Making a living with STT SNGs

2016 Challenge - Saving 12k$
April
Day 27
2655/4000 games
91.02 hours grind

Graph for the day:

Crushed the day!
Morning routine completed, went for coffee with best friend and grinded 1st session. Played with strong focus and won 6 buy ins but due to tons of setups in games with 4x 6x I only ended with 6 buy ins profit thanks to wining final game of 6x! Came back home ate traditional Serbian food then went to see my dad and hanged out with him for half an hour. Got back home and grinded 2nd session. 1st student moved lesson for tomorrow so I went for 3rd session after which I taught 1 guitar lesson. Studied investing then for 1.5 hour and talked with elpsycho over skype. Then grinded 4th session which resulted with a bit over 4 hour grind today. Talked to Alex over Skype and now about to watch NBA for a bit before hitting the bed early. Talked with the girl that I will meet tomorrow and I managed to set that up nicely also.

Regarding game play today, for the most of the time I played B game, there were moments of A game and also variance played key role in some games. Just lots of card distribution setups. I believe in the 4th session I made more money thanks to winning 10x today which resulted into running above EV for the day. Encouraging thing is that I am around cEV of 70 which is my goal for 15s to get it up there on a large sample.

Tomorrow meeting with a girl, grinding 4 sessions and teaching 1 guitar lesson. Will be lots of fun!

Fun facts for today: Realized that once I get to 3k games for the month I will also pass 100 hours grinding for the month which considering everything else going on is great accomplishment for current month!

Quick update
Watching Celtics now just to let you know I will do monthly update on Saturday and Sunday. I am 261 games short of 3k volume and 6.67 hours short of 100 hours! Expect to meet both those targets and then go for more in May.

2016 Challenge - Saving 12k$
April Reflection

Profit for April

Poker
3001 games in 101.82 hours
Profit pre RB = 1882$
Profit post RB = 2392$

Music
20.5 hours of teaching for 1011$

Investing
20 hours of studying and analyzing for -142.71$

Life expenses
Total 750.29$

Total money saved in April 2510$

Here are some graphs for April

Complete graph for all limits combined:

Graph for 3s:

Graph for 7s:

Graph for 15s:

Statistics from PT4:

Rewards
Really tons of rewards in April. Celebrated on 13th of April which was exactly one month since I am back from USA. At that time was up 2.5k including money earned in 2 weeks in March. After that celebrated for 120x! In between went to my favorite restaurant several times, hooked up with one girl and went on a date with another, spent minimum 60 hours this month with family and friends combined.
Monday I plan to set up appointment with dentist to get estimate for those tooth implants and see how long the whole process will take. That is major investment that I plan to make 1st thing in May!

Overall point from April
Took some time to adjust to Spins and pick up on tendencies as well as edges. As I adjusted, realized that 7s are way too easy and not challenging so started setting up stop and loss for 15s due to 120x bink on 7s! Took several shots and I believe 3rd shot proved to be successful since I haven't dropped back to 7s since then. My game is nowhere near perfect but it is good enough to make solid money as I currently 4 tabling, listening and watching podcasts, tv shows and music in the background. My motivation on 15s is to get to cEV of 70. Despite running bad on them in this month I had poor plays also (like everyone) but I am very positive that my current cEV is over 60 and even close to 70 if not 70. In next days, weeks and months I will work on getting it there steady on a large sample of games. I have already reached out to two of my mentors and people that I consider can help me greatly with this (to check my game plan pre and post flop). Long term things are certainly looking good and I get the feeling that within next 4 months I will complete this challenge latest.

What to expect in May?
I will aim to earn 5k in the May with potentially earning more with coaching as well. Going for 4k games, expecting 1$ game there post RB and 1k from music teaching. These two alone should get me to 5k month without coaching and investing which potentially will increase my winnings and money saved.
In case I make 4k instead of 5k or more, I will not do any huge celebration but with 5k+ I will definitely reward myself with proper celebration since its been a while since I had 5k month.
To accomplish this goal I will need to grind 125-130 hours, teach music about 30-40 hours (payments for lessons are in advance for whole set or per lesson which is why hours can vary but amount is still large enough especially for advanced set payments) and coach poker 10 hours. Potentially May will turn into 180 hours month without investing, with investing 200 and more hours! It will be well worth it of course! I am also considering to do 10 hours grind in one day just to push my mental strength and barriers, prove to myself that I can grind way more then what I am doing currently but instead I choose to focus on branching out to all these different areas that make me happy and fulfilled.
Two new additions in May (besides coaching and increasing volume to 4k games) will be eating more healthy and steady as well as increasing working out to proper training. Planing to invest money for maid and cook + pay for personal sessions with my friend for CrossFit to do some outside training 3 times per week. These two things alone will long term increase my focus, stamina, strength and get me ready for even more brutal grind if I decide to do some sick challenge for Spins but most importantly will make me feel great with lots of energy and focus each day!

Overall, April was very successful month, learned a lot of things from it, adapted well, pushed myself enough to make these results and now I am ready to push stronger in May and expect even better results and more money saved!

Hope you enjoyed the update, thanks for being patient and following - see you in May!

2016 Challenge - Saving 12k$
May
Days 1 and 2
147/4000 games
4.72 hours grind

Graph for those days:

Slow start in May.
Sunday spent whole day with family celebrating Easter, haven't played a single game that day but I did get to studying and review. Found some more edges and things that will improve my cEV/ROI long term that I am starting to implement. Today had a slow start also, while at coffee place my internet busted twice (once from coffee place and once on my cell phone). During that time probably lost HU chip lead on 2-3 games minimum and missed tons of spots very likely. When I got home I ate lunch and studied some more and then did about 4 hours of grind which is good. Whole day seemed very affected by variance, loosing to 3 outers and such pf or simply getting set up. There were lots of interesting hands and spots that I marked which I will do in my review tomorrow.
Some key things that are happening and will be theme in May:
- Slow start, behind the pace for 4k games (should have 267 instead 147), will need to step it up on some days more then others! Considering to pick a day and do 10 hours grind (300+ games) and get couple of days with 5-7 hours grind for maximum practice and testing of focus, auto pilot and new adjustments.
- Started adapting my game plan for long term cEV/ROI increase. May take 10k games for this to be seen but I am happy how things are looking already as in game I feel more control then ever!
- May will be busier then expected as I have 3 major things that I will need to attend which will take away from grinding for sure.

Tomorrow teaching 3 lessons and meeting a friend for coffee with 4 hours grind. Very busy day, look forward to it!

Enjoy your May on and off the tables!

2016 Challenge - Saving 12k$
May
Day 3
284/4000 games
8.93/125 hours

Graph for the day:

Very interesting day!
Completed morning routine, talked with elpsycho and went for coffee with a friend. Had a great time, got back home, ate lunch and studied. Went for coffee again this time with best friend and played 1.5 hour or so in coffee place during which I crashed but got slaughtered. Got back home, grinded 2nd session 1 hour and then taught 1 lesson. After lesson talked with elpsycho some more and then did 1.5 hour long session or a bit more. Last session for typical example of variance (set ups pre and post flop) and the fact that new game plan changes will need some more time to fit in! Finished the day with negative EV and what not but not worried at all as through out the whole day I felt control pre and post flop and focus was good. I also got some crazy calls that got rewarded which also affected win rate greatly.

Tomorrow quite a lot of things going on!
Coaching 11-12, then doing some house work from 12:30, meeting with a friend for quick coffee later and then onto grinding + teaching 8-11pm after which I will do some more grinding. Very likely I will do 2-3 hours grinding tomorrow due to all of the things going on. Friday right now looks like a great day to put in 6+ hours for grinding as I have 1 lesson that I will teach that day and will start with grinding earlier in that day.

Enjoy the rest of your week on and off the tables!

2016 Challenge - Saving 12k$
May
Day 4
342/4000 games
11.20/125 hours

Graph for the day:

Very fulfilling day!
Woke up earliest in weeks (9am) completed morning routine and coached from 11am for 1 hour and 20ish minutes. Session was very productive and look forward to next one on Sunday. After that did some things for the house (supplies) and studied game plan. Went for coffee with 2 friends and grinded about 1 hour there. Variance + river spots = swings. Got back home, ate lunch and hooked up with a girl. After that took a quick nap and then was teaching 8-11 with 10 minute break from 10:10pm to 10:20pm. After teaching talked to my friends over skype and set up some coffee time for tomorrow along with other time management. Studied and then hit the tables. 2nd session was better and I could definitely see things clicking more. These new edges are awesome, definitely will increase my EV in the games but I won't get blindsided by that. I will continue to work and improve as my career as poker player through Spins has a lot of space to improve and crush.

Tomorrow teaching 3 hours (7-10pm) and will again go for minimum 2 hours of grinding and studying along the way. Very likely I will play 3.5 hours today playing 2x1 hour sessions and 3rd session 1.5 hour or something close to those approximations. Really look forward to Friday because I plan to stay IN and grind minimum 6 hours, most likely go for 7.5 hours like I did one of the days in April towards the end. Studying and reviewing also vital part, this updated game plan requires a lot of repetition and application in real games until it absolutely sinks in. Even then, still need to keep strong focus to readjust to opponents who can adjust to it. Very excited about present and future situation for my game!

In some future update I will talk about very +EV offer I got recently and why I put it on hold right now!

Enjoy your week on and off the tables!

2016 Challenge - Saving 12k$
May
Day 5
455/4000 games
15.37/125 hours

Graph for the day:

Awesome day!
Completed morning routine and went for coffee with my good friend. Had a great time with him, we talked about our plans for this and next year. Will write about it sometime in the future! After that ate, studied 2 hours and did research more, then went to hang out with my dad and came back home to grind. Did 1st really long session (like over 2 hours) and absolutely crashed with 30ish buy ins profit. Finally ITM-ing at 37+% after 2k games of less then that!!! Then took a break, talk to several good friends on Skype from which one crusher on 60s Spins recommended me after seeing my graph on 15s to shoot 30s. He said that he thinks I am ready. So I listened to him, took a 5 buy in shoot and I made in 20ish games 2 buy ins. Regs are better there in comparison to 15s for sure but those games are also very beatable in my opinion. Maybe not with 8% ROI as easy post RB but 5% post RB for sure. Something to look forward to in future. Another reason I took a shot (2 tabling then 4 tabling them) was because I made close to 500$ prior to it on 15s so 150$ from that seemed like a perfect reward.
Ended up grinding a bit over 4 hours but not playing as many games as before due to 2 tabling 30s.

No teaching today, lessons got rescheduled! Very excited about those lessons, my students are doing great with practice and improvement it is real pleasure to work with people that put in the work!

Tomorrow I am teaching 1 lesson and I will aim to put minimum 5 hours in order to catch up with number of hours (20 for 5 days). Very likely, I will do 6+ hours grinding as on Saturday I will teach minimum 2 hours and which may result in less grind. So going for 200 games tomorrow very likely on Spins.
As far as 30s go, I will make the decision about playing them tomorrow. If I do take them on, it will be with super low BR like 5 buy ins shot. Already made 2 buy ins there so 7 buy ins left to grind them. Who knows, with run good on them I can get to stay on them for longer time

For the end of the update, here is the graph for 30s only from tonight:

It just seems to be going better and better for you, congrats again shows what hard work can do, 12k goner come quickly I suspect

Appreciate the support my friend!
This month is going according to plan. From teaching, coaching and thanks to yesterday's upswing, I made a profit of over 2k$ in just 5 days. By the end of the month I expect from teaching about 700$ or more in payments and for poker it is hard to predict what will happen. My initial hope and expectation was 4k 15s with 4k post RB or 1$ per game. Now that I will take a 7 buy in shot for 30s, my hourly may go up or down - depending on how I do on 30s. I will 4 table them and check the graph frequently not to allow myself to go lower then 210$ in them.
As far as challenge goes, as soon as I had excellent 1st month and saw the level of my play vs playing field on 15s, I was absolutely sure that it would take me additional 3 months to complete the challenge assuming that I play 4k games in each of those months resulting in 12k games total and 12k post RB.
Things are looking very good in May and with right hours and somewhat OK variance, I expect to make 6-6.5k from all things combined. Anything above 5k of earning this month will be celebrated and rewarded, below 5k I will continue crushing as if nothing happened

Key is of course to find edges in those games and fix own leaks. About a week ago I figured out 5 additional edges and I readjusted my game plan and am now actively practicing it while grinding. Still make mistakes (like everyone) but this new and improved game plan I expect 70 cEV on 15s for sure. My crusher friend said that people take shots even with 50 cEV and if I have BR that I should go for it! I now have over 300 buy ins for 15s so it makes sense to try some 30s as well. Maybe the field last night was softer since I played late in the night or I just got "lucky". Will have better overview of how general tendencies and opponents are there after larger sample of games.

Overall, 4 tabling 15s and making 1$ post RB with Platinum with 32$ hourly is certainly doable and I am motivated to improve my game and increase that cEV to 1.25$ per game (which is cEV 70). In the back of my head I see myself building large BR and moving to 30s, playing better opponents, working hard and having those 5-10k months there.

All in right time, first and the most important step is one I take today and every day after!

About to complete morning routine and start my grind.

Enjoy your Friday and rest of the weekend!

2016 Challenge - Saving 12k$
May
Day 6
638/4000 games
22.27/125 hours

Fantastic day!
6.9 hours of grind while doing other life things. I will keep this update very short since I need to wake up in about 7 hours from now and teach.
Some key points from today are:
- Took a shot at 30s, lost 7 buy ins and reached stop loss. Ran super bad, lost 10x 6x there vs huge fish. Things are looking good there for me, once I am rolled up I will mix it more with 15s and move there full time very likely!
- Very swingy day on 15s also. I felt at times that I was getting banged up hard but it was all variance. Ended the day with excellent cEV and profit. Tons of multipliers!
- 6.9 hours of grinding, over 200 games played. Very cool feeling accomplishing the goal that I set for today!!!

For the end, graphs for the day.

Combined graph:

Just 30s:

Just 15s:

Tomorrow teaching 2 hours and going to vote + finish some other house things. Will go for 4 hours grinding and a bit extra even to get back on track with volume!

Enjoy your weekend on and off the tables!

Somewhat quick update.
Past 2 days I spent teaching, spending times with family, friends and seeing new girl. Poker wise, I played today some MTT satellite which I busted as bubble and tried to get some Vegas WSOP going on but no luck also
My focus and concentration past 2 days is very low. I discovered today that problem is related to tootache. I was having pulsating aching in my head today and yesterday and sleeping/power napping didn't solve the solution. Tomorrow I will visit the dentist, get the estimate and figure out that. It is definitely important in order for me to get back on track.

As far as this years plans go outside of main challenge but rather poker related, I would enjoy going somewhere for a tournament and just chilling 4-5 days. Have a friend who also loves to travel and play those MTTs abroad so we will likely play the same MTT packages and if one of us binks it we will go together. Today I tried and almost got in for the final step. Will very likely invest 200-300$ BR for those satellites for 1 or 2 events that I have in mind.

Enjoy start of the new week!

Update for today

Taught 1 hour, talked with family and friends, watched my favorite TV shows and then played poker from 8pm.
Bought in for 80 euro, 1 ticket guaranteed, busted with KK vs limp/call by fish with A4 or so off
Grinded some WSOP satelites, didn't bink it yet but not giving up on those!
On Stars played 25$ spins where I won 1 SCOOP ticket 100$ worth. Guess I will be playing that one on 22nd of May with 100k gtd for 1st place and 1mil gtd prize structure.

In following days will return to Spins and grind them, leave satelites for weekend mostly!

Enjoy your week on and off the tables!

2016 Challenge - Saving 12k$
May
Day 10
754/4000 games
25.85/125 hours

Graph for today:

Some things and changes that I will share in regards to past 4 days.

Live MTTs
Talked to elpsycho and another good friend of mine about meeting up somewhere for live tournaments. For elspycho I tried to qualify for event 2 days in a row and lost in those satelites 80 euros + in a rebuy I believe about 55 euro or less? (will check the balance on that account in following days). For Las Vegas and WSOP I have also played and no luck yet but I am also in loss there about 8$ or so (will check that account also in following days.
So MTTs despite playing good, not running good and very low sample obviously. Busted 1 of them as bubble (3rd , top 2 got tickets!) and in another one busted with KK shoving over 2 limps where I got called by A4o or so who got there.
I have made a decision to put on hold those MTTs for time being since it has affected greatly my productivity when it comes to grinding Spins! I am now way behind the pace and need to step it up to get to 4k games which I will talk about in this update.
Finally, I talked to my good friend and we are waiting for additional information in regards to Prague. We are planing to go there for 3-5 days and play some live poker (cash game nl200 very likely) and just treat ourselves well over there. I have decided to reward myself with this trip if I make combined 5k or more in May! So far things are looking good (coaching + poker grinding 2.5k) but I have tons of grinding ahead of me and anything can happen with variance as we all know.
Overall, I would enjoy going to Prague and it is perfect reward since by that time I would save about 1/2 of the money for the whole challenge which even now sounds super exciting to me! This trip should happen in mid June around 10th or so!

Working on the game and Spins
Past 4 days I spent way more time working on my game and helping others (coaching) then grinding. Thanks to continuing to work on my game and spending time with super specific spots as well as applying things that I haven't seen anyone at 15s do, I have managed to increase my future win rate by at least 10 cEV in my opinion. I feel absolute power and control while playing, nothing passes by while I am 4 tabling and my radar for each player was always on. Tonight I crashed with over 150 cEV while loosing in those 6x multipliers and 4x mostly.
Very excited about each day and my future grinding in them. To reach 125 hours I need to put about 5 hours on average in next 20 days without a break. I am planing to deliver that while also maintaining working on my game part and coaching. This will very much prepare me for 30s move with larger BR or mix 2x15s and 2x30s.
Finally, I am assuming my win rate is now way over 60 cEV while 4 tabling 15s and large volume should point that out. I do believe that even larger cEV over 70 is managable while 4 tabling and that is something I am working towards. It is hard to say and predict whether or not I will move to 30s. I would certainly like to play them with super low stop and loss and if the shot goes well to continue grinding them. It is a great challenge for me as a poker player to continue improving and pushing myself in this format. Right now I don't feel pressure, feel that I can beat this limit and it somewhat is not as fun or super exciting as knowing that I have to put lots of hours to accomplish something.
How will I push myself?
100 hours grind in next 20 days!!! With that I will coach and help elpsycho with some hand reviews while shutting down MTT satelite grinding for time being.

May goals were pretty clear before the start. I can feel 5k+ month being this one, I just need to put the hours so no more prioritizing other things. Time to step it up and get 3246 games in next 20 days!

For the end of the update, here is a graph for month so far including 25$ Spins for SCOOP (profit 25$ includes 100$ ticket earned!)

Prague is really nice, when do you plan to be there? and good luck with your grinding

Originally posted by rompas
Prague is really nice, when do you plan to be there? and good luck with your grinding

Yeah Prague is really great, I love going there!
Waiting for info regarding Hilton hotel deals but very likely leaving on 10th of June which is Friday and returning on 13th which is Monday. For whole trip 200$ is needed for travel (plane ticket close to 190$ bus another 10$ and phantom expenses for cabs or city buses/train) and then for 3 days grinding nl200 I would assume another 1k (5 buy ins) for about 12 hours of grinding (360 hands maximum) and additional 300$ for expenses in the city. Total for the whole trip 1.5k$ estimated which should cover everything.

In next days or weeks I should receive the info regarding that Hilton deal (free room and breakfast + buffet for poker players) and from that point on make a decision if we are going or not. Financially it is so and so decision cause for 12 hours of grinding poker anything can happen but I look at Prague experience more as travel and fun rather then poker trip. There will be different festivals which I will consider to attend using qualifiers on different sites and network but this one in June is planed as tourism with accent on 4 hours per day grinding poker.

Appreciate the support, today is the 1st day of mini 20 day challenge for 100 hours of grinding! Expect all sorts of A , B and C game to show up but also to pick up on several more edges and things to improve which frankly gets me going the most besides the fact that I feel I will complete the challenge before January.

2016 Challenge - Saving 12k$
May
Day 11
907/4000 games
30.30/125 hours

Graph for today:

Very intense day!
Taught close to 5 hours today, grinded close to 5 hours (4.45 hours) and spent time with family close to 2 hours. Very productive day overall!

Interesting things about today's poker grinding:
- Continued testing edges from several weeks ago and added some new stuff. Things are looking good with those.
- Played very bad at times today due to lower energy and focus + some tilt activated due to downswing. I was 100% sure this would happen with increased volume but I am glad I am aware (identified the problem) of it and I know why I decided not to grind 5 hours on days when I am teaching 4 hours. It is simply too much intense focus working 1 on 1 teaching then putting super productive work in poker grinding. Regardless, in this month I will go for those 4k games and from next one on days that I am teaching I will play less and rest more between sessions.
- Red line coming to its place but can be improved always. Tons of post flop setups and not letting go of hands (2nd nuts vs nut flush, top 2 vs backdoor that got there etc)
- Marked tons of hands which I will analyze in depth behind the scenes in the lab!
- Went to bed around 5am got up 9:30am and up whole day putting in very intensive hours in (wouldn't recommend this to anyone! -resting and regenerating is key!)
- Variance + mistakes = swings sums up the whole day

Tomorrow I am teaching 1 lesson and I will therefore go for 6 hours of grinding so that I can have for those 2 days 10+ hours and stay on track for this mini challenge of 100 hours in 20 days grinding. Also my plan is to grind earlier during the day 1st session (anytime from noon on) and then in the evening finish all the hours by 2am so that I can go to bed.

How my grinding went today:

That Hilton deal looks intresting indeed

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
How my grinding went today:

Hahaha great photo, can recognise myself in monkeymood clicking buttons

Yeah Hilton is great, I still haven't heard about the deal - 2 days later. I expect to hear by the end of the month latest so that I can prepare for the trip properly.

Finally grinded 1st session a bit earlier. Just finished it (a bit less then 1 hour grind), going for coffee with my friend now.

Graph for the 1st session - insert reverse gif here or Monkey clicking buttons 2.0 ♦

2016 Challenge - Saving 12k$
May
Day 12
1098/4000 games
36.28/125 hours

Graph for today:

Another very productive day!
Managed to put in 5.98 hours in grinding (191 games) + teach a bit more then 1 hour, help Jernej out and meet with a friend for 2 hours to hang out.

Today in comparison to yesterday's grind, several important things were noticeable:
- New game plan seems to be working out. Very much look forward to larger sample.
- Made mistakes again (marked hands) but in comparison to yesterday significantly less. Still need to work hard to absolutely minimize mistakes and keep increasing my edge in games for my own development as poker player.
- Final session of the day is always the most difficult since energy levels are lower due to whole day passing, will power dropping, focus and energy lower, overall not a great +EV to play those. I still will make money in them but it is more worth to invest that time in resting and grind 1st thing in the morning or add 1 more hour of studying vs doing what I am doing now. From June need to put more time in the lab!
- Variance through out the whole day, nothing unexpected or new for Spins

Overall I am happy with how I handled variance today in comparison with one yesterday. My focus was better and level of play was also somewhere between B- and B+ game for most of the day except in the last session.

Tomorrow no lessons scheduled so I will go for 5 hours and consider doing 1 or 2 more hours extra only with right focus and energy levels. Despite poker and grinding planed for tomorrow, I will need to go to pay my internet bill + very likely meet with a friend who I haven't seen for about 2 weeks now. I also plan to write out thinking process for certain hands that elpsycho analyzed already and check how bad I played with my marked hands (learn from it).

Finally, cEV on 15s in May so far is 61 on sample of 1030 games which makes me happy knowing that I am on the right path to have that cEV of 70+ on 15s 4 tabling. I am definitely seeing a lot of space to improve my play and it certainly motivates me knowing that I can become even better then where I am already. Still have a lot to fight for in my life and I don't plan on giving up on life yet Actually pretty grateful that I switched to Spins, seeing that I can have higher ROI and play higher limits with even better hourly in comparison to 6 max SNGs. Things are looking good, just need to continue grinding aka making money to help my dad out then rebuild bankroll and in the meanwhile also improve and move up stakes - prove to myself that I can beat 30s also and then consider right steps for 60s+.

Enjoy remaining of the week on and off the tables!