Sp(r)in(ts) & Go(als) - SmartSpinning

@Ivicalliev Yeah we have played several sins against each other, Today you did manage to bust me with your K6>A7, but i did won the cev battle.
It looks like i am beating 7s quite comfortably, in smart spin there are set requirements that you need to achieve to get promotions, i am not far from it, if it goes as usual i can get it at the end of the week or beginning of next week. As for larger sample, in short - i dont have it, you can see my results here, Currently while i have been in Smart Spin i have player 1.2k games with 97cev. Before i joined i was playing 15s, 4k games with some 25-30cev, but you cant compare those two time periods.

Yesterday was my first big losing day, -5k cev over 80 games. I was playing averagely and i just had the worst run i have seen so far but its okey i still tried my best and kept playing the volume i was intending before. Later i spent ~3h studying/ reviewing hands so at least it was productive day overall.

Today i came back swinging. Basically poker as usual, put in a bit more extra volume to compensate yesterdays games that i missed. Both days i did write down a plan for the day when i am doing what and it keeps me in place and dont let me procrastinate or waste too much time. I feel like with this tempo i can even do 600 games per week, but will see how it goes.

Monday

Tuesday

Goal list for Week #3

Target volume: 213/500
Target cev : 47/100cev
Meditation 2/6
Running 1/3
Do proper warm up before each session 2/6
Do at least 3x hh review minimum 1h long. 1/3
Watch and take notes 2/6

Another update. Currently i am not updating this blog as often as before, reason that i came up with was that i just dont face too many struggles in my everyday life currently. In a way it doesn't feel okey to talk about "bad" run when i am running just below 100cev. So i take it a bit more easy as i don't have too much to post. I think it will get a bit more interesting in 15s.

For past 3 days i have schedule my days and it have def increased my productivity, but i still have not got it right. I will try to play for 3h and than do a bigger break in the middle and than go at it again a bit later, so i dont burn out so fast in the day. I know that it will take time till i will get it right.

Pokerwise yesterday i did play 93 games so i did push that volume at the end. Realized that i did not schedule hh review in there to keep myself engaged in thinking about poker deeply enough and because of that my cev dropped at the end.

Today was day off, had to do different stuff that had piled up once spring came, but overall productive day.

Wednesday

Target volume: 307/500
Target cev : 55/100cev
Meditation 3/6
Running 2/3
Do proper warm up before each session 3/5
Do at least 3x hh review minimum 1h long. 2/3
Watch and take notes 3/6

Rufus that was interesting hand. It took me couple of seconds to put you on a range. Once I remembered that you are a reg and took off top of your range in that spot for open shoving, K6o was a call.
I wonder if your cEV increase constantly comes from just waiting for Ax pps and strong Kx. It seems to me that way anyway.

We are teaming up with Alex on Skype to study for Spins. If you have time to join us it would be very helpful and productive for all I am sure.

Look forward to the updates on 15s! I tried playing them and on small sample saw more aggression post flop as well as a bit better HU adjusting from opponents. Still beatable though ! GL HF!

As poker in general your edge is hidden in post flop play and even more in spins i think as that is the hardest thing to master.

Today i realized that i have some mental game problems, more precisely motivational. While i was running today i was thinking about last few days and the fact that i am not at the level i was 2 week ago, mostly mentally as promotion is so close so i was thinking too much about the big picture, but in reality i should be focused more on the little things that will create that picture. Create more small goals to achieve every week and i know i need to come here and update my blog daily even if its just few words, that reflection about the day behind is very useful if you use it correctly.

Yesterday was good day overall but i started to noticed that something was a bit off as i was a bit irritated about my play, it wasn't at the level it was before even if i had 90cev after 100 games.

I really like this weeks volume, more than 100 games per day is really nice imo. Today faced some dry run + played for a while without the correct mindset, i was not curious about the game. After i took a break went for a run and realized all that i mentioned previously, i was able to save the day at the end.

Friday

Saturtday

Target volume: 521/500
Target cev : 61/100cev
Meditation 5/6
Running 3/3
Do proper warm up before each session 5/5
Do at least 3x hh review minimum 1h long. 2/3
Watch and take notes 3/6

Week #3

Weekly recap. This was the first week that i faced several struggles, with motivation, quality of play and learning. I did hit 2 bad run/bad play days that was a wake up call. All this combined was really useful and that's one of the reasons why i didn't want to push higher ups to promote me faster than it's suppose to be done, i know that i need to face those struggles and poker is not that easy. Definitely its better to face them and deal with them at the beginning so those mistakes doesn't cost so much. I can't say that i have dealt and resolved all of them, but i see progress and see myself slowly getting back on track.

This week i experimented a lot with my daily schedules and what would work the best and i think i have finally got something solid or at least game plan that allows me to increase my volume week by week. Volume is only thing that i can feel good about last week and the fact that i still kept going despite bad run.

I tried for the first time several meditation sessions a day after i read ytrer blog. I can see the benefits from it, but at the same time i dont want to over do it. Plan is to do it more often at least 2x a week 2x meditation sessions.

Target volume: 534/500
Target cev : 59/100cev
Meditation 5/6
Running 3/3
Do proper warm up before each session 5/5
Do at least 3x hh review minimum 1h long. 2/3
Watch and take notes 3/6

Week #4

Today was interesting day, for first half of the day i just wasnt able to get anything going, didn't play my best. After a little break i changed my grinding approach and that was a start for a comeback, fought my way back from -50cev to +70cev. I even did put in 40 games after a 8km run + workout as i knew that i was still in the zone, just needed to put on some isochronic tones for a bit better focus and off i went.

Monday

Goal list:
Target volume: 137/550
Target cev : 70/80cev
Meditation 1/6
Running 1/4

Yesterday was quite terrible day results wise, but i stayed calm and it did affect me only a little, later in night shared my knowledge with other ss members, was useful for me to reflect and realize that i am in good place mindset wise. Both days i have been super tired after the grind so its quite hard to post updates here, but i know that i need to do it.

Today started off the same as yesterday, slowly gain confidence and variance got back on my side, so i did some work at the end. Wasnt feeling too good overall so thought about not doing my workout, but i still stick with it and it feels good. Meditation went really well today, again faced visualization technique, thats my favorite.

Tuesday

Wednesday

Goal list:
Target volume: 369/550
Target cev : 65/80cev
Meditation 3/6
Running 2/4

Week #4

Its been a bit longer than it should be between the updates. I got so focused on grinding than i stopped learning as much as i should have and stopped being curious. Quite glad that i can now catch myself than i am about to fall of that cliff and be able to reflect, analyze and make conclusions how i end up here again. Its not too different from the previous time few posts back. I just get carried away and lose the perspective, because i dont have solid plan. I like to go for extremes, if i play i play a ton, if i study i study a lot, but its not balanced in a way that would give me the best results in my opinion. I know that complete balance is not necessarily needed, but having solid 70/30 or 80/20 between playing and studying is needed if you want solid results. My study process has to be planned so the improvements are not random.

Overall last week was biggest volume week i have ever had, but at the same time the lowest cev wise, not sure if there is direct link between the two, as i was running really bad, ~20k below ev. I know that it did influence my play a bit, but hopefully not that much. Health wise i wasnt feeling too good in middle of week so i had to move one running session so ended up only doing 3 runs, but its crazy how my endurance have increased, if i did run 8km in ~60min a month back, now i can do it in ~45min.

Hey Rufus - did you start playing 15s or is this graph for 7s?

Its from 7s, im a bit off promotion, because i know that im so close, it has affected a bit my play overall, probably thats the reason why i don't have that balance i talked about, but yeah eventually i will be there, just have to take one hand at a time.

Dropping an update, the day was quite okey at the end. One of those days that starts off really slow and than some mental wall in my head goes down and i am in the zone and can play really good poker after that. Most of it is just confidence, last few days have been rough and i was starting doubt my game a bit and the fact that im still in 7s were not helping, but i think i got over it. Really nice run, made it a bit shorter, so i can finish just before the storm starts.

Goal list update
315/500
Cev : 47
Running 3/4

Friday

Week #5

Recap of last week.
Started my week quite slow overall volume wise i was really struggling with the fact that i am so close to promotion but i was ~40k chips below ev. Quite dark place, but slowly i realized what i needed to do and what i was not doing. Other half of the week went a bit better as i knew i was on the right track and only working on my game will help me get out of this hole.

I was kind of avoiding the blog and putting updates back all the time and that is because i didnt do proper goal list. I feel like my goal list and study process should evolve in something as i get better, but the truth is that i dont know how i want it to look like, because goals should be meaningful or at least challenging, but most of them in last 2 weeks have been quite dull and unimportant as i know that i am doing good job on staying on track and these goals don't give anything else than just points to talk about in weekly update.

One of the best implementations in daily routine that i did in last few weeks is taking cold shower just after waking up every morning, it just gives so much more energy into my day, before i started doing that, to fully wake up took me probably ~1hour or more, now it takes ~10mins.
I want to try and figure out good warm up routine before the grind, now im doing different things and not always it results in same mindset and gives the results i want. If you read this i would appreciate any suggestions or experiences about this subject.

Stats of Week #5
Volume 543
Cev: 45
Running 4 times
Meditation 5 times
hand review sessions with other ss members 2 times

So we are finally arrived to the best news, yesterday was my biggest day volume wise i did played 181 games with cev of 60 and that finally gave me the necessary results to get my Promotion to 15s

Here is the graph, its too good to not post it.

Im really happy that i finally got the requirements for promotion and that i did overcame all those obstacles that were in my way to get there. Overall that was quite the journey, From 2 tabling noob to 3 tabling reg in 5 weeks. I know that if i wanted to i could have tried 4 tabling but i knew that in 15s i will need to lower my table count to 2-3 tables at least in the beginning and that it could backfire and cause way lower cev than i wanted in 7s. Quality > quantity at least in 7s as you dont make enough money with rb.

I faced more regs than i anticipated at first, a lot of guys that were playing 15s regularly few months back with cev lower than 50, but i cant call them good, most of them were decent at best. Overall 7s are very soft limit a lot of fishes and bad regs in general. Now looking back i probably should have moved back to 7s months ago before i joined ss, it would have made huge difference i think. If you 2 table you can do 80+ cev, 3 tabling it would be way harder as you will need solid game plan and discipline to play your best all the time but it is doable.

Looking at study and mental sides of my game. I have improved a lot in past 5 weeks, the biggest growth was in first 2 weeks, as i was immersing myself into the new information, but after a while it did slow down. I think it was the result of constantly pushing my volume goal farther ahead each week and to achieve those goals i did sacrifice other parts of my game. Thats not necessarily a bad thing as 7s are the best place to push that volume ceiling. It gives me insight of what im capable of atm. Here that lack of growth in study process didnt hurt as bad as it would in higher stakes, so it is a good idea to be conscious about these things in future so i can faster notice what im doing wrong while i do it.

Stats for 7s
Volume 2975
Cev : 74
Hours played : 145
Biggest volume in one day - 181 games
Days played: 33

Rufus congratulations on moving to 15s man!
Lovely update and I can perhaps give some advice in regards to morning routine and goal setting.

I use right now morning routine with push ups after I wake up and brush my teeth. I plan to extend it to actual full work outs outside (as wether is getting nice now) with private trainer for CrossFit.
For poker best way I found to do warm up is to focus on very specific area or areas (as you get better with warm up this way you start focusing on more areas in your grind) that you will 100% pay attention to in your given grind session.
Here is typical example. You warm up studying and reviewing r/c ranges in HU for differnt blind depths and then when you grind you force yourself to recall things you reviewed and know them best you can. As you do this approach you start to do so many good things for your improvement. 1) You realize how much or little you know and areas that you need to work more on (example you don't know r/c range in HU 20bb+, time to learn it etc) 2) You learn a lot through actual grinding as you are doing focused studying while actually playing (you are applying and testing things you learned in the warm up and actual studying sessions) 3) As you become good with this you start to use in your warm up and in your actual grind several areas that are key for you to focus to improve on.
I would say I am kind of an expert on this because since I switched to spins and with around 1 year of not playing SNGs, most of my studying is actually done through warm ups and applying knowledge in actual grinding! Works wonders for me, try it, if you dig it awesome, if not stick to traditional studying and hope it works for the best at actual tables.

In regards to goal setting, you were already doing good with volume goals and with some cEV expectation. Key thing is of course to figure out where your game is leaking the most and what are the areas that you need to fix to improve your cEV long term.
This is the key difference of huge programs who over very little 1on1 coaching vs traditional 1on1 approach when coach actually looks through your hand history finds and points out the leaks. Not saying SmartSpins don't do any 1on1, just pointing out what you should consider doing asap - get a list of all the areas that need improvement and start working on them one by one. Over a course of several months your cEV will sky rocket if you stick to this systematic approach of dealing with your own improvement.

By the way, on 15s I am pretty positive you can reach even cEV of 70 and more by 4 tabling. I have been 4 tabling and have close to 60 cEV but there was a lot of setups and variance + I am now applying several key concepts that work for my game to increase cEV to 70 (which is my goal).

GL and see you at the tables I guess

Thank you for your suggestions.

My current warm up routine just before grinding involves some studying for 30-40 mins. Problem here is that its all over the place i dont have any structure about it. I like your suggestions, probably will just make a list of things that i need to do and than slowly go through it one by one. As for games and cev i expect mine to be a bit lower at least in the beginning as i just don't have the same level of experience as you do, even if you are quite new to spins you have been around sng and hypers for several years if im not mistaken and that counts for a lot.

Getting back to actual update.
Interesting day i took it a bit slower to test the waters and get use to 2 tabling and adapting vs regs. I did start my day by watching and carefully taking notes about one of the HU videos on our site. First session went really good. 2nd part of the 2nd session and 3rd session were meh somehow wasnt able to fully concentrate on task at hand and got easily distracted. After that decided to go for a run, as i moved yesterdays run to today i decided to go for a bit longer distance.
Made dinner for myself and than decided to watch and take notes about another video, spent ~1h on 22min video without breaks, quite happy about that and than i joined group coaching for ~90 mins. Overall a lot of studying today and i really enjoyed it. Will try to keep it up the same for the rest of this week and probably i will start 3 tabling 15s from 1st of May.

Wednesday

Go for it Rufus, test it out and let me know how it goes.
Another thing to add, I did 6 and 9 max SNGs then HU hypers and then CG ! All of the things helped me to become somewhat of complete player. SNG is good for range visualizing and shallow stack poker a bit. HU hypers made me understand shallow stack play at best. CG taught me about range construction pre and post flop, bet sizing, frequencies and how to adjust and readjust. Don't forget I was in USA for 6 months and didn't play poker professionally at all then, also before that spent close to a year on CG (Nl25-100).
You can do it, 70 cEV 4 tabling is reachable just requires work. Do one thing at the time, apply at the tables and you are one step closer.

GL and HF!

So yesterday i watched that video and took a lot of notes, so today in the morning i started by reviewing them and than went on working on my database, filtered out those hands and then tried to figure out what i did wrong and try to figure out the correct line with new concepts. Really great way to learn things like this. Today got proper notebook (paper one) that i will take notes in future. Plan is to go over fundamentals that i did watch more than 1 month ago. today i did watch one of those videos and was kind of surprised how much of that video i have already forgotten.

While i played i did notice some spots on rivers that i was struggling with and i was basically guessing, but that is probably the reason of losing some focus and not having solid enough approach vs those guys. In some way it felt even easier than my grind in 7s as i have way more information, spinlyzer and previous experience in 15s comes in handy as i have already sample sizes on most of the regs so my adjustments can happen faster.

I will still keep playing 2 tables for a while as i now see how much i can improve my game, at the moment because of the changes im making i expect my cev to drop a bit, but after i have made those corrections i should be able to crush 15s 3-4 tabling hopefully by the end of May.

Today was group coaching with Elliot Roe the mindset coach, really interesting to hear his approach as someone who is helping to deal with different mindset issues on daily basis. Really great analyses and good tips overall, will watch that video again once it will be out.

Thursday

Really nice day, again i did apply the same method i watched video took notes about the specific position and than before the grind i watched my previous hands to see the mistakes i make ALL the time, i was quite surprised that my game had deviated so far from what i learnt last month. However, I do understand it as i was learning 10 different subjects at the same time so its impossible to get all of them right in the first time. I decided that for next 2-4 days i will just focus on these to positions that im trying to implement new things in past few days and not go into any other area.

I did 2 table for almost 6 hours today, really liked how my game and results changed after i fixed my main leaks in HU SB, shipped two 10x today, in 2nd HU my opponent did sit out and let me win, but i will still take it. There were few incorrect adjustments versus few regs and ss members that i did, but overall i think my game was on point for most of it.

After first part of the grind i went for a run, finally its warm outside that i didnt need jacket on when i went for a run, didnt push myself too hard but still did the required work. After that it was time to try something new, i got tickets to operetta (musical comedy), had no clue what to expect so just went there and enjoyed the show, i was surprised how well they were able to tell the story, keeping it serious enough that you can enjoy the vocal performances and those comedy effects kept the mood light and fun at the same time. Orchestra did really good job and set the atmosphere for each part exactly as you would if you would watch it as a movie.

Friday

Week #6

This has been really good week.

• First of all i got the promotion and im now playing 15s
• I did play most games in single day - 181 it was in 7s but still nice volume only 3 tabling.
• Won my first 25x under ss
• Started new notebook, where im writing everything im learning from videos
• For first time i saw operetta
• Have spent quality time with my friends 2 times
• Went on 4 runs
• Achieved platinum status on PokerStars

It feels like this has been a long week, a lot of things happened. Im happy about my passion and work ethic when it comes to studying the theory, i feel like it has some structure now after i took those suggestions from IvicaIliev77. Maybe im a bit results oriented currently as i did find quite big leaks that needs to be fixed, but i know that there are enough of them there that i should be busy for quite some time. Yesterday for the first time i was 3 tabling 15s, played 101 games with 45cev so quite okey results, after the grind i visited relatives and than with friends went to movies and stuff.

I think that this week was good mentally for me and im back to blogging on regular basis because i see some kind of progress in different aspects of my game and i want to put it on paper, so i can analyze and take a look later and in a way empty my mind for other thoughts. Only thing i have put aside more than i probably should is meditation, only did it 3 times last week, but i feel like if my head is pretty clear most of the time, even when im playing its not that necessary for me, just need to be careful to realize when its actually needed.

Graph of week #6
Just 15s

Good luck guys.

Quite frustrating day at the end, for most of the day it felt like something was missing, maybe the bad run at the end ruin the impression for the day, but i also failed at my warm up a bit, i only watched a video and didnt go over any of my hands in morning. Later did 1h coaching session with one of the higher stakes smartspin members, got good feedback but there were small mistakes, that could potential be a bigger ones if i dont take care of them.

Yesterday was my day off and it put me off a bit today. I did reflect on the previous week but did not focus on the future enough. For tomorrow i plan on taking first part of the day for studying the video about 3w BTN and making a lot of notes plus watching HH about it. Later i will go for a run and will try to do my meditation session.

I did everything i planed for today, that BTN video def was worth it, will watch game play for it tomorrow morning. I like the way i played overall, there were not that many mistakes i think, probably few too many river calls, my head was not always in the game but after meditation break i think i came back and played more solid than before. Only thing that i noticed at the end i got a bit irritated and lost focus because of todays cev, i think i played good, but most of my all ins were flips so cev stayed the same for the whole day and dropped a bit at the end if few set ups. Got in solid 100 games.

Tomorrow will be my day off, grinding wise as i have to attend a party at my cousins place for most of the day, but the plan is to watch that other BTN video in the morning and take notes and than spend some time watching HH about my HU to see if im using the stuff i learnt last week. Will see when i will be home and how i will feel after all the eating and spending time outdoors, if i will feel okey i probably will go for short session in the evening.

Monday and Tuesday

sub glgl