in

gl with your goals and keep us updated

Missed out on the freeroll

Super stoked for this blog though, I am wanting to join a spins stable but am having trouble committing to the change from MTT's to Spins.

Gl Gl, will be following.

ps. move to Thailand with me and grind spins all day

Thanks for all the kind words guys!

So if we take the first few days of the month as anything to go by it looks like I'll be dishing out some freeroll money. However there is still a bunch of time left and I'm adamant if I two table more and generally be more proactive I'll be able to reach the 2k games (and supernova).

I actually planned to spend a bit of time in this post talking about future options but I might do that at the end of the month instead. At a glance the options consist of where I plan to grind during the summer, potentially taking a year out if poker continues to go well and re-evaluating poker and studies.

However the time is now and I've set myself a goal and feel my game is in an okay place. We can always improve but I feel I have a decent skill set to do okay at 15s currently.

Quick shoutout to all the Polish regs who iso 80% 3W BvB (and probs HU too lol) and TimmyOx for being one of the sickest spins grinders!

In fact shoutout to everyone who is taking their game seriously, poker is a hard game to be successful at (way harder than people think!).

Anyway they'll likely be more updates over the next week or two (with a likely half way point update). I have quite a busy university time over the next week and a bit with labs and work due but I knew what I was getting myself into and I'm determined to try and be as effecient as I can be with my time!

So from Friday 11pm to Saturday 11pm I'll be doing a volume challenge vs a friend from the stable (shoutout to milan!). Without going into too much detail it'll be whoever gets the most volume at a cev of 35 and we'll also do a kind of xbook where the loser ships 5% of the money the winner won as well as the fee.

I find when grinding volume it's find to mix it up and do stuff like this. I doubt I'll play 24 hours straight but I thought would be cool to post the graph and results for that challenge!

Month play wise is going well, recently playing alright and running quite well but still need way more volume!

Look 4ward to graph! GL! And there are some 80% open 3way, WHY? Is good?

hey haven't had time to read through your thread but i read the last post
with regards to your coach/stable
are you doing a coaching for profits type deal or paying for coaching out your own pocket?

Ronaldo I meant they iso 80% in the bb vs sb limps. Ty for the Gl

And McDonald it's a standard stable deal, I get coaching and a profit cut, arguably I effectively pay for it via the profit cut but I don't directly pay for coaching.

As a slight side point which I've probably made a bunch of times, people underrate coaching so much. The amount of grinders even on this forum who overestimate their edge and feel they can grind without constructive learning is unreal IMO.

Get coaching or find some sickos to talk to! It's worth it!

Here's an update part way through this volume challenge! Will post graph ands stuff once day is over.

wow Nice CEV!!!!!!!!!

Nice thread and GL!
You playing 2 tables at a time?
What cEV do u think is good at 7s? 15s?

So it was a bit of a quick end to the day after my opponent already had me roasted by mid afternoon. Whilst I lost general results were pretty good and I felt I managed to keep up a fairly decent standard of play for the majority of the session.



Cev was good and adjusted money also decent.

Thanks for the kind words Ronaldo and in regards to bubbi's question I do now two table a lot more. Throughout Jan I one tabled mostly which actually did wonders for my game and made my thought process a whole lot better.

For the rest of the month I will be two tabling the whole way till 2k games.

In regards to good cev at the respective stakes I'd say at 7s somewhere around 80 is pretty good. In my case I got to around 65-70cev but that was mainly sample related and coaches decided not much point me wasting games at 7s. At 15s I'd say somewhere around 60cev being pretty respectable. Maybe if you play at the stake for ages and really get good at adjusting vs the european regs then you could get 70 but I know in my stable once you get 60cev over a okayish sample and your game is in a good place you're normally at 30s.

https://www.twitch.tv/labaxpoker

streaming tonight on twitch.

A slight spanner in the works and a complete surprise.

My parents came up to see me and made the decision that they didn't think both poker and uni could work and I needed to make a choice now (even though I wasn't going to play in second year and both poker and uni are going well up to now).

They said they'd stop assisting me financially if I kept playing. I've spoken to them a lot and they feel I can make poker work but they feel uni and applying for internships is more important.

From a life ev standpoint ofc dropping poker is the best line. However I worked really hard to come from nothing to earn a respectable standing in spins. I had a dream of playing in the summer from around the world to have some experiences. Myself (and people in stable) think I can make it work too.

My dad wrote a massive letter (ik lol) to me saying how it was laughable to think I could make this work and I was naive to think I'd get anywhere, even though life ev states drop poker and crush the degree a big part of me wants to just say vamos and **** you and finish this year of poker and uni by being a life best and doing it off my own role.

I guess I really am spinning my way to new experiences, just in a bit of a different way than I thought I would.

Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated! Dw I haven't decided yet, I'm having multiple "sleeps" on it and will probs make a call by Friday.

I dont understand why you couldn't do both... I've managed to do both a couple years ago. I'm very happy that I never "went pro" because now I have a family (2 kids) and I need a steady income which comes from "my real job". I still play poker about 20h/week by nights and freetime.

Your parents aren't wrong, on long-term the smartest choice is definitively uni but they don't understand what poker is for you if they are asking you to decide between one or the other.

My parents never paid for anything during my uni because they are poor so poker allowed me to study and pay the bills, could it be the same for you? Do you absolutely need their help on a financial point of view?

Good luck!

Why do you tell your parents you are playing poker ?

Also you can just keep playing and say you stopped.

I don't understand either, their reasoning is if it goes wrong it goes really wrong, but I've been pretty calculated in my approach and am willing to sacrifice a lot.

Issue is I live in London and rent is high so they have a bit more bargaining power. Although I think ev wise I can make 1k (maybe more) a month playing poker which would cover a lot.

It's a tough spot though because I really think they might cut me off pretty big time.


I was playing as a job over christmas and ofc questions were asked and I thought the best way was to be honest with them.

Tbh lying would be easy, but I'm actually not okay morally doing it. I've lied a bunch before and I've always regretted it. I think if I want to make poker happen I'd have a lot more respect for myself to just say **** it and support myself.

Just tell them you quit and grind on the side and keep it to yourself. As long as you do well in uni, that's all they'll see.

What do I do for the summer then.. They're expecting me to be at home and take courses etc when I want to be in Malta or Thailand grinding if things go well..

Holy god, don't consider dropping out of Uni. You're going to be sacrificing school for something that could not even be relevant in 3 years. I'm starting to realize how useless grinding the 30s is $ wise, especially when the hourly isn't that above minimum in your country.

Just drop volume and focus on school. You clearly don't have to quit poker. You need to be thinking about this long-term. Get the degree first, then dick around with poker.

I thought he in UK? Min wage ~$9 an hour. If play 2000 game month that $504 Rakeback. Only need $800 table win to be same as job u say. That $0.40 a game. Not lots.

But i think other right just not for egption reason their.
No long term good future poker. Get degree. Play in holidays. Play after uni. I stop uni 6 years and regret it all time now!!!

you can't just think about minimum wage and be satisfied. The "ev" you give up for 4-5 years down the road for your job now is astronomical.

Factor in your job has INCREDIBLE variance, you get no benefits (health insurance, sick days, the like), very low job security, and many other life factors, and you have to seriously look for WAY higher of an hourly to justify doing it for a living.


You cant just look for a direct 1:1 for $. You have to factor in everything you're giving up short and long term.

Yeah you put forward some good arguments Pat and dropping out would be near where near the realms of gto.

I sill thought I was able to finish this year with uni and poker but now that's I have to factor in living costs and other stuff it doesn't look so appealing.

I agree with this and all about 1:1 cant judge as need future think too!
just think the min wage was BAD point as not close at all. Even if bad at 30s still like 2+x min wage!

Is there no way you could grind out the rest of term without playing poker (assuming you finish in like May/ June), then rejoin the stable and go through with your plan to travel in the summer? Would your stable allow that?

Seems pretty brutal for your parents to prioritise internships > poker and travelling in your 1st year uni vacation. No idea how it works for engineering, but most of my friends seemed to do internships in second year.

I can sympathise regarding your parents' scepticism/ wariness of poker. I'm kind of on the next stage from where you are. 22, moved down to London, playing poker full-time while I apply for accounting/ auditing grad schemes (I graduated from Oxford Uni last summer). So it's very much a stop-gap and I don't even see poker as a career, but my parents are STILL pretty pissed off that I won't look for an entry level accounting job/ small firm minimum wage **** job in the meantime.

I assume that they are coming from the same place as your parents, that "getting on the career-ladder" so-to-speak in, and shortly after, your university years is crucial, especially with how tough and competitive the real-world job landscape is. But the killer thing is, you have so much free time in these years, if you want to make a go of it with poker, it's a great opportunity. Do you think they'd be willing to compromise in any way? If they're not having any of it, I pretty much echo what Egption said, suck it up, obviously play a bit on the side, but your degree has to come first.

Brutal spot bro

I say either come to a compromise whereby you say to them "let me grind til the end of the academic year and if i get less 1st then im allowed to continue with whatever plans i wanted, if i get a 2:1 then i shall i apply for an internship but continue playing and anything below that i will drop it completely"
something along those lines anyway

or

just take the hit from your parents and just work hard at poker.
You'll honestly be fine, i studied at UCL (accom was in central ldn) and was playing stakes that weren't even $15 spins so i know your pain of rent.
Just pm me on skype if you want to chat more about it.