Week in Review #8 May 11th - May 17th
Welcome to all the new subscribers
I started this Substack almost two months ago and it has been growing steadily. I appreciate the support of everyone, but one thing I have noticed is the content that people engage with the most is topical. For some stupid reason the general public cares more about recent controversial hands than online poker hands that haunt me because I check folded a hand worth 0.07bbs in a three bet pot four years ago. In today’s Week in Review, I’d like to welcome all the new subscribers who have joined after reading Friday’s POTD and I have a request: The concept of this blog is that I review my mistakes, which I will continue to do, but I’d also like this blog to grow. That means with Triton Montenegro, all the big online poker series running and the WSOP upcoming. If any subscribers would like me to write about specific hands let me know and I’ll try my best to honour your request, feel free to respond in the comments below.
As always, if you like what you’re reading on this newsletter please consider becoming a paid subscriber. The subscription tiers and all the ways to contact me are listed here.
Testimonials
Do I promise that if you become a subscriber to this newsletter that you will win Triton tournaments? No. Did a Premium Subscriber win the inaugural tournament of Triton Montenegro the WPT Global Slam for $860,000 the best live cash of her career? Yes. In event #1 four of the top 6 were Canadian and Xuan Liu became the first woman to win a Triton. After her win, she tweeted
I haven't played or studied much MTTs - this is my 9th live tournament this year (1st, 2nd, 2nd + 2 other cashes, nbd )
but a tool that's really helped me think about the game and passively prepare for this level is @SamGreenwoodRIO's Punt of the Day substack
Highly recommended for the high stakes MTT strat and pleasant read as Sam is an excellent writer, with bonus enjoyment if you're an NA sports fan
We at POTD would like to congratulate Xuan on her win and thank her for the kind words. After only one try, she now has more Triton NLHE tournament wins than I do and we are tied on the overall leaderboard for wins (my only win was in Short Deck).
I’d also like to thank Jamil Wakil for graciously reading an early draft of POTD #40 and providing me with paragraphs of context and feedback that helped me sharpen my post. He also had kind things to say about POTD and me on Twitter
Highly recommend subscribing to Sam’s Substack if you’re not already. He’s consistently providing a fun way to receive high level poker insight from one of the best in the game.
Additional Sims For Premium Subscribers
If you are a Premium Subscriber like Xuan you will get access to a Google Drive folder of custom sims that I’ve run for the blog. This week’s sims include
A Rocket Solver three way flop sim
A PIO solve from the turn after using an alternative flop strategy
A Simple3Way flop solve and a PIO turn/river solve of the same hand
Postflop sims using squeezed preflop ranges ran in PIO
An HRC sim locking the SB’s three bet range
Additional Analysis for Premium Subscribers
Everyday Premium Subscribers get additional analysis, here is a sample from POTD #36
POTD #36 onemorething One thing I liked about this hand is that while I still ran a Rocket Solver sim for you guys. My initial attempt to solve the hand was more or less how I'd come to answer in 2012. I put my opponent on a range, plugged it into an equity calculator and saw if I had enough equity to call. I do often wonder about what it's like for people who learned poker in the solver era and never had to do ICM calculations by hand or manually range an opponent or solve a hand using PPT Odds Oracle (I was late to the game and never used StoxEV). I think PIO or GTOw or Rocket or any of the million other tools out there are better than the old tools or manual calculations, but I do think occasionally using the old tools is a good way to learn. A coloured box in a grid tells you how to play a hand and how it fits into a strategy, but it often isn't clear why you should play a hand that way or what changes in your opponent's range would be sufficient to change your strategy. If you have an unusual spot that isn't easily or quickly solved, I'd recommend occasionally using older tools to come up with an answer. It might change how you think about the spot
Media
My latest Run It Once video dropped and while I like all my videos, I am proud of this one and I have received a lot of positive feedback about it. It’s titled What the Hell Does GTO Mean? and you should watch it.
The only personal media I consumed this week I cannot recommend. Yelling into the void about the disappointing Toronto Maple Leafs. (Editor’s note this post was written Friday before puck drop, perhaps this year really is different)