Grinders/Grinding/Grinds

Wow, I felt so good today. For some reason I had an extra bit of calmness, confidence, emotional detachment, and desire to get all the money. It's awesome when we feel good don't you think? I woke up earlier than normal today when my phone rang about noon. It was a call I have been waiting for so I was happy to take it. After the phone call I decided to go ahead and get my day started. As always before a session I like to take a shower and get some food. One of the reasons I am so strict on that is because MTTs is a grind and when you play them you have to be prepared for long sessions. I do not like to be mid session and craving a shower or a meal. Other small things I do during a session is try to spend my breaks away from the computer some. It's nice to give your eyes a small rest and to stretch some. In 2010 when I joined PXF I listen to a handful of audio lectures over and over about preparing for a lesson, tilt control, and emotional detachment. I will say those things have stuck with me.

There was an interesting thread on P5s recently where several grinders commented on what goes on during their session.  It was very interesting to see all the different combinations of things that go on from grinder to grinder. One of the big things that differs from grinder to grinder is equipment. Several guys play on a laptop and several play on multi-monitor systems. The next big topic was distractions.  How many distractions they allow differed greatly from grinder to grinder. Some were convinced they must reduce all distractions while some play with a chat group going. Some play with the television on and others are dead set against it. I know some guys that like to play around their friends and others that want to be alone. The neat part is that there is no dead set right or wrong when it comes to these things. The only person that knows what you can handle is you.

I personally play on a 15" macbook pro with a 27" apple cinema display connected to it. I do usually have a chat group up and I think it is a nice support system. We all post and review tough hands and rail each other when deep. The support and review are very valuable to me but I do have to make sure I am focusing on the play and not the chat. I generally have the television off, but it is basically behind me and in the other room. I will occasionally turn it on during big sporting events but mostly just to listen. I also have a webpage or two up usually, but that is generally for looking players up on OPR and making notes on them. I do generally play alone but have had success grinding alongside friends as well. I mostly go for a minimal distraction approach but to each is own.

Today I cashed in 2 out of 22 MTTs with one final table in the $3r 2.75k. I also had a deep run in the $33 7.5k and have included a hand to view below. I also cashed in 1 out of 3 satellites but the one cash was just for my buy-in back, so nothing exciting there. After my session I went to Taco Bueno for a B.O.B. and when I got home I decided to play a 20NL HU session on Lock. I played for about an hour and won 2 buy-ins. It was a fun little session. I have been enjoying playing HU but I keep my sessions short and maybe thats part of what keeps them enjoyable.

Carbon (Merge) ran very well today. It has been a tough week for them but I am sure everyone was happy with the software today. There are still a few small things that need to be addressed but overall they have definitely improved it. The best parts so far are the sharpness of the look and the speed of the gameplay.  I am sure they will continue to improve the software and that is a plus, I just hope Lock tries to keep up.

Good luck to all my friends at WSOP I hope you are doing great and get a bracelet. I would also like to wish all the online grinders good luck and I hope to see you at a final table soon.

Below is an interesting hand I had come up in the $33 7.5k tonight.

12 handed ITM down to 2 tables 6 on each with most stacks very close. The BB in this hand was a capable player and I had opened and folded to a 3b a couple times rather recently. I like my decisions on the flop and turn, but to this river I should have sigh folded. In the moment I just did not believe him this whole hand and had chosen to call him down. The river is so bad though that I should find the fold button. Not very often will someone three barrel bluff at this in this spot of the MTT, and after the river I cant beat very many possible hand combinations that would take his line.

UTG - PianoFingers $56150.00
UTG +1- ryabykh $86897.00
Cut-off - cracker9ball $61552.00
Button - RailroadBill $28008.00
Small Blind - TEJIDOS $60659.00
Big Blind - CalvinCandie $72152.00

cracker9ball Qd,Kh

UTG FOLD
UTG +1 FOLD
CO cracker9ball RAISES  4000.00
Button FOLD
SB FOLD
BB tcalvincandie RAISE 11650.00

CO cracker9ball CALL 7650.00

POT 24,500.00 - Flop - Kc,2h,Jd

BB calvincandie leads 10,750.00
CO cracker9ball calls 10,750.00

POT 46,000.00 - Turn Ad

BB calvincandie leads 12,345.00
CO cracker9ball calls 12345.00

POT 70,690.00 - River Qh

BB calvincandie shoves 39,407.00
CO cracker9ball calls 26807.00

calvincandie shows Th,Tc
cracker9ball shows Qd,Kh

Contact me for lessons at - variance101@gmail.com