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Blog: Let's play one or two, or 200k sngs


monkeyheaven

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Just waiting to fly home from Malta. Nice place, can see myself coming back for a bit longer over the winter. Poker was a very mixed bag, overall very disappointing, I really need to learn how to get it in for all the chips and hit 3 outers in mtts, think that’s a key strategy.

Live cash
14hours, +€650

Online
12h, +€1250 sngs, -€250 mtt

Live mtt
27h, -€1200

I’ve been interested in playing mtt’s for fun, but I really don’t enjoy them, even when they are going well. Financially no question my hourly is higher in sngs, and I think I’ve been playing mtts to hit a big score as justification for playing poker for a living. One of the most common questions I get asked is, “what’s the most you’ve won in a day?”, and my answer is very underwhelming to people (it’s about $6k for winning an aria daily tourney). Probably should care less what other people think.

It’s been interesting seeing the difference in my enjoyment of online sngs, live cash, and live mtts. Online sngs I still love, get excited to play every day, enjoy all the good days, and instantly forget the bad ones. Live cash is fun, lots of table chat, drinks, a few blowups (not by me), fast play.

Live mtts really are the nut low. Battle of Malta, I played a total of maybe 15 hours over two day ones, lot of table changes, saw maybe 50 different players; no one spoke, aside from a couple of very brief conversations. Half the table tanked before decisions. I really wonder why recreational players even bother. It’s early in a €500 donkament, it really doesn’t need to be like this.  

Anyone still interested in the coaching freeroll, offer still open, looking for the right person.

@Caladrias@UAC, thanks, see you at the tables.  

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Yeah wouldn't worry too much about what others think man.

When I first started I absolutely loved tourneys live or online. Think I just liked the thrill of running deep and for people with the right skil set they can be very profitable.

But nothing beats making a steady living in a game you know inside out. 

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Hey buddy awesome blog! Has really made me have another stab at sit n gos! Played 10 or so yesterday and really like the 5 handed format, nice soft games and low rake on unibet! Defo gonna start and give these a go! Any advice on good ICM study material for a relative noob?

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@JRHartley, yeah, I think it’s a really fun format, and the rakes lower than anywhere else. 

Theres really no easy shortcuts that I know of when it comes to studying ICM. ICMizer is software that offers a few free calculations every day, and you do need to put in a decent amount of effort to get the right output each time, and of course there’s inifinite different situations.  

Some random thoughts on ICM study;

Dont be lazy and follow the Nash ICM solutions, Nash solutions assume everyone plays optimally. They don’t. 

Theres no general rules.  Try to pick the most +EV line; sometimes limping BvB with 9bb or raise folding 11bb is better than a +EV shove. Sometimes openshoving 25bb’s is best.  Etc. 

Dont push the envelope too far.  Taking very thin +EV spots isn’t smart in soft games.  Shoving superwide because players call too tight is fun while it lasts, but players don’t put up with that stuff for long, and your shoves quickly become unprofitable.  

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It's so typical that when a player kinda brags, there's gonna be a bit of flaming.
But IMO I think one has the right to brag from time to time, especially when said player puts in tons of hours and effort.
It's the same thing as a regular dayjob. People that work hard and do well, can also be proud about it etc...
There's also no point in being dishonest about it, most people on here have never seen eachother in real life.
Apart from the Belgian community that is 😛

I really dislike SNG's, otherwise I'd be interested in taking on the SNG endbosses.
I'll stick to cashgames however :)

GL with the grind @monkeyheaven

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100s have been running quite a bit the last couple of days, think I’ve played 9 or 10 in that time.

5 games on Sunday evening, got 3 firsts and a 2nd. Twice hit 3 outers, and won one flip, each time for half the chips in play, each time vs itsyrbrthday (screename is something like that), so that helps.

Yesterday, played 4 or 5 100s, no cashes. It’s a tiny amount of my volume, maybe 3% of my games have been 100s the last two days, but it determines if I win or lose for the day.

I think more 100s have run than 50s these last two days, mostly 5 reg games, I’m curious as to what these guys are doing otherwise, cash games or other sites I guess, but some of them aren’t interested in regging for the 50s it seems. It’s been myself vs some combo of iansimpson, bearium, itsyrbrthday, brooooo, einherjar, hotlipps, psycho79. I certainly don’t consider this to be a soft lineup, I think myself and bearium are definitely winning longterm in these lineups, the others I don’t know, some have some obvious leaks, some I haven’t seen do anything really stupid yet.

@KrustyTheClown, thanks, 100%, there’s nothing wrong with being proud of achievements.  Plus, there’s probably one or two better sng players than me on unibet, there definitely is plenty more on stars, and I prob couldn’t beat midstakes cash no matter how hard I tried (though I’m curious to try too, but hard to start at the bottom again).   Think I’m reasonably aware of my spot on the ladder.  

 

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Thought I’d update the reg rankings, this is just the ones that have been playing recently. The guys in the top half are mostly 25+ players, the bottom half mostly €10 players. Numbers 9-12 play almost identically, probably not a coincidence, very limited skillset but can see how it’s profitable vs the players they face at the 10s, they would probably all be losing players if they played higher.

i don’t think the players at the top are great, but they’ve not done much that’s obviously bad. 

1. Nebulyad
2. Itsmybrthday
3. Bearium
4. Caladrias
5. Hotlipps
6. Einherjar
7. Iansimpson
8. DownwithOPP
9. Ashlee2007
10. IkerC1
11. TonnyP1
12. Maleus
13. Smoothace
14. Katies
15. Bredsox
16. Kroll

 

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@monkeyheaven wrote:

Thought I’d update the reg rankings, this is just the ones that have been playing recently. The guys in the top half are mostly 25+ players, the bottom half mostly €10 players. Numbers 9-12 play almost identically, probably not a coincidence, very limited skillset but can see how it’s profitable vs the players they face at the 10s, they would probably all be losing players if they played higher.

i don’t think the players at the top are great, but they’ve not done much that’s obviously bad. 

1. Nebulyad

2. Itsmybrthday

3. Bearium

4. Caladrias

5. Hotlipps

6. Einherjar

7. Iansimpson

8. DownwithOPP

9. Ashlee2007

10. IkerC1

11. TonnyP1

12. Maleus

13. Smoothace

14. Katies

15. Bredsox

16. Kroll

 


IanSimpson (if he is the one) is not bad? No, not at all hehe :laugh:

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@PaziHalinka, I’ve been playing kroll for two years, he used to play day and evenings, seems like it’s just evenings now, but he’s maybe 6 tabling and he plays every night, don’t think he’s a rec.  

The €10 regs mostly play similarly, certain things they always do that aren’t great. 

@cris1285, I’ve said before but Ian’s got a tough job, it’s very easy to spot and exploit leaks when he’s streaming all his sessions.  He might be a spot or two higher on my list if he didn’t stream. 

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Just played with Ashley and maybe 3 clones. Was absurd. Just fold fold fold fold fold fold. Most awful nitfest I gave ever scene

 

Wondering if you have seen a couple of others that I see regularly, forgot their names now but will post later.

You ever play any 2 man sng @monkeyheaven?

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@PaziHalinka, hard to say, maybe a small winner.  Without going into detail, as it would be reallly unfair, there’s things certain players do that can be exploited to an extreme once you spot them, but might not be so bad if your opponents are not very observant.  

@UAC, no, not played any husng.  I’m surprised how poor some otherwise decent players are when it gets hu in the 5mans.  Think I’m decent hu, but not an expert, and I don’t like the anonymous lobby format for husng on unibet; I think it’s the right way to go as it protects recs from being targeted but likely I’d end up in too many -EV games.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not been playing much this month, Malta, then Southend with a friend for my now regular live MTT donation (half way there we realised neither of us wanted to play a 2 day event, so very efficiently both busted around midnight day 1), then parents for a couple days.

Games have been good last couple days, lot of 50s running in the evening, but I’m still usually the only player sitting the 100s, it’s gonna be the same or softer than a 50 if it runs, why not jump in? 

I really like the Moving On Up promo, it doesn’t benefit me very much directly, I clean up when it’s a volume based leaderboard promo but these promos make the games themselves massively reg filled.  Moving On Up gives everyone an achievable goal to win something that’s very good value if you’re a low stakes low volume player, these are the people who should be getting the promo money in my opinion.

Playing Unibet UK Manchester next week, looking forward to it, won a package, Unibet sorted out an issue with it without fuss, good job by their team; playing day 1A. Then meeting up with group of friends for night out in Manchester on the Saturday. If I make it to day 2 on the Sunday, I will feel like death, guaranteed. If anyone fancies a beer on Friday, come say hello, I’ll be at the bar.

Reg rankings, added a few more familiar names, the guys at the top are some of the same players changing their screename every few days.


1. Nebulyad
2. Itsmybrthday
3. Bearium
4. Nabom
5. Caladrias
6. Piosolverino
7. Hotlipps
8. Einherjar
9. Iansimpson
10. DownwithOPP
11. WhataboutNO
12. Ashlee2007
13. IkerC1
14. TonnyP1
15. Maleus
16. Crazyfusz
17. Smoothace
18. Nutsrandom
19. Katies
20. Bredsox
21. Fromri
22. Kroll

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  • 2 weeks later...

Played day 1A of Unibet Manchester yesterday (and today, crazy late finish of 430am, I’m too old for this).

Ran superhot for an hour near the end of the day, ran my stack up from 40k to 180k, finished the day on 165k, good for a top five stack.

Key hands, that I may have misplayed, really unsure very often in 9 handed mtts these days, it’s so far from my familiar games, think I tend to overvalue hands and get it in a bit too light preflop, at least one spot today managed to stop myself, correctly:

Think it was 150/300, utg limps, “onscreen” raises to 1100 from btn, I 3bet to 4k from sb with TT, call call. Flop QJ9, I check, utg checks, btn bets 6k, has I think about 17k behind, I tank for an age and shove 30k, utg covers and folds thankfully, btn folds. Dunno, could certainly do this with AA/KK so seems an ok semibluff, ambassador bounty was not in play as it was his second bullet, would be very trivial shove if it was.  

At 600/1200/200, btn opens to 3600, I stuff it all in 43k with 88 from bb, btn calls AQ and I hold. Definitely a profitable shove, but maybe not the most profitable line, awkward.

At 800/1600 I limp BvB with A4hh. BB raises to 5k, I call. Flop AQh4, I checkcall 4k. Turn Kh, check through. River Th. I lead for pot 20k, calls and shows Jh. Could see arguments for playing every street differently here. Started working with pio, pretty sure it’d favour a huge overbet on this river.

EP opens 2.5x, I defend BB with 84dd. Flop 23Q one diamond. I checkraise a 3k Cbet to 8.5k, call. Turn offsuit 5, I lead 18k, fold. End of day, he told me he folded AQ, was not targeting that hand, very lucky. Hindsight, my flop raise is maybe a bit ambitious, prefer it on say 67Q where I have a lot more 2 pair combos in my range.

Open JJ to 3.5k, tight mp 3bets to 10k, with just under 60k behind. I manage to stop myself and just flat, 842dd, I check call, turn Ad, he snap checks back. Was preparing to fold every turn bet, now thinking about how much I need to bet river to get KK/QQ to fold. Fortunately, J river, lead for 20k, called by QQ.

Out on the town with a mate tonight, early start Sunday, I will not be at my best I suspect.

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  • 2 weeks later...

End of year review.

Well, I didn’t win Unibet Manchester, bust 22nd, 2 off the money, seems like an appropriate way to end my year of live mtt’s, didn’t want to spoil that nice -100% ROI streak.

Online SNG’s: Probably my best year ever, certainly in terms of hourly rate. A few things have helped:

I dropped my table count drastically, from my stars days of 24tabling, I’m now 12 tabling with a higher average buyin and much better reads on players, and plenty of time to think about things like betsizing, rather than just mashing 1/2 pot on every flop. SNGs are games of small edges and I’m surprised how lazy most players are in this respect, even some of the better ones.

PIOsolver. Really only scratched the surface here, I’ve improved my understanding of one very common spot, and it’s already paid for itself many times over, excited to do more work here, I just enjoy playing too much it’s difficult to find the time.

The games have really picked up on Unibet, particularly peak hours, and recently late night a bunch of players jump on around 11pm UK time. I haven’t played a single €4 game all year, they were a huge drain on my mental energy for little reward. On good evenings I’m only playing 25s and 50s, and the odd 100 when they run.

Online MTTs: Had a plan to play more of these, sngs have become so profitable I’m rethinking this. Nothing much happened, probably -€1k on the year. The supernova is obviously an amazing value tournament, I might play that occasionally in the future. As well as taking up a table that could be a sng, they require a lot of valuable mental energy.  

Live MTTs: Not good. Visited Spain, Morocco, France and Malta, plus weekends in London, Manchester and Southend. 5 weeks away from home, played 9 or 10 MTTs, no cashes. If I’d stayed at home and grinded online I’d be €12-15k better off this year (including cost of travel, accommodation, buyins, and missed opportunity to play online). Even if I’d run better, the hourly rate of playing a live €500 tourney is not going to come close to online. Still, I love visiting new places, so feel lucky I got the opportunity.

Happy Xmas, see you at the tables. 

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  • 1 month later...

@Pucuri88, to answer your question (here, so I don’t derail @FreedoMs thread).  

You asked about my ROI at the 5man 10s and 25s, I’m choosing to keep that info to myself for now, but somewhere in this thread I did talk about my ROI at the €4s. I stopped playing them at the end of 2016, think my ROI was about 15% from about 10k games. 

In terms of what’s achievable, I’m definitely far from the greatest, and I play a lot of tables; better players playing fewer tables will get much better ROIs than me. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Games have been relatively tough this month, a lot of highstakes games running, I played about ten €100s last night, never seen this much action at those stakes, it did not go well. I guess the Queen of Flips promo is encouraging some better players to grind, it seems like a generous promo but I’d rather have softer games.

Updated reg rankings, I’ve removed the names that are obviously changing their screename very regularly (I’d say there’s 3 or 4 other regs at the same level as the best on this list or better).

Played a fair bit with Davelappin for first time this week whilst watching his stream, was fun, he had some close spots vs me, he might have made a couple small mistakes.  

1. PKing98
2. Zinzonzo
3. Runbetter
4. Caladrias
5. Lusy112
6. Davelappin
7. Tedwina
8. Einherjar
9. Iansimpson
10. TonnyP1
11. DownwithOPP
12. WhataboutNO
13. Brownlne
14. Ashlee2007
15. IkerC1
16. Maleus
17. Crazyfusz
18. Smoothace
19. Nutsrandom
20. Bredsox
21. Fromri
22. Vilunki
23. Kroll

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I played lots of them, if the rake is fair they aren't that bad. But I don't think it will be spin and go's because it will kill not only sngs but cash too. Basically all the recs will migrate there and lose money fast. It doesn't make sense to do that if you have a small player pool in my opinion. But I could be wrong.

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  • 1 month later...

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