russxssur

Poker. Travel. Muay Thai. Crypto. One Piece Tcg.

[russxssur @RussellThio]

@ddfromscratch @LuigiAmatoTCG Yes somehow the guide doesn’t really tell much advice how to beat this much in detail

[russxssur @RussellThio]

@DevinOPTCG @s0menyy Doing well

[russxssur @RussellThio]

1st game of 1st FS since 2024 🤣

[bencb @bencb789]

“NO way you can exploit or adapt when you play SO MANY TABLES”

A lot of people think I just autopilot.
Playing tight ABC poker.
But the REAL work happens away from the tables.

I never blindly apply what a solver tells me to do.

What helped me far more was thousands of hours of coaching, understanding how real players think, understanding their leaks, weaknesses, and emotional tendencies.

Why would I force a GTO bluffcatch when I know a population massively underbluffs a spot?

But this requires serious work outside the game and not being afraid to exploit, even if it looks stupid.

I spent thousands of hours with other poker players discussing strategies, reviewing hands, and seeing other players' perspectives. And what I do best?
I can shut my fucking mouth and listen to people who are ahead of me and soak up knowledge like a sponge.

Also, a lot of time went into...
▶️Studying my database
▶️Taking notes constantly
▶️Researching population tendencies
▶️Working on my mindset so I never tilt.

And then comes the part most people underestimate.

No cap, I spent 10,000+ hours in HRC and other programs analyzing spots where people are too tight or too loose and building counter-strategies against those mistakes. Building systems I can simply execute. AGAIN, NOT blindly following GTO strategies. A lot of the outputs I found were useless, and I would never consider applying them.

That created massive automatisms in my game.

I don’t need 20 seconds to make a big exploitative adjustment.
I often need one second.

Because I’ve built deep patterns of recognition over many years.
One example:

After researching huge database samples across all stakes, I realized that facing a 3-barrel, especially after a big flop sizing, followed by a big river bet (80%+), is massively underbluffed population-wise.

So when I face this spot, I simply fold most bluffcatchers without hesitation. Boom, next spot. You waste 20 seconds, I need 1 second.

This irritates many GTO warriors because they can’t distinguish between theoretical poker and realistic poker.

Of course, at Highstakes, you will find players who overbluff. That’s why I constantly review big final tables, study my own hands, and take notes every single week.

But my biggest focus will always be exploiting weaker opponents, recreationals, and bad regulars.

That’s where the money is made.

I put my ego aside.

If some elite players re-exploit me because of my exploitative style, fine. So be it.

I’d rather crush 90 out of 100 players and lose a bit against the other 10 than try to play some perfectly balanced theoretical strategy against everyone.

And again, people think this takes a huge amount of in-game time.

It doesn’t.

Humans are patterns.

You play against the same player types over and over again:

🪨Nits
🤪Maniacs
😺Weak regulars
🧠Solid regs
🐟Fish
🐳Whales

You learn to adapt within seconds.
Of course, my winrate would probably be higher if I played 10-15 tables instead of 20-25.

But my hourly rate would be lower.

And you don’t need to jump to 20 tables.

This approach can already massively help when moving:

from 1to 5 tables

from 3 to 5 tables

from 8 to 10 tables

Very often, players study spots that barely matter in reality.
Take bluffcatching, for example.

Why waste 15-20 seconds trying to find the “perfect GTO bluffcatcher” when the population simply doesn’t bluff enough?

Just call hands that beat value.

And if someone is a maniac?
Call all your bluffcatchers.

No player bluffs at correct frequencies anyway.

All the randomizing, overthinking, and solver worship often becomes completely unnecessary in real games.
And these exploit opportunities exist everywhere:

▶️Preflop
▶️Postflop
▶️Multiway
▶️ICM spots
▶️PKOs

That’s exactly why I built multiple Exploitative Courses inside Raise Your Edge. Free and Paid.
Simple. Straightforward. Practical.
So players can gradually add more and more high-EV exploits to their game.

At the end of the day, I only care about one thing:

What makes you the most money?

Not what gives you the highest solver score.

Aiming for Solver players will unnecessarily confuse you, take you more time in-game, and hinder you from increasing your table count. And you spend all that time studying and wonder why you are stuck.
Well, your approach sucks.

Last week, we uploaded a BRAND-NEW GUIDE on YouTube (its FREE) on how to make your first $10,000 with Online Poker. Very structured, all the tools you need WITHOUT spending a SINGLE DOLLAR!

Link below.

[russxssur @RussellThio]

@luckboxlim 5k

[russxssur @RussellThio]

Poker doesn’t owe you anything.

You’re going to lose with the best hand.

Accept it and keep playing your edge. The game pays the patient, not the emotional.

[bencb @bencb789]

The WORST hand I played in 2025 - a PAINFUL Hand - and what you can learn from it.

Day 2 of the Milly Maker. Playing for $1M+ up top.

Turn is close. Check is fine, but I opted for the thin value bet vs all the 85 / 79 type hands, flushdraws, all 8x will call again. 33%-50% feels like a reasonable size.

Also, Preflop, most people limp/jam their Ax. I didn't give up much Ax on this stack size.

But we’re deep in a tournament vs an unknown.
And that’s where I messed up.

I assumed what he should do…
instead of what he would do at this stage. The psychological aspect plays a huge role.

I talked myself into my opponent having a semi-bluff: 98 / 79 / 65, Flushdraws, maybe some 2 pairs, but a ton of semi-bluffs that I will overall perform well against.

Reality? Most unknowns are too passive here. They take the safe line.

I leveled myself:

“Great spot to semi-bluff given how thin my value bet is.”

That’s the trap.
Always separate what players should do from what they actually do.

If you make decisions based on what people would do,
your game jumps to another level. That often means dropping GTO and playing 100% exploitative.

I was not 100% focused on the Turn. I feel like I am being exploited. Which is bullshit.

Complete punt call on the turn. This hand haunted me for 1 - 2 weeks.

But it made me better. I wanted to do better. It motivated me to pay closer attention.

.. and when I had another big run in a WSOP Event weeks later, I won it. I was sharper.

Trust your instincts - based on what your opponent is likely to do. That’s what matters.

And not what they "should" do.

Stay Strong Champ.

[russxssur @RussellThio]

Am I coming back?

[russxssur @RussellThio]

APPT Cambodia:

$400 Plo Turbo - 2nd

$600 Teams Event - 2nd

$400 Mini Main Event - no cash

$200 Last Chance Super Hyper Turbo - no cash

Overall pretty decent series

Up next: Muay Thai in Bangkok

[Malvin @ManOfFocus_]

Dear son, stay disciplined.

[Wayne Yap @wayneyap]

https://t.co/E4VNwJrjct

[russxssur @RussellThio]

APT Taipei

1 event. 1 final table.

Up next: APPT Cambodia

[russxssur @RussellThio]

@Dobogeee Play poker too

[russxssur @RussellThio]

@KerryTan17 @JellybeansOP Idol

[Luke Belmar 👽 @lukebelmar]

Most people fail in life because they are distracted.

Everyone and everything is begging for your attention 24/7. Why should you give any energy or attention to things that steal your time and energy? Doesn't make sense.

If you want to win FAST you need to kill all distractions

[Wayne Yap @wayneyap]

Bill Perkins is a legend.

He started from 0, sleeping in his mom’s room, and built a $100M/year empire.

Today, he’s a high-stakes poker player & wrote the blueprint for dying with zero.

In 2019, I interviewed him & he shared a framework that reshaped my life (Must read):

[russxssur @RussellThio]

First event: $300 PLO

[russxssur @RussellThio]

Today marks the end of my 2 weeks in BKK. My top picks:

🏨: Somerset Ekkamai
☕️: Rolling Roasters Ekkamai
🍽️: Hoi Tod Chaw Lae
🪩: Muin
🥊: Krudam Muay Thai School

Up Next: The Kingdom of Cambodia
🇹🇭 ✈️ 🇰🇭

72 hr zero calorie water fast
Kun Khmer
WPT Cambodia

[Luke Belmar 👽 @lukebelmar]

The key to success is ignoring the NPCs

[russxssur @RussellThio]

@Dobogeee Entrepreneur 😉