NLH MTT Grind to High Stakes

Hey guys, I’m back with another update. It’s been a long time since my last post, and I’m glad to be writing again. I’ve been going through some tough times, but I want to share everything—what’s happened, what’s coming, what I’m waiting for, and my mindset during all of this.

Since the last time we talked, I’ve fully transitioned back into playing cash games exclusively. This is the path I’ve chosen, and I’m really happy about it. For the foreseeable future, my poker journey will be focused entirely on cash games. That’s the direction I’m taking, and I feel confident in this decision.

Lately, I’ve been facing a lot of challenges, especially in Germany. I’m in the process of moving to a new place after my landlord unexpectedly told me and my friend that we had to leave our current apartment on short notice. So, once I return to Germany, I’ll be moving to a new place. Right now, I’m in Turkey, typing this from here. I’ll be staying for about 10 more days before heading back.

Living differently than most people my age comes with its own mental battles. While my friends are busy with college, exams, and parties, I’m taking a completely different path. Being 22, not having a degree, and pursuing something unconventional can make me feel miserable at times, like I’ve failed. But I believe these thoughts are normal if you’re asking the right questions. I’ve always been the kind of person who questions things objectively, and I see that as one of my greatest strengths. If you put 1,000 people in a room and asked them what makes them special, I would say my ability to ask the right questions and analyze myself with brutal honesty sets me apart. This is why I believe that if I want to achieve something and chase my dreams, I’m already ahead, because I know how to focus on what truly matters.

Maybe I’m highly intelligent, maybe I’m not. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that I can ask the right questions, make the right adjustments, and stay on the right path. With all of this self-reflection, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m fully committed to poker. I’ve turned back to it completely, and for the next semester, my focus will be 100% on improving my game, hitting the gym, and occasionally hanging out with some girls.

This decision wasn’t easy. I see it as a defining moment—one that will change my life completely, for better or worse. But I know it will be for the better because, as I said, I know how to ask the right questions. There were difficult times in school, and I had several coaching sessions to figure out what I needed to do next. When it comes to poker, I’ve been putting in a lot of hours. I’ve played well, but my bankroll isn’t growing as much as I want it to, even though it is increasing. The site I’m playing on has a different preflop structure with lots of limping, which changes the dynamic completely.

After countless sessions and reviews with my coach, I’ve identified key areas to improve in my game. The first and most important is playing value hands correctly. This is crucial for making money in cash games, especially against weaker players. When my coach reviewed my hands, he pointed out that a lot of the situations I brought up were close spots—calling the river, deciding if a thin bet is worth it, etc. But he emphasized that against recreational players, the biggest edge comes from maximizing value with strong hands. So, my main focus has been squeezing out every possible chip with my value hands, going thin, and exploiting my opponents as much as possible.

The second thing I’ve started doing is taking notes on my opponents. This poker site doesn’t allow tagging players, so I have to manually write down notes. If I see someone playing like a maniac or being a calling station, I make a note of it. Before, I wasn’t taking enough notes, but now I go back and review them constantly. This helps me adjust my strategy against specific players and avoid unnecessary bluffs in bad spots.

The third adjustment is increasing my theoretical work. I spend a lot of time studying. I open videos, watch them while running calculations in Holdem Resources Calculator, study preflop ranges, use equity training tools, and take detailed notes from my sessions. Then, I use AI to analyze different spots and work on my game. I also make sure to do my daily drills to reinforce concepts consistently.

The fourth area I’m implementing is using Minimum Defense Frequency (MDF) more effectively. When making decisions, I trust my brain, my knowledge, and my ability to analyze the game. I base my plays on population tendencies, which is one of the most important aspects of poker. If you understand how the general player pool plays, you can exploit them hard and make way more money. That’s where the real edge comes from. Against strong regulars, the game becomes closer to theoretical play, and whoever finds better exploits wins. But in soft games, maximizing EV through population exploits is key.

This is especially true in the games I play, where limping is common and the rake is high. The game is soft, but you have to win by a huge margin to beat the rake. That’s why every little EV gain matters so much. I’ve been working hard on my decision-making off the tables because, as my coach says, you need to put in a massive number of hands away from the table to fully implement these concepts. Some situations are so rare that when they come up in-game, you have to rely on your off-table work to make the right decision. Otherwise, you end up making mistakes in close spots just because you haven’t studied them enough.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about a lot is how I approach poker mentally. One of my biggest problems has always been entitlement. When I win, I expect to keep winning. When I lose, I feel like I don’t deserve it. This is a dangerous mindset because poker doesn’t care what you think you deserve. The reality is, every hand is independent, and variance is always present. If you play well, you will make money long-term, but in the short term, anything can happen. I’ve had to drill this into my head over and over again.

One way I’ve been improving my mentality is by setting clear goals and focusing on execution rather than results. Instead of worrying about my win rate or how much I make per session, I now focus on playing my A-game, making the right decisions, and reviewing my play consistently. If I do these things, the results will come naturally. It’s a shift from an outcome-based mindset to a process-based one, and it’s already making a huge difference in my emotional control and overall performance.

Discipline has also been a major focus. There are days when I don’t feel like studying or grinding, but I force myself to do it anyway. I’ve realized that motivation comes and goes, but discipline is what separates the top players from the rest. It’s easy to play when things are going well, but the real test is how you react when you’re running bad. Do you tilt and throw away money, or do you stay composed and play your best game? I’ve been training myself to stay calm no matter what happens. If I get coolered, I take a deep breath and remind myself that it’s part of the game. If I make a mistake, I acknowledge it, learn from it, and move on. There’s no room for ego in poker.

Speaking of ego, another thing I’ve worked on is not assuming I’m better than everyone else at the table. It’s easy to get into a mindset where you think you’re the best player, but that can lead to overconfidence and bad decisions. Instead, I approach every session with humility. I recognize that there’s always something to learn, and I stay open to adjusting my game. The moment you think you know everything is the moment you stop improving.

Outside of poker, I’ve kept my training in the gym consistent. No matter what happens at the tables, I never skip my workouts. It’s a non-negotiable part of my routine. There’s something about lifting heavy, pushing past limits, and building physical strength that carries over into mental strength. When I train hard, I feel more confident, more focused, and more in control. It’s a reminder that progress takes time and effort, whether it’s in poker, fitness, or life in general.

The road ahead is clear. I know what I need to do, and I have the mindset to execute. I’m fully committed to making poker work, but I’m also realistic. If something ever changes, I’ll adapt. But for now, this is my path, and I’m embracing it fully.

So this decision was really hard for me. In my opinion, this is a decision that will completely change my life, either for the better or for the worse. But I know it’s going to be for the better because, as I’ve already said, I know how to ask the right questions. It was a tough period in school, and I had several sessions with my coach about how things were going, what I should be doing more of, and so on.

Now, when it comes to poker, we’ve had a lot of sessions, and I want to talk about how things are going. Overall, things are going pretty well. I’ve been playing well, but my bankroll hasn’t been growing as much as I’d like. It’s still increasing, but not at the pace I want. I’m playing on a poker site that has a slightly different preflop structure—it’s mostly 100BB stacks, but there’s a lot of limping and unique strategies involved. After a lot of sessions and reviews with my coach, I’ve come up with a few key areas that I want to implement in my game.

The first and most important thing is playing value hands correctly in the best possible way. If you play your value hands optimally and extract the most from them, that’s the number one crucial thing. In my sessions with my coach, I showed him a lot of hands, and he pointed out that most of them were very close spots—like calling on the river, whether a bet was thin enough, whether I should be calling, etc. But in cash games, especially against weaker players, the most crucial thing is getting max value from every strong hand. So, that’s my primary focus right now—extracting maximum value and playing my value hands as efficiently as possible.

The second thing is taking notes. On this site, you can’t label players, but you can write notes. If I notice someone playing like a maniac, being a calling station, or making specific mistakes, I make sure to take notes. Before, I wasn’t taking enough notes, and that was a mistake. After I started taking notes properly, it made a huge difference in my game. If you see someone making consistent mistakes, you can adjust your strategy accordingly. For example, if someone is consistently capping themselves in certain situations, I know I can go ahead and attack them aggressively.

The third key focus is equity work. I spend a lot of time studying equity. I open up videos, watch them while running Hold’em Resource Calculator, and then start studying preflop situations with Equilab. After that, I take notes from my session, and then I use AI tools to study different spots with various ranges. Daily drills are also a major part of my routine.

The fourth thing I’m implementing is using MDF (Minimum Defense Frequency). Here’s how I apply it—I always use my knowledge and logic when making decisions. I trust my exploits, my ability to count combos, and my understanding of population tendencies. Analyzing how the general population plays is one of the most important things in poker. If you understand how people tend to play in certain spots, you can exploit them massively and add a lot of EV to your game.

The reality is, in these games, I have to win a ridiculous amount just to beat the rake. The games are soft, but the rake is insanely high. That means I have to be very precise and make as many +EV decisions as possible. Against the best regulars, you play closer to theory and try to outplay them in nuanced ways. But against the weaker players, my edge comes from understanding population tendencies and exploiting them hard.

Other than that, I’m implementing MDF more deeply now, but my coach told me that I need to put in a massive amount of hands off the table to really integrate this knowledge. Sometimes, when you go for thin value due to the stack-to-pot ratio, you find yourself in extremely close spots. In these situations, you have to analyze your own range and decide whether to call or not. These spots can be tricky because they’re not standard, and it’s easy to make mistakes. If you always default to playing too passively, you’ll leave a lot of money on the table.

The fifth thing I’ve been focusing on is fixing my tendency to overplay hands. I’ve mentioned this in previous blogs, but sometimes I have an issue with overplaying. My coach and I are working on targeting specific aspects of my opponent’s range rather than just assuming I need to extract max value all the time. Targeting in poker doesn’t mean you just focus on one specific part of your opponent’s range—it means identifying the biggest chunk of their range and making the best decision based on that.

We realized that I sometimes go for too thin value in situations where my opponent is already going to raise with stronger hands anyway. Instead of trying to get value from hands that won’t call, I should be going smaller and focusing on extracting value from the most common hands in my opponent’s range, like top pair. At the end of the day, it all comes down to playing value hands well, which ties back into the first key adjustment I mentioned.

So, yeah, I’ve had some tough times in Germany, but I’m moving to a new place soon, and I hope it will be a good fresh start. Right now, I’m in Turkey. It’s Ramadan, and even though I’m not religious, I respect the tradition and the culture. It’s always nice to see people celebrating something they believe in. Spending time with my family has been good, but they still don’t know that I’m a professional poker player. We’ll see what happens in the future.

I think eventually they will support me because, even though they don’t know exactly what I do, they see that I’m always working hard. I believe that no matter what kind of person you are, people always respect hard work. Everyone in my close circle knows that I put in the effort. I’ve always been a hard worker, and I’ve always been successful at everything I’ve pursued. That’s why, at times, it feels like I’m failing—because I’m doing something unconventional and I’m not successful yet. But I know I will be, because, like I said at the beginning of this blog, I know how to ask the right questions. And that’s what matters.

As I wrap up this update, I want to emphasize how important this period of my life is. The frustration of not seeing immediate financial success in poker is real, but I have the mindset to push through it. I know that being able to ask the right questions and make the right adjustments is what separates winners from losers in the long run. This upcoming semester is going to be a game-changer for me. I will be dedicating myself fully to poker, gym, and self-improvement, making sure that every single day I am moving forward, refining my skills, and putting in the necessary volume to reach my goals.

I think a lot about the future. Before I go to sleep, I visualize the life I want—the success, the lifestyle, the freedom. I see myself playing high stakes, driving my dream car, living in a way that reflects the effort I put in. That vision keeps me going. But I also understand that vision alone is meaningless without execution. That’s why my main focus right now is putting in the work and eliminating distractions that slow me down.

One of my biggest areas of improvement is increasing my volume. I study a lot, maybe even too much in proportion to how much I actually play. My coach pointed it out as well—he knows I enjoy studying, but at the end of the day, poker is about making money, and that only happens when I put in hands. Sometimes, I hesitate to put in long sessions because my confidence isn’t always at its peak. That’s something I need to fix. Confidence comes from experience, and experience comes from playing. So my goal moving forward is simple: put in the hours, trust my process, and embrace the grind fully.

Another thing I need to work on is my mental game. I catch myself spending too much time scrolling on my phone, letting unnecessary distractions creep in. It’s not a massive issue, but it’s something I need to control. I recognize that my current lack of social life contributes to it. Normally, I’m a social guy—I go out, I meet people, I have fun. But right now, I’m in a phase where I’m locked in, focused on the grind. That’s okay. This is what it takes to get to the next level. But even with that focus, I need to be mindful of how I spend my downtime and make sure it’s not wasted on useless habits.

Speaking of social life, I still believe that every successful man should have women around him. I make sure to balance my grind with some fun, but I don’t let it get in the way of my bigger goals. I rarely drink, I don’t smoke, and I don’t waste my time partying just for the sake of it. If I go out, it’s intentional, and it’s in line with the life I want to build.

So yeah, I’m excited for what’s ahead. In about 10 days, I’ll be back in Germany, moving into my new place, setting up my grind station, and locking in for an intense period of improvement. It’s going to be camp mode—just me, my laptop, and the game. I’ll keep reviewing my hands, refining my strategies, and making sure I’m maximizing my potential every single day. This is where champions are made.

I want to give a huge shoutout to my coach. He’s not just my backer, he’s my mentor and a big inspiration to me. He’s one of the rare people I genuinely look up to, and I hope to work with him for a long time. He’s helped me navigate the mental and strategic side of poker, and I appreciate everything he’s done for me. If he’s reading this, just know I’m grateful for everything.

To everyone who follows my journey, thank you. It means a lot to have people supporting and following along as I work toward my goals. I promise to keep giving it my all and keeping you guys updated. One day, I’ll look back at these posts and see how far I’ve come. And maybe you’ll see me on Instagram living the life I always dreamed of—driving my Porsche 911, dining at the finest restaurants, and enjoying the rewards of all the hard work I’m putting in now. Until then, it’s all about the grind.

Thanks for reading. See you at next update.

Is the grind over? No updates for almost two months…

Hey guys,
Here’s a quick update on how things are going.

I’ve been continuing the grind at full speed. Recently, I started mixing MTTs back into my schedule alongside cash games. I enjoy both formats, and it’s been a good change of pace. I’ve had some decent MTT results lately — a few 3- to 4-figure scores — which is always nice, but I’m mainly focused on putting in volume and improving consistently.

Cash games haven’t been going great results-wise. I’m in a bit of a downswing there, but it’s part of the game. I’m still studying hard and reviewing spots daily, so I’m confident I’ll recover long-term. I know there’s a lot of room for improvement.

I’ve recently been working on my 4-bet and 4-bet calling game across various stack depths. That’s one of the areas I’m actively studying with my coach. The goal is to strengthen my understanding and execution in both formats, especially under pressure and in marginal spots.

Today I woke up early at 7:30 just to get some hand reviews in. I’ll be continuing with that over the next few hours. A new series is starting soon, and I plan to play a solid number of events. I’m increasing my MTT volume, especially during this period, and treating it as an opportunity to push myself technically and mentally.

That’s it for now. I’ll post another update after the series or if anything notable happens.

Until Next time

I keep postponing on my head to update here. I didn’t feel like it and then I forget to update little bit. It is my mistake totally. I will be sending weekly updates every Monday or Tuesday morning. Since I am not updating you guys, I told you that I will be only focusing on Cash, stuffs changed a little bit, I play both Mtts and cash and I told that I will be playing on different site with different blind structure ( more ante ), I play now on Ggclub which I totally love. I usually play 5 days per week. Mostly mtts these days, I was in turkey I came back to Germany again, I moved to a great place. It was couple days of pain in the ass totally. I tried to set my routine in my new place etc. I am living super routinly, I am on my “lone wolf” mode so to say. I hopefully will move up one more time on Mtts soon although I am not happy with my current performance. I have a very solid general knowladge on common spot I also try to get better at “ street poker “ spots. I will be going to the vacation soon. It is great to do what you like to do in life and pursue your career on that. I am not type of a person who shares his emotions a lot, so it is hard to update here sometimes. Mentally I like the keep my emptions by myself and sharing with you guys what I think about the future is hard for me. Sometimes I just don’t feel like it but helps me great mentally to share for sure and most of times it is same things everyday kind of stuffs for me except my personal life. In this timeframe let’s say from moving up to new place and incorporating mtts again I gave a small break, nothing interesting outside of that.

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I appreciated for the following message.

Today I am here with a new update, I just came back from Barcelona trip last night, I am still little tired little hungry to poker cant wait to hop in back and play some poker. It was my first trip outside the countries what I live which are germany and Turkey, it was an amazing trip. Knowing that that trip has been done with the money I made from poker, sounds amazing to me, and feels 10x better that way. Soon I will also go to Thesslonaoiki to visit my poker coach, I am also super excited for that and will be texting that trip also here.

I played my first ever live cash game in my entire life after starting playing poker, it was Saturday and I went to Casino Barcelona around 11, 12. and there was a almost 20 mins queu to get there I listened some meditation music, to calm and play my best game, I didnt drink single drink just to be focused considering it will be my first cash session. They told us in Barcelona day actually starts at 7pm, and thats what we did I actually wake up really late and my plan was to play like 4 / 5 hours. I go in bought 100 bb for 200 eur, and I learned there is somethuing called waiting list and was only one small stake table, I literally waited at the casino almost 3 hours to sit, I played some BJ first time in my life, lost 10 eur, finally sit at the table I played like maybe 5/6 pots I am not sure I didnt get any action for almost 2 hours, and people starting go away like 5. after there were 4 people I told them are you also going ? we would play each other, to old man joeffrey he is a nit reg , he told me you are a regular I am a regular it doesnt make any sense. and the other 3 guys also cash out. So I made 9.5 eur smt like that in 2 hours but definetely worth the experience. What I understand from table talk they wasnt decent players for sure, couple of then had no clue what they are doing, one of them was tight regular and there was a one player who is maybe decent, but kind of a passive regular I assume he was opening and Isoing great folding to 3 bets, but he played every hand c bet B75 check turn, kind of a pattern he does I guess and bluffcatched 2 times with weak pair lost one win one. Those are stuffs that I realized, but he wasnt very focused he was playing with his phone, only looking at the hands he is involved with etc. We played only one pot together he open raise UTG 3BB, I 3 bet him to 8, BB cold call, he was calling so wide, my guy called, flop comes J22, I cbet small BB fold he called, I bet small one 5 turn he folded and told me he had KJ also, great fold against population probably, noone was 3 betting QJ on that table very often plus population wouldnt be able to bet turn wide to make pocket pairs indifferetn anyway, thats the poker part of the trip.

Other than that, the donwswing on mtts, keep going unfortunately, but I am playing great and confident so I will be back in track in couple sessions hopefully, I am focusing on cash a lot and I really loved to play on ClubGG. We are focusing currently on preflop play 100 blinds, and trying to perfecten the ranges lets see how it goes. It is very important because of the antes game is very wide. Without the rake BB needs to call any two against UTG open. We are studying on 6 and 7 max with > without antes game. I was ssooooo hyoed up on holiday and craving poker I came home at 2 and immiditaely without opening my luggage starting nodecloacking 6 max ranges and started it put my computer to sleep so It can still be working while I am sleeping and wake up and checked those, I will literally crush anytime those cash game, is what I believe and work on it. When it comes to postflop tandencies of the pool again very similar to mtts. Earlier on mtts people are crazier because chips worth less and there are antes but it is also how it should be because of the extra raked also. I really enjoyed what I do for living and I will be keep doing what I do the best in the future, my main focus will be perfecten those cash ranges, and important ICM spots on HRC. Postflop play plus GTOW studying is on the back pedal these days, working on the leaks are always more valueble, plus they wont add much ev as they would add what I am focusing on.

What I value the most first is healthy mindset, after that everything will follow with a great work ethic and disicpline, I am 100 percent not happy with my performance at all. But realization is more important, there are times that I was working by myself way more than the month before the trip, putting more effort year around should be thing not when I feel like that is true disicpline and when I talk I always consider myself disicplined now, lets see that in action what future shows me, I will be playing cash plus mtts with my coach on Thesseloniki, they will also be super fun and exciting, we are gonna be enjoying the summer.

See you guys in another update