Costa Blanca grinder 2025

I don't know if that logic would apply when you have them covered. They should be playing more tight vs shoves in that spot.

That is also true, i'm such a fish haha!

January 10, 2025

Yesterday we played day 1 of the mensual in Alicante and we made i to day 2. we harvested 182k chips good for 91bb at starting blinds 1k - 2k on day 2.

Bagged 182k

Not much to mention regarding hands, won 2 big pots with American Airlines (flopped a set in the first hand and got paid, and in the second hand i got also paid by 2 shorties).
Forgot to make some notes directly after the hands played out, so i don't remember position and stacks sizes exactly.
I try to write down some interesting hands directly after the hand on day 2.

Today they play day 1b so we have the day off. I took time for a nice walk at the beach. With a temperature of 20C and clear sky. I never get used to that feeling <3.

Tomorrow we do some GTO wizzard prep for day 2.

Adios

January 11, 2025

At 16h30 we play day 2 of the mensual in Alicante, tomorrow I will let you know how far we have come.

This morning i started in a new book (yes i'm reading several books at a time) Autocracy inc. by Anne Applebaum where she investigates how modern autocratic regimes, such as those in Russia and China, collaborate to preserve and expand their power and wealth. Applebaum describes how these regimes, despite their differing ideologies, work together to undermine democratic values and institutions. Through the use of propaganda, economic partnerships, and technological exchange, they reinforce each other's positions and challenge democracies worldwide.
She highlights the necessity for democratic nations to take this threat seriously and to act collectively to counter the rise of autocracies. I'm already halfway through it, it reads like a train. I think we have to be vigilant today about the interference of these regimes in our society, highly recommended reading.

That's all for now, enjoy your weekend.

Adios

Good luck on day 2!

January 12, 2025

Thanks!

Day 2

There were more entries on day 2 so we started the day with 134 players and still 2 levels of re-buy left.
After 2 levels we had a total of 335 registrations and 122 players left.

36 players ITM, 18k on top.

i tried to take better notes here we go:

Hand 1 stack 50bb blinds 1.5k 3k
CO opens 2bb, i complete in BB with Q6o (pot 16.5k)
Flop Q64 2 diamonds
Hero checks, BB bets 4k, Hero raises to 10k, BB calls (pot 36.5k)
Turn 8c
Hero bets 9k, CO calls (pot 54.5k)
River 7d, so 3 diamonds
Hero checks, CO bet 14k, Hero calls

He shows 44
I decided to check river, although if i shove there, i could maybe make him fold his set, any thougths on this?

Hand 2 stack 36bb blinds 1.5k 3k
BTN limps, Hero 4x with AKo on SB, BB shovet met +/- 50bb
BTN Folds i call AKo vs QQ
K on the flop, bam!

97 left

Hand 3 starting stack 40bb blinds 2k 5k
BTN limps (again), and i have again AKo in the SB again, so i 4x, BTN calls
Flop QJ9 rainbow, check, check
Turn 7, check, check
Turn 4, check, BTN bets 1/2 pot, i fold
He shows KTo for a flopped straight, pfieuw

Hand 4 starting stack 40bb blinds 2.5k 5k
Hero opens 2x in HJ with 99, SB shovet 9bb, snap call against AKo
Flop 884 Turn 9 River 8

87 left

Some hands later i 3b KK from BB vs CO open but he folds

Busting hand AKs vs TT pre all-in for 20bb (co opens, hero 3bet on BTN, he 4bet shoves, hero calls)
Flop ATx xx

GG, we finished 54th

Adios!

GGWP,
HH1: maybe could do smth like block bet yourself but he kind of did it for you... Unlucky flop, lucky that he did not stack you. Also BB defending ranges in mtt are so foreign to me (no rake + antes).

You can fold pre. Q6o is a flat in theory, but if out opponent(s) aren't playing equally theoretical, we don't need to include the bottom of our ranges because we don't care about being unbalanced. Q6o would be the bottom of our range here.
As played, it's fine, I'd prob go a little bigger on the turn and maybe block bet river. Open jamming 43bb into a 18bb pot would be really really bad. What are you accomplishing? Getting a worse hand to call the max? Worse hands wouldn't take that line and pay you off. Getting a better hand to fold? It's unlikely a better hand would fold, considering your line.

Rest of the hands are pretty std, h3 I'd prob cbet to realize your equity/not give free cards/not give up the betting initiative since a ton of his range is going to be underpairs/Ax hands that didn't connect and will fold easily and you have a ton of turn cards that you like. Obviously it wouldn't get any farther that that considering the runout and his actual hand, so it's not like you lost out on a ton of equity this specific hand.

Hey, really nice Blog and I wish you all the best for all your plans 😉

I am planning to make a trip to Spain this year. Do you know where are the best spots/casinos to play Cashgames at the Costa Blanca?

January 13, 2025

Thank you for all the comments, really appreciate all the thoughts and tips, try to learn everyday.

Yeah, maybe but he never folds, also according to GTO Wiz this spot is a 100% check on the river.

HH1: I don't completely agree about folding pre, because if you don't hit it is a simple c/f and you lose only 1bb. When you hit a flop like this you can win big pots again Qx hands. After reviewing in GTO Wiz i agree that jamming is certainly a bad move.

HH:3 According to GTO Wiz it's even a bet bet shove spot, ofc if you bet turn, it's hard to check river.

From the ones i know Alicante is the best for cash games

Tonight we play a 50€ NLHE turbo tournament in Orihuela.

Adios por ahora!

If your logic is that you'll play a hand for 1bb if it could hit two pair against someone else's top pair, wouldn't you then be limping into every hand? Because every hand can hit 2p vs top pair. It's just really really really unlikely. In this exact situation, you have 3 shots to hit a 2 outer and a 3 outer...in a spot where someone else has to have a small % of his range.

The value of playing a hand as far down in your range as Q6 there is to not be exploitable while still playing hands that have some sort of value. Vs bad players, you have to care less about being exploitable because your opponents aren't looking to exploit you, they are just playing their hands. Not to mention in a live setting nobody will ever get enough hands vs you (or remember them so specifically) to work out your exact ranges.

HH:3 According to GTO Wiz it's even a bet bet shove spot, ofc if you bet turn, it's hard to check river.

What I like to do in these spots is to reverse engineer it. Take that hand that you just solved and see what the solver says the BU's range should be to take the line of open limping BU 40bb deep, calling a 4x, then calling a 25% pot cbet and 25% double barrel. Do you think that the people you play against/that person specifically has that range, on the river, in that spot? If not, then he's making a mistake, and you can capitalize on that by exploiting. In my experience, people who are limp/calling pre aren't getting to the river vs barrels as light as they should be, so the exploit to that would be to tighten up later street betting ranges because you're getting called if it's gotten that far.

Enjoying the updates.

Do you play any of the series that come to Spain but are a bit further afield from where you live? I know there are some mid range buy-ins at the Sixers series, Unibet's Deep Stack Open, and maybe some Winamax events.

I'm hopping into the Unibet DSO in Barcelona next month while on holiday, if you happen to be playing give me a shout and I'll buy you a beer.

But we are in the BB and we already paid big blind + ante, that does make a difference right?

Limping is only working in spots with 25bb or less in GTO Wiz, so i can't solve it. But i understand your way of thinking.

Not planned anything at the moment, in 2023 i played EPT Barcelona (did'nt cash lost KK vs AA in level 12 ouchh).
It quickly becomes expensive if you have to travel and stay in hotels, certainly in the big cities like Madrid and Barcelona.
But there are a lot of possibilities for sure: CNP (Circuito Nacional de Poker), SPF (Spanish Poker Festival), ESPT (Estrallas Poker Tour).

No, that sounds kind of like a sunk cost fallacy. Just because you were forced to put chips in, doesn't mean you need to put more chips in. Evaluate every decision independently (of what you did, of course you should take previous actions into account when trying to range people).

I thought the screenshot you posted was of the solved spot. If you didn't solve the spot including your opponent's actions then you didn't solve the spot. Wiz not limping in >25bb deep is a good clue that your opponent is not playing optimally. If he's not playing optimally, you can derivate from optimal play to max exploit him.

I hate posts that tell people good advice on 2+2, at least start a youtube channel bro

January 15/01

Did a nice hike yesterday, the temperature was around 15C, a bit cooler but normal for the time of year, January is the month with the lowest temperatures.
But in the sun it felt warmer, i just hiked in t-shirt and shorts.

Tonight we are playing in Ondarra, there is a festival running this week.
I play the 500€ tonight and the main event later on.

You may expect a full report of day 1 tomorrow

Adios

January 16, 2025

Only 27 players showed up for this highroller in the series, for a lot of local people 500€ is a lot of money. You often see that the tournaments with 500€+ buy-in only have between 25-75 entries.
You can still buy-in on day 2, so hopefully we see a few people join today. It's no different then in the real highrollers, these fields are also really small. I remember when i was at EPT Barcelona in 2023 that the 100k only had 18 people in it. Different amounts but also different places.

Day 1

We got through to day 2 with 214k (107bb)

Not that many interesting hands and poor note taking again, i really need to work on that. 😉

Blinds 200/400 300bb deep
i open QJo 2.5x in CO, BB calls
Flop J72 2 spades (we have Q of spades), villain checks, i bet 1/2 pot, villain calls
Turn Q, villain checks, i bet 2/3 pot, villain c/r, i call
River 4 (no flush), now he snap overbets pot
I think it through, he is way to fast with his bet, it's nuts or bluff, i call
He shows a busted flushdraw, we pick up a nice pot.

I forgot the note the blinds by this hand
I open 3x with A5s from BTN, BB calls
Flop A32 rainbow, check/check
Turn 6, villain checks, i make a small bet, he calls
River 4, villain checks, he is sticky so if he has an A he calls, i overbet the pot and he snaps.
I show the straight and he throws is hand in the muck.

Later on i squeeze in the SB with AA vs MP open en BTN call, they both fold.

And that's it for yesterday, today day 2

Vamos!

As a fellow Costa Blanca inhabitant, following from now on, gl at the tables! 😉

nice thread, big fan of the whole FIRE thing you mentionned, I’m guessing the idea is to do the maths so you can retire early and live off of passive income

I’m currently working on that, had a good amount of success playing poker overall but I got way too lazy with investing sadly, hopefully I’m in a similar spot you’re in within the next 10 years

that said I disagree with rolled high’s take about Q6o, the 1bb already invested changes massively because you get much better pot odds so you do have to peel a lot wider, not to mention you’re last to act so guaranteed to see a flop, and then if you’re facing a recreational player in theory you usually want to go even wider because they’ll make more mistakes postflop, so you don’t really want to tighten up

January 17, 2025

Welcome and thanks for the GL's!
Do you also play live poker yourself?

Hi, and welcome!
About the FIRE, yes it is! I wrote a google sheets many years ago to do FIRE calculation, but be cautious, it gives you an idea but we have to make many assumptions for the future like tax rate, inflation rate etc... But in the end it gives you a proper idea.
If you want, send me a pm, i will share it with you, if you are interested. You just need to fill in the blue boxes on the left all the rest calculated automatically.

Investing is a big part of this journey, without proper investing i doubt if it is possible.

And i agree with you on the Q6o hand, i would call it again against a recreational player.

We had a lot of rain during the night, and the temperatures where freezing the last days. During the night down to 1C, during daytimes around 15C. Today it is sunny again.
Did not manage to do my daily walk because i was only home at 03h00 and took a good sleep.

And before i forget here is the report of day 2:

Day 2
We had a few more participants, fresh entry's and a few rebuy's to get to a total of 33, 4 ITM, first prize will be +6k (i thought 6213€ but forget to note the excact number)

Hand 1 forgot to note the blinds and stack debt (again!)
MP opens, Hero calls in BB with Th8h
Flop Qh7h5d
Hero checks, MP bet, Hero calls
Turn 6h
Hero checks MP bet, hero calls
River 4c
Hero checks again, MP overbet pot, Hero calls
MP shows AA, easy!

Hand 2
Hero raises AhAd from BTN, BB calls
Flop Ts8s6c
BB checks, Hero bets 1/2 pot
Turn 2c
BB checks, Hero bets 2/3 pot
River 4d
BB checks, Hero checks behind
BB shows 8h6h bummer!

At 20h00 we are down to 9 players and the FT is formed.

I 3bet with A3s vs HJ open on the BTN but i got 4bet and i have to fold down to 17bb

Hand 3 - blinds 4k/8k 14bb
Hero minraise BTN with KsTs, BB calls
Flop 269 rainbow, check/check
Turn T, BB checks, Hero shoves, BB folds

A few hands later i open AQo from the BTN, SB raises 3.5x, i shove. He calls with AJs we hold, full double

Against the same player we open AKs from the BTN he 3bets again, we shove (+/-22bb), he folds and shows AQs

We double again vs BTN open we shove 88 in the SB he calls with K9s we hold.

Bust hand, blinds are 10k/20k we shove 14bb from HJ with 88, BB wake up with QQ, no help and 6th place...

We played good and concentrated all evening so i am satisfied overall, today we play day 1b of the main event (300€ buy-in).

Adios!

Bankroll: 39365€
Average Buy in: 234€
Final tables: 2
ITM%: 16%
5/200

January 18, 2025

Day 1b main event SPF 300€ buy-in, 130 entries so far, still 3 levels of re-buy on day 2 today

We started at 18h00pm, did'nt play a lot of hands in the early stages, try to get a grasp of the table. After a few orbits it seems like a really soft table, no regulars that i know.

Hand 1:
Blinds 200/300 ante 300 starting stack 135k
MP limps, sb calls, hero checks bb with 96o
Flop 783 check, check, bet. call, call
Turn 8 3 checks
River magic T SB checks, i bet 1/2 pot, MP calls SB calls.
MP A8, SB J9, straight over straight, it's a small pot, so no worries.

Hand 2:
Blinds 200/400 ante 400 starting stack 148k
Hero raises 2 limpers on the BTN with A9s, SB calls and 1 limper calls.
Flop K98 rainbow, check, check i bet 2k SB calls.
Turn A now he bet 20k? Did he also made 2 pair? With AK he would raise pre right? I call
River offsuit 4.
He checks i check behind, shows A8o for a smaller two pair, vamos!

Hand 3:
Blinds 1k/2k stack 163k
CO opens, BTN calls, Hero calls in SB with 7h8h
Flop Ah7cJh check, CO bets, Btn folds
Turn 9h check, CO bets 2/3 , hero calls
River 4d
CO overbet pot, Hero calls , CO snap mucks his hand, easy!

It is 00h30 55 left, we are playing still more then 100bb, cruising!

Hand 4:
Raise from CO, hero calls with 44 in BB
Flop 9h2d4d, Hero bets 1/2 pot, CO calls
Turn 8c hero bets 2/3 pot, CO calls
River Kd Flush comes in, now i'm a bit clueless. If i bet and he raises me, i have to fold i guess. So i decide to check and re-evaluate on his action.
Aarrggg CO bets 40k, bluff or nuts? Again i am not sure about his timing, he bets way to fast. I think for 3 a 4 minutes and i decide to call.
He mucks, yes!

Nevertheless i'm not sure about my play, so please leave a comment if i made a mistake, maybe it is better to check flop, but i thought i need some protection against the flush? Really not sure...

Hand 5:
UTG open limp, Hero raises AdTd from SB, BB calls, UTG calls
Flop Th8h5d Hero bet 1/2 pot, BB calls, UTG shoves 45bb?
Limp, call, shove, this taste weird.
I have to fold here with more then 110bb behind, BB openfold JJ, UTG mucks with a smile 😉

Hand 6: blinds 1k / 2k ante 2k stack 300k
Hero calls Kh9h in BB vs HJ open
Flop Th7hJd Hero checks, HJ bets 1/3 pot, Hero calls
Turn Qc Hero checks, HJ bets 1/2 pot, we are going nowhere! Hero calls
River magic 8h i bet 1/5 to induce, i saw this guy doing crazy things, now he snap raises me 4x
It is the perfect runout, if he has the nuts so be it, but i don' believe him, i hope he nailed a straight with the 8 on the river.
I hollywood for 5 minutes and anounces All-in, he snaps with a Ks9s. BAM Spot on!

We bag 609k

Adios!

January 19, 2025

Yesterday we played day 2 of the 300€ SPF main event

By the end of the Re-buy period we ended up with 165 entries, after 14 levels there are 63 players left and there is 10k on top for first

It was a frustrating day we were card dead for a very long time, yesterday we got good cards at the right time all day long, today nothing at all.
It started of really well though.

Hand 1: Blinds 2k - 5k ante 5k startstack 595k
UTG shoves 15bb, UTG+1 re-shoves 25bb, Hero calls in BB with QQ
It's AKs vs ATo vs QQ and we there is a Q in the window, no sweat!

We reach our highest chip count at almost 700k, from there on it is downhill
I try to steal some pots here and there, but got raised an re-raised all the time.
Blinds go up and we are folding almost for more than three hours.

But then i got AKs UTG, the wait is rewarded, i raise 2x.
But then al of a sudden everybody throws away his cards, i this a bad dream? I don't get it first but it seems that MP only has 1 card...
Is this a joke? So the hand is dead, this is so frustrating...

The next hand I miraculously get a premium again, at UTG+1 i get AQo but now BTN is shoving 25bb in my face, come on!
We play like 30bb, i think this is a clear fold, my calling range should be like TT+ and AKo+.

After that hand we sink further away.

At blinds 8k - 16k ante 16 we have 202k left and we look down at 99 in the CO, HJ opens 2x, ok this is it, we push all our chips to the middle.
BTN snapshoves, oh oh this is not good, HJ quickly fold and we are trapped by QQ no help and we end in 34 place.

Oh well, this is tournament poker, we where so confident after day 1, but it wasn't meant to be, we played well and we'll try to do that again next time. On to the next one!

Bankroll: 39015€
Average Buy in: 253€
Final tables: 2
ITM%: 11%
6/200

January 20, 2025

Yesterday we played a 50€ turbo in Alicante 174 entries 18 ITM 1.7k 1st

Not so many hands to mention, build a big stack a the start.

Made a full with A8 and got paid by AK (full double)
Flopped a straight with 65 in the BB on flop 478 and got paid on the river (all-in river)

So by the end of the re-buy period we had a heatlthy stack

In a turbo you need to maintain that stack, otherwise it can end fast.

So we flipped a few times
We shove 88 on the BTN vs CO open 78s we hold
A few hands later we re-shove 99 in the CO vs HJ open. He shows KQo board runs out 54T T9, let's go!

We got moved several times to another table after that, and i was unlucky twice that i got back in just before the BB after paying it at the last table.

We are on the stone cold bubble and we have 1 minute left in blind level 15k/30k with 30k ante
With 3bb left and 200k stack we look at ATs UTG, ok this is it!
We shove and got paid by AKo flop TKQxx Aaargghh no jack...

We bubble... Tournament poker is so much fun!

Vamos a la casa, adios!

Bankroll: 38985€
Average Buy in: 221€
Final tables: 2
ITM%: 10%
7/200

Nice updates.
MTTs are brutal, but when u hopefully bink something soon, it would be worth it.

Very good action during "random" January in Costa Blanca, I must say. How often are there events like this?

Railing ur thread via dayjob 9 to 5 and building up roll for early retirement Spain 😉