Author name: Web

Spin&Go GTO specialist among the school’s coaches (interview)

How I started my poker career After joining SM Staking and starting his career in the 5s limit, he rose to 50s in the shortest amount of contract games. He did it in about 6 months, which is why he got an offer to join the SM coaching team. A coach who focuses on the quality of the game rather than the number of games, Pure GTO specialist Dovydas Jonušas. How did you become a Spin&Go player who managed to climb the limits so quickly? I came to SM Staking as a 5s limit player, still quite “green” so to speak. After playing 1k games I went up to 10s limit, after playing 4k more games (about 3 months) I went up to 25s limit. It took about 3 more months to reach the 50s limit. All in all, I went from 5s to 50s in 6 months. Of course, it would have been impossible to go up the limits so quickly without SM Staking. The school gave me access to a huge library of information, organised group lessons and a personal trainer. I did what was necessary – I set a clear goal that I wanted to become a poker professional. Before that, I was working in an office, so I gave myself six months and set myself the condition “either I get serious about poker or I go back to the office”. My goal was not to play 5s limit, my goal was to go up in limits. When the part was spinning a higher volume of games, I was concentrating on the EV of the game. More than half of my time was spent learning strategy, raising the quality of my game. First I learnt to play better and then I started to increase the number of games. What’s important to improve quickly in Spin&Go? A professional approach to poker. We all have what is called an ‘A game state’ where we play our best poker, but it is important to understand that this state is not random. The preparation we do for our play sessions and the work we do on ourselves in between them determines how often we show our best game. The intense competition in poker encourages discipline, good habits and personal development. Therefore, I encourage you to take an interest in psychological health, read self-help books, and find ways to keep yourself focused during the game. How and what methods do you use to help students achieve their goals? Very simply, we try to create a standard routine. We find out what the student’s short-term and long-term goals are, we find out what the main problems and mistakes are at the moment, and then we start to follow the routine to improve the quality of play. Poker doesn’t stand still, so I try to help as much as possible, both in terms of strategy and well-being. It should also be stressed that there are some things you can’t find described anywhere on the internet. And poker itself is becoming more and more complex, so a coach is needed to make it quicker and easier to become a professional poker player. Why do you like coaching? First of all, I spent a lot of time analysing Pure GTO situations. I like to study hands and even more to discuss them. When I teach lessons, I not only pass on the knowledge I have gained, but I also polish my own game. When training others, most situations are encountered hundreds of times, which allows you to grasp them to the level of automatism. When you see that someone else cares about my lessons and is able to absorb them, you feel the meaning of what you are doing. Working in the office, I gained experience in training new people, coordinating them and helping them to develop their skills. In general, I don’t like it when explanations are complicated, so I try to keep it simple and make the training and the discussion easy and understandable. I use everyday examples to present the information, and most importantly I focus on the thought process: how did you get to the mistake, how did you make the decision, rather than just solving the small mistake at hand. What advice would you give to a poker enthusiast? I probably won’t say anything new, certain things are essential, like spending at least half the time studying poker. Learn the basics later, learn the basics well at the beginning and raise your limit. Putting the emphasis on ChipEV rather than the number of tables and games is the best choice. And the smartest thing to do is not to waste time trying to learn Spin&Go on your own and join SM Staking. At the school you will get a top-class information base, the attention of a personal trainer, and other benefits that you can’t find anywhere else.

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Mindaugas Poker Odyssey: A Journey of abbyss

First of all, introduce yourself to our community and tell us a little about yourself: what is your name, how old are you, where are you from, what do you like to do in your free time? I am Mindaugas. I am 26 years old. I live in Telšiai. Most of my free time is taken up with studies, active activities – working out at the gym, cycling, being with my family and friends. How did you discover poker and start playing professionally? I learned about poker from a friend about 4 years ago. Before that, I hadn’t played it online at all. Although I didn’t get off to a good start, I didn’t want to give up because of my lack of knowledge about poker. I started to take a lot of interest, read books and learn how to play. I liked the “free time” nature of the job, which was always a priority for me, so it became my main activity. How did you discover the Spin & Go format, and how long have you been playing spins? What stakes are you currently playing at? I discovered Spin & Gos on the Pokerstars platform as soon as they came out, and I’ve been learning to play the format ever since. I’m currently settled at the 100s stakes. Tell us about your introduction to the SMStaking.com coaches and becoming a member. What are your impressions, how has your game improved, what have you learnt? I was one of Erikas’ first students before SMStaking.com was even founded. There were only 5 people in our group and now there are 10 times more. My impressions are very good, I got all the information, advice and motivation I needed. All this helped me to improve my game and to go up in stakes. How have the population trends changed compared to the first year and now: would you be interested in telling us separately about the changes in the population of casual and regular players? Has the competition only increased recently, i.e. the number of regs in relation to the leisure players? Certainly, the number of regular players has definitely increased over the years. There is now a lot of information available on the internet for everyone, a lot of stake/coach teams and this is really making itself felt. The number of regular and casual players is changing the higher stakes you play. But it also depends on what time you play… whether it’s night/day or weekend or holidays. If you analyse everything and choose the best time you can really have a good hourly rate. How long have you been in the 100s? What is the situation now at these stakes, what percentage of casual players do you see in the playerpool there? I’ve been playing 100s for about 2 months now, as I said it depends on when you start your session. But in general, it is safe to say that the reg population there is around 60% or even more. What does a typical “working day” look like for you? Do you have any routine/habits to keep your poker day productive and efficient? I set my schedule at least 2 weeks in advance. For example, at the moment my grind schedule looks like this: 2:30 AM Alarm sounds. Breakfast and shower. 3:00-13:00 Grind. I have a short break every 1h during the grind and a longer one for a meal. 14:00 Gym 15:30-19:00 Free time 20:00 I’m mostly asleep Tell us about your strengths – how are you better than the field? I work with psychology, I have a tight schedule so I can stay focused for long periods of time when making decisions. One of my strongest spots is playing with recreational players, trying to squeeze every penny I can. I also don’t forget working with the regs, studying their game. Tell us about your main weaknesses and leaks and where you can improve? Is there much room for improvement at high stakes? There is always room for improvement in poker, trends change very quickly, so you have to keep yourself busy and analyse your own game as well as others. What do you think about the future of Spin & Go games and online poker in general? How much longer can Spin & Go games make a good livelihood? I think Spin & Gos will have a long and happy life. Mindaugas’ graph:

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