The Grinder

There he is the beast in poker, that extends the limit of poker to its very furthest: the grinder. He does not play one or two tables at the same time, but twenty+ tables or more. Currently we can see this species life in action by following Chiren80's challenge to play one million hands within one month. That means to play more than thirty thousand hands per day. To put this in perspective: 1,000,000 / 60 = 16666,67 hours or 694 days if playing 60 hands per hour around the clock on one table. An unbelievable amount to the average person, but not to the grinder.

It's most likely that Chiren80 will be able to achieve his goal and if you are curious how such a person looks like simply click here.

What can we say about such a person? For sure that his dedication goes below any limit. He somehow represents the workaholic among poker players. He puts a lot of time to achieve his goals. For him poker is a way to recieve money, gain respect from others or to test his own limits. He is seldom satisfied with what he achieved so far and always tries to strech the already achieved even further.

Is he addicted? To a certain part I would say he is. Is it bad to be dedicated to something? I can not answer this question for someone else. Some people only feel alive when they put all their concentration and dedication to one goal, for others its the variety that spice up their lives.

Grinding is an art. That is for sure and it can help you a lot in life. How is that? I grinded myslef for quite a while and in my current job I realize how fast I am able to accomplish goals. While others work only with one window I constantly jump between dozens of tabs to recieve information or to solve a problem. Where others set one click at a time others jumping through the pages. Grinding helped me to faster process information, to concentrate on many different problems at a time and to solve them properly.

Also I would most likely hire a grinder, since I would know for sure that this person is like a dog sniffing some meat. He will not stop until he gets it and thats a characteristic I would like about an employee.

Grinding needs so much concentration - the average player can barely understand the dimensions we talk about. Try to play twenty tables for two hours and self examine how you feel afterwards. If you are not exhausted and feel like a squeezed tomato you should seriously consider to grind more. Chiren80 played World of Warcraft on a professional level. Therefore he is used to be in front of the computer for long amounts of time. He is also used to stay focused and to concentrate on a certain goal. These are good preconditions in order to become a successful grinder. And it shows another thing. A grinder is born to be a grinder. Its a state of mind. It doesn't matter if it is about poker, World of Warcraft or other things - you simply do it.

From my perspective grinders are very rational people. They do not care to much about the subtleties of poker. They play so called ABC poker. Because they simply lack the time to make fancy moves. Therefore one can assume that they are not especially creative or do not see the need to be creative. They simply keep on working and that will make their living. Some think grinders have no love for poker, but I guess you can compare it to people who feel dedicated to marathon. You have people who run half-marathons, others which run marathons and again others who love to run an ultra marathon. They all feel a deep love for marathons, but  they express it in different ways. The ultra marathon runner simply represents the grinder. A simple marathon is just not enough for him. Still one can not say that he does not love marathons or does not earn respect for his accomplishment.

Grinders might appear crazy to one or another, but in the end it seems that they just represent another kind of human nature. Gl to Chiren80, ChicagoJoey or Boku87 who just represent the community of grinders very well to the average poker player.