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Making a living with STT SNGs

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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

Originally posted by Ramble

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
Coached 1 session. Useful, helped student find ways to memorize ranges easier.

Any tips you are willing to share on this would be appreciated. I do tons of work on building and reviewing ranges, but struggle with being able to commit them to memory. It is only by constant review of my game post-play that they eventually start to sink in. It takes me much longer than I would like it too though.

My memory in general is very poor the past few years (I chalk it up to being an old fart)... I've been doing various Brain Games to try and improve my brain in general. I score average or slightly above in every area except memory which is typically well below average.

Enjoy your family time tonight!

Sure my friend, 2 quick tips.

1) Pick range gap you want to memorize 1st (say 0-10% range)
2) Study calling or shoving ranges from 1 position. After you are done with it check other positions and you will notice that a lot of ranges you already learned are repeating. So you basically don't have to study 100 ranges. Example 9bb calling vs UTG might turn out to be same calling range vs 10bb HJ range etc

Hope that helps you somewhat to get you in the right direction.

Thanks for family wishes. They were here from 8pm last night until 5pm today. We had awesome time and now I am about to do some studying then go for 1 session grind not to loose my grind grip.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

72 Days Study Challenge

Day 27

- Studied 1 hour today
- Kept quizzing and taking additional notes for 2nd advanced edge
- It will take some time and practical application for it to sink in all the way

Spent last night and today whole day with family and friends. It was very refreshing and recharging. Enjoyed it a lot! Got home around 5am, woke up at 8am etc :)
As soon as I woke up, worked out so that is very positive (with 3 hours sleep or less fanatic style!).

Besides working on my game today, managed to grind 50 games. Where I found the energy - don't ask me cause even I don't know the answer to that question.
As it usually goes when you try to push through your edges those attempts don't go well always. Tonight I lost 20 buy ins in 50 games. Variance played huge part and card distribution. I am not worried tough as my game plan is very solid, my focus was excellent despite not resting whole day and my game is evolving moving to new depths.

Didn't get the chance to record some new video but I did connect with some of my friends both abroad and here in Serbia using Facebook, Viber, WhatsApp and Skype.

Overall awesome day and can't wait now to hit the bed soon (long day ahead tomorrow!)

I would give myself for productivity 7 out of 10 today!

The way things are looking since this challenge started:

- 29/72 study hours completed
- 1305/6000 games completed
- 43/100 coaching sessions completed
- 9 out of 30 CrossFit trainings completed
- 14 out of 10 videos for automated coaching/staking system completed

Here is the plan for tomorrow:

- Wake up at 8am again
- Work out 1st thing in the morning
- Make healthy breakfast
- Prepare session with new student
- 2 coaching sessions 12-1,5-6pm
- Work on the game 1 hour after 1st coaching session
- After lunch grind 1 shorter session
- After 2nd session rest and eat healthy dinner
- Grind 2nd longer session and drink lots of water to stay hydrated enough
- After grind is finalized, prepare new area for scripting and recording videos for automated coaching project
- Update blog + challenge and reflect on all the main goals related with mission and vision statement

P.S. Really enjoyed family and friends time, had a blast. Can't wait for money situation to work out in some hopefully near future. Very much look forward directing my time more towards the music and relationships with people I care about a lot!


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BarryCarter
Joined: 13.01.2011
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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

Originally posted by BarryCarter
This might interest you:

How healthy eating can improve your poker.

Thanks Barry

Read it earlier today. Excellent article. Totally agree with Steve Ruddock on 90% things he said.

This part is not entirely true: "The key is to fill yourself up (playing hungry will cause plenty of bad decisions), but not overdo it to the point you feel it may be time for a larger waist pant. "

Poker News recently published some research about playing when hungry and when full. The results shoved that people that don't eat before their sessions, don't fill up, they actually bring more 1) gut decisions 2)put even more pressure in their thinking process.

I will try to find that article and share the link of it in Steve's article.

Article is HERE

By the way, my eating habits have changed tremendelously since end of June this year. I eat a lot more smaller healthy meals and more frequently, drink tons of water and work out 3 times a week on average. Results are amazing not just in weight loss (4 and a half months - 12kgs less) but also in how much energy I have and can actually accomplish 2-3 more things with high intensity focus.

All the best!


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

72 Days Study Challenge

Day 28

- Studied 1 hour today
- Memorized a lot of the things from 2nd advanced edge
- Quizzed myself and did well, couple of spots came up also while grinding tonight that I dealt with good
- Future hours will dedicate more to 2nd edge and then go back to 1st and then finally move to doing the work for 3rd advanced edge

Worked out 1st thing in the morning!
Coached 2 sessions, 1 of them was with new student. Look forward to how he will adapt to workload and requirements for next session.

Had a coffee with best friend and then studied 1 hour at his place. Always carry my laptop when we go for coffee cause of studying purpose.

Grinded total 3 sessions and got 152 games total. Was trying and experimenting some things. Happy what I found and how some things are revealing for new year plans.

Picked up 1st batch of healthy food for the day. 2 healthy meals with salad and soup. Fantastic meals, very recharging and energizing. Look forward to tomorrows batch.

Will take a short brake now and before bed do some scripting for future automated coaching videos. 1 area is 95% completed. There is so much work to do (if you want to do things right, and I want to cover it all!) so naturally it takes tons of time to prepare and record it all. By January I hope I will have minimum 2 whole areas covered + 1 area with basic things for new students and how to approach assignments etc

For today would give myself 7 out of 10 for productivity!

The way things are looking since this challenge started:

- 30/72 study hours completed
- 1457/6000 games completed
- 45/100 coaching sessions completed
- 10 out of 30 CrossFit trainings completed
- 14 out of 10 videos for automated coaching/staking system completed

Here is the plan for tomorrow:

- Wake up at 8am (going for 5am morning club but am forced to grind this long cause of coaching hours and traffic problems on 15s and 30s for table selecting!)
- Work out 1st thing in the morning + healthy meal with coffee
- Record 1 automated coaching video before coaching sessions
- Coach 2 sessions 10-12
- Eat healthy lunch + work on the game 1 hour + meet with best friend for a coffee
- Grind 1st session after it all 60 games
- Eat healthy dinner
- Grind 2nd session another 60 or so games minimum
- If I finish everything by 11pm, study more and script another automated coaching video
- Before bed update goal/challenge and line up mission and vision statement with my key goals and habits


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

Reflection on the current challenge

It has been 28 days or 4 weeks already. Time really flies very fast when you keep yourself busy. It works best when you keep yourself busy with things that you decide to keep yourself busy with!

What happened during these 4 weeks?

Well my studying is 1st thing for sure. I am feeling empty without studying single day. I don't think I will give that habit up ever again having realized how much more I can improve to become the master in my field. So 30 hours in 28 days is excellent compared with all the other things that are going on parallel with it. 2 edges that were covered so far and are being reviewed now are applied in the games often and results are already following on 30s vs tons of regs.

CrossFit. I had to cancel my membership simply because it is on the other way of the town and I loose minimum 6 hours a week when I go there come back take a shower prepare stuff look for car and parking etc. So the biggest concern here was if I would go out of shape, gain weight and feel less energized. 4 weeks later I have same weight and work out at home like a fanatic so things are great so far!
Great thing is that my fanatic approach pushes me daily and I work out at home. I do mostly squats + push ups + burpees. My workouts are newer more than 20 minutes long but they are very intensive and I breath with difficulty + sweat heavily so GG.
I think our neighbors are probably not to happy to listen to burpee jumping between 8 to 10am but that's the price you pay when you live in the building. :)

Coaching. Kept doing it with very solid hours for all my students! Regardless of the fact that best and maximum +EV would be to dedicate all my hours to recording automated coaching videos, I still want to keep and give huge value to my students both via videos and live coaching. So 45 hours in 28 days out of 100 hours set, on a pretty good way to overcome the hours set!

Automated Coaching Videos. Set 10 , completed 14 so far. Choose one particular area and recorded 12 videos for it. 2 more videos were done for general areas and needed for future new students in the program. I am very happy that I managed to do this many videos so far.
By the end of the year realistically speaking will shoot for minimum 20 more videos. That should take care of at least 1 more area of study with assignments for students + additional videos with specialized topics. Anything above 34 recorded videos by the end of 2014 will be just outstanding accomplishment and will treat myself well for it on 1st of January!

Grinding. 1457 games in 28 days. I didn't start grinding right away, there were days off with family obligations, days off with guests coming to Nis, there were 2 days of when I got hammered with my best friend after really really long time (1 night hammered,tomorrow useless to grind fully or be totally productive so 2 days off). Regardless of it all, I am on the track with volume. 44 days remaining, I need every day to play 103-104 games to complete 6k games. Right now my sessions are divided with 60 instead of 50 games like before or 75. I find that is the good way to go for 120 games a day which should eventually get me a day off by the end of the year also + help with 1k per day VPP count in 2015!
So no worries with grind, there will be days when I will go for 150 or even 200 games especially if I don't have live coaching obligations on those days.

Overall this challenge so far has shown very effective and positive. I am very happy with results produced so far. My motivation, determination and grit is on very high level and feel like nothing can stop me from my mission set in all those areas.

For the end, I strongly suggest all of you who follow the blog and are in doubts about doing something similar to do it without any regrets!
Once you set goals and challenges, form strong habit, base these goals and challenges on your internal belief, the energy and automation comes naturally and it becomes part of who you are.

I am now sacrificing time with family, other friends, having some long term girlfriend when doing this fanatic approach but I choose to do so rightly. In order for me to do Jazz album, perform, move to Belgrade, I have to take care of coaching program, automate it to the maximum and besides it make next year all about grinding to help my father with apartment mortgage (plan to pay it in full in 2015). After these 2 things are dealt with, I can pull the breaks in poker, move and do music, still grind and coach to make enough money to sustain normal lifestyle and have more balanced lifestyle.
Until then and even beyond, I am always up and ready for fanatic approach and the mindset. I just hope that in this future period my brother will find in him fanatic mindset and work even harder to become winner and make money he needs for his life expenses since he really wasted a lot of precious time so far in 2014 where he could have accomplished such things already. I pray for him to accomplish those things in following 44 days also.

Finally, thanks for following the challenge and the updates. It has been great 4 weeks and here is to next 44 days for me to maintain the momentum and crush even harder in all the areas set _love:


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

72 Days Study Challenge

Day 29

- Studied 3 hours total today!!!
- Student moved his double session so I used it to work on entirely new edge instead!
- Was super productive and results will definitely show in future games with this new edge
- Found some new things out and that is always a great thing

Worked out 1st thing in the morning. I am feeling this will become very strong habit in near future, working out every day 1st thing in the morning!

No coaching but instead 3 hours of working on the game!

Grinded 120 games, 2x60 games sessions. Felt that I played good but variance was not kind. Nothing unusual nor spectacular, just have to play even more and wait for variance to be on my good side :)

Spent close to 2 hours with my brother and father after grind tonight (11:30-1:30am) and then additional 1 hour with my brother. Very energizing and refreshing. Had some great and constructive conversations.

No recorded videos but I am not worried about it - I will find the time to record 20 videos more by the end of the year minimum!

For today I would give myself 8.5 out of 10 for productivity!

The way things are looking since this challenge started:

- 33/72 study hours completed
- 1577/6000 games completed
- 45/100 coaching sessions completed
- 11 out of 30 CrossFit trainings completed
- 14 out of 10 videos for automated coaching/staking system completed

Here is the plan for tomorrow:

- Wake up 8am
- Work out 1st thing in the morning followed by healthy breakfast with coffee
- Do 1 hour consultation via Skype with fellow reg, work on the game together
- Follow it up with 1 hour of coaching session
- Coffee with best friend with 1 hour studying included
- Get back home, pick up healthy meals eat lunch and start 1st session 60 games
- Brake for healthy dinner
- Grind 2nd session another 60 games
- If everything is finished by 12, spent remaining 2 hours scripting/recording 1 video for automated coaching!
- Stay hydrated, drink lots of water through out the day!


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

72 Days Study Challenge

Day 30

- Studied 2 hours today!
- It was review of 1st advanced edge covered
- During the games and between sessions also looked into 2nd advanced edge
- Really noticed improvement in those areas lately
- In future days I will continue to study 2 hours, 1 hour with fellow reg and 1 alone which should skyrocket my improvement even more so!

Worked out 1st thing in the morning!
Coached 1 session!
Worked on the game 2 hours. 1 alone, 1 with fellow reg. Very useful and productive 2 hours today as some doubts I had got resolved easily.
Had coffee with best friend both in coffee and my place.
Ate healthy and drank 3 coffees today. Really amazing meals with soup and salad loving them these past 3 days. Can't wait for tomorrow!

Grinded 2x60 or 120 games total. Was not playing my best today. Had some lighter bluff catches, post flop opponents were simply hitting their backdoors a lot + getting setuped. I did mark a lot of hands and tomorrow morning I will go through them all and check it out. I am not saying it was terrible play but I am sure there were like 3-4 spots where I was sure I could have done things better and that is all that matters. On the other hand I did very solid game, adjusted and readjusted vs a lot of opponents especially regs on 30s. I think my game is improving each day with study I am putting in and I am very encouraged that I keep seeing leaks with regs I constantly play. This gives me even additional motivation to work even harder to reach my best in this game.

Watched TV show now with my brother.

Before bed, will spend 1 hour now starting script for new area of automated coaching videos. Once I do the layout with power points and slides, it will be much easier to record the actual videos by just changing text in it. Energy is still here so I hope to accomplish that as well tonight.

I would give myself 7.5 out of 10 for productivity!

The way things are looking since this challenge started:

- 35/72 study hours completed
- 1697/6000 games completed
- 46/100 coaching sessions completed
- 12 out of 30 CrossFit trainings completed
- 14 out of 10 videos for automated coaching/staking system completed

Here is the plan for tomorrow:

- Wake up 8am
- Work out 1st thing in the morning + healthy breakfast with coffee
- Record automated coaching video that I will script tonight!
- Work on the game 1 hour alone at home (check marked hands + do review of 2 advanced edges)
- Work on the game 1 more hour with fellow reg (start with plan we created today!)
- Coach 2 sessions
- In between coaching sessions pick up healthy meals for the day and have lunch
- After 2nd coaching session, rest 10-15 minutes and go for 1st grind session 60 games
- Rest 10-15 minutes, have dinner and then go for 2nd session another 60 games
- Drink lots of water through out the day to stay hydrated
- In the evening reflect on vision and mission statement, reflect on daily achievements and goals + update blog and challenge
- If energy is there, script another automated coaching video!


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

Just wanted to share my post that I posted on Shane's challenge thread about downswings in general in poker with some advices.
Hope some of you may find those useful!

Standard thing in life of any SNG grinder.
I am actually happy that you experienced some form of downswing now on micro limits. These type of things will either make or brake you. I know so many people that don't have a clue how brutal variance can be and have very unrealistic expectations with their results. This brings up huge entitlement tilt in them and eventually they go crazy and burn out + quit poker because of such approach.
My advices for these types of DS stretches are:

- Keep calm, focus on playing your regular game (don't let bad run affect your decisions/game plan)
- Work on your game even more to check if more leaks are appearing (maybe your autopilot has gone to C-,D+ game which looses you money long run???)
- Work on both bottom and top of your game (bottom of the game fixes your autopiloting, top of the game allows you to grow your skill even more so your autopiloting improves overall!)
- Remember that as you lost 20-30-50-100 buy ins in short stretch of the game due to variance and "some" bad plays, the same thing can be opposite when you get into upswing (win 20-30-50-100 buy ins)
- Embrace downswing, accept it as variance and standard way any professional poker player has to live with!
- Always remember that variance could be even more brutal and that as you move up limits you will run into better players = less edges vs them = lesser ROI pre RB = even more variance in the long run!

Welcome to the world of poker pros! :f_drink:


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist
IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

72 Days Study Challenge

Day 31

- Studied 1 hour before the grind
- Reviewed 2nd advanced edge
- A lot of the spots came up in the game and felt I have dealt with them excellently
- Will review it for couple of more hours and then I move to new advanced edge!

Very productive day, even tough I felt very drained without energy during some times because I slept less.

Woke up 8am and worked out 1st thing in the morning!
Watched Flash and Arrow (Arrow my favorite TV show). In between tv shows, recorded 1 automated coaching video!!!
Coached 3 sessions today! 1st was bubble review, 2nd was accountability call to check the assignments/tables and assign new work, 3rd was sweat session.
Went in the afternoon for coffee with my best friend. Came back home had a great lunch and dinner then grinded.

Grind total for today 94 games instead of 120! Why? Well I started grinding at 8pm !!! 1st session 60 games was awesome but then remaining 60 games starting at 10:20om or so was a disaster. Table selecting was just impossible with Sharkystrator and traffic was dying on Thursday night?!?!?. All the crazy regs filling in lobbies burning money occupying it with 2-3 more regs and waiting for 2 others to enter. 30s were no different either. Saw tons of regs from 15s who add 30s that simply don't table select.
I am very happy with level of my play but I must say that I am worried about future of SNGs on 15s and 30s 6 max very much so. It is getting to the point that all I see is just tons of regs and no fish , especially on 30s (15s are still beatable pre RB as you can find 2 unknowns or recreationals per table). I hope for some recreational player pool wave to enter in the new year on 30s if not it will be worth considering switching formats before current win rates drop even lower. More on this towards the end of new year when I will lay out goals for 2015!
Spent time talking with my poker friends on Skype a lot during the day also.

Overall would give myself 8.5 out of 10 today for the productivity!

The way things are looking since this challenge started:

- 36/72 study hours completed
- 1791/6000 games completed
- 49/100 coaching sessions completed
- 13 out of 30 CrossFit trainings completed
- 15 out of 10 videos for automated coaching/staking system completed

Here is the plan for tomorrow:

- Wake up 8am, work out 1st thing in the morning
- Eat healthy breakfast meal
- Coach 2 sessions 10-12 (drink water and stay hydrated)
- Meet with best friend for coffee in a new coffee place for 1 hour
- Work with fellow reg on the game 1 hour 1:30-2:30pm
- Pick up healthy meals, eat lunch
- Work on the game 1 hour before starting to grind (review 2nd advanced edge and final 15 minutes review 1st edge as well)
- Grind 1st 60 games session around 6 or 7pm until 8-9pm
- Dinner brake and rest 10-15 minutes
- 2nd session another 60 games, done by 12:30-1am
- Update blog/challenge
- Reflect on mission and vision statement align it with goals and challenges


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Ramble
Joined: 17.11.2008
PokerStrategist

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
I must say that I am worried about future of SNGs on 15s and 30s 6 max very much so. It is getting to the point that all I see is just tons of regs and no fish , especially on 30s (15s are still beatable pre RB as you can find 2 unknowns or recreationals per table). I hope for some recreational player pool wave to enter in the new year on 30s if not it will be worth considering switching formats before current win rates drop even lower.

I'm curious about this. Which do you think is the bigger factor - recreational players being drawn to other formats or regs putting the end of year push on for VPP's? What do you think about the casino and sports-betting offerings coming to Stars - do you think this will draw players out of or bring players into SnG's?


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

72 Days Study Challenge

Day 32

The most productive day so far!!!

- Studied 1 hour before the grind
- Reviewed 2nd advance edge
- Did really well with memorizing and quizzing + things came up in the games and feel I am crushing using this edge already now

Woke up at 11 instead of 8am! ! ! Went to bed super late and postponed my coaching sessions. So the day seemed like it would be a waste cause I lost 3 hours but instead it turned out to be most productive one so far!

Worked out 1st thing in the morning!
Went for coffee with best friend where we did live sweat coaching session 1 hour - so managed to coach after all today.
After that got home and worked 1 and a half hour with fellow reg. It was super productive and was very happy that he found it super useful. We both look forward continuing to build on this in future!
Took a brake to pick up healthy meals and to eat lunch.
Then watched fellow reg play for half an hour and was spotting spots, studying in the real time what kind of things he does, what I do, how is it different, whose approach has more +EV in what spots. So super useful sweat for half hour.
Then I went on to study 1 hour my game and memorize/quiz myself on 2nd advanced edge. Went super well and can proudly say that I will be switching to 3rd edge soon!
I grinded 124 games today! Why 124? Well I manually loaded 4 tables because lobbies were empty when I started 1st session and then ran Sharkystrator to do 60 game session. Took a brake for dinner then another 60 game session. Finished it all before 11pm!!! Played well, very satisfied with how I handled tons of spots and keep noticing leaks all over the place which is good for me.
Finally to finish of the day, new area that was scripted yesterday and recorded 1st video for it, today I actually recorded 4 more videos and just finished scripting another video that I will record tomorrow.

So overall this was amazing day. 2:20am now, I am feeling great as I managed to accomplish so many things. It is important to note that I managed to accomplish all this despite the fact that I woke up at 11pm, worked out 1st thing, coached 1 session, did 2 hours with fellow reg, 1 hour of individual studying, 124 games grinded and recorded 4 videos + scripted 1 more video!
I am just amazed with myself today and feel super happy about it all obviously!

So I would give myself today 9 out of 10 for productivity!

The way things are looking since this challenge started:

- 37/72 study hours completed
- 1915/6000 games completed
- 50/100 coaching sessions completed
- 14 out of 30 CrossFit trainings completed
- 19 out of 10 videos for automated coaching/staking system completed
Additional work with fellow reg 3 hours

Here is the plan for tomorrow:

- Wake up 8 or 9am (very late already now)
- Work out 1st thing in the morning and record 1 automated coaching video
- Eat healthy breakfast + drink water
- Coach 10-11am 1st session for the day
- Spend time with brother and best friend between 11-2:30pm + pick up, prepare list for next week healthy meals and eat lunch
- 2nd coaching session 2:30-3:30pm
- Work with fellow reg on the game 3:30-4:30pm
- Work on my own game 1 hour before grind
- Eat early dinner and get on with 1st grind session 60 games
- Short brake followed by 2nd grind session 60 games
- Before bed update blog/challenge, reflect on mission and vision statement align it with goals and challenges

P.S. My best friend wants to gather us at his place for live poker tomorrow. I might take a day off from grinding and attend that instead. Haven't decided yet, will see how my energy levels are tomorrow and how I am feeling with traffic during afternoon!


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

Originally posted by Ramble

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
I must say that I am worried about future of SNGs on 15s and 30s 6 max very much so. It is getting to the point that all I see is just tons of regs and no fish , especially on 30s (15s are still beatable pre RB as you can find 2 unknowns or recreationals per table). I hope for some recreational player pool wave to enter in the new year on 30s if not it will be worth considering switching formats before current win rates drop even lower.

I'm curious about this. Which do you think is the bigger factor - recreational players being drawn to other formats or regs putting the end of year push on for VPP's? What do you think about the casino and sports-betting offerings coming to Stars - do you think this will draw players out of or bring players into SnG's?

Well simply put my friend, all of the above you mentioned :)

Spin and goes definitely killed action in SNGs, most formats and low/mid+ stakes definitely are way more reg infested because of it.

I don't think it has to do with people chasing SN or whatever. I still see same regs, maybe 2-3-5 more new unknown regs that I have only 1k + hands with, but the rest are same old guys that keep playing 15s hoping to get to 5% pre RB ROI and 30s being super reg infested with very unprofitable games right now running.

I think casino and sport betting is putting Stars in the same category with other sites and this is not good in my opinion. I liked the idea of Poker Stars staying the only pure site out there that didn't have casino and sports betting. It is one of the things that sent the message to players and community "we are poker". Now that is gone and the type of vibe I am getting right now is "we care only about making money as a company from your rake and we don't care if there is some small % of you trying to make a living from actual skill in poker". So will these things bring more recreational players? I am always doing my best to keep positive mindset, I hope buddy but in reality I think it will just drive even more fish to play some casino or bet on their favorite team.

Just think about it this way, if purpose of Spin and Goes was to bring new players and make things interesting to fish they accomplished only 2nd part of the formula. Existing fish was playing other SNG formats, now they went to Spin and Goes and guess what - most of them will never come back to old SNGs! Why? All it takes is one and I do mean one type of 10x multiplier win or whatever. They will get hooked to that one win, one special multiplier they took and they will forget everything else about poker. People who created Spin and Goes are smart, they created very addicting game whose purpose is to keep you hooked (like on some sort of drug) to keep raking like a robot essentially hoping to bink some huge multiplier and make money feel like a boss.
The only way I see fishes entering the SNG games again is under 1 condition - they need to bust their rolls couple of times on Spins or Casino or Betting to the point where they will tell themselves "I used to make more money in SNGs or at least didn't loose as much" and then they will switch back (some may quit Poker Stars all together!). If opposite happens, they win money in Spins/Casino/Betting, they will not play poker but instead keep increasing their addiction to these things (ex. bet more on games, play higher buy in spins or spin the wells with higher investments).

So things are not looking good and they keep getting worse. Not to mention that in 2015 we will see change in VIP program so even less RB for us who are regulars.
I am not worried much about myself. I am fanatic, very hard worker and will adjust to whatever change is necessary. That may mean that I will switch format or study so much to the point that I become absolute master in SNGs to get pre RB +ROI on midstakes+. My problem is that limits that I play, there is no traffic for them anywhere online so I am forced to play them on Stars. If Ipoker, Ongame and/or Microgaming did something to bring the players back and get traffic on 10-20euro limits + , then I can seriously consider switching and grinding 3k games a month there. Until that happens, I am either stuck with Stars doing what I do now or need to switch formats to match my hourly or even have better one.

What I am most worried are my students. I have 3 guys that will go in 2015 for SN!!! They will all have positive ROI on 7s (2 out of 3 already have high ROI on them) no doubt but I am much more worried about huge reg infestation on 15s also. I am simply worried that they will experience brutal swings on 15s (talking about 100 buy ins piece of cake swings), playing minimum 3 regs per game with 2 players not being regs from whom 1 is a fish and 1 is a nit!!!
So I am working, thinking ahead and have already prepared other ways for them to make SN, to be profitable pre RB and to adjust smoothly!

What are your opinions on this topic and changes taking place? I am very curious to hear them all!


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

72 Days Study Challenge

Day 33

- Studied 4 hours today!!!
- Worked on the advanced edges and tons more new material
- Very excited, happy and thrilled actually how everything went today

Today was low grind day but huge value day in terms of studying!

Woke up and worked out 1st thing in the morning! It is becoming very strong habit to work out at home, enjoying it very much so (now actually can't wait to wake up and complete work out tomorrow morning!)

Spent 1 hour studying right after the workout. Checked advanced 2 edges, quizzed myself and am very happy how it went.
Went to meet with best friend, had coffee and returned home.
Ate healthy, picked up all the meals and coached 1 session! Instead of 2 only 1 session today, student moved it for tomorrow 10am.
Then I worked with a fellow reg on the game 2 more hours!!! This was really great. We figured out some very good things and will continue working together on Monday (tomorrow I will be away most day).
After finishing work with him, ate some dinner and then went on to study 3 more hours on my own!!! Tons of value in what I accomplished so far and I wish I had more time or no need to make constant money, I would just love to invest in my knowledge and have days like today where I felt time has stopped and I was improving like crazy.
Since all the studying, sessions took a lot of time, I started grinding super late in the night after 10pm!
So tonight I managed to grind 1 single session where I manually loaded tables (traffic was also dead - what do you know, SNGs are dying for table selecting, did somebody say lets become rake machine robots ?) and grinded 49 games total. Felt that I played well and there were 2 or 3 spots/hands that I marked which I plan to review tomorrow when working on the game.


So I would give myself 8.5 out of 10 for productivity today!

Despite 49 games grind and 1 coaching session I managed to put 4 hours of individual study + 2 additional hours with fellow reg.

It is already late and I wont be recording any video even tough I already scripted 1 of them.

The way things are looking since this challenge started:

- 41/72 study hours completed
- 1964/6000 games completed
- 51/100 coaching sessions completed
- 15 out of 30 CrossFit trainings completed
- 19 out of 10 videos for automated coaching/staking system completed
Additional work with fellow reg 5 hours

Here is the plan for tomorrow:

- Wake up between 8 and 9am (already 2:16am)
- Work out 1st thing in the morning and have healthy breakfast
- Pick up weeding gift and prepare stuff for weading
- Coach 1 session 10-11am
- Record 1 automated coaching video after coaching session
- Before leaving for the weeding, work on the game 1 hour and go through all the marked hands from today and yesterday
- Attend the weeding and hope to get back home early in the evening
- Spend rest of the evening grinding 1 session (60 games minimum)
- Before bed update blog/challenge, reflect on mission and vision statement align it with goals and challenges


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Ramble
Joined: 17.11.2008
PokerStrategist

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
What are your opinions on this topic and changes taking place? I am very curious to hear them all!

Thanks for your thoughts. As I've only been playing the $7's for a few months I can't really say that I've noticed a change in the ratios of recreationals vs regulars. Lately it seems there may be an extra reg or two at the table, but I can't say if that is because I'm just spotting them better or because there are indeed fewer recs.

As for Spin and Goes, the Casino/Sports Betting, and all the marketing going on around that - I think it will draw a lot of people to the software (some new players, some former players, and some players from other sites/casinos/sports-betting, etc...). I don't think there will be any significant numbers who leave the software because they don't like the additional options... The questions become how do these new gaming options impact SnG's, and will the new players find their way to our games? This is difficult to answer as I think there will be some back and forth. The appeal of these new options will draw people out of our games, but at the same time I think SnG's are appealing to new players wanting to try poker as it is the format that they are most familiar with in the media. The fixed buy-in and larger "known" pay-out (70/30 or 50/30/20 as examples for the STT's) can be appealing to those afraid to blow a large bankroll to the "cash sharks"... Some of these players will work their way up to our levels (or will just jump in at our levels).

In the end, all we can do is keep an eye on the games and see what develops. If we need to adapt we will.


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

Some excellent points there my friend!

Would just add 2 things to everything you said

- Expect regs from 15s who are BE or even loosing money now to drop down to 7s therefore 7s becoming even more reg infested
This already happens on 7s 6 max SNGs, my students are playing guys who played 15s and 30s last year and now dropped due to higher ROI/hourly expectations

- Changes will bring new player but since Stars promotes only MTTs and Spins I expect them all to enter the formats. Those who are interested in playing 30-60 minutes and winning 3 or 4x the buy in will go for SNGs. The ones that want to bink 100 buy ins or 1k+ amounts, they will always opt in to play MTTs. I just feel that Spins killed the action to regular SNGs and hypers simply because they are fastest and recreationals love the fact of doing something for short time and winning money from it.

It is not looking good for 30s anymore and 15s are getting very reg infested. Just next year 3 of my students will go for SN and switch to 15s eventually + Serbian friend reg from 18 and 45 mans has already switched and is attacking every single table without any table selecting.
All this is -EV for games unless recreationals get back soon. Otherwise we will be left battling each other, playing for RB and Stars/Amaya taking advantage of it all.


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PokerJP
Joined: 11.10.2012
PokerStrategist

Knowing all of this what u just wrote down i just wonder if i ever want to leave 3.50 and go into the 7s and then 15s specially cause we're all here for the same thing -> SN status and ofc makin money... specially cause i'm planning on moving start of next year to 7s, so i can mybe go for the SN status...


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

Originally posted by PokerJP
Knowing all of this what u just wrote down i just wonder if i ever want to leave 3.50 and go into the 7s and then 15s specially cause we're all here for the same thing -> SN status and ofc makin money... specially cause i'm planning on moving start of next year to 7s, so i can mybe go for the SN status...

Well no matter how bad 7s get, you still have tons of traffic on them to table select with 3 fishes and make double digit ROI.
15s also has traffic but has better and way more regs. On 15s also there are regs who dropped from 30s or are mixing with 30s (like myself). Quality of play on 15s is very different between those 2 buy ins.

If your goal is to make 1.5k-2k $ every month, you can do that still on 7s, despite the fact that games will get more difficult.

The biggest problem is 30s. Traffic is way lower compared to 15s and when games do run they are very reg infested. I know couple of people who have 4-5% ROI pre RB on 30s this year but they are exception. Most guys are like myself now around BE ranging from -2% to +1% ROI.
Overall it is not worth playing 30s with this type of ROI and game selection. I have 4-5% ROI on 15s and with mass multi tabling them I would make better hourly then with mix. I am however certain that in 2015 with 15k games on 30s I will have positive ROI of minimum 1% which will be worth it (cause of rake and rb they bring as well) and combining that with 15s can bring excellent income of 4k x 10 months a year.

Hope that helps man. As you see I have been and think about these things/developments constantly, on daily basis, checking traffic, win rates, all the regs, number of tables and predicting/looking ahead what will happen with 6 max SNGs.

Final thing is, now more then ever, you need to work super hard if you want to play 30s and to maintain very strong ROI on 15s.


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IvicaIliev77 Topic starter
IvicaIliev77
Joined: 31.05.2012
PokerStrategist

72 Days Study Challenge

Days 34 & 35

Just a quick update on challenge for today and yesterday

Past 2 days:
Worked out on Sunday, skipped it today
Worked on the game 1 hour total (today, skipped it yesterday)
Coached 2 sessions (1 session in each day)
Grinded 75 games (no grind yesterday, 1 long session today)

Spent most of the time recharging my energy cause of good times at the weeding obviously :)

So would give myself for productivity in past 2 days 4.5 out of 10!

The way things are looking since this challenge started:

- 42/72 study hours completed
- 2039/6000 games completed
- 56/100 coaching sessions completed
- 16 out of 30 CrossFit trainings completed
- 19 out of 10 videos for automated coaching/staking system completed
Additional work with fellow reg 5 hours

Here is the plan for tomorrow:

- Wake up by 9am and work out
- Coach 2 sessions (10-12)
- Work on the game 1 hour
- Work with fellow reg 1 hour also
- Pick up healthy meals, eat healthy, drink lots of water
- Grind 2x60 games sessions from 6pm up until 1am or so
- Before bed update blog/challenge, reflect on mission and vision statement align it with goals and challenges


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