Community Spotlight - Pokercode Study Ambassador Sebarino

Community spotlight is an opportunity for us to showcase members of the Pokercode community on a regular basis. Giving those on the outside a better understanding of how varied and interesting our community is, we’ll use this as a chance to highlight accomplishments both from a Poker standpoint but also a personal one.

We as a community are striving to be better poker players but we’re also always pushing one another to be improve as people. This series is being kicked off with a conversation I had with Sebastian ‘Sebarino’ Schulze, discussing his time in the community and his recent shift into the role of Pokercode Study Ambassador.

Who is Sebastian ‘Sebarino’ Schulze?

Originally from Germany, Sebastian has been playing poker since 2011. A former friend sent him a link via ICQ (an instant messaging service Sebastian assured me the older of us would know) to pokerstrategy.com where he started off grinding $0.01/$0.02 6 Max Cash alongside learning the game.

It’s been a long journey since then and whilst he has some poker goals, he likes to keep them rather ambiguous. Crushing mid-stakes MTTs in the midterm and the end goal of battling in high-stakes MTTs whilst ensuring he enjoys the process as much as possible.

Sebastian has been part of the Pokercode community for about 2 years now and has recently been made a Study Ambassador, something we dug a little deeper into when we caught up.

Interview with Sebarino

Kyle McCague: Hey Sebastien,

You’ve been nominated as the first person to be highlighted in the new community spotlight blog series. We’ve seen you in the Pokercode Grindhouse series 2, but we wanted to get to know you a little bit better.

So first up, what drew you to Pokercode initially and how have things progressed to where you’re now the Study Ambassador?

Sebarino: After watching some live-clips of Fedor Holz and his game I became a big fan, the way he played inspired me greatly to make the move towards MTTs. Therefore it was a no-brainer to choose Pokercode over other training-courses/sites. Somehow I had a deep trust in Pokercode, even though there was a rather "basic" course out there back then.

Generally, I think one is always gonna be better off choosing the path he feels the most resonance with instead of listening to what other people say. I mean, you see how great Pokercode has become over time, and how much value we have to offer as community. Pokercode then became my second home, especially when the pandemic started there was a lot of time which I used to grow as a player and to be as active as possible in the community whilst attempting to offer a lot of value to other members.

At some point I then felt so confident with my game that I started to offer hand history reviews to members who played lower stakes than me and occasionally did sessions inviting other members to join in as well. Did more of those, and at the end of last year things "clicked" and I got asked to become a Study Ambassador for Pokercode. We do regular study sessions now recapping the content of the coaching sessions.

Kyle: Ah mate, that’s so cool to read. As someone new to Pokercode but who has been following along for quite some time its really interesting to hear how things have progressed especially on the community front.

I think the fact you were able to to proactively take on responsibility in the community is great. How did it feel off the back of that to be asked to become an ambassador?

Sebarino: Well, to be honest it is surely something different. I felt excited, but also quite insecure about it as doing this as a "job" would put me in a more authoritative position and make me feel more responsible to do this good.

I'm not used to be in the spotlight a lot and I think who I am doesn't matter as much as building something great together. I still don't see myself as a coach, but just a member of the community who strives to get better every day. Naturally after doing a couple of these community study sessions I feel more secure moving forward and the positive feedback of the attendees helps me a lot staying motivated and feeling more confident.

If people show a lot of appreciation for what you do it can be very powerful.

Kyle: In all honesty it sounds like you’re really going from strength to strength! Do you think this opportunity is also adding to your own game either in how the feedback loop is making you feel more confident in your decisions or if the added leading of study is improving your game?

Sebarino: Yes, definitely. I mean I am getting paid to study now!

I don't want to sound like a broken self-help poker-record (if such a thing exists), but I think it's important to talk hands with other people as you get so many different perspectives and at the same time you are forced to talk your own thoughts out loud and receive feedback on it. Furthermore I am happy how things progress with people feeling more comfortable talking their thoughts out loud in the group.

Kyle: I get the draw, especially if it’s something you were enjoying and seeing value from when doing it “for free”! Only a couple bits from me and I’ll let you crack on with your day. Since being in Pokercode what are some highlights you’ve had? Whether they be deep runs, social events, community chats or even things that you’ve achieved outside of poker?

Sebarino: I could talk about some scores, but as everyone is doing this already in the success-celebration channel (this is something we have in the discord server for community members), let's move this conversation away from those.

There were quite a lot of good things coming my direction, here and there I received a little "gift" from the head coaches. From joining the first live-play series by headcoach Simon and studying with him privately once, to studying with Fedor and Raffie aka Pferdinho, to meeting up with Fedor on my birthday for lunch in Vienna last year.

Don't forget chilling couple of days in the Streamhouse, big shoutout to Johannes Mansbart. Let's not forget Matthias either. I can write in my GG staking profile now that I sat in the front seat of his car!

But the biggest highlight was for sure becoming part of the Grindhouse 2 and getting to know a beautiful group of people who I can proudly call my friends now. The project felt quite short, but maybe that's how it was meant to be. We had a great time and get along so well that we are already planning our next Grindhouse in spring this year. Can't forget the Pokercode Festival either where I met all the faces I was mostly just chatting to online for a long time. As I said, Pokercode became my home for that reason. Without all the people it wouldn't be the same.

Kyle: That’s amazing to hear! You can tell how big a part of your life the community is and from my side it’s very obvious based on what I’ve seen how invaluable a member of the community you are. That’s all from me, appreciate you taking the time and have a great evening!

Sebarino: Thank you, Kyle! Cheers

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