Must Read; Interview With Jason "PraireHawk" Grad 4 year SNE

jontm

Highly recommended read; Chad Holloway of PokerNews talks to 4 year running Super Nova Elite player Jason S Grad: Online Chat: Jason "Prairie Hawk" Grad Talks Poker, MMA, and Sports Betting | PokerNews

We looked at changes to the high stakes on Party, but here is where PStars has made a few suttle changes with big impacts. Nice guy, did a few interviews in past but as always, Chad knocked it out of park IMO.

8 months ago, still optimistic after making SNE 4th year running, but he knew times where a changing:

http://www.canadapoker.com/interview-with-a-canadian-super-nova-elite-jason-prairie-hawk-grad/

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decent article.

one of my good buddies depended on SNE to make 100K a year and when that ended, he decided to get better at the game and bum hunt and had a 500K upswong

probably better long term to get better at the game as a whole, and not be a station and depend on fpp/vpps

Milo

Have not read the entire article but . . . how the hell can you play that much and NOT get better at the game?

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Milo;327792 wroteHave not read the entire article but . . . how the hell can you play that much and NOT get better at the game?

u ever 24 table?

not much brain power goes into it, you can just be "meh" and get by on vpp's

too many actions, not enough time... especially playing cash, its super hard.

most SNE's "auto-pilot" all day, and all of them will tell you that they are terrible compared to most

Milo

So, basically, you're playing on auto-pilot, and it is all just y/n (or if/then) decision making?

Where the hell is the fun in that?

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Milo;327794 wroteSo, basically, you're playing on auto-pilot, and it is all just y/n (or if/then) decision making?

Where the hell is the fun in that?

exactly... split second actions across multiple cash tables can lead to a complete mess of your game... like in the article, folding aces pre, missclick all ins, tilting across 24 tables can lead to a huge mess and is pretty common

probably no real fun in it, alot of time and effort goes into it, but the $$$$$ makes it all worth it for them I suppose.

jontm

This ^^^. The second link talks about this a little more as we talk about "rake back pro" approach. The trick is not to lose money/go broke in process and hopefully drag some nice pots along way. Keep in mind SNE gets $120k cheque every year, plus some sweet VIP perks like packages for EPT, main etc along way.

Most likely want to gouge your eyes out, but the right dedication..120k a year to play abc poker? Not a bad deal. Of course you generate about $320k in rake, so essentially you are a prop player/human bot.

Jason is pretty honest about this as well; there is no glory in it, but if you like playing hands and can stay near break even or better, pretty decent living as you are own boss.

He gave me 2 garbage bags full of very nice Stars jerseys, which I in turn gave to bar leaguers and home game pros. They were on cloud nine. They send him that stuff like candy, some is actually pretty sweet. I kept one, seemed collectible.

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dont wanna toot my buddies horn lol

SNE guys are beasts tho

Milo

Sounds like the guys who figure all the angles for Air Miles rewards, and those coupon junkies.

Sure, they get a great pay-off, but it must be mind-numbingly DULL.

No thanks . . .

jontm

This. I agree 100%. Which is only reason I don't play online more. In order to profit, I'm currently stuck at SNG level, but need to stick to bankroll manage and play just 4 tables by rules...I get bored fast and disregard above.

I tried 4 tabling zoom at micros, made like half a bi in an hour, min raise everyone fast folds, good players are smart enough to fold on my turn value bets. Just can't build pots. Not enough patience I guess. At least live you have people to watch and talk to, so it's not boring. I guess if I set things up right and add more tables, could prob find more interesting...

Couldn't do it, but I couldn't be an accountant either and their are plenty of those that are well paid. Seems somehow similar.

jontm

Why I like this article so much is it's real...another piece in the changing landscape.
Less fpps, guys give up chasing it and move on, those that stay are tougher players.

20,000,000 hands later, 1,000,000 hand long variances; he's left wondering "can I do this forever?". Food for thought for some of the younger pros. Will it always be this good and is it even now? We see so many fluff interviews, it's nice to have one that kind of "balances".

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jontm;327800 wroteWhy I like this article so much is it's real...another piece in the changing landscape.
Less fpps, guys give up chasing it and move on, those that stay are tougher players.

20,000,000 hands later, 1,000,000 hand long variances; he's left wondering "can I do this forever?". Food for thought for some of the younger pros. Will it always be this good and is it even now? We see so many fluff interviews, it's nice to have one that kind of "balances".

I think it's a good article for sure, but there are tons of "real" people out there, even on this very forum, that grind day in day out that would give the same exact sort of story imo, same swings , same schedule for playing, same sort of pressures, even the same sort of success.

may not have the same VIP status, but the ethic and story is still there.

everyone has a "poker story" , and I love hearing about all of them, not just the SNE that decides he cant pursue that with the rake changes lol

jon u should start covering 1 on 1 interviews and such, Id love to read them

jontm

costanza;327801 wroteI think it's a good article for sure, but there are tons of "real" people out there, even on this very forum, that grind day in day out that would give the same exact sort of story imo, same swings , same schedule for playing, same sort of pressures, even the same sort of success.

may not have the same VIP status, but the ethic and story is still there.

everyone has a "poker story" , and I love hearing about all of them, not just the SNE that decides he cant pursue that with the rake changes lol

jon u should start covering 1 on 1 interviews and such, Id love to read them

I agree there are tons of everyday players that would make just as good a read, problem is you always need that "catch line" to draw in masses...and thanks for comment.

One on One Interviews are a skill I am trying to develop, I have a few standard questions I tend to ask, working on a more personalized style like Chads to improve. Effort also goes hand in hand with audience, don't usually go as deep for web as print because whole TLDR thing.

jontm

Chad had a few more names you guys know, including another PFCer and it sounds like that might be up in near future. Sticking to the "real". :)

jontm

Getting back to OP, re-reading comments makes me wonder if grinding MTTs full time would be that much more exciting?

There is definetly a deeper thought process and scores can be much bigger, still trying to nail down what a real ROI looks like...50% over career?

We see spikes, but is that a fair number? Most players I DB that have say 1,000,000 in winnings will be less than that, so this seems maybe more profitable? (or at least was).

Thoughts?

jdAA88

^Honestly not sure jon, but I really enjoyed the article. Kind of a reality check on how much tougher the cash games have gotten and also on how organized/disciplined you have to be to put in an insane amount of hands.

Popkorn

Good read on this article, also just read the talonchick interview too. I personally play online for fun (even though it's for real money), I can never really build a roll from scratch cause I always jump into a big 4 handed game with a couple sharks and destroy my online roll. Yes it's poor discipline on my part.

But one thing that's kind of in common is how everyone agrees that players are too 'competent' now, and how tough cash games are. I find myself thinking a lot deeper about hands when I play online, because of that very reason. Is everyone else finding similar problems too?