1 million zoom hands in 2026

Past performance is no guarantee of future results

i touched the "bad day" line for a moment there. not today, satan.

they ran hot, but this is a stronger pool, for sure.
it's stronger than when i left, but i should still beat it.

it's been three days of z25, and the fish hit quads against me three times.
what are the odds? that's definite proof of pokerstars being rigged.

i'm winning, but i feel like i haven't found my edge yet. feeling like a small winner right now.
i'm not talking about winrate over this lol sample, it's about feeling comfortable against the regulars. but i feel like i still need more time to settle in.

make that four times facing quads (and getting stacked).
the previous comment was sarcastic, but i'm actually starting to feel the rage now. what the hell?

i know that this kind of experience can have an impact on paranoia, as if i have to be extremely careful about quads every single time now.
but quads don't happen that often, much less getting value out of them. right?
and still, i should expect something like this to happen sometime. well, when's my turn? the long run is too long.

with the way i whine, you'd think that i am down 40 buy-ins. i'm sorry.

it's just frustrating to not catch our footing quickly when we want to get established again.
but, as long as the shot stays afloat, we're doing alright.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 105.4 BB
SB: 201.36 BB
BB: 37.2 BB
UTG: 106.88 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 140 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has J♣ J♥

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.04 BB, SB raises to 7 BB, fold, Hero calls 4.96 BB

Flop: (15 BB, 2 players) 2♦ 9♥ J♦
SB bets 5.16 BB, Hero calls 5.16 BB

Turn: (25.32 BB, 2 players) 5♥
SB SNAP checks, Hero requests TIME, Hero bets 8.8 BB, SB calls 8.8 BB

River: (42.92 BB, 2 players) 9♦
SB checks, Hero requests TIME, Hero bets 21.2 BB, SB requests TIME, SB raises to 180.4 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 63.24 BB and is all-in

SB shows 6♥ 6♠ (Two Pair, Nines and Sixes)
(Pre 19%, Flop 0.1%, Turn 0%)
Hero shows J♣ J♥ (Full House, Jacks full of Nines)
(Pre 81%, Flop 99.9%, Turn 100%)
Hero wins 203.8 BB
Rake paid 8 BB

not quads!

unknown recreational looking type. he has quads in his range, why wouldn't he?
4b-fold, or 4b-gii?

i tanked not to "sun tzu" level him, i genuinely had no idea what the best line was.
on the turn, his X probably has a little of everything, trash, overcards, draws, overpairs... i felt that it was weighted towards missed hands, but there's a good chance that b50 or bigger is better.
river is basically the same question, we didn't narrow his range by much. i still think his range is mostly weak, so i want him to turn some of that into bluffs, but i didn't expect him to do it with a pair (i expect those to mostly call, in which case we go bigger).

it's nice when it all works out, but i still don't know what i was doing.

4b gii with JJ. Gl with your goals!

zooming out to the shot's current state...

i'm happy that we are afloat, but i'm very bothered by that i can't seem to get my game going.
it's not clear if i'm playing badly, running badly, or if they are gods. checking some filters still doesn't give any clear answers.

we'll do the only thing that we can, which is to keep pushing and see what a larger sample says.

this is the easiest fold in the history of folds. this is just a reminder, you know that it's a fold, i know that it's a fold. just fold.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 96.96 BB
SB: 114.08 BB
BB: 40 BB
UTG: 88.8 BB
Hero (CO): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has A♣ K♥

fold, Hero raises to 2.04 BB, BTN raises to 4.08 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 12 BB, BTN calls 7.92 BB

Flop: (25.4 BB, 2 players) K♦ 6♥ 4♣
Hero bets 8.8 BB, BTN calls 8.8 BB

Turn: (43 BB, 2 players) J♦
Hero bets 24 BB, BTN raises to 48 BB, Hero raises to 79.2 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 28.16 BB and is all-in

River: (195.32 BB, 2 players) T♦

Hero shows A♣ K♥ (One Pair, Kings)
(Pre 44%, Flop 91%, Turn 0%)
BTN shows J♣ J♥ (Three of a Kind, Jacks)
(Pre 56%, Flop 9%, Turn 100%)
BTN wins 187.32 BB
Rake paid 8 BB

as it turns out, there's a clear answer to my problems. the problem is that i'm torching my winnings by paying off the nits (both reg and fish) by being the bigger moron myself.
i'll grow out of it eventually, it's too tempting to play badly and do weird shit when moving up.

Not folding that turn against a fish if it's possible they have KQo in their range and we unblock their flush draws. Fish could easily get scared with their KQ (in addition to JJ) when they see a flush draw and OESD possible, and therefore start piling in on the turn. Could be doing that with flush draws as well. If I'm not convinced I wanna play for stacks after they raise the turn, then I would only bet hands that are either easy to fold/call/jam. Or go smaller and less committed.

thank you for your comment!
against a jam it's a much easier call. or, at least, i think so.

the theoretically inclined reader is probably thinking "but villain is obviously committed! it's the same thing!" and, in theory, you would be right.
in theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. in practice, there is.

turn minraise of death from this player profile has always been nutted since the beginning of time.
as far as i can see, it continues to be nutted to the current day. but each player can (and should) look at their own database to evaluate the truth value of that on their own.

one thing that helps with a bad run in these limits is that the regs hate value.
NL100 regs would wipe me out with this card distribution.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 88.4 BB
Hero (SB): 102.2 BB
BB: 157.56 BB
UTG: 116.64 BB
MP: 114.32 BB
CO: 130.6 BB

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has Q♣ Q♦

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 13 BB, fold, MP calls 10 BB

Flop: (27 BB, 2 players) J♥ 8♠ 2♣
Hero bets 13.2 BB, MP calls 13.2 BB

Turn: (53.4 BB, 2 players) T♣
Hero checks, MP checks

River: (53.4 BB, 2 players) 6♣
Hero bets 30 BB, MP calls 30 BB

Hero shows Q♣ Q♦ (One Pair, Queens)
(Pre 82%, Flop 10%, Turn 14%)
MP shows J♠ J♣ (Three of a Kind, Jacks)
(Pre 18%, Flop 90%, Turn 86%)
MP wins 108.28 BB
Rake paid 5.12 BB

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 326.84 BB
SB: 45.4 BB
BB: 163.8 BB
UTG: 138.24 BB
MP: 102.48 BB
Hero (CO): 125.44 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has Q♦ A♦

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.04 BB, BTN raises to 6 BB, SB calls 5.6 BB, fold, Hero calls 3.96 BB

Flop: (19 BB, 3 players) 9♠ Q♣ 9♦
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets 5.44 BB, SB calls 5.44 BB, Hero raises to 16.4 BB, BTN calls 10.96 BB, fold

Turn: (57.24 BB, 2 players) T♠
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (57.24 BB, 2 players) 6♦
Hero bets 28.48 BB, BTN calls 28.48 BB

Hero shows Q♦ A♦ (Two Pair, Queens and Nines)
(Pre 63%, Flop 13%, Turn 5%)
BTN shows J♣ 9♣ (Three of a Kind, Nines)
(Pre 37%, Flop 87%, Turn 95%)
BTN wins 109.08 BB
Rake paid 5.12 BB

i'm not playing well, but they are still worse.
hubris? i have to consider the possibility, because the results are definitely humbling me right now. time will tell...
somehow, it's motivating. i just want to get to 100k hands and see what the results are, and improve things along the way.

then the same mother****er stacks me with overset, he's just a ****ing god. and i know what i have to do.

quit to live another day.

i told you so...

and yet, you know what? i love this game.
i'm grateful for everything poker gave me... the self-improvement, the people, the memories. and all the money, of course.

the strange regs, the curious fishes, they're all allowed to try to realize their equity if they want to, that's what we signed up for. chase the exact ****ing setup and runout that you need, at the last moment in that i am barely retaining sanity. go ahead, try me.
when i look back to the past, i can see my reactions getting better over time. this is not the first time a run like this happens, and it won't be the last.

each time it happens, it gets a little easier.

but it's still ****ing annoying. and i suspect that it will always be that way.

Obv is a fish with Q9o. Just keep grinding, it’s just variance. Now I know who you are😁. Gl!

No

i knew people would notice! my thought is that if you notice it, you've earned it, but it's more fun if you don't out the method. 😂
i recommend assigning a "fishy mf" tag, it's probably accurate to recent play. i've noticed some bad plays creeping in during review, accumulated emotion is a bitch.

maybe Q9o villain was tilted, but he's running reg stats (aggro side), positionally aware RFI, always fully stacked, multi-tabling.
the best read i can make out of the things that happened is that he's either prone to tilting, or way too far out there in the leveling camp.

There are a couple of regish looking guys that spew very hard in the pool. Fwiw haven’t notice anything out of line in my hand sample against you.

bro, chill with the white

this is very true... 😂

welcome

poker is a very interesting game.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 100 BB
SB: 102.88 BB
BB: 240.92 BB
UTG: 66.64 BB
Hero (MP): 101.4 BB
CO: 113.96 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has Q♦ A♦

fold, Hero raises to 2.04 BB, CO raises to 6.08 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 4.04 BB

Flop: (13.56 BB, 2 players) 6♥ A♥ 9♣
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: (13.56 BB, 2 players) 8♦
Hero checks, CO bets 4.28 BB, Hero raises to 11.6 BB, CO calls 7.32 BB

River: (36.76 BB, 2 players) 3♣
Hero bets 18.48 BB, CO raises to 54.52 BB, Hero calls 36.04 BB

CO shows K♦ K♣ (One Pair, Kings)
(Pre 68%, Flop 9%, Turn 5%)
Hero shows Q♦ A♦ (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 32%, Flop 91%, Turn 95%)
Hero wins 139.24 BB
Rake paid 6.56 BB

He's from canada isnt he?

correct! 😆
don't get me wrong, i like the guy, despite the toxic interaction. he's an entertaining character, it's too bad that i play with chat off most of the time.
i don't know what's going on with him these days, but i hope he gets his life together.

i had a good day at the tables.
not an amazing one, but at this point i'll gladly accept what i can get. i can use the confidence boost.

we're also sunrunning above EV in general.
that's nice to stabilize the shot, which is great, i thought it'd take a few months to actually land that... not that we are fully in there yet. but what brings me the confidence is good vibes and a good EV winrate.
hopefully, we're getting there this week. but, if we don't, we just keep improving and trying.

not too many players at this stake have heart and commitment.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 118.56 BB
SB: 60.76 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 282.36 BB
MP: 332.28 BB
Hero (CO): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has A♠ T♥

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.04 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 1.04 BB

Flop: (4.48 BB, 2 players) A♦ 6♠ T♦
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (4.48 BB, 2 players) 2♥
BB bets 6.4 BB, Hero calls 6.4 BB

River: (17.28 BB, 2 players) 3♦
BB bets 24.72 BB, Hero calls 24.72 BB

BB shows J♦ K♠ (High Card, Ace)
(Pre 40%, Flop 20%, Turn 9%)
Hero shows A♠ T♥ (Two Pair, Aces and Tens)
(Pre 60%, Flop 80%, Turn 91%)
Hero wins 63.72 BB
Rake paid 3 BB

i like his line, it's just unlucky that he's facing a calling station. i don't block much value, i know.

there we have it, our first bad day:

it's not that bad. 3 EVBI is child's play, and we are still doing fine, even if not good (2.6 EVBB).
i'll post overall graphs when the month ends, that sounds appropriate.

but... did i chase? yes, i did 😂
i have an excuse. i have to put in some extra volume to compensate for days i missed, so that we stay in pace for the 1 million.
it would be shameful to already miss the mark month 1, that's the easy part.

how the **** does it keep happening

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 109.52 BB
SB: 90.44 BB
BB: 177.48 BB
Hero (UTG): 125.32 BB
MP: 220.12 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 6♠ 6♣

Hero raises to 2.04 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 2.04 BB, SB calls 1.64 BB, fold

Flop: (7.12 BB, 3 players) 8♣ 2♦ 8♠
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (7.12 BB, 3 players) 6♦
SB checks, Hero bets 4 BB, fold, SB calls 4 BB

River: (15.12 BB, 2 players) 9♠
SB checks, Hero bets 10 BB, SB raises to 40.44 BB, Hero raises to 119.28 BB and is all-in, SB calls 43.96 BB and is all-in

Hero shows 6♠ 6♣ (Full House, Sixes full of Eights)
(Pre 19%, Flop 0%, Turn 0%)
SB shows 8♦ 8♥ (Four of a Kind, Eights)
(Pre 81%, Flop 100%, Turn 100%)
SB wins 175.92 BB
Rake paid 8 BB

i've seen more quads this month than i've seen for all of 2025 and all of them are stacking me