Originally Posted by killereagle

Ive read your 4 articles on ur Page, but those are back in 06 lol Thinking of writing new articles any time soon?? ALso what are some things you've treated to yourself recently, like buying a new Car etc. Do you plan on traveling at this time? And what place do you wanna visit the most.

Lastly your on the sb (40bb) with 55-99..blinds 50/100, got 2 limpers ahead of you..whats your plan? Second option utg limps, MP makes it 360. do u flat, fold? THanx! And its really nice meeting you. GL with everything :)

No promises on any articles in the near future but I may start writing some down the road again. I am really busy with personal things going on in my life, the WSOP right around the corner, and the golf season just about to start up for us New England guys I have enough on my plate for now. I enjoy traveling, my wife and I are heading to Aruba next week during April vacation so that will be alot of fun. One place I really want to visit is Australia. I plan on gong down for the Aussie millions atleast once in the next 5 years I really just hate the idea of being on a plane for 20 hours.
I haven't treated myself to anything good lately I just paid taxes so there goes all my money. I have been trying to pay off my house so after a good month I will usually just pay extra toward the principal loan and trying to get that paid off in the next couple years is a goal of mine. My next gift to myself will be a range rover sport but I still got a ways to go before that happens.
The other players stacks make a big difference but I will assume that I am the shortest stack with 40bbs and I will fold 5s and 6s and call 7s-9s with the idea that more often than not the original limper will just call and see a flop. Those types of hands are really hard to play oop but with 40bbs I don't mind seeing a flop. Thanks and Gl to you as well!

 

Originally Posted by m_hawk_1

Have I ever beat you in a pot?

Sorry for tilt-trolling you every time we were at the same table for like a month at the end of last year. You seem like a good guy, thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.

Haha Mhawk I do remember you following me around for a lil bit last year but I did put some pretty good beats on you. Im not sure if you beat me in a pot you would probably remember better than I do. No prob I am glad people are enjoying it and hopefully I can keep this roll going.

 

Originally Posted by ShipThisPLZ

pokerstars Game #60295671934: Tournament #414020010, $200+$15 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XVII (2500/5000) - 2011/04/03 21:22:37 ET
Table '414020010 305' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: labros80 (76828 in chips)
Seat 2: bow_1101 (97021 in chips)
Seat 3: faderbain (131072 in chips)
Seat 4: Mphone (75345 in chips)
Seat 5: 757sfinest (75692 in chips)
Seat 6: Absurdity1 (27849 in chips)
Seat 7: IZSHUA (99226 in chips)
Seat 9: ShipThisPLZ (149984 in chips)
labros80: posts the ante 500
bow_1101: posts the ante 500
faderbain: posts the ante 500
Mphone: posts the ante 500
757sfinest: posts the ante 500
Absurdity1: posts the ante 500
IZSHUA: posts the ante 500
ShipThisPLZ: posts the ante 500
Mphone: posts small blind 2500
757sfinest: posts big blind 5000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ShipThisPLZ [9s 9c]
Absurdity1: raises 22349 to 27349 and is all-in
IZSHUA: folds
ShipThisPLZ...

What range would he need to have for you to fold/call off
What point you would be calling and at what point would you be folding the btn shove?
This is deep in sunday milly at a relatively soft table...
What do you think about this spot with no reads? Couple of us are discussing this spot....

I def call with 99 here. I would say 7s+, aj+. We arent really worried about the shover more worried about everyone behind us. The button if I am looking at it correctly is faderbain had 130k so I think 9s are about as close as it gets. Alot of it depends on how active he has been and maybe where he is from. I would call with 10s, fold aq. Being that it is the sunday million and the table is probably very soft I guess I would fold 99 there to faderbains shove. Its pretty close though and a very good hand for discussion. I am going to say 10s is my breaking point to the buttons shove

 

Originally Posted by Olorion

what was your biggest Aha! moment?

I really don't remember one particular aha moment. Maybe the first time I won the 200r after I had been playing professionally for 6 months and been going through a downswing. That really gave me the confidence I needed and was a nice boost to the bankroll.

do u smoke?

congrats on all your success, weve had a few deep runs together and youve always been a guy ive respected.

my question is, say maybe "youre running good" making alot of final tables and deep runs but youre not getting wins. how do you deal with leaving that money on the table by not winning and dealing with the deep runs that come up short and the what ifs?

also like what you said about players doing videos, when are we as players going to realize that its these videos and training sites that are making these games that much tougher and while it may be fun to teach its pretty counter productive to keep putting these videos out for what a couple hundred bucks, theres not even any prestige in doing them anymore because everybody is doing them, i guess its a cool thing to do?

 

Originally Posted by herbstreet24

wow, nothing but the utmost respect... not because of everything that u have won, but because of ur incredible modest attitude... I mean its just wow how incredibly humble u represent the poker community... I guess if I had any question , it would be, how do u decide to take shots live? What kind of BR do u think necessary to take live shots at tourneys? If a $1500 circuit happened to be in town, what type of roll would u feel comfy backed (or not backed) to take a shot? Coming up from the small stakes is it worth it to try and find backing? Looking back over ur growth and development is there anything u would do different? No matter what, the community has so much deserved respect for u, and all I can do is just thank u for being such a positive role model for the grinding poker community.

Thanks for being a role model,

herb.

Thanks herbsreet. I like to usually travel around and play a live tournament every month or two. I have do a decent job of managing my money so I have a decent bankroll set aside to play live events. I don't have any specific guidelines as far as taking shots live. I think so much of it depends on the player and their circumstances. For me personally, I will always set aside 10k for the WSOP main event every year. This is the one tournament that every poker pro has to play and it is so juicy that I its crucial to have all your own action. For other 10k events I may sell pieces of myself to friends usually around 25% or over at 2+2 marketplace. Smaller buy ins I feel pretty comfortable putting up the full buy ins myself. This year my plan for the WSOP is to go out for about 10-14 days starting out with the 5k event and then playing no limit holdem events everyday till I feel the need to go home. I plan on playing in about 15k of buyins in prelims during that time and then I will come back for the main event in July. I think you could comfortably take a shot in $1500 event with 100k bankroll maybe even less 75k. I think you are best playing small stakes on your own rather than trying to get backed and play midstakes. I am a big believer in playing on your own money rather than getting backed. Its getting tougher and tougher to make a living playing poker and giving somebody half of your profits will make that it harder. Overall I am pretty happy with my growth and development as a poker player and I cant think of anything I would do different. I have took some shots along the way have had some ups and downs but I am still happy with where I am. Thanks for the kind words and I am glad to be looked at as a positive role model for the community

 

Originally Posted by B_O_K_E

Huge fan here. Enjoying the well Camby, great read. Love watching your success over the years and a real easy guy to root for. Time to EAT BRO!

Thanks sir! Im glad your enjoying it. We have had some good times over the years I still remember BOKE dominating the paradise poker days now you just chop up the sunday warmup :) Looking forward to seeing you out at the WSOP again and we will have to get up on a break or two. Lets eat this year at the WSOP I am hungry!!!!!

 

Originally Posted by the_dean22

"good well so far... Jcambys an OG, I remember battling on party poker back in the day."

took the words outta my mouth, and what BOKE said too...just wanted to say I'm a big fan, hope we are both still around in another 5 years :) You're the man James!

Thanks Grayson. Look forward to seeing you at the wSOP again this year. Hopefully we have even more success over the next 5 years. Glgl at the tables.

 

Originally Posted by Bry23

Hey Jim, Thanks for doing this well it has been a great read and it is good to see all successful players recognizing what a great player and person you have been both on and off the table over these past five years or so. It is an ideal situation to have some of your really good hometown friends who also play poker seriously, we have had some unbelievable times over the years and I don't think playing this game would be nearly as fun without you, chris, nanz, ram, shane and the whole gang. That being said, I think one of the most important qualities in a player is always playing your A game. I know it might sound obvious, but its true. I think for the most part you do a great job of this. When you bust out of mostly big tournies and have two 50 dollar tournies left with a good stack with 200 people left, can you focus and try and catch a straggler? It is especially hard for us east coast players because these nightly tournaments are running until 5am. You mentioned players ego, and I think this correlates into that mind state that every game counts and will affect your bottom line. Is there anything special or different you do to try and always focus regardless of the buyin or the way your day/ week/ month have been going?? Kind of vague but i had to throw something in here! Wish you continued success and actually more of it!
SUNDAY FUNDAY LETS GOOOOOOOO

Whats up mate,

We have alot of fun over the years and there isn't anybody I would rather travel around the world with. I wish we binked a few of these live tournies by now but it will happen...hopefully sooner rather than later. Having some of friends have some success with poker along the way has def been the ride even more enjoyable and hopefully it continues. Grinding a 50 dollar tournament at the end of the night is what I struggle with most. I wish I could play my a game all the time but I would be lying if I told you I did. More often than not I will gamble and try to get a donkey stack or go to bed. You nailed it as far as players ego correlates directly with a players mind state and the biggest thing I think is just trying to stay positive and upbeat. The person I know who does this better than anyone else is YOU! You do an unbelievable job of forgetting about what has happened in the past whether it is good or bad and your even keel personality is a major reason why you are so successful. The only thing I tend do differently is when things are going well I will play the higher variance tournaments such as the 1k and 100r and if things aren't going so well I will skip those tournaments and play high value tournaments like 26$ 50 freezeouts etc. I think that is a good way to deal with the variance of the game and lower the swings. Sunday funday was fun but I wish we had won some money! Oh well plenty more to come and hopefully bigger and better things are right around the corner for all the boyz from the boro!

 

Originally Posted by Acehole3288

James, Grats on your poker success... good to see a Masshole representing at the top.

Foxwoods or Mohegan? And what type of game? Bruins or Canadiens? (I have Bruins in 5) What in your opinion is a solid bankroll for mid to high stakes?

Thanks James keep up the good work.

Thanks Acehole. Mohegan is so much nicer but as far as poker is concerned I would say foxwoods. If we are going up to party I would rather go to Mohegan. I enjoy tournaments the most but if I am going to play cash I enjoy playing 5 10nl and 10-20 nl game whenever it goes at the woods. Bruins in 6 and I would say 100k is a solid bankroll for midstakes and to take a few shots at high stakes.

 

Originally Posted by kidgolfer

do u smoke?

no

 

Originally Posted by kingp1n

just wanted to say jcamby you are the illest. hate havin you at my tables! classy guy too

congrats on all your success!

Thanks kingp1n!

Hey Jim, congrats on a great start to 2011 sure its just the beginning of a great year. Your definitely one of the nicest guys online, even before you knew me you would help me with hands and never acted like your better than anyone else. Would you rather grind SNG's for a year trying for SNE or get a regular job (no mtt's either way)?

This is by far the best Well I have read since being on the site. Thanks for that and congrats on all of your success and goodluck in the future! You sounds like a true class act.

What kind of car do you currently drive? and what is your dream car?

How many buy ins your BR would you suggest having to never go broke playing $26-109s? and playing 2 sundays majors each week?

what is the most degenerate activity you have been a part of?

Will there ever be a better player than Phil Ivey?

who are a couple of the worst 'live/tv pros' you have played live with?

When you are in vegas this summer, will you be playing only WSOPs? or some Venetians and bellagios?

whats your highest bar/club/strip club tab?

Keep crushing and best of luck at 2011 WSOP!

Great well so far. Although I’m only a part time grinder, I’ve been playing online to various extents since around 2003 or 2004 and used to play with you quite a bit on UB back in the day. Glad to see you’ve had so much success because you’ve always seemed like a stand up guy. A few questions:

1. Any advice for a part-time grinder who is a capable, but not spectacular, player looking to improve (other than training videos)?

2. What do you think the most common leaks are in midstakes players’ games?

3. What are the biggest differences in terms of your style of play or strategy when playing low-end midstake MTTs ($24-50s, $10r, etc), midstake MTTs ($69-100s, $20-30r, etc.) and higher stake MTTs ($150s+ and $50r+)?

4. Do you ever have difficulty optimizing your play at each level when playing multiple levels simultaneously (e.g. over thinking hands against players in lower buyin MTTs, assigning too wide of shoving or 3 bet ranges to players in lower buyin MTTs, etc)?

5. What was your largest downswing in terms of ABI? You said $100k was your largest downswing, but I’m wondering what your ABI was during that span.

6. How good are home cooked meals when you are grinding??? I’m also lucky enough to have a wife that feeds me when I’m grinding and I gotta say, between that and sync breaks, it makes a huge difference!

Best of luck in the future and I hope you get that live score soon!

how do you play sooooo much and not burn out are there any specific things you do that keeps you hungry for the mullah? Any suggestions as to what helped you the most while you were on the worst downer of your life like what was thought process after waking up during this period and how much satisfaction did you enjoy when your mojo came rolling back into town? Any thoughts on how big of a fish i am are added bonus. keep keepin on boss, grats on top ten btw seems like just a few months ago i was looking up a few spots at you in mass no i cant find ME kjahsfkjshga. THANK YOU FOR GIVING BACK AND DOING THIS!!!!

how are you sir

which is your fav. site to play on. and why

is there any chance we can talk little sometime. (poker)

 

Originally Posted by bustyou79

how do you play sooooo much and not burn out are there any specific things you do that keeps you hungry for the mullah? Any suggestions as to what helped you the most while you were on the worst downer of your life like what was thought process after waking up during this period and how much satisfaction did you enjoy when your mojo came rolling back into town? Any thoughts on how big of a fish i am are added bonus. keep keepin on boss, grats on top ten btw seems like just a few months ago i was looking up a few spots at you in mass no i cant find ME kjahsfkjshga. THANK YOU FOR GIVING BACK AND DOING THIS!!!!

The bills never stop so I guess that keeps me motivated. When I was struggling my wife made me a vision board so everytime things start getting tough I look up at the baord and realize all the things I am playing for. When I am going through a big downer I find the toughest thing is falling to sleep at night but I think the most crucial thing is just trying to stay positive. It was great getting back to the top but I still got a ways to go and I am sure there are still doubters so I will just continue to try to prove them wrong and keep rising up the ranks. Poker is a very swingy game unless you are gboro so just keep working and Im sure I will be seeing you rise up the ranks in Mass in no time. GL at the tables bro and I will see you out in vegas!

 

Originally Posted by IRELAND

do u think you are truely one of the top 10 online MTT grinders in the world?

Yes. If you don't believe in yourself who else is going to

 

Originally Posted by arzCARDZfan

how are you sir

which is your fav. site to play on. and why

is there any chance we can talk little sometime. (poker)

stars has always been my favorite site and its really not close. Biggest tournaments, best structures, and I have had better luck in the bigger tournaments at stars. Yeah there is a chance we can talk some poker shoot me a PM after the WSOP and we will talk. The next month and a half I am super busy leading up to the WSOP.

 

Originally Posted by LiroLa

At first, im your fan and ur one of the bests imo!
You said about 100k down in 6 months, how did u fell on that period? 6 months is a long time... You just keep playing your best knowing it was "only" a downswing or u tought something like "omg... im gone".

Thanks!

Thanks Lirola! I had both of those thoughts going through my head during this time. When you go through a long downswing like that you def start questioning yourself. I had times where I thought I lost it but in the back of my head I knew I would be able to get out of the funk.

Much respect for you and your game. Been in quite a few battles with you and have often found myself on the short end of the stick.

My question is as an unbacked pro how do you continue to find the desire to grind hard and get better, without losing profit? I've been unbacked and playing $5-500 mtts full-time for two years. I've never had any training or read anything more than a couple pages of a poker book. As I've gotten better and the roll got bigger, I will occasionally play the 100r and pretty much always the sunday 500. I know I'm nothing more than neutral ev at best in theses, however I always find myself wanting to push it in terms of competition and money.

In the heat of the moment I don't even blink at the buyins and treat it like a normal mtt. Then when I look at my profit at the end of the month and deduct these thousands spent I feel kind of foolish. I aspire to play and belong at the highest level, yet it hurts my bottom line. I don't want to be a withered midstakes pro my whole life (tho I'll take it over a cubicle)

My bad got a little wordy and best of luck for the rest of the year

Got tons of respect for you man. Our paths have crossed a few times on Full Tilt and I remember when I looked you up I wasn't shocked at all to found out how successful you've been. I was pretty amped though to see that you are a fellow Metrowest resident lol (I'm originally from Framingham but now live in Burlington). Much love to MA!

Unlike many of the other posters I haven't read many wells on here but even so, this has been a fantastic read so far. I can tell how down to earth you are and the maturity you've shown is truly admirable. Your honesty is very refreshing and I think you're being a fantastic professional. Keep up the good work man!

And in a non-creepy, non-stalkerish way I hope we cross paths at Foxwoods someday so we can chat. Until then I just hope to crush you online. ;)

Amazing well with some very honest and open answers to a wide range of questions. Well done. Gl.

This thread should be moved to the strategic archives, there's some really good stuff in it. A few more questions for you:

The more I read, the more I'm jealous of your wife; is that weird?

In your answer to "Shipthisplz" post you said, almost word by word, what I said in a group discussion we were having, and that lead me to ask Joe to post the hand here and ask for your opinion. That you and I could see a hand the same way means I'm getting it, or you're getting worse?

Over a year ago, a good friend told me that a very very good player said I was way too tight. Ever since, I've 3-4-5 bet the living hell out of him, and always, no exceptions, got away with it. He is, hands down, 10 times the player I am, but don't you think that even the best tend to stereotype opponents way too much, and fail to realize their adjustments?

I see you're a basketball fan. Thoughts on Gasol?

Ever visited AK? Plans about it?

I'll try to word this one correctly: Call me a nit, but I can't bring myself to pay $250 for a Kobe steak in Vegas, when my sister is making $8/hour as a security guard in Spain. I love going out for dinner, but when the bill reaches certain point, I stop enjoying the food and start thinking what she could do with that money. That was just an example, but I hope you get the idea. Are there any moral considerations that keep you away from spending too much money in some items or services?

That's it for now. Thank you again for your time