[Closed] There's no I in threesome

I really enjoy your blog Miikka looking forward to your English video. good luck in the games

Nice read/post as usual ...

As to when it comes to FPS, I know exactly how you feel ...
Would be much appreciated if you'd some day also post a summary of what helped you the most in getting over these mental barriers if you do manage to do so.

Which of these books was the most useful / which part of it exactly or if you get over it with a mental coach etc etc ...

You get the point

I just got back from the grudge tennis match. We rented a clay court, which offers slower-paced play, putting more focus on being able to run a lot instead of hitting perfectly. A lot of shots that aren't returnable on harder surfaces are returnable on clay. I've always liked clay the best.

We decided to play a best out of three, because our sets always last an hour.

The first set lasted exactly an hour. It was a pretty huge battle where neither of us wanted to give up a single point. I held my first serve easily. He held his. I held mine, etc. For the first eight games I don't think either of us had as much as a break point. I noticed that I was serving drastically better than last time, hitting multiple aces in the first games and double faulting just once. Then at 4-4, 30-30 I double fault in a crucial spot to give him a break point. And sure enough, he uses it, sending a strong backhand slice across the court in the next point. I don't manage to break him back. First set, 4-6.

In the second set he breaks me in the first game, then holds his serve. 0-2. This is not going well. To make matters worse, I feel my toe nail breaking into two inside my shoes. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but in tennis it's a huge deal, because it includes so many quick stops and sprints where you lean against your toes. I played the rest of the match in considerable pain, but refused to give up.

He made it to deuce again at 2-0 and had multiple break points, but I managed to always come back. Finally he made a couple of easy mistakes, and I held my serve. In the next game I broke his serve for the first time, then held mine, and broke him again. In the end I won the set 6-3, playing extremely well.

In the beginning of the third set I broke him and held mine to go up 2-0. When he served again, he made two double faults and one other error, giving me a triple break point. Of course I didn't use any of them. I hit two backhands wide by maybe 5 inches, then somehow hit the net in my third and last break point. He went on to win the game, and the next four games. My confidence just went down the toilet, I made multiple double faults and played like a monkey.

Then something happened. I just quit giving a fuck. During the entire match I had spent way too much time thinking about winning and losing. Now, on the verge of losing, I set myself free. I break his serve hitting some of the most ridiculous forehand swings I've ever done. He just looks at them in awe, wondering what's happening.

At 4-5 I serve a double ace for 30-0. Then some kid runs into our court and in a bizarre episode tries to steal our balls. I tell him to fuck off, and he does, only to come back when I serve the next point. He heads towards our stuff when we're playing a point, and anxiously I hit an easy shot wide. I lecture the kid once more and kick him out of the court, this time locking the door.

But my focus is gone. I double fault twice, giving him a match point on a silver plate. I miss my fifth consecutive serve, allowing him to get an easy second serve, which he hits back strong. I get my racket in the way of the ball and manage to hit it back to his side, but it's an easy return. He bounces it back to the far corner. I have to start running towards the corner before he hits the ball, because if I wait to see where he decides to hit it, I won't make it in time to return it. He hits it exactly where I expect him to, I manage to do a decent return, and he hits the net. I feel a momentum shift and hold my serve.

In the next game I just know I'm going to break him, which is exactly what happens. Now I'm serving for the match at 6-5. If I don't manage to win it right here, we are headed to a tiebreak, and I never win tiebreaks against him.

I serve an ace on my first serve. 15-0. I double fault the next point, temporarily losing my focus and trying to hit my second serve way too hard. 15-15. He wins the next point after I make a sloppy first serve and he slams it back so hard I have literally no shot at making it. I can feel the tiebreak approach.

In the next point we play one of the longest rallies I've ever played. It must've lasted over 60 strokes. Both of us are just waiting for the other person to screw up, and in these rallies it's always me who screws up trying to make the perfect shot sending it wide. But not today. When he finally sends me a forehand too easy, I make a near-perfect stopper, dropping the ball to his forecourt, where he has no chance making it in time.

I'm two points from winning the match. I've been here before, but it hasn't ever gone well. I refuse to think about it. I take a deep breath, and another. Then, I serve a beautiful ace. He just watches it go past him, shaking his head. Match point.

I refuse to think of anything. I just walk to the edge of the court, serve another fast and accurate serve, and the moment it leaves my racket I just know he's not going to be able to return it. He gets his racket on the way but doesn't hit the ball well, and it hits the net. I win the match.

That felt better than winning a poker tournament has ever felt. I'm so full of positive energy that I'm going to play a huge session today, trying to crush. Next week I'm playing another tennis match against a certain Unibet Open winner.

I'm glued to the screen every time you post. WP SIR. epic battle

The Midnight Sun series is starting tomorrow with the 1k PLO and I'm ill. This is not very surprising, because I'm always ill when there's a big poker festival in Helsinki. We have two big tournament serieses that last a week, the Helsinki Freezeout in January and the Midnight Sun in June. I've played all of these since January 2009, six festivals total, and I've been ill 6 out of 6 times. I think the worst was last year when in one event I had a hard time seeing my cards due to high fever. I've got 39,2c right now and the first event is 18 hours away... sigh. On the plus side, I've had this since friday night (I fell sick immediately after the tennis match), and there's a day off on tuesday before the 2k Main starts on wednesday, so I'll probably be fine by then. Tomorrow's going to be a battle, though.

Originally posted by MiikkaAnttonen
On the plus side, I've had this since friday night (I fell sick immediately after the tennis match), and there's a day off on tuesday before the 2k Main starts on wednesday, so I'll probably be fine by then.

Haven't you heard? Winning is bad for health...

Awesome with so many posts in a short time this last week! Looking forward to reports from Helinki!

I played the Midnight Sun 1k PLO. Busted around 55th outside the money in a standard spot where I 3bet QJT8ds on the button, got 4bet and had to get it in a against a range that was basically AAxx. He had AA62 an I didn't hit, I had 50% pre-flop anyway.

The 2100€ Main Event, and also the Finnish championchips of poker, started today.

My starting table was relatively tough with two online superstars, some guy I didn't recognize but who's apparently a high stakes reg from Estonia, an aggressive Russian and a couple of other good players. I probably played a little too many hands in the beginning, but made up for it by playing reasonably well post-flop, and my stack moved between 15-25k for the first couple of hours with not much interesting happening. I check-raise bluffed one river with success but it was a pretty standard spot.

Then at 100/200 I open AsKs from MP to 500 with a relatively active image, a random but active guy on the button calls and BB calls. Flop KcQd9c, I cbet 800, button calls and BB folds. Turn 9s, I bet 1600 and he raises to 3350. I had only played with him for two hours, and I had never played with him before this week, and based on everything I knew about him I thought there was 0 chance he was capable of valueraising KQ or AK here and that he'd also 100% 3bet KK/QQ pre. I didn't think he'd have a 9 apart from J9s or T9s (or 99) here but those could definitely be a real possibility. Anyway, that's probably a fold, but I talk myself into calling with no real plan and 10k behind on the river (slighty more than PSB). River 5d, I check and he bets 5525, I tank for a long time and he seems confident live reads-wise, so I fold and feel really stupid. Note to self: just fold on the turn next time.

I double up soon afterwards when I 4bet shove A9 bvb at 150/300 and get called by A2o and hold (this is how my image is...). Table breaks. My position in the new table is just awful. The guy next to me is the one poker player who I probably respect the most and who I'd crossbook over almost anyone from 2+2 HSMTT in any tournament. He likes his privacy so I won't name him and he's not well known on 2+2 because he doesn't play Stars/Tilt due to Finnish tax shit and doesn't play live a lot, but he's sick good. He open raises virtually every hand when it's folded to him, 3bets a shit ton and plays perfect post-flop. The guy to his left was Ilari Tahkokallio who got 2nd in EPT Berlin and is generally very good, and the guy next to him was some lag random who 3bet a ton too. So yeah, have fun me...

I was in this table for the next 7 hours being totally card dead. Two hands of interest occurred:

I open 99 to 1300 at 600/1200 from the CO and the mad skillz guy mentioned above is the only caller from the BTN. Flop 4h4d2h, I cbet 1400 and he raises to 3125. I had 22k at the start of the hand. I think it's a pretty trivial 3bet/call against anyone but against this guy it's so much tougher because he can have AA-KK and he knows me well enough to not think I'd fold something like AQ here. I think he expects me to spazz here a lot and to never fold a pair or AQ high+ because his raise just doesn't represent anything. It does suck that if he has a flush draw he might expect me to click it back with air and he could shove, but I think he'd just float his pure air always and I don't think he's raising pairs worse than mine, so I just talk myself into folding. I think he'll flat JhTh, QhTh type of high suited connectors/gappers pre but 3bet smaller ones (because higher suited connectors are easier to play post-flop because they can also be played for top pair value) so I'm basically either flipping against fd+overs or drawing to two outs. I'd get that in against virtually everyone else in the world, but after the longest tank I fold and again feel stupid and owned. He obviously shows me 5h, probably had like 6h5h but I still think against him I just have to fold... which gives you a clue how awesome he is.

Another hand, at 400/800 my friend, a young nosebleed HU cash player (plays NL25/50) gets moved to my table and in one of his first hands he raises to 1800 from EP. He knows I'm prone to spazz against him a lot so I raise to 5125 with TT having 33k total behind (he has the same) with the intention of never folding, he's definitely 4betting air there some % of the time. Then a 12BB short stack shoves, and it gets back to my friend and he shoves, and I stop to think for a bit about how wide he'd iso shove here. It naturally eliminates the possibility of a bluff from his range since the short stack is all in. I think he'd in general iso shove like 99+AK here (the shorty had folded every hand in the table and was about 50 years old, but he had only seen a few hands of him), so it'd be a pot odds sigh call. I still decide to study his appearance for a bit, and he just seems so strong that it scares me. I'm not a huge live tell-taker by any means, but something about his posture and his pulse just makes me think he's really strong and I end up folding. I don't think I'd have been able to get the read without the shorty, because I'd have been blindfolded by my original plan of 3bet getting it in, and it would've been the most illogical thing ever to 3bet/fold in that spot, but with the shorty and my live read I ended up folding and he had QQ. Woo!

I had a relatively tight image due to my awful position and card-deadness and the TT fold, so I 3bet small a couple of times in the end against EP raises and open raised a few times to grind my stack up to 36k. I think the average is about 50k and the next level is 600/1200 with 47 players remaining.

Boom! I'm coming into the final table 7/9 tomorrow, winner gets $120k. This is also the Finnish Championships tournament, so the winner gets a nice title also. One time?

1. Mikael Andersson 463,000
2. Miikka Anttonen 108,000
3. Olli Muukkonen 99,500
4. Ilja Savolainen 622,000
5. Antti Matero 78,000
6. Arvi Vainionkulma 259,500
7. Markus Ristola 334,500
8. Arttu Rissanen 216,500
9. Lauri Varonen 379,500

The blinds resume at 3k/6k so I'd have to double up early to get my game going. I had a pretty rough day two, didn't get my stack going at any point. I had 108k on dinner break, 108k when the bubble started, 108k when the bubble burst, and 108k now the final table starts. I just basically stole the blinds once every orbit for two hours being totally card dead and apart from that just had to fold and fold because I had very good players to my left all day and I was in stupid ICM spots having a mid-stack with a lot of small stacks from 18 players on. So, it's double up or nothing time! If I can make it to 200k+ I'm sure I'll be able to take the advantage of some of the weaktight players in the table and fight for the title.

Prize pool (in euros):

1. 82.688€
2. 52.480€
3. 35.328€
4. 23.808€
5. 16.640€
6. 12.032€
7. 8.192€
8. 6.144€
9. 4.864€

A very brief day 2 recap as I want to watch the last two episodes of Breaking Bad season 2 before going to sleep:

The play resumes at 600/1200 and I have 36k. In one of the first hands I open 88 to 2500 and get called by BTN who's a loose/weird semi-bad reg who covers me. Flop 752r, I bet 3200 and he calls. Turn K and I barrel with the intention of getting it in, he's spazzy enough to go crazy there with random floats thinking I'm going to barrel that card always, and I doubt he'll ever fold a pair. He tanks for an eternity and finally folds AQ, saying "I was *this* close to pushing". Good read there.

Soon after a 15BB stack calls my QTo open from the BB, flop TTx and he has JTo, easy game.

From then on I just dominate for a long time. I get moved to a new table and in my second hand I 3bet bluff with success. The very next hand I cold 4 bet bluff and again I win the pot. Soon after I raise Q8o to 3300 at 800/1600 on some random player's blind from the button. I saw the BB tank for an eternity with AK in a super easy 4bet spot (he had to 4bet shove with it facing a 3bet) almost folding, and generally acting like scared money. So that's definitely an any two raise for me. He calls, flop K32r. He checks, I bet 4100, he calls. Turn A, he checks, I bet 8100 and he calls. River 8, his range is capped at Ax and I'm pretty sure he'd just fold even that on the flop so he's probably going to have KQ-KT here almost always. I shove for 1,5x pot in true sumpas (swedish online player who likes river overshoves) style and he tankfolds saying he had KJ.

We go to dinner break and I've got 108k or so when the average is just 73k, and there are only 25 left. I get a light chinese meal, if such thing exists. I vote for sushi, but my three friends still in want to get chinese, so I settle for fried rice with chicken.

After the break everything goes extremely bad. I make two ridiculously stupid plays. I'm going to include them here just so you'll know what a stupid retard I am.

1: A good online mtt reg opens CO for 4100 at 1k/2k on my BB, I've got 105k and he's got 80k. I flat KJo which I think is fine (we've got history and he's going to 4bet a ton if I 3bet here, and I think he'd also flat a small 3bet wideish). Flop T83 giving me a backdoor flush draw and of all the options I decide to OOP float (always a great idea!) with K high. Basically my thought process was that I know his game pretty well and he's going to pot control a lot of turns and valuebet thin on a lot of rivers, so if it goes that way I can cr bluff rivers, and if the turn is J/Q/K aka my gin cards he's going to airbarrel that a lot. I should just raise or fold but anyway I call. Turn is another T which goes check-check, river 9 and I'm pretty sure he has a pair between 22-8x or A high. I consider betting like 2xpot but instead I choose to check-raise because I think he'll value bet most of his range that has hit the board and fold almost all of it if I raise. Of course my estimation of his valuebetting skills is all wrong as he checks back showing Q8, wp me.

2: A pretty weak live reg opens UTG for 4300 with 60k behind, I've got 80k. For some reason that I can't recall I end up flatting here with QJs. FLATTING. What the *, Miikka? I think folding is standard, and 3betting to like 9650 is fine too because he's going to live pro style nit fold like everything, or maybe flat and I can take the pot away post. Of the three options I pick the nut worst and flat. Everyone else folds, the flop comes K42 with a flush draw giving me a backdoor flush draw, I call his 6k cbet. Turn Ax, he barrels and I fold wondering what the * I'm doing. (I considered clicking it back for a while too...)

Soon after this I get shoved on for 13BB from the SB and have to call with JTs (I think he shoves any two). He has K3o and wins, and I slip all the way down to 34k which is 17BB.

I fold for two full orbits not getting half a spot to get it in, and then finally Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro opens for 5k at 1200/2400 from MP and I shove for 26k with ATs. He calls with KQo and I win. A few hands later I open AKs, LarsLuzak 3bets, I shove and he calls with TT. The door card is an ace for the second time in a row and all of a sudden I've got over 100k again.

It takes an orbit or two for us to reach 18 players with 13 paying and my table breaks. I've got 108k going into my new table which is extremely tough and of course all the sick HS regs are to my left. I end up playing relatively snug, as two people bust immediately leaving us with 16. My table has two 10BB stacks and the other has three in the 15BB zone so my 30BB plays pretty bad having three 100BB stacks to my left who all like to 3-bet heaps. In the next hour that it takes for the bubble to burst I open roughly once every orbit and usually win the blinds, 3bet bluff once from MP against UTG and 3bet shove with 66 for 25BB from the BB with success.

When the bubble finally bursts I've got 108k, exactly the same amount I had before it began, so with all the ICM troubles and my position I think that went pretty well. After the bubble it only took about 20 hands for it go from 13 players to 9, during which I was still card dead and again basically just opened enough to keep my stack at around the same, waiting to get anything half reasonable to get my stack in with.

Then all of a sudden we are in the ft bubble, the blinds go up from 2k/4k to 3k/6k missing an entire level for some reason, and I have 18BBs left because of the blind change. I've already set my target on who I want to 3bet bluff shove, but then I hear "all-in and a call" from the other table and someone busts, and we don't even get to play a hand.

The play resumes at 4PM GMT tomorrow.

LETTTTTTSSSSSSSSS GGGGGOOOOOOOOOOO

Good luck tomorrow man. Ship that title. Ship it for glooory!

good luck!

your blog is one of the few where I carefully read every post, making sure to take it all in. wp sir.

I got fifth for $23k, not too bad. I never got above 25BB all day, doubled up once AK>AJ and then busted AJ<AQ. Apart from that I just had to fold and fold and fold being dealt absolute crap all day. I ran into a ton of spots where I would've 3bet jammed like 40% but never got anything close to good enough. With a cold deck like that I don't think I would've had a realistic chance to get any higher with my starting stack. My starting stack was of course the result of my mistakes on day two, and had I not played like an idiot on multiple occasions I'd have had a lot more and it could've been a different story, but right now I'm happy with the score And it's not too bad to be officially (although not in practice) the 5th best poker player in Finland

O

Originally posted by MiikkaAnttonen
Soon after I raise Q8o to 3300 at 800/1600 on some random player's blind from the button. I saw the BB tank for an eternity with AK in a super easy 4bet spot (he had to 4bet shove with it facing a 3bet) almost folding, and generally acting like scared money. So that's definitely an any two raise for me. He calls, flop K32r. He checks, I bet 4100, he calls. Turn A, he checks, I bet 8100 and he calls. River 8, his range is capped at Ax and I'm pretty sure he'd just fold even that on the flop so he's probably going to have KQ-KT here almost always. I shove for 1,5x pot in true sumpas (swedish online player who likes river overshoves) style and he tankfolds saying he had KJ.

what?
u open Q8o from BTN...villain in BB had AK .... u 3 barrel K32r A 8.....he tank fold saying he has KJ wtf

btw congrats for #5

^Read again, the AK was a previous hand that I based my reads on.

i read it and it doesnt has any sense to me..
i guess u were trying to say that BB tanks previously with AK almost folding when some1 3bet him and finaly decided to 4bet get it in (thats how u know that he has AK) and u decide to 3 barrel vs him inp with q8 puting him on KQ-KT on K32r A 8 board

Soon after I raise Q8o to 3300 at 800/1600 on some random player's blind from the button (I saw the BB tank for an eternity with AK in a super easy 4bet spot, he had to 4bet shove with it facing a 3bet almost folding, and generally acting like scared money, so that's definitely an any two raise for me). He calls, flop K32r. He checks, I bet 4100, he calls. Turn A, he checks, I bet 8100 and he calls. River 8, his range is capped at Ax and I'm pretty sure he'd just fold even that on the flop so he's probably going to have KQ-KT here almost always. I shove for 1,5x pot in true sumpas (swedish online player who likes river overshoves) style and he tankfolds saying he had KJ.

See?

I have cracked MTTs and possibly life itself. I've spent a lot of time reading and thinking about things recently, and despite losing 13k in the last 4 days (most of that was FTP money, thanks Lederer!) I know good things will happen soon. My first English video is scheduled to be out next week, it's from the SCOOP HU highroller against Jude Ainsworth and it should be a fun one. Let me know what you think when it's out!

Looking forward to that! ♠_biggrin:

sigh hope its not a diamond video