The Poker Tournament Life Sucks

[@JohnnieVibes]

Link for 10% discount to GTO Solver (link contains discount): bit.ly/pokerai

[@shamirbrown8160]

Do you ever wonder if you spend so much time playing and studying that you stunt possible growth?

[@elemeno0pee]

@JohnnieVibes FYI: I don't see any discount when clicking through your link.

[@JohnnieVibes]

The 10% discount is supposed to be built in to the link.

[@manamanacar123]

​@JohnnieVibes Hope you doing well. Miss your videos. Please don't quit the vlogs.

[@TaylorHaubrich]

Hey man I used to pick on you on your KZbin channel and maybe Twitter. I want to apologize to you and say I am sorry. I hate that you aren't making content anymore. I pray everything is well with you. Many blessings 🙏

[@Simon-nv5zj]

I was fortunate enough to have won a wsop bracelet in 2010 , after a decent 6 figure win in ‘09 and pretty much quit tournaments after 2013, because I realised that tournaments were getting too volatile to enjoy making a living. And that’s what it comes down to…..enjoying it. Cash games are so much easier and a lot less stressful especially having a family. I don’t want to be the guy who says don’t play tournaments for a living, but the reality is that a microscopic amount of Uber pros make a great living from live tournaments, whilst most grind an online living. Even Negreanu is down $500k since 2018 at the wsop. It’s insanely hard to make more than $100k net from online tournaments/year . Never give up on your dreams, but I cannot stress enough that you have to be somewhat reasonable in your goal setting. I will also note, that a lot of tournament players that have tasted success early on without much work, find it very hard to continue, simply because they have an inflated opinion of how good they actually are. The best advice I can give is to find a group of people or person, with whom you can be brutally honest with, it’s the only way to improve , by being brutally honest.

[@victordavalos6198]

Truth is you have to have an enourmous bankroll that can withstand variance (such as Negreanu’s) , play huge volume and /or play those sort of tournaments with lower variance aka high roller tournaments and be good at it .

[@joyride1598]

My advice on the subject of playing poker tournaments is this: 1. Make every effort to become an excellent or at least above average cash game player in order to help bankroll your tournament buyins. This increases your overall profit margin, and helps to preserve your overall poker bankroll. 2. If you're going to treat poker like a job, then that means including the aspect of retirement saving and $ goals along with it. Anytime you cash, you should be setting aside at least 15% of your profit into retirement accounts such as an IRA or ETF funds. 3. Don't waste money that you've won on unnecessary luxury items like cars, expensive apartments/houses, eating out at nice restaurants all the time, etc. Treat it like normal earned income and set yourself up for the future.

[@johnnyblaze8030]

Facts bro 💯

[@theodorehsu5023]

​@@joyride1598Good money management is important, though being frugal and not jumping at any open game or tournament is important too. Make sure you have the cash for it, and mentally you can handle the commitment for a stream or a tournament. If you are drained mentally you would light the money on fire.

[@bearatts]

Best advice I've seen in a KZbin comment in a while

[@kmsnow6292]

I still remember a few years ago, a young starting out KZbinr playing 1-3/2-5, and you gave him a ride to the poker room. This young guy looked up to you as a mentor for his cash game. His name is Mariano.

[@waynehussey4544]

Mariano has delivered ...Rampage needs help.

[@vader6203]

@@waynehussey4544no need for the needle

[@ARandomYoutuber821]

Hey man I was playing with you on table 148 white Paris/ super bounty WSOP 2024. I just wanna say it was a pleasure meeting you and playing along side you! You’re legit homie, I wish I would snapped a pic with you. My names Peter, I was the one with the hat and the think black glasses. I’ve become a fan of yours. Run goooooood brotha.

[@joeingram1]

It's probably GTO to study tournaments slowly getting better because they will be around forever and you'll be playing them forever - nice vid

[@JohnnieVibes]

I agree papi. Just came to the realization I’m not willing to do what it takes to go all-in with playing tournaments full-time. I’ll always try to stay fresh but want to make time to play cash and pursue other interests.

[@mvcards20]

Thanks Johnnie for always diving deeper into the parts of poker that people dont talk about. Why ive always watched & respect you and your brother so much.

[@Platopoker]

Much respect for the transparency of sharing everything you continue to face in the poker world. As always, I am sure you will continue to crush it in the cash game streets.

[@efg1311]

I appreciate videos like this. The reality of being a poker pro is a lot different than the social media version that is portrayed 99.9% of the time. Videos like this really put things in perspective. Thank you Johnnie for sharing.

[@scotts6702]

i've been told for years by top pros that tournaments are bankroll killers. fantastic if you score a big one, but that is rare for most. it's fun to take shots at the big buy ins but cash is where it's at imo. I applaud your decision. Best of luck to everybody.

[@hornetguy9063]

Yeah, it’s hard to ignore because tournaments attract such weak players who are willing to play for wicked high stakes. But the variance is insane. It’s only really feasible to grind MTTs online, where you can play dozens in a day Cash games are far more stable and fit the lifestyle better.

[@digitaldavid5633]

Always loved your cash game vlogs. Happy you're staying true to your heart and passion and returning to those! :)

[@mightybatillo]

I love playing tournaments, but it takes so much time and energy. Is way easier to sit 3-4 hours in a 5-10 table

[@sccphilly]

Vibes, you’re on the upswing, keep grinding cash bro! Stay positive!

[@samburns5053]

100% clickbate. im not playing tournaments, but im going to keep playing tournaments in Vegas

[@N2Pker]

Very GOOD video! This needs to go viral for serious poker players, not pros but people that want to be a winning player!

[@marcovisuals6527]

I genuinely think that Johnnie is one of the most humble guys you could meet in the poker community. Always honest about himself, always transparent with his ventures. Can't wait to watch you grind the cash games in Vegas! Wishing you good luck at the tables bro!

[@Wolfgang_Poker]

excited to see the content you put out going forward :)

[@crdjeep123]

Can you ask why he quit making videos?

[@laure6203]

I’m a professional female poker player and I really appreciate your honesty on this topic Johnnie…most pros unfortunately don’t really talk about the reality of poker tournaments and the variance involved so it’s refreshing to hear your take on it…thanks for another great video…let me just encourage you on the videos bc we all really enjoy them! PS I’ve played in multiple events with Andrew and he’s just an all around great guy who has given me some really good advice…so great to see his success

[@Peter-zg3em]

ace high with a redraw is a gangster call from that dude. high level tournament poker is very strange. only people who were taught to play like a computer play like this, and it falls apart when you're super deep or when there are 2-3 opponents seeing a flop in a 3 bet pot. some people are just cash players. it's ultimately a more nuanced, skilled way to play the game because there are more ways to do it profitably.

[@garyblackwoodpoker]

6:50 couldn't agree more, so many spots where we just don't know what the correct play is, very much a "competence issue" as you put it. Given how complex the game is though that's going to be extremely standard.

[@santaclause3487]

Nobody knows every spot. Some spots are like .01 And since the solver thinks it’s playing against a solver, a lot of it is incorrect when applied to real life. Understanding it tho will make u better tho I agree. But raising there with Q6 seems moronic. I can see calling, but it can’t be that much plus ev.

[@BishopNE1]

Appreciate you putting yourself out there like this, not many poker players want to show the harder sides of poker life. The variance that comes with poker, in general, is hard for the human brain to conceptualize, especially when it is happening to you. Even when you know it logically, your mind is trying to find patterns in small data sets. Meaning you can feel like you are the best in the world when you win and a failure when you lose.

[@mmccpl3934]

Where u at bruh

[@YallaMiami]

There is one thing I don’t understand about studying GTO. How would you remember what exactly you supposed to do while playing 🤔. I mean, every hand is just different 😅

[@sigfede390]

WISHING FOR THE BIG RETURN

[@Smellyfupa]

been getting into poker more & more the past few months, my good buddy has a decent amount of live cashes at local tourneys & gave me the idea to finally take it more serious then just house games, ive won 1 tourney online & other then that just a fuck ton of deep runs, like you say the variance is crazy & im obviously not studied nearly as much as other ppl cuz im so new, but youll get it in with the best hand only to get sucked out on with a 2 outter. really hurts to play for 7 hours, beat out a field of 3.3k ppl only to get a min cash from a bad beat lol

[@JohnnieVibes]

It’s brutal. Tournaments are a hard way to make a living. Cash games much easier to pay bills.

[@chexcollects]

Made it yesterday to day 2 in a local $1100 here and at the money bubble in comes my KK up against QQ. 40BBs of carefully earned bets over 19 hours of play. Q in the window and it’s over. Honestly woke up today STILL feeling sick about it. I’ll play cash and lose $3-4-5,000 and be disappointed but it’s not soul crushing. It really is brutal.

[@edgie6023]

Johnnie, thank you for your transparency and honesty about the daily ups and downs, especially as it pertains to tournaments. I've been an avid watcher for years, but one thought entered my mind during this video...have you ever thought about monetizing the blueprint you mentioned? As you said, solvers are a big part of the puzzle, but it might not be surprising to hear that approaching solver study can be daunting and intimidating for many people (including me). I don't know if that interested you at all, but.I know I would definitely consider paying for a course that provided a study pathway using solvers ( for tournament and cash).

[@MicahLoughman]

Kindve click baity

[@santaclause3487]

I don’t think raising with Q high on 20bb is a ICM thing. Those sims are hard to run, have to insert a lot of details.

[@timothyha2854]

Doug Polk was right, you don’t know how to play poker outside of getting lucky at 2/5 casino games

[@vader_poker]

Tournaments are the toughest ways to make a living. I've dedicated the last two years to tournaments, but had to start playing cash again as the bankroll is getting depleted. Tournament variance is real and you need at least 100K+ bankroll to play solely tournaments full time. And that's at like the $1k buy in level.

[@rmx01indiana]

“Poker is war. People pretend it’s a game.” -DOYLE BRUNSON

[@torsloke]

I’m sorry to hear you say this as meeting you at the WSOP this year was one of the highlights of my summer, but I totally understand and as always appreciate your honesty and willingness to let us into your thought process. This WSOP was my first in fifteen years, and I had a similar epiphany. The elite players are so much better than players used to be and it’s because of that dedication to study, and now I’m working on making that level of studying possible for me. I hope the experience you’ve had this year helps fuel you to greater abs greater success in the cash games streets. You are and will continue to be an inspiration.

[@michaelmason8822]

this was absolutely click bait

[@jamesgrant9858]

Thanks for the heads up

[@youtubeisshit419]

Afraid not

[@davidkrafsig195]

I think most KZbin poker watchers much prefer watching cash games versus tournaments

[@TactPlaysGames]

I love tournaments soo much more

[@FacundoCampazzo123]

It depends on who is playing. The Hustler Casino stream with aggressive players with a lot of personality is perfect. Most tourney streams these days are full of static robot players that bore me to death. But if you throw a bunch of aggro fun guys into a tourney, it would probably be the best of both worlds.

[@davidvasquez3141]

accually not guy. id rather watch turneys

[@victordavalos6198]

@@TactPlaysGames100%

[@jacobpotter2237]

@@davidvasquez3141naw

[@Wooooosaaaaaa]

Thought that was David Schwimmer in the cover pic 😂 keep it up Vibes! Always love the videos

[@theejayzeeable]

In tourneys u have to run good in specific limited days of the month. That's a lot to ask for. In cash games, u play in many days of the month and let the rungood hit u when it hits u. Thats why i prefer cash.

[@paulthompson8642]

Your bro is a 🐐...mindset....you call your shots...always following the vibes.. brothers

[@mudiametokunboh2370]

facts

[@gpoker249]

Man loved the video, we had that conversation in Vegas about tournaments, it is a lot of variance. I support you in everything. By the way love the new hoodie I got at your pop up shop. Had great time while in Vegas and always happy to connect with Vibes family ❤

[@everythingallin4905]

What I don't get is why the tournaments are having the largest turnouts of all time but the local card rooms and casinos are all slow right now.

[@CribNotes]

I love tournaments but I only play those slot machines for fun. Maybe two cheap tournaments a year tops. I play cash games for money. The cash game swings are big enough, but tournaments??? Solvers can't save you if the variance is out to kill you.

[@todd-tl9tr]

Dude said no clickbait, ends up being clickbait.

[@ianshirreffs5604]

I've heard a lot of cash players have a hard time with tournament play bc it's such a different dynamic. If you feel more comfortable in cash, stay there. Tournaments can produce huge scores, but it takes tons of work to adapt. If you like tournaments as well, just play lower BIs. Anyway, that's my opinion. Good luck. 💯

[@MrSaddie123]

Totally respect it the tourney life can be tough on all levels. TFS Friend

[@ethanj5328]

As a losing tournament player I can relate to this video. U really gotta go into it with the mentality that your money is gone once you buy in (assuming your not an elite solver ninja) . But I just play for fun as a hobby so I will keep firing like the donkey I am 😂

[@waynehussey4544]

I felt this.

[@MeMe-in8tj]

I agree except I would assume that even many of the elite solver ninjas have the same mentality: that money is gone once you buy in (and also after you re-enter, and re-enter), and then if you happen to win, you win. 🎉🎉

[@kendob9642]

Just play tight lol. Read Harrington on Hold em and print cashes

[@Alexandertygreat]

Depending on how deep and most likely ICM plays a roll. Being able to build up bigger stacks thru aggression and laggy play early, help offset these plays. If villian was covered, he doesnt call. Betting less on turn is also preferred. You want your opponents making as many decisions as possible

[@JohnnieVibes]

This is a great reply. I can tell you’ve put in some work.

[@modestomouso1234]

I don’t play professionally, but I’m a decently profitable rec playing online MTTs. The variance can be wicked man, that’s a fact. Some days I’m like “Why am I even doing this?” Lol. And study is so important, like you really need to be ahead of the curve to maintain edges and make deep runs. I’ve been on a bit of a poker break recently, but have still been studying, and my immediate thought was the same as yours regarding that Q6hh hand, to x/r flop. And then *womp womp*, yes x/r is fine but it’s a small frequency play, I was with you thinking it would mostly mix around 60/40 (call/raise), when it’s in fact closer to 80/20 which is a pretty huge difference. And we run into these spots constantly playing MTTs, so if we take low frequency plays and implement them too often, we’ll wind up too far off the game tree, making us ripe for exploitation. It’s a humbling experience for sure, you have to be okay with being wrong a good amount of the time (although I was glad I defaulted to x/evaluate once the Kh hits, terrible for our range and great for his). I still have some hopes of playing professionally, but I keep my expectations tempered. The variance, stress, bankroll management, amount of time needed to study and grind, etc are all quite daunting. I doubt I’ll ever really go for it, but it’s always nagging in the back of my mind. Anyway, props for realizing you’d rather just play cash, I think a lot of players simply don’t have the capacity to be so honest with themselves. Cheers 🍻

[@supersham4548]

Tournament poker is my version of degenerate gambling. I’m a fulltime live cash player. I do not play slots or table games in the pit. And I have placed three sports bets in my lifetime. However, when I do decide to feed the urge for gambling I play tournaments. Tournaments are a reward to myself after I spend a month or two beating cash games. You should also leverage your cash game reputation to sell action on larger tournaments. But don’t fall for the big payout trap. Just because you won 250K now that means you’re a full-time tournament player. No. Stick with what brought you to the dance. Another thing not discussed are the number entries that players spend and Taxes. We need to understand that the average player is spending 2 to 3 bullets per tournament. Combine that with the fact that we might not have 100% of ourselves. And he will lose 30% of his profits to taxes. There is very little margin for error in tournaments.

[@MilesthaShegmeister]

This A.I got us all living in a ruse, but apart from that I appreciate the input respect

[@kettenbach]

Yep, I stay away from tournaments. The payouts are good but it's just too few and far between. I can win 7/10 cash sessions which works for me

[@garygwinn5818]

Kinda sad that your last video from 4 months ago is titled "I quit". Bro, get your Motivation back and put in the Work.

[@deinheld4686]

Honestly i don't mind if all these tournament solver pros stay at their tournaments. Everytime they come to our cash game tables they are the biggest nits. That's not where the money is made yo

[@veggiepoker]

Keep your head up!!! Your humility and honesty is deeply appreciated!

[@seanpaul4101]

You played that Q6 like it was cash game and if u lost it u could just buy back in.

[@alexanderhitch5786]

Johnnie, you can always take a percentage of your brothers action, then you still got the tournament sweats + suppport your bro + have time for cashgame videos and hopefully soon starting a family with olga! I wish you nothing but the best!

[@mrburns805]

Tournaments are just so volatile. I play $300 buy in tournaments pretty regularly where I should absolutely be crushing the fields. However, there are so many factors in tournaments that you can’t control. If you’re card dead, Busto, you build a big stack and lose a huge flip, you’re out. It takes thousands and thousands of tournaments to level out the variance even in fields that you should be easily beating.

[@warpeace8891]

Good for you JohnnieVibes, appreciating life along the way, have fun. 🤸‍♀

[@Nikkithedog-t6b]

There are people immune to the variance, they are called Chidwick and Holz.

[@CeegeePoker]

Using an hourly earn for both examples isn't the right way to determine whether you've succeeded. That being said it's wise to step away from tournaments if you see the required path and don't feel like it's meant for you. I wish I did that a bit more in my career. GL with the cash grind!

[@camillevillanueva1623]

Why ur not active now in poker content ..

[@JohnnieVibes]

More focused on grinding. Will upload videos from time to time.

[@derbo416]

thank goodness he isn't quitting entirely. i was very worried. Johnnie is probably the best poker player on youtube.

[@Lp-nd5bs]

Did you also check what the solver says about the AQ fd full pot call on a paired board? Seems like a losing call from the caller as well. Or maybe it was a soul read..

[@JohnnieVibes]

I did. Solver says to call as I have a lot of bluffs. In actuality humans don’t bluff as much as the solver so it’s a marginal call.

[@Lp-nd5bs]

@@JohnnieVibes true, especially marginal if you know that solver says to never jam that turn with a (semi) bluff..

[@ericstewart0921]

Super helpful and eye opening video for a long time tournament player! Think I actually would like to dabble in cash a bit more going forward.

[@victordavalos6198]

Truth is you have to have an enourmous bankroll that can withstand variance (such as Negreanu’s) , play huge volume and /or play those sort of tournaments with lower variance aka high roller tournaments and be good at it .

[@gregknsd]

Do you have a link to that house you rented?

[@etherjoe505]

Best of luck JV let us know when you have a meetup or artistic event. I almost got to your Vegas pop up shop a few weeks / month ago. Keep us informed good luck at the cash games !!!

[@leehjones]

Great stuff Johnnie. It takes guts to walk away from the glitter and hype of tournament poker. But as you say, if you're not willing to study it full time, you never will be elite. I'll be glad to see you back in the cash streets. It's not glamorous, but man, it's easier on the stomach.

[@garrydye2394]

I love poker. I play poker ..as a hobby. All my dedication...effort....and time goes into my business. Its more guaranteed. Everything is uber competitive now. You csn not compete doing anything at only 90% effort anymore because there are people willing to give it 100%. Go all in or domt. Dont do anything half ass.

[@trailblazer77]

I'm curious if your brother uses a hair straightener? Or just head and shoulders?

[@brandondorsey7204]

Not trying to be results oriented, but was the shove bad from a practical and exploitative stand point? I understand what the solver says, but did you run it the other way. Is villain supposed to call in that spot? It felt like a good play that just got unlucky because you ran into a station.

[@JohnnieVibes]

Exploits are reserved for when we have information on our opponent. This player was a complete unknown as I hadn’t played with them long. Also I ran his hand through the spot and it said he should call my turn shove with AQss fwiw.

[@EricHsiao-dragonted]

Glad to hear that you are coming back to Cash games. I miss your vlogs and I hope to see more vlogs in the future.

[@xxBad_ROBOTxx]

I think if you want to be elite with anything in life, you’re forced to put in a ton (more than 99.9% of everyone else) of time/effort. Refreshing to here an honest observation and see self awareness. Good luck with cash games bro

[@DavidAlba-u4q]

What does Johnnie do if he doesn’t play poker ? Like income and work wise ?

[@Nikodemis]

See ya on Hustler Live! GL!

[@dannydogpoker1793]

Nice video, very honest of you and it sounds like with tournaments it’s a case of hasta la vista rather than adios…

[@alainbao3604]

I love watching poker but I wish I have a good health . Without health you can’t do anything. Thank you Johnny

[@Nikkithedog-t6b]

You really need to study on the Q6 right move.....seriously?

[@MrTwyman]

Q6 is a fold pre flop after the raise

[@dannybowser8704]

I hear a lot of you comparing yourself to your brother, which isn’t good. You are your own player with your own style.. you need to get your mindset off your brothers success

[@skirtchaser4218]

Why wouldn’t you sell stake in your tournaments . Many pros sell above cost especially during the WSOP. I bought pieces of many pros in this years WSOP tournaments.

[@LookOutside...]

Was the opponent’s AQ call solver correct?

[@JohnnieVibes]

Yes. His hand is 100% a call for all-in on the turn according to the solver.

[@adambrown8867]

Luck is 50% of poker, including for the best poker players in the world. If it wasn't for luck, the best players would never lose.

[@2cardarsenal310]

Excellent decision JV, Tourney poker is brutal. Besides being really solid you have to get extremely lucky!

[@ajshribbs]

thanks for all of your awesome content and the realness of being a poker player ✨

[@baustin2402]

Full respect fam... you know we'll be watching. No matter what you do in this poker game. 😎

[@mistysparks5220]

Excited to see more content from and follow your journey. Your very inspiring. I will be follow my dream of taking a shot of being a full time poker player starting next year 🎉

[@junito1008]

Sir, with the Q❤6❤ you made the right play…the problem was that you was playing against a fish. 😂 who want to call you with a flush draw, waiting for the river. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@704studio]

Q6? you following the solver instead of your head and heart, big mistake. you are like the chess rookie who memorizes openings 20 lines deep and when you get to move 21 you don't know what to do. Poker is a thinking and feeling game, memorization won't cut it.

[@geoffin99]

memorizing most situations online is pretty easy. You just look at your charts and solver results and then you just have to memorize that for the 2 seconds it takes to hit the fold, call or raise button.

[@JohnnieVibes]

It’s against terms of service to use while playing. Your account will get banned and money will get seized. Ask Ali Imsirivic.

[@mrhumble2937]

​@JohnnieVibes yea but that's why I don't like playing on line because if a person only does it in certain situation would the site pick up on it? I get if you play absolutely perfect but if someone was smart they'd only do it in certain moments.

[@johnieking4102]

Completely understandable. I seem to be having a somewhat similar situation. Mind you I don't play in tournament with a bigger Buy-In's as high as you do but I'm still not running as good as I should in tournament's.

[@freemaester]

I just busted the ₱65,000 peso main event here at Okada in Manila and I forgot how much I hate tournaments. They are the biggest leak in my poker bankroll.

[@pdxshredder6883]

It doesn’t matter if it’s cash or a tournament…a king on the turn is always going to be good for the preflop raiser. This is not some advanced concept like you need to raise 24% of the time with A6 suited on whatever board. Cash games require studying too if you want to get better.

[@pizzaguy2959]

U don’t need to put in more study work per se - although highly recommended - u also just need to recognize what nodes you’re under studied in and avoid those scenarios entirely

[@pizzaguy2959]

AKa if flop is 50/50 xR to c then take the more passive line

[@OZcafehead]

I couldn't agree with the choice more. MTTs are pretty soul destroying. Even if you do play perfectly it's still going to be emotionally extremely tough for long stretches.

[@curtsheldon2655]

Come back down to Houston to the Champions Club. I'd like to meet you and play some with you. GL with your endeavors.

[@yalce]

You don't need to study solvers to know that an A or K favors their range

[@PatrickWhatUp]

The title and first minute definitely had me questioning my life choices when it comes to poker

[@fsmjr27]

Meet up game on Labor Day at the lodge! You should make the trip!

[@henningts]

SO you are not quitting = clickbait. Shameless

[@dm0065]

I need to get into these solvers, Ive never messed with them at all. I'd like to find one that isnt too complicated to use, I'm not real techy. Anybody got a reccomendation for the best ones?

[@JohnnieVibes]

Honestly the one I mentioned in the comments is the best from beginner to pro. There are tutuorial videos on how to use. Light years more user friendly than 5 years ago.

[@dm0065]

@@JohnnieVibes ok great, sounds perfect, thanks much

[@707ridah]

Tournament live is 💩, your chances of winning is 5% or less, grinding for days and if you don't place top 20 you'll mid cash.. I'd rather play a few Tournaments and then crush live games

[@707ridah]

With the poker 💥 hitting hard for the past couple years, no matter who you are winning any tournaments is hard AF to do. PHIL hellmuth has 16 bracelets but has been playing for 40yrs I think but cash games is worth it more and that's facts 💯. Good luck Vibes