Oh man! Serbia got beaten 4:0 ♠_drink:
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Yeah I watched it of course 
Just a bad day nothing more. Previous 5 times we meet with Czech team (U21 guys) we won 4/5. So this is just a bad day and our guys took great result and game vs Germany and messed up mental game for this game.
Well deserved win, think Czech should have scored 2-3 more goals on top of 4-0 today
Hello Ivicalliev, nice blog very motivating to read. Why did you move from SNG to Cash?
Originally posted by Roszzz
Why did you move from SNG to Cash?
I think Pedja loves adventures too much 
Originally posted by tonypmm
Originally posted by Roszzz
Why did you move from SNG to Cash?I think Pedja loves adventures too much
Nah, i wouldn't say that there is too much when it comes to adventuring and moving forward in poker
Originally posted by Roszzz
Hello Ivicalliev, nice blog very motivating to read. Why did you move from SNG to Cash?
Hello Roszzz,
Welcome to my blog. Glad you find it motivating to read. Hopefully you will take some things that can work for you and your poker career.
Already listed reasons for moving from SNG to CG, will list them again as everybody keeps asking this question over and over.
Here is how I see things, my point of view of SNG vs CG and then I will list why I switched.
Advantages of SNG:
- Studied this format longer and am proven winner on 15s 6 max SNGs on large sample
- Much easier to mass multi table and use auto pilot for tons of decisions (most of them are all ins pre flop)
- Weaker player field, especially in pre + post flop play and HU
- Main goal of the game is to have super solid ICM knowledge and exploit opponents who don't (so with lots of studying and doing various scenarios you can easily get ahead vs average SNG opponent)
- Coached and still coach people in this format, transforming them into SNG professionals
- Can play this format 15+ tabling on 1 monitor while having on other monitor some TV show/movies/music
- Hourly is set above 20$, so can always make a strong wage in terms of western standards for salary (3k+ per month)
- Large part of winnings come from RB as win rates get lower higher you go (so if you are hard grinder you make 1.5k+ per month just being BE)
- You learn to be good with ranges for 30bb or less (r/c r/f 3 bet, cold calling) which you can apply to other formats (MTTs being one of them)
Disadvantages of SNG 6 max format:
- For low to mid stakes, only site where you can play them is Poker Stars, rest of sites are dead if you want to play those games for a living (you can't get 100 games per day anywhere else!!!)
- Poker Stars has lower rake but RB system is not ideal (you need SN for 34% RB vs other sites that offer 50% RB and have weaker player field right away). Also Stars RB system will change/alter in near future which could result into even worse conditions for 6 max SNG players.
- Since there is traffic on Poker Stars only for such stakes, there is also most regs compared to any other site and networks so you play reg infested (vary variance affected) games
- After 15s 6 max turbos, traffic becomes super low (example you can't play 100 games per day on 30s with table selecting because it kills your hourly, you get very low number of tables per hour!)
- After introduction of Spin and Go games, a lot of recreational players switched from SNGs to such format and now games are even more reg infested = even more variance, lower hourly
- Hourly or how much money you can earn with 6 max SNGs is unfortunately CAPPED. Find me more than 20 people who play 6 max turbo on Poker Stars and make 100k per year without SNE and the guys that didn't luck box 100s with super low sample (yep, you won't be able to find them because there is no traffic and this money 6 max hyper guys who chase SNE make as BE variance grinders!)
- Your skill as poker player has a lot of leaks and holes as SNG player (range construction pre flop, post flop profitability and range vs range construction - something that CG guys must know if they are to move up and become profitable players for low stakes +)
- Very variance affected games (every tournament you are dealing with all in decisions, edges are smaller the higher you move up and you need BR that can sustain such swings)
- In order to keep your hourly steady you need to play longer sessions and keep your table count high (starting and stopping is not an option because in SNGs is all about maximizing your hourly as a professional SNG player)
Advantages of CG:
- You have ZOOM games where you instantly play hands after you fold and reg speed tables that run EVERYWHERE
- You can start and stop your session anytime when grinding ZOOM while for reg speed you can also play shorter sessions compared to SNGs
- Being able to start and stop your grind anytime allows you to organize your day 100% the way you want it because traffic is always there vs SNGs where you sacrifice your afternoon to late evenings on higher limits!
- There is higher sealing for hourly and how much you can earn (guys that are winners on NL100-200-400 with solid volume make 10k+$ per month with RB which compared to SNGs is brutal)
- You challenge yourself to become all around poker player, understand why certain things are done pre and post flop, understand truly math and theory in poker and how to put it to use, post flop you understand what hands fall under which category and learn to play vs different types of opponents and how your frequency changes of calling/betting/raising/folding changes vs each of them, you learn 100bb poker, 100bb+ poker, mid stack poker and ss poker (all played differently!!!)
- There is traffic for all limits on most sites for CG, you can combine sites and mass multi table CG same way like SNGs on Stars just with higher RB and softer field
- Table selecting is easier when you use multiple sites/networks vs just using Poker Stars
- There is far more players that play CG compared to SNGs hence traffic for it on every site/network. It also means that there is more recreational players and game becomes automatically less variable when you play weaker player field.
- Since the game is less variable compared to SNGs you need less BR to play CG which is awesome
- You get better RB using other sites (vs Stars) and while studying and improving you can already make a "decent" living from RB alone (which for SNGs is not the case cause you need to be winning on low limits and this becomes possible if you are BE on 7s and play large volume!)
- CG will never die in years to come while SNGs only exist on Stars and they might die off in next couple of years when all recreational players switch to Spins (so you can plan your future as poker player better as CG player)
Disadvantages of CG:
- It is significantly more difficult game compared to SNGs!
It requires you to study pre flop everything (opening , cold calling, 3 bet/4 bet/5 bet ranges, squeeze ranges, playing in HU and MW pots, playing IP and OOP, playing for 100bb or more or less effective stacks). It also requires you to know math, theory, understand opponent types and their tendencies and adjust properly (post flop what you should call 3 streets, call 1 or 2 streets, x/r or raise flop/turn/river, what hands do you use to x/c, what range opponent has pre flop and how did it connect with certain flop, how does he play his whole range post flop and how does that affect your whole range and current hand that you hold, understanding bet sizing for flop turn and river, frequencies and what certain lines represent read less and how they are applied by different opponent types and vs different opponent types)
- There is a lot of videos and materials that is misleading and confusing to any CG player level. Finding the right material and people to work with becomes significantly more important compared to SNGs where every coach will tell you to learn solid ICM 1st and then take care of the rest
- Regs are much better with overall poker knowledge compared to SNG regs
- It takes much more time and patience to become winner and move up/crush stakes compared to SNGs where with super solid ICM you can already play low/mid stakes (without any pre and post flop commitment!)
- CG can tilt you more because every time you loose a pot you loose actual $/euro amount compared to SNGs where you invested buy in and loose chips (which doesn't have nowhere near same effect as CG)
That is about everything I can think of in one go here.
Now I will just list why I personally choose to switch, and you can kind of in advance from everything I said here already estimate why I did it.
My reasons for switching to CG:
- Want to keep improving as a poker player, become best I can
- CG offers traffic all day long, anywhere which allows me to play and pace my sessions the way I want them
- There is higher sealing for hourly which reflects on monthly/yearly winnings significantly (think 50k SNGs vs 100+k CG per year)
- SNG traffic is in decline after introduction of spins, it becomes torture to table select and hourly goes down due to lower table count
- Want to prove to myself that I can successfully switch as successful SNG player into CG. Most guys can't make this switch because they are either afraid or aware that it takes totally different approach and way more studying persistence endurance and stronger mental game compared to SNGs. My current goal by the end of the year is to play NL100+ full time and next year to be regular on Nl200+. This should eventually lead into 10k+$ months which will enable me secure future and retirement from poker if I decide to pull the brakes (say 5-6 years from now I get 300k+ saved up and I invest it in various projects + purchase real estate, I can then dedicate full time to my true love which is music guitar and Jazz music, and other projects will bring me steady living and will have whole life settled not to worry about where to sleep what to eat any bills traveling family expenses and such!)
I hope you found something useful in this response (not just you but anybody who read it all the way through!).
My final advice for people starting in poker is to go to CG right away! It will be more difficult at 1st but later on it becomes well worth it. In my example after 6 months I already matched my hourly from SNGs playing ZOOM format. I can just visualize what my knowledge, experience and hourly will turn into in next 6 months! You can all do this, it just takes lots of studying hours, focus, hard work, persistence and to surround yourself with people who are positive, wish you well and can help you become best you can.
Greetings from Lefkada, Greece to all the people following the blog - wrote you this message during lunch brake, going back to swim now
P.S. Will do quick update for June in near future with hours but overall it was very successful month and I am now standing very strong with my knowledge, ability, BR, win rate to keep moving forward and crush!
Originally posted by tonypmm
Originally posted by Roszzz
Why did you move from SNG to Cash?I think Pedja loves adventures too much
:f_love::f_thumbsup::sfishg::sfishy::banana:
Originally posted by Roszzz
Thank you for your answer!
You welcome Roszzz
Hope it helped other people who are in doubt and following the blog !
Quick update about June:
Grinding - hit 90% of my target
Studying - did more than I wanted which is always great
Coaching - did more than I planed which is again great
Other things that were going on in June:
- I connected with couple more NL200+ players
- I connected with one of my poker idols
- Waiting for final decision in next 2 weeks that will have huge impact on my poker career
- My knowledge is settled, tilt is super low, I am feeling very much in control and ready to move up
- Reached and outcome my SNG hourly after 6 months of studying CG
- Went to seaside 10 days with my family (arrived back on 5th of July yesterday).
I will update hours for the whole year as soon as I set July goals and targets.
There are tons of things going on in July and it will be very difficult to maintain high level of poker activities. I will fight it really hard but life things will come in the way such as my friend who is assistant of our national basketball team coach will arrive here on 10th of July (we will play Football Manager and hang 3-4 days straight!) , then I will go and watch Partizan Belgrade live in Belgrade on 14th of July (1st official game in Europe for us this season at home) then my best friend from Boston (violin player that I mentioned before in my blog) arrived and I will most likely go and visit him anywhere from 3 to 7 days or so and finally my good friend from abroad also came to Serbia and I will go and meet him and hang for 2 days. On top of this it is my birthday tomorrow (7th of July) I will turn 32. I haven't had a sip of alchochol since Christmas (this year) but I might have a cheat day tomorrow and have some beer and rakija with my close friends (shall see - not up for it yet
So as you see , 6 days in July and I have about 10+ days planned with very good friends that I will spend so July goals will all be about keeping studying going as well as working with my students and preparing for positive change in my poker career!
Enjoy your July and if you get a chance go to some seaside - I had an awesome vacation in Lefkada, 10 days without grinding poker just relaxing with family and visiting lovely beaches - awesome stuff!
Happy Birthday my friend, wish you hard work, and good results, i know that you will make all your goals
Also wish you to find some pretty Asian girl and marry her, have ten children and enjoy life!
:f_drink::f_drink::f_drink:
Spoiler
Good luck with the outcome of that decision, intensive work, moving up, reaching your goals fast and having as many children as you want from an Asian or whatever woman (if 10 are too many)! 
Originally posted by DarkoK3
Happy Birthday my friend, wish you hard work, and good results, i know that you will make all your goals
Also wish you to find some pretty Asian girl and marry her, have ten children and enjoy life!
:f_drink::f_drink::f_drink:
Thank You Darko!
I wish you to become best SNG player on planet earth!
Asian girl and kids - all possible if I move to Thailand 
Originally posted by tonypmm
Spoiler
Good luck with the outcome of that decision, intensive work, moving up, reaching your goals fast and having as many children as you want from an Asian or whatever woman (if 10 are too many)!
Thank You Tony!
The cake was very similar except that number 3 and 2 were black and white with Partizan Belgrade's stampsWaiting still for the decision. Not sure how it will all go, regardless of it I have prepared back up plan(s) in any case!
OK so just a quick update
Birthday went really well. I spent it the way I wanted to which was really important to me. I recognize from holidays birthday and new year - the rest of the holidays are irrelevant IMO.
Anyways, got hammered so hard that I had black outs :f_ugly:. Yesterday was hungover + this hot weather is really not helping me recover. Managed to get really good rest (think I slept 4-5 times adding total of 12+ hours easily!). So today I am ready to get back on track. Will take some time to create plan for July and post it here later in the day with hours for the whole year.
Some of the birthday highlights is my friends from all over the world remembering it. I got some nice Boston and London memories + from Thessaloniki as well from 7+ years living abroad. I am considering future steps in my life and restructuring certain things. Long story short, I might move from Serbia to Thailand or some beach type of country (Asia preferably) but that is just dilemma right now and no real steps have been taken towards that except some basic research (blogs and experiences from other people living there). I can definitely see myself staying here in Serbia (family is here, best friend, Partizan Belgrade games, opportunity to hook up with very good looking girls, 500-700 euro per month lifestyle which can be easily attainable through poker) but I can also see myself moving to Thailand for some period of time (beaches, Asian girls, stress free environment). In any case, I will update how things unwrap as there is other things that need to lead to this potential move and right now I am committed to people and projects that I want to finish 1st before I dig into the move more seriously.
Enjoy your July on and off the tables and expect an update with time management for July soon!
Here are the numbers for June and update for July challenge
June Challenge
Things accomplished so far:
Studying CG 70/60 hours
Grinding CG 67.5/100 hours (54000/70000)
Coaching 56/30 hours
2015 Challenge
Things completed so far in the challenge:
330.1/300 Study hours
200.75/300 Coaching sessions
595.75/1500 Grinding hours
35/150 Work out
280/1000 Hands analyzed in depth (tons of additional hands analyzed on private forum and via skype discussions)
98.5 hours Live Poker (tons of additional hours lost in waiting for games to start!)
July Challenge:
Studying 30 hours
Grinding 50 hours
Coaching 20 hours
Other life activities
Belgrade trip around 7 days
Partizan Belgrade game 2 days
Hanging with my great friend 3 days in Nis
Poker things:
Expecting decision regarding my future career in poker
Continuing to work with my friend and reg elpsycho + with fellow brutal reg and other regs
Continuing with GTO study and preparing for move up in limits
Continuing to build solid life and poker BR
Continuing to coach my students on very high level providing massive value to them
Half of the year has passed and I am confident that I can get to NL100 by the end of this year. All I have to do is keep setting high goals, set realistic time management, get back into shape with CrossFit and work my ass off to become best I can!
Due to life things in July and the fact that it is already 9th of the month, goals are somewhat lighter but they are made this way because of life things that will be going on and to be honest I think even these hours will be super difficult to get - 100 hours in 22 days while some days will be brutal without any poker activity most likely!
Lets go July and GL to all people following both on and off the tables!
Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
Long story short, I might move from Serbia to Thailand or some beach type of country (Asia preferably) but that is just dilemma right now and no real steps have been taken towards that except some basic research (blogs and experiences from other people living there).
What do you think about living in Manila? If I were to choose a place in Asia, I'd prefer it over Thailand due to reportedly thriving live poker (especially PLO) scene. But of course girls, beaches and parties don't matter to me and I'm not an expert on which are better.
The main downside of Thailand to me is that too few inhabitants speak English - 27% as opposed to 57% in the Philippines, where it's an official language along with Tagalog.
The reason why I don't like Asia are the time zones - they make the .com pool of Pokerstars the only reasonable option for online grind (because other sites lack action outside the Euro peak), which I find rather -EV. They're however OK if you're not going to play at the reg-infested peak hours. E.g. it's 8 AM in Manila when it's 9 PM in Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires
As far as American countries, my pick (basing on preliminary research) is Costa Rica, but I've heard that you'd need experienced lawyers there to prevent rental fraud.
Hey Tony!
Interesting addition about Philippines vs Thailand. Was not aware about that. I assumed that in tourist cities there is just much higher % of English speaking people compared to regular places in Thailand.
Regarding time zone difference, I already talked to some people and this becomes a problem from NL100 beyond somewhat. Before that there is plenty of traffic around that you don't have to worry about specific time zone. Again, this depends if you are playing zoom or reg speeds and how many tables do you want of reg speeds?
These things could be dealt with like with anything.
Talked today for around 1 hour with a grinder living in Thailand. He suggested minimum 1k $ per month for expenses there, 1.5k to live really good and then 2k+ to live like a king
I will check Manila in the meanwhile, my great friends gf is from there, she can share 1st hand experience about living cost and life quality over there.