Million
My name is Matt Marinelli. I've made over $3 million playing online cash games, and my goal is to hit $10 million in profit. I joined a CFP in 2018, started at 100NL, and never looked back.
I previously wrote a blog here called Making a Million and followed through on that goal. When it was done, I asked the mods to remove it—but to my surprise, people actually cared. I kept getting DMs asking where it went, if they could get a copy, why I deleted it, etc.
So, fuck it.
I'm back.
This blog will revolve around a consistent motif: technē. Technē is a Greek word meaning an art, craft, or skill learned and mastered through practice rather than just theoretical understanding. It’s the combination of knowledge and skill forged from years of disciplined study and experience in the pursuit of mastery.
Within this framework, I approach poker like a dedicated craftsman. The outcome relies on the execution of my play, but that play is honed by thousands of hours of blood, sweat, and tears. I don't rely on talent. Honestly, I don’t even know if I’m talented at poker—because I refuse to find out.
In contrast, many people treat poker like a game. They sign on, play, review the most tilting hands, and try again tomorrow. While that has an appeal because poker is a game and it can be fun, it’s also my career and I intend to treat myself with more respect than that. Ultimately, if some 50nl reg with a dream reads this blog and decides to adopt this mindset, taking my approach as a source of inspiration, then sharing these things will be worthwhile to me.
Lifetime Results:
I didn’t get to keep all of it because I was staked to start my career / sold some action at times, but I can’t complain. This is how I will account for the challenge #’s. (”Other” is from hand histories that were lost in a PC crash. I know how much $ was missing though, so I include it here to keep full account)
Challenge Start: $3,002,280 / $10,000,000
Poker Dream still alive?
1) I haven't watched pod, where are gonna play in order to make that amount of money (at least at this moment, we don't know the future) ?(Except ACR)
2) Do you agree that poker dream is still alive? Where poker will take direction in near future?
3) How in your opinion HS games changes over last and this year? Very tough and edges are non existant or people still missplay and don't know everything?
thank you
1) ClubWPT Gold, Apps, ACR, Ignition, Coin
2) Yes. I think sites that have high rake / high bumhunt models will progress to be more of the norm. I don't think it's the end of the world if you have the discipline to grind and game select, but it does degrade a bit from the integrity of the game.
3) Depends who you ask. Statistically, the games have gotten closer to GTO with the help of stuff like GTO Wizard and the like. It's just easier to get closer to correct frequencies.
It's pretty rough to get a sample of top 10 players and see them win for >2bb/100 in 6-max reg battles, partially because they just battle each other a lot. I think the main reason to reg battle is that it keeps you at the top of your game for when softer games go off, and you have to love the competition.
Also, the biggest reg battlers basically don't have a choice. They love doing it and have the capacity to win. Any rationalization they give for why it makes sense is basically bullshit / delusion. They do it because they love it and are obsessed with the game, and trust the rest will work itself out.
Personally, I'm a bit in the middle. Right now, the games for upper-midstakes to lower-high stakes are INSANELY good. Across every site and format I'm literally winning at 20bb/100 in over 50k hands on the year. If things dry up I'll probably find myself back in the ACR battle streets, or will clean up for (potentially) this years Online Poker Championship. But overall the life EV of just crushing limits I'm overrolled for and significantly outclass the competition is very tempting, but my competitive side has a hard time with that. Still working out the balance tbh.
Talented?
I don’t even know if I’m talented at poker—because I refuse to find out.
this seems at odds with some other stuff I've heard u say. I'd b curious to hear u expand on what u mean by it.
anyway, glad to see u doing a public blog again.
I could probably not study, play 10/20, and make a quite good living, but I don't want to do that. Relying on winning without studying would "prove" I had talent at poker, but that's not the way I want to play the game.
MTT or Cash?
IAmNeo 1 year, 5 months agoUS regulated cash is the softest environment in online poker. The US has an insanely high GDP with a culture that isn't shy to gamble, and there's very few top regs. I don't know as much about MTT, but cash is great for small to midstakes.
Why are you thinking about switching? Personally, I recommend committing to something you're passionate about and finding a way to navigate that, if you can. If you switch to cash half-heartedly you'll probably get crushed no matter how soft the game is, so I think it can be a good idea to pick a lane and move up vertically through that.
Red-lines
Become an essential coach and the redline the hell out of 50NL - 200NL! There is so much fear at lower stakes with pulling the trigger on bluffs or bluff catching. A small contract would help so many people as you mentioned 50NL players break out of their shell.
Thanks for the suggestion! I'd rather put it out on Youtube for free than be an essential coach, though.
I don't think redline matters and deliberately trying to win at non-showdown doesn't seem like the best thing to focus on. There's already plenty of SSNL-MSNL "redliners" on youtube / twitch, and I generally don't find them to be good players.
I think it's better to be OBSESSED with the fundamentals and dedicate yourself to playing great poker. I spend a ludicrous amount of time reviewing every little thing and never leaving a question unanswered. Winning in red line is sexy and highly arbitrary, but diligently finding your leaks, drilling them, creating detailed notes about a spot, staying up till late in the night and checking every postflop spot in Wiz AI to make sure you understood your range, that's the type of dedication that will make a difference for people.
Yes, some people are still risk adverse at low stakes, but I don't think a random YT video will change that. You can tell those people to loosen up and they'll say "I know, I know" and then continue to nit it up. Taking someone from nit to hero usually requires the type of mentorship that comes from long-term coaching, but maybe could come from a public course as well if its lengthy and the player feels immersed in it. I just find it's a very emotional topic for them deep down, and having a solid relationship with a coach is key to avoid them regressing when they hit the inevitable 20 buy-in downswing.
The issue for me is that I don't feel like telling people to barrel off resonates with my core message. I look at it more like, "when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to become a good measure." A lot of people look at something like redline as a proxy for how well they're playing, but I think its better to just focus on the fundamentals and a coherent strategy and let the lines fall where they will. In short, remove red/blue line from your graph. Doesn't matter.
Appreciate the thread.
Is grinding low/mid stake cash on legal US regulated sites a better use of time over MTTS? I've been contemplating switching but am kind of apprehensive.
Thanks for your time.