Originally posted by sooley570
Hi IvicaIliev77
Great blog I haven't read all of it yet but am making my way through. I admire your 72 day study challenge and your ability and dedication to creating and sticking to the schedule. You are putting in a lot of hard work but I am sure it is enjoyable at the same time because of your love for the game. Your hard work and success is inspiring to fishes like me 
I would like to know your opinion about the pokerstars issue that was discussed a little bit and what your advice would be to me. I have aspirations of one day making a living from playing online (that is still a long way away) by playing sit n gos. I have been playing sng's on pokerstars for a few years but only recreationally. I have been playing well at live nl200 putting in a ton of hours, many 10 hour+ sessions and built up some bankroll but feel like there is more opportunity online if I am serious about making money.
So my question is: For someone just starting to take their online play seriously (still familiarizing with the software like HEM2/SNGwiz/equilab..ect) do you think it would be worthwhile to switch sites from pokerstars if SNGs are the format I want to predominantly play? If so which site do you think would be best? I am only at the micro level right now playing 3.50s until i feel more confident in my game and get better with the different software.
Thanks for (hopefully) reading and replying
good "luck" ♠_cool: at the tables
Hi sooley570 and welcome to PS!
Glad you find blog inspiring 
I will try my best to help you with your questions and dilemmas as best as I can but in the end decision will be purely yours.
Lets start!
In October 2012 which is now 2 years ago, I was playing 5.50 euro limits on Microgaming network for 6 max SNGs. I was making post RB 1.5k euros approximately each month, playing 9-12 tables, having traffic in the afternoon. Even after that period, fast forward 2013 and March, I played on Ongame network 11$-54$ limits 5 max SNGs. Traffic was there and good money was there.
The main reasons why I switched to Poker Stars from all those other networks despite higher RB and more money at that moment were:
- Traffic through out the whole day (so ability to organize day differently, have evenings off more often etc)
- Higher sealing for improvement (3-4k was a cap on other sites to make approximately in SNGs, Stars offers you to make 5k+)
- Most important reason to become a better player and play better players on average which improves your game automatically
I switched to Stars in May 2013 I believe or June, was chasing SN, caught it, had terrible results pre RB (was BE) for a long time (until October 2013 when I changed things).
Stars in 2013 and Stars in 2014 is totally different story.
I have this year between 4 and 5% pre RB ROI on 15s 6 max turbos. I am confident I can have even higher ROI with tiny bit better table selection. Currently I play with maximum 2 recreationals/unknowns and 3 players are all regs of a sort. I made this year post RB so far over 20k$ + additional income from coaching and staking. So making a solid living from SNGs is still very much possible. Consider also that I had 2-3 months where I had super low grinding + 1 month where I was doing HU hypers coaching and staking deal , all which resulted in less grind and profit. For next year I will try to hit 300k VPPs and make 40k$ post RB (24k from RB 16k from profit).
What changed?
October 2014, spin and goes were introduced. Recreational players left most SNG variants and switch to that lottery type of game. Now what is left are mostly some sort of regs and smaller % of recreational players.
How will this affect the future of SNGs?
It is still very possible to make minimum 1.5-2k$ post RB or even 3k$ post RB. You can achieve these results by grinding 100 games a day on 7s or 15s respectively.
The biggest problem is the next level! Once you go to 30s, traffic is super reg infested. There are regs who are playing that limit for long time, regs like me who moved or mix 15s with 30s and then tons of SNE wannabe regs or just insane high rakers who mix everything from 30s up to 100s or even more buy ins.
The problem is that this wasn't the case before October 2014, heck it wasn't the case even earlier this year. Next year it will be even worse as people who will give up on SNE chases will move to 6 max turbos from 6 max hypers hence expect even more regs.
What I am trying to say here is that level of play needed to grind 30s and to make awesome ROI pre RB and crush requires significantly higher skill edge then it used to 6+ months ago! Games are and have changed and for both bad and good!
Good thing about this current SNG situation is that only the players who work hard to constantly improve, fix and exploit leaks will stay alive in this situation + the ones that don't do it will leave the games and switch formats or get real job therefore balancing out rec to reg ratio in those limits therefore increasing ROI expectation in future.
Bad thing about this is that once a lot of regs leave, it will be very difficult to grind 12+ tables on 30$ limit as it will take forever to load the games.
I would just like to come back to 3 main reasons for switching to Stars. Traffic through out the day; Higher sealing for improvement/hourly and To become better player.
Since May 2013 I have become way better player then when I arrived on Stars. My level of playing had 4-5 major leaks and in the meanwhile I fixed those + worked on things that maybe only 1 - 5% of regs even bother to think about So I am super happy about my improvement and my hourly has gone up significantly. The traffic part however is bad! During the day there are no games running on 30s and on 15s is not great either, it takes a long time to load 12+ tables. So basically grinding during the day is -EV since I can't play enough tables, manage to hit my game targets set for the day and end up having different types of days. Instead I work out, coach, work on my game, hang with my best friend , eat healthy and then when afternoon comes I hit the tables. This is basically poker life that I lead 24/7 every single day I went from other networks to Stars to avoid this but I am still here doing this sort of lifestyle cause currently there is no other option.
I am also working on other formats and am really studying like fanatic one specific format that I might switch to full time once I hit same hourly as for SNGs. This format is awesome because traffic is there whole day and I can play it on any network so my days can be more flexible and I can have even more options with prioritizing!
My advices
Ask yourself the most important question of all - What do you want from poker? Is it full time income if so how much would you like to make? If it is part time income again how much would you like to make?
What kind of limits are you looking to play? What kind of bankroll do you have just for poker? How much time each day can you dedicate to studying the game (watching videos, posting hands, writing out your thinking process, getting accountability partner somebody to study with, get coaching help to push your game further and faster, doing the assignments) and then how much time do you have for grinding? Are you willing to sacrifice other things from your current life for the benefit of becoming professional poker SNG player making a great living from this game?
Essentially all these questions should lead you to a decision that you need to make ASAP - Do you want to play poker full time or part time?
Part time players don't need to study, take coaching, do assignments grind steady and everything else I mentioned above (work on their mindset, exercise, eat healthy to keep best focus). So if this is the road you want to take, go for it and take each day easy, play it by the ear as we musicians like to say and do things as they naturally appear to you. This however will not lead you to the road of making a living from SNGs.
If you want to play poker full time then I can just tell you - welcome to the world of pros! You will need to dedicate so much studying, working on your game both on and off the tables, grinding, dealing with variance, dealing with all the regular life stuff and not letting you affect your decision making/thinking process at the tables that it is simply unreal.
Most people are not ready to become professional poker players. They might think they are but sooner or later (most do this sooner) when they hit into some sort of wall for them and don't have solution how to overcome certain difficulty or problem they just give up and quit.
You will see as you read through the whole blog how persistent and hard working I am. I choose to give it a shoot at poker only because I heard it was possible to make 700 euros per month which allowed me to stay here in Serbia with my family and be with them. This was my goal in June 2012. Fast forward, now my goals are not money related but rather related to number of hours I want to dedicate to studying, grinding, coaching, recording videos, working out, eating healthy, trying to maintain relations with my close family and friends wherever they may be.
I want you to think really hard about your decision and then do your best to make the right one and stick to it. If you want to become pro, never give up nor let anybody tell you that you can't do it cause bottom line is it is all about insane amount of passion grit habits goals vision and mission that you created and fanatically follow for yourself. Everything else is just excuses and please don't settle for small things - if you want to do something do it right or don't do it at all! That is my motto at least
Finally, do not worry about anything that is happening right now with PokerStars/Amaya and SNG lobbies. These are the things that you can't affect directly. You can choose to stay and play, leave and play somewhere else, or stay and play something else, that is it! Plus, things in future might change again, more people entering the lobbies and then going out again etc (with USA market in play within 5 years from now maximum I would say). So don't waste your time and energy worrying but rather spend it on working becoming best you can become in this game.
Become so great man that you will be that one exception when people talk about SNGs and their future. Typical conversation " Hey PokerStars is dying for SNGs, no more pre rb ROI, lets switch to MTTs or Spins" the other (smart) guy takes this response "Yes games are getting tougher to beat pre RB but this actually motivates me to work even harder on my game and prove to myself that I can be one of the few that beats them!"
So for every 20 or 50 BE (brake even) reg out there who fail to accept their leaks and work fanatically on game and that will quit eventually, there is super amazing people who work like fanatics or are super talented and work way less that still make tons of money both pre and post RB on limits higher then 30s!!!
My final advice is that you should figure out what you really want. If it is SNGs just go for it full time, all in, give your whole self to it and I can absolutely guarantee you if you are persistent and won't give up that you will have nothing to worry whatsoever.
Future is always bright for such people in whatever area they choose to display their fanaticism and greatness.
From my current story, the way I have evolved you can learn a lot.
I will just finish this response with my current and future goals:
- Continue working steady on my game, keep increasing the bar for greatness and aiming for highest possible level of play for myself
- Prove to myself that I can beat mid stakes on Stars with pre RB ROI and also be one of the few who will actually have that winning pre RB ROI
- Continue working on another format which is very interesting to me and allows me more flexibility + even higher sealing for improvement and hourly (switch to it if necessary)
I hope you found something meaningful and useful in this response.
I sincerely wish you to make the decision that is best for YOU and just go for it.
If you need some advice about SNGs, feel free to stop by here, I will try to find time from my busy days to respond to you.
All the best to you and say hello to Canada ! (my 1st love girlfriend actually lives there now
