Interview with SpinWiz owner and creator Sander Meister

My name is Sander Meister, I'm a 24 years old handsome guy from Estonia.

I've been "programming" since I was 14. I've been working for myself online since I was 16.

My main interests have always been game development, bot development and security.

For several years I wrote automation software for internet marketers such as eWhore IM bots, social network bots, CPA bots etc.

I have wrote several tools for gambling/poker also, such as a bot for PartyPoker, registration tools for PokerStars and a few programs to beat player vs player skill games in online casinos.

Charles Hawk: When and how did the development of SpinWiz start?

Sander Meister: The development of SpinWiz started in December 2014 when the majority was still convinced spins are not beatable.

My friend "frontbet" came to me and said I should stop everything I'm doing right now and work on a poker tool with him.

He spent a week at my place to help me with all the theoretical stuff. At first it was pretty much just the two of us, but now SpinWiz is owned by 5 people.

"frontbet" was the support team from January to early April; after that my girlfriend took over.

Sander Meister: SpinWiz is not an easy program to perfect, because we have no control over PokerStars, the tables starting etc. We have to rely on the data received from the SpinWiz client which makes everything a bit tricky.

Sander Meister: SpinWiz started out as a simple program, but now pleasing every customer is almost impossible. We try to go with what the majority wants.

Many players have confessed/been caught abusing bugs, but we have not banned a single person since January.

Charles Hawk: You are known for being online almost always…!

Sander Meister: I don't sleep a lot because I have a habit of taking on too many things, but when I do I'm always kind of scared to check my skype after waking up.

I spend a big part of my day monitoring the speed and health of the queues, trying to figure out why some issues appear and thinking what the future brings.

I get a lot of controversial feedback which makes my work a bit complicated.

Charles Hawk: Do you have any dream job (corporation name and position) related with coding/programming, which you would gladly start leaving all projects and duties behind?

Sander Meister: I like working for myself and will not consider accepting any type of long term job in any corporation.

I still believe accepting "an actual job" equals giving up and taking the easy route. I will always have my own projects and ideas that I have faith in.

Charles Hawk: Do you have any programming background? Do you think its important to learn that in university? In your opinion, is it true that there is no correlaton between uni degree and getting job as a programmer in top companies (saw that in a youtube advertisement recently)?

Sander Meister: I think of myself more as an entrepreneur than a programmer.

I have been "programming" (lets call it that) since I was around 14 years old and started making money online at 16 thanks to that.

Programming is not my job, it's my most useful skill. I wanted to make money and it turned out to help me the most with every idea I had.

I have never understood why someone would learn programming at the university. If you have the passion, portfolio, motivation and good people skills you will get a job in any company no matter what their "requirements" say.

If you're really interested in something it's hard to wait until you're old enough to finally go and learn it. If you start to study at a young age you will most likely already make decent money and have a big ego before you get a chance to attend a university.

Programming has to be the easiest thing to learn online and requires close to no talent overall.

If most of your skills are acquired in the university you have no real interest and shouldn't be learning to program in the first place.

If you think about it, a school is just a house where certain professionals meet to share their knowledge. Why is this any different from online courses, tutorial sites or forums?

Times have changed and people have a VERY hard time accepting the reality, because it seems too good to be true.

Charles Hawk: Are you driven by money/income mostly? Are there more important factors than money driving you?

Sander Meister: Money is my main motivator right after proving people wrong, however there are a few types of projects that are so exciting for me that I forget about money.

Charles Hawk: Could you share your life vision (Do you have some specific long-term goals and wishes which you are planning to achieve)?

Sander Meister: My current goal is to finally get more time to work on big projects that I enjoy working on. My long-term goal is to become the dictator of the world.

Charles Hawk: Would you share how to live a happy and meaningful life, and what those words mean to you personally?

Sander Meister: I always say harsh things about those who are happy with their "normal life", but in reality all that matters is that you're happy and feel good about yourself.

For me happiness mostly comes from working and accomplishing something that makes me feel special. My life will always have a meaning as long as I feel like I'm moving somewhere.

Charles Hawk: Do you have any daily schedules or routines? What does your standard day look like? How many hours do you sleep per day on average?

Sander Meister: I wake up and instantly check my Skype, put out some fires, make promises and then get ready for what's really important: food.

After my hunger for food is satisfied I just work on whatever is most urgent. My work is also my hobby and it's what I like doing most.

Most of my time is currently spent on SpinWiz which includes everything from Skype chatting to adding features (or bugs).

I currently sleep around 5 - 7 hours a day which is twice as much as I did in the previous 9 years. I sleep very randomly so it's hard for others to track.

Charles Hawk: Tell me your thoughts about moving forward? What do you think about regulars sitting other regulars?

Sander Meister: Spin & Go's are growing incredibly fast and the best way for us to keep things under control is to incentive regulars to play against weaker regulars. I personally think this is a really good method to make queues faster and motivate players to get better.

Right now, players are boosted in the queue by variable spots when they sit another SpinWiz user, and many smart regulars are taking advantage of that. We're willing to provide more or less incentive as necessary to help balance the "regular" ratios.

Charles Hawk: What do you think about division's possibility as it is in HUSNGS?

Sander Meister: The word 'cartel' did so much damage to HUSNGs, that it is widely believed that PokerStars won't tolerate cartels in Spin & Go's, so having any sort of group with entry rules and such will create such a bad image that it will likely cause them to take actions that risk disrupting the profitability of these games for professionals.