Title says it all. I am not as highly ranked as some of the others who have done this but I am willing to answer questions becase I believe that the community needs something to involve itself in in a positive way since BF. I have seen the ups and downs of poker and have a wide base of knowledge, which I belive a lot of regs who are one hit wonders, often take for granted. If this thread gets questions, i will change it to a well, if it doesn't, I'll forget it existed

Tom

 

Originally Posted by TheVillageGrinder

Hey cool. I'm playing in my first real live mtt tomorrow. $350 WSOP circuit event. 30min level. 10k starting stacks.

I know its kind of a broad question but what are the most important adjustments that I should be making and how do you handle early levels vs bad player when ur pretty deep. Thanks.

In the early levels I feel you shoul let bad players bury themselves. Bad players are bad for a reason and if you pick up on who's at your table quickly, you can exploit this. The most trouble I've had in mtts is when i have tried to outplay brainless players in early stages. So, don't try to get into big pots pre flop but play a lot of flops and take pots away with aggression would be my best bet

 

Originally Posted by shanetrain22

hi thomas. i miss you.

fav online poker memory so far?
players you find most difficult to play against?
who's helped you most with your game?
what would you be doing if you weren't playin poker?

miss you too bud, hope all is well.

favourite memory? honestly it was my first 5 figure score in a $26 mtt on ftp
the players I find most difficult to play? fish really, they level me more than regs
helped me in my game? too many to mention, all I can say is that in the last 2.5 years I have been fortuante enough to talk to likes of gags30, doubledave22, gboro, mybrimlow, JeanGrae, NSB, illini213.... the list goes on
if I wasn't playing poker? I'd be in some type of money management. I always knew that money made the world go round, my school confirms it for me

 

Originally Posted by RyJS

What got you started originally playing poker?
When did you/what made you realize poker was going to be more than just a hobby for you?

This is a really good question. I am not the Durrrr's of this world that deposited $50 and never looked back or the guys that started in college home games. I started out when I was holding down a part time job after school when I was 16/17 yrs old. Buddy of mine played some poker and I liked the idea of making more money than I was making so I played freerolls then eventually played for real money. At about 21, I took the game seriously and figured that my streaks of success could potentially turn into a career if I became a student of the game more than a mere random player looking for a quick dollar.

When you first starte3d grinding on your own and were broke (if you were ever broke) How did you manage the negative feelings you get towards the game?
Wendy's Spicy Chicken or McDonalds Big Mac?
Who would you rather be... Peter Griffen or Homer Simpson with Lois Griffen as your wife?

Do you think poker will be your career or do you eventually think you might do something different?

How emotional are you to wins and losses at this point of playing?

Any thoughts on the legality of online poker in Canada in the future?

I have to chim in. Always considered you a really cool guy and enjoyed playing with you (well, except when you busted me late in an FTOPS; that day for some reason I tilted from it, although your call was completely standard); pretty sure we have stacked off each other more often than what common sense dictates, considering that most of the time there were much softer spots at the tables.

Good memories, hopefully we'll get back at it soon enough.

Go ahead, answer THE question.

Hope everything is going great for you and your loved ones, best of luck sir

In an typical week, what percentage of your MTT buy-ins come/came on Sunday?

Looking back at your poker career, at what stage would you say you were having the most fun?

 

Originally Posted by apairinmypoc

Do you think poker will be your career or do you eventually think you might do something different?

How emotional are you to wins and losses at this point of playing?

Any thoughts on the legality of online poker in Canada in the future?

Poker will be a part of what I do with my life, but how big a part still remains in question. I have gone back to school this year and am really interested in financial planning. With that being said, I still strive to be the best poker player. Right now, as I'm maturing and growing, I view poker as something I want to be great at but I am also realizing other things that I really enjoy take up time as well so once I figure out how to balance everything, I can give a better answer to your question.
With wins and losses, I don't really get too emotional anymore. I enjoy winning more than anything but I view tournaments as practice all the time and where you place is like a score on a test. With the legal side of things, I don't know enough to give a concrete answer.

 

Originally Posted by Gags30

thomas, what were you thinking when u decided to scout with the barracks instead of producing marines from it?

i have to admit, we didn't have faith in the beginning, but in the end, we all knew who the true hero was, great job!

LOL, that game was awesome, good one gagster

 

Originally Posted by mcandrews3rd

what was your favourite daily mtt to play?
any one hand that stands out that made you feel like a boss?
dont know if your backed, but what are your thoughts on playing while being backed? something to avoid if you can or a no brainer for a winning player?

Favourite was the 2pm est $26 on ftp. Even on Sundays I looked forward to that one. I had won it a handful of times plus its where I had my first 5 figure score and it made me feel like a boss because when I had won it on that Sunday, it was the biggest score in a regular $26 mtt (which last for about 2 weeks then they upped the guarantee). Being backed, for me, is really just a learning process. What I mean by it, is that I view it as getting a glimpse of what I have to do and how I have to play to do it on my own. When you're backed you can play higher limits which will force you to play better players, but it will also force you to improve since getting into a lot of MU sucks. One thing you have to avoid is thinking you know it all. You don't, and quite frankly, noone does. If you have a period of success, great, enjoy it, but learn from it. I guaratee you that if you look at hands from a heater vs a downswing, you will think you're 2 different players.

 

Originally Posted by boneralert

In an typical week, what percentage of your MTT buy-ins come/came on Sunday?

Looking back at your poker career, at what stage would you say you were having the most fun?

Sunday is probably 20% of my buyins I would say. Now its probably more with being in school during the week and the only time I get is weekends usually. The most fun I was having was when I was first really taking it seriously. I had turned "pro", and I use that term loosely because all I did was quit a job and sleep in more to play poker, but I had no idea what I was doing really. I didn't know what a 3b was or what position was. If you told me I was in the cutoff, I'd have a blank look on my face. The fun part of all this was the learning. To this day even, I enjoy the studying of the game, sometimes more than the actual practice of it.

 

Originally Posted by OhScissorMe

Hi Tom, if you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life. what would it be?

Drake - Thank me later

 

Originally Posted by racer

1. whats the first nice thing you bought yourself from your poker winnings?
2. how did your parents/family react to your decision to go pro?
3. that first 10 months must have been difficult. Did it make you grind harder from a volume standpoint, or did it make you take a step back, play less volume and really focus more on fewer games in any particular session?

And GO LEAFS GO!!

I bought a really nice Movado watch when I first started making money. As with the family thing.....my mom hated it. Even to this day, she doesn't really care for it, but I guess what parent wants their kid to be a poker player? We had our arguements but now I think it is just accepted and its never really a topic of conversation anymore. I actually, in that first part of my career, played more poker than I ever had at any point in my life. I think I took off maybe like 10-15 days in 10 months? I could be wrong but there wasn't much down time for me, all I did was play. The sad part is, that once I started winning, I thought I had accomplished everything and that I could relax finally.

 

Originally Posted by big4390

Do you feel this game will be A) as profitable as always for most of your lifetime, B) Potentially more profitable if legalization happens around the world, C) almost completely unprofitable within 10yrs time D) a hybrid of any of these

Even if you kill it each year and avg about 150k-200k over the next 15 years or something, will you be happy that you chose this path? Would potentially starting your own investment firm or something of the like make you A) happier B) richer C) more stressed D)any other answer?

These are two really good questions. Poker will always be profitable, how profitable is dependent on the indivdual. I would say a hybrid of A and B to answer it more specifically. It's funny because, like the stock market, theres ridiculous amounts of info out there on how to be a better player, people just tend to ignore it or don't know how to apply it. While ya, the average player is better today than 5 years ago, its still not that big of a problem to the player who is constantly improving.

I'll be happy with my career path if I reach my goals, regardless of what that path may be.

im assuming you've played some mid stakes live mtt's. how is the play like?

what do you compare 350$ -500$ live mtt to an online mtt?

live or ol?

late stages of a small stakes live mtt, do you still apply the same strategy a person uses online or is that just burning $$? for ex local 230$ mtt you have 18bb and you reshuv over a lp raise.

are you more of a lag or tag in the late stages of any tourny?

is tag poker still a profitable and less riskier way to make it deep in tourneys or is it all about the situation?

do you blaze?

ive read this lots of times , but do you truly believe anyone can make it in poker if they work hard enough?

thx for doing this

 

Originally Posted by Gags30

ok a serious one, you used to be fairly straight forward of a poker player, then sort of realized that aggression was good, but you kind of went psycho aggressive 3 and 4 betting a ton and just bluffing every chance you could get. it pretty much didn't work out and you wound up just spewing a bunch and blowing some deep runs (sounds harsh, but u know it's true, and the good is coming so keep reading). you've since honed your game quite a bit and have definitely found some balance between being aggressive and actually having it in some spots, thus making you much tougher to play against...and hey, your results improved a ton as well. what changed, what helped you to figure out what you needed to change to pick the good spots to be aggressive as opposed to spewing...and any advice can you give a lot of younger or lesser experienced players that want to try to become more aggressive after watching good palyers do it, but don't know how to go about it?

thanks for trying to drum up some good discussion around here with a good thread...perhaps i'll finally bite the bullet and do a well after yours runs its course

Well you pretty much summed my games evolution. A few things had to happen for me to change my game, and they happened in harsh ways. First, I had to get knocked down to earth. My ego was overblown when I really hadn't accomplished much but I thought I had. I was stupid aggressive and went on a heater, which when I was running well, seemed like I couldn't do anything wrong. Then reality set in, I moved up in stakes and started to get, basically, embarassed, which is the second thing that had to happen. I couldn't beat better players and I was losing more money due to higher buyins. The last thing is that I had to accept it was my fault and not blame it on variance as I so often did. I lost a flip, but did I maximize chips elsewhere to minize this flip? This is basically how I started to think. For anyone who wants to learn how to apply aggression I would have to say that you should go to the far extreme end of the spectrum and see just how crazy you can be. What's going to happen if I 3b here? 4b? Take note of players reactions, you'll start noticing things about certain players that you can then later take advantage of. Just always keep in mind what it is you are trying to do and when to back off. Lastly, pay attention to detail and go over your hands. The player that plays ABC poker, doesn't need to work that hard because all they do is play their hands face up. Once you start mixing things up, you need to take it more seriously that the work off the tables is as important as on the tables.

 

Originally Posted by tom44411

Well you pretty much summed my games evolution. A few things had to happen for me to change my game, and they happened in harsh ways. First, I had to get knocked down to earth. My ego was overblown when I really hadn't accomplished much but I thought I had. I was stupid aggressive and went on a heater, which when I was running well, seemed like I couldn't do anything wrong. Then reality set in, I moved up in stakes and started to get, basically, embarassed, which is the second thing that had to happen. I couldn't beat better players and I was losing more money due to higher buyins. The last thing is that I had to accept it was my fault and not blame it on variance as I so often did. I lost a flip, but did I maximize chips elsewhere to minize this flip? This is basically how I started to think. For anyone who wants to learn how to apply aggression I would have to say that you should go to the far extreme end of the spectrum and see just how crazy you can be. What's going to happen if I 3b here? 4b? Take note of players reactions, you'll start noticing things about certain players that you can then later take advantage of. Just always keep in mind what it is you are trying to do and when to back off. Lastly, pay attention to detail and go over your hands. The player that plays ABC poker, doesn't need to work that hard because all they do is play their hands face up. Once you start mixing things up, you need to take it more seriously that the work off the tables is as important as on the tables.

great advice