jojojoooooo

I'm excited to take that internal journey to another level :) . Thank you Chris for your advices and also for the time you took to respond to me, i'm truly grateful.

I'll tell you about my first read of the alchemist (i think that's a book you need to read a few times to fully grasp the author's message).

I understand what you mean, it's worth a try. In order to do it, does deep meditation is necessary ? Tbh given how i struggle to calm my mind, i don't see how i could reach that observation state without it.

Btw got my hand on the alchemist, i'll start reading it next week.

Well i mentionned him because he's the one coming up with that concept, it's not like i found it by myself.
Personally to answer your question with my own words, i'd say my existance is true however thoughts are the proof we exist and thus could be considered a better answer.
By asking this question are you trying to bring me into radical doubt seeking an uncontested truth ?

Great news Sven, looking forward to it

I'm most likely going too far (wouldn't be the first time) but are you trying to make me quote Descartes ? "i'm thinking therefore i am", i'm not sure about the translation, in french it's "je pense donc je suis" . In a vacuum that's a possible answer, i'm capable of thinking so i exist, everything else could be an illusion except that i can think. After reading myself i'm definitely going too far.

Also the only thing that can possibly be true is reality experienced without tinted glasses, simply for what it is, without judgement. But i already said something alike in my last comment so i doubt this is the answer you're looking for.

You're definitely make me think a lot today haha. Looks like one of those innocent question my dad used to ask me, just to see how far i could push my reasoning whereas the answer was simple, making fun of my tendencies to complicate everthing. Telling me to use Ockham's razor.

Tough to answer everything especially since i'm not a native english speaker but i'll give it a try.

I understand and completely agree with you when you say that you basically need strong fundamentals about who you are and reality before adding beliefs or values and that's why i decided and wanted to dig deep in myself first (even though that's not easy). Same with poker you can learn superficially with tricks working in a specific situation, or you can try to understand the mechanics and then create your own tricks based on solid evidences, it will take you longer but the reward at the end is way higher too.

About your question regarding truth, if we talk about the mind i think it's complicated since it will be a subjective answer, very difficult to be objective when it comes to the mind or soul, it's not mathematics so interpretation will be present. I tend to see if a belief, value or acting according to it will be psychologically beneficial or hurtful in short and long term, once i do that i consider that i'm leaning towards the "truth" of who i am or at least i'm on the right path. I don't know if that's what you wanted to know, i might lack maturity or experience in this process, as i've said earlier i started not too long ago.

About my actual inability to meditate on my own for long, i just realized i could only do it for that amount of time, i didn't anticipated anything or had judgement about what i could do. I try and see what happens, basically trial and error mentality. I understood on the fly that my busy and hyperactive mind would be an obstacle to meditation but i'm not going to give up.

I know it's difficult and i fall into that trap but i really try to not have those tinted glasses you talked about, i think you have to be brutally honest with yourself, knowing your strenghts and weaknesses in order to finally find yourself. That could be a reason not so many people are trying, realizing you're weak somewhere won't please your ego, i've been that way for a while.

On the books i'll trust you, even not knowing most of the authors you mentionned i know Paolo Coelho is easy to read so that's a good entry point.

I have to say that it has been a pretty good conversation so far, i'm enjoying it, hopefully you feel the same.

Wow thanks i didn't expect such an answer, i just thought you'd give me your favorite books (i haven't read any of them so that's awesome) and that was it. Instead you make me think about my mind and that's great.

So it's difficult i think to talk about my mind but i'll give it a try, my mind is jumbly so my answers might represent it, i hope it's not going to be a problem for you. I think i have to start by saying that i've been diagnosed with a high IQ, not to brag but simply to explain that my way of thinking is not linear but more like an explosion where i go everywhere at the same time (hence the jumbly). As you can imagine it's difficult to create stillness, fe when i meditate it has to be guided, otherwise if i try to do it on my own i last for like 5 seconds before intrusive thoughts appear and derail everything. Same for poker, i have to play in complete silence in order to stay focus.

i know i didn't answer your questions but i thought that was important to give you a blueprint about how my mind works. As for what i want, i wish to understand who i am deeply, to have a full grasp of my core values. I know it sounds silly to not know these things about yourself but without going into too much details, an unfortunate event happened to me a few years ago and reset my mind. Before that i used to have a false self (apparently it happens a lot with people having high IQ) so that resetting appears to be a rebirth and therefore, even though i'm an adult, i feel like my mind is really young and i have to be curious about a wide variety of ideas and concepts.

As you can see the task at hand for me is quite big haha.

GG for the deeprun, interesting to watch the back and forth with the solver with A9o on 976ddd given the postflop sensitivity of ranges.

Also good advice at the end, i sometimes catch myself giving too much importance on theory, forgetting i'm playing against people with their flaws (especially on small stakes)

I have a question Chris, i'm looking for being the best person i can be and it seems it's a lifelong quest, do you have any book recommendation that could guide me ? I'm sure you've read plenty so i'd appreciate your help.

Thanks :)

Great video Chris, it's very useful if you're willing to be honest with yourself and as you said to ask uncomfortable questions. Asking these questions is painful because answering them will reveal our weaknesses, but imo they're mandatory in order to be at peace with yourself and getting to know who you really are.

Btw i didnt expect a spoiler alert for a 27 years old movie haha

Nice video, really liked how you played your hand at 23:12 , going away from theory and just exploiting your opponent.

Hey Sven,

great video once again, i already used a lot of leads in these situations but somehow i capped myself in term of sizing OTT, never used a PSB or a slight overbet on specific turns. That was eye opening.

You quickly talked about it at the end of the video, are you going to make videos about icm concepts ?

Thanks for the video Seth,

First of, note to myself: When playing vs Seth (most likely will never happen) tank cbet flop with nuts to make him hero call river vs 3 big barrels :D

Jokes aside, interested in your openlimp btn with 98s at 22:00 , that's something i never do, playing small stakes population is not aggressive enough so i see less the point to do it, i suppose your range here is composed mostly by suited hands and some occasional traps to protect your range, right ?

Also does your openlimp range changes depending you play a pko or vanilla ? I'm asking because usually 3bet ranges between these 2 formats tend to be different.

Great video even though unfortunately i can't play 2-7 where i live due to market restrictions. 2-7 is my first love so still nice to watch content about it.

Eager to watch the quizz video even if i know i'll make a lot of mistakes haha.

Anyway köszi :)

Fantastic video, i truly saw myself in it, i made a lot of the mistakes you mentionned. For example pushing myself too hard, not letting me to breathe, having too high of expectations leading me to negative self talk because i couldn't realize what i wanted to do.

Taking rest, adjusting my expections (by diminushing my ego) and being greatful by what i already accomplished helped a lot and allowed me to be in a better mental space.

It's difficult to accept that you can't do everything you want, at the speed you want, but once you do it's liberating.

Overall it's a good thing to share that knowledge. It allows buyers to make better investments and for sellers to actually do the work of finding out their true ROI. By extension it's gonna reduce the amount of mark up scams hopefully.

Great series, it's funny to see that there is a possibility that mark ups aren't always calculated by a deep understanding of true ROI but could be instead ego driven.

Interesting concept to talk about Sven, i'm a small stakes player and i find myself quite often in that situation, trying to extract value from weak unprotecting ranges. Unfortunately for me, i do that mistake too, to be unbalanced in my checking range and therefore being exploitable.

Another topic to work on :)

Nice video, it's a good reminder to play extremely wide on FT as a CL, i wouldn't have found the open T3o OTB at 14:20 even though now looking at it, it was an easy one since SB is so short, BB is handcuffed.

Thanks Adam, i enjoyed this format with all hole cards revealed for the entire MTT, it showed that population is often really nitty, openshoving hands as strong as JJ or AK for 13ish bbs or even folding bvb A7o vs open SB (that one was brutal).

Once again great video Sven, i'd like to add something though, i for one, wouldn't mind AT ALL a 3 hours video haha, i know it's never gonna happen but i still wanted you to know.
Can't wait to watch your next video.

You're very welcome :)
About the sheet when there is an attachment there is a "downloads" tab under the video, next to "software used" and it's not there for this video.

Another week another gem dropped by you Sven, i don't comment often but i have to say your teaching skills are off the charts. So far i tried to apply the main takeaways of your videos and i play much better and with more clarity (ofc it's nowhere near perfect but i see improvements after every session).

Can't wait to see what you're gonna cook for us in your next video, same for the sheet, the last one on IP vs BB flop strategy was very helpful.

Hey Lachezar, first of all thanks for this series of videos, those are my favortite kind, looking at GTO and exploits to counter population tendencies afterwards. I'm very surprised to see that the RP decreases between 10% and 5% left and also how sensitive the ranges can be when BB is ICM unaware vs SB jam, it was really eye opening.

Also i noticed a mistake at 40bb and at 25bb cev vs 25% left vs FT, the screenshots used to illustrate the examples are the same for the 3 ranges, each time the cev and the FT are actually the 25% left for these 2 depths.

Can't wait to watch the bvb postflop video.

I read your response (thanks for answering me, it feels good to know i didn't write all of it for nothing haha) and i can't stop thinking about a sentence i came up with after going through a quite unpleasant time in my life that made me rethink things. It says "If i keep regretting my past and worrying about my future, i'm wasting my present." I know it's super cliché but with the informations you gave me, i see you in that situation.

I know it's nearly impossible to stop thinking or anticipating possible multiple scenarios (i still do it) but what you can do instead is to stop caring about them, no matter how many scenarios you're creating in your mind, this is very unlikely that the best or worst scenarios will happen. So if the outcome ends up in between, why should we care / stress about it ? Honestly, it simply doesn't make sense to care, it's a waste of time and energy. Try that for a while and i guarantee you you’ll see positive results, it won’t resolve everything but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

About the activities i do to calm myself, to be within the flow, i go for a walk, every single day. I have a dog so it helps, but just being in nature, looking around, hearing birds, feeling the wind calm my mind. Also i meditate and/or do coherent breathing, personally i don’t think you need to sit a certain way, having a complex process. I just lay down and focus on my breath, 10-15 mins a day. Once again the results won’t show up instantly but with practice you feel the benefit like slowing down the thought flow and so on.

I think the most important thing is to be present, to feel yourself, like within your body. When you do that you simply feel alive and lower the amount of overthought, i believe that would be beneficial to you.

One last thing, don’t take life too seriously, try things, fail, succeed, fuck up things and get back on your feet, at the end of the day you’ll do fine.

Hey Jeff, i came across your thread and after reading some of your posts i feel like you overthink about everything, no wonder you're stressed (i'm not criticizing you, i used to have the same behavior).

Have you tried to find activities that require to not overthink, to use your brain in a different way, to not have anything with competition, to simply let yourself go ?

Personally i think arts are a good way to put together what i just aforementioned, when you play poker you're all about strategy, math, logic, maybe finding an activity that has nothing to do with that would do you some good. After all in arts, you barely think, you're not competing against anyone and you let yourself go. You're not gonna make it your job nor try to make some money out of it, so who cares about the end result, it's just about creating and there is no right or wrong in arts, there is no one absolute truth, like it exists in poker with gto for example. Last thing about arts, if you don't try because you're scared you'll suck at it, guess what ? Oh yes you will, even Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Picasso all did at first, it doesn't matter at all.

I used that example but there are plenty other, given what i read i think it's a good idea to open your mind on other activities, including some you haven't thought about (btw sorry if you already mentioned something i just wrote about, your blog is quite long so i didn't read everything haha).

I hope you'll find a way to overcome your stress, that shit is truly a killer, it will make your life a nightmare if don't tackle it.

Good luck :)

PS: Please don't mind my potential grammar and vocabulary mistakes, english isn't my native language.

Maximaizing EV against weak players by Adam Crawford.

Takeaways :

• When playing vs weak players, forget balance/GTO plays.
• Not overvalue blockers (if playing vs whales, they play so many hands your blockers mean nothing).
• Don’t hesitate to increase your VPIP, you want to play against weak players.
• Induce when the weak players play splashy, let them bet and collect their stacks.
• Bet the strength of your hand, goes hand in hand with not playing balanced.