ZOMG - Gramps Only Took 3.75 Years to Make 1600 Posts!

[Gramps]

A long time ago, in a world far away...I registered for 2+2 here at my friend's bequest back in Feb. '04 - I'd read the Sklansky books, becoming a winning LHE 6-max 1-tabler at low stakes, and was like ZOMG Pokertracker! ZOMG 3-tables at once! ZOMG there's almost 30,000 people on Party and everyone thinks the end of online poker is nigh! Started playing 3 tables of $2/4 full-table limit on Party and making $25/hour. Was dying to take on some out-of-the-box challenge in life where I could work for myself and make at least a half-way decent living - let's do this [censored]!

Started messing with SNGs in the summer of '04 and realized people pushed really tight and called really tight when the blinds were big late game - Party SNGs = $$. I was really rough around the edges, had some not-so-fun swings at times along the way, but feel like I've improved every year.

I still make a ton of mistakes, probably play my "B game" or "C game" most of the time, but with the $$ mostly in volume this year, I've been able to crank out a bunch of hours and still earned a good chunk of change aside from RB/bonus. Hope to have a good last two months in '07, crank out a bunch of SNGs in 2008, and continue to improve my game and adjust well to whatever changes take place.

It seems like a lot of people make good Pooh-Bah posts and say what I would say, so I'm probably just repeating most things, but here's a top-5 characteristics of what I'd like to see in someone to become a top SNG'r/poker player:

(1) Threshold level of aptitude:

(2) Belief/confidence that can be maintained through exteme adversity, balanced with an understanding that you can fall into bad habits/be wrong at times:

(3) Ability to handle the emotion/stress/unfairness of the game:

(4) Understanding that correct strategy is largely determinant on your opponents’ play, ability to identify changes in your opponents thinking/play, knowing what adjustments to make to those changes, and making the correct adjustments:

(5) Choosing to have a positive mindset in poker/life:

I'll rant a little in regards to #5, because a lot of us poker players seem to suck at it so often - Yes, it is a choice. Yes, a large part of your reality is shaped by how you perceive yourself and the world around you. If you suck at thinking happy thoughts, well, it's kind of a learned trait - just like anything it takes practice, and even after you learn it you may have setbacks. And I don't mean go Stuart Smalley on the world, but just being appreciative of what you have, taking time to smile and laugh (hey, it can still be at the expense of other people). You can still be a competitive [censored] a-hole when you have to.

Those with purpose, positive belief, bounceback, and a willingness to work hard for what they want will probably go very far in life. Doesn't mean things won't frustrate the [censored] out of you at times, but you'll be playing the game with with a stacked deck (do not insert any "sucked out by dominated hand" comments in said analysis please).

Out!

P.S. If anyone has any strategy questions or other questions about SNGs, I'd be happy to give my opinions here. Feel free to fire away.

[vers]

n post, congrats on pooh-bah.

[Ditch Digger]

How much have you paid in rake this year?

[bones]

Gramps, besides the ability to handle soul-crushing variance, what do you think separates you from other sng players?

Also why do eastern European strippers love you so much?

[IFoldPktOnes]

Grats on Pooh-Bah, your post are always insightful. When I realized how successful a sng player you were a couple of months ago I spent some time reading through some of your older posts.

[ QUOTE ]
Gramps, besides the ability to handle soul-crushing variance, what do you think separates you from other sng players?

[/ QUOTE ]
This might save some typing for Gramps [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[jgunnip]

#5 is sososososo ssosososos important. ship it Gramps. You've probably been around the longest as far as high stakes players go. Keep on trucking mang.

[suzzer99]

PokerStars Tournament, Big Blind is t20 (9 handed) Converter on pregopoker.com

UTG (t1500)
UTG+1 (t1500)
MP1 (t1500)
MP2 (t1500)
MP3 (t1500)
CO (t1500)
Hero (t1500)
SB (t1500)
BB (t1500)

Preflop: Hero is in Button with Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
<font color="red">UTG raises to t40</font>, <font color="gray">UTG+1 folds</font>, <font color="gray">MP1 folds</font>, <font color="gray">MP2 folds</font>, MP3 calls t40, <font color="red">CO raises to t140</font>, Hero calls t140, <font color="gray">SB folds</font>, <font color="gray">BB folds</font>, UTG calls t100, MP3 calls t100

Flop: (t590) K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (4 players)
<font color="red">UTG bets t140</font>, <font color="gray">MP3 folds</font>, CO calls t140, Hero calls t140

Turn: (t1010) 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (3 players)
<font color="red">UTG bets t220</font>, CO calls t220, Hero calls t220

River: (t1670) 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (3 players)
<font color="red">UTG bets t220</font>, CO calls t220, Hero?

$225 - first hand of tourney vs. 2 unknowns. Please comment on every street.

[Velocity]

gramps, do you have an aim name you could pm me so i could bug you with questions about things in the future. will repay answers with lap artist time at future sttf events.

thanks,
Velocity

[Gramps]

[ QUOTE ]
How much have you paid in rake this year?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the average rake I pay for games I play in is about 6%, I've played roughly $5 million of SNGs so far, so that would put it at about $300,000. With the games getting much tougher post-Party, the introduction of the high-volume bonuses to raise effective RB &gt; 50% has been huge.

[Gramps]

[ QUOTE ]
Gramps, besides the ability to handle soul-crushing variance, what do you think separates you from other sng players?

Also why do eastern European strippers love you so much?

[/ QUOTE ]

The first one is a good question, I'm not totally sure. I've always scored up with the math club kids on aptitude tests, but have some people understanding as well, so that's a good combo. I'm more of an introvert and prefer my own private work space, so I actually like sitting in front of a computer all day (with semi-frequent breaks to go out and interact with people, of course). I'm the most competitive [censored] you've ever met at times, yet understand that it's a detriment in some respects and can laugh at myself getting upset at bad results - the combo of very competitive but having very good tilt control is hard to come by. I went from sucking at golf to being very good at golf through lots of painstaking practice, and reading books on the mental side of that game was a great base for poker which I've tried to apply. As far as specific strategy, I think I have a pretty good understanding of some long-run concepts against different opponents in strategy - SNGPT is a phenomenal tool (which I still get very rusty on all the time), but it's not the total answer to SNGs. Also, I'm pretty good at picking out small pieces of info to put people on more accurate ranges than what others might pick up on, me thinks.

As far as EE strippers, I would guess it's because I love them, and am the one holding the hundreds that they desire to get their hands on.