Watch me fight some AI baddies in VR Boxing in my latest post

Originally posted by imbahness
Hey Galvin,

i think it's great that you team up with somebody, it should be great for your play also, i often find myself playing/focusing better when explaining it to someone, even if they have no clue what you're talking about, makes you think it through more heavily/deeply. so GL with that..

also could you recommend some coaching site decent nl400+ ? should i sub to CR, is there any better alternative? thanks.

I honestly don't think I'll improve much by coaching <NL50 stuff but I want to focus on being a content creator - It's one of the options I'm exploring for my future. The main benefit is that I get to play with 1 other guy which is probably optimal for me. Not too crowded and noisy, not too lonely. And it's probably easier to have a common schedule and motivate each other.

I can't give you good recommendations. Honestly at my current skill level most of the video producers are similar or worse than me and I don't really like learning from them. I prefer learning from someone better because you can take their word for it and know that they have so much more experience in playing and analyzing in those spots.

As far as I know RIO and IL have the highest level content (and it's reflected in the subscription price). I did like DC when I first started but my guess is that it's pretty bad now, since most of the top coaches there are semi-retired. You could probably say the same for CR. But to be fair I have not watched those vids for at least 3 years already

Originally posted by mbml

Honestly at my current skill level most of the video producers are similar or worse than me and I don't really like learning from them.

[x] BossMode

Originally posted by mbml

Originally posted by imbahness
Hey Galvin,

i think it's great that you team up with somebody, it should be great for your play also, i often find myself playing/focusing better when explaining it to someone, even if they have no clue what you're talking about, makes you think it through more heavily/deeply. so GL with that..

also could you recommend some coaching site decent nl400+ ? should i sub to CR, is there any better alternative? thanks.

As far as I know RIO and IL have the highest level content (and it's reflected in the subscription price). I did like DC when I first started but my guess is that it's pretty bad now, since most of the top coaches there are semi-retired. You could probably say the same for CR. But to be fair I have not watched those vids for at least 3 years already

Yeah, was subbed for a while on CR, didn't rly like any of the coaches over there. subbed for RIO, any series you watched, and think it's a must?

As far as I know RIO and IL have the highest level content (and it's reflected in the subscription price). I did like DC when I first started but my guess is that it's pretty bad now, since most of the top coaches there are semi-retired. You could probably say the same for CR. But to be fair I have not watched those vids for at least 3 years already

Yeah, was subbed for a while on CR, didn't rly like any of the coaches over there. subbed for RIO, any series you watched, and think it's a must?

I think Janda's theory videos on CR are pretty good for SSNL players. Sauce's videos are always good i guess, he has the most likes and views among all the various video producers. Gogol's Nose gets a ton of love as well but I think Oxota's videos are way better than his. Lefort's videos are good for SSNL players too. Would also recommend reading the posts/comments from some of the top posters at the site.

MSNL/HSNL - Sauce/Oxota
SSNL - Lefort/Janda

Special thanks to Paul for his nice house which you can see in the background. He's currently in IOM, being a champion of justice and fighting for the rights of the players at pokerstars ♦

Looking forward to these recorded coachings. You gonna post all the links here I suppose ? Or will some be available on your site?

And yes! Good luck to yous twos.

Originally posted by seranpoker
Looking forward to these recorded coachings. You gonna post all the links here I suppose ? Or will some be available on your site?

And yes! Good luck to yous twos.

tyty, i will update both my site and this blog.

After a hard day of making videos and grinding, I chanced upon this. Feel so degen watching degens flip.

Hey Galvin,

I didn't know which channel was the best to ask you this question, so I decided to ask it here. I guess the answer is probably covered in your private coaching videos, but I am still curious about it, since I did not buy them.

You advocate for the 1:1 bluff:value ratio preflop. Could you shortly explain why? For example, the exploitative ranges that the PS designed for NL200 has the 2:1 bluff:value ratio. I guess it is the game theory based argument, but I'd be interested to hear it, if possible.

By the way, I have always been looking for sources to read about the game theory. I was pretty happy to see that you have some recommendations. I will read them in the near future.
I also think it is a great idea that you provide some free content. Perhaps the free videos themselves are not that helpful for your potential customers (since they probably play higher stakes or have more complicated questions), but a lot of poker players seem to be willing to make the money right here right now. Perhaps all coaches give some free lessons before charging the normal rate, but it feels a bit more welcoming when you have something to see before buying (rather than just seeing a yearly graph of winnings and some bragging). Well, I just wanted to give positive feedback for what you are doing, keep up the good work!

Johnis

"MSNL/HSNL - Sauce/Oxota" Who is Oxota? Can´t find this name/nickname on IL,RIO,CR

Originally posted by JohnyC1337
"MSNL/HSNL - Sauce/Oxota" Who is Oxota? Can´t find this name/nickname on IL,RIO,CR

Daniel Dvoress

Anyone checked out IL recently?
I recently checked out CR to check out Janda's recent videos and was a little disappointed expecting them to be better. I think CR really only caters to newer players these days.

Originally posted by jules97

Originally posted by JohnyC1337
"MSNL/HSNL - Sauce/Oxota" Who is Oxota? Can´t find this name/nickname on IL,RIO,CR

Daniel Dvoress

Anyone checked out IL recently?
I recently checked out CR to check out Janda's recent videos and was a little disappointed expecting them to be better. I think CR really only caters to newer players these days.

im not surprised. The owners of those sites have moved on to other things. Think about
KRANTZ
GreenPlastic

How many of them are still actively playing poker? The owners used to be the guys at the very top, producing most of the high level content. You can see that happening for RIO where Galfond produces the majority of the high level PLO content.

Originally posted by Johnis
Hey Galvin,

I didn't know which channel was the best to ask you this question, so I decided to ask it here. I guess the answer is probably covered in your private coaching videos, but I am still curious about it, since I did not buy them.

You advocate for the 1:1 bluff:value ratio preflop. Could you shortly explain why? For example, the exploitative ranges that the PS designed for NL200 has the 2:1 bluff:value ratio. I guess it is the game theory based argument, but I'd be interested to hear it, if possible.

By the way, I have always been looking for sources to read about the game theory. I was pretty happy to see that you have some recommendations. I will read them in the near future.
I also think it is a great idea that you provide some free content. Perhaps the free videos themselves are not that helpful for your potential customers (since they probably play higher stakes or have more complicated questions), but a lot of poker players seem to be willing to make the money right here right now. Perhaps all coaches give some free lessons before charging the normal rate, but it feels a bit more welcoming when you have something to see before buying (rather than just seeing a yearly graph of winnings and some bragging). Well, I just wanted to give positive feedback for what you are doing, keep up the good work!

Johnis

thanks for the compliments. It's about not being exploitable vs a 4bet bluff. If you fold 66% vs a 4bet, I would 4bet the crap out of u. It's that simple. You might want to run some calcs on how often a 4b bluff needs to work in order to auto profit (it's ~56-65%, based on raise sizes)

This stuff is indeed covered in my Preflop Perfection course, but I also think it's probably in some of my PS videos somewhere, I don't quite remember

Hello sir,am a nano grinder and have some q for you please!

How will be help me your course if i dec to buy it?
I see the review of Preflop Perfection and you use for e.x co vs open ,3bet 30% range of what villain open 1-1 value and bluffs,so if vilain open utg 6% we 3bet him from co 6%x.30=2% 1%value and 1% bluffs.If villain 4bet only AA should hero still 3bet KK for value and fold vs 4bet? Am asking cos in my games pll 4bet oop only AA and most of them dont have 4bet bluff range. Thank you!

Originally posted by noobis667
Hello sir,am a nano grinder and have some q for you please!

How will be help me your course if i dec to buy it?
I see the review of Preflop Perfection and you use for e.x co vs open ,3bet 30% range of what villain open 1-1 value and bluffs,so if vilain open utg 6% we 3bet him from co 6%x.30=2% 1%value and 1% bluffs.If villain 4bet only AA should hero still 3bet KK for value and fold vs 4bet? Am asking cos in my games pll 4bet oop only AA and most of them dont have 4bet bluff range. Thank you!

hi noobis,

Preflop Perfection is not recommended for a nanostakes grinder for a few reasons
-Content is too advanced
-You would be overadjusting to opponents who aren't even bluffing a lot
-Price is too expensive (in terms of number of buy-ins you have to pay)

You should probably wait until you are playing higher, or check out some of my other existing content.

About your question: That's just a general guideline. If you know very specifically what your opponent is doing, then you should definitely deviate from this guideline (it makes no sense to 3b/5b KK when your opponent only 4bets AA)

If you think he only 4bets AA and perhaps some bluffs, then the right move would be to 3bet/call 4bet. If you think he never calls worse then don't 3bet KK (but this is probably not true)

Both of us will be back in Singapore by early Nov and then we can further discuss how to continue with the project (pricing, direction, premium vs free content). I guess I'll put the later free episodes on hold for now.

I'm highly considering buying a tablet and making my premium content Khan Academy style, with blackboard software and all the different colored pens. Do you think that would be a nicer format to have, as opposed to the usual Powerpoint slides? Would it feel more engaging?

My guess is that it would work well for stuff requiring mathematical equations, and preflop stuff and game theory stuff has a good amount of algebra. My teachers/lecturers were using this format for Math when I was in Junior College.

Here's an example

Thank you for the answer sir!

so this is the final day left for me in edinburgh and it spells the end of my 3month overseas "work trip". I really wish I had worked harder and not wasted so much time on gaming and random internet surfing. I got my table cap reduced from 24 to 20 which is also hurting my volume by about 15%

To Do List
1. Fix my finances - I'm trying to think of a reasonable investment strategy that requires low maintenance and is highly automated since I prefer to focus my money making efforts on business or poker rather than reading up on companies. Internet has been pretty optimistic about Bitcoin and I'll probably buy some as part of my alternative investments portfolio. I still feel that my knowledge is very incomplete but it's better to get started at the very least, but at the same time having the markets at an all-time high and reading "Doom and Gloom" stuff makes me very hesitant to enter. I'll probably stick to a Dollar Cost averaging strategy for now and put in 2k a month.

A possible portfolio for me
40% Singapore Index, 25% London Index, 10% Alternative Investments, 25% Cash

2. Boost my productivity
Right now I'm purely functioning based on willpower and mood. That's not very wise. Whenever I am faced with a downswing I lose a lot of motivation to play. The best way to maintain peak performance over extended periods of time is to come up with a good schedule or system to help me recover from inevitable bad streaks quickly.

3. Work on my game
It's hard to have the motivation to study when you are forced to average 6hr of play a day for the rest of the year. But I need to do that to stay ahead. I started reading jb's blog thread today and saw that he is currently developing some program to solve 2-player games from the flop onwards.

I started reading up on Counterfactual Regret Minimization and it took me a while to understand this article

I'll try testing the waters for a bit and see if I can come up with anything that helps me to improve on my game.

This is the best introduction to CFRM. It's where I started anyway.

http://modelai.gettysburg.edu/2013/cfr/cfr.pdf

yeah jb's program is an undiscovered goldmine...
I'm not sure if I'd prefer more people there helping analyze results... or have potential villains stay the hell away...

finance stuff

-bitcoins are worthless and will go to and stay at zero within 5 years
-go see a financial planner, you don't have to buy their products, but they will have solid portfolio construction drilled into them. Combined with your risk tolerance this may prove helpful
-think long term, not short term financially, So if you're ~25 you've 30,40 years minimum as a time horizon
-a years return in the equities is ~8% with a standard deviation of 20%. Compound interest is good. Cash is bad... getting worse the longer you have
-there will be currency implications of having assets split across currencies/countries, which are pretty hard to predict, probably undesired & and could have an impact on returns as much or more than the investment itself.
-don't listen to the doom and gloom (or any market commentary), it's like listening to your bad_run in poker (this recent 8% drop in two weeks is a blip on the radar and not even the start of gloom and doom ♦ ).
-alternative investments sounds like it falls somewhere between very silly (bitcoins), to a waste of time, to a hobby or a gamble. The financial markets are not a good place for hobbies.

Current Progress: 739k VPPs

Gambling Legislation in Singapore
Yesterday I received a mail from betfair, informing me that gambling operations will cease for Singapore customers from 15 Dec onwards. I'm a little worried that Pokerstars will do the same for me which would completely fuck with my plans to finish SNE this year. Which is why I'm trying to put in the bulk of volume this month (200k VPPs). So far I've earned 72k points (6k per day on average) and I'm starting to feel the negative effects on my health. I don't sleep so well and I feel like crap after waking up each day.

My Poker career and goals
the past 2 months has been brutal for me mentally and physically. I experienced the largest swings in my life, winning 45k, losing 40k, winning 50k and losing 30k. I reflected a little on how I want to proceed with my poker career

0. If you can't beat them, join them. Frankly I feel highly irritated when I hear stories about players with far inferior technical skills than me making more money (i.e. pro bum hunters, players who play at fish sites)

I don't want to stop playing at Stars completely but I suspect the VIP rewards in 2016 will be shit which is why I want to transition out of Stars if I have to. I started signing up at 2 new sites and I want to stick through with my plan. Traditionally I would almost always lose a few K at the new site playing 5/10 and give up very quickly. So far I lost 4k at my new site. Had to play without a HUD for quite some time which totally sucked. Now that those issues are fixed, hopefully I can get something good going.

1. I need to stop focusing purely on improving my technical, unexploitable play. There are many areas where I can make massive improvements, such as making good exploitative play, improving my mindset and increasing the frequency at which I can perform at peak condition (A-game), table select better.

2. I have huge mindset issues, which became glaringly obvious in the past few months. I started feeling very angry and tilted whenever I went on a huge downswing, which I guess is normal but I'm not dealing with it well. I have constant urges to flame my opponents in the chat.

I need to stop playing and watching streams at the same time. I honestly think I can increase my winrate by at least 1BB/100 if I do that. I can play standard situations pretty well but I ALWAYS fuck up in tough spots involving hero-calling.

Time to get some mindset coaching from Jared Tendler?

3. I need to stop procrastinating. That was my aim in 2014 but I fucked up at the start of the year which eventually led to where I am currently. As much as I would like to spend 1-2 hours a day working on my game right now, I have no motivation and energy to do so given that I am forced to play 8 hours a day without fail for the rest of the month.

4. Opponents are making sick hero-calls and hero-folds all the time. You know the feeling that someone is map-hacking when you are playing a RTS? That's the feeling I get when I run bad and everything goes wrong for me. It almost feels like your opponent is partially clairvoyant, or even cheating. I would like to believe in the integrity of the games and Pokerstars' ability to prevent hacking which leads me to think that there's something else going on. I would also like to think that I'm not terribly exploitable (I always make an active effort to bluff in uncommon spots) but it's probably impossible to be perfectly balanced in most spots.

Timing Tells: I wrote about this earlier. I'm making an effort to be more balanced with my clicks

NoteCaddy: I can only conclude that my opponents are all data-mining and using this for partial clairvoyance. I don't believe that the best players at NL1k are so good at soul reading me. I'm going to spend the next few days figuring out how to work this into my HUD. Funny that I had Notecaddy premium all along and I never knew I had it (came with the free HM2 licenses that were given to Pokerstrategy coaches in 2012).

5. The Power of Position
Never have I ever felt so powerless OOP. From the very beginning in poker, we were all taught the importance of position. But until you start facing guys who take extremely strange lines to punish your capped ranges will you know the pain that I have felt in the past week.

6. The Annoying Floaty Style
What's the typical Fold/Call/5bet vs 4bet stats of most players at SSNL? 50/15/35
What's the typical stats of the top regs at 1k and 2k? 30/55/15

This strategy is a huge pain in the ass to deal with. Probably have to start slowplaying monsters more often (double check 2 streets) when guys will check back Flop and bet Turn shove River and you have AK high. I have to work more on 4bet pots, they are fairly easy to solve given the narrow ranges and low SPR so I should be able to come up with good, balanced frequencies at a much faster pace.

I also need to start using this style myself TBH. Once again, if you can't beat them, join them. I used to be really reluctant to call 4bets wide in the SB with stuff like Q9s but I definitely need to start doing that more often.

7. Using Overbets more selectively
I've been using overbets a ton more after reading Expert HUNL Part 2 but I'm not discriminating against different opponents. There are some guys who love herocalling and some guys who just love folding.

8. Larger 3b sizes
I am one of those guys who has been 3-betting really small. I don't think it's working out well TBH. All my strongest opponents have FT3Bets of 40-45% and I need to ramp up my 3b sizes.