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ZOOM Student From Macedonia Climbing up Stakes

Today we catch up with one more student in the Coaching for Profits program that is progressing very nicely with Asimos’s help.

Here is the interview with Damjan:

 

How did you get in touch with poker and what made you decide to start playing?

I’m actually not quite sure as to what my first encounter with poker was. 

It must’ve been either watching the movie “Rounders” or just some random “High Stakes Poker” videos. I remember a point in my

I remember a point in my life before I had started playing myself, where all I would do is watch poker videos on youtube.

Watching all the old school donks clicking buttons really inspired me to pursue poker. 

 

Where do you live and how is it to live there and what do you like a lot about it?

I live in Skopje, Macedonia. I guess that the best quality of my country is the people that you get to meet.

There’s a lot of open hearted down to earth people who are constantly roaming around and cruising through what is otherwise a pretty grimy place to live in.

The political and economic states of my country are straight horrid. But we have a great geographic location, so we get to enjoy the beauty of nature. We have beautiful mountains!

The cost of living is very low, so if you make some money, you get to live a pretty luxurious life without really being “rich”.

Damjan zoom student
Photo by: www.instagram.com/venko.parkuera/ (Venko Sheremetkoski)

When did you join our team at BPC? And why did you choose to play ZOOM?

I’m not going to lie, I’ve been a member of BPC for almost a year and a half now. I joined to ZOOM program somewhere in March.

I’m starting that sentence off with a little bit of disappointment attached to it just because I expected to be much more successful after such a long time.

Watching so many people acquire so much success under BPC’s wing really pushes you to strive for as much success as possible.

In a way, being a member of BPC makes you feel as though huge success is the more common occurrence, as opposed to failure. It makes you feel as though success is the norm.

When you belong to the group of people who’ve had mediocre results, of course as a direct consequence of their own passive approach, you naturally feel a little disappointed with yourself. But the most beautiful thing about a community such as BPC’s is that in the midst of all the success that is being consistently generated on a daily basis, all of the pessimism that might occur in someone’s life is by itself transformed into a positive optimistic outlook.

There are just so many successful players, but they’re always the ones playing 200+ hours a month.

The main reason as to why I chose to play ZOOM is because I love the way that the games are set up.

You get to start out your session instantaneously and you don’t have to do the boring table selecting. You also get to play a lot more hands in a shorter period of time which enables you to gain more experience faster.

This is especially good for newer players because they get to progress faster.

When I imagine zoom poker in my mind I see a big, detailed and colorful picture. When I imagine normal tables, the picture is small and distant. My mind is for some reason more attracted to zoom than to normal tables.

Another reason for joining zoom was because of our coach Asimos (shout out to Asimos!). The way he thinks about poker resonates very well with me and I feel as though he’s the best coach to guide me through to the higher stakes.

 

How is the ZOOM program? How do you like the material and the coaching sessions?

The zoom program is amazing!

In many of the other interviews, people talk a lot about how well organized and through the structure of the course is, but I’d like to focus on some other aspects of the zoom program.

I actually think that Asimos is a genius for having devised this method of teaching. Here’s what happens:

After you’ve played more than 80k hands or so, you get to send your database for a live review. The review is done at one of the coaching sessions and Asimos goes through your database, exploring and narrowing down your biggest leaks.

He picks the spot which is the most problematic for the student and centers the session around that one particular spot (example: BB vs BTN cold call). Then he instructs you to work on that spot by yourself and to post hands on the forum.

He answers all the hands on the forum, so basically, you get to have a coach for every day of the week.

Actually, now that I think about it, BPC has always had this type of study methods where the student is actively participating in finding a solution to the problem.

Shout out to our main coach Gordon for solidifying that approach within BPC.

 

In which stake did you start, and on what stake are you playing now?

I started out being break even at NL10z. Now I have a 4bb/100 win rate at NL10z and a 3.5bb/100 win rate at NL16z. I’m break even at NL25z after 60k hands.

My results are not bad, but in my mind, they are very underwhelming. Shout out to Luciano who seems to be crushing the NL50 ZOOM games and who sets the bar high for all of us, micro plebs.

Also, shout out to all the high stakes NL1k and above players who come from a BPC background (special shout out to my friend Alex Lateralus).

I’m happy to report that I’ve been working much harder than in the past, which for me is the most important thing. Success is inevitable when you put in the hard work, and this is especially true for poker.

 

ZOOM is not an easy game to beat, yet you’re beating it! What does it take to succeed at this game?

Honestly, it doesn’t take that much. You just have to work very hard, put in the hours both on and off the table and consistently pump 220+ hour per month. You have to grind it out!

The thing with poker is that you will get back as much as you invest. If you barely play 140 hours a month (shout out to me), you will end up struggling at NL25. If you play 300+ hours a month, you will become otB_RedBaron.

In every field of work, there are different levels of success. Michael Jordan didn’t become Jordan just by training once per day.

The same can be said for every other person in the world who’s achieved a high level of greatness in their field of work.

Poker is no different. Put in the work and with time you will get the results.

Damjan zoom student

What gives you the motivation to get back to the tables every day?

I’ve learned to be motivated by my values. A person is always driven, and consequently motived, by non-other than their values.

Everybody has different values in life. For me, they might be represented by: freedom, happiness, fulfillment, and success.

Other people may find that they’re driven by love or creativity.

The point is that everyone feels and can become aware of their inner values.

When you start moving in the same direction as your values are when you become most motivated.

 

If you could give 1 advice to your other players, what would that be?

Read this entire article 🙂

Just kidding.

My advice is to be a professional. Take responsibility, be a man and get the job done!

 

Thank you very much for your great answers Damjan! Keep studying and playing a lot! Soon you’ll become a Coaching for Profits finisher!

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