This is how money should be made: “benjicleo1” conquered the $100 stake!

bitB Spins: Hello, hero! We are really glad to have you here among us. For those who don’t know too much about your past as a poker player can you please tell us a few things about you and your poker background?

benjicleo1: I began playing poker around the year 2015 and I was just playing small stakes MTT’s. Not long after this, when I had some small results I ended up applying for a stake at BBZ and ended up there for around 2 years. That was the moment when I realized how much money I was to able only by playing poker and this was also the moment when I went doing this full-time and began grinding live MTT and live cash games. Today, I find myself here at bitB Spins and I am really happy to be part of this amazing Spin & Go team. 

bitB Spins: Why did you decide to choose the Spin & Go format?

benjicleo1: I had a very brief introduction about the Spin & Go format a few years back and I really enjoyed the fun I was having at the tables: I like the most the fast gambling element of them and the chance to win $1,000,000 in only a couple of minutes. I had a small sample beating the$ 7’s and $10’s and I hoped that would be enough to secure myself a spot at bitB Spins in order to improve my game enough to move up the stakes

bitB Spins: What do you think is the hardest moment in the career of a poker player? Which one was in your case?

benjicleo1: Definitely downswings. I had a 16 month period at BBZ when the coaches were super happy with how I was playing and Jordan himself did a database analysis on my HUD and agreed I was playing really well, but I just couldn’t beat the variance. That was really tough because I was living with my girlfriend at that time and I was not being able to support us by having a decent steady income.

bitB Spins:Which is your strategy for improving your game?
benjicleo1: Reviewing and studying, I’m currently still trying to get all my positions on PFH to 90%+. Whenever I have a stretch where I’m not running the greatest, I download my hands and import them into my HUD and check my cEV in order to see if I’m making a lot of mistakes or just running bad and I also put in a few more hours studying instead of playing.

bitB Spins: On what do you focus the most? Strategy, mindset, etc?
benjicleo1: Strategy and mindset equally I think. My mindset is quite good. I’ve played poker long enough now that even though things annoy me at the tables it’s quite hard for me to become tilted enough and change my style of playing. I just stick to my strategy and keep on clicking the register button.

bitB Spins: What is your daily poker routine?
benjicleo1: My daily poker routine varies immensely. I have quite an active social life and I see my friends a lot so sometimes I don’t play for a few days and other times I lock myself in my house for 2 days straight and do nothing but grind. My poker routine also changes a lot when there is a live series on or good private cash games on.

bitB Spins: Which are your current goals? Because somehow now you have reached the top.

benjicleo1:: In my eyes, I’m not even close to the top yet, my goal now is to crush the 100’s and move up again to the $250’s (although I haven’t asked the guys in charge what results I should have because personally, I don’t know if I’m good enough yet) but we will see what happens in a few months from now on.

bitB Spins: What can we tell us about your hobbies?
benjicleo1: I love driving old-school Japanese cars and computer games and just chilling with my friends.

bitB Spins: How do you deal with this hard period due to Covid 19 situation? In which way your poker routine changed? Maybe you can tell us more about the self-improvement that you had during this period and your approach regarding this social situation.
benjicleo1: In my part of the world, not many things changed during Covid. The first 6 months I locked myself down because nobody really knew what was really going on and I grinded the $5’s and $10’s A LOT during that time. I was diagnosed years ago with severe anxiety and depression and that was definitely tough for me. Because of not seeing any family or friends at all, my diet was poor, I was not physically active and all I did was play poker. It got me where I am now regarding my Spin & Go level, but it definitely had some kind of toll on my mental health during the lockdown period. I just tried to focus on poker a lot to keep myself occupied.

bitB Spins: How do you see the Spin & Go playerpoll on PokerStars?
benjicleo1: I actually don’t play on PokerStars at all, I play 100% of my volume on Party Poker, although that could change in the future as I just set up an account on Winamax. The $50’s I did not find tough at all, but I can see some significant skill jump at the $100’s for sure. Still, I don’t think they are overly tough.

bitB Spins: What advice do you have for those who are a little bit confused regarding their approach during the self-isolation period? Should they play more, study more, etc?
benjicleo1: Keep on grinding! Games are good during these times! I would not change a lot of my routine personally I would just put in a few extra hours at the tables.

bitB Spins: Thank you for this amazing interview hero, and see you at the next stake!

Good luck to you all!