18 Nov 11

mbml: "Black Member status is a milestone in my poker career"

PokerStrategist and coach Galvin "mbml" Bay is our latest Black Member. We discussed his transition from NL to PLO as well as what it takes to make it to the elite Black Member status.

Achieving Black Member status is a long and difficult grind, so when players make it to the upper echelons of our rankings we're as happy for them as they are. mbml is the latest player to join the elite team of grinders that make up our Black Members. We wanted to talk to him about his game and the best way to go about achieving Black Member status.

This interview was conducted by vhallee

PokerStrategy.com: Congratulations on reaching the coveted Black Member status, mbml! How does it feel to be part of the PokerStrategy.com elite?

mbml: Great! Reaching Black Member status is certainly a milestone in my poker career and I'm happy to have gotten this far. Though my avatar doesn't show up in the forums (smiles).

PokerStrategy.com: I guess you can't have them all - or you can use TwiceT's image in your signature. So how did you manage to get this rank? Was it planned or you just played and eventually got it?

mbml: I did not plan it for sure, since the main benefit of Black Member status is getting access to all the parties and in my case I'm pretty far from Europe.

PokerStrategy.com: Look on the bright side: you're closer to the crazy action in Macau! Speaking of parties, if you had to pick a Black Member Event to go to, which one would it be and why?

mbml: I'd probably pick one of the German cities because I have this impression that Germany is the nuts and that everyone goes crazy at parties.

PokerStrategy.com: Hopefully you'll get to one of these parties, it would be great to see you there! Back when you were featured on the Diamond Interview Series, you were an NL200 player. What are you playing nowadays?

mbml: I'm playing NL400 SH as my main limit, with some NL600 and NL1000 mixed in. I haven't been running good for the past 3 months so I'm currently in the process of switching over to PLO.

From two cards to four

Tennis: fun, but no StrategyPoints.

PokerStrategy.com: Sorry to hear that, I hope the runbad will come to an end soon. Why did you make the switch to PLO and not something else?

mbml: There's nothing else to switch to in my opinion. Mixed games rarely run, when they do it's mostly on weekends. The stakes are either too low or nosebleeds.

Fixed Limit died a few years ago and it would be irrational to go back to a dying game. I think the amount of PLO video content is pretty good at this point in time so if I were to study hard I could improve at a rapid rate as well. This is unlike other games where there is hardly any content to study.

PLO HU also seems like a viable option in the future if I get good enough. If you compare HU lobbies for NLHE and PLO, PLO gets way more action. I kind of feel that fish like PLO a lot more, simply because they can play every single hand and make straights and flushes much more frequently.

PokerStrategy.com: Is that why you believe PLO is getting so much more popular these days?

mbml: This week I actually spent a lot of time thinking about my poker career and I think it would be the right choice make the switch to PLO, because PLO200 games really feel like NL50. Most people are switching mainly because the games are easier to beat.

You kind of have to grind down the regs slowly at NLHE, with the occasional reg fish who makes small mistakes; at PLO you just see monster whales with an 80% VPIP on such a regular basis. That never, ever happens when I play midstakes NLHE.

The main reasons why Holdem players still stick to NLHE instead of PLO are laziness, fear of variance and maybe opportunity cost of learning a new game as opposed to grinding NLHE. I think after this period of time, none of these factors apply to me anymore so I decided to take this leap of faith and make the transition.

Grind on the mind

From crushing small stakes to crushing small buildings.

PokerStrategy.com: Interesting analysis. Best of luck with your transition and keep us posted on your progress! What about your playing habits? How many tables do you play?

mbml: I probably play way too many tables for my own good (which ironically is the reason why I'm a Black Member now), mostly 10-12 but sometimes more, sometimes less. This is because I get impatient waiting for tables and I start wait listing on every single table in the lobby. I have a hard time shutting down bad tables because there's too much action going on.

PokerStrategy.com: What about the length of your sessions? Do you break them down into smaller chunks or just play for hours?

mbml: On average, I play for 3-4 hours per day. I usually play more when I feel good and win but I personally find it hard to grind daily when I run bad or when I have school.

I used to play one long session all the time, which is probably bad. I also tried playing several sessions of 1-2 hours per day but that didn't work out for me; starting tables was a waste of time and also kept my volume really low. I usually play a couple of sessions of 2-3 hours these days which seems quite optimal for me.

PokerStrategy.com: Does this change playing PLO?

mbml: I'm only on my fourth day playing solely PLO, so I'm still trying to find a good balance. I can't concentrate as well and my fundamentals are still weak, so I generally play fewer tables at PLO.

What the future holds

Food first, poker later.

PokerStrategy.com: Well, you have to start somewhere, right? I'm sure you'll crush the PLO tables in no time. Have you considered talking about your road to Black Member in your blog? Many fellow community members would definitely be interested in reading about it.

mbml: I did write about my poker journey from 2009 to 2011 in my blog so I'm not sure if there's anything interesting to add.

PokerStrategy.com: 2011 is slowly coming to an end. Did you set yourself any goals for the rest of the year? What about your plans for 2012?

mbml: My plan is to be able to beat PLO200 by 2012, so I am going to start some coaching with TwiceT soon. I will then decide if I can play decent 8-10 tabling or if I'm better off cutting tables, which will ultimately determine if I try going for SuperNova Elite. PLO generates twice as many VPPs per hand played so it would be easier to get there.

SNE basically guarantees me 110,000$ in rakeback for 2012 if I break even and I can play some live events too. It would also force me to be more disciplined and I would then have to establish some sort of fixed routine, which I failed to create for myself over the past few years.

PokerStrategy.com: Solid plans, I'm sure you will achieve these goals. Since you're now a coach AND a Black Member, do you have any advice for new members looking to become good poker players?

mbml: Self-awareness is probably the most important thing to becoming good. Understanding your flaws well can help you to fix them. It's also important to know where your edge lies at the table so you can continuously exploit it.

PokerStrategy.com: Thank you very much for your time Galvin and best of luck in your PLO challenges!

mbml becomes the newest PokerStrategy.com Black Member!

Tune in to mbml's special coaching session!

In order to celebrate his Black Member status, mbml will be hosting a special coaching session on Saturday at 17:00 GMT. This is open to all members and is a great chance to get inside the head of our latest Black Member as he discusses strategy and mindset.

Join mbml's celebratory coaching session!

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