Over the past year, ACR Poker has given away a number of potentially life-changing prizes in its High Stakes Adventure promotions.
The winners of these packages have battled the best players in the world at Triton events in Cyprus, Vietnam, and London, with some spectacular results. Mark Rubbathan won Event #3 at Triton Vietnam for a total of $636,000 after qualifying on ACR Poker.
This time around, the High Stakes Adventure leads to Monte Carlo and the Triton Super High Roller Series, which runs from October 24th to November 4th. The winners will get $110,000 in tournament buy-ins, with luxury travel and accommodation on top.
For ACR Poker players, it's simple – just finish in the top two in either of the two $2,650 buy-in satellites, and you'll be rubbing shoulders with players like Tom Dwan and Jason Koon. For Stormers and Pros, the road to Monte Carlo is paved with a variety of challenges, including social media content (judged by a panel including Chris Moneymaker), a 16-bracket heads-up tournament, and results from live and online poker, with a special focus on the OSS XL series. The player who accumulates the most points wins the package.
It's a big prize and a grueling challenge.
One man knows just what it takes to win, though. ACR Team Pro Jeff "Boski" Sluzinski has already won two High Stakes Adventure packages that saw him play at Triton Vietnam and Cyprus. Now he's set his sights on a hat-trick that will take him to Monte Carlo. We spoke to him ahead of his latest challenge.
The Boski way
Can you take us through your strategy for the latest High Stakes Adventure challenge?
Jeff Sluzinski: My personal strategy for the High Stakes Adventure competitions varies depending on the parameters. Some have been more online poker heavy, while others were more focused on social media engagement and growth.
The Monte Carlo challenge is heavily weighted towards online MTTs during the OSS XL series. The top ten scores across the series count towards that aspect of the challenge. Similarly, the OSS XL leaderboard represents another category that we're competing in.
I've set myself a schedule that I've optimized for maximum efficiency.
- 7:00am - Wake up
- 8:00am - Gym
- 9:30am - Walk dogs
- 10:00am - Shower, Breakfast
- 10:30am - Fire up 12 MTTs (maintain 12 tables)
- 9:00pm - Stop registering
- 11:00pm - One tabling
- 1:00am - Sleep
The challenges are typically quite lengthy. How do you maintain your commitment across an entire month of grinding?
JS: These challenges are tough for a reason – $110,000 is a lot of money!
I break it down by number of days to give better perspective. If it takes thirty-three days of straight grinding ACR MTTs and socials to win the package, then I'm making $3,333 a day. That seems like a no-brainer to give it my all and roll the dice.
As Thomas Jefferson famously said, "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."
Your run in the most recent challenge, for the Triton London package, came right down to the wire. It was you and BetOnDrew battling it out to the very end. How do you handle the losses? Are you able to detach yourself from the results and be happy for your fellow ACR Team Pro?
JS: The most recent challenge was all poker. $500+ events live and any of the WSOP online bracelet events. The 'no social media' aspect was nice, but forty-nine days of grinding live MTTs in the scorching Las Vegas heat can drive a man mad.
I documented every single live MTT I played and you can watch it all unfold on my YouTube channel. Let's just say it did come down to the wire and a miraculous sequence of events determined the winner.
Knowing how to win
Is there a basic formula that works for you or do you attack each one with a fresh mindset?
JS: It's always tricky to adapt to the new challenges. There are new strategies to implement to give yourself a better chance at winning. Consistency is the common theme amongst the Team Pros that have won in the past. Time management and life balance are key to staying efficient and avoiding burnout. As you can see in my daily schedule above, there's not much down time. If I have any free time, I'll spend it walking my dogs or getting a massage.
What was it like winning the two packages?
JS: Winning the first two ACR $100k challenges and going to Vietnam and Cyprus still feels like a dream. The grind was so hard and when it was over, I only had a week to prepare for a trip to a foreign country thousands of miles away. I never really got to enjoy the thrill of victory. The memories I made on those trips are priceless, though.
What was it like competing against some of the world's best tournament players at the Triton stops? Do you view each tournament as just another event or are they a little more special to you?
JS: Playing against the best poker players in the world at the Triton stops can be intimidating, but most of the top pros were very nice to me and the other ACR qualifiers. When you're playing for these large sums of money, it's best to force yourself not to think about the fact that you're playing in a $25,000 tournament. Do not look at the payouts. Treat it as a game in which you are trying to win all the chips, a freeroll that you care about, but have no reason to play scared.
You can follow my journey as I grind the OSS XL events all month on ACR. I update my Twitter pinned post daily with screenshots of my session's PT4 graph and a few words about how things went. I will also stream all my deep runs on Twitch.
Good luck, Jeff! Hopefully we'll see you in Monte Carlo.
All Images Courtesy of Joe Giron Photography
