2016 PCG - MSNL and HSNL

It’s been a while, and it's time for a proper update.

The last three years in poker have been wild.
My game was the strongest it had ever been. Volume was high, very few players wanted to battle me for tables, and the results were incredible.

Then GGPoker decided to effectively kill off the 25/50NL+ games, shifting to private tables.
That’s when I realized: there's still great money to be made in poker, you just have to dig a bit deeper to find where it’s hidden.

So I hit the road for some live trips and started learning a beast of a game—Squid Game.

When you win a hand, you get a squid. The last person left without a squid pays a penalty to everyone else. It’s a ridiculously fun game because no one has fully solved it yet and you’re forced to gamble and adapt.
Before you know it, it’s 5 a.m., you’re playing €2,000-per-player squid, and your brain is melting from doing EV calcs all night.

My good friend Showofforce made a sharp observation:
He said we are in an industry where our EV will likely decline from here on out. You need an exit plan, or you’ll be stuck playing worse and worse games.

Over the past few months, I’ve been balancing high-stakes poker with building a business.
I’m launching a company in the next few weeks—you’ll hear about it soon.

To connect with both the poker world and the business world, I’ve decided to show my face a bit more and create a Twitter/X account.
Follow me here: www.x.com/wouterbeumers
I'll be posting free poker and performance strategy, finance and money management advice and occasionally fire some shits when needed.

We have to respect the tradition of ending a long blog post with hand histories. These hand all happened at the end of last year.
Some wild ones, some bizarre ones, and a few epic bluffs.

Nice try

Lucky K9

Wrecked

That one hurt

Had to bluff that one

You cannot check give up river against friends

five and a four

Nice flop

Nice turn

Back to 2008

Stay tuned. I’ll aim to update this blog every few months. 😀

Haha I still remember some of these, I miss the freestyle GG HHs.

But yeah like you said, as the EV at HS has been slashed lately, worth exploring other avenues, like being a pro piano player.

I know you've been working hard behind the scenes to make the business happen, excited to see the finished product.
I am hoping it's about how to start your own taco truck.

Best of luck and congrats on having the balls to put yourself out there.
Followed on x.
GL GL

Sick hands! I think I agree about the poker ecosystem, especially the HS EV being way lower now, makes sense to explore other venues. If there's anyone I know that's capable of being successful in basically anything, I'd say it's you, so I'm eager to see what the new business will look like. GL 😀

Thanks <3, you'll hear about it soon. I'll take my time before launching, because I want it to be near perfect.

Here's another fun HH

It's the perfect run out for bluffing, but you've got to be cautious to not over do it.
Flop sizing is almost certainly a mistake, but I kind of like my line.

Thoughts?

got em. otf are the ev differences that big or u just think he'll play worse vs bigger size?

I think it's a combination of the EV difference across three streets being significant, as well as some opponents playing this type of monotone board poorly.
It's a bit lazy to use 1/4 stab just because it's a monotoneboard.

Most do, but this board blocks both the Ahigh/Khigh flush where the open raiser would normally hold the advantage.
A polarized 3/4 strategy is likely superior.

I don't have that many hands that want to bet small. I have some flushes OOP doesn't but not many two pairs or strong top pairs.

If the board where 853 monotone, betting small makes sense because the big flushes are not blocked and we have more protection/value hands to bet.

makes sense. u think its worth it to use a 2 size strat otr or just b75 with all Jh combos also

On a runout where I don't have much of a big flush advantage and many of my bluffs get there, 75% or check seems best to me.

On blank rivers, you can mix in bigger bets.

How are you keeping yourself busy in a post-GG-VIP world?

thanks for the detailed responses

Interested in this as well. But this goes for most HS players. There is coinpoker but after the rake-free challenge it hasnt caught on

Some high stakes pros have quit poker and moved to crypto, started a business, or transitioned to finance.
There's still great money to be made playing high stakes poker. You just have to look a little bit harder to find it.

There's lots of live games, so building a network and getting invited is lucrative.
I recently played 200/400 (400) with 2k squid live. Super fun game, until you lose.

There's 5k+ games on regulated sites and some people play on shady sites as well.
It's no different than the changing players are experiencing at other stakes.

Some of the better regs are moving down, which makes your games tougher.
So you've got to find games with weak players, reasonable rake where those players don't play.

Hey if you are interested in getting more followers / reach why not come back and stream sometimes for the good old days 😀

I can't do everything at once with full focus.
Right now, I'm fully focused on launching my upcoming business and being the best poker player I can be.

I'm posting big poker hands, general thoughts and high stakes stories on Twitter every day.

How are you making these connections? In the SHS world where everyone knows everyone, surely the private just snap ignores the pros?

Being known as a pro doesn't have to be a problem.
If you maintain strong relationships with people and provide value, they're often more than willing to invite you.

Trying to extract short term EV by screwing people over will not get you anywhere.

Can you give us examples of what you mean by “provide value”? Is this intentionally giving action? If so - how do you do this whilst minimising EV loss?

You can provide value by selling action, studying together, simply being a good person, introducing people to your network and involving them in your businesses.

Building a network is not aobut short term wins. You surround yourself with people who can become long term friends and business partners.

I work with a small handful people I fully trust and enjoy being around. That takes time, though. You will have to work with people you don't like at some point.

Finaly dutch in mma mybe champ ...RDR kills Chima [emoji41][emoji3037]

Sent from my moto g(8) using Tapatalk

If you didnt want to play in apps, which main sites would you play as a nl200 nl500 grinder?

I am not super familiar with those stakes.

Look at:
-Rake
-Rakeback
-Legitimacy of the website
-Quality of fish
-Quality of regs
-Different time zones
-Volume

If you're having issues finding good games, I suggest playing at times when top regs are not online. You'll play lower volume, but your win rate will be higher.
If you spread your volume over a few sites, it should not be difficult to find enough games.

I went on the Pokernews podcast with Chad hollaway and told two fun high stakes stories, and my new finance business.

Check it out (starts at 41:11)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98QJw0YT...