[JLIT]

Decided on some recent goal adjustments, taking the focus away from Short Stacking and instead investing more funds and time to learn from the base up at 100bb stack size as this will be a much better process long run I believe and hopefully a slightly lower learning curve. So far it has proven to help my EV Adjusted All In and decision-making process significantly.

My Near-Term Goals:

• Pass my CFP Exam for my current job to free up my time outside of required work hours for poker, passions, fun, & relationships.
• Establish a deeper, elite understanding of the game of Pot-Limit Omaha
• Work to being a Low Stakes Break-Even to Winning Player on High Rake, American Sites
• Have injected 300 hours of study & training into my game by the end of 2021
• Play at least 100 hours by end of 2021
• Be ready with a strong foundation to take on 2022
  Focus first on short stack strategy to protect my bankroll and potentially scale quicker at first

Milestones & Actions

• Develop a daily/weekly routine to incorporate 8 hours of study into my week.
• Develop a stronger mindset for poker & in general to relieve stresses on and off the tables
• Prioritize study hours over playing tables if available time outside of work is tight.
• Become a 5bb/100 winner on American Sites at PLO50, over a minimum of 30,000 hands
• Crush PLO50 as a 7bb/100+ winner, minimum of 50,000 hands played
• Take proper shots to move up to PLO100
  – Stick to Conservative Bankroll management. (100+ Buy-Ins, build to 200 Buy-Ins). Become a 5bb/100 winner over a minimum of 100,000 hands.
• Move up to PLO200
  – Become a winning player at PLO200, make this my standard stake to grind in order to roll myself to start preparing for high-stakes shots.

  Reevaluate and set new goals once achieved or at end of 2022.

[JLIT]

Frustration is definitely setting in online. The feeling of the ups and downs is exhausting. Time to focus on studying and remove myself from the tables for the time being. I have not found enough play/study balance to finish the initial 10-week course and start the “Crushing Small Stakes” one, so shouldn’t be much surprise to have such a roller coaster. I’m up overall, but my consistency bothers me, I struggle to have consistent results which makes me believe my wins are luck and not skill.

Anyways, back to the lab, might not sit down at a table until the 10 week transformation is done at the very least. Have a lot coming up for the holiday season, so makes sense to crush the course and attend the December 16 planning stream with a fresh mind and the course done.

[JLIT]

STARTING POINTS (Pre-PLOMastermind)☝

While October 2021 will be a study-heavy & low-volume month for me due to my CFP Exam coming up on November 3, I wanted to document where I was starting from. This way I would have a snapshot for comparison to see my improvement. I have already started to see some flattening out of my graph and a positively trending All-In EV, but I have a ton of ground to make up. My Graph below was a combination of very poor short-stack play at PLO100 and full-stack at PLO50 and very poor mental game. I have taken a step back with the intention to study harder and step down to PLO25 to rebuild my confidence and prevent heavier damage during the learning process.

The only thing not shown on the main graph is my Global Poker results, but that is just about a $200 profit over an estimated 14,000 hands. While I am told that is a soft website, I am hesitant to play on it as much due to no Rakeback, no tracking to improve, and while soft games are great for strong players, it may prove better for my development to play in games that are a bit tougher, to learn from mistakes and prevent overconfidence. As you can see on Global, my confidence was inflated by a good run in the beginning but was obviously not sustainable as I spewed my $1,100 profit back down to about $200 of profit while losing on other websites as well in the first 5,000 hands. With about 20,000 hands in the books and lackluster results, unable to know what I was doing wrong, I joined up with the PLO Mastermind.

Ultimately the goal is to be a strong player, the profits & results can come later. I want them to come in a way that I can look back knowing it wasn’t due to luck or run good, but true, sustainable results. More to come… 🧐

[JLIT]

MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH (Shot-Taking) $10k Milestone ($6,835 win)!!

Had a massive night and breakthrough bringing my bankroll over the $10k mark! 🤑

As mentioned in earlier posts, there is a local 5-100 Slot Limit Omaha game that I have found to be extremely high-action and soft. The issue with the game is that the potential for swings is very high due to the inability to make many opponents fold very often. I made some major adjustments to my game, particularly with preflop aggression due to the Slot Limit and this Loose play.

Due to studying for my CFP exam, I have played nearly no PLO in October, but have continued to study on the side when I have had time. Taking just the basics of knowledge I have acquired thus far, I decided to take a $500 shot as a study break to enjoy the game and practice what I’ve learned in an environment that is both weak yet dangerous due to the possibility of swings. The idea behind this shot was the hopes of accumulating a large roll to grind PLO50 and PLO100 online comfortably. I’ve found that the Mastermind has given me the ability to notice other players’ mistakes much more frequently and simply by simplifying the game at an exceptionally loose game like this one; I was able to produce and maximize success after success while minimizing losses.

I am also aware that I may have run well and not been “coolered” often, but when reviewing the spots I chose, I was able to understand and justify my decisions as profitable ones vs. getting lucky one night. This is the third time I played in this game and have accumulated about 32 hours of play. While driving to this game I have been listening to the 10 or so Podcasts from the Mastermind on Spotify which has benefited my mindset and helped me to think through the goals that I have been setting for myself. Highly suggest taking advantage o those in the gym/driving/etc.

This session I rolled $500 up to $7,250 at my high point, cashing out for $6,835 after about 9 hours of play. 😱 Needless to say, I’m thrilled and ready to step back down to study and learn more and play within my bankroll. I want to definitely avoid falling into the shot-taking pit, but could see utilizing this game for the occasional $500-$1,000 shot as my game progresses to pad my roll further. However, these shots have to come after other results in order to avoid variance from slowly bleeding this roll back.

Having 200+ buy-ins for PLO 50 and now 100 for PLO100 my next hope is to grind PLO50 and potentially plan my next shot to be at PLO100 after I log a solid 10,000 or so hands profitably at PLO50. These are just my initial thoughts but I intend to put a revised plan together after my exam on November 3.

[DarrenChandler]

Hi Jason, can you explain the “Slot Limit” format, I haven’t heard of that before. Those Live games sound amazing. I wish you well and good luck with the 90-day purge!

[JLIT]

Hey Darren, Thanks for the luck!

In Minnesota, No Limit & Pot Limit is “illegal.” The games in the card rooms here are known as Slot Limit where the limits are displayed for example as: 2-100 or 5-100. This means that the game plays like a 1-2 NL or 5-5 NL game up to 100 per bet/raise. So in the 5-100 game, the bb and sb are 5 and the maximum raise is 100. So it can go back and further 100, 200, 300, etc. capped at 4 or 5 bets per round. While it gets a lot of people to just spill their black chips into the pot, the issue is that it is extremely difficult to ever win a pot without a showdown. Fish combined with only having to call 100 for a 1k pot happens all the time….so you better have the goods betting or raising the river haha. 🤷‍♂️ So I feel like an edge of a good player may be limited by the luck of smart hand selection holding to the river often enough if you aren’t rolled deeply.

[DarrenChandler]

Thank you for the clarification. Capping the $5/$5 at $100 seems absurd.

[JLIT]

PRELIMINARY PASSED MY CFP.

Now with that behind me, I can regroup and refocus on PLO in my spare time which is fantastic. After a few more shots at the local 5-100 game, I have come back to looking to study heavily and preserve my bankroll coming back to a main stake of PLO50 and working my way into PLO100 hopefully soon.

My goal is to be ready to take on 2022 with several more hours of study behind my game to end the year and enjoy the holiday season as well. I understand now the importance of focusing on actions and enjoying the game, vs. being so heavily focused on the money. Now that I have money set aside specifically for poker and deep enough to play a decent-sized stake, I feel I am able to do this and stay committed. Something playing in the local 5-100 game has taught me is how much of an impact studying has on your ability to play at a high level and that hour and hours of play will not increase your skill the way studying will. This is blatantly displayed by these soft live games where these players sit there day after day and still make blunder after blunder.

A side project I am also working on is learning Spanish and getting myself back into shape to continue playing Hockey and Basketball as I had done in the past prior to Covid & Studying for the CFP.

Time to hit the books! 🧐

[JLIT]

Back to Business!

On a 90 day purge looking to accomplish a few main things:

1. Physical Health – Hitting the gym minimum of once a day, watching what I eat especially on weekdays. Tracking in Samsung Health App.

2. Poker Training – Minimum 8 Hours/week: Starting with Week 5 Completing the 10-week transformation; look to start “Crushing Small Stakes.” Incorporate PLO Trainer & Quizzes

3. Poker Playing: At least 4 hours/week to play in addition to my studying; studying takes priority.

4. Saving & Investing: Continue to watch spending to save excess & pump bankroll as well as add to investments. Saving through the 90 days then reevaluating where to place funds at that time from lump sum based on need.

Let’s get it. Purge Began on 1/11/22 and has been solid for 5 days. WIll continue to push myself.