BLOG: whereisrivaldo's year

[WuDu]

Great trip, great write-up, great pictures! But my oh my, this city looks so plastic...

[whereisrivaldo]

Into the off-season rhythm

Summer was gone so quickly. Again.

And so was the football season. We did not make it to the play-offs, and actually had a pretty poor season after lifting the trophy last summer. 

When the off-season arrives, the last of little regularity I have in my life is gone. Empty schedule. Freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want, until the practices start again.

What did I do? I put a maximum effort in the online tournament series September got us to offer. I abandoned cash games for a month and hopped into the life of a MTT grinder.

I really wanted to give myself the best chance possible to bink something big. I didn't. And I expected the tournament grind to wreck me. So I tried to fine-tune everything to as optimal as I could in and outside poker, and also tested some new things like yoga and meditation. Part of this was writing every night before sleep a few things I wanted or needed to get done the next day to make it a good day. These things quickly started to repeat themselves and pretty much formed a daily schedule for me:

morning: time off
- watch previous night's NFL game / good tv series (Band of Brothers)

Afternoon: get sh*t done
- grind Duolingo (Italian)
- workout / yoga
- study (check previous night's ICM spots & one MTT gameplay video)
- read a chapter of a book (Bobby Baldwin's Winning Poker Secrets or Tony Robbins' Money Master the Game)

Evening: game time
- session prep
- try to win a tournament

Night: getting my mind out of poker
- meditation
- listen to fantasy football podcast & manage my teams
- watch fun tv series (That '70s Show )

This worked. Most days I was feeling really good and focused while playing. I had just two day-offs during the series, both dedicated to theory studies. So there were also days I was absolutely sick of staring at screens. But overall, I just loved the grind.

I've also been keeping track of my games, and after the month is completely over I'll come back with some graphs, stats and hand histories from this experiment.

[whereisrivaldo]

September MTT results and analysis

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@whereisrivaldo wrote:

 

What did I do? I put a maximum effort in the online tournament series September got us to offer. I abandoned cash games for a month and hopped into the life of a MTT grinder.

...

I've also been keeping track of my games, and after the month is completely over I'll come back with some graphs, stats and hand histories from this experiment.

---

---

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So let's break it down.

 201 tournaments = maximum effort?

• Actually it's 202 games, the graph just shows 201.
• Before the month I had marked about 50 tournaments I wanted to play from 8 different sites. I picked the tournaments from the series I figured I'd have some edge (smaller PLOs) and some NLHE tournaments that offered extra-EV in other ways (leaderboards/promos). Then I just filled the schedule with regular tournaments that happened to run at the same time (mostly <11€ games on Unibet). 
• Yea, I did not hit my volume goals. I quickly learned I'm not much of a multitabler anymore, especially when playing on multiple sites at the same time and some with HUDs and some without. But you can guess by looking at the graph at which point I gave up on my volume goals and put all the focus on the few tables I was playing. I also quit registering to freerolls and random satellites with free tickets around game #69.
• 26 gamedays, 117,5 hours = avg. session 4,5h. This gives me some hope if I wanted to add more volume. I think I could easily go for longer sessions, but on most days I just busted everything that quickly or played on Unibet where MTTs don't run that long.

Always more fun when the MTT series don't put you in a hole.

• Buy-ins: 1222€ (ABI 6€)
• Cashes: 2294€
• Profit: 1072€ 
• ROI: 88%
• + leaderboard/promo prizes

And by gametype.

• NLHE: 110 games / ABI 6€ / profit +406€ / ROI 66%
• PLO: 73 games / ABI 7€ / profit +567€ / ROI 111%
• NLHE SATS: 17 games / ABI 2€ / profit +25€ / ROI 82%
• MIXED GAMES: 2 games / ABI 33€ / profit +74€ / ROI 112%

Sample is small, of course. Results seem okay, for that ABI and volume at least. But I feel like I still left a ton of EV out there. So many early exits when I made it to FTs. Barely won a tournament. And the real theme of the month was bubbling with AA. Standard in PLO but kinda hurts in Hold'em. 

• Trackable sites show 11 bb/100 and 17 EVbb/100

But I shouldn't complain. I'm sure I ran well in more hidden ways  like (how often I got dealt aces,) runouts, what parts of ranges I ran into, seat/table draws etc. And I had a ton of fun playing. I got to enjoy some really good tournament structures and battle with some really good players.

Plus here's some random lessons I learned:

• Making a special playlist for final tables helps me reach my peak level of thinking when I need it most + it makes getting to the final table even more awesome
  • If I open the playlist before I make it to final table, I will not make it to final table
• Following results with a graph makes me play worse
  • Especially in the early downswing I felt the pressure of the graph affecting my game and I felt I sacrificed some overall EV in tournaments just to get a mincash or a payjump
• 20 mins of golf chipping practice on a chilly fall evening is the perfect pre-game routine for online MTTs
• There aren't many spots you should shove worse offsuit jack than JT

And a couple of hands: 

 

Not sure if white magic, scared money or just a standard fold in this spot. I'm 305/357 and 352 gets paid, mincash 2xBI.

WCOOP-42-L: $55 NLHE/PLO [6-Max], $100K Gtd
***
Level XXI (1750/3500, ante 450)
***
UTG: krakukra (334589 in chips)
HJ: HERO (60504 in chips)
CO: jedi9000 (31834 in chips)
BTN: Gangsta`Sur (68359 in chips)
SB: lehout (188261 in chips)
BB: iconoff (77730 in chips)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Kd As]
krakukra: folds
HERO: folds
jedi9000: raises 26500 to 30000
Gangsta`Sur: folds
lehout: folds
iconoff: raises 47280 to 77280 and is all-in
jedi9000: calls 1384 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (45896) returned to iconoff
*** FLOP *** [5d 3c Js]
*** TURN *** [5d 3c Js] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [5d 3c Js 2h] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
iconoff: shows [Kh Kc] (a pair of Kings)
jedi9000: shows [Qc Ac] (a pair of Queens)
iconoff collected 67218 from pot
jedi9000 finished the tournament in 353rd place

 

Pretty standard riverbluff with the nutblocker, but it's just a bit cooler when the villain has a WSOP bracelet in PLO. (But I'm sure everyone who watched Unibet's EO stream knows that Ryan is pretty bluffable.) 

WCOOP-64-L: $55 PLO [6-Max], $100K Gtd
***
Level XII (300/600)
***
UTG: ahhoo (96592 in chips) 
HJ: korjae (27748 in chips) 
CO: HERO (34891 in chips) 
BTN: ice341 (57678 in chips) 
SB: PROTENTIALmn (27206 in chips) 
BB: teruliro (30310 in chips) 
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [9h As Ac Ks]
ahhoo: folds 
korjae: raises 600 to 1200
HERO: calls 1200
ice341: folds 
PROTENTIALmn: calls 900
teruliro: calls 600
*** FLOP *** [Kc 4h 6c]
PROTENTIALmn: checks 
teruliro: checks 
korjae: checks 
HERO: bets 3744
PROTENTIALmn: calls 3744
teruliro: folds 
korjae: folds 
*** TURN *** [Kc 4h 6c] [8c]
PROTENTIALmn: bets 5700
HERO: calls 5700
*** RIVER *** [Kc 4h 6c 8c] [Ts]
PROTENTIALmn: bets 7800
HERO: raises 16447 to 24247 and is all-in
PROTENTIALmn: folds 
Uncalled bet (16447) returned to HERO
HERO collected 39288 from pot
HERO: doesn't show hand 

 

Villain goes pot flop, close to pot turn, pot river. If they had overpairs or a 3, they would induce river to try to get my bounty  (river SPR 1,2). 

WCOOP-72-L: $11 PLO [Heads-Up, Progressive Total KO, Zoom], $25K Gtd
***
Level XXXII (12500/25000)
***
BTN/SB: HERO (2190102 in chips, $177.40 bounty)
BB: fjamso (6938142 in chips, $229.69 bounty)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Kd 7h 9d Js]
HERO: calls 12500
fjamso: raises 50000 to 75000
HERO: calls 50000
*** FLOP *** [3d 4d 9c]
fjamso: bets 150000
HERO: calls 150000
*** TURN *** [3d 4d 9c] [8h]
fjamso: bets 400000
HERO: calls 400000
*** RIVER *** [3d 4d 9c 8h] [3s]
fjamso: bets 1250000
HERO: calls 1250000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
fjamso: shows [Kc 5h 7s 6s] (a pair of Threes)
HERO: shows [Kd 7h 9d Js] (two pair, Nines and Threes)
HERO collected 3750000 from pot

 

Same tournament, next hand. Float the flop with all the backdoors and another call down against all the 567x misses.

WCOOP-72-L: $11 PLO [Heads-Up, Progressive Total KO, Zoom], $25K Gtd
***
Level XXXII (12500/25000)
***
BTN/SB: HERO (4065102 in chips, $177.40 bounty)
BB: limonadik586 (3691213 in chips, $132.64 bounty)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [9h Jh Ac 7c]
HERO: raises 50000 to 75000
limonadik586: calls 50000
*** FLOP *** [3c 8h 4d]
limonadik586: checks
HERO: bets 49500
limonadik586: raises 117030 to 166530
HERO: calls 117030
*** TURN *** [3c 8h 4d] [Ah]
limonadik586: bets 227038
HERO: calls 227038
*** RIVER *** [3c 8h 4d Ah] [Td]
limonadik586: bets 309255
HERO: calls 309255
*** SHOW DOWN ***
limonadik586: shows [5s 3d 7d 6c] (a pair of Threes)
HERO: shows [9h Jh Ac 7c] (a pair of Aces)
HERO collected 1555646 from pot

 

Same tournament, next morning. I felt the fatigue. And went with the higher variance line as the shorter stack, which I don't mind in this spot. But they finally bounty-hunted me and denied a little WCOOP title from me.

WCOOP-72-L: $11 PLO [Heads-Up, Progressive Total KO, Zoom], $25K Gtd
***
Level XL (50000/100000)
***
BTN/SB: Stratienko (9316318 in chips, $225.80 bounty)
BB: HERO (7137772 in chips, $467.26 bounty)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Ad Js 4d Ks]
Stratienko: raises 200000 to 300000
HERO: calls 200000
*** FLOP *** [5s As Jh]
HERO: checks
Stratienko: bets 300000
HERO: raises 1200000 to 1500000
Stratienko: calls 1200000
*** TURN *** [5s As Jh] [4h]
HERO: bets 3600000
Stratienko: raises 3600000 to 7200000
HERO: calls 1737772 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ( 1862228 ) returned to Stratienko
*** RIVER *** [5s As Jh 4h] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
HERO: shows [Ad Js 4d Ks] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
Stratienko: shows [Kc Kh 7h Jd] (a flush, King high)
Stratienko collected 14275544 from pot
Stratienko wins $233.63 for eliminating HERO and their own bounty increases by $233.63 to $459.43

 

Now back to cash games and being a fun player in tournaments.

[whereisrivaldo]

:inlove::inlove::inlove:

[MathrimC]

Awesome!

See you there 😃

[whereisrivaldo]

UO Bucharest - Let's go

I landed in hazy Bucharest today.

Airport taxi did not rob me, so I'm already running good or playing well. (I picked up the taxi from departures as it was dropping off another passenger to the airport.) 

Now I'm supposed to be located right next door to  one of the largest buildings in the world, but somehow I have missed it and not seen it yet. So tomorrow's plan is to see the city and hopefully that building in day-light and later on the fun begins with €170 NLHE Monsterstack event.

Tonight limited screenspace forced me to choose between Sunday night football and Sunday tournaments..

[Pucuri88]

GL in Bucharest @whereisrivaldo! :)

[whereisrivaldo]

UO Bucharest - The Palace of the Parliament

The first thing in the morning I found it by looking out from my hotel room window. Right where it was supposed to be. :laugh:

I walked to the Old Town to eat but couldn't get far enough to fit it into a picture.

€170 NLHE Monsterstack - Day 1A

The deep starting stack didn't help for long since the structure was so fast. But in my starting table the play was crazy loose and aggressive preflop right away. We got into some interesting spots but now I'm feeling like I really suck at deep stack Hold'em and I'm not qualified to analyze them.

I open from BTN with TT. Romanian grandpa defends BB. Flop AcQx7c: I cbet, grandpa calls. Turn Kx: check check. River 9x: grandpa bets 20%pot  and I call. Grandpa wins with Qc4c. 

I know flop cbet isn't mandatory, and I could have barreled turn, but what about the river? Is tens without a club good enough bluffcather or is it a good hand to turn into a bluff?

When stacks got short I won a flip with Ah3h vs AcTc with ThTx9x 6h 2h runout and my Romanian tablemates found ways to joke about it for the rest of the evening until our table got broken.

On the new table I rejammed my 12bb with A8s from SB after a 6bb shove from MP and lost the flip to 88. Two hands later I jammed the rest of my stack with ATs and A5s called and won the flip. Justice. :Angel:

There was one hand I feel super proud of myself where I was going to rejam KTs with 17bb, but I picked up a very subtle live read from the raiser's behaviour and folded instead. And the guy showed AA after everyone folded. But I think I'm going to wait after UO Bucharest to tell what I noticed so NMPfan, MathrimC, Jonny & co can't abuse me with it. Or tomorrow if I realize it wasn't that amazing after sleeping on it.

[whereisrivaldo]

UO Bucharest - Second bullet

€170 NLHE Monsterstack Day 1B

I re-entered the Monsterstack. Starting table felt a lot softer today but couldn't get much going. Got stacks in after two hours of play:

I open 9c8c UTG+1. UTG+2 does his first 3-bet of the day. I call. Flop 8d6d5c: I check-jam with SPR 2 and to my surprise I run into aces.

I was left with 4bb. Next hand I tripled up with 86s and pretty soon I had a comfortable stack over average. 

Couple hours forward and we were playing push/fold again. They folded to me in SB and I jammed my 12bbs a bit outside Nash into BB who probably overfolds. However I got penalized by BB's AQo and sent to the walk of shame.

Overall I felt pretty good playing today. A much needed confidence booster. I've been running good too. But cashing a live tournament still seems like an absolutely impossible mission. :Laugh: