Cakara Becomes Third English Black Member
It is with great joy that we announce our community's third Black Member! Cakara joins this elite club, along with fellow community members TwiceT and smidlo. We sat down with him for an interview, so read on to see Cakara's thoughts on his new rank at PokerStrategy.com.
cakara has just managed to achieve the highest rank at PokerStrategy.com - the Black Member status. If you want to read more about this rank, click here.
To celebrate this great achievement, we thought it would be great to see how the man himself feels about this, so we sat down and asked him some questions - enjoy!
This interview was conducted by
From $0.05/$0.10 to Black Member
Name: Vladimir Čakarević
Age: 28
Location: Serbia
Game types: FL $0.5/$1 to $3/$6
PokerStrategy.com: Hello Cakara and congratulations on getting the Black Member rank! How does it feel to reach the highest status at PokerStrategy.com?
cakara: Quite good actually, it has been a long way since my beginnings in 2007.
PokerStrategy.com: It was indeed a long way. How did you achieve this rank? Was it planned or you played and eventually got it?
cakara: Four years of grinding and climbing through limits from modest beginnings at $0.05/$0.10 - the BM status followed eventually.
PokerStrategy.com: So hard work eventually paid off - nice to hear that. What do you think of the Black Member benefits? Have you checked them already? If so, which one you like the most?
cakara: Ah I see there's a bunch of parties planned this year and I'm certainly going to attend some of them.
PokerStrategy.com: Great, I'm sure you'll have a good time and you'll probably meet twicet over there too. Looking back on your poker career, what has changed over the last year in your mindset?
cakara: To be honest, it became worse. I fell in typical rakeback trap and instead of improving my game started to mindlessly multi-table as much as I could. That left me feeling like arobot who's doing nothing more that clicking buttons on the screen as fast as possible. But profits are nice, though (laughs).
PokerStrategy.com: Let's then hope you can find your way out. Let's talk a bit more about this: What can you tell us about your game in general? What game type, how many tables, how many sessions/day, how long is a session?
cakara: I'm a Fixed Limit player from day one. At some point I considered switching to NL but I was already very proficient at FL and too lazy to start from scratch. I'm playing from $0.5/$1 to $3/$6 and the lower is the limit, the more tables I play: From 6-9 tables at $3/$6$, to 12-14 tables at $0.5/$1.
About 5,000-8,000 hands per day is my usual volume. As the year is coming to an end I'm building volume for milestone bonuses at PokerStars and that always leaves me frenetically grinding the last couple thousands of VPPs on New Year's Eve.
I will continue to sharpen my game
 |
| Cakara posing for only one photo cause he's behind his grinding schedule. |
PokerStrategy.com: If this is going to happen this year again, I suggest you at least get a bottle of champagne next to your computer. Now, to reach this status, you needed to play quite a lot and for a long time. What has kept you motivated? And what are the things that still keep you playing poker?
cakara: $$$ and more of $$$. In a sh**hole like Serbia I'm earning a very nice salary from poker which would not be possible at some other (regular) job.
PokerStrategy.com: Haha, I see. Well I guess that's all the motivation you need for this. Now that you are a Black Member, how is this going to change your poker life? Will you play more, less, or not be affected by this and keep grinding?
cakara: Until mid 2012 it's gonna be grind, grind, grind cause I'm saving money to buy a flat (or a house). Afterwards, I'm planning to slow down, take same coaching and start to sharpen my game again.
PokerStrategy.com: Wow, now that's commitment, I have to say I'm impressed. You probably know that there are many PokerStrategists out there who would like to reach this status but they know it's not easy. Therefore, what do you think are the key things to know about getting the Black Member rank?
cakara: There isn't anything specially I can say. After generating ~$180k in rake at a poker room, the BM status came by itself.
PokerStrategy.com: Lesson here: it's not easy getting up there. However, this rank is pretty much proof of your online poker abilities. Have you thought about trying out live poker as well and see how you do in the larger offline events?
cakara: Meh, FL isn't much popular offline and I'm not that good at tourneys to play for some serious cash. On other hand I do play with my friends for fun.
I might start blogging
 |
| Everyone in Serbia is celebrating Cakara's achievement. Except that guy on the right. He's not impressed. |
PokerStrategy.com: Who knows, maybe thanks to these friendly tournaments you will slowly get more into the real deal. I was thnking: You could write about your Black Member achievement. Have you considered talking about your path to this status in a blog for example? I'm sure there will be plenty of people interested in this.
cakara: The reason why I didn't started a blog yet is I didn't wanted to let it die from not updating and I know that I'm too lazy to keep regular updates. But you never know, I might start one in future.
PokerStrategy.com: Would be great if you could reconsider it in the near future - I'm pretty sure many fellow PokerStrategists will have a lot to learn from your experience. After all, you can consider that you have reached a major poker milestone. Do you have a specific goal or target for 2011 or you are just going to keep grinding?
cakara: 400K VPPs was my goal for this year but I'm already behind schedule (obviously) and I might lower it to 300K or put up some more volume.
PokerStrategy.com: Well, good luck with that challenge of yours then. I've taken enough of your time already, so let's end it here. Is there anything you would like to add? Final thoughts, shout-outs to fellow members, anything you want – now's your chance.
cakara: Well, send greetings to rest of the PokerStrategy.com staff in Gibraltar from me and ask them: Will there be an ex-YU community opening anytime soon? Cause I see a lot of potential in this part of the market which is going through a poker boom at the moment.
PokerStrategy.com: I sure will sir, and maybe you can pay us a visit here in Gibraltar. Thank you for your time and best of luck in your poker career!
You can congratulate cakara or talk about his achievement in the forum thread below:
Cakara Becomes Third English Black Member
What is the Black Member status?
Rank: Highest level available on PokerStrategy.com
Requirement: 500,000 lifetime StrategyPoints
Becoming a Black Member at PokerStrategy.com involves a lot of hard work, as you have to collect 500,000 lifetime StrategyPoints, but in the end it pays off. As Black Member, you get many benefits, including:
- Lifetime access to all our content and services. All our strategy articles, videos, forum sections and more are accessible to our Black Members.
- Special VIP customer support. Whenever you have questions about our partner rooms or PokerStrategy.com, don't hesitate to contact us. Our VIP hosts will make sure you get help as soon as possible.
- The possibility to attend the Black Member Events. You have the chance to attend up to three Black Member Events each year. These events range from exclusive VIP parties and gourmet experiences in world class restaurants, to fun activities such as paintball and rafting.
- A custom-tailored black suit. Dress like a Black Member thanks to our private tailor who will make sure to create a custom suit that you can wear at any special events you want to attend in the future.
