Interview

Charles Hawk: Introduce yourself to our community.

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: I'm a chill guy from Romania, 27 year old. I dig good music and film, like traveling and visiting museums. I've been playing poker for around 6 years now, turned pro about 5 years ago.

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: I guess main poker achievement would be making SNE twice and learning the fkin game better :) I've been a high volume player for so long. Now I'm mainly focusing on improving my game more than printing vpps as rb was lowered and will continue so.

Charles Hawk: Which limits do you play? Are you looking forward to $200s spin? Do you think it will be ever introduced?

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: Playing 100s spins on ps.eu atm and been playing 50-100s on ps.fr ever since they added it until 31st December. Yeah, 200s spins would for sure increase my hourly and I hope they add it but it doesn't make that much sense for them as it would just make recs lose their money quicker and on top of that a 2 million top jackpot wouldn't be that much more enticing than the 1 million on 100s.

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: I think the psychological impact of playing to hit 1 mil or 2 mil is quite similar

Charles Hawk: Yes, that make sense.

Charles Hawk: Tell me 3-5 basic tips how to increase poker winnings for a low stakes grinder?

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: First off a lowstakes grinder should stop focusing on multitabling and shortterm profit; he should just try and acumulate as much knowledge he can about the game, improve and just start adding tables when he's obliterating a certain stake at which he's comfortable with the evhourly.

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: Secondly I think a pregrind day routine is a must. even if it's just drinking a glass of water, having breakfast and taking a 20 minute walk outside. It does wonders. Just don't wake up and jump at the tables. That's a very bad idea. I've done both so many times and the differences in playquality are absurd.

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: Be very careful with your bankroll. Focus on building it with proper grind and studying; don't go withdrawing every other day for some shitty-opulent thing that's you'll probably use twice and dump it on the desk. Only withdraw funds for vital stuff (rent/food et al) until you're a reg at a stake which permits some self-indulgence.

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: Take breaks regularly. I, for one, like taking a 30min break every 2 hours or so. Leaving your desk during the break would be preferable, but a man's gotta reddit what a man's gotta reddit sometimes.

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: Start putting money into an emergency account. 6 month imperative costs stashed into an account would do wonders when you're on that dreaded big downswing (which will invariably come at a certain point in your career). Having a small nestegg for rainy months will provide a great anti-stress cushion and help you cope with any swing much easier.

Charles Hawk: Tell me about your perfomance this year. How are you doing? Any graphs?

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: well, i took a rather long break from the grind this year but my graphs are open on spinlyzer

Charles Hawk: Tell me about the reg-to-fish ratio you are facing in the tables usually? How often do you play against 2 recs? How often do you play against 2 regs?

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: It's pretty rarely i get two recs on my tables. I'd say around 30% of my games are vs 2 recs, about the same amount are vs 2 regs.

Charles Hawk: Tell me in detail how does your learning process look? Also - what is your daily routine?

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: Well I usually discuss hands with several fellow grinders, review my own sessions from time to time and try to spot particular scenarios that I should fix; I like looking into games I played bad in and figure out what was the reason I made that lame spew. I do some hud analysis and define ranges accordingly.

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: Regarding daily routine: I usually start playing about 3 hours after I woke up. I try putting in at least 5 hours of quality poker per grind day, but 4 A game hours are sufficient. I take 3-4 breaks during a typical grind day; either I take my dog Max for a walk, chill watching a tv show episode with the female or scroll ze interwebs.

Charles Hawk: Do you have any techniques how to avoid autopilot and frustrations/tilt which comes from bad decisions?

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: Yeah, snap take break and do some small physical exercise and try to regain proper focus. If that doesn't work i just quit for a few hours.

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: Usually by the time I get back at the tables all the autopiloting and bad mood from bad decisions dissapears. I think it all starts to get easier once you got a proper gameplan put in place.

Charles Hawk: What new have you learned this year as a poker pro? What new have you learned off-tables?

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: I think I got better at playing vs regs. I believe putting pressure in unorthodox spots increases ev. Basically I'm a lot better at spotting reg tendencies compared to 2015 and my exploitative game is decent.

Charles Hawk: How positive are you about online poker future? Do you think 2016 changes is just the beginning from new owners?

Alexandru "stalagmita"​ C.: I'm pretty sure there's still at least 5 years in which a normal midstakes grinder can make a decent living from online poker. Any sane poker player should look into career alternatives during this time and allocate some time in developing other skills besides playing cards well.