To be a professional MTT player

[weersb76]

First post on here but I have been inspired after reading others posts to now use my own post for personal accountability but also to get advice and feedback from as many people as possible especially from folk who are also using poker coaching training classes etc also sorry in advance at the length of the post

About me - Im 43 years old and have been a driving instructor for 6 years and before that been a football coach while doing various other jobs so supplement the poor income from being a coach
I have played poker on and off for approx 15 years with a few attempts at taking it more serious which i gave up on for various reasons due to poor bankroll management ,needing to use winnings for real life , not having enough time to commit to it due to work, doing very little if any study apart from basic youtube videos , and well just not being good enough to make it at higher levels

The difference for me this attempt as far as i am concerned are i am now excellent at bankroll management , i have been in lock down for 4 months and have been smashing the volume and studying , i have found this amazing site and have studied more the last couple of months at poker than possibly anything i have ever done in my life , my daughter is grown up and financially supports herself , i have a job where i am financially comfortable in life but more importantly i am my own boss and can pick and choose the hours i work which can allow me more freedom to work less / more depending on how well i do at poker

Poker background - My current HM dates back to Nov 2013 and shows i have played 118k hands on cash tables for a massive profit of $14.54 with the highest level played $50 NL , i also had poker tracker before this date and also played up to $50NL at one point with that so would guess at least another 100k hands but this is just to highlight the amount of volume i have played over the years
I have included two photos from sharkscope to show my sit and go plus tournament volume over the years i have played which i far more than i actually thought i had played

Since May 13th 2020 - I am using this date as my starting point for my MTT journey for a few reasons first i subscribed for poker coaching premium on the 7Th May, next i got my HM sorted properly as it wasn't tracking bounty tournament correct so my results were not being recorded properly and absolutely useless and finally i decided to give up on cash tables as i find them very frustrating and not enjoyable i had played 42,000 hands over 6 weeks and lost $8 so played a decent amount ,at some point in the future i would like to go back to them but i want to fully focus on one type of game


I had played MTTs for about 4 weeks previous to this date some on party poker due to poker stars customer service being shit and locking my account on a few occasions when depositing and taking forever to reply but since but i have included a screenshot of my results from my HM from the 13th May

Bankroll management - I started by putting a total of $500 in and have been very strict with moving up even when been close to the next level i have waited , i was alose willing to invest more money if i lost the initial $500 as i dont want to play any lower than $1-$5 games hers the rules i have set myself , i have included up to $215 games but i am only aiming for $109 at the moment as i belive IF i van get the skill set to compete and survive at that buy in i could be at least part time if not full time depending on my ROI %

Start $5 max buy in -moved up to $11 on 24th June
Over $825 play $11 max move back down at $500
Over $1650 play $22 max , move down at $1100
Over $3300 play $33 max , move down at $2475
Over $6875 play $55 max, move down at $3750
Over $16,500 play $109 max , move down $8250
Over $40,000 play $215 max , move down $22000

My goal is to be able to sustain an average profit of $65,000 to achieve this i aim to work 44 weeks a year and play a minimum of 100 MTTs a week ,10 hour average sessions at a time which i have been managing no problem during lock down then i would need an average of $1500 a week and the following ROI%

Average buy in $170 need 9% ROI
Average buy in $125 need 12% ROI
Average buy in $100 need 15% ROI
Average buy in $60 need 25% ROI


Table set up - I have adjusted it a lot over last two months at the moment play 6 tables at a time with 4 being normal MTTs , one table I play 9 or 18 man sit and gos , and last table I dedicate to satellites where it can’t be higher than my max buy in and no more than1 in 10 for a seat and have 10,000 starting chips


Studying - Over the last few moths on poker coaching i have watched a mass amount of videos , completed many courses, done quizzes and listened to loads of Jonathans podcats
on top of this i have subscribed to over 10 players on youtube and regularly watch them play, other coaches videos i regularly watch are Raise Your Edge and BBZ poker i have bought a couple of his individual videos, i also listen to Jeff Gross podcasts when exercising every day interviewing other professionals so basically for the last few months i have done nothing but digest poker content

Recently i have been watching Matt Afflecks webinars on effective studying and push/fold , rejamming with short stacks and creating my own study routine that i do on a daily basis which consists of me reviewing every hand from the day before where i am all in pre flop , on the flop and 3 bet pots, i then use ICM izer and Flopzilla to go over them and keeping excel sheets on results , before i get ready to play i write out down what my main focus for the day is i.e 3 bet bluffs, 3 bets from SB etc or whatever i have picked up on from either videos or podcasts that day i would like to implement to my game

So thats my goals and what im doing to achive them but one thing i fell i have always missed and constantly hear professionals talk about is having and being part of a poker community which is something i have always lacked , i have always read two plus two and started reading on here the last couple of months but never replied so this is my first step into communicating with other poker players , i have also joined and trying to get into the habit of replying on the discord app also Raise Your Edge discord group.

Any feedback , opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated thanks edit- also just realised my username on the forum is wrong it should be weerab76

[VanZ77]

Hi weerab,
Sounds you are taking this serious. I like your plans a lot, hope it all works out for you! If you want to put variance down even more come play on unibet where the fields ar small.
And welcome to the community. If you want to exchange hh or anything feel free to PM me.
good luck, cheers Maarten

[Robinennis]

this is nice post

[weersb76]

1st August update and my thoughts about how i had a disaster results wise which has resulted in me having to move back down to $5 max games in line with my bankroll management but at the same time really I am happy about my progress in my understanding of the game due to the amount of studying and practice I have done over the month
Start off with the negatives and mistakes i felt i have made during the month

1/ Volume Volume Volume!!! i have had this in my head for a while now that i need to get the volume in to hit my target of 100 MTTs a week and made this my priority and i feel that i have definitely sacrificed quality over quantity and disappointed it took me so long to actually realise it when deep down i knew my play was suffering but i was determined to be able to play 6 tables at a time for 10hr sessions while keeping 6 tables loaded my whole session until i stopped registering for the day.

I done a big review on the 30th July looking at every day individually in the months of May and June which were far better and found the one big difference was that what i done through those months is i would load 4 tables maximum but if i got deep in any of them i wouldn't register anymore and let them run down while giving my full focus to the deep run, after looking at results for those two months compared to July i was in profit more days but more importantly I made more final tables which is where the real money is. Gave it a try it on the 30th this month i only played 4 tables max at a time and hit a final table and i was in profit for the day now i know this is no evidence to back it up but what i do know is i played possibly some of the best poker i had for a while and actually felt like i was putting into practice lots of the skills i have learned and been studying for the last few months only time will tell but i believe this was a massive mistake and has held me back

2/ Playing 9,18,45,180 player normal / turbo SNGs at the same time as playing normal MTTs and satellites- i actually stopped playing the SNGs around the middle of the month as i was losing far too much in bad session and you will see the difference in a drop in the losses column in the stats sheet from the day i stopped playing them

3/Playing to many and too expensive satellites for my bankroll previously it was up to the max buy in allowed but i have now changed it to only half my max buy in allowed as even though i actually done quite well getting the tickets i was bombing in the tournaments themselves so im now just targeting 3 a day and with the drop in tables and possible improvement in play i might actually get some kind of result in one but if not i dont want to commit so much of my bankroll on a daily basis

Now onto the positives for the month
1/ Studying routine - My daily routine now consists of looking at every all in pre flop running it through ICMizer and filling in an excel sheet which i have included at the bottom for you to see i look at how many all ins it says were correct / wrong then i look at the ones which it says were correct then find how many were actually won and lost even with the correct decision according to ICMizer , following that i have a different excel sheet where i write down what i done wrong and what range i should of been calling with and been looking to find similar patterns and situations happening
I feel this has been excellent at helping give me a really good understanding of push shove call ranges BUT what i now need to do is make it adaptable to the villains range and also adjust to the the stage of tournament . I also go through my play post flop and write down any major mistakes im making

2/ Poker coaching study - this month i would say i have watched a minimum of 20 hours of coaching videos mainly focusing on various coaches doing different hand reviews a few on 3 betting , c/betting and more recently bluffing

3/Twitch- I had never used twitch in my life but i have been watching it every night for hours at a time the last few weeks and with the pokerstars stadium series on just now showing all cards up and commentators explaining the thought process of the professionals has been superb for both entertainment and learning , i have also been watching Lex , Finton, Spraggy, Matt Staples who all stream and explain there play and thinking behind each decision , from this i have also noticed they dont mass table either prob about 6 max and take time to explain what they are doing so im actually practising speaking out loud at times what i am doing it and why i am doing to make sure im thinking about every decision and not just auto piloting

4/youtube / podcats, i still watch any videos posted by Jonathan Litte , Lex , Staples brothers, Jeff Gross , BBZ poker , Bencb and podcasts i still listen to Jonathans and Jeff Gross podcasts

So basically for the last month i have been living like a professional poker player studying 2/3 hours a day while playing an average of 10 hours but I just dont have the results to back it up, I am still not allowed to go back to work until the 24th August so i can still keep up this routine for another 3 weeks so my plan is to max 4 table at a time and keep studying and practising as much as possible then hopefully next month will have better results to post

Any feedback questions or help would be appreciated thanks

[JackStephens]

Hey Weerab,

Looks like we play the same games and the same goal!

GL!

Look forward to the updates

[Captiv8]

Hey nice posts, really good to be open to feedback and looking to grow. I came here because I am looking to start posting myself for similar reasons.

A couple of pieces of feedback based on my own experiences.

I think working with ICMizer after every session is great, I think understanding push/fold, rejamming ranges and calls of rejams will put you ahead of so many people. For a couple of months that was the primary studying that I did, and I still run these spots weekly to ensure that I am staying on track.

I have had success with focusing on one of two items to improve on at a time as I feel like if I am working on too much that I do not implement well enough, example, what I am working on now is x/r's from bb and opens from bb v a sb limp. I still review all areas where i have previously focused to ensure I am still where I want to be. It can be a slow process but each area you master will put you at an advantage versus the field.

Good luck

[fermiparadoxbezospacemichael@gmail.com]

Everyday I do training through movies on tablet but if I was really motivated i would take notes not mentioning of retyping all variations and car configuration from beating small stakes tournamenet, also struggling with wifi connection made 1,15 of game play video try to upload through youtube but there are some complications, but after one hour and 30 minutes or sth similar got tired but i am aware of that there are possible to play 16 hours ankrolls challenges from for example 200 dollars to 10 000 [example urabnovich play on youtube] so if i want to be professional i should be prepared for it as 1,30 minutes was exhaustive as well. Please help.

[fermiparadoxbezospacemichael@gmail.com]

Chelmsford

I record again play now last time approx 1,30 min ut i am preparing myself for bankrolls 16 hours

as I saw them on youtube.

again long play i ant upload one movie at youtube

and do not have wifi now at proeprty using burger kings

and did not take cable for tablet charging

Seen 20:10
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[weersb76]

1st of September update and lockdown is finally over for me and i returned to work last monday so now my aim is to find out how i can play as much poker as possible while being back at work here is my plan for available hours each day but i also get lesson cancellations which would allow me a 90 min poker session so i had been trying to play 6 max cash games for the first time ever as it was always full ring, over the last 3 sessions i have went back to playing sit and go 9,18,45,90 and 180 players which i have really enjoyed playing again

Monday 8pm-10.30pm sit and go or cash
Tuesday / Wednesday study only unless I have lesson cancellations
Thursday 5pm-10.30pm
Friday 7pm until finish
Saturday 2pm until finish
Sunday all day

My bankroll is down under $100 now so need to try build that back up and going to use sit and gos to try and do that so the table plan is back to what it was in june when i was doing well is have 2 tables for sit and go various sizes along with 2 tables for MTTs

My study will be affected the most and wont have much time for videos but i have still got hundreds of quizzes to be completed so they will be my main focus but try and get some coaching videos done , i am still using Twitch to watch streamers and listening to podcasts when exercising so getting good content, i am also still doing my daily all in pre flop homework

[thereitis]

I really like the dedication you have to studying, improving and focusing on bankroll management. If you have a dream and you work hard at it, you can achieve it. I know Jonathan says this regularly but find a game you can beat and then put in as much volume as you can in that game.

I've bounced around a lot in my career between cash, sit n gos, tournaments. I recently decided to really focus on bankroll management and try to focus on one game ( for me it will be cash games ). I think having a clear focus is helpful especially when you are limited in the time you have.

If I were you, since your goal eventually is to play MTTs professionally is I would probably play more sit n gos and less cash games. Sit n goes will force you to keep practicing your preflop ranges across different stack sizes and force you to study ICM. I know that some top MTT pros will say that if you want to get good at MTTs, start by learning how to play short / mid stack poker. All the important spots in tournaments when the big money is on the line will be when you have less than 50bb stack.

GL!

[CrazyEddie Reloaded]

u need bencb for a start.

[Honest John]

Hi Mate,

I am also 43 and in the UK. I'm planning on starting a blog soon too to keep me accountable. I've been playing up $33 tournaments since March and holding my own having had some decent results early on. IT's tough going but I am confident I'm playing well enough to win. Volume is my biggest problem as I only play 3 nights a week at most, meaning I'm probably only playing like 25 - 30 a week.

I'd be happy to discuss strategy and stuff if you like, message me. I just bought the RYE app masterclass now too so working through that as well.

Best of luck.

[CrazyEddie Reloaded]

I have masterclass. If you have video watching group, I'm interested. 25 per week is alot more than what i play.

I would say I am most comfortable , familiar with midstakes tourney on star.

[Honest John]

I just checked my avg played a week since February and it is only 9. Obviously I have had some breaks and holidays during that time. It seems I have totally underestimated my volume there though.

I can't stomach playing on stars much nowadays. I play mostly on 888 and Grosvenor for now.

[CrazyEddie Reloaded]

what is wrong with stars ??? GG mtt isn't even full fledged mtt. The game is dead. You trying to get better. But sites are trying to take away any edge

[Honest John]

I just don't like stars anymore, and its not GG I play on it's Grosvenor which is on Ipoker. They have UK only tournaments so fields are small and soft.

[weersb76]

1st October update, been trying to get into a routine with work and time to play but have found it difficult to get motivated at times due to not doing well results wise for a few months now but I have had some decent success the last week so hopefully that will give me a boost to get motivated again

I have still been focusing on 9,18,45 and 180 man games due to only have a couple of hours each evening free but going to make a big effort to get at least one 10 hour session a week in either saturday or sunday to get more MTTs in, bankroll was down as low as $17 at one point but back up to $180 again now

My studying is also poor just now again due to a mixture of available time and also motivation but i have still been keeping up with my all in pre flop records and using ICMizer to go over the tourneys i play and trying to listen to podcasts when out exercising but will attempt to watch more videos this month or at least watching youtube videos of professionals playing

[LondonImp]

If you're playing for a couple of hours each evening when are you getting in your studying?

Experience will only take you so far and you risk "learning" poor habits and mistakes.

[weersb76]

That’s what I commented in my post I’m struggling to find time to do it but an idea could be instead of playing every night use one of those nights to watch more videos but I am doing work with ICMizer for every days play

[weersb76]

A late October update as i was feeling a bit lost as how to progress as trying to play sit and gos and MTTs just isnt fitting into my schedule as i dont have enough time after work to get a decent session and when the weekends are coming round i cant find the motivation to play a good 8hours as ive got other stuff going on

I watched the interview with the new coach Brad Wilson and it has inspired me to get serious about studying more now so i have joined back up to the PC premium as i had stopped when i returned to work and i have decided to do a minimum of one quiz every single day with more if i feel like it and also at least one video per week but preferably more

I have also joined GG poker instead of pokerstars as i wanted to play a site without HUDs and due to unlocking honeymoon bonus i have been playing various versions of poker for the first time and also a lot of 6 max cash games and have decided to yet again make this my main focus as this is far more suitable to my schedule , i am starting at $5NL and being very patient with building it up stakes while putting a much larger focus on studying and only playing 4 tables at a time

[radubalaj]

Cash is absolutely the way to go for people with a somewhat busy schedule. Good luck!

[weersb76]

1st December update and feeling in a much better place with both playing and studying i am playing on GG poker still but the first half of the month i was unlocking the honeymoon bonus which took up a lot of my time doing that so never got as much volume in as i would of liked but im really enjoying playing without a HUD now that im used to it and quite like the bonuses and the software so going to keep playing here

I am still playing4 tables of $5NL and my aim for December is to play 30,000 hands and move up to $10NL if i can get my bankroll up a bit higher as i feel more comfortable playing 6max now

Studying has been much better i have stuck to my one quiz a day and one video a week no problem i have included a record of my studying and will keep these records going forward so going forward im aiming to keep doing a minimum of one quiz a day and two hours of watching videos per week

[LondonImp]

I'm doing the honeymoon as well but completely forgot about it on Saturday so there goes the final $150 bonus... d'oh.

[weersb76]

i was up to day 25 unlocked the T$110 but on day 26 my mission was to win a bounty tournament was that annoyed i sent them an email complaining that the challenge was practically impossible to complete so realistically couldnt get the final prize

[LondonImp]

I'm not even a little bit surprised. As soon as I've finished the honeymoon challenge I'm going to stop using that site. They're a bunch of con-artists.

[weersb76]

January 2nd update Happy New Year to every one hope its a great year and youse all get poker success

Still playing on GG poker but now playing 6 tables and you will see that the bonuses available are basically keeping me playing just now Io still have over $100 to unlock for my welcome bonus so will be staying on this site plus the bonus of not using a HUD and the fact i can play 6 tables at a time instead of 4 on pokerstars, although i have thought once my bonus is up i might mix the two so i can get the benefit of using my HUD for studying purposes

Ran well for a good spell and managed to move up to $10NL but then got taught some very harsh lessons on 6 max cash games and have moved back down to $5NL once my bankroll dropped back below $150 with the aim of taking a shot at $10Nl when i get back to $300

I am now also back into lockdown and dont expect to be back working until at least the middle of Feb so the next 6 weeks are going to be massive for me in terms of my goal of being a professional poker player so i intend to make the most of whatever period of time apart from today as Rangers are playing so its a drinking day today I have set out the following schedule for both the aim of playing and studying as much as possible but also keeping me sane and busy during lockdown especially at this time of year

Wake at 7.30 do 1 quiz play from 8-11 am
11-1.30 - 1 hour exercise ,1 quiz ,lunch
1.30-4.30 Play
4.30-6.30 Dinner and study for 1 hour
6.30-9.30 Play
Review marked hands for the day using Flopzilla

Aim for the month is to play 100,000 hands and get to and stick at $10NL while studying at least 1 hour per day

[LondonImp]

Haha yes, football and drinking can be very disruptive when it comes to poker.

Lincoln were playing yesterday but I managed to stick to just a can of tango whilst my brothers and Dad were knocking back the beers on zoom. Although that's more to do with attempting dry Janu-week. Normally Saturday is my day off which coincides with the football anyway.

On a more serious note, good luck keeping to the schedule mate - hope it all goes well.