Go ahead and call Jared Hubbard a Grinder, he doesn’t mind. He’ll let his bankroll do the talking. Between playing and staking players this year he’s made over $450k. Not bad for a 24 year old guy who only started playing a few years ago. His specialty isTurbo Sit NGo’s and he plays over 800 of them per week. He plays so many that he is one of a very few people to attain SuperNova Elite status at Pokerstars, so will he go Dario and get a Porsche with all those FPP…nah…he likes money.
PokerLizard: You have a pretty sick SharkScope Graphs and a diamond star rating, when you play do you utilize sites like Sharkscope etc?
Jared: I always have sharkscope open but don’t use it all that much because I don’t have that much time between actions at all of my tables.
PokerLizard: How much do you rely on PokerTracker? ICM calculator’s etc…
Jared: I rely pretty heavily on calculators. I don’t use poker tracker much anymore. My main site (Cake) isn’t supported by Poker Tracker yet.
PokerLizard: I watched one of your SNG’s; and noticed some interesting chat. While chatting with another player, you were basically berating one of the guy’s you back for being lazy (he was still sleeping and not playing)… How many guys do you back? How do you decide whom to back?
Jared: Lol…I think I actually remember what game you’re talking about & I was 100% joking. I think I was talking about Little Kraut, who actually puts in more hours than any of my other stakees. I’m a very sarcastic person. I currently back 7 players. I may be adding an 8th within a couple of months. I’ve started coaching my friend (voss1313 on Full Tilt) from the ground up & he’s caught on really fast so I might be staking him in some high stakes games soon. As far as choosing who to back, I usually have people put in applications & base it on stuff like their sharkscope stats, how many tables they play at once, how many hours they play, & what tools they’ve used to improve their game.
PokerLizard: How do staking agreements generally work?
Jared: Generally I put up 100% of the buy-ins & we split the profits 50/50 for a year.
PokerLizard: How do you coach your players? (going over HH or actually watching them play live and getting their cards via aim).
Jared: I make videos for them. Some will be me 4 tabling, some will be me reviewing my own HHs, & some will be me reviewing their HHs.
PokerLizard: Does coaching someone while their playing seem unethical? (eg one player to a hand etc…)
Jared: I guess techinically it would be.
PokerLizard: Since you already coach, have you ever considered joining or starting a training site?
Jared: I’ve never even really considered it. I’ve gotten many offers from sites & turned them all down. If I were to do it I would start up my own site anyway. I just don’t think it’s worth improving my opponents & them having a really good read on me. In fact, the deals I got offered from sites were actually less than my hourly rate playing anyway. With my staking agreements I am only teaching 7 people, as opposed to hundreds or thousands, & they don’t play in the same games as me.
PokerLizard: I’ve noticed that a lot of lower level SNG players all have the same style, Very Tight Early, Loosen up later and try and steal blinds, rely on ICM calculator on the bubble? How does the style change as you move up? How about when playing a turbo?
Jared: As you move up there will still be really bad players but the average player is better & the best players are much better. You have to adjust your pushing & calling ranges a lot, play post-flop differently, mix up your play more, etc…
PokerLizard: How many SNGs do you play at a time?
Jared: I normally play 10-16 at a time. There’s certain games that I play no matter what & there’s some games that I won’t play if I have a certain # of games going. Because of this, you’ll see me doing a lot of registering & unregistering back & forth between some games.
PokerLizard: How many SNG’s do you usually play per day?
Jared: It varies. When I play I generally average around 40 hours per week. I rarely play weekends (including Friday) so my hours are often all in a 3-4 day span. My day could be 3 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, etc… depending on what I have going on. I generally average around 18-20 SNGs/hr if that helps.
PokerLizard: Which style of play do you prefer, opening up another SNG as you bust out of one, or doing a set of SNGs til you are done with them all? Why?
Jared: I prefer opening up another one as I bust out because it’s better for the hourly rate if you can multi-table well & I don’t hate money.
PokerLizard: I like SNGs due to their limited time frame, I personally don’t have 5-6 hours to play a MTT. What is it that draws you to SNGs vs Ring Games or MTTs?
Jared: It’s good for freedom of scheduling because if your friends call & want to do something, you can stop registering & be done within an hour. In an MTT you’re basically on lockdown until it’s complete. I also think it’s easier to get in a good sample size in SNGs. Mainly though, SNGs are just what I have done the best at.
PokerLizard: Since you’re a pokerstars super nova elite, What do you do with all of your FPPs or are you saving them up for that porsche?
Jared: I usually just get cash bonuses. You can get a $4,000 bonus for 250,000 FPPs.
PokerLizard: What do you charge for coaching?, while preparing for this interview I played a 6 handed turbo and totally donked off my chips on the bubble….so I need a coach
Jared: I’ve never really done coaching w/o the staking part attached. I think anything where I don’t get 50% of their profits for a year isn’t worth my time because I can always find someone else to do that if I want some extra money.
PokerLizard: What are your long term poker goals? Make enough to retire and travel? Actually join the circuit and get fame?)
Jared: I enjoy poker so I don’t think I’ll ever actually fully retire but my hours would reduce dramatically. I would like to do that pretty early & do a lot of traveling eventually. I don’t have any plans of joining the circuit. I think it would be too much of a grind. Playing live can be very boring & there’s a lot of extra expenses that go with it, no freedom of scheduling, etc… I would like to travel the circuit for just one year eventually though.
PokerLizard: What do you do when not playing online?
Jared: Hang out w/ friends, family, & my girlfriend….going on the river, fishing, camping, going out to bars, play video games…..lately we’ve got a tradition going where every Wednesday we’ll get 10-20 people going & go tubing down the river….we just tie all the tubes together & put a cooler in the middle…it’s a blast
PokerLizard: Your average entry fee is much higher on Stars than on Cake, is that just a function of available games? Or is it just based on where you can maximize profit?
Jared: On Cake the games are much easier so I’ll play some $52s & $78s, which I no longer play on any other site. I also recently got a 75% rakeback deal with Cake so that makes the games more profitable at all levels. Also, overall Pokerstars high stakes games have filled better but Cake has been picking up the pace lately.
PokerLizard: As you get to the nosebleed stakes, I assume you pretty much see the same players each day, how do you keep other players from getting a good line on your play when you play them over and over?
Jared: You have to constantly be changing & adapting your game & mixing it up more often. However, once the blinds get high a lot of shoves are unexploitable so it’s doesn’t really matter.
PokerLizard: By reading your blog I can see your work ethic and bankroll management, are these the two main keys to being a successful pro? Do you “pay” yourself based on an hourly wage like some guys?
Jared: Work ethic and bankroll management might just be the 2 main keys to being a successful pro. You have to study a lot to improve & then be disciplined enough to put in the hours playing when you’re your own boss. I don’t pay myself based on an hourly wage or anything. I have a certain amount I like to keep on each site based on my average buy-in & usually just cashout however much is over that amount on a weekly basis. I then keep it in an ING savings account (4.5%) until I figure out what I want to do with it. I have a financial advisor that helps me with my investments & then a lot of money goes into staking. I also have to make sure I keep enough out for my quarterly tax payments & upcoming events in life, like a down payment for a house.
PokerLizard: What mistake do most SNG players make to keep them from being a winning player?
Jared: People make a lot of atrocious calls on the bubble.
PokerLizard: Do you anticipate ever getting sick of SNGs and switching to MTTs or Ring?
Jared: Initially I planned on switching to cash within a few years. However, I’ve recently taken my game to another level & am making a lot more money in SNGs. Also, getting 75% rakeback on Cake is going to make it hard for me to find a reason to switch to another game since you get the most rakeback in SNGs. I could basically break-even in all of my games the entire year & not stake or coach anybody & still make about $200K per year just off rakeback & bonuses. Obviously I won’t be breaking even in my games though.
PokerLizard: Anyone ever give you shit for being a “SNG specialist”? Do you just send them your ROI on sharkscope to shut them up?
Jared: I don’t really personally get much shit for being a SNG specialist. Maybe that’s because I make more money playing SNGs than those who are usually “giving the shit.” However, I do see others getting shit on the forums & in chat boxes.
PokerLizard: Do you consider yourself a “grinder”? Why do you think that term has a negative conotation?
Jared: I guess I would consider myself a grinder since I rely on consistent profits rather than a big score. As far as it having a negative connotation, I don’t really have an answer to that question. Perhaps how Worm viewed Kanish in Rounders might have something to do with it.
PokerLizard: Speaking of Rounders, If you were Mike McDermott in the movie, how long would it take you to get with Famke Janssen after getting dumped?
Jared: Lol…..a few hours?
PokerLizard: Thanks for the interview Jared.
Jared: Thank You.
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