Black Belt Poker Grading Part II

Last week we caught up with Black Belt Poker graders Neil Blatchley, Stephen Hall, James Keys and Alex Martin to discuss how they were finding the gruelling grading process. You can catch up with their thoughts here if you missed it.

The grading process for Neil Channing and Nik Persaud’s new UK poker community is a four week long trial of skill and endurance. All 50 graders (now shrunk down to a hearty 37) have to play four tables for a minimum of six hours, five
days a week. At the end of this process eight of them will become the
first Brown Belts and receive $ 20,000 in sponsorship at the WSOP and
also receive $ 4,000 a worth of live tournament entries each month.
Below them will be the Blue Belts who’ll receive $ 1,500 of live
tournament entries each month.

PokerPlayer’s Nick Wright, a fellow grader, caught up with two
players who are more used to live poker than online to find out how
they were coping with the intensive online schedule.

Steve Holden, 48 years old

Nick Wright: Given the choice do you play more live poker than online?

Steven Holden: I play online satellites to live events but I’m not an online player. If I’m going to play cash games, I’d rather go to my local casino in Walsall rather than play online. I think there’s too much collusion online.

NW: Before the grading started what was your biggest worry?

SH: When I looked at the criteria we were going to judged on my biggest worry was the profit criteria. I felt I could excel in the other three areas (Commitment, Willingness to Learn, and Contribution to the Community) but you can’t control how you’re going to run for four weeks, you can play to your best, but you can’t control the cards.

NW: Are you still finding time to play live poker during the grading?

SH: I played live Monday night (11th May) in Bridgnorth and I also played the monthly £300 event at Dusk Till Dawn, however I’ve cancelled trips to play events in Edinburgh and Newcastle as I’ve found it’s too hard to do both and the grading takes precedence.

NW: We’ve just passed the half way point. How has the grading been going?

SH: Some of the swings I’ve had have been horrific, I had one session at the start of the third week where I lost £274 which is almost as much as I was down in the first two weeks. Then I played another six hours early the next day and had a swing of £83 in my favour.

I’m not sure if it’s what Neil’s looking for but if I could maintain a profit margin of £100 for every six hours I played throughout the grading I’d be happy.

NW: How have you found the standard of play? Is there much difference between the $10 and $30 sit and gos?

SH: At all levels I’ve witnessed some outrageous play, much of it from people with French locations! As odd as it sounds, a lot of times when I’ve found myself on tables with one or two other graders they’ve been better tables to play. I’ve been running pretty well at the double up sit and gos so that’s an avenue I’ll continue to explore.

Jon Lundy, 21 years old

NW: As a live player, what was your biggest worry about getting through the grading?

JL: The variance, and having to play all day everyday online and not get the break of playing live. Before the grading I’d usually put a lot of hours in online to get the wages, but my break and my release is playing live, so not being able to play live is frustrating.
Also I can’t just stop if I’m running bad as I’ve got to put the hours in and online can become a drag.

NW: How have you found the adjustment to playing lower stakes than usual?

JL: Live I play £5/£5 pot-limit hold’em and it can be very deepstacked which is how I like to play. Online on most sites you can only buy-in for 100 big blinds. I’m probably an average $ 2/$ 4 player online. I play HU a lot online also. Dropping down the first week I played really bad, I didn’t adjust, I played too much like I would at higher stakes and it didn’t work.

NW: Has week three been easier than the first two weeks now you’re playing $ 50c/$ 1?

JL: Definitely, you’ve got more players buying in for 100 big blinds and they also give you more respect, $ 50 isn’t nothing, but $ 100 is more serious. If you’re 10 tabling that’s $ 1,000 on the table at a time. At 25c/50c there were a lot of people playing for fun, at $ 50c/$ 1, there are a lot of grinders.

NW: What are the biggest changes you feel you need to make when playing online as opposed to live?

JL: Probably playing less hands. I play seriously deep live, so it’s profitable to play a lot more hands. It’s also easier to spot the weaker players live. When online I can’t instantly see which players I should be going after and as we’re not as deep I can’t call as much to see flops.

NW: The stakes have gone up in week three and they’ll go up again in week four (to $ 1/$ 2) so does the profit/loss part of the grading start now?

JL: I think the last two weeks will have a big impact on that, week four is going to be crucial, I think a lot of the work that people have done in $ 25c/$ 50c may be wiped out. If they run bad in $ 1/$ 2 and drop one buy-in, there’s four buy-ins from $ 25c/$ 50c gone. I’m sure they’ll be averaging the profit out over the four weeks, maybe big blinds per 100 hands or something.

Nick Wright will be keeping an eye on how the graders get on and also updating us on his own progress in the weeks to come.