The Sunday Grind, Why Ride the Wave?

In Australia our Monday falls when the rest of the world is busy enjoying their Sunday. This means that the Sunday majors happen on an early Monday morning, once a week every player worldwide jumps online and every Australian player wakes up at 4am to get their grind on. It is a necessary evil to play this day if you want to be an online mtt (multi table tournament) player.

The reason Sunday majors are a big deal is multi faceted. First of all the tournaments are the largest on this day, Secondly the guarantees are the biggest and thirdly fields are generally the weakest.



The reason is because more leisurely or part time players can play on these days so in addition to all the regulars (who are looking to benefit from this scenario) you now have a largest amount of players ever online.

Satellites run all week long for the Sunday schedule and build up the amount of players. Players that have satellited into events are generally weaker then those who choose to play the event normally. The reasoning for this is that the player who satellites into lets say Sunday millions which is a $215 buy in would usually only buy into tournaments that cost under $50.

As the buy-in (BI) goes up the fields get tougher and so the player who has an average BI of $10 is generally going to be weaker then a player who has an avg BI of $100. It's a process of elimination, if a player keeps losing at a higher stake eventually they drop down to a lower more suitable game. Poker is more fun when you are winning.

Sunday is the most swing day, larger fields create higher variance. If you play in a tournament with 10 players and all players were of equal skill you would win 10% of the time. If you play in an event with 10 000 players and all were equal skill you would win .01%. Because tournaments are top heavy in payout structure we always want to play to win, when you take up this kind of mindset in high variance big fields players will tend to win or lose a lot on this day.

Most players play higher BI on the Sunday. Because the fields are weaker players who usually play $50 BI usually will play $100 BI plus Sunday millions. Every player wants to play Sunday millions because it is the biggest regular tournament online and it runs the most satellites and so at its particular BI is great value for almost every real player.

All the major sites (pokerstars, carbon, party poker, bwin, titan etc) have enough games on a Sunday that you will never have trouble getting a quantity of tables up at whatever stake you desire. Some players who like to play really high BI just play the biggest BI on each site, however using different software from different sites at the same time can be annoying.

Sunday is the funday where hopes and dreams are at a high but due to variance are generally crushed, it is an emotional fast passed day. It is certainly a wave which is ridden worldwide once a week by many many people. If you are going to win big in poker this is the day to get it done.

All i can say is good luck on the grind and for the Australian's don't miss your alarms

Mid Stakes Mtt Video

I've been interested in coaching for a while both from the side of learning and the side of teaching as a way to develop both myself and my game as a whole. Often when watching other players you are put into new scenarios you would not often find yourself in.... Sometimes we find new and good ways to play hands and other times we just have to attempt to clean up a mess, but i think the thought process is interesting

This is a video i made for my team-mate "the infamous Jacky Wang" a few months ago (he has been doing amazingly since and id like to think i had a little hand in helping him along the way). A lot of things have changed in my game since this point but i thought id put this up as a freebee for all those interested. It was my first attempt at making a video so go easy and feel free to leave comments

7 deadly sins

I confess its been 7 or so months since my last update. Ive been a busy boy playing poker, learning new formats, getting in some big live games and trying to stay sane.
I'm going to discuss some bad things in regards to online play and then talk about how i deal with them.

Online poker deadly sins

Sin 1 Not having enough fun
Sin 2 Playing tournaments
Sin 3 (Not) Controlling your emotions
Sin 4 Not waking up fully before grind sessions
Sin 5 Chatting too much/ or any distraction that does not let you focus on your game
Sin 6 Being on your computer way way to much
Sin 7 Being lazy

"but finally I've learnt this, (if you don't do enough things that make you happy and keep your life separate from your work) your whole life can become a grind"
As a professional poker player you must have some other vices outside of this game, we all need an escape. The reason for this is probably based on variance which comes from the land of tournaments (at least more then in any other field of this game).

I think there are many controllable factors which mostly tie in with not being lazy. You need to use your time wisely when you are not forced to work, but this is not just for work this is also for the time you dedicate to your family your relationships and all other aspects of your life.

You can control your sleep patterns so you wake up well in advance of your sessions, for some people sessions are scheduled in but for me this would make it seem very much like a grind if i was obligated to play x hours at x time. In fact it is one of the reasons i don't like jobs...the freedom to be my own boss is highly important

In online poker tournaments on the major sites all players get a five minute break every hour, if you were ever going to use your time wisely this is the period in which it must be done. Personally i spend this five minutes away from my computer stretching and doing general fitness to get blood circulation happening and clear my mind from the fast passed decision making that happens the rest of the time. Toilet breaks, showers and quick meal preparation also fill in this time. Usually i prepare meals before sessions so i am never distracted by hunger, any meal that can be reheated in the microwave during breaks is a winner.

Turn off your facebook, twitter etc and don't get to involved in skype chats when you have more then nine tables ruining. This seems pretty obvious but distractions are super bad and will lose you money long term. You only have a small amount of time to process information on tables and shortening this time by allowing yourself to be distracted is the equivalent of playing a whole lot more tables with none of the gains.

As professional poker players we are going to be tied to our computers a whole lot, this can be balanced by some amount of live play and getting outdoors when you finish your sessions. We all need some escapes from poker at times try to make these activities which distance you from your desktop.

Controlling emotions is one of the hardest things to deal with. There is no easy solve, but it is important to stay positive and give off positive energy to others around you even when things are not going well. I personally struggle with this and catch myself doing things that i know are bad from this perspective. You don't have to keep it all inside but limit your venting and negativity as much as you can/ or just don't play tournaments because they are the most tilting thing in the world :)

With all this said have fun with your poker and fun with your life. Remember that you took up this career because you love this game, if this is not why you are here then may i suggest a different path.