"Moving up the stakes is easy in Spins" - 'simon6184'
We talk to PokerStrategist and SpinLegends member 'simon6184' about how he quickly moved up from $3 Spins to $15 games.
What made you want to join SpinLegends?
: It was kind of the right offer at the right time. I have been playing poker as a "semi pro“ for about 10 years now, while studying math and business administration. Now that I am about to finish my study and play poker full time I wanted to improve my skills in the MTT/SNG NLH area. So far I have been mostly playing PLO and NL cash games.
You’ve quickly gone from $3 Spins to $15 games – what has it been like moving up?
: Moving up these stakes has not been so difficult, as there are a lot of recreational players and Adam 'coffeeyay' Sobolewski have produced some very good videos for beginners to improve your skills quickly. I think my experience of about three million NLH hands in the past also helped a bit, especially when it comes to things like game flow/game dynamics.
Is it easier moving up psychologically when you have the backing of SpinLegends/support of the coaches?
: So far it was not such a big topic for me and fortunately I did not face a big downswing yet. But when you go to the $60s or $100s it will for sure be easier to have some support when times get tougher. I think in general it is important to work on your mindset/psychology and also on your fitness and health these days, as competition gets harder.
Is there a big difference in the standard of play between $3 and $15 Spins?
: The general strategy is still the same, even though there are a few less 'crazy' players at the $15s than on the $3s. I think the differences on the next levels will be bigger in terms of regulars.
"The variance is not as bad as PLO"
What has your biggest multiplier been so far?
: My biggest multiplier has been one 25x on the $7s. Unfortunately, I was not able to win it. All in all I didn't run that good in 6x – 25x multipliers, but I have only played about 2,000 Spins so far. So there are hopefully a lot of multipliers to come.
The variance is higher in Spins than most other games, how are you coping with that?
: Compared to PLO the variance does not feel that high, so I am fine with that. That doesn't mean that running bad against a crazy opponent won´t make me mad from time to time.
Why did you switch from cash games to Spins?
: I have always played some MTTs and SNGs from time to time, but never got too deep into the theory. So for my future poker career I wanted to improve my skills in that direction. I also faced a bigger downswing in PLO 3 month before, that also made my decision a bit easier. I also like the hyper-turbo format so that your sessions are not so long like in MTTs.
"Good post flop skills are an advantage"
In what way did cash games help with Spins in a way that an SNG player might not have?
: I don't know how much post flop play there is in today´s SNG games, but I noticed that in Spins you have a lot of turn and river decisions even though you are only playing with 25bb or less most oft he time. So coming from a cash game background and having good post flop skills might be an advantage for Spin & Go.
Do you treat Spins like a cash game in that you are trying to win BBs from your opponent, rather than making the money like an SNG?
: Yes, you can compare Spins somewhat to a three handed cash games with short stacks, as Spins have a winner-takes-it-all format you don't have ICM considerations. The difference is of course that blinds go up quickly and you cannot rebuy, once a recreational player got lucky against you.
What has the SpinLegends experience been like so far?
: SpinLegends has been a great experience so far, in the Gold team we have a group of smart and friendly people with skills from all kind of areas. The materials and software are really good and the coachings with coffeeyay helped me to improve my game a lot.
