Poker tournaments can be very long at times… the current lower buy-in SCOOP events are a great example… 10k+ players and a good 8 hours to get to the final table. While the rewards can be great, not everyone has the time (or the patience) for this kind of long-winded game.
So, I thought I would do a post outlining some of the faster alternatives – anything up to a few hours for those who fancy a quick game in an evening, only do not want to be propping open their eyelids at 4am.
1 – 1- Table SNG Tournaments
The 1-table games last from 30 minutes (turbos) to 1 hour+ and are officially a tournament format. With the payouts for the first 3 in typical 50% / 30% / 20% format you are never going to get rich overnight playing the 1-table games… These are great when you want to relax for an hour of two and have the safety of a fixed buy-in though. My favorite place for SNGs is Red Kings Poker, a cool OnGame site where you will find a ton of opponents crossing over from the more popular sports-betting brands on this network.
2 – Multi-Table SNG Tournaments
Here I am thinking of the 45 player (5-table) games, and the 90 or 100-player 10 table tournaments, with bigger payouts and the chance to hit a ‘final table’ these games are far more tournament-like than the 1-table equivalents. If you take 1 or 2 of these down you will get a nice boost to your bankroll too!
3 – 180 SNG Tournaments
I am putting these into a category of their own, since these games are practically an institution. With the turbo versions taking less than 3 hours you will have all the ‘stages’ of a normal MTT to go through – and a big payout at the end. These start from $2.50c with the $8+80c and $3+Rebuy versions very popular due to their featured position at the top of the main tourney view over at Pokerstars.com
4 – Short Stacked Tournaments
These start with 1000 chips and have antes which kick in very quickly, meaning you are forced to play a lot of hands in order to keep ahead of the blinds… with fields in the 100’s or 200’s range these games will be over pretty fast – in my experience the standard of play is pretty damn poor too. Again Pokerstars is the place to head for these games.
5 – Timed Tournaments
These are special games which last from 15 minutes to an hour, paying out players still alive at the end of this period in proportion to their chip stack. Crazy would not even begin to describe the play, you can find plenty of these games running at a range of buy-ins. Hate to say it again – but Pokerstars is also the place to find these games.
Separate Subject: My Bonus Club Site Revamps Has Started
This is for Russian and Hungarian speaking readers. The first 2 portals in my ‘Bonus Club’ network are now live – you can see the Hungarian one here and the Russian one here.
The idea for these is to take the great content we have around and make country-specific portals out of it, each with their own local domain and writer focused on keeping them up to date. While these sites are a good few years old now, I was never very happy with the look and design of them – so it a real pleasure to see a nice new look and feel to them. With more than 70 pages each these are not thin sites by any means, and we will be working to ensure that they offer even more strategy and value moving forwards.
As a final note, there are several more of these in the pipeline – I will shout as soon as they are up.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Looking Back At SNGs 6 Years Ago!
A nostalgic post today, only without the detailed research into what appeared when, which would only serve to give me a headache. I first started playing Sit n Goes a long time ago… 2005 to be exact. I started blogging in 2006 and have been playing the damn things ever since while running the biggest website dedicated to this form of poker – SNG Planet (well, bigger tournaments + satellites too, but you get the idea).
When I first started out there were 1-table sit n goes, or steps. I am pretty sure that was that… you could choose 6 or 9 handed than the Stars $16s were the place to be… simply staying snug and profiting from the disaster which was most peoples bubble play. There was an ICM calc available, called SNG Power Tools, though this was a niche thing…. It was 1 or 2 people understanding prize pool equity and the rest not – rather than 4 people knowing ICM to 1 decimal place and 3 knowing it to 2 decimal places, I psycho working exploiting the fact that you know he knows it to 2 decimal places… and 1 fish who keeps complaining that everyone is playing ‘Bingo’ with their 6 BBs.
I digress!
The 180s appeared, and 2 table games came along… there was a gap while the 5 and 10 table games became popular… and heads-up was mostly in cash format if I remember it correctly.
Today we are spoiled for choices, and even though the standard of play is different now I really did want to use this post to emphasize how good things are out there (especially outside of the US) for SNG fans these days.
You have double-or-nothing + Fifty50 games
Knockout bounties…
Extra fast games to cut out all that difficult post-flop play
Different sizes of games which are popular enough that you can multi-table them
Novelty SNGs like the Jackpot games at iPoker and the Helkat (timed) ones at Party
You can play PLO, PLO8, 8-game, Stud and many other games without too much waiting
Satellite qualifier SNGs have not been around for ever either
… 180s now go off every 2 minutes, or even faster at peak times.
Online poker has grown so massive in the 6 or so years since I played my first hands that it really is unrecognizable from what it was back then… now, the big question is what will the SNGs (or online poker in general) look like in 6 years from now??
Gl at the tables, Mark
When I first started out there were 1-table sit n goes, or steps. I am pretty sure that was that… you could choose 6 or 9 handed than the Stars $16s were the place to be… simply staying snug and profiting from the disaster which was most peoples bubble play. There was an ICM calc available, called SNG Power Tools, though this was a niche thing…. It was 1 or 2 people understanding prize pool equity and the rest not – rather than 4 people knowing ICM to 1 decimal place and 3 knowing it to 2 decimal places, I psycho working exploiting the fact that you know he knows it to 2 decimal places… and 1 fish who keeps complaining that everyone is playing ‘Bingo’ with their 6 BBs.
I digress!
The 180s appeared, and 2 table games came along… there was a gap while the 5 and 10 table games became popular… and heads-up was mostly in cash format if I remember it correctly.
Today we are spoiled for choices, and even though the standard of play is different now I really did want to use this post to emphasize how good things are out there (especially outside of the US) for SNG fans these days.
You have double-or-nothing + Fifty50 games
Knockout bounties…
Extra fast games to cut out all that difficult post-flop play
Different sizes of games which are popular enough that you can multi-table them
Novelty SNGs like the Jackpot games at iPoker and the Helkat (timed) ones at Party
You can play PLO, PLO8, 8-game, Stud and many other games without too much waiting
Satellite qualifier SNGs have not been around for ever either
… 180s now go off every 2 minutes, or even faster at peak times.
Online poker has grown so massive in the 6 or so years since I played my first hands that it really is unrecognizable from what it was back then… now, the big question is what will the SNGs (or online poker in general) look like in 6 years from now??
Gl at the tables, Mark
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Adding A New Room To My Network - Betfair
Adding a new room to my network at the moment… wanted to do a post about it here, since this is not something I do very often. You will see why below when I explain all the different work which needs to go into getting this ready. First though, a word about the only new inclusion of 2012 to date – why I like Betfair and chose to include them.
This site are part of the OnGame Network, while I have already been promoting Red Kings on this network (who I believe are still a great site!) there were some issues with this brand not being well known… it is hard enough to promote poker sites without the extra barrier of educating people on a particular brand.
Betfair are known as a betting platform – one where people can back or lay bets between each other, cutting out the bookies profit (though of course Betfair take a small percent for their service). Since this is well known, it is much easier to point out to people how much of the OnGame Network’s traffic crosses over from betting to poker – and so has no strategy knowledge (well, some people do of course, the majority not though).
I genuinely feel that online poker has become too Pokerstars-centric – in 2012 it almost feels like people have given up searching for the fishiest poker sites… and are just content to play against every grinder and his dog all day long in the same old- and some new – Pokerstars games.
Anyway, I have ranted about Pokerstars enough on my SNG Planet Blog…. Back to Betfair
The games are noticeably softer there. I challenge all readers to have a look and to come back and tell me this is not the case… the tournaments are just daft, if Stars has reached the point of ‘Light 5-betting’ then Betfair is back in the realm of solid TAG-should-win-it play. The cash games were pretty damn juicy too!
I don’t often include banners here at Plan3t Gong – here is one for curious readers to click this time though!
Getting Betfair Into My Network – An Idea Of The Work Involved
To start off with I have to play, and I mean properly play, not just a few hands here and there. The reason is that people can tell if you are writing a generic review or a review based on your own views. If you check out the kind of reviews on generic affiliate sites all over the web you will see exactly what I mean ‘Cash games are very good at XYZ Poker, with tournaments running every…. Blah blah’ lots of meaningless dry bullsh1t which is no use to anyone at all.
After playing I start with the 2 key reviews, the main one for SNG Planet and the SNG specific one… we are talking 2500 words here including all the relevant details and my humble opinion. We then need to think about getting them translated into Russian, Hungarian, Romanian and German (I have let French and Polish go for the time being)… and to link these reviews into the main pages and comparison articles.
We then have the supporting network which are smaller sites based around various sub-niches of poker (I now include this blog in the list). Each needs a review and / or an article highlighting this new site – my plan is that we send people from these sites to the main reviews.
Next the Bonus Club network needs to get updated… main review, updates to the comparison pages and links from all the main pages… in several different languages.
I am not even ¼ of the way through yet. Happy to be doing this though, this is for money of course, but also in the wider sense that I should be highlighting the best sites for readers of all of my websites. I just do not feel that ‘Pokerstars are fan-bloody-tastic’ is going to cut it in 2012, people are ready for a change and – with my continued campaign – hopefully becoming more aware that there are bigger profits and more fun to be had at different poker sites!
Oh, forgot the fish-o-meter, that will need updating too… direct to the php script… sigh!
GL at the tables, Mark
This site are part of the OnGame Network, while I have already been promoting Red Kings on this network (who I believe are still a great site!) there were some issues with this brand not being well known… it is hard enough to promote poker sites without the extra barrier of educating people on a particular brand.
Betfair are known as a betting platform – one where people can back or lay bets between each other, cutting out the bookies profit (though of course Betfair take a small percent for their service). Since this is well known, it is much easier to point out to people how much of the OnGame Network’s traffic crosses over from betting to poker – and so has no strategy knowledge (well, some people do of course, the majority not though).
I genuinely feel that online poker has become too Pokerstars-centric – in 2012 it almost feels like people have given up searching for the fishiest poker sites… and are just content to play against every grinder and his dog all day long in the same old- and some new – Pokerstars games.
Anyway, I have ranted about Pokerstars enough on my SNG Planet Blog…. Back to Betfair
The games are noticeably softer there. I challenge all readers to have a look and to come back and tell me this is not the case… the tournaments are just daft, if Stars has reached the point of ‘Light 5-betting’ then Betfair is back in the realm of solid TAG-should-win-it play. The cash games were pretty damn juicy too!
I don’t often include banners here at Plan3t Gong – here is one for curious readers to click this time though!
Getting Betfair Into My Network – An Idea Of The Work Involved
To start off with I have to play, and I mean properly play, not just a few hands here and there. The reason is that people can tell if you are writing a generic review or a review based on your own views. If you check out the kind of reviews on generic affiliate sites all over the web you will see exactly what I mean ‘Cash games are very good at XYZ Poker, with tournaments running every…. Blah blah’ lots of meaningless dry bullsh1t which is no use to anyone at all.
After playing I start with the 2 key reviews, the main one for SNG Planet and the SNG specific one… we are talking 2500 words here including all the relevant details and my humble opinion. We then need to think about getting them translated into Russian, Hungarian, Romanian and German (I have let French and Polish go for the time being)… and to link these reviews into the main pages and comparison articles.
We then have the supporting network which are smaller sites based around various sub-niches of poker (I now include this blog in the list). Each needs a review and / or an article highlighting this new site – my plan is that we send people from these sites to the main reviews.
Next the Bonus Club network needs to get updated… main review, updates to the comparison pages and links from all the main pages… in several different languages.
I am not even ¼ of the way through yet. Happy to be doing this though, this is for money of course, but also in the wider sense that I should be highlighting the best sites for readers of all of my websites. I just do not feel that ‘Pokerstars are fan-bloody-tastic’ is going to cut it in 2012, people are ready for a change and – with my continued campaign – hopefully becoming more aware that there are bigger profits and more fun to be had at different poker sites!
Oh, forgot the fish-o-meter, that will need updating too… direct to the php script… sigh!
GL at the tables, Mark
Monday, March 26, 2012
A Spring Full Of Poker Events
Spring in the air… so why am I sat inside writing about online poker events? Never mind that, here is a quick rundown of some of the online poker events (and satellites to some live ones) you can get involved with, erm, should it rain…
1 – SCOOP at Pokerstars
This is the 2nd most anticipated online poker event (the WCOOP each autumn being the first). The preliminary schedule has just been released which puts the start date for this one at May 6th. This event has a low / mid / high version of each tournament… and you can join the 1000’ of qualifiers to get into a higher event than you might normally play. Serious money is up for grabs, some lucky winners will have their lives changed by this one.
2 – iPOPS at Titan Poker
iPOPS stands for the iPoker Online Poker Series… for some reason this one does not roll off of the tongue the same way as SCOOP etc do. Anyway, this one is a series of 5 tournaments, with a twist! They start April 29th, have $1 million guaranteed in prizes and there are satellite qualifiers running right now.
The twist? The main event breaks up with 27 players still to go… and continues in Barcelona in a live-setting. This game alone has $500k guaranteed, so some big money to be had for the lucky final table players!
3 – PokerFest Back At Party Poker
Another successful tournament event leads to a re-run. PokerFest II kicks of April 22nd and has $3.5 million in guaranteed prizes – along with a $1 million guaranteed main event. There are plenty of satallites, leader boards, and those famous party poker fishy players too. One extra to look out for with this are the ‘Side Events’ which pay out WSOP packages as well as special daily dollar games each one with a unique twist… you will have to check out Party Poker to find out more.
4 – WSOP Satellites
These are now kicking off at Cake Poker and Party Poker… Pokerstars usually get theirs going when the SCOOP is over and the other sites are sure to be close behind. I have a dedicated page for these qualifiers over at SNG Planet which will get updated very soon (well, as soon as I finish my million other to-dos anyway!).
5 – More Live Events To Note
The WPT Marbella is soon, and you can qualify online for the UKIPT too – with the upcoming Nottingham event having a cool $1 million in guaranteed prize money these events are getting better and better.
GL at the tables, Mark
1 – SCOOP at Pokerstars
This is the 2nd most anticipated online poker event (the WCOOP each autumn being the first). The preliminary schedule has just been released which puts the start date for this one at May 6th. This event has a low / mid / high version of each tournament… and you can join the 1000’ of qualifiers to get into a higher event than you might normally play. Serious money is up for grabs, some lucky winners will have their lives changed by this one.
2 – iPOPS at Titan Poker
iPOPS stands for the iPoker Online Poker Series… for some reason this one does not roll off of the tongue the same way as SCOOP etc do. Anyway, this one is a series of 5 tournaments, with a twist! They start April 29th, have $1 million guaranteed in prizes and there are satellite qualifiers running right now.
The twist? The main event breaks up with 27 players still to go… and continues in Barcelona in a live-setting. This game alone has $500k guaranteed, so some big money to be had for the lucky final table players!
3 – PokerFest Back At Party Poker
Another successful tournament event leads to a re-run. PokerFest II kicks of April 22nd and has $3.5 million in guaranteed prizes – along with a $1 million guaranteed main event. There are plenty of satallites, leader boards, and those famous party poker fishy players too. One extra to look out for with this are the ‘Side Events’ which pay out WSOP packages as well as special daily dollar games each one with a unique twist… you will have to check out Party Poker to find out more.
4 – WSOP Satellites
These are now kicking off at Cake Poker and Party Poker… Pokerstars usually get theirs going when the SCOOP is over and the other sites are sure to be close behind. I have a dedicated page for these qualifiers over at SNG Planet which will get updated very soon (well, as soon as I finish my million other to-dos anyway!).
5 – More Live Events To Note
The WPT Marbella is soon, and you can qualify online for the UKIPT too – with the upcoming Nottingham event having a cool $1 million in guaranteed prize money these events are getting better and better.
GL at the tables, Mark
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Some Cool Poker Tournament Promotions
Plenty going on in the world of poker tournaments at the moment… so this post is a quick run down of what is going on – along with links to places for more info on my wider poker network. If you love poker tournaments then these promos are always worth looking out for… you often find extra bonuses and incentives which can add some nice cash to your bottom line!
Pokerstars: Micro Millions:
I have detailed this one over at the SNG Planet blog in this post… 100 events, a $1 million first main event with a $22 buy-in and a reload bonus with a free token. This looks great!
Carbon Poker – Poker Maximus:
This one has already started, and includes a $200k guaranteed (I believe this is the biggest US online tournament since black Friday). A high roller event and plenty of other guarantees should see a lot of action on this Merge Network site… there is also a 70% reload bonus up to the 15th of March.
Party Poker – Spring Million:
The latest in Party Poker’s popular ‘Million’ series (seems to be about 1 per quarter at the moment), this is not until May 6th… however there are some good reasons for checking out Party now – the satellites. These start at just $1 (haha, sounded like a commercial there… ‘and that’s not all!’) and feed into progressively higher qualifiers. If you have not experienced the fish-fest which is a party poker satellite before then let me urge you to take a look… there is no easier site to win your $640 entry to the big event – and potentially life-changing money at the end of it!
Pokerstars – SCOOP
The spring championship usually gets announced around this time of year… this is always HUGE. Just flagging it for now – when the schedule comes in I will link to it from SNG Planet.
Titan Poker IPOPS2
Well, this is not quite the same as the ECOOP… but a worthwhile tournament promotion none the less. Titan are the biggest site on the crazy-soft iPoker Network, which is enough of a reason to play all on its own! IPOPS stands for ‘iPoker Online Poker Series’ and the 2012 version guarantees $1 million over 5 events. The twist with this one is that the final 3 tables of the main event (which has a $500k guarantee) transfer from the virtual tables to live poker. The last 27 will be flown to Barcelona to play for the big money… oh and you can satellite in too.
Remember that you can take advantage of my exclusive SNG Planet reader offer of a 200% match + $20 free cash ($30 min deposit needed for the extra cash!). Just use bonus code SNGPLANET – Click This Link To Check Out Titan Poker Now!
(PS: If you’d like more info first, you can read my Titan Poker 2012 Review here)
Pokerstars – Hot Turbos
I know, I know, Pokerstars again… these turbos are worth a look though – a bunch of daily guarantees for those who like their poker tournaments a little on the fast side!
Still waiting for news on the next Fishmarket at Red Kings… I am back in the office and updating regularly at the moment… so keep those eyes peeled!
GL at the tables, Mark
Pokerstars: Micro Millions:
I have detailed this one over at the SNG Planet blog in this post… 100 events, a $1 million first main event with a $22 buy-in and a reload bonus with a free token. This looks great!
Carbon Poker – Poker Maximus:
This one has already started, and includes a $200k guaranteed (I believe this is the biggest US online tournament since black Friday). A high roller event and plenty of other guarantees should see a lot of action on this Merge Network site… there is also a 70% reload bonus up to the 15th of March.
Party Poker – Spring Million:
The latest in Party Poker’s popular ‘Million’ series (seems to be about 1 per quarter at the moment), this is not until May 6th… however there are some good reasons for checking out Party now – the satellites. These start at just $1 (haha, sounded like a commercial there… ‘and that’s not all!’) and feed into progressively higher qualifiers. If you have not experienced the fish-fest which is a party poker satellite before then let me urge you to take a look… there is no easier site to win your $640 entry to the big event – and potentially life-changing money at the end of it!
Pokerstars – SCOOP
The spring championship usually gets announced around this time of year… this is always HUGE. Just flagging it for now – when the schedule comes in I will link to it from SNG Planet.
Titan Poker IPOPS2
Well, this is not quite the same as the ECOOP… but a worthwhile tournament promotion none the less. Titan are the biggest site on the crazy-soft iPoker Network, which is enough of a reason to play all on its own! IPOPS stands for ‘iPoker Online Poker Series’ and the 2012 version guarantees $1 million over 5 events. The twist with this one is that the final 3 tables of the main event (which has a $500k guarantee) transfer from the virtual tables to live poker. The last 27 will be flown to Barcelona to play for the big money… oh and you can satellite in too.
Remember that you can take advantage of my exclusive SNG Planet reader offer of a 200% match + $20 free cash ($30 min deposit needed for the extra cash!). Just use bonus code SNGPLANET – Click This Link To Check Out Titan Poker Now!
(PS: If you’d like more info first, you can read my Titan Poker 2012 Review here)
Pokerstars – Hot Turbos
I know, I know, Pokerstars again… these turbos are worth a look though – a bunch of daily guarantees for those who like their poker tournaments a little on the fast side!
Still waiting for news on the next Fishmarket at Red Kings… I am back in the office and updating regularly at the moment… so keep those eyes peeled!
GL at the tables, Mark
Monday, February 27, 2012
Back To Poker Basics: Knowing vs Doing
Another post for those on the start of their poker journey today… the last one looked at the gap concept, covering pre-flop starting hand selection. Here I will carry right on with the theme – though in a slightly different way. You see, it is all well and good knowing about poker strategy, and those things you should and should not do at the tables… the big difference between winning players and the rest concerns having the discipline to actually see thought the action based on your knowledge.
Let me start with the gap concept. You know you need stronger starting hands when someone has already entered the pot with a raise, yet still play those weak aces? You know what you should do, but in the heat of battle… well, you have not had a good hand in ages… but hey, you might get lucky with 2 pairs this time.
Stop stop stop.
What separates a winning player from the rest is that they are disciplined in their approach… only deviating when there is a solid reason (a mathematical one, not just a hunch!).
There are many more examples, the classic is an ICM mistake in Sit N Go Tournaments. Here a player might be experienced enough to know that calling with their ace-queen (for example) against a shove at the bubble is a losing play over time. Yet that hand feels so strong, looks so good and they are sure it crushes their opponents starting hand range… nope, you call here and you lose money, not some abstract ev measurement – we are talking real money.
That guy raises from the button again and you have junk in the big blind. You know in your clear thinking moments that you should fold, you will find a spot soon enough… or even steal some blinds yourself. Something still makes you call or re-raise… when he re-raises your turn barrel you know you are in trouble, yet he might just be pushing you around… of course discipline would have prevented this ugly situation.
I could easily come up with more examples here… no need for now, as I am sure you get the message.
It is no good just knowing what to do… you need to act on it too!
GL at the tables, Mark
PS: For a great introduction to winning $$$ from the poker tables check out my poker ebook course ‘the $16 per hour SNG blueprint’ over at SNG Planet now!
Let me start with the gap concept. You know you need stronger starting hands when someone has already entered the pot with a raise, yet still play those weak aces? You know what you should do, but in the heat of battle… well, you have not had a good hand in ages… but hey, you might get lucky with 2 pairs this time.
Stop stop stop.
What separates a winning player from the rest is that they are disciplined in their approach… only deviating when there is a solid reason (a mathematical one, not just a hunch!).
There are many more examples, the classic is an ICM mistake in Sit N Go Tournaments. Here a player might be experienced enough to know that calling with their ace-queen (for example) against a shove at the bubble is a losing play over time. Yet that hand feels so strong, looks so good and they are sure it crushes their opponents starting hand range… nope, you call here and you lose money, not some abstract ev measurement – we are talking real money.
That guy raises from the button again and you have junk in the big blind. You know in your clear thinking moments that you should fold, you will find a spot soon enough… or even steal some blinds yourself. Something still makes you call or re-raise… when he re-raises your turn barrel you know you are in trouble, yet he might just be pushing you around… of course discipline would have prevented this ugly situation.
I could easily come up with more examples here… no need for now, as I am sure you get the message.
It is no good just knowing what to do… you need to act on it too!
GL at the tables, Mark
PS: For a great introduction to winning $$$ from the poker tables check out my poker ebook course ‘the $16 per hour SNG blueprint’ over at SNG Planet now!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Do You Really Aspire To Becoming A Poker Robot?
Tongue-in-cheek post time… this one was inspired by reading through various poker forums and seeing the incredible exchanges between poker robots… erm, no, I mean between individuals who got good at multi-table grinding and are probably well balanced and friendly types with great social lives and no spots or greasy hair at all.
I love these kids, I really do. They got beaten and belittled at school, they got spurned by the ladies at college.. and now they are ‘free’ they are free to break even over 24 tables and make a comfortable living from points bonuses, they are free to act all superior in front of other nerdy losers who aspire to be just like them.. they are free to get snarky and act cool behind a keyboard towards those who are trying to be like them… they have escaped the world telling them what to do – but at what price?
The price is that they are trapped by their setups, trapped into spending 8+ hours a day alone, focusing on a computer screen, making thousands of utterly trivial dull decisions for every one which is even slightly interesting. They living in a world where the only change in the future might be higher buy-in level, or a new tool to bring in 0.001% more cash, at the mercy of poker sites who might decide to change their calculations in points or even run off with their bankroll completely. Their social interaction becomes a forum where instead of becoming friends with their peers they simply vent their frustration and anger at having such a monotonous and soul-destroying job.
Of course, they made their decision to be ‘free’ and will defend it until their dying breath. You fools who work for the man with your career prospects and social interactions… they will not be trapped into working in that cubicle all day, no way! Of course the irony is that the only jobs ex-grinders are capable of doing are the junior positions which their peers already worked their way out of to enter more challenging and interesting paths ahead.
Once they take the step to grinding freedom nobody can tell them they are wrong. As their friends disappear one by one, and they are left isolated with their computers and post-counts they will hold themselves tall and proud of examples of someone who ‘made it’… while those who once liked or loved them just look on in pity.
Hey, I love poker too.
Tell me though, do you really aspire to becoming a self-loathing online poker robot?
I love these kids, I really do. They got beaten and belittled at school, they got spurned by the ladies at college.. and now they are ‘free’ they are free to break even over 24 tables and make a comfortable living from points bonuses, they are free to act all superior in front of other nerdy losers who aspire to be just like them.. they are free to get snarky and act cool behind a keyboard towards those who are trying to be like them… they have escaped the world telling them what to do – but at what price?
The price is that they are trapped by their setups, trapped into spending 8+ hours a day alone, focusing on a computer screen, making thousands of utterly trivial dull decisions for every one which is even slightly interesting. They living in a world where the only change in the future might be higher buy-in level, or a new tool to bring in 0.001% more cash, at the mercy of poker sites who might decide to change their calculations in points or even run off with their bankroll completely. Their social interaction becomes a forum where instead of becoming friends with their peers they simply vent their frustration and anger at having such a monotonous and soul-destroying job.
Of course, they made their decision to be ‘free’ and will defend it until their dying breath. You fools who work for the man with your career prospects and social interactions… they will not be trapped into working in that cubicle all day, no way! Of course the irony is that the only jobs ex-grinders are capable of doing are the junior positions which their peers already worked their way out of to enter more challenging and interesting paths ahead.
Once they take the step to grinding freedom nobody can tell them they are wrong. As their friends disappear one by one, and they are left isolated with their computers and post-counts they will hold themselves tall and proud of examples of someone who ‘made it’… while those who once liked or loved them just look on in pity.
Hey, I love poker too.
Tell me though, do you really aspire to becoming a self-loathing online poker robot?
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