Making a living with STT SNGs

Things that went on in between previous update and now:
- Watched Partizan and Vojvodina games
- Couldn't stop thinking about long term deal decision

Partizan Belgrade played away vs Steaua Buchurest (Romanian team obviously). We scored vital away goal for 1-0 and also had 3 more very strong chances to score the 2nd goal but as it happens in football due to all those misses we ended up conceiding a silly goal from free kick where our keeper slipped!
Regardless of the result, most of fans including myself felt like we should have won that away game but next Wednesday 5th of August we play at our home ground where we will dominate Steaua with 2 goals in their net for sure!
Here is the highlights for the match for those interested:

Vojvodina Novi Sad played famous Italian side Sampdoria, again away game. This one was for UEFA Europa League qualifier vs Partizan playing for UEFA Champions League.
Vojvodina totally trashed Italian favorites and won the game by 4-0!!! Fantastic accomplishment for them as well as Serbian football. After our U20 guys won World Cup vs Brazil in Finals this is probably 2nd best news from our football team.
Check out the highlights of that match:

Long term deal vs playing on my own

If you asked me today about my decision, I would tell it to you in % what I would choose.
Both options are great and are +EV. They are also very close together and which ever one I choose it will not be a bad thing in any way.

Main thing that is holding me from going into long term deal of any sort is belief in myself. The main reason why I am considering some deal is staking to play without pressure higher stakes and keep moving up. Coaching part of the deal is +EV but coaches mentioned themselves that they don't consider they could provide me much value if any since their style is exploitable mine is more towards GTO but I also understand well exploitable strategy.
So this internal thing in me is telling me to keep pushing and fighting. To dedicate next 3 months 120 hours grinding NL50, increasing life and poker roll, have money to go to USA for even longer period of time and to have option after that to choose what to do for coaching. At that point I can afford going into long term deal with my poker idol (which was initial idea for long term deal) or to hire coaches which I consider would provide me maximum value for money and time invested - where those other coaches certainly fit.

So the way things look right now at 4:08am Friday is that I am closer to continuing to grind on my own to rebuild roll then accepting deal. Why? Only because I have this thing in me that keeps me to push and believe in my ability - when everyone else would give up and go for a deal I will choose to prove to myself that I can overcome this pressure and crush despite it!

Monday 3rd of August is the deadline I have set for decision making. It is the day for USA visa interview as well. I will be in Belgrade from Saturday (1st of August) all the way to 6th of August most likely since Partizan is playing vs Steaua on Wednesday the 5th and I do not want to miss this game + plan to hang with family and best friend from Boston.

What will happen after I get back is resuming the yearly challenge and setting monthly challenge where emphasis will be on grinding.

Hope you found something useful in this update. Most of times putting things on paper, weighting pros and cons is all it takes to make the most +EV decision in life. I have done this tonight and this is why I am very much leaning to continue playing on my own and then hire outside help for hourly!
Enjoy your weekend on and off the tables!

P.S. "Winners never quit and quitters never win!" Vince Lombardi

thank you for posting the highlights from partizan match

im a fan of steaua bucharest

Originally posted by CRI4BRA
thank you for posting the highlights from partizan match

im a fan of steaua bucharest

You welcome CRI4BRA

You guys have solid team, 4 very good players (Varela in defense, winger Adrian Popa 77, midfield Hamroun 14, attack Gregory Tade 15) and those guys will be very hard to play in Belgrade on Wednesday.
Our attacker Valeri Bojinov 86 is currently injured as well as Aboubakar Oumarou 15. They will both miss game in Jelen Super League (JSL) vs Novi Pazar tomorrow but they should be ready for game on Wednesday. Medical stuff recommended that they both rest and recover for very important game for us.
I think chances are 65-35% in our favor. We do have a very active score that takes us to the next round if we don't concede a goal. The problem is that Partizan Belgrade plays under huge pressure in Belgrade because stadium is full and they many times burn out with desire to keep calm. This is why silly things happen and we loose in Belgrade game. Examples of such games would be vs Genk where away we had draw with scored goal but at home at 70th + minute our defender made a penalty with handball when the ball was going in goal out. Another example vs Petrzalka. We had gazillion chances, in the end game went to penalty and Pierre Boya missed vital penalty and Petrzalka went to Champions League. Game last season vs Ludogorec from Bulgaria. We had 0-0 away, and at home our defender made a penalty and got direct red card. We were down 2-0 with 1 player less and within 15-20 minutes we came back to 2-2. We played whole game with 10 vs 11 players but the burn out and desire was not enough...
With all this being said, Partizan Belgrade has never had such a strong team since the last time we entered Champions League with likes of Cleo and Ivica Iliev 77 (my favorite player of all time!!!) in attack. Now our team has very strong midfield and attack, goalkeeper is also good but defense lacks squad depth. Regardless, we definitely have what it takes to keep calm this time and win the game vs Steaua. It will be difficult one but our scouting team did amazing job in 1st game and I am sure they won't allow Steaua to have many chances in 2nd game. Also we play 4-3-3 tactic and naturally this is sort of all out attack type of thing where we can conceive goals but we also have quality to score more (which we didn't present at away ground unfortunately).

GL on Wednesday and may the better team win - which is Partizan Belgrade ♦

​Really quick update!

I had a great night sleep and was thinking hard again today about long term deal vs playing on my own.

I am 99% sure that I will choose to continue playing on my own!

Idea will be to do minimum 2 months of 120 hours grinding, 8 tabling regular speed tables on NL50, with minimum expected bb of 5bb/100. Post RB that should lead into 8k in those 2 months of grinding. From 8k I can save up way more then 5k and have very comfortable roll to hire coaches for hourly or to enter the deal with one of my poker idols. It will also allow me to go to USA 1 month without feeling pressure because of it!

Now, I am about to finish packing and at 7pm I leave for Pancevo. I will be in Belgrade and Pancevo from Friday to Monday afternoon. In those days I will do 2 coaching sessions and grinding in the bus + at some free times at home of my best friend and his brother + my brother from Herceg Novi.

The decision of continuing on my own is make or brake one. I am sure that I will prove to myself once again that I can handle all the pressure for BR for poker and life and that I can own any reg on NL50. In fact I dare to say that I will have more than 5bb/100 8 tabling but my target will be to play 60 days 4 hours per day and this will be a challenge + studying + coaching and other life things!

Stay tuned, I will probably do update when I return from Pancevo and Belgrade on Monday or Thursday (after Partizan Belgrade game!)

P.S. I am taking my Jazz guitar with me and I very much look forward to some jamming with my best friend and his brother!!!

bit busy today, so will reply properly over the wknd mate, re husngs/lifestyle - quick funny story tho': was playing a Serbian kid HU the other day and we were chatting a bit, so I asked him if he knew you (not sure why tbh, not that I think all Serbians know each other or anything) - after some confusion, he realised he did know who you were (not personally, I don't think) and he was like "that guy is about 40 ffs!" - like you were some dinosaur or something!?

ftr, I beat him, and made sure to tell him he was beaten by "an auld fart!"

(hope you come to a conclusive decision soon, and whatever you decide works well for ya)

I don't want to be a major factor in your decision, but if I were in this spot myself, I'd also choose playing on my own because it would give me more motivation to improve - I'd be entitled to 100% of any winrate gain (a result of study), not 70-80% or whatever cut you're offered. Backers offer conservative (greedy) cuts basing on the horse's current winrate, hoping that they get a bigger piece of the cake when the horse starts crushing. So I think now that being backed is -EV (as opposed to playing on one's own at a lower limit and paying a fixed coaching fee) unless one is totally broke, which you aren't.

Maybe this guideline only applies to myself because I'm known to spew more on stake or while blogging (because of feeling too much responsibility and breaking down emotionally) than when I'm sure that no one is going to shame me for playing bad

@sherriffatman

Leisure grind in bus 6 tabling ♦
Glad you dominated that dude
I am 32 not 40+
Either way he deserved what he got!!!
He needs to learn some manners and respect older people than him. Comes from home education!

@tonypmm

You are right man.
From the beginning I was considering coaching and staking deal and from one of my poker idols - if I got accepted. I did get accepted but conditionally, needed to play with my own roll and do the splits. At this time I am not keen on doing splits with current BR. Additional 5k in roll however turns around things drastically.
Coaching from one of my poker idols is absolutely +EV because he crushes and can teach me to do the same and not 10k months but more towards 50k months
So in that sense, deal with him would have been brutal. I still have open invitation to start with him as soon as BR myself which is great!
These other deal offers were also very good. They would take pressure and I could just dedicate to grinding + get coaching from those guys who make 10k+ a month. So it was +EV deal and is +EV deal for sure.
When I put things down on paper, pros and cons, playing on my own at this moment is most +EV. I can expect to have 5bb/100 on NL50 somewhat easy IMO and this means with 240 hours of grinding post RB 8k+ euro. So for immediate profit and to continue later playing stress free, to go to USA for longer then 4 weeks even, that is the best option no doubt.
If I get into downswing , I can always drop down and rebuild but with current level of knowledge I don't see 50 buy ins in CG happening. I have to be a spew monkey and get coolers day in and day out for 2 months for that to happen. I just don't see it happening, maybe probability wise it can happen to me in this state 1% of the time 50% of the time I would get 5bb/100 29% I would get 3bb/100 and then like 20% of the time something like 10bb/100.
So things are looking good and I can resume my productivity for grinding as soon as I get back from Belgrade which I very much look forward to!

P.S. Grinding in bus went well, 393 hands, EV 37.2bb/100 ran at 22.8bb/100, played 3-4 regs per table, very aggro ones and then 1-2 recreational players - was very interesting to play those aggro regs, some of them are ready for nl100+ pre flop but post flop they are totally off with tendencies and imbalance (range construction).

​Back from Belgrade and Pancevo!

The most important thing poker wise to update is decision about long term deal vs playing on my own.

I have decided to play on my own for time being. I have enough BR for life and NL50 limit. I also got tourist USA visa and now I am motivated more then ever to grind and earn additional money to visit USA ASAP. I will write about that trip when time gets close for it.

For now, the most important thing is to play in next 60 days 240 hours of NL50 regular speed poker, focusing on 8 tabling. There will be problem with traffic as I currently only mix 2 clients so with current setup in 240 hours I don't expect more then 120k hands at best!

Tomorrow I might go to see Partizan Belgrade game in Belgrade vs Steaua. After that on Thursday, my best friend from Boston has a gig in Pancevo which I plan to attend. On Saturday there is another gig that I was planing to attend.

So the way things look now, I might leave tomorrow (Wednesday) and get back on Sunday. Or something along those lines.

I spent the day treating my brother, best friend and another great friend for USA tourist visa I got. Great times.

Some future updates, expect some actual poker update with hands played, mental game, spots and such.

Enjoy your remaining week on and off the tables!

- a little surprised at your decision, but I guess it makes sense really, and you can still take some lessons as required - was the guy in question R*** YD btw? (np if you don't wanna answer that btw)

- re 'rude-kid' - yeah, it's me whose the auld fella, not you. [much-belated Happy Birthday, btw] (coincidentally, I just realised the above guy is abt 40. and he absolutely crushes!)

- re my lifesyle changes/huhts adventure: nothing really earth-shattering, or anything you haven't done already or heard of tbh; just basically tried to clean up my act quite a bit, had full 'mot' tests from doctor, awaiting eye-test (I sometimes get headaches during/after longish sessions), utilising 'flux' etc, and trying to regulate my sleeping patterns better (I have been a total 'night-owl' since teens really), planning/scheduling important tasks and goal-setting, eating much better stuff generally, and more smaller meals more often, drinking lots of water and less tea/coffee, exercises, and living a 'cleaner/leaner' life - eg: I rarely drink at all these days - also studying the game more often, more effectively, and with specific 'themes', and focussing on one area at a time, 'boxing-off' leaks etc step-by-step, increasing volume, as well as journalling and working on my mental-game, using tai-chi, warmup/cooldowns etc. - also I make myself try to chat with random strangers and actually listen to what they say, when I'm out and about in town or walking the mutt. (there are exceptions obv, when my 'crank-magnet' is working in overdrive) :f_biggrin::f_p:

- I reckon you were probs just being polite, in inquiring, but the huhts are going a bit 'meh' so far: hypers are so different to slower format husngs, I struggled to adapt initially and get comfortable playing them/accept the variance - hence drop in stakes: I beat 1.50s for 6% ROI, beating 3.50s for EV adj. ROI of 6%, but currently running 30+ BIs below EV, will be running better and moving up to 7s soon hopefully - my 'a-game' is reasonably decent I think, but still can drop to b/c/d - game too often really; but I'm working on it. Onward and upwards, as they say!

- grinding on a bus?

I am picturing sommat like this in my head: (???)

I have learnt quite a bit from your blog over the years, and appreciate that you always took time to answer, even when I was basically just trolling about!

[IN BEFORE]: ( "Sheriff and Ivica, sittin in a tree..........." :f_love::f_love::f_love:

GLGL! - enjoy your break!

@sherriffatman

Prefer not to talk who the poker pro was. When I do decide to join him and work with him with strong enough BR I will most likely start a new blog even just for CG. Until then, it is what it is

Thanks for remembering bday anyways, it is never too late! That guy still deserved to be beaten with attitude like that.

Very happy to hear all the changes that went on in your life. It definitely sounds like you are on the right track, from mourning routines, time management implementation to healthy eating. If more people did this they would be far more productive that is for sure.
Is your goal to move from HUSNGs to Spins by any chance? I coached 15$ Spin and Go player and from what I've seen there is tons of edge in Spins post flop. Pre flop strategy takes very short time to learn but for post flop people need to learn range vs range with different textures and run outs + bet sizings. Something that CG and HU players are particularly good at (from Nl200+) so I assume they are the ones that jumped right into 30s and 60s requesting 100s.

For the bus grinding, it was something similar like the one on the picture I am happy that my cell phone can set up WiFi router and that I can grind using providers internet. Very useful for 3-4 hour trips with bus where I spend half grinding!

Time for a challenge!

Why now?
I got USA tourist visa and I plan to go there for minimum 4 weeks. After thinking through where I would go and how much time I would need there, I have landed on 7 weeks stay instead of 4 weeks in USA.
I have not yet purchased plane ticket. Idea was to fly on 23rd of September which is exactly 7 weeks from today!
I will stick to that deadline and set my goals for remaining 48 days before traveling to USA. For this to work, I will need to earn minimum 5k euro or $ in this time frame!

48 Days Challenge

Goals are quite easy to lay out
- 100k hands on NL50 regular speed tables
- 10bb/100 post RB or between 4 and 5bb pre RB (different RB on different clients)
- Approximately 48 days of steady 4 hours grinding (closer to 200 hours of grind x 500 hands per hour)
- I will purchase plane ticket as soon as I hit 5k post RB

Some observations and expectations:
- I will go for minimum 2k hands per day and even more (depending on energy levels) 8 tabling
- I can choose to finish the challenge as soon as I hit 5k post RB
- I play only 2 poker clients which makes it difficult for table selecting so win rate will most likely swing and suffer but I am looking to add 3rd and 4th client in near future also for easier table selecting and higher win rate pre RB
- I will not go to Partizan Belgrade game today nor take long trips like in the past month or so (20+ days of vacation!). I will rather focus fanatically to get this challenge fully completed and by 23rd of September be ready to purchase a ticket for 4 or more weeks for USA!
- Expect some diary type update every day during the challenge with emphasis on mental and tactical game and focus on how much variance played vital roll that particular day. I might also discuss some tendencies from other regs on regular tables and recreational players.

Today is Day 1 and I am about to start my 1st session so lets get rocking!

Music for the challenge

Still going strong mate I see. Impressive.

YOU ARE A BEAST!

Originally posted by UPAY4DINNER
Still going strong mate I see. Impressive.

YOU ARE A BEAST!

Appreciate it mate!
Very happy to see you back How are things?

1st session update:
54 minutes
635 hands
EV 16.3bb/100
Running at 39.2bb/100

Won KK vs AKs (opponent 5 bet shoved HJ vs CO) , KK vs AQo (fish limp shove HJ vs my BTN CO ISO and SB call) and BVB fish r/calling 34bb with 75s vs my AKo. Rest of the plays are standard somewhat although there are couple marked hands to go through at the end of the day.

LOL sample, but nice start for the challenge none the less

GL with your challenge! I've also always wanted to go to USA, I expect tons of pics and a travel update as well ofc!

Originally posted by vonki
GL with your challenge! I've also always wanted to go to USA, I expect tons of pics and a travel update as well ofc!

Thanks vonki
I will share some pictures every day when I do the final update. Of course some pictures from USA for sure, it is awesome place to be - if you get a chance to go don't miss it!

After 2 sessions:
117 minutes played
1200 hands
EV 25.3bb/100
Running at 43.4bb/100

Too many hands to go into detail now. I remember cooler where I cold 4 bet vs HJ and CO fish (who had 24bb) with AKo and HJ called CO got it in call call. Flop was Axx, I had pot size bet behind, I shove for value HJ calls and turns 1 combo of AA Fish had JJ. So that is 1 buy in drop that you see on the graph. Other winning came mostly from good bluff catches, very good value bets and fish spewing vs me (calling 4 bet shove with K2o vs my AA CO vs BTN???).

Overall good stuff. Was playing 9 tables at times. I got 3 more hours before Partizan Belgrade starts and 2 more sessions to play. Lets do this!

Graph:

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77

Originally posted by UPAY4DINNER
Still going strong mate I see. Impressive.

YOU ARE A BEAST!

Appreciate it mate!
Very happy to see you back How are things?

Good thanks, made a big update post in my blog to catch everyone up

Originally posted by UPAY4DINNER
Good thanks, made a big update post in my blog to catch everyone up

Checked it out now, GL with 180s!