Author name: SM

How I started my poker career Road to 500s – a poker blog about reaching the highest limits. We give you the story of Aurimas, one of our best high stakes Spin & Go format poker pros. On March 15, 2020, Aurimas, also recognized as “Pulsas” in the online realm, shared insights about their poker journey. At 22 years old, I’m immersed in the world of poker, particularly focusing on 25-euro limit Spin & Go tournaments. Over the past few months, I’ve engaged in 2770 spins, maintaining a steady 70 chip EV. My immediate aim revolves around advancing to the 50-euro limit, necessitating either a 70 chip EV with 7,500 games, 75 chip EV with 6,000 games, or 80 chip EV with 4,500 games. As we can see, back in 2020 Aurimas already had set out goals, that even today some of us struggle to wrap our minds around. He was already playing 25-euro games but most importantly had the hunger for more. From childhood, Aurimas showcased a natural aptitude for logical pursuits. His journey began with notable achievements, securing third place in the Lithuanian Mathematics Olympiad during 9th grade and later clinching second place in the Kaunas City Programming Olympiad in 12th grade. Aurimas consistently demonstrated his prowess, earning placements in the top 50 of the esteemed “Kengūra” contest four times, ranking at #9, #13, #26, and #48 respectively. Moreover, he triumphed in the “Eruditus” logic thinking competition and attained commendable positions in the renowned “Bebras” contest, blending computer science with mathematics. In his second year of programming studies, Aurimas soared to prominence in the competitive strategy realm of “League of Legends.” His exceptional skill earned him the impressive rank of #72 in Europe, amidst millions of players. An enticing opportunity arose when he received an offer from the “Gamers Origin” team in France, inviting him to join their ranks for a monthly salary of 2,000 euros. Opting to seize this chance, Aurimas made the bold decision to depart from his studies and venture to Paris in the winter of 2018, immersing himself professionally in his beloved game. At that time Aurimas managed to defeat all the teams in France, came first in the French league, and qualified for the European Championship. He reminisces about his time in the esports field: “In the spring of 2018, we achieved 3rd-4th place in the European Championship and won a prize of 12,500 euros. It was a significant accomplishment, but it didn’t satisfy our multi-millionaire CEO, who wanted us to win everything. He decided to change the team’s composition and buy more expensive players. Ironically, the team that achieved that 3rd-4th place in Europe has been unable to repeat or improve that result so far. After Gamers Origin, I received many offers to play “League of Legends,” but they were all worse than what I had. So, I chose the best one and played “League of Legends” from home for 1,000 euros per month.” In November 2018, seeking a new challenge, Aurimas delved into the world of poker. Despite possessing minimal poker experience, with a grasp limited to the rules, he embarked on this journey. Guided by his friend Karolis, who was enrolled in a poker school at the time, Aurimas familiarized himself with the fundamentals of Spin & Go and gained insights into strategic ranges. Further refining his skills under the guidance of another friend, he acquired the software program “PokerTracker” to meticulously track his chip EV, using data provided by Karolis. Commencing with 1-euro tournaments, Aurimas was pleasantly surprised by his early successes, realizing the potential for profitable play with just rudimentary knowledge. Curiosity soon led Aurimas to explore the earning potential of professional poker players. Comparing it to his experiences in “League of Legends,” where daily battles against top-tier opponents were the norm, he found poker to offer a more straightforward path to financial success. Reflecting on the contrast, Aurimas remarked, “In ‘League of Legends,’ the competition was relentless against the world’s best players. But in poker, the challenge lay in triumphing over recreational French players, who engaged in the game for leisure and entertainment, while simultaneously navigating the competitive landscape among fellow professionals.” Therefore, in December 2018, he decided to become a professional poker player. At first, he planned to climb the limits on his own, but after a month of being stuck in the 5-euro limit, he realized that moving up to the highest stakes without proper knowledge and lessons was close to imposible. In January 2019, he joined our Spin & Go school. In about 9 months, Aurimas moved up to the 25-euro stakes. In November 2019, he was promoted and became a Junior Coach. However, at that point in time Aurimas admitted that not everything was going perfectly: “I slacked off a bit and didn’t grind much, so I’m still at the 25-euro limit, but now I’m getting back on track and will try to aim for the 50 euro limit. I’m writing this blog post as a motivation for myself to dedicate more time to grinding and not be embarrassed by my low volume. So far, that’s it, and I’m planning to update this blog approximately every week.” We are glad he did not give up on this plan after all. Where I am in poker now Aurimas has embarked on an arduous yet exhilarating journey to dominate the 250s and 500s games in the realm of high-stakes Spin & Go tournaments. Despite encountering initial challenges in 2023, marked by structural shifts at the Winamax poker room and emerging field tendencies, Aurimas remains resolute in his pursuit of triumph. “However,” he declares, “I vow to redouble my efforts to adapt, evolve, and master the evolving landscape, restoring my ability to conquer high-stakes challenges once more ⚔️.” #poker #spingo In the realm of high-stakes online poker, the margin for skill superiority over opponents is razor-thin, where every decision holds significant weight. Aurimas has consistently demonstrated that diligent effort and strategic acumen pave the path

March, 2020 March 17, 2020. “Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and Winamax for their new promotion! 🤩 🙏 🙏” March 19, 2020. „Halfway through the first week of blogging and still going strong. Started to hero fold more and balanced out my agro-game, so the blue line began to rise. Right now, I feel that I’m playing very well and will try to maintain this level of play in the future. 💪 💪” March 19, 2020. “500 euros in spinEV in one day! Have a good night, friends. 💤“ March 20, 2020. Aurimas shares some exciting news with the readers: ‘I moved up to the 50s, and today I grinded like crazy, playing 173 spins and achieving a chip EV of 104, making a profit of 1063 euros in spin EV. Both the game count and the spin EV profit in a single day are personal bests for me, so I’m very happy about it 🥳. Unfortunately, I fell just short of a 2000-euro net-won profit, but since I’m used to running under EV my whole life, it doesn’t really bother me. Anyway, tomorrow I’ll try to maintain my form and continue crushing the 50s. 💪 🔥” March 22, 2020. Aurimas shares his thoughts, stating that even when he runs under EV, his mind remains in the right place. March 3, 2020. “Playing aggressively is the way to play”. March 23, 2020. Aurimas shares his results regarding a solid Monday: “The first nine hours of Monday went well.” March 27, 2020. Aurimas celebrated a triumphant moment as he collected his first 10x multiplier in the 100s limit Expresso game and at last he had an over EV day. March 28, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 quarantine, Aurimas found solace in playing 100s. Surprisingly, the field felt remarkably easy.  March 29, 2020. During the week, Aurimas spun a €5000  and made a bad hero call, resulting in a loss. Lessons were learned, and a promise to be wiser was made. He also ventured into the €100s field, initially successful, but a streak of bad luck and coolers, coupled with a minor mistake, dented his EV. He expressed a commitment to continue next week with a €50/€100 limit, depending on the field. March 31, 2020. “My first 20x in 100s limit”. April, 2020 April 1, 2020: Aurimas won another x20! April 6, 2020. Aurimas shares his weekly recap: Totals: change from last week: Total game count: 461 | -255 Total Spin Ev profit: 1056€ | -2157€ Total Spin Ev profit + rakeback: 2009€ | -2602€ Total net won + rakeback: 2300€ | -696€ —————————————————————————————– Averages: | | Average chipev / tournament: 58 chip/ev | -20chip/ev Average Spin Ev profit / game: 2.3€ per game | Average Spin Ev profit + rakeback / game : 4,35€ game | Average net won + rakeback / game: 5€ per game | This week Aurimas had less time for grinding, because his friend’s life was in danger, so he couldn’t focus enough. April 13, 2020. Aurimas shares his thoughts about the week: “Meh week. variance wasn’t on my side. All the draws missed every time, and pre-all-ins sucked too. It’s still very hard to concentrate on my game. At least I ran above EV!” April 18, 2020. “Back to crushing”. April 19, 2020. “The 6 am field in the 100s limit game is very juicy.”. April 27, 2020. This week, Aurimas played 3-4 tables, which cost him a lot in terms of quality. Additionally, he experienced a lot of coolers, making it the worst week of his career. Next week, he plans to play 2 tables and focus on the quality of his play. He also intends to mark a lot of hands and study with the PureGTO tool. May, 2020 May 2, 2020. April’s recap: “Meh month, especially the second half of it. The main reason was that I was trying to play 4 tables, and I’m still not that good at it. So this month, I will only play 2 tables and try to improve my results.” July, 2020 July 28, 2020. Aurimas didn’t play a lot this summer and he shares his graph. September, 2020 September 8, 2020. “Hello, I will be streaming today 50s Spin & Go. Profit ~45eur/h”. September 12, 2020. Aurimas shares his successful Saturday so far! September 13, 2020. Aurimas collected a 100x multiplier in the Winamax 50s! November, 2020 November 12, 2020. Aurimas says that he wasn’t updating his blog because he experienced burnout from poker and had significant anxiety while playing. It took a considerable amount of time to get back on track, and he dedicated extensive efforts to improve his mental well-being. The anxiety significantly impacted his focus, resulting in numerous mistakes while playing poker. As a result, various factors accumulated, leading to burnout. However, he’s delighted to announce that those challenges are now behind him, and he’s returning with full strength, ready to resume grinding. Here is his graph for the month so far. November 11, 2020. “PokerStars 50s sherif”. November 30, 2020. Aurimas recaps his November month: ‘It’s great to be back on track and grinding. I’m now playing more balanced poker than ever before; the red and blue lines are equal, and I’m very proud of that. I’ve learned to play very exploitatively, extracting all the precious EV from the fish players. I’ve noticed that when I’m tired, I tend to play very aggressively, but when I’m focused, I maintain a balanced approach. The main focus now is to play less on autopilot and minimize spewing.” December, 2020 December 23, 2020. Aurimas shares his 2020 results – 13k games and 36k EUR made!

January, 2022   January 1, 2022. Aurimas started the new year in a bad mood: “New year and 6k EUR under EV. The saying goes, ‘How you start the new year, the way it will be?’”   January 6, 2022. “5,000 EUR spinEV+RB so far in January”.   February, 2022   February 6, 2022. Aurimas shares his results for 2022 so far and thinks that this year will be his best!   February 28, 2022. “17.5k EUR spinEV+RB in february and 28k EUR net won+rb!!”   March, 2022   March 29, 2022.Aurimas shares his thoughts about 2022 so far: “I’ve come to understand that it is very hard to achieve solid volume within the 250s/500s limits because there is not a lot of action or many regular wars, and it is not profitable to play. If there is only one regular player in the field, I just turn on 6-8 tables to try to target all the recreational players. However, I am not that good at playing this many tables yet, and I make some mistakes, causing my chipEV to drop. Over time, my multitabling skills will improve. So, right now, I plan to multitable more and enhance my skills.”   April, 2022   April 12, 2022. “50k spinEV+RB in first 100 days of 2022!”   May, 2022   May 1, 2022. April’s results: “I know that the game count is not that impressive, but in April, high-stakes action is pretty dead. Half of the grind time, I was just waiting for action. It is not interesting for me to play at the 100s limit because the sums seem to be so small. However, of course, I should change my mindset and play more at the 100s limit when there is no action in the 250s/500s.”   May 2, 2022. Aurimas shares his thoughts on what you need to become a great poker player: “In general, there are certain indicators that can predict how well you will perform in poker. These indicators would be as follows: Are you motivated to become a very good poker player? How good are you at mathematics? How well-developed is your logical thinking? (For example, results from IQ tests) Do you play other strategic games well? (For example, chess) Are you inquisitive? Do you learn quickly? Are you willing to study a lot? Are you psychologically strong? Can you manage your emotions well? Are you patient and disciplined? There are exceptions, of course, but usually, these indicators can predict the poker results of players quite well. The fewer points that match, the more work and effort you will need to put in to improve them. The more points that match, the faster your progress is likely to be.” May 5, 2022. “In the first 4 days of May, I made 7k in spinEV+RB.”.   May 22, 2022. This month, Aurimas can’t achieve a solid game count due to the regular wars and a vacation in Mexico, but spinEV+RB is still increasing!   June, 2022   June 1, 2022. “May was my best month, and finally, I’ve earned 20k EUR in spinEV+RB in one month!”   June 7, 2022. Aurimas shows his graph for this year, and as he predicted at the start of the year that this would be his best year, it seems he was right.   July, 2022   July 11, 2022. June’s month for Aurimas was the first break-even month this year. There were a lot of unlucky situations and coolers, one after the other. Furthermore, he had the biggest under EV swing of his career, being under 27k EUR. The good thing is that he had an EV deal. It seemed that Aurimas was doomed at every flip, and he had no fish players in the heads-up games. Now, he is feeling tired of playing poker, and he will take a break until the desire to play poker returns. When he is back, he will update his blog.   August, 2022   August 5, 2022. Aurimas is back to grinding!   September, 2022   September 7, 2022. Aurimas shares his results for August: “It was a so-so month. Seventy percent of the volume was played in one week. After the new Winamax update, the HUD was buggy, and Jurojin stopped working, so it frustrated me, and I decided to spend more time with my friends. On September 15th, I am going to Thailand for 6-9 months, so I can’t wait!”   September 17, 2022. “The view from my room. Went to sleep at 6 am, just like in Lithuania. It’s sad that the grinding time is not as great as in Mexico, but I’m still very excited.”   October, 2022   October 3, 2022. Aurimas recaps his September month: “Another standard month. Overall, I’m very happy because I was traveling a lot. I really like Thailand a lot. The culture here is very nice, and the Thai people are very welcoming to foreigners. The food is amazing here too, and personally, I find it better than in Mexico. Plus, if you shop in markets not aimed at tourists, you can live here very cheaply.”   October 14, 2022. “Only half of the month has passed, and I’ve earned 22k in spinEV+RB. This could be my all-time best month.”   November, 2022   November 1, 2022. Recap of October: “October was my personal best, as I predicted. It is sad that I was traveling a lot, and many grinding hours were lost. If it weren’t for this, I maybe would have broken the all-time SM record, but maybe next time.”   December, 2022   December 12, 2022. Aurimas shares his thoughts of November: “In the first two weeks on Winamax, I made 22k in spinEV+RB and again predicted a new record-breaking month, but Winamax decided to introduce 1-minute blinds instead of 3 minutes, which significantly worsened the situation for regular players. In response, many high stakes regulars, along with multiple tables and pools, boycotted Winamax, so I couldn’t play much there

January, 2021   January 1, 2021. “2021 starting with a bang!”   July, 2021   July 7, 2021. Aurimas shares his recent results: July 10, 2021. Aurimas says that he continues to dominate the field!   July 11, 2021. Aurimas recent victory in 250s limit: “Can’t stop, wont stop”.   September, 2021   September 15, 2021. A follower asked Aurimas to share his recent results in 100s limit.   September 20, 2021. “September so far in 100s with 40 percent rakeback”.   September 30, 2021. Aurimas recaps his September month: ‘This month went pretty well. Unfortunately, I ran under EV for half of the month and am still in the MU.’   October, 2021   October 3, 2021. Aurimas is pretty happy because he had a great start to the month, with a 3500 EUR spinEV in 3 days.   October 15, 2021. Aurimas recaps his October month so far: “Half of October has passed, and this month, I am multitabling a lot with four tables. I’ve noticed that I am making minor mistakes, and my chipEV has taken a hit. However, I am pleased that my volume is increasing. Playing a larger volume at high stakes is challenging because there is not a lot of action. So far, I am on a good run, having already made 14k in half a month!”   November, 2021   November 21, 2021. “November’s results so far.” All dates graph in 100s limit:

January, 2023 January 11, 2023. The last month of 2022. Aurimas is really happy with the game count he achieved because he was traveling a lot in Bali. Another problem was that the internet was very bad. SpinEV+RB could have been better, but even with the bad run he had, it is satisfying. Also Aurimas recaps the whole year of 2022. His goal was 100k spinev+RB., but he achieved outstanding 170k spinev+rb. Next year his goal is 300k spinev+RB. Also Aurimas is very happy in Thailand and has no plans now of returning to Lithuania. February, 2023 February 23, 2023. In January Aurimas was competing with other school members: “Last month, I took on a challenge with symbolic prizes for fun, and it was enjoyable to compete. Challenge points were awarded based on spinEV+RB, grinding time, and spinEV+RB based on buy-ins. This system balances the challenge quite well so that both low-limit and high-stakes players have a similar chance to win. The key point becomes investing as much time as possible. Unfortunately, I was short on that invested time, which resulted in me finishing in fourth place 😅 Nevertheless, I want to congratulate the winners who achieved exceptional results 🦈 💯 🔥 1st place. Congratulations to Markas, who consistently put in 45 hours each week and won a backpack with excellent results. 2nd place. Congratulations to Martynas, who in the third week of the challenge moved up to second place and secured a 16GB flash drive for himself 3rd place. Congratulations to Laimis, who started the challenge with a bang in first place but ran out of steam as time went on, ultimately settling for third place. In any case, he probably isn’t too disappointed because third place comes with a drinking glass. It was fun to compete, and we’ll probably plan something similar again soon 😁 I’m attaching a table of overall results, which might be interesting for some to see the results achieved by players at different limits.” February 25, 2023. Aurimas shares his results of 2023 so far: April, 2023 April 30, 2023. “Hello, I would like to inform you that I will be writing my blog in English moving forward as SM is expanding internationally. 2023 have been quite challenging for me, and unfortunately, past 2 months do not seem to be looking any brighter. Over the course of four months, I have only earned 27k spinev+rb, whereas I was able to make 46k during the same time frame last year. The recent structural changes at Winamax have particularly impacted the highest stakes, and I have struggled to adjust to the new field tendencies. However, I promise from this day onwards to put in more effort to improve, evolve, and adapt to the new field tendencies, so I can regain my ability to crush high stakes once again ⚔️ Adding my this year graphs if anyone’s curious: (PS seems to be going better for me after Winamax changes even though i play much less there :D)” June, 2023 June 4, 2023. “May results: Got extreme concentration of coolers this month in 500s, which made it really hard to make substantial profit. However i put in extra effort and played more hours and i managed to push my spinev+rb over 11k in the end 💪 Also about my travel plans: I came to Malaysia🇲🇾 few weeks ago and i’m planning to stay here 10 more days. After that i’m going to turkey🇹🇷 for few weeks and on june 29th i have flight back to Lithuania 🇱🇹 . So my next blog post will be from there. I’ve been traveling for ~9 month already, so i’m really missing my home country, my friends and traditional lithuanian food 🥺 See you all soon 👍 😁 👍” September, 2023 September 28, 2023. Aurimas finally updates his blog: “Hey, sorry for not updating my blog. Here’s my summer graph. The SM Pool had a significant upswing in August, so I was grinding a lot to take my cut of the pie. The profit for this summer is around 35-40k. September will be a break-even month due to a lot of reg wars.”