Shvedkin

Let me start the formal part and present myself and you. I’m one of the founders of Hyperschool and the ex CEO. Now I’m the head of the development team. Sometimes I do streams, on special occasions.

Today we definitely have such an occasion. So, everyone, please meet Martin, he’s a high stakes player on Pokerstars. You may know him already by the fact that he won x200 on 1000 stake in February 2023. That was cool but this is not the only thing. He’s also a coach in CardGrinders — the team we have been collaborating with for already a couple of years. 

Hello, Martin! Maybe you would like to add something about yourself because there’s not so much information about you on the internet.

Mr.Vendetta
That’s how I like it! Thank you very much for the introduction and for inviting me. I’m Mr.Vendetta on Stars. Maybe it’s something to add as I guess many people rather know me by a pokerstars name than by my real name. Beyond that, not so much to add about myself at this point.

– How did it happen that you have been playing on that high stake? What was your path to get there?

I've been playing spins professionally since 2018. It's been a long time already. This year, at some point, I’ll cross the 5 year mark.

Back in 2018 I started at the low stakes, I joined a team called SpinLegends back then. I learned a lot and moved up through the limits over time. I’ve been playing high-stakes (250+) for 3 years now. On the 1000$ stake Pokerstars rarely has any traffic. Usually you sit there but nothing happens. Over the month I usually get to play 50-100 games on 1000s, not much more.

– Have you tried any other poker rooms or do you play only on pokerstars? And why?

No, there are two reasons, actually. Reason number 1, which is for me the most important one — I believe that so far Pokerstars is the most safe platform to play on. Their anti-cheat prevention is now the best, compared to the competition. This is something that is personally very important to me. I would be very upset if I were studying hard and grinding a lot — and then would be playing against bots. And I think the risk of that on Pokerstars is the lowest.

Number 2 is of course the traffic. Especially on high stakes, it’s already hard to get any action. But on other platforms it just gets harder. You may already know that Partypoker has completely removed 250+ stakes and you can’t really find any other platforms where you have more than that.

And then, last for not the least, if you want to make it to the top in the spins world — you have to play against the best opponents. It is probably the case on Pokerstars as well, it’s the top of the competition. And that is how you learn the most.

– Who are your favorite opponents? Who’s the best and who’s the worst if it’s not a secret? 

Oh, I wasn’t prepared for that question! I’m not gonna give any bad opponents, truly. As for strong opponents — there are quite some. If I name just a few I might miss out on some others. So the question is tricky.

– Unfortunately, your opponent in x200 on 1000s – nice2meet885 – could not make it to come to us, he has a challenge and it’s very important to complete challenges as we all know. But maybe he’ll watch the stream, because if you talk about the hand history of this tournament he might be interested. At this point I wanted to ask if you’re afraid that you’d said more than you wanted? Something he could use in the strategy against you.

First of all, there’s a little anecdote about that, when after the game he came to me and asked me to reveal my hand, just this one time, because he really needed to know.

Beside that, if you play against really strong opponents, your goal is mostly to play a relatively balanced strategy, close to equilibrium strategy. There will not be any major exploits.

So the answer is no, I’m not afraid of that. I can only play as solid as possible most of the time against him. And if he can just open any solver, there’s no need to look at my hands for that.

– How many tables do you play and how many games per month?

Mostly less than 12 tables. Ideally less than 10. I like playing 8 tables, that's where I feel really good. If it’s more than 8, I feel like it’s stressing me out a little and I can’t do that for too long, my decision making qualities start to suffer. And again, on the high stakes you rarely have a chance to play this many tables. Nowadays I mix down to 100, I open everything from 100 to 1000s. This way you can get 8-9-10 tables.

Quantity of games per month: you’re all familiar with monthly Pokerstars challenges, so it’s relatively fixed in terms of volume. For me it mostly depends on how many of the highest or lowest stakes are open. Usually for me it's something between 3-4k games to make my monthly progress challenge.

– A question from the chat: “Does he think that Spin flashes might die soon? Since it’s almost impossible to make money at his stakes if 95% reg ratio on 250s.”

No, I don’t think that at all. Surely, the games are tougher than they have ever been. But that’s the trend. Especially since Pokerstars added the higher rakeback again, it attracted more and more grinding regs. Games have become tougher at all stakes. But at some point they can’t become any tougher, and if you're capable of playing better than your average opponent — you would still be able to make money.

Of course, in an extreme scenario this could lead to everybody making no profit whatsoever. But we’re currently far from this situation. I know that quite some regs are currently struggling with break even results on all limits, including some people in our team — but if you’re constantly studying, improving and managing to be better than your reg opponents, I think you can still make very solid money, especially at high stakes.

– You’ve mentioned your students. Could you tell more about your stable, what is your key approach, how is it all organized?

CardGrinders exists for about 3 years, we currently have around 50-60 players, across almost all stakes. Most of them are on the higher end of the scale. Piupz and myself are the coaches for the advanced team there. We have a cooperation with Hyperschool, obviously, to outsource the variance. Great working with you guys, always very professional.

We offer staking, on top of all the content and education and we have a great community going. 

– How can someone get your training?

We currently have open slots available in the team. In case someone is looking for a place to get coaching, check the website and send an application if it seems appealing to you. If you start on the lower stakes, it may also be interesting to you that we offer a trial month. So even if you end up not liking it, you’re free to leave. 

– I like that you’re focused on coaching, staking, poker and you choose to share the variance in the pool. But at the same time I know that you guys have a huge upswing, you send a lot to the pool and plus 200$k now. How do you feel about that? Have you any thoughts of leaving the pool for example, since you’re doing so great? 

That is an interesting question that I get asked more than I should :) 

I think personally I’m slowly approaching now to half a million that I will have sent to the pool at some point. But this is just how it is. I mean I don’t have any hard feelings about that – it would be totally irrational. The idea is to reduce the variance, right? So obviously when you take that deal you’re willingly accepting that in case of an upswing – you pay. That’s why you get paid in case of a downswing. That’s just how it works. 

You flip a coin basically - needless to say that we all should stand by our words and keep up our ends of the deal whatever happens. 

I don’t have any intentions of leaving the pool. I think it’s a great tool to outsource the variance. And beyond that statistical independence is a real thing - which means basically that if you had an upswing last month it doesn't say anything about what will happen next month. It’s still equally likely that it’s going to be a downswing next month. 

In other words the past doesn't matter when it comes to evaluating the expected value of my pool membership. 

– What do you think about the open swing during the month? There are some opinions that it’s not great, because when you see a downswing you’re not so motivated to play. But someone may win a jackpot on the last day of the month and make it all profitable for everybody. And someone stopped playing in the middle of the month, he will not receive this additional value. 

That’s an interesting question – especially this month it was funny. When I hit that 200k$, the next day a high stakes reg sent me a message that he is going to start playing now, just  because of me. He wanted to take the whole month off but then he decided to play his challenge within only a week because of the huge pool upswing. So it has an effect, granted. But personally I don’t really see much damage potential, I don’t see how it is a negative thing for anyone. 

After all, it only might affect whether other people play more or less. Obviously, everybody would be the happiest if everybody played the most. Because then we would have a huge volume and a very small swing, on average. But I don’t think that it matters too much if someone plays a little bit more or less depending on the pool swing. 

– Are you exclusively sticking to Spins? Never played MTTs or Cash?

No. My belief is that nowadays it’s incredibly hard to be on the top of any format. No matter which one, all the formats are highly competitive. If you want to be one of the best Spin players — you will have to devote 100% of your time to that. That’s my belief. It’s the same for Cash games and for MTTs – it’s all super tough. So dividing attention between formats have never seemed rational to me. I think in the end you just would not be able to make it to the very top, in either format, if you do that.

– Do you use HUD while grinding spin flashes? 

Yes, I play with our CardGrinders HUD. 

– Which HUD stats could be useful for flashes?

Oh! Well… that’s a long list! 

I think our HUD has 200 stats or something. Let’s say – a lot! 

– One more hot topic which I wanted to discuss. You used an alias option, and right after you won a jackpot, some guy in discord wrote thanks to Mr.Vendetta. It was obvious. How did you feel about that? And why did you hide your screenname and results in the first place? 

First of all, I totally understand that it is a very controversial topic. I can see arguments for both sides easily. Personally, I like using it.

Already a long time ago I noticed that I play better and I have a better mindset over the course of the month if I’m completely detached from my results. Between the first day and the last day of the month I do not check any of my results. I don’t know how I am running. I shut out any information about that.

Since I’m a little bit exposed in our team as a coach and also in the poker community, it happened sometimes in the past that people have been watching how things were going for me and made comments or sent me direct messages about my current upswing/downswing. Sometimes even opponents who tried to get into my head. So for me playing with an alias takes away the opportunity for anyone else to interfere with my sanity – and this is primarily why I use it.

– Interesting. That’s a new reason for me why players may use an alias. Let’s come back to the questions from the chat. What software do you use to improve your skills? A long list?

Actually not even that long. PT4 is the base line that most people use, including me. It allows filtering the hand histories to almost all spots you might want to review.

When it comes to improving skill at some point of your career you should consider working with a solver. At least it’s my opinion. My coaching philosophy is that strategies nowadays should be built around GTO which makes working with a solver essential. I believe that it will be very hard for anyone nowadays to make it far without a profound knowledge in that area. 

Personally I use GTO Wizard as my solver of choice to do GTO calculations and analysis.

– What is your daily routine? How much time do you devote to theory, playing, coaching? 

Oh, wow! Ha-ha! I don’t want to bother you with my life routine. 

When it comes to the poker part of it, I think I’m grinding on average like 3 to 4 hours a day, 7 days a week, until the end of the month. I usually finish my challenge a bit early because I like to take a few days off afterwards. 

And then probably around 1-2 more hours for studying my own game and coaching players at CardGrinders.

– How should the study routine be different for a 25s player and for a 250s player? 

The major difference is that the higher you play – the less you play against recreational players. The importance of understanding GTO becomes higher, the higher you play — which is maybe intuitive. The lower you play the more important it is to understand population dependencies and how to exploit them properly. I’d say the 25s is a limit which is a bit of a transition nowadays, because games have become tougher than they used to be. In the past 25s used to be much softer, but now they are already full of relatively solid players.

However, it’s still a limit where you can achieve very high win rates if you’re exploiting the population efficiently. You can start working with a solver at 25s, but more important than that is to get access to a source that can help you understand how to exploit the average opponent you are constantly playing against.

On 250s that’s just not a thing anymore, there you will have to do very individual exploits, because on average your opponents will be very solid. You will not face so many classic population players anymore. 

After the last update, a bug appeared and the auto update stopped working.
There is nothing terrible in this, it can be very easily corrected:
- Close Hypertracker
- Download the update
- Unzip the update
- Run the update
- Installation will proceed in the background for about 2 minutes
- After 2 minutes, launch Hypertracker
- You're great!

We usually ask you to order HH from the 1st day of the month to the 1st day of the next month. However, there are some nuances, because months differ in the number of days.

Winamax does not allow ordering HH for a time period exceeding 31 days. When there are 30 days or less in a month, there is no problem — you can order, for example, from April 1 to May 1. When there are 31 days in a month, the scheme is as follows: you order hands from the 1st to the 31st, and then separately from the 31st to the current day. This is done to make sure we cover all your tournaments in case you had any games on the 31st after you requested HH.

As for Pokerstars — in this room you can order HH for any time period, even for a few months.

Gipsyteam forum material about how things are currently going in the discipline that suffered the most when the rooms left Russia and Belarus. Players and pool executives tell how they have adapted to the new reality, whether it is necessary to change the place of living, how much the win rates, the game volume and nerves have been affected. 

Bezsmisla111 // twitch.tv/LesShiyps

I'll start with the fact that Spin&Go has a very high variance. Perhaps it is even more than in MTT. But this variance is greatly reduced by pools. Therefore, all rooms can be divided into two types: those where pools work, and all the others.

After the rooms left Russia, only one room remained in the first category – PokerOK. It is not difficult to guess what is happening there from the moment when he became "the only one". For most Spin&Go regulars, these changes mean that they either go to earn money on PokerOK, or move, or let's put it this way, become factory workers. Playing without a pool is not an option for many. Why is that?

Firstly, to play without a pool, you need a bankroll threefold larger. A hypothetical $25-50 player with the same bankroll will be forced to go down by 10$ (in a room without pools), which will lead to a significant decrease in his $ per hour.

Secondly, when playing without a pool, the variance is huge. In addition to a bankroll, it is advisable to have a solid financial cushion (at least for a year) and very strong nerves. For example, in the last 7 000 tournaments, I have already lost 12,000$ (180 BI!). But for someone, this is a distance that is played out in two months. And there may be several such periods in a row. Also, a person may not be able to handle some kind of stake by playing zero on EV, and in fact playing negative.

Couldn’t help but wonder how the players who decided to relocate are doing now. Let's talk to some of them, starting with syromonoed:

— Where did you relocate, and what was the choice based on?
To Kazakhstan, the city of Almaty. The relocation happened by accident. A choice without a choice) A large IT company in which my wife planned to work left the Russian Federation, and in Kazakhstan this company exists and works

— ​​What is the current regime of staying in the country, how long can you stay there and what needs to be done for this?
You can stay for 90 days, then there is an opportunity to make a visa-ran, but I don't know about confirmed successful cases yet. Keeping track with the information.

Upon arrival, you need to make a migration arrival notice within three days. It is made by the owner of the housing. Then you can get a temporary residence permit by getting a job, or by becoming an individual entrepreneur. Issued for a period of one year.

— Did you manage to open a bank account?
So far, it is possible to open a Visa card in the local currency tenge in Kaspi bank without any problems.

I managed to open a multi-currency account in RBC bank, the first year of service is free. After April 25, the conditions in this bank for non-residents have changed. Now the opening of an account is 10 000 rubles, and then 1000 rubles each month. Other banks require an employment contract or have stopped opening for non-residents altogether.

An important point, they open a bank account and make a SIM card using only a foreign passport. At the same time, the conditions are constantly changing, and not for the better.

— What payment systems do you use, and how does the withdrawal take place?
I have unblocked Skrill (withdrawal to a local card), Paysera is now in the process.

This conversation with Common13, a player from Ukraine, took place on January 18. We had a very nice conversation then, but working on the material was paused for obvious reasons.

Now we have discussed the state of things with Lesha — and decided to release this interview anyway, with respect to the work done by both sides.

— Hi, Lesha. Say a few words about yourself, in the poker context.

— I came to poker about six months before the famous “Black Friday”, one of my friends hooked me. At that time, pokerstrategy offered $50, and if I had played there a lot, he would have received bonuses for me. But at first I refused: to hell with your poker, I'd rather play chess. By the way, he is also originally a chess player, it was on this basis that we met online, we were on the same team. Then we met offline too, at a chess tournament. We became friends with him, I even managed to stay in his place, we built families in front of each other, and so on. Now he doesn't play neither chess nor poker — couldn't handle the variance and finished his career.

— How did poker turn out for you?

— It was easy to start, I studied a couple of articles — and went right into battle. But my 50 bucks quickly turned into 5, it became clear that you need to learn the game, otherwise you will have to make a deposit. It's not that it was some crucial money for me, at that time I had a good job, but it was still annoying.

— What kind of job did you have at that time?

— Financial director in a rather serious news agency, number one in Ukraine.

— Was it scary to leave there to play poker?

— I believed in myself.

— And what was this confidence based on?

— I felt that I was very close to success :) At this stage, I saw poker as a pleasant means of alternative earnings. And then Black Friday happened, and everything became much more complicated, it was not such easy money anymore. I realized that in order to stay afloat, you need to learn the basics of poker more deeply.

— Have you studied it yourself or with a coach?

— Basically, by myself. I had two stages in poker: the first one was when I tried to do it on my own, and the second one was when I had already worked out in a team. During the second stage, I was already in Hyperschool. Before Spin&Go appeared, I studied quite a lot of disciplines: SNG, MTT SNG, hyper turbo. But Spin&Go began to actively replace those, so it was on this discipline that I concentrated, and it’s in this discipline that I am engaged in coaching.

When Spin&Go appeared, everything became very sad in hyper turbo, and I took a short pause. A friend came to me and asked to help him with his business. The business was related to taxis: in fact, I was fighting with Uber in the Ukrainian market. I helped him with the company, he successfully sold it — and I returned back to poker.

A new big interview is already here! Talked to one of the oldest Spin&Go players, LesShiy.

— Hello, Artem! How do you usually introduce yourself to new people?

— Probably one of the oldest Spin&Go players. I've been playing them for 4.5 years, and from the very beginning I've been doing it professionally, while training in poker schools. I describe my Spin&Go journey in my blog on gipsyteam (it's in Russian): you can trace the entire career cycle through these posts.

— What did you have before Spin&Go?

— Before that, for 7 years, I was trying to move from the category of amateurs to the category of earning players. And I couldn't manage it.

— And what was the pivot point?

— The fact that I started working with coaches. First, I found a couple of good people who taught me how to play cash, explained how to work with psychology (there were a lot of problems with this). And then I started studying at my first Spin&Go school, and that was the turning point.

— Which one?

— “Young lions”, they’re closed now. 

— Can you point out anyone else who has influenced your poker career? 

— Yes, this man has already left the Spin&Go world, Vlad tantiarella. He had an anti-school where I used to be a coach. Thanks to him, I figured out the poker logic, and began to deeply understand all the things I do. The school was small and very homey, literally 20-30 people. But they did good things, even then they were implementing what is now very popular with Pokerhero: solvers, error classification, the whole learning process was built on this. Plus individual sessions.

— What software do you use?

— I use GTA base all the time. 

— What are you planning to do next? Are you staying in Spin&Go or are you thinking about something else?

— I really love Spin&Go. I've thought many times about where and why I could go, but I really like all this action. Plus, the daily mode, which can be combined with Spin&Go, really suits me. I have ambitions to play 500-s, but I have had these ambitions for a long time, and I still don't play them :) Therefore, I do not make much bets on this, but I will move forward.


— Have you ever thought of going to foreign projects? How's your English?

— Pretty bad. I get simple things, but I don't understand poker terminology. And when you learn poker, it is very important to deeply comprehend the concepts, dig into them, not just touch the surface.

— Let's talk a little bit about your work on the Board of players. You have been a member of the board for a long time. What was it like for you? Was this experience useful for you?

— I’ll put it another way: when I shared with my girlfriend that I was invited to the board of players, she said: "This is exactly the place where you should be”. She knows my so-called “nerdiness” very well. For example, how can I write two A4 pages in discord answering the question “Why can't 500-s be excluded from the pool”. 

New challenge: everyone checks what version of Hypertracker they have! If the numbers in the lower right corner are lower than 1.69 – sorry, you lost : )

Don't despair, it’s not «Game over». You just need to download the new version manually, the auto-update for the versions lower than 1.69 is broken. The old bugs that affect the tracking accuracy are still with you. And this is how you fix this:

- Exit the program (Settings – Logout) and close it 
- Delete the hypertracker folder from your computer
- Download the new version
- Unpack the archive and enter the program
- Check the rooms settings on the Settings tab, make sure that the paths to the folders with hand histories and tournaments summaries are set correctly.

If there are a lot of files in the folders, the hypertracker will start reading them anew and will slow down for a while and not show the current session. Keep calm, this is only temporary.

We continue to get to know the players better. Van_Helsing is with us today!

Do you prefer EV-profit or rakeback? What is more satisfying? 
Since my main income comes from rakeback— it turns out that it’s rakeback. But I don't play a lot of tables and try to keep EV at the near-zero mark (by profit). It doesn't always work out, but in my opinion it's the most optimal way to play.

How do you work on your game?
I'll be honest: I work very little on the game, which is probably why I'm still sitting on 5s. When I do get my hands on the theory, it’s my friend Mouakk who helps me with this.

How many hours does a standard session last?
The standard session is 2 hours, an hour of rest, and then a new one. The working day is 8.5 hours. I try to play strictly according to the schedule, it makes it easier for me.

How do you feel about bad beats?
I take bad beats quite painfully, so I try to avoid such moments as much as possible. How? I'm just trying to go all-n in at the first opportunity :) I know that this does not give maximum EV, but as they say, mental health is more important :)

Dogs or cats?
I love all animals, but dogs are closer to me in spirit.

How many tables do you play at the same time?
I play 5 tables. I've tried more, but it's getting uncomfortable, the red line sinks a lot and pulls down the sweet EV.

Do you prefer EV-profit or rakeback? What is more satisfying?
I think that in 2021, most people play rakeback, and I'm no exception. Initially, when I came to spins, I used to play for quality without any rakeback, but now I found a balance to increase the number of tables and at the same time show a good game. I write notes for all hands, during the game I read them and remember which reg was playing against me and how.

How do you work on your game?
I don't spend much time working on the game, since I spent a lot of time earlier to find a certain balance of lines and now I try to use them as well. If there are difficult hands, I can sort them out in the solver so that in the future I could play a specific spot in a more balanced way

How many hours does a standard session last?
I set a goal for the number of tournaments per day, I play for about an hour or two and there can be from 5 to 10 such sessions during a full working day.

How do you feel about bad beats? 
I haven't been reacting much to bad beats lately, after all, time and bankroll affect things. But in general, if there is a long negative streak and opponents reach their 5% at all tables, it can make me lose my temper, after which I finish the session and can make this day a day off.

Today we are talking to Orthodoxxxx, the only person who has been playing in the pool since its appearance, and this, so that you understand, was April 2016!

— Let's start from the very beginning. How did you start playing poker?

— It's hard to remember the very origins, but I started when I was at school.

— You can't do it until you're 18! :)

— It only attracted me.

— Have you registered an account in a room?

— No, at that time I was playing offline. My brother went to Moscow underground gambling dens and he was also playing small stakes on Pokerstars. He would often play at night. I had to be in bed, but I would come to him and watch him play.

— So, you can say that your family ties brought you to this world.

— Yeah. And then I gradually got into the taste. I went to gambling dens with him, sometimes he sat me down at the table, which was very inspiring. And then, when I turned 18, I could already register (I didn't register until I came of age, following the law). I got 50$ on Pokerstrategy and played one-dollar HU.

— Do you remember what year it was?

— It's been a long time, 2009-2010, approximately. Then I was rather having fun. There was a period when I haven’t been playing at all, for a whole year. During my university days, I downloaded the Pokerstars app. And just then, the spins appeared. I entered there from my phone, began to spin, starting with three and seven-dollar ones, I played it like a fish. I brought my bankroll to a thousand and decided that it was time to approach poker more professionally, to study the theoretical basis.

— Did you start studying it by yourself or did you join something?

— At first, I studied more by myself. And when I set out to study everything thoroughly, Hyperschool appeared. At the start, it gave me a wonderful boost. At that time, it was the top content, thanks to those training sessions that I could go such a long way. Although in retrospect, I understand that I was playing very badly then :) It was just enough to beat that field. But I have made my fundamental steps in poker over the past two years.

Two weeks without an interview! We don't know how you're holding up. We can't take it anymore. Benya, help us out.

Do you prefer EV-profit or rakeback?
I have always played only for profit, but, having not received a single bonus from Pokerstars for all this time, I thought about switching to another room. Unfortunately, on GG poker I’ve met some bot-like opponents, so wait for me at Partypoker now.

How do you work on your game?
I work on my game mainly in GTObase. In addition, after more than four years in poker, I still do not hesitate to take training sessions.

How many hours does a standard session last?
Previously, I could sit down to play for 4 hours without a break, but over time I came to a scheme where I play for an hour, with small pauses. Refreshing your mind is still important. The problem with this scheme is that a ten-minute pause can turn into a full-fledged weekend :)

How do you feel about bad beats?
I think that negative periods have little effect on my game and mood. But, for example, this year, after a three-month zero period, I decided to take a month off to reset my head.

Dogs or cats?
I have been rooting for cats since childhood!

We can't help but talk face-to-face with our players, we have developed a real addiction. Hey, Fakeswitch, sup!

𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘌𝘝-𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 ?
The truth is somewhere in between :Р

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 ?
What questions! Cushion the swings and play more peacefully thanks to the pool EV.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 ?
Before I start I always review the previous session or some hands I have more doubt with. When I am more free from cramming the new concepts, I look at a few hands in solvers.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 ?
4 hours.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘴 ?
I don't think about bad beats much. If something goes wrong I just quit the session or take a break. I try to always play with a fresh mind and to be 100% present.

𝘋𝘰𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘴 ?
Dogs!

Today we’re interviewing a lady and we’re in a very excited state because of this. Can't wait to get started. Hi, Chardonyay!

Do you prefer EV-profit or rakeback? What is more satisfying?
Whatever is the most profitable for me at the given moment. Right now I prefer softer games and not too much volume, so I think I lean towards EV-profit. 

EV-profit is more satisfying. Beating the game and studying my opponents and max exploiting them is the goal. It's like taking apart a machine to see how it works, and then breaking it xD

Playing lots of hours for rakeback just isn’t my style, to me it has always seemed like lots of autopiloting. To me it’s boring, I like to be in the moment, fully immersed in the game. This is where I have the most fun.

How do you work on your game?
Mostly I review HH with solvers, and ask for advice from my (Nemesis Backing) coaches if questions arise. I take part in their coaching sessions as much as I can, and watch and take notes of theory videos. 

How many hours does a standard session last? 
On a typical day I play around 4 hours in a day, breaking my hours into around 1.5-2h sessions.

How do you feel about bad beats?
Mostly I don't care. But of course I'm not a robot, and if there have been many in a row, it can get on my nerves a bit. But then I remind myself that this is why this game is profitable.

Dogs or cats?
Dogs AND Cats!!! <3 And all other animals too!

How many tables do you play at the same time?
I try to play 6 simultaneously, depending on traffic. So, 4-6 mostly.

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More interviews to the God of interviews! This time we're talking to Mouakk.


Do you prefer EV-profit or rakeback? What is more satisfying?
Playing for profit has its advantages, as well as playing for rakeback. Here you develop a different skill. To play a lot or to think a lot. Of course, the ideal option is to find a balance. I try to choose something in between.

How do you work on your game?
During each session, I note the hands that I don’t understand, a strange action on the part of the regulars or a difficult game situation. There are about 20-30 such situations per day. The next day, before the session starts, I look through them with a fresh head and evaluate them, trying to understand everything with the help of the programs.

How many hours does a standard session last?
My standard session lasts about 7 hours

How do you feel about bad beats?
"Bad beats", 🤣😂😉 sounds funny. I've been playing poker for 10 years now and there have been so many of them in my career that you just don't pay attention to them anymore. I usually think: "Well, there’s that. Again".

Dogs or cats?
Cats! My cat's name is Shami, but we will also get a dog :)

So no one told you life was gonna be this way!
Clap your hands 4 times: after all, the news is just great.

We already offered bonuses for players invited under our referral program: for an invited player the first month in the pool is free, and you get his first monthly payment if he decides to stay in the pool after a trial month.

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Bring your f·r·i·e·n·d·s before this date, and your bonus for each will be doubled.

We connect the Luxon system for payments in the pool. It is suitable if you play in the Partypoker and GGPoker rooms. There is no support for Pokerstars and Winamax yet.

Luxon does not charge any commission for internal transfers, deposits or cashouts. There may be a commission for conversion on the side of the bank or other agent outside of luxon when using a currency other than the account currency.

See a detailed review of the system.

How do you work on your game?
Uhhhh. I can talk about it for a very long time. Long story short: every month I deal with one topic (for example, BU vs BB, SB vs BB raise pots):

• watching training records, it gives an influx of new information
• working in the Preflop and TRP simulator, bringing my skills to an unconscious competence
• calculating exploits in the Simple (this is how I train my poker logic) and so on.

And the most important thing above all is consistency!

How many hours does a standard session last?
Approximately 5-6 hours

How do you feel about bad beats?
I don't care at all.

I used to tilt because I was losing to regulars I thought were weaker than me. Then, as I searched inside my head, I realized that the reason was uncertainty. That is, I tilted only if I was not sure of MY actions.

So now I perceive such emotions simply as a signal from the subconscious: "You don't know this spot very well! Go check the solvers!"

Dogs or cats?
Dogs definitely. Cats are too arrogant.

Here’s another interview for our series! Tossukarla, it’s your turn.

How do you work on your game?
I am a student and teacher in a stable. I study about 50h every month at least. Mostly SPF, gtobase and nr. 1 player lectures.

How many hours does a standard session last?
4h

How do you feel about bad beats?
Dont give a ** usually, when they come a lot then I think that someone will pay :slight_smile:

Dogs or cats?
Dogs definitely!