Interview with Cog Dis
Charles Hawk: Last time we talked 2 years ago. What changed during this period of time both in poker and off-tables?
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: Off table not much, I've just been doing the family thing. On the tables I've been playing spins for 99% of my volume, between $30-$100 buyins.
Charles Hawk: Have you fully transition to Spin and Goes? Do you play some husngs on a side?
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: Yeah I'm 99% spins, I just play some husngs now and again
Charles Hawk: How are you learning the game of Spins? Are you studying hard?
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: I study constantly, I wont say how I study, don't want to give anyone edge, but rest assured I'm constantly improving.
Charles Hawk: Do you set any goals what do you want to achieve in Spins?
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: Sure bink a million dollars and run off laughing. Failing that, pay the bills.
Charles Hawk: What do you enjoy playing more Spins or husngs? Why?
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: I enjoy spins because I can dream about hitting the jackpot. One day it might happen and then I have a huge lump of cash, assuming I win.
Charles Hawk: You are a veteran playing 9 years already. What stops you from moving up the stakes in husngs? Maybe with right pokerfriends or mental attitude you could join higher divisions?
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: Well it's pretty clear that husng's have a bot problem at the moment. When I say this, I don't want to confuse what Skier is doing. He is following the rules and is definitely not a bot, in fact he could be one of the most brilliant minds in poker.
But there are other players who have extremely suspicious patterns of behaviour.
Players who were amongst the weakest high stake regs, who were pushed out of 1ks and 500s, who suddenly return, playing 300 games a day and showing unprecedented winrates.
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: Some of them were losing massively to their fellow regs, triple rake in some cases, and now they crush these same players after not playing at all for months.
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: When you add in the fact that they all come from the same country, it seems like complete bullshit to me.
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: There are also guys at the mid stakes from other countries who have come from nowhere and can suddenly 6 table vs different regs profitably.
Charles Hawk: Is it easier to grind husngs than lets say few years ago because of regs transition to Spins?
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: I'm not grinding them, but I think they are getting very competitive above the 100s, certainly a lot of reg wars, and as I mentioned the bots.
Charles Hawk: How many tables do you play at once? How are you handling bigger swings comparing to husngs? Any problems with tilt or big frustrations which affects your game (from time to time)?
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: I like just to play 3 tables, I'm old and can't handle more :D I don't really get that tilted in spins, it's not as personal as hu is, so things don't affect me as much. Not saying I never get tilted, but not as badly as I did in HU.
Charles Hawk: How do you see your poker future? Let's say 5 years from now?
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: I think a guy like me who needs to make a few k a month to survive will always be able to do that, but the big $ in poker are clearly gone. I remember in 2013 mrgreen made well over a million from hu. Noone is making that these days. He realized very early that the window of opportunity was closing.
Charles Hawk: How have you handeled rake increase at the beginning of 2016? Do you think Amaya will go further at the beginning of 2017?
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: The rake increase hasn't really affected me that much. I hope they stop here and don't keep going, but we have no control over the situation really.
Charles Hawk: Do you have some sort of plan b what to do if situation goes out of control?
Paul 'Cog Dis' Collins: Poker is it for me, there is no real plan B. It's not a good situation to be in at my age, I've enjoyed having 10 years at home with my kids and playing poker, but there's a price to pay for that, and in my case the price is, there's no plan.
Things certainly were insane for awhile with Green type money being made, though if you remember back to when you (and I) started playing poker, the biggest winners in HUSNGs were like 200-300k in a year. It's certainly been a mountain since then as far as profit ceiling, but I think the lowest period was the late-ish 2000s (07-08 area).
Regarding non poker income, you could always go back to teaching, no?
A follow up question, I don't know if it is this way in Asia or AU where you were before, but do normal jobs have a retirement plan? If so, what do you do in place of that since you play poker for a living and you're not in your 20s?
As for going back to teaching, I've been out for 10 years, it's possible, but wouldn't be pleasant!
I'll have to get creative and find a retirement plan seeing I don't have one :D
Skype/AIM- cogdissonance1
Is that confirmed that dr3amka/hu_mafia are doing well vs 1k regs? Has anyone reached Stars regarding their sudden comeback?
Stars doesn't care about husng's. They took control of spins, but hu are the wild west. People can do whatever they can get away with, which at the moment is everything short of ddosing opponents.
Also note that I'm not naming names, I'm just giving my opinion on the situation. I could be wrong, but I'm not the only one that thinks that bots are everywhere in mid/highstakes atm.
Skype/AIM- cogdissonance1
I was the one naming names. It's kinda funny that PS asks a 90 minute video from a fairly well known HS regular (who even plays multiple games), but DGAF when two washed up pros reappier and start battling everyone at 1ks.
You are definitely wrong that bots are everywhere in mid-high stakes.
I do not know about high stakes, and there are few names that everyone suspect. There are also rumous in the low stakes at 7s-15s with some big multi-tablers, but we for sure do not have big bot problems at mid stakes. I am not saying that there are no bots. We even had a member from 30s that pokerstars banned and who seemed suspect. But it is hardly a problem at mid stakes.
Svojt, you're right, midstakes are technically 30-99, I was thinking $100-$300 which are midstakes in my mind
Skype/AIM- cogdissonance1
My retirement plan is to move to Bali.
Also. If there is a bot problem in HUSNGs why can't there be a bot problem in Spins?
ZoomRush - Fast Fold Poker Videos, Strategy and Software
Could be, it's just a lot more obvious in hu
Skype/AIM- cogdissonance1
Hi Paul,
Congratulations on making a living out of poker for your family for 10 years! I can't think of many others who have managed to do it for that long, adapting from Reg speed to Hyper and finally Spins.
I think you have a lot to be proud of!
Question:
When Pavels4444 quit he said :" I just don’t like the GTO approach which is absolutely necessary to learn in today’s game. I used to love husngs because you were finding the best strategies to exploit other’s weaknesses and the strategies have been evolving all the time. Nowadays, it’s more about finding the correct static strategy for all situations and being as unexploitable as possible".
Your game also used to be based very much on your strong hand reading skills and exploiting other's weaknesses. What about now? Have you incorporated more GTO stuff into your game too??
genher
When I was talking about studying I basically meant GTO. I incorporated a lot of GTO lines into my game, and I've also tried to incorporate very non GTO lines to exploit people who aren't used to them. I think though I may move away from GTO in the future and work on more and more exploitative lines.
Skype/AIM- cogdissonance1
good interview and answers mate, would love to up the family and move them to bali or somewere like that, nothing short of a kidnapping would make that happen tho keep living the dream sir and GTFO out the 30s ty
u have prob the highest CPG v fish over a large sample have u studyed these specimens in details to become the ultimate fish crusher?
Ty mate, very kind, you know I'm the fish whisperer :D I think like a fish so it's a natural thing.
Skype/AIM- cogdissonance1