shoves for a bit more then my bet, i call and he shows 33…

Second bullet i got it in with ATs CO vs BB, he shows AJo and flop is TJx, bye bye hero!

Alright first month in the books

Time to look at our goals that we set for the year. I use these goals as a daily reminder to do certain things. And also to look where I can improve of course.

Overall we got a 52% score, not that great i would say, but let’s walk through them all and explain a bit where we stand.

Quit smoking: The most important one, we score 100%. I quit smoking last christmas, not that i was a chain smoker, rather more of an occasional smoker. Nevertheless it was a bad habit. Let’s keep this one at 100%.

Blog every day, we score 90%, i am satisfied with that number, almost daily updates throughout the month.
Another important one, drink less alcohol, score is 75%, i didn't expect a 100% here. I just want to remind myself that drinking every day is a bad habit, even if it is only one glass. So satisfied with these number.

Read 1 hour a day, although I read every day we managed to score 56% which means I read 1 hour or more half the month. My goal is to read at least 30 books this year. So we are on track for that, but i prefer to read more next month.
Finished books:
Maria Konnikova / The biggest bluff 5/5
Anne Applebaum / Autocracy Inc. 4/5

1 hour of investing, also 56%. I like to read all the headlines of the Q4 figures of my holdings. And also update DCF’s etc…

8 hours of sleep every day. 50%, I struggle with this one, i like to have it at 100% to be honest, but I can't sleep long, if I'm awake I can't lay in bed for an hour longer. Let’s work on this to get that percentage higher next month.

10k steps a day, 43%, i walk every day and i aim for 10k, i walked everyday last month so that is fine.

Lose weight, 31%, without a diet i lost 2kg last month, a combination of healthy food and daily exercise.

Two hour poker study a day, 18%, the same as with reading, i studied almost everyday, but not for the full two hours, i’ll try to do better this month.

30 minutes of Spanish every day: 6%, this is a big fail. Although I learn a lot of words by playing live poker, I could do more study work, let’s work on this in february.

Altogether I'm ok with the results, like said before it is more like a daily reminder than an obsession to score as high as possible.

Poker wise we played 12 MTT which is a bit less then expected but the year is still young so we have a lot ahead. Next week I'm visiting a friend abroad for two days so I'll probably be playing again on Wednesday or Thursday. I'll keep you guys posted!

And to finish this long post, a few pics of our morning hike, we did 17km with 250 altitude meters on a rocky underground.

First 11km where on paths like this with some steep climbs, it was only 10C this morning so great to warm up.

Nice view on the Alicante from the mountain top!

Old watch tower along the coast

I'm the king of the world (at least of my own world 😃)

At the end of our hike it was around 18C, perfect timing for a terras in the sun and some tapas!

Adios!

Bankroll: 38645€
Average Buy in: 202€
Final tables: 3
ITM%: 13%
12/200

Sorry to say, but that's no good. A twitch stream with someone justifying his play using "someone told me once" isn't knowledge or study, it's entertainment. Maybe next time you study you can node lock and see what you can find, but I'd be shocked if there's any spot where you should be flatting in this spot that's not an extreme corner case where like everyone has <10bb and you have >50bb and the bounties are large.

Flatting is almost always going to be better than raising in this spot

And to finish this long post, a few pics of our morning hike, we did 17km with 250 altitude meters on a rocky underground.

First 11km where on paths like this with some steep climbs, it was only 10C this morning so great to warm up.

Nice view on the Alicante from the mountain top!

Old watch tower along the coast

I'm the king of the world (at least of my own world 😃)

At the end of our hike it was around 18C, perfect timing for a terras in the sun and some tapas!

You're living the dream. I wonder what % Spanish I need to trace my heritage back to to get some sort of birthright citizenship...

Flatting T8hh in a progressive bounty there on the button covering both the players who VPIPed is unbelievably standard and anything else would be atrocious

He is quiet ok and he is coached by BBZ, not a pancake either, without saying i'm right ofc.

😃

Clearly different opinions on this one in the comments, i'm quiet happy how i played it.

6 February, 2025

I was abroad for a few days, visiting some friends and clearing out some paper work.
But since yesterday back in Spain, and tonight we are playing live again in Alicante. It is day 1A of the monthly 300€ mensual tournament.
Let's try to build a nice stack for day 2 on saturday, and if that don't works out we have day 2B to try again on friday.

Keep you posted!

Vamos!

GL GL ... your consistency will pay off for sure one day.
And: More pics pls ;-) ... they bring really good vibes, like a professional travel blog!!

Thank you! And yes alot more to come in the near future. I love to blog!

7 February, 2025

Yesterday we played Day 1A of the mensual in Alicante, Buy-in 300€ - 50k start stack – 50 minutes levels. It’s a three day event and one of the best tournaments of the month!

We are starting with six tables at 17h00 with blind levels 100/100

Hand 1 – Blinds 100/100 50k stack
The tables is not full we are six handed, hero raises 3bb UTG with Kh7h, 2 callers
Flop Ks9s3c SB bets 600, both call
Turn 2d checks around
River 7d SB checks, hero checks, UTG+1 bets 2.2k, hero raises to 7.2k, UTG+1 makes the call. He mucks quickly when I show my hand, he said he had AK but didn’t show.
Not sure, because I suppose he 3bet pre with AK, but neverminded we win the hand.

We are in level 2 and there is already a first bust on my table, we are playing so deep but two players manage to get it in on a JQ8 flop, one shows QQ and the other one of course T9 for the flopped straight.

Why I mention this hand is because the next hand the guy who lost with the queens is clearly on tilt, he shoves 14k to the middle and is still mumbling that he’s always unlucky, I’m in the BB and i look down at AQs. He still shoves 70bb at that moment, but is he aware of that or is he just on monkey tilt…
I decide to call and he flips over AK, Q on the river. He walks aways cursing, not sure if it was the right decision, but in live poker you always see the raw emotions and they sometimes influence your decisions. Anyway I'm stacking the chips with pleasure 😊.

I’m not in this hand, but it is a crazy one, the two big stacks colliding in this hand, on the turn it goes check, bet, raise, all-inn, call. And now we have 1 guy with a really BIG stack!

It’s dinner break, we where card dead the last hour, this continues after the break, but we are patient. Cards will come as always, that is the beauty of this slow structures, you have the time to wait and attack at the right moment.

And we are rewarded for our patience, BTN opens and we look down at AK in the BB, we 3bet 4x.
BTN looks at his cards again and announce all-in, effective stack size is around 60bb. We snap and it is a flip AK vs QQ. The dealer puts two aces on the board and we eliminate another player.

Back to back we get AK again, now CO opens and BTN calls, we squeeze in the SB and they both fold.
We are building a nice stack now.

Nothing interesting happens after that and after 9 levels we bag 116k (58bb)

Happy with the result, today is day 1b, so we have a rest day and play again on Saturday.

Adios!

Nice nice day2 😀

I tought you called off 66 and was like whyyyy? hmm is it a prog ko? This was bcuz I saw the 66 vs AK hand, but it was my mistake, you called with AQs, and I would do the same vs someone tilting and jamming 70bb in this tournament with multiple starting days etc, for sure 😃

NH K7s

Nice life!

Im on the office grind and made myself a budget now to save up money for costa blanca grind 2026 xD

GOGO!

nice run, on to day 2. vamos !!!

few comments:
- think the open with k7ss utg is a bit on the loose side, but still ok, since you are so deep
- flop play is standard, don't like the check on the turn. when sb checks there, he's either trapping (unlikely: he called pre), or he's on a flush draw, so you let him draw for free
- great river play though, love the check ... with the pot size at this point you might even cr higher than you did, the seven looks like a 100% blank, he's never folding any king there, and a higher bet from you looks like you wanna buy the pot

Nice update

Agree with your AQ , when people start a live tournament even 200bb deep and lose a cooler, they will 3bet jam or even open jam 70 big blinds light because they feel relatively short, not realising they still have plenty of chips! Sounds like you just ran into top range

8 February, 2025

Hope to meet you sometime over here, you will love it! 😉

Thanks!
Yes you are right, it is on the loose side, even K8s is only an open half the time, but like you mentioned we are playing pretty deep and everyone is still settling a bit a the table.
Concerning the check on the turn, it is so early so to be honest i want to keep the pot small and i don't mind to give up when the flush comes in.
As played i also think that the c/r is ok, if he really has AK there i guess imight could sqeeuze out a little bit more value.

Thanks, yes it is, most people don't count big blinds, they are just there with a few chips left and they just jam to re-buy or to go home because they are frustrated about the cooler.
But even 20bb is a big stack in this structure. And yes I'm running into top range here, but sometimes you also need a bit of luck.

I went to bed early yesterday, around 22h00, to have a good rest, because maybe we play late tonight. But if i go to bed that early, i'm always awake early (it's only 6h30 local time here).
But perfect timing to do some reading and to scrol through the latest news. The weather is ok for February, a bit chilly at night, around 7C, but during the day we have around 20C with no clouds.

Today we are playing day 2 at 16h30, i'm going out for a walk later today and do some GTO Wizard drills before i leave.

Adios!

9 February, 2025

Yesterday we played day 2 of the mensual in Alicante, at the end of the re-buy period we had a total of 319 entries. We start playing at level 10 1000/2000 ante 2000

Hand 1:
In the second level of the day 1200/2400 ante 2400 we open in MP with 44 BTN en SB are making the call.
Flop AdJd5c SB checks, Hero bets 6k, BTN calls, SB folds.
Turn 8d Hero checks, BTN bets 1/2 pot, Hero folds

After that hand we are card dead for quiet a while, then i get twice pocket 99 on the BTN , i call twice after an early open and twice there is monotone board, first time i give up on the turn and second time on the flop after a big bet. We play 22bb after those 2 hands.

Hand 2:
1 hour later and without seeing a playable hand we are down to 12bb. When everybody fold we look down at KQo on the BTN and announce all-in.
A new player just joined the table in the BB with two 25k chips from a fresh re-buy. He looks at his card and calls straight away, he shows AQo.
No help we are down to 1bb.

Next hand we got QJs in the CO MP opens en we throw in our last big blind, flop is AKT.... Ofc so frustrating...
We have 5bb and win another all-in with K9s vs AQo

Now we have 10bb, are we on our way for an incredible recovery?
Those thoughts are short-lived, on the next orbit we got T9s on the BTN and got called by KQo no help and busted in 111 position.

It wasn't meant to be, i hang around with a few pokerfriends who where also eliminated, we drink a beer together and discuss some hands.
After that we rail a few other guys we know, always fun to make friends and meet with other poker players from all over Europe.

Nice pricepool, but not for us this time.

Tonight we play again in Alicante, this time it's the sunday superstack a 50€ 1 day turbo with 50k startstack.

Adios!

Would love to see stacksizes, like the 44 open and also the hands we flatted 99 😀 <3

I would snapfold 44 unless we are very deep and no shortstacks behind.

GG

yep, totally agree with CL_Flush.
stacksizes, also player tendencies (like for example, when you twice just call with 99 on the button vs. open raise, depending on how active the guy is a shove is absolutely an option to either flip, or get him off the hand)

the more additional info you give, the better feedback you will get (probably not from me, as you know i specialise in plo cash), but from other guys who read this

glgl

Stack sizes are super important, but assuming ~40bb effective, the 44 hand is an open and the 99 hands are flats (assuming utg/utg+1 opening to a normal amount), so unless there are explo reasons why you are deviating, those hands seem fine.

Personally, vs soft/weak fields, I'd fold the 44, but the 99 hands are fine to flat vs those fields and vs "good" fields.

10 February, 2025

It's around 44bb effective, i think 33 is a fold, so 44 is the bottom of my range there. I try to mention the effective stacksize in the future.

Thanks for GL's, like mentioned to CL_flush i try to work on better info, still learning 😉
But really appreciate all the feedback!

Yes, also the nines are all around the 40bb effective. I also think flat is fine, no need to blow up the pot with this stack depth.

Yesterday we played the Sunday super stack in Alicante 50€ buy-in, 50k startstack and 20 min levels - And a total of 217 entries after re-buy closes.

I was already a bit earlier in Alicante so i did a small walk in the neighborhood of the casino, here are some pics:

The beautiful Marina of Alicante!

Always busy on sundays in Alicante!

Also a lot of people on the beach!

The castle of Santa Barbara from the ninth century.

Casa Carbonell, for most people the most beautiful building in Alicante, build in 1925.

Enjoyed an Almond cake with ice after my walk with sea side view 😉

People enjoying the sun on the stairs in front of the casino.

Alright, now some poker hands:

Hand 1: 100/300 50k stack
Hero calls AJo in CO after UTG limp and MP raise, limper folds, heads up to the flop. (MP is a gambler, not a bad player, but he likes to barrel a lot)
Flop JsJhKh MP bet 1/3 pot, Hero calls smoothly.
Turn Tc MP bets 1/2 pot, Hero calls again, there are a lot of draws and a flush draw, but i prefer to let him bluff it off.
River 2d complete blank, now he checks, he never checks with a good hand here, i know him, but he also can't fold, i bet 2/3 pot and he quickly calls, but mucks straight away when i table my AJ

Hand 2: 100/300 stack size around 80k (forgot to note 😉 )
Hero 3bet AsQh on the BTN vs MP open, MP calls
Flop 7d7c5s, MP checks, bet or check are fine i guess, but i prefer a 1/4 bet here, MP c/r 4x, Hero folds. GTO Wiz says call here, but most of the time they have it when they c/r in these kind of tournaments, i guess it is not a big mistake to fold here.

Hand 3: 700/1400 ante 1400
We are card dead again for a long period, but then i got KK
LJ limps, i shove 17bb, BTN calls re-shoves with JJ, limper folds and we hold.

Hand 4: 700/1400 ante 1400 starting stack around 40bb
UTG+1 limps, Hero 3.5x with AKs, BTN 3bets 2.8x, limper folds, hero 4bet shoves. BTN snap fold.

Hand 5: 700/1400 ante 1400 starting stack +/- 60bb
We are on a run, all the good hands follow in a streak of 9 a 10 hands!
Hero opens UTG AQo, MP, HJ and BTN calling, BB shoves +60bb against 4 players... Hero fold with 3 people behind, the others also fold, BB shows KK.

Hand 6: 3k/6k ante 6k 12bb start stack
UTG+1 min raises with 4bb behind... (bad player), hero shoves KQo for 12bb, BB shoves KQo, BB re-shoves with KJo
J on the flop, Q on the turn pfieeuww!

There are 68 left and then we find our Waterloo...
Hand 7: 4k/8k ante 8k
We shove 10bb from CO with AKo and BB calls (he likes to call everything, gambler with big stack, but not a good player, it is the same guy that called with the KJo)
He shows KTo and hits a T on the flop, too bad.

We got it in with the best hand, that's all we can control.

Tonight another 50€ Turbo, good day!

Adios!

damn, thats a bad exit, but as you said: nothing you can do.
well played !!!

and great pics!