Hi, my name is Stefan! I’m a 22 year old student and basketball referee from Serbia.
Two years ago my friends thought me to play poker in order to have some fun while being at the seaside. We, of course, played not more than 1e buy-in, just for fun. However, I liked the game, I got pretty interested in it and started to play it more often with my friends. After a while I deposited my first $20 on pokerstars and lost everything in 3 days. I started watching some online poker videos, ‘poker after dark’ series etc, and I started learning something from that. I continued to play online and in casinos, started learning some theory and progressed a bit, but the key moment in my ‘career’ was when I first met my stakers and coaches IvicaIliev77 and Gerovit one night in a local casino where I used to play while on University. That was exactly what I wanted – someone who would teach me ‘all the angles’, and soon I realized how shallow my knowledge about poker was and how complex the game is.
In the very beginning (14. March 2013) of this coaching/staking program I was playing $1.5 9max SNG on stars, just to learn some basic moves and to get a working habit. After that I moved to $1.5 6max in order to adjust my game to this format, before I finally got to Microgaming, playing 1.10e and 2.75e 6max SNGs. It was interesting because I was earning money not just with my game, but I also had some help from the RB, what motivated me to learn harder and play even more games per day which resulted in mixing mentioned limits with 5e 6max SNG on Microgaming and having some extra money.
All of this lasted for 3,5 or 4 months, after which I was moved to Ongame network to play $3.30 and $5.50 5max SNGs and I’m still playing there. In the beginning of my Ongame experience I had a lot of problems – I had to adjust to new format and structure, different blind levels, less chips in play, and the most important – facing stronger opponents on a daily basis. They are also grinders, so I had to push myself even harder in order to beat this game. I had a negative ROI in July, especially on $5.50s, but RB helped me to stay BE. As the time passed and I worked on my game (playing 100games per day, working on my ICM and postflop game), I managed to have a positive ROI in august. I’m not satisfied yet because I know that one can be a lot better on these limits. But also I know I haven’t worked enough on my game because of my University-concerned obligations.
Just a few days ago I have made a big tough decision. I decided to neglect my studies and devote myself completely to poker. I will fail this year, but it won’t be in vain because I will become a much better poker player. Support from my family, my girlfriend and my coaches means a lot to me. These days I’ve been talking with my coaches about a very interesting project which should start in October. But, I’ll talk about that in another post. 
All in all, I’m still not satisfied with my achievements in poker, but I am aware of the great progress I have made during the last 6 months. I would like to get in touch with players who are in a similar situation like me, as well as to get some tips from more experienced players. I am also willing to share my knowledge, opinion and experience with players who are just starting to play or think that I could somehow help them.
That’s all for now,
Good luck at the tables and have fun! 
