Analysis of the Poker Training Group
From an investment point of view this staking deal massively outperformed any other conventional investment product you would find like a stock or bond. Here are some of the interesting stats below.
Total Profit of the group from sharkscope.com. So this doesn't include rakeback and bounties = $31,068
Total # of games played from sharkscope.com = 17,199
Average Stake played = $17.73
Average ROI = 10.19%
Average $$ won per player = $3,452
As a group I am very happy with the ROI number. When you have an open invitation and don't have much screening for poker skill you never know what kind of group you are going to get. They are all smart guys though. They caught on very quickly. If I do another poker training group though I will do more screening on the applicants to make sure we aren't wasting each others time.
I am not real happy with the number of games played though. They played 40 days while here. The average number of games played per day per person was 48.
I think there are a couple of reasons for this. First, some of them would stop playing for the day if they were taking a lot of bad beats. I tried to prepare them for this in the initial training but it takes experience also to cope with it. Next, I did not push them as hard as I could have. I was pretty laid back with them and we had a pretty flexible schedule. Lastly, some of them could only play 2 tables at the start so it took a while to multitable effectively.
Personally, it was fun for me to do something different than playing all the time. It is rewarding for me to teach someone how to make a great living from their home playing poker. I enjoyed hanging out with the guys also. We went to an NBA game, played American football, played live poker at my house and enjoyed a few meals togeather.
Some of you may be wondering if I will do it again? I think I probably will. If I do it again though I would like to do it with a bigger group and another trainer. For a couple of weeks though I am going to take it easy and play a little.
Finally, an update on how I did at the tables. I played 1347 games while doing this and made $16,566.
Comments
if you use fulltilt poker email them and state your situation they use rakebackpros.com as one way to achieve rakeback they allowed me to get rakeback although i had been using my sn for over 2 years there...so email fulltilt and mention you want rakeback from rakebackpros.com
hey PimpinDonks! Congratulations on you success with the training group...i realized you said it might be a little bit b4 you get the next group together but i would like to say i would be very interested in participating in the next group of guys...i just wanted to throw it out there and tell you congrats! thanks and ttyl btw i'm spankykirky on fulltilt poker
What are the best times to play so you can fill 10-12 tables quickly ?
Also, If you don't mind me asking is there a new video in the works ? Maybe a heads-up video of a 45 man tourney.. It's a huge boost to the ROI if I can close-out a 1st place win most of the time instead of 2nd considering how tough to get heads-up, it helps cushion the times that you only min-cash.
While there are some heads-up video around here but those are HU SNGs which correct me if I'm wrong would be somewhat different because you have been playing the same player for a while and ending up picking up reads.
Heads-up coming from a FT, in these case a 45 man, has a lot of gear changes from entering the FT, bubble stage and finally heads-up stage.
What are you looking for in an opponent to dominate ?
What is the game plan if say you have a massive chip lead ? Game plan when your way behind in chips ? Game plan when your even in chips and has about 15 to 20 big blinds ? 10 to 12 big blinds ?
Seems like I'm rambling but I hope you get my meaning.
Regards.....
They fill up quickest from 5pm to 9pm eastern time.
HU at the end of a 45 man alot of times is knowing the correct range of hands to push/fold or call your opponents allin. If you are deeper staked you must know how to adjust to your opponents playing style. I don't have any plans to make HU videos right now, but it is a possibility for the future.
Hi Mark.
I want to give you all my congratulations for the training experiment that you and your "pupils" completed so good. I monitored it from the beginning to the end and I liked the way it's born, the way it grew and the way it ended. I'd have been there too, but your videos (and beanmo's ones) have been enough to turn me into a winning player (and, moreover, lately I'm running really good... too good!!!).
Well, that's all... let's keep in touch.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for all of your work. I have a question regarding adjusting pushing ranges to suit what I perceive as ever-increasing widening calling ranges. What I mean is that it seems that as play in the 45-mans has significantly improved over the recent months, more and more people are employing a strategy similar to the one that you advocate. As more people understand pushing ranges that create +EV scenarios, more people are reacting to this by widening their calling ranges (ie: I have been getting called by weak aces in situations where 6 or 12 months ago these aces would not have been calling my all-ins). My questions is: Do you think that it's time to start narrowing our pushing ranges to counter this trend? After all, a huge part of creating a +EV on a push is fold equity. It seems there is less and less fold equity out there than ever before.
Thanks so much for everything.
Hi Mark.
I have a question for you... can you help me, please?
Thanks as usual
The question is this.
Mark - this is my initial foray into your blog, and I must say I am reeeeally pumped to have found it.
I will try to keep this message as concise as possible.
I began playing sngs about 3 years ago, eventually got into nl cash games but recently the swings just got to be too much stress so I've decided to go full bore with the sngs/mtts.
I have played 50 in the last two days (40$ and 50$ single table games) and have turned a nice profit, albeit over a very small sample size.
My player name is UUUUP on ap, you can check me out. I would be absolutely thrilled to be a part of any future training group.
I'll continue to check in here to see whats happening...thanks for all the great info on here.
steve
Giusnun, I am playing a little poker and relaxing quite a bit as well. I may take a vacation soon. I am not sure where to yet though. I may play some wsop events next year but that is still up in the air. I think I have a pretty good edge in those mtts, but the structure in some of the lower buyins is not very good so there is a lot of luck involved. I think your stats for the HU are pretty good actually. At the end of turbo stt's HU is almost always push/fold so there is not a lot of room for post flop play.
TurkeyTommy, generally in poker you want to use the strategy that maximizes your EV. So if regulars are calling you lighter you should thighten your range slightly against them. I think you can still push very wide on the donkeys though.
Thanks Steve, I will keep in mind that you are interested for a future training group. Good luck at the tables ya'll!
mark -
I have had a few poker buddies of mine tell me that sngs are not beatable for a profit long run. I say thats nonsense. What is your take on the long-term profitability of sngs, say in the $40-100$ range ?
Are these games beatable over the long run with the proper strategy, or does the rake and variance make it a crapshoot?
I've played a bunch of big mtts, which are obviously more of a crapshoot, especially at the end, but I see no reason why I can't destroy $50 and $100 sngs long run.
Your insights are extremely valuable and may actually determine the course of my poker career. Thanks a million !!
steve
I agree with giusnun, and I add another old quote "The quiter never wins, the winner never quits".
Btw, I need some experienced advise, I know it is a small sample in playing the 45s SNG, I just started to put more focus on them this month.
My question is should I play the Turbos or the regulars?
I played (only) 20 turbos with a -41% ROI.
I played 32 regulars with a +24% ROI.
I feel more confortable on the regulars with 10 minutes blinds.
At the moment I play on micro stakes.
Thanks.
They are very profitable because I have made over $100k off of sngs. You should always question the source of information if you choose to listen to it. It sounds to me like your buddy hasn't done much research on it. The highest ROI for sngs is in regular sngs, then turbos and the lowest is in super turbos. So yes they are profitable and yes there are people making over $100k a year playing them.
Mark, what are you doing fine? You are not so present on the blog lately... are things all right there? I have played like a novice in december, tilting and making mistakes all the time. All started with a 3 days long bad run. After it, I started playing really bad, dismissing my winning style, loosening and bluffing when it was time to be tight and tightening when it was time to attack... and playing horribly in the most important moment of a sng: on the bubble. Moreover, I played also on Full Tilt and this has increased my confusion, because players play differently, on there. Anyway, for half a month I had got insane! Now I am back on a good play again. I made level down and started to regain what I've lost (about 2000 euro). I hope to end december with a break even profit... by now, I am on -1089€.
just been playing on the same table as you and realised what a legend you are!i live in england and was wondering if it was you, and you had a bankroll of 500$ what way would you go about increasing this into eventually 100$-200$ a day.(or is this to much) i use sharkscope and tourny selector which has definately helped.i play from 11$-33$ sng`s 2 or 3 at a time.is this advisable and is there any must do`s to help me win consistently and leave my job!
Many thanks,i`ll give it ago,will stop the 33$ 6handed(well maybe not completely if its really fishy) and start mtt 11$.I have a bankroll of 600$ so i think that is about right?i know you must get people like me hassling you but any advice is much appreciated especially about must have tools,or any way i can see your teaching videos.I have a visa card to pay with but for some reason i cant get a paypal account and the other option inwich you can pay with isnt happening either.(moneybookers i think)
right better stop boring you and get **** on with it.! ttfn.and hope your very impressive record continues.
nice work mark.
i have 1 quiestion, do everyone of them had rakeback? i tried to creat a new account with rakeback but when i tried to cashout they said i had other account that was the main one and had to play with it.
is there a way to get rakeback with an old account? or a way to creat a new one with no problems with the page?
thank you, and good luck at the table!