Contest: Superturbo Protege - Post before Jul 31!

[zerosum79]

Hello All,

Its been a while since I was really active on the forums but I wanted to get things started right. I am announcing a contest for any player who wants to become zerosum79's superturbo protege! My own SNG journey started with a similar promotion on Stoxpoker years ago and it is the single most pivotal aspect in my development as a SNG player.

What is involved:

• We will take one month to do weekly coaching sessions on how to beat either 6man or 9man superturbo's.
• We will make videos of some of the lessons which will be posted on Drag the Bar.
• This course will teach you to crush superturbo's in one month! (Some assembly is required).

What you need:

• You must already have a copy of Holdem Manager, SNG Wizard, and a headset with microphone for lessons.
• You must commit to playing 200 super turbo's a week
• You must be willing to share your screen name on the site you are playing ST's on with your fellow forum members so that we can all track your results.
• You must be able to do coaching with me between 7pm and 11pm EST during the week or be flexible on weekends.

How do I win?
Well to win its simple. Reply to this thread with the following.
1. Long term poker goal: What are you going to do with your piles of money that will change your life?
2. Medium term poker goals: How do superturbo SNG's factor into what you want to achieve in the next 6mo-1yr.
3. Short term poker goals: What are you willing to do in the lessons and between lessons to learn as much as humanly possible.

If I believe you I might just pick you. Post your story in this thread before Sunday July 31 at noon I will make my selection by the end of the weekend. First lesson will be the first week of august.

Good luck!
zero

[jungmit]

my long term goals are to sustain my life with poker. i have some health issues that keep me from working all the time, so survive with poker income is very important to me.

meduim term super turbo sngs are prefect because of the volume i can achieve. i also have a mother with health problems who i have to do a lot for, and grandma in a hospice bed at my parents house. i dont want this to sound like a sob story, but i would greatly appreicate any help.

short term i work hard reviewing hand histories, talking about hand play and watching videos. i am very committed to always improving my game. i have read collin moshman sng and hu sng books.

thank you for your time. if u are able to help me i would be greatful if someone else needs more help then me i understand. peace
my username here is jungmit. email address is mitamagauss@yahoo.com

bob

[pagination1]

Hi Greg,

1. Long term poker goal:

To be quite honest, for me, my long term poker goal isn't just about the money - it is about developing my poker skills and about developing a deeper understanding of the game that many players simply do not have. Whilst, yes, it is nice to make money from poker, to be truly great at something, I think, is more rewarding. If I did end up making "piles of money", then that is fantastic, I would love to be able to move into some of the big live tournaments, move up in the online SnG stakes and to also save for the future so that I can support my family and any children I hope I will one day have! To me, poker isn't just a casual game, it is an art form (although many, I'm sure, would disagree) - each SnG is a constantly changing dynamic and there are so many factors that have to be understood in order to not make a mistake. I want to be able to master this. However, at the moment, I would say that I am a break even, maybe +2% player at the $12 level and below, which just isn't good enough. I have lots of information, but I can't quite get it all to gel - this is why working with you would be perfect for me - you could help me digest and understand this "academic" information and use it practically at the tables.


2. Medium term poker goals:

Superturbo SnG's are an interesting concept - there is arguably less skill involved than turbo/standard SnGs (given the rapidly increasing blinds and thus "moves" have to made sooner, often with less than optimal hands), but there is a greater volume and, thus, potentially, a greater opportunity to increase your ROI. I would love to understand the deeper mechanics behind superturbo SnGs, and there is not a huge amount written about them in textbooks. I would therefore be very grateful for your teaching and guidance. At the moment, I am a little scared of playing superturbo SnGs at any great volume, because I don't really understand how my strategy should change from normal and turbo SnGs. If, in the next 6 months to a year, I could develop a good ROI with these tournies, I would be extremely happy and I could use the skills I would have learnt from you and also apply them to turbo and normal SnGs.

3. Short term poker goals:

During our lessons, I hope that I will be able to provide intelligent(ish!) dialogue with you - I want to understand the mechanics of SnGs, I want to ask you questions about how and why certain moves should be made and I want our lessons to be fun and engaging! I will be taking notes and I will record our sessions so that I may review them once we have finished.

In between the lessons, I am willing (as I already do!) and eager to continue reviewing hand histories (but now with the new knowledge I will have learnt from you), I want to learn and understand, at a greater level, applicable ICM mechanics, to continue reviewing training videos (Greg - I think I have watched all of your videos - I particularly love the ABC series - I have made notes on all of these - excellent material!), to post questions on forums and to read, read and to read again. I have read a number of poker books, but I would also happily follow any reading recommendations you may have.

The bottom line, is that I will work hard and I will study hard. I don't want to waste your time by not being committed to this and, of course, I don't want to waste my own! I want to learn, I want to get better and, on the basis of your training videos, I really think you will be able to help me - and I, hopefully, very much look forward to working with you.

All the best,

Nick
(DTB username: pagination1)

[Sam85]

Jonathan Swift once said:"A wise man has money in his mind, not in his heart."
I learned about this quote from an inspiring Prof. of mine in a politics class, which
I chose as a minor in my second year of college. Up to this point my only goal in life seemed
to be making money, hence i studied finance and banking to become a stock broker. Right after
finishing the semester with the mentioned Prof. I decided that my goals had to shift in order
to do something more important with my life, than just making money.
Having said this, I will go on and answer your questions:

3: The question should be for me: What are you going to change with all that money.

First of all, I'd finally be able to focus on my goals in life, which include pursuing a political
career and be able to disregard money (many honest politician were changed in the course of their
career due to "making some extra bucks").
Also i would most likely invest in real estate with one of my family members in order to
finally have some financial stability in my life, which was like a rollercoaster so far but getting older lets you look at things in different ways. Even
my "poker career" was an unstable one for the most part (http://www.dragthebar.com/poker-foru...0063#post40063)
As for my longterm poker goal I see myself being an all around succesful poker-player, playing and beating the highest buy-in levels.

2:My medium term (poker) goals:

Just recenly I have started a new chapter in my life, moving in together with my longterm girlfriend (5 years already and counting) and realizing time is running and running, I became more aware that I had to make some major changes if I want to have a full-filled future.
Being a medium skilled MTT player, I had way too many ups and downs which lead me to believe that its nearly impossible for me to pay important bills on time by grinding MTTs.
SnGs, once understood, are a great way to make some kind of stable income, and especially superturbos are the format that interest me most, due to the oppertunity to put in huge volume (I believe the superturbo format
is the one SnG format I played most games of)
My plans for the coming year are to organize my life more, finishing up my bachelor (been trying that since 2005 in a stop and go fashion due to financial problems), improving my poker skills and taking poker way more serious.
I want to "treat my poker like a business" to say it in Dustys' words. My aim is to be able to pay most of the bills by playing poker and get more and more involved with Live tournaments.
The WSOP next year would also be a dream-come-true and the trip along with my girlfriend is already in its first planning stages.

1: Short term goals and what I do for having the biggest benifit from lessons

One of my latest plans since signing up on DragtheBar and watching Intro-vids, is to record several sessions to review them more easily. Also it would be a good time
to finally start my always "postponed" poker blog which will help me and others to follow my progress (this is a commitment btw to start my blog). I guess
its unnecessary to say, that I will take careful notes on each lesson and implement newly acquired knowledge right away.
I will also try and integrate NLP and autogenous training in my daily routine in order to also improve my mental game.
A bit more sports and a healthier diet have already become part of my "treating poker like a business" plan, since I believe leading a healthy balanced life plays a substantial role in learning to become a better allround player/human.
In regards to volume and hours that I can commit to: being a university student I will have semster holidays for the next 3 month which would make it a perfect time for me to start working on great project such as yours.

On a side note: This offer comes in perfect timing for me, since i already booked an MTT coach on DTB, which should proof my intentions to work hard on my game. I would be thrilled if I were given the
opportunity to work with you and learn from one of the greatest in the field of SnGs.

Thank you and lots of appreciation for this great chance you give to one of our members.

>>I am Sam and my dream is to become a professional poker player.<<




Greetings from Germany,
Sam

[tallscotuk]

This really is a fantastic offer. I would love to take part but I am not sure I can fuilly commit over the next 6 - 9 months but I am really looking forward to seeing how the winner improves with your help.

[zerosum79]

This really is a fantastic offer. I would love to take part but I am not sure I can fuilly commit over the next 6 - 9 months but I am really looking forward to seeing how the winner improves with your help.

Just for clarification, this is intended to be an all out effort for one month plus periodic checkups afterwords. I am looking for someone who has a good month to work hard but superturbo's only take a few key aspects to master. I feel that they are much simpler and therefore we can get someone crushing the game in just a single month.

If you can dedicate a month to it, give it a shot?
zero

[TopXKiller]

.

Hi Zero, my name is Karl (TopXKiller on PS/FTP and IamPro on 2+2)

I mostly played 45 and 180s mans with some MTTs and have shown I can put in the volume. I am looking to further my overall game and think I would be an excellent student.

1. Long term poker goal: What are you going to do with your piles of money that will change your life?

Eventually I want to get into stock trading or some sort of trading but thats down the road (at least 5yrs). Overall I would like to move to Thailand and travel the world, hopefully be able to play in some EPTs and bink one. Pretty much enjoy poker and the freedom that it can give, something I took for granted before Black Friday; I am not going to make that same mistake twice.

2. Medium term poker goals: How do superturbo SNG's factor into what you want to achieve in the next 6mo-1yr.

I plan to relocate in the next few weeks to month or two to either Canada or Costa Rica and get my account reopened on PS. One of my goals has been to be able to grind out the $22/44/88 hyper turbos and now the $7s since they added them. I want to become an elite grinder and with your coaching, I feel I can move up to the next level in my poker progression.

3. Short term poker goals: What are you willing to do in the lessons and between lessons to learn as much as humanly possible.

Grind a lot b/c I feel experience is the best way to improve and while I am not grinding I am using Wiz and other tools to go over spots.


Thanks in advance,
Karl

[tallscotuk]

Hi Zero,

Thanks for the quick response. August is the perfect month for me to take on a challenge like this and I can dedicate as much time as it takes and much more for over the next 6 weeks so please count me in.

My long term goal in life is for my wife and me to be able to live comfortably and to enjoy our life. That is my primary concern and always will be. I would like to explain how I hope poker will contribute to that main goal in the short, medium and long term.

I have been playing poker for almost 20 years now although I have only really taken it seriously for about 14 months now. However, due to my current situation I feel that I am in a position to turn a hobby into a career. My long term poker goal therefore is to secure a steady income stream from the poker industry. Much as I like to dream that this will of course be more money than I can spend, I am just focused on finding a regular income stream that will support my wife and me.

If I am honest I am not sure that this will be possible just from playing and I am looking at various options and business ideas currently. As I am going into my final year at Uni, I feel that I have an opportunity to change careers and to move into this exciting new industry. My final year dissertation is going to be a case study of the poker economy from a political as well as economic viewpoint. In my situation being a better player will not only increase my revenue from playing poker but I hope that it will give me a better understanding of the industry overall.

I would ideally like to follow the example of Hunter and all the DTB founders to offer everyone the change to play poker on a level playing field where the only differentiating factors are natural ability and the effort an individual can put in without any other factors, political or otherwise, preventing them from enjoying the game. Although I am not totally clear on how I will be able to do this right now I hope to learn and plan as I progress.

I should also say at this point that although I am in my final year, I am applying for and hope to be accepted for teacher training once I finished. Although I would rather just be a pro poker player from the day I graduate, Black Friday has taught me the importance of a serious plan B. I hope this gives you an understanding of my long term goals. I know that these are still a bit too vague but this has a lot to do with my current situation with so much up in the air just now.

My midterm goals are easier to understand. In 12 months I would like to be able to show my wife a graph where there is a clear and consistent profit. Although I have probably been more successful than most players in their first year, I have not won enough to justify the time I have put in and my hourly rate is still below UK minimum wage.

I did dabble in STs briefly but I only discovering them properly the week before FT closed down. In that week I played 200 tournaments with a reasonable win rate. I had avoided them before that as I considered them to be lotteries however it became very clear to me that they are very different. They require an excellent knowledge of equity value and ICM. Having mostly played turbo STTs I was reasonably confident in my knowledge but to crush STs you need to be pretty much perfect.

I did try to transfer my knowledge across to PS but I hate the software, the structures and most things about PS (excluding the fact that they know the difference between players money and their own money and that the DoJ are unlikely to close any more of their accounts). Instead I have spent the last month hoping that FT would reopen at the hearing and dabbling with the 45 man games.

One thing is very obvious to me though. Putting in the time and effort required to crush STs will reap huge rewards at almost every other tournament structure in which poker can be played. STs are not lotteries but are in fact the most mathematically pure form of poker tournaments. Of course NL is not just about the math but having a deep understanding of this element can only be beneficial.

In order to maximise my learning opportunities in the short term there are various strategies I would employ. I would of course make sure that I am fully prepared and any set homework is fully completed before the next lesson although this is just common courtesy. I normally start my poker day by reviewing any trouble hands from the day before and I am sure this would continue. I would normally discuss them with my poker buddies before posting the interesting ones at DTB.

I think the most important element of this project though is to include the DTB community. I feel that whoever is fortunate enough to be chosen should also commit to taking an active role posting troubling hands for discussion, giving regular updates on their progress and in continuing to pass the advice and skills that they are developing for everyone to benefit from. I would also be happy to make some videos of my games for the community to review and comment on.

I hope this answers all of your questions and if you have any queries please feel free to let me know.

[PokerCrucible]

Long term poker goal: What are you going to do with your piles of money that will change your life?

Bottom line - I want to be able to tell my wife that she can become a stay at home mother if that is what she wants to do. Even to the point of possibly home schooling my three boys if she wanted to. This June, I had major leg surgery where I was off my feet for 6 weeks. I then had blood clots in my lungs which has set my recovery back even greater. My wife has been tremendous in helping me and nursing me back to health. All I want is to give her a life that she desires and I see poker as a way to lessen her burden of having to work. I will never forget the look on her face when I walked in the door after winning a 90 dollar rebuy tournament in Tunica and handed her a fist full of 100 dollar bills and said, "Here is some guilt free spending money!" I would love to be able to allow her to walk away from her job and focus on mentoring our boys.

I also want to achieve some financial stability that would allow us the freedom to travel and give my sons the experience of other countries and cultures. I would use this not only for my family but also for my nieces and nephews who may never get the chance to visit outside the country.

I also want to be able to continue to fund my three son's college funds with my poker winnings.

I also have setup a small website called http://www.pokercrucible.com This website is there for me to chronicle my journey of learning poker for other users. My plan is to recruit 4-5 other players as well to chronicle their journey as well. It is not a coaching site, but more like a prelude to coaching. Eventually, I plan to have forums and a poker tracking database for live or online play. People will be able to go to that site and freely read about the struggle that we are going through or went through to become winning poker players. I believe strongly in giving back to the poker community in some way and I feel this is the most beneficial way I can do it.

Most importantly though, a percentage of all my winnings are donated to charity. I would take the first 10k that win and setup a foundation that would award grants to teachers for classroom projects that would allow students to achieve exceptional learning. Having worked in the education field for over 15 years and having a wife who is a special education teacher, I am amazed at what teachers can do with so little. 10k would be the starting point. After the initial seed amount, I would continue to donate 20% of my winnings both online and live to this foundation to support the teacher grants. Eventually, I would like to recruit other players who would pledge to the foundation as well.

Medium term poker goals: How do superturbo SNG's factor into what you want to achieve in the next 6mo-1yr.

I hate turbos . . . and probably hate superturbos even more. However, as I do more reading in forums and around the net, I am realizing that these games can be extremely lucrative, IF you know what you are doing. The reason for my hate is that I do not know what I am doing. I know I need to learn to be more aggressive at the table especially online, but I seem to lack the skill at picking the right spots to be aggressive. Just tonight, I was 15 spots from the money in a MTT and decided to go all in preflop with AKs and JJ called. JJ won the race. Probably not correct to play AK so aggressive.

I also want to branch out my poker skill set and feel that since I am already dedicated to tournaments, moving over to turbos and superturbos would be a natural fit for my overall tournament game.


Short term poker goals: What are you willing to do in the lessons and between lessons to learn as much as humanly possible.

As someone who works from home, I plan on utilizing every tool in my arsenal to enhance my learning. Including recording sessions of myself as I play and posting those sessions to DTB and on my own website. Just recently, I have dedicated myself to play 500 hands a day which may seem a small amount, but with 3 kids running around it seems more like a monumental task at the moment. I also do not multi-table so it is one or two tournaments at a time for me so the hands do not add up fast.

I am dedicated to playing tournaments solely. I do not play any cash games online or any other games then NLH. I plan to continue this during and after training. I also plan, if you desire, to keep you informed after our training is complete so you as a mentor and a coach can further develop your skills or at least use my results as a way to reinforce what you are teaching.

Probably the biggest goal would be to achieve buy-in from my wife in this endeavor. She sees my poker as more a hobby and as long as I am not having to replenish my bank roll from our account she seems to put up with it more then accept it. I actually plan on having her sweat me a few times just to help her understand my passion for the game and my desire to take it to the next level. I know this is a pretty odd goal, but if you are married, then you probably understand.

I also would dedicate myself to learn the math of poker. I struggle at times with pot odds versus outs and calculating them in every situation. However, I do know how important that is.

Conclusion: Thank you for the opportunity to be included for consideration. Whether or not I am chosen, I value the desire on your part to take a poker player and make them a winner. I have a tremendous amount of respect for those who want to help others. Thanks zero!

PS The blog post has a date of Aug 31st but your post stipulates Jul 31st.

[bhawks19]

Hey zero this is quite the oppertunity. I've been looking at what area of poker to invest in some coaching and I think this would be perfect. I mainly played the 18 man sit n gos pre black friday but I certainly would love to learn to crush super turbos. As for your application to the contest here goes.

My long term poker goals are very simple. I want to provide myself and my future family the financial security that is rather hard to come by in this current economic climate. I am only 23 years old but have dabbled in a bit of everything post high school. I was a professional umpire in the minor leagues but ultimately chose to leave that profession due to the lifestyle and extreme travel involved. A different city every 3 or 4 days meant a very difficult life if I ever wanted to have a family which is ultimately what led me to give it up. The first thing I want to accomplish is to go back to school. I have no means to pay for college at this time and really wish I would have just gutted out school at the age of 18. Don't get me wrong I want to play poker full time when I learn the game well enough to play it skillfully, but I by no means want poker alone to define my life as a whole. I have other ambitions in life to enjoy. I want to start some businesses and travel the world. I want to have my kids college educations paid and taken care of as that is becoming a burden in of itself. Basically I want to live and experience life to the fullest. There are so many oppertunities to experience new things in this life and I want to experience all that I can.

My secondary long term goals that do not involve money are very similar to yours. I am going to go back to school with intentions of teaching. I will probably be a finance/history double major.(With my intentions of playing poker full time this obviously will be an ongoing process ) I ideally want to teach part time at a university. Not only that I would someday like to think I would be a good enough player that I could eventually teach the game of poker. Not only for the joy of watching a student blossom and truly grasp something well enough to be succesful at but also to reinforce what I have learned to the point where I can break it down for a potential student and communicate it in a way that they understand. I never understood this until I started tutoring last year. You really haven't truly learned something until you can teach it to somebody else and that will be my challenge moving forward. Not just with poker but with my history and finance studies as well.

My goals for the next 6-12 months is to get back ahead financially. I lost my job as a loan officer about a year and a half ago and have been working odd jobs here and there but have accumulated some credit card debt getting by. I still have my small bankroll intact and can't seem to get a head of steam with it but I also haven't lost it. I am nothing special as a poker player to this point to be quite honest. I am a break even player. But I want to build a bankroll to sustain play as I progress in stakes with hard work. After that is achieved it will be to pay for school and start saving for my first house. Super turbos actually appeal to me because of the short structure allowing for the volume to build a bankroll. I don't remember the actual numbers from some of your vids but the average time to play them appeals greatly to me because of the flexibility it gives you as far as when you play your sessions. Also with superturbos allowing for such a great volume, it would give me the oppertunity to practice your teachings much more then playing longer formatted games.

Short term goals are very simple. I want to do whatever is necessary to make myself a better player. I am only working part time right now as full time work is hard to come by these days in the financial world. I work mornings so I am very flexible on scheduling for whatever you have available on your end. For the next 6 months I have countless hours to spend at the tables but also away from the tables analyzing and disecting hands and my own play. I am a very good student and pick things up quickly. I find working with someone one on one is more benificial to my learning style then the videos simply because I can pick your brain and absorb not only the concepts but the reasoning behind the concept. If you don't understand why you are doing something at the table but you are making plays just for the sake of making plays, you never progress as a player. I want to get on that level and learn to really think through the game. Poker is never a perfect science and I think that is part of why I am drawn to it besides my own insane competitive nature. I love the challenge and the constant evolution of the game.

I have nothing but time to dedicate to the game and would be very grateful for an oppertunity. Even if I don't win I think I would like to talk to you about some private coaching if you are available for it at some point in the future.
Josh

[NakedCat]

Hi Greg

3. Short term poker goals: What are you willing to do in the lessons and between lessons to learn as much as humanly possible.

Outside of the lessons is the time to put in volume, and then some. The biggest leaks should become obvious over time and easily fixed. Smaller leaks can be worked through in lesson (and between) until understood.
Become best friends with an ICM calculator, understand and know as best you can the correct decision in-game.
Ask the Wiz. Work on feeding it the best information.
Post and learn.
Inside lessons, arrive with a list of questions and conclusions. Work on a study plan until the next lesson.

2. Medium term poker goals: How do superturbo SNG's factor into what you want to achieve in the next 6mo-1yr.

Superturbos are close to the end game of most poker tournaments. Decisions made at this point, probably have the most effect on your ROI at any point in any tournament you play. With this understanding, moving up stakes should be my goal.
I plan on playing 6max. Once nailed, FR tables, and then larger field tournaments.

1. Long term poker goal: What are you going to do with your piles of money that will change your life?

With the piles of money? it would mean that I'm earning an income... yay. That gets a +1 from my wife. I'm currently a househusband pondering my next career.
From a poker standpoint: assuming my poker abilities are good enough; and assuming that I have the ability to teach, then I'd like to add coaching to my portfolio.

Terry

[zerosum79]

OK. The thread is closed. I'll be reading and possibly pm'ing a few of you in the next day or so. I was hoping to announce tomorrow morning but it will depend on whether I hear back quickly.

Regards,
zero