Making a living with STT SNGs

Grind today : 7 hours
Total grind : 35 hours

Kinda amazed that 5 days have gone by already and that I put in 35 hours of grind in - doesn't feel like it, actually feels normal to me. Today played mostly very solid but variance got the better part of me for sure. There are several hands I am not thrilled with how I played with just puts me to keep working on my game and improve in areas where I feel I need to improve.
Outside of grind, I went to favorite coffee place, had my favorite meal and ate well today.

This week when it comes to calorie deficit was excellent. I look forward to next weeks work outs as next Sunday I am flying to Germany and before then I want to keep this level of focus, determination and grit happening. It will be very interesting to see how I will deal with coming back from Germany 11 days later and THEN resuming 7 hours per day grinding + training hard and teaching. Its not rocket science but it definitely helps that I am using already existing habits that stick to make things happen.
A word or two more on training. While in Germany since I will not attend any gym for 11 days, I will need to have program prepared for in home work outs. I will talk to my Sensei for such things, consult and see what would be awesome progression to do while there. I am voting for push ups and abs as potential alterations. I want to improve push ups, especially different/more difficult variants such as decline one for starters and then move onto hand stand eventually. I will update about this more during next week when I get some ideas from my Sensei but for now in my mind I am focused on that 1 goal in Germany when it comes to work out and that is to improve both maximum pull ups and to do 100+ in single training.

Next week 6 days of grind vs 7 since Sunday morning I am flying to Germany so 42 vs 49 hours to hit.

Grind today: 7 hours
Total grind: 42 hours

Quite crazy day - I almost finished current deal but it didn't work out as I hopped for.
Training was not successful due to strained back muscles that was caused by pillow I changed for sleeping. I had such struggle to complete 1 out of 2 trainings and I exited gym with lots of pain. Remaining of the week as well as 11 days in Germany, I will focus on just cardio.
Calorie intake was also crazy today because some things happened that spiked my emotions pretty high and yeah I went into crazy binge eating mode. Probably 3k+ calories in my body today.

Poker wise, news that I am sure will make some people happy and some less happy is that I am back on Stars!
I tested all the different networks past several months and even considered switching back to CG, but decided to stick to Spins until I finish current staking deal. So tonight 3 out of 7 hours grind I played Stars. I was 2 tabling 15s and I will continue to 2 table them, get to 300 hours grind by 1st of January 2018. Perhaps Variance Gods will give me 12000x this time and I can win it like 80%+ high multipliers I won so far on Spins. As far as adding 3rd and 4th table and moving up to 30s 60s 100s etc, I will consider taking 10% of BR from monthly profit to play with it progressively higher stakes (30s, 60s then 100s). This way if I bink some nice multipliers higher and connect a good run, I can faster finish the deal, if not I loose that 10% of profit (or less) and keep grinding 15s. That seems like the best thing to do anyways.

So tomorrow on you will see me 2 tabling 15s 7 hours each day with exceptions from 19th to 30th very likely.

See you at the tables, say hi if you are not tilting too much Had a very nice conversation with one of the regs from stable who follows blog and is active on PS. Very cool to connect with people like that, get to know their stories and experience.

hey Predrag!

It's me again with some weird questions!

As you are playing 15s right now I wonder how you can make a living + travel around the world.
You are staked and therefor prolly have to give away some profit and you mentioned you are deep in the makeup cause of running hundreds of buyins below ev with a good chip ev.

do you have saved that much money in the past for the times you would run that bad?
do you have a contract that ensures you some money every month so you can buy food pay rent + other expenses? (does that exist?)
can you cover those expenses with coaching/guitar lessons?

if this questions are to personal it's ok if you don't want to answer.

Originally posted by BadHabit1989
hey Predrag!

It's me again with some weird questions!

As you are playing 15s right now I wonder how you can make a living + travel around the world.
You are staked and therefor prolly have to give away some profit and you mentioned you are deep in the makeup cause of running hundreds of buyins below ev with a good chip ev.

do you have saved that much money in the past for the times you would run that bad?
do you have a contract that ensures you some money every month so you can buy food pay rent + other expenses? (does that exist?)
can you cover those expenses with coaching/guitar lessons?

if this questions are to personal it's ok if you don't want to answer.

Hey!

Those are great questions and I don't mind answering them because they will benefit not only you but other poker players looking for stables or staking deals.
I will tackle each of your questions:

As you are playing 15s right now I wonder how you can make a living + travel around the world.
You are staked and therefor prolly have to give away some profit and you mentioned you are deep in the makeup cause of running hundreds of buyins below ev with a good chip ev.

2 tabling 15s 50-70cEV is 8$+ hourly. If you play 200 hours per month that is 1.6k$ in EV and more (depends on cEV this is 50cEV calculation!). Is it possible to make a living and travel with this money - sure it is. Serbia you need 500-700 eur to live on your own, eat out , train, drink coffee, afford regular life you know, so 1.6k+$ is more then enough. Thailand you can live also with this money so again its possible. In regards to make up, its normal to be up and down because its Spins, its not CG where you are mostly having steady months. Nature of Spins is you can run bellow EV for months and even years, lets say you never hit those 100x 200x and even 25x 10x ones, or if you do hit you loose every single one of them.That of course affects how you run and what your expected profit is. I have been doing very well, great, amazing with high multipliers and I thrive on challenges and pressure so I embrace those kind of games and perform my best in them naturally because I am competitor spirit. Make up is not that large actually, it will take me 2 months of grinding Stars full time with low cEV to cover it so its all good in that area.

do you have saved that much money in the past for the times you would run that bad?

Yeah, this is individual. The main reason why I play staked besides using my own money for things I find of value (like traveling to Thailand and staying there 11 weeks) is to actually not worry about BR. Some people save money and pay off the staker to finish deal. I did that in past and was considering even to end current deal similarly but really there is no rush nor pressure and I am the one controlling grind hours. So to answer your question, I prefer using money earnings for other life projects like helping family, traveling and investing in myself in other areas (proper nutrition, gym, personal trainer).

do you have a contract that ensures you some money every month so you can buy food pay rent + other expenses? (does that exist?)

I can't give away specifics of how my staking contract works but I will respond to 2nd part of your question. There are different staking deals and it all comes down to several factors: 1) Are you proven winner? 2) Does person that stake you know you personally/have developed trust with you? 3) Are they your friends that want to help or business person looking to maximize EV from you or unknown person who wants to skin you? 4) Size of staking BR 5) Type of deal (is it profit, number of hands, number of games, time sensitive or not)
My experience is, the better you know the person, the better deal you can get and there is less stress because of friendship developed especially if your friend is poker player. So when I look for staking opportunity, I talk to my poker friends who understand poker, variance, know my track winning record and are looking to help me by staking as well as earn money from me. Its a win win situation because I play with way less stress knowing that I have large BR to grind Spins and I am also more then happy to give away xy% of my winnings to a FRIEND - because even without any deal, I always look to provide value to my friends and bring great things in their lives.
In near future, after I finish current deal, I may take up another staking deal which will include me moving to another country and having all the expenses payed + br + coaching. This is type of deal that is awesome for people like me who are willing to move to places live with other poker players, grind like crazy, study and discuss hands and strategy and have daily coaching to improve and maximize win rates/hourly/winning months. I wish there was such a deal and kick ass coaches/players in Serbia in my town but unfortunately people that I know in Serbia from poker make up to 5k if that. So this next deal that is pending after current one is targeting to teach me to have 10k+ months, which is where its at improvement, grind, time and money management wise and retirement money sooner wise
You get what you settle for basically

can you cover those expenses with coaching/guitar lessons?

Yes. This is the beauty of my life experience and career. I have been playing guitar for 22 years, teaching for 17 years. I charge 50$ for single lesson online via webcam on Skype or ooVoo. So I don't need more then 3-4 students to make a living here in Serbia which definitely allows me to approach other areas with of life with more aggression. I can always if I want add more guitar and music students and make more money. The reason why I don't do that is because poker playing I control 100% of things in terms of hourly and time put into it, with guitar it depends on other people (they can postpone and cancel lessons). So so far poker with 30$+ hourly for me has been more +EV then teaching guitar full time. However, in future I may decide to do 50/50 ratio or even do more guitar and music vs poker. I doubt that will happen because I love and am passionate about poker too much. But for example if poker gets infested with bots, all the sites kill huds and multi tabling as well as RB decrease and fishes leave - then spins are not as +EV as they are or use to be. In that case I either go to CG or switch my focus to music and coaching/streaming/producing coaching materials.

if this questions are to personal it's ok if you don't want to answer.

Questions are great and I hope answers serve you and others looking for staking or considering joining stables 50-50 deals etc.

I would like to add in the end following key concept that I learned in life.

When it comes to making or having money, it doesn't matter if you make 1k or 5k $ eur whatever, that is called ABSOLUTE INCOME. It only matters where you are living and what that money gets you. So this concept is RELATIVE INCOME. It means that 1k $ in Serbia buys you great life but in USA for example doesn't even cover rent food and phone bill in Boston.

So my advice to all current past and upcoming poker players is to evaluate these things:
- Where do you live currently, whats cost of living, how much money do you need per month to live normal life and what hourly in poker is that?
- Are you willing or have wished to live in another country? What is cost of living there vs your current country? Would you move?
- What is your goal with money from poker? Retirement? Help family? Invest in passive income streams? Fuck around, travel, hook up with prostitutes etc?

These things matter a lot when making decisions about games, limits and future of your poker career. For example, (Extreme example!) if you live in NYC and need 3k$ to live, but have 4bb/100 4 tabling nl25 ZOOM on stars, you are making 10$ per hour, so to make that money you need to play 300 hours each month. On the other hand if you live in Thailand and need 1000$, now playing same game with same win rate you need 1/3 less grind time or 100 vs 300 hours.

Its all about RELATIVE vs ABSOLUTE income.
People living in USA, UK and countries that have high cost of living are very likely better off to work some other jobs or seek better career choices.
Do your research and see how many people make 50+$ eur playing poker online. Very small %. Its like, how many people make it in NBA league or how many people play in Barcelona, Real Madrid? Those people are expections and they are there because of combination of super hard work, talent, opportunities that they used, people that they surrounded themselves with and luck of course.

To sum it up, I personally would always seek to live in either Serbia, Thailand or countries like Czech Republic, Slovakia and such where cost of living is lover up to 1k euro and even playing micro to low stake poker with WAY LESS STRESS but MORE HOURS is possible to make this living.
Other people go to work in Serbia to make from 200-500 eur monthly salary and they clock in 160+ hours each month. If I clock in grinding 160 hours, 2 tabling 15s while music or 2.5 men is in the background, I can make way more then that. So I consider myself very lucky to be happy living here , having my family here and being able to make more then enough money to support life and values that I find of importance.

Hope that helped!

very very great post

if you search new friends let me know

Originally posted by BadHabit1989
very very great post

if you search new friends let me know

Glad you found it of value!

Yes, always happy to meet new people and make friends

Grind today : 7 hours
Total grind : 49 hours

8:52pm and done with grind for the day. Habit that I set in the past going to my favorite coffee place having coffee, eating healthy meal from favorite food place and heading to work out really helped to click grinding with it. I played 3 hours straight session 2 tabling in coffee place. When I got home, went to eat and got some junk food and soda, so then played one super long 4 hour session. Again, 2 tabling is really no problem for such grind.
Overall impression is that 15s are more softer vs other networks and limits where I played. There is a lot of recreational players in the game still which makes it +EV to grind this limit full time. In past 11 hours (4 yesterday and 7 today) I have encountered also regulars but I had way more % wise 2 recreationals or 1 rec 1 reg vs 2 regs. On other networks traffic is problem and you play mostly 2 reg games which of course kills your cEV and makes swings massive. So Stars is still place to be for Spins from what I have seen.

Plan by the end of the year is to use current sample, do super detailed DB analysis and adjust to field on 15s. While doing DB analysis also focus on all my lost hands and positions that are leaking. I always find value in that. Finally, find DB analyst to go over all the advanced things as well with me so that I can increase cEV and be able in 2018 move limits as well - if I stay on Spins and not switch to CG!

No training today, again bad food intake. Lots of stress binge eating today and yesterday. I am also very unhappy that my back muscle hurts and that I can't do bar brothers training. Tomorrow I will go to do training and it will be long cardio. Likely 1000-2000 rope jumps with some double unders also.

Grind wise, tomorrow 7 hours again, 1 to 2 guitar lessons and that's about it.

Tonight I will focus on regenerating and working on other +EV projects.

Grind today: 7+ hours (7.13)
Total grind : 56 hours

Today was the most difficult day to get started because my daily habit for the day got messed up. The reasons are:
- Woke up early, took a shower, had less energy, went back to bed!!!
- Injury in my back so didn't go to coffee place nor to work out stayed home

Playing 1st session home felt super weird because I do 3-4 hours in coffee place and rest home. But once I got going I played something like 1.5 hour, took a break to go for some food, grinded another 2.5 hours then ate again and then long 3 hour session that finished now.

Today was in particularly interesting because I played 25x and lost it vs recreational who as short stack came back with k5 vs my k9 pre flop all in of course I think I also played 10x today again and lost it. That makes out of 4 10xs only 1 won and 1 25x lost. Despite that in 303 games and 17.6 hours since I came back to stars, I am doing very well profit wise - so no complaints.
Another interesting thing today was that it felt way more recreational vs previous days. Either that or I adjusted better to the field. Speaking of which, I have been focusing on areas of the game that before I was afraid to get into not to spew but now I do it thanks to some CG work I have done recently which helped me understand certain spots. I am still not satisfied with my post flop because there are spots that I need to fix and improve on which is great news considering that today I had over 80 cEV 2 tabling 15s. My goal is to have minimum 50cEV with 200+ hours 2 tabling since I am watching 2.5 men in the background and grinding it all on my laptop both at home and coffee shop. So very realistic cEV goal but I am pushing my self in analysis and areas to improve my game further.

Today no guitar lessons unfortunately so rest of the night I will dedicate to other +EV projects and resting.

Tomorrow I will go for 7 hours of play, meet with my good friend for coffee and also tie to that work out with jump rope. I will test also my back and try to do 2-3 pull ups but I tried today stretching my left arm backwards and it hurts at exact place when I do pull up lifting myself up. Will see how that goes tomorrow.

i remember the times i grinded MTTs and watched movies/series meanwhile.
I could not imagine todo the same with spins as already with MTTs I had huge areas where I would not know a single bit of what happened in the movie/series ♦

Originally posted by BadHabit1989
i remember the times i grinded MTTs and watched movies/series meanwhile.
I could not imagine todo the same with spins as already with MTTs I had huge areas where I would not know a single bit of what happened in the movie/series ♦

Yeah, since I grind on laptop and don't use monitor, I don't really watch it as much but rather listen. I minimize windows media player and put it below 2 stars tables so from time to time I look at it. 15s are overall soft but still I need to work on my win rate as I feel 70cEV 2 tabling is certainly attainable which is a bit over 18$ hourly.

Grind today: 7 hours
Total : 63 hours

Today was hardest day of all because I caught myself auto piloting in a bad way in certain spots. Also for about 2+ hours it felt like every game was vs 2 regs or vs 1 aggro player and 1 reg. So that of course kills win rate greatly + doesn't help when I am card dead or set up in spots.
Overall glad I did 7 hours and worked out. Nutrition was great until I got soda and candy in the end

Will grind 2 more days and then off to Germany for 11 days!

Grind today : 7 hours
Total: 70 hours

Excellent and super productive grind day. Done with 7.22 hours of grind by 7:12pm. No training, guitar lessons, just poker. It is especially interesting because I started at around 10:30am to grind vs 9 or 9:30am which I was starting past 9 days. So this is probably record time to complete 7 hours for me.
When it comes to game play, 1st hour I am not happy with. I made mistakes, some leveling wars with regs and questionable plays. After that 1st hour, remaining 6 were very good. I ended the day with over 100 cEV 2 tabling which is very nice to see always.

Tomorrow will be last day that I grind 7 hours since day after I am going to Germany. Depending on circumstances there I might grind some days some hours. It really depends on other factors since I will be guest and will adapt on the go. If for example my friend heads to work for 8 hours, I can grind that day 5-6-7 hours so its possible that I may hit some tables while in Germany also.

Training wise, tomorrow will be my 3rd training this week. I did one on Monday half done due to injury, yesterday cardio training with 1.5k single rope jumps + 50 double unders (with 2 single rope jumps before each) and tomorrow I will repeat jump rope training. Last night before bed at home I tried to do pull ups to see if pain is there. I did 8 and after 5th I started feeling that pain in the left back. So its still there and it sucks - I may do training tomorrow with pull ups as well since in Germany I will not have access to do any pull ups for 11 days which bums me out because they are my favorite exercise. So I may train pull ups tomorrow as well but key emphasis is on cardio with rope jump.

P.S. I am pretty positive that in 10 days I have over 70 hours already (at least 2 hours more due to cool downs) but I am rounding it up to make it easier for 300 hours by the end of this year!

Grind today : 7 hours
Total : 77 hours

Super quick update. Completed grind just now. Crazy day overall with focus going into auto pilot several times, feeling tired due to bad quality of sleep (back pain, waking up in the middle of the night) and also having to teach in the middle of the day + bad food intake.
This kind of performance is C game, since I started challenge this is weakest day overall.

Tomorrow flying to Germany where I will be 11 days. Taking my laptop with me so might do some grinding there as well.

Time to pack and get some sleep - enjoy your weekend on and off the tables!

Quick update

Taking shots at 30s before bed. Have 5 buy ins from profit on Stars set apart. I will progressively move up with this BR meaning if I win some 2x twice 2 tabling I will play 2 tables 60s , same thing happens there I am moving to 100s etc.
Lets see what happens with 150$

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
Quick update

Taking shots at 30s before bed. Have 5 buy ins from profit on Stars set apart. I will progressively move up with this BR meaning if I win some 2x twice 2 tabling I will play 2 tables 60s , same thing happens there I am moving to 100s etc.
Lets see what happens with 150$

Confirmed busto

Leaving to Germany very soon - have a great weekend all!

Hello Predrag,

Have a nice trip to Germany and spent the time well!

It is confirmed busto for me too I have to start all over again now. It's crazy how many spots I lost with the better hand vs worst hand flopping a pair or runner, runner straight, trips, etc. I tilted a ton and moved to 15s where I had a chance to play once with you - I said Hi but you was auto-piloting I guess... You lost with TT vs AJ.

I will try on minimizing bad variance and bad luck by playing more post-flop. I will think more over spots and keep strict bankroll management!!! I would like to ask you some things though:

- is it OK to call a 25bb shove with KQo? I never do it. I think I will call a shove with KQs but will fold KJs.
- I tend to call/shove A8o+, A7s+ in HU and never vs 2 ppl with equal stacks.
- Do you shove all pocket pairs pre 20bb+ ? According to NASH you can shove all Ax off-/suited and all pocket pairs but i really doubt it is that profitable nowadays.
- What about shoving pocket pairs in HU when "deep"? I do it very often and maybe this is mistake, don't know yet...
- Would you always shove A8-AT IP when 3x open or you will flat? I had couple of situations when I ended up being behind but I think this was the right move from my end cause of FEq and ppl can call with worse hand. Of course if I know that opponent opens 3x big hands I will simply limp behind but vs unknown I do it.
- Last but not least - pls explain your white-label (wide shoving) - I've seen you mark ppl who open 8-10bb - spewtards. How would that label help me?
- Do you have any priority for the labels? What label you would leave for someone who is let's say agro in HU and do stack off light 3WAY?

I started using your labels and will upgrade in future with some of my own. For now I hardly recognize someone as a balanced REG. Maybe I can't recognize REGs... any advise on this?

Thank you very much in advance!

Hello Jakks,

Thanks for your great wishes man. Germany is rainy now so I spent half day yesterday and almost whole day today indoors. I also had a lovely nap in the afternoon and now I feel regenerated and rested. Also, had time to buy some candy and coke because every country I visit I want to try taste of coke there. In Germany is OK but nothing spectacular. So far best coke was in Spain when I bought it in supermarket in Madrid. Once again thanks for the great wishes. I will be here until 30th and until then I may enter the tables again. It actually didn't feel weird at all not grinding today but yesterday I had some crisis while I was on the flight I was thinking "2.5 hours flight, that's one nice session". I will definitely spend quality time here, play some PES vs my friend (I LOVE THAT GAME and am VERY COMPETITIVE IN IT!!!) and of course get to see city and what it has to offer, eat some nice food, buy something unique to take home etc.

In regards to your other part of post, you asked me a lot of strategy based questions and in general I don't like talking about these things in my blog because it directly decreases edge in the games that I play. Say that 15+ regs read my response to your questions, they might think that I play that way and readjust to exploit me and then it would take me some time to see that they readjusted until I readjust again while their readjustment is costing me EV and money. You understand what I mean, those things I discuss with in coaching with my students because they are very strategy specific. I will however try to be of use and give you some answers but I don't think you will be too thrilled with responses because as I said I won't get too much into it for obvious reasons. For the HI - Thank You really, I was likely rushing to bathroom when that happened or on way back from it so I didn't see it. What's your nickname on Stars?

OK, lets get to your questions now:

- is it OK to call a 25bb shove with KQo? I never do it. I think I will call a shove with KQs but will fold KJs.

Yes and No. It depends if you want your ISO range to be balanced and not exploited by opponent limp shoving wide. If the answer is yes then your KQo is high in your range and you need to call it. On the other hand, NO, if opponent is always shoving value and never bluffing. So Yes and No. Depends also on toughness of the game. If vs opponent you have very thin edge both pre and post flop then you take such spots. But everyone does this differently. You have to find out answers yourself to this question and ICMizer is your best friend for such spots.

- I tend to call/shove A8o+, A7s+ in HU and never vs 2 ppl with equal stacks.

Super specific strategy question. Depends on opponents, edge you have vs them , vs who you play IP and OOP, can you realize equity post flop, which area of their game is exploitative or not etc. Again, if you play game vs 2 regs who are good, you might want to consider such calls but vs 2 fishes likely not. Again, depends on what you do in your game plan and range building. Overall, to get correct answer, work with ICMizer and see what it says - when its +EV and when its not to make such calls. You will be surprised by results you get...

- Do you shove all pocket pairs pre 20bb+ ? According to NASH you can shove all Ax off-/suited and all pocket pairs but i really doubt it is that profitable nowadays.

Can't give you response directly whether I do it or not because that gives edge to my opponents directly. In regards to what you consider is profitable or not, there is very simple way to find out the truth in this statement. Do DB analysis and see what results show you for the hands you have doubts about.

- What about shoving pocket pairs in HU when "deep"? I do it very often and maybe this is mistake, don't know yet...

Could be great and amazing, could be OK , could be "wrong". I mean if its NASH its BE at least so you are covered in that regard BUT, just because something is NASH that doesn't mean that its max exploit play. In other words shoving AA can be much worse then raise calling or limp trapping. So again, to get the answer to your question, do DB analysis and see if you are making or loosing chips with those PPs. If you are loosing then you need to change strategy obviously (check those hands and what did you get called with). I also advise you consider your edge in HU. When you play good reg you might be better off to take BE plays at least such as NASH vs opponents who have way more leaks. VS those type of guys you don't need to take BE play but should rather adjust your strategy accordingly to maximize EV vs them.

- Would you always shove A8-AT IP when 3x open or you will flat? I had couple of situations when I ended up being behind but I think this was the right move from my end cause of FEq and ppl can call with worse hand. Of course if I know that opponent opens 3x big hands I will simply limp behind but vs unknown I do it.

Since you say limp behind I assume that you CC vs BTN 3x in 3 way?
Best response I can give you is to do DB analysis and to check what hands opponents 3x. If you see just value then obviously A8 is garbage in such spots, A9 AT also and you should even consider mucking them. If you see however wider range, merged and bluffs, then 3bs is obvious play to maximize EV there. DB analysis is your answer whenever in doubt.
I do it differently depending on opponent. If I see passive fish who limps 50%+ and then 3x BTN, I will not jam those hands because he is capped to very strong range. If I see spewtard who opens 40%+ btn with 3x, of course I am going snap all in with those hands. Having notes helps a ton here and that's why I constantly write what opponents have when they 3x btn and bvb - to adjust accordingly.

- Last but not least - pls explain your white-label (wide shoving) - I've seen you mark ppl who open 8-10bb - spewtards. How would that label help me?

Hm, not sure I get your question here. What do you mean who open 8-10bb? Open with MR, 3x or? Spewtard white color I use for people who stack off light, are super aggressive, turn pairs into bluffs, pot bet and over bet, call off very light post flop etc. Just because somebody opens 8-10bb doesn't mean he or she is a spewtard. Very likely I gave that person spewtard tag due to some other area of the game. On the other hand (let's take extreme example), if that opponent 100% MR 8-10bb, then yes he/she is a spewtard and deserves such tag.
When it comes to labels, you should create your own and use system that helps you identify players right after you see 1 hand at showdown or post flop.

- Do you have any priority for the labels? What label you would leave for someone who is let's say agro in HU and do stack off light 3WAY?

Priority? Yes, I search if person is multitabling or not 1st, that helps me right away to label him/her. 2nd thing if I have labeled the player in the past and we enter the game again, I go over all the notes pre and post flop and find the ones where that player made most mistakes.
In regards to specific labeling, for such player I would use that dark blue color for aggro in general plays (wide ranges, aggro post flop) and lighter stacking pre flop.

I started using your labels and will upgrade in future with some of my own. For now I hardly recognize someone as a balanced REG. Maybe I can't recognize REGs... any advise on this?

Happy to hear you are using my labels but like I said above, you should figure out your system that will help you the best.
Its hard to find balanced reg because people are biased towards specific strategy with specific hands because we in general are not machines or bots and tend to have very hard time to play balanced. That's main reason why you won't find balanced regs. 2nd reason is because its 15s. Playing field is recreational players and weakish or aggro regs - not balanced. Once you go up to 30s you start to see more balanced strategy in both 3 way and HU, still leaks in their game plans. 60s and 100s is where its at, where people spend insane amount of time to be balanced, especially in HU in order to protect their leaks vs other regs who read stats well and are great at adjusting and exploiting ones leaks. 3rd reason is because player pool is very large on 15s and you will likely not have chance to meet such opponent - the smaller the player pool, the higher chance of meeting such opponent.

Thank you very much in advance!

You welcome. Glad I could help and be of use to you and thanks for saying HI and writing such a nice post!

Hi Predrag,

Again I would like to express my gratitude for taking the time to answer my questions as much as you could. I completely understand what you mean about "personal" strategy now, although I am using a basic micro Spins strategy and will try it out for some days as it should be +EV vs recreational players at $3 & $7 Spins.

Unfortunately I run really bad... I lose a ton of situations with the better hand pre-flop. The good thing is that I am becoming "hard-skinned" and hardly something can amaze me now. Also I am improving on controlling tilt a lot! Today studied for an hour and then played for like 3 hour before I had to go to work. At some point I was down 20 buy-ins however I was pretty OK with my play and blamed it all to the poker-god who seems to hate me since a month or so. Maybe I get a bit angry when I play in 6x multi vs reg and we reach to a point when we both only play push-fold, he pushes AT and I have KTs

My plan is to stick to basic strategy until I reach 15s. However I will stay at 7s for some time as I dont want to rush things as I did in the past. Also I will not bother with HUD until 15s and will use only my labels and notes. Since I started following specific strategy and looking for reads, I enjoy Spins more. I tried out NL10 zoom for a bit but Cash became really boring to me it seems.

While in Germany try out the beer and die Würstchen. You should minimize coke income if you want to drop weight and live a healthy live Mach's gut!

Originally posted by Jakks
Hi Predrag,

Again I would like to express my gratitude for taking the time to answer my questions as much as you could. I completely understand what you mean about "personal" strategy now, although I am using a basic micro Spins strategy and will try it out for some days as it should be +EV vs recreational players at $3 & $7 Spins.

Unfortunately I run really bad... I lose a ton of situations with the better hand pre-flop. The good thing is that I am becoming "hard-skinned" and hardly something can amaze me now. Also I am improving on controlling tilt a lot! Today studied for an hour and then played for like 3 hour before I had to go to work. At some point I was down 20 buy-ins however I was pretty OK with my play and blamed it all to the poker-god who seems to hate me since a month or so. Maybe I get a bit angry when I play in 6x multi vs reg and we reach to a point when we both only play push-fold, he pushes AT and I have KTs

My plan is to stick to basic strategy until I reach 15s. However I will stay at 7s for some time as I dont want to rush things as I did in the past. Also I will not bother with HUD until 15s and will use only my labels and notes. Since I started following specific strategy and looking for reads, I enjoy Spins more. I tried out NL10 zoom for a bit but Cash became really boring to me it seems.

While in Germany try out the beer and die Würstchen. You should minimize coke income if you want to drop weight and live a healthy live Mach's gut!

Hi Jakks,
You welcome, glad you found it of value.

I found some nice place that offers healthier food for a change and today I binge ate protein Ceaser salads which was awesome.

Now I will play a session of 1 to 2 hours on Stars, 2 tabling 15s. So those hours will go towards 300 hours challenge - just to let you all know.

Grind today: 1.05 hours
Total grind: 78+ hours (likely over 82 hours already with those added session cool down times)

Sweet session with 10 buy ins profit due to 6x won as well as some 4x games. It was interesting that there were a lot of aggressive regs as well as light in general plays from opponents. Maybe after midnight games are more aggressive?

Tomorrow until 3pm will have time to train (bought a jump rope!!!) and to grind some games. I also will check my DB and do some analysis while here as it always does help me. In the evening, Partizan is playing Young Boys and this game is a must win for us because it takes out through the group stage of Uefa Europe League!

Have a fun week on and off the tables!