It has been a while since my last update, so I'm not really sure where to start.. let's just say last year went like a rollercoaster for me. I'll try to keep it short and concise and focus more on the new year, as I don't want to hang too much into the past regarding poker.
2012:
Since my latest update I spent a lot of time on staking/coaching. Let's just say that I have found it an experience with mixed feelings. I must say that I have underestimated a lot of things about it. It is very time consuming, with a lot of ups and downs. The beauty of it is to see guys flourish and develop (and often make a lot of money too, as the icing on the cake). On the other hand, the world ain't always pretty so you get to deal with a lot of shit. Dishonesty, scamming, etc. are unfortunately still a regularity in the staking business, as hard as you try to pick the right horses. It can be very frustrating to see someone just walk away with your money (and your trust) with very little remorse. Anyways, most of the guys I consider as friends and are very trustable- I enjoy working together with most of them. It is a decision I definately don't regret as it, most importantly, improved both my coaching abilities and my playing abilities.
Grind:
In the second half of 2012 there was an inevitable change in my SNG career: all the action shifted more and more towards hyperturbo 6max (6m) sngs, so I decided to slowly make a transition. For me it was a logical change, as I was ready for a new challenge, plus you have to go where the money is imo.
In short, the biggest differences were the following for me (in no particular order):
-transitioning from 9m play to 6m play
-new payout format (65/35 model)
-all blindlevels with antes
-volatile: lots of big swings due to smaller edges. It is a game where details become very important to be successful.
Fortunately I have a lot of history in 6m cashgames before my SNG career, so it wasn't all new for me. However, I never really grinded 6m SNGS so I have had to learn a lot of things.
I had two options:
-either learn by trial and error, most likely losing a lot in the beginning (say, first 10k games)
-study a lot and start with low volume and daily reviewing (max 4-6 tables, simulating a lot of hands)
Given I didn't really have VPP targets for the year, and that I already planned for 2013 that I wanted to make SNE on hypers I decided to invest more time into studying than playing during juli-august, to be a lot better before I rolled in the deep.
In retrospect I'm very happy with this choice, although I still have to improve every day. Hyperturbos are for sure not a game for someone who is lazy about reviewing and a constant strive towards improvement.
Results:
End of 2012:
Perhaps I will post graphs later on, not sure yet. I ended the year on 300k VPPs, with a 100k vpp month in december(mostly made in 2 weeks of grinding). It was rough for me, as I had to combine it with 4-5 days a week uni for most of the time during september-january. It was a real test whether I could combine it, and let's just say that I wouldn't advice it to many people to do so. At some point you'll start disliking poker while it is a blessing to have such an awesome "job". Heck, I don't even want to call it that way. However, if you are 30+ hours a week on uni, with 40+ hours of poker combined and a social life on the side it isn't that much fun anymore.
2013
January:
I started my SNE chase on the 25th of january due to finishing 4 subjects in my 3rd year. I will take a sabbatical for half a year, meaning I will be able to grind full time until september. I wanted to reach 30k vpps for the month, which I managed to do so. I finished the month being up five figures so it was a great month (albeit tonnes above EV).
February: my target is to play at least 10000 games, and/or 100k vpps. I find the 10k games target more important, but I will be satisfied if I make 100k vpps.
Thanks for reading, I'll try to give at least a monthly recap and add a few other stuff here and there too.
Cheers!
maandag 4 februari 2013
woensdag 7 maart 2012
Status update + Staking/Coaching
Hey Guys,
It has been a while since my last blogpost. I decided to give up on SNE quite fastly, because I soon realised I'm not ready for it (yet). Also the games were so terrible in the first months that it just wasn't doable to reach SNE with selecting. Other than that my results have been awesome due to an amazing upswing in the highstakes (I am the last to deny that). I feel fortunate that things have been going my way a lot in 18s lately!
It goes without saying that hard work on improving has to pay off at some point!
In addition I started to stake/coach together with fellow grinder/friend Quadchrazs. We are looking for players at the 7-35$ range for sngs. Anything from 9 mans up to 180 mans is fine! You could hit me or him up in case you are interested. Leave a message over here or on his blog: kwatgras.blogspot.com.
It has been a while since my last blogpost. I decided to give up on SNE quite fastly, because I soon realised I'm not ready for it (yet). Also the games were so terrible in the first months that it just wasn't doable to reach SNE with selecting. Other than that my results have been awesome due to an amazing upswing in the highstakes (I am the last to deny that). I feel fortunate that things have been going my way a lot in 18s lately!
It goes without saying that hard work on improving has to pay off at some point!
In addition I started to stake/coach together with fellow grinder/friend Quadchrazs. We are looking for players at the 7-35$ range for sngs. Anything from 9 mans up to 180 mans is fine! You could hit me or him up in case you are interested. Leave a message over here or on his blog: kwatgras.blogspot.com.
vrijdag 30 december 2011
Reached Supernova!
Finally reached supernova! Worked hard for it, fortunately for a good cause, because I made it =)
Will take off for 2 days (reached it yesterday), to load up the battery a bit for next year to start beasting from January!
I will probably stick to the same games that I'm currently playing, aiming to stick to a higher ABI.
If the first months go well (read: volume wise) I may go for SNE. We shall see though how things go.
I hope everyone reached their own targets!
Happy new year to all of you and a "booming" 2012!
Will take off for 2 days (reached it yesterday), to load up the battery a bit for next year to start beasting from January!
I will probably stick to the same games that I'm currently playing, aiming to stick to a higher ABI.
If the first months go well (read: volume wise) I may go for SNE. We shall see though how things go.
I hope everyone reached their own targets!
Happy new year to all of you and a "booming" 2012!
zaterdag 24 december 2011
Merry Christmas!
Just like the title suggests- merry christmas everyone! I hope you all have a good time, and spend some quality time with your family. At least, that is what I have been, and will be doing during the upcoming days.
I still need to reach supernova, got like 3k left. This should be done in 1 or 2 (short) sessions!
When this is done, I will prepare and rest out for next year!
From next year on, I will start adding 200$ 18s as well.
In short, the 2011 recap has been as following: I decided that I wanted to invest into my game, and study a lot more about my game. I definately achieved this- I think my overall level game has elevated a lot and is so so much better than at the beginning of the year! In terms of volume I have had some rough times, because of motivation and dedication.
The route to my targets (reaching mid/high stakes) has gone way differently than I imagined- I am very glad though that I went through a rough patch to reach what I'm at. I have said it before but it's gotta happen to every pokerplayer that you experience a rough time in your career, where you have to decide what you want to do. Do you either switch plans/career, or pursue your long-term plans where you want to improve.
In short: I had to quit moaning ,and start grinding. Because in fact, that is what I forgot to do- I was worrying too much about my short-term variance, in both positive as negative ways. I have had plenty of sessions where I experienced "positive tilt", as in quitting sessions where I was up. I will definately try to limit these a lot next year. Overall I am very satisfied about the last too months (november in particular) where I have shown that I've got the heart to go all the way in terms of value and mental state.
2012 targets:
-Less wasted time behind my screen! I spend far too much time in the lobby, just railing pointless games and/or wasting time browsing. I am not saying that I want to quit this, but I certainly gotta limit this a lot
-At least 2500 games per month, especially during the period that I will have practically no uni (march-sept)
-Succesfully beat 60-200$ 18s and up my ABI
-Start transitioning to other formats as well, to up my ABI. That includes fifty50s (beat them pre rakeback), 9max (KO) and eventually 6max. I definately gotta work on my 6max (bubble) game.
-Less affection with daily results and learn to really look at the bigger picture. In theory I practice this very well. At the tables though the length of my sessions still depend too much on results other than a planned idea.
-If the first months go well, go for SNE. However, this is NOT an explicit target, but more or less the result of my hard work and dedication. The same goes for money targets: in my head I want at least 100k profit over the year, although that may have its negative consequences. Therefore, I do not mark them as explicit targets.
-Start to coach and make my students successfull
-Being ready for highstakes SNGS at 2013
This will be it for now!
Best regards and cu in 2012!
I still need to reach supernova, got like 3k left. This should be done in 1 or 2 (short) sessions!
When this is done, I will prepare and rest out for next year!
From next year on, I will start adding 200$ 18s as well.
In short, the 2011 recap has been as following: I decided that I wanted to invest into my game, and study a lot more about my game. I definately achieved this- I think my overall level game has elevated a lot and is so so much better than at the beginning of the year! In terms of volume I have had some rough times, because of motivation and dedication.
The route to my targets (reaching mid/high stakes) has gone way differently than I imagined- I am very glad though that I went through a rough patch to reach what I'm at. I have said it before but it's gotta happen to every pokerplayer that you experience a rough time in your career, where you have to decide what you want to do. Do you either switch plans/career, or pursue your long-term plans where you want to improve.
In short: I had to quit moaning ,and start grinding. Because in fact, that is what I forgot to do- I was worrying too much about my short-term variance, in both positive as negative ways. I have had plenty of sessions where I experienced "positive tilt", as in quitting sessions where I was up. I will definately try to limit these a lot next year. Overall I am very satisfied about the last too months (november in particular) where I have shown that I've got the heart to go all the way in terms of value and mental state.
2012 targets:
-Less wasted time behind my screen! I spend far too much time in the lobby, just railing pointless games and/or wasting time browsing. I am not saying that I want to quit this, but I certainly gotta limit this a lot
-At least 2500 games per month, especially during the period that I will have practically no uni (march-sept)
-Succesfully beat 60-200$ 18s and up my ABI
-Start transitioning to other formats as well, to up my ABI. That includes fifty50s (beat them pre rakeback), 9max (KO) and eventually 6max. I definately gotta work on my 6max (bubble) game.
-Less affection with daily results and learn to really look at the bigger picture. In theory I practice this very well. At the tables though the length of my sessions still depend too much on results other than a planned idea.
-If the first months go well, go for SNE. However, this is NOT an explicit target, but more or less the result of my hard work and dedication. The same goes for money targets: in my head I want at least 100k profit over the year, although that may have its negative consequences. Therefore, I do not mark them as explicit targets.
-Start to coach and make my students successfull
-Being ready for highstakes SNGS at 2013
This will be it for now!
Best regards and cu in 2012!
maandag 19 december 2011
VPP Update
Been grinding a lot lately- in comparison of course with what I used to do. Currently I'm having 93.5k VPP, so only 6.5k to go for Supernova. Just a few small bumps left and I have made it!
Lately I have been (slowly) adding new formats, such as 9max/KO sngs. Today I also tried a few fifty50 sngs to see what they were like for next year. They seem beatable and are a lot easier to multitable than other turbo's, because you never play shorthanded. Occasionally it does get tricky though when you are all very short- it basically becomes an ICM war then.
I have played DoNs in the past, which seem to differ quite a bit with these Fifty50s. You need to be far more aggressive and try to pick up a lot more chips. I'll see how it ends up- I expect a lower avg roi, but I expect smaller swings in them. Also they run in higher formats which is good if I want to up my avg buyin. I'll see how it goes.
I'm still awaiting the vip programme update for pokerstars, and base my grindscheme/targets on the update.
GL at the tables!
Lately I have been (slowly) adding new formats, such as 9max/KO sngs. Today I also tried a few fifty50 sngs to see what they were like for next year. They seem beatable and are a lot easier to multitable than other turbo's, because you never play shorthanded. Occasionally it does get tricky though when you are all very short- it basically becomes an ICM war then.
I have played DoNs in the past, which seem to differ quite a bit with these Fifty50s. You need to be far more aggressive and try to pick up a lot more chips. I'll see how it ends up- I expect a lower avg roi, but I expect smaller swings in them. Also they run in higher formats which is good if I want to up my avg buyin. I'll see how it goes.
I'm still awaiting the vip programme update for pokerstars, and base my grindscheme/targets on the update.
GL at the tables!
donderdag 1 december 2011
Update: Reaching Supernova
It has been a while since my last update.. mainly because of pure laziness and other activities.
In the previous months I had to get my mind straight about a few things and how I wanted to pursue in the following months. I pretty much took a pokerbreak and barely played since the summer.
I decided to focus more on my uni and a business that I recently started with a couple of good friends. Currently I am responsible for the retail in the Netherlands for Gunnar Optiks, a company specialised in computer eyewear. I am sure that a couple of you who read this are familiar with these (also available in the pokerstars store). For the ones who aren't: make sure you check out www.gunnars.com or www.gunnaroptiks.nl for the dutch version. It has been a lot of work to get things sorted (a lot more than expected). It still takes a lot of mental energy to fix things in regard to it.
Since the 11th I decided to team up with a new backer, giving me improved oppurtunities. I am very thankful for all the oppurtunities Bigbluffzinc & Push0rdie gave me, they improved my SNG game to the next level. I don't blame them in regard to my previous mentality (being a lazy grinder) that they let me move down a limit or two to get my results/confidence back up again. I found it very hard to move down though, as I had the feeling that I could beat the higher games as well. I just never put in the sample to prove it (long term). In all honesty, I wouldn't have let myself move up before grinding hard for a month or two either.
Hence I decided to put my money where my mouth is, so to say. Last month (since the 11th) I grinded more than ever, with proven results. I had my best month ever, and made over 10k in just 2 weeks, more than I made during the year. I ran better than ever (I am the last to deny it), but it's a lethal combination with playing your A-game. I decided to mix in a few 100s and 60s, and it went prosperous so far.
My targets around may were to move up to the mid-high stakes @ SNGs. Now it actually looks that I have achieved my targets, just in a very different way. The paradox is that I am happy I went through such a poker depression/ "downswing" and decided to take a long break, to see the fun and the freedom of it again. It isn't a pain to play: it is a blessing. It is just hard to remind yourself to this when you are losing time after time.
Since the 11th of november I needed ~45k vpp to make Supernova, as a preparation for next year. It is also as a trial to see whether I am capable of putting in the volume required to play poker seriously next year.
I only need 20k vpp for supernova, so it should be very doable in 2 weeks or so. I just don't want to be a breakeven rakeback grinder- I want to win pre-rakeback in the games up to 100$. Next year I won't have uni for a pretty long time, which I want to fill with grinding. I wanna start great during january- if things go in the right way I want to give SNE a shot. It just doesn't need to be for the sake of it (aka rakeback whore), I want it to be profitable.
Sorry for the long piece- from now on I will give more frequent updates :)
I am also available for coaching- hit me up if you are interested.
In the previous months I had to get my mind straight about a few things and how I wanted to pursue in the following months. I pretty much took a pokerbreak and barely played since the summer.
I decided to focus more on my uni and a business that I recently started with a couple of good friends. Currently I am responsible for the retail in the Netherlands for Gunnar Optiks, a company specialised in computer eyewear. I am sure that a couple of you who read this are familiar with these (also available in the pokerstars store). For the ones who aren't: make sure you check out www.gunnars.com or www.gunnaroptiks.nl for the dutch version. It has been a lot of work to get things sorted (a lot more than expected). It still takes a lot of mental energy to fix things in regard to it.
Since the 11th I decided to team up with a new backer, giving me improved oppurtunities. I am very thankful for all the oppurtunities Bigbluffzinc & Push0rdie gave me, they improved my SNG game to the next level. I don't blame them in regard to my previous mentality (being a lazy grinder) that they let me move down a limit or two to get my results/confidence back up again. I found it very hard to move down though, as I had the feeling that I could beat the higher games as well. I just never put in the sample to prove it (long term). In all honesty, I wouldn't have let myself move up before grinding hard for a month or two either.
Hence I decided to put my money where my mouth is, so to say. Last month (since the 11th) I grinded more than ever, with proven results. I had my best month ever, and made over 10k in just 2 weeks, more than I made during the year. I ran better than ever (I am the last to deny it), but it's a lethal combination with playing your A-game. I decided to mix in a few 100s and 60s, and it went prosperous so far.
My targets around may were to move up to the mid-high stakes @ SNGs. Now it actually looks that I have achieved my targets, just in a very different way. The paradox is that I am happy I went through such a poker depression/ "downswing" and decided to take a long break, to see the fun and the freedom of it again. It isn't a pain to play: it is a blessing. It is just hard to remind yourself to this when you are losing time after time.
Since the 11th of november I needed ~45k vpp to make Supernova, as a preparation for next year. It is also as a trial to see whether I am capable of putting in the volume required to play poker seriously next year.
I only need 20k vpp for supernova, so it should be very doable in 2 weeks or so. I just don't want to be a breakeven rakeback grinder- I want to win pre-rakeback in the games up to 100$. Next year I won't have uni for a pretty long time, which I want to fill with grinding. I wanna start great during january- if things go in the right way I want to give SNE a shot. It just doesn't need to be for the sake of it (aka rakeback whore), I want it to be profitable.
Sorry for the long piece- from now on I will give more frequent updates :)
I am also available for coaching- hit me up if you are interested.
donderdag 4 augustus 2011
Exclusive Deals
Recently I have been lucky to get into touch with the owners of one of the best affiliate sites around in the poker business. Their deals are exclusive and their service seems unrivalled.
I literally spammed them with questions for several days and they have been around 24/7 to answer all my questions. At some point I even felt guilty for asking seemingly stupid stuff but they have always remained polite and to the point to answer me!
Most people tend to go for the biggest sites in the business (pokerstars, full tilt) but they do not seem to realise that it isn't lucrative at all for them. The average player pool is way stronger and the promotions aren't that good at all (unless you put in very high volume). Even for the high volume players the promotions could be way better with exclusive services.
On the smaller networks it is possible to get very high (unmatched) rates in combination with exclusive vip items (from books to laptops) through the affiliate (you will also be eligible for the vip stuff on the site itself, so count your blessings!)
The difference with the bigger rakeback networks around (e.g. raketherake) is that they give out standard deals which are at least 10% lower than what is possible to get. It can make the difference of beating a level or not- it's just a lot of "dead" money that you are not getting.
If you are interested you can react on this post and I'll put you into touch with one of the guys in charge. Personally I am very satisfied and I know these are the best around. I have had various deals on different sites in the past and none of them are even close to these.
If you feel more comfortable with a more personal approach, you can email me: bpplatformblog@gmail.com
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