Poker Discussion
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CarbonPoker · Full Tilt · Cake Poker · PokerStars · Ultimate Bet · Players Only · Bodog
So for my 2000th post I decided I wanted to do something for the
community, so I asked you guys what you wanted in a thread. The most
popular thing seemed to be a well. For those of you who don't know what
a well is, here's the most amusing description I've read...
A stranger is being shown around a village that he has just become part
of. He is shown a well and his guide says "On any day except Tuesday,
you can shout any question down that well and you'll be told the
answer." The man seems pretty impressed, and so he shouts down, "Why
not on Tuesday?" A voice from in the well shouts back, "Because on
Tuesday, it's your day in the well."
So yeah, essentially, in this thread, I'll answer any question you
have about playing professionally, the game, myself, or any random
question you have that might not even to do with poker.
I also thought it'd be cool to introduce wells to Pocketfives, since on other forums other wells have
been really eye-opening. You learn a lot of things about the people who
play for a living that you otherwise would've probably never known.
For those of you who don't know me I've been playing professionally for a few years now. Before poker I grew up in a
suburb of Seattle. Somebody introduced me to poker when I was 16 and I
got hooked pretty quickly, playing every home game I could find. My
home life wasn't exactly awesome at the time so I would work at Arby's
or play poker most hours after school, just to kind of get away from my
situation at the time.
I left my home during senior year of high school on pretty bad terms
with my family, pretty broke. I went to Alaska and worked as a
commercial fisherman, and came back home and moved to the actual city
of Seattle. I worked there as a security guard, usually sleeping
through my shift, and then came home to play SNGs all night.
My first month doing this I luckboxed two tournaments and made
$7,000, put a few grand in the bank, and then quit my job. I haven't
had a real job since.
I totally sucked at the start, running break even over 1,000 SNGs,
and showing a -20% ROI over my first 1,000 tournaments on Stars.I
started watching training videos though, and working on my game
constantly, and slowly but surely I got better. I moved through SNGs,
to tournaments, to cash games.
The last year I've focused more on the live circuit, playing poker
in Ireland, the Phillippines, Korea, Brazil, Costa Rica, France,
Hungary, Poland, Italy, Uruguay, China, and Germany.
I no longer live in Seattle currently. I lived in Korea off and on
for a year with my girlfriend there, but eventually it didn't work out.
I was gone 90% of the time for tournaments or something and Korea is
just too far away from the European events.I'm currently residing in Malta, doing the EPTs, playing the tournaments online, and trying to take as much money as I can out of the European economy by playing on their sites.
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 jackaaron: | |
1. If you had to pick which is more important between having emotional control/patience versus poker knowledge, which would you pick and why?
2. When you started to "get it," what would you say "it" was?
1. Emotional control/patience in a heartbeat. You can make a good living just having good bankroll management and playing consistent solid poker. I know many phenoms who are miserable because they just spew when they get money, they have no control.
2. I guess just to not compare yourself to others and be happy with what you have. Be happy that you can just play a game for a living and not worry about how well you were doing last year. Play your best, play for love of the game, enjoy it, and take things as they come.
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Thuy Doan mentioned you in her blog, do you talk to her much? We graduated highschool together and had a few classes together along the way.
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what is the best way to go about finding a backer or do they pretty much find you?
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I know you have been all over the world and met some interesting and amazing cultures and people, I'm sure. I was just wondering if you ever get back to the Pendleton Wildhorse Poker Roundup would you be interested in meeting some cool Indian people and participating in some traditional cultural activities? I would love for you to see how Indian people live. We are pretty unique people.
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| undertheradar: | |
What do you do to maintain your motivation to play cards? Whats your thoughts on all of the multi accounting that has come to light? I believe I remember you saying something about being backed once. Whats the best and worst part of being backed?
TYVM for your time
I have specific goals I want to achieve. When I didn't have goals I spewed money, never played, got bored, lethargic. I have specific financial goals to help out my family and me, and that motivates me.
Having nothing else to fall back on is also huge. I just have a high school degree.
The whole multiaccounting discussion I've tried to stay out of. I can understand the temptation, but I've never done it. There's just so much bullshit in poker I can't really care anymore. It irritates me people don't think its that serious of an issue, but I'm friends with guys who I know got caught for it, so I guess I'm a hypocrite if I talk shit. They've been punished, they've admitted to it, and I dunno...I guess I haven't put a ton of thought into it. It pisses me off to know I'm playing with someone who knows my tendencies but I don't know who they are.
I think we had an opportunity with JJ. I think we could've imposed some kind of penalty for him, like a defined time he was banned, and he could only regain his accounts if there was no evidence he played during the time, and if he discussed security with the sites, his specific methods, etc. If he got caught any other time after that it would be a lifetime ban. Obviously it'd be hard to track if he played, but I'm sure its not impossible to track transactions and such to figure it out. I don't know a ton about site security though, so I might be talking out of my ass, I don't know.
I mean I think it hurts us more if we ban him for life with the security we have now. What does he have to lose anymore? Of course he's going to put in as many accounts as possible.
The best part about being backed is getting to take shots constantly at huge live tournaments. It also takes away a ton of the stress. The shitty thing is coming home to grind it out online. Having a huge week online and not seeing a cent is so fucking debilitating. Your friends are all happy for you and you're happy you're doing better but at the same time you don't have the money people think you have.
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| FenwayKing: | |
| mathclub: | |
could you ever see yourself doing another job after poker? if so, what sort of job?
edit : great idea btw, love it
love this idea as well. Galfond's 'The Well' on 2+2 is one of the best poker threads ever. Anyway, my question is (very broad, I know, so feel free to only give a few): What would your most important suggestions be for a middling (but winning) lowstakes tourney player to move up the ladder?
Accept that things you've done for years might not be right. Have somebody ghost you who you respect, pay for it if you have to. Try not to just mindlessly grind, but to devote time to learning each day. Put in as many hours as you can. Remain open-minded. Be patient.
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great thread idea... would be awesome to get these from ppl on the regular
gl to you in europe and wherever the game or your life takes you next, and i hope you can achieve your goals as soon as possible
aaron
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What Asian Country would you recommend spending a year in to teach English and make love to Asian women.
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Great post NATO, and its good to here that you're happy and doing well. I remember vividly the day you posted that you were going pro, and really Ive always been impressed w/the way you handle yourself and the confidence you have in yourself..you got balls man. Keep kicking ass and keep posting!!! My question to you is travel related. How did you adapt to traveling far distances to play events and performing at a high level?? Your fan, ME
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| Skitz0Frenik: | |
The "well" is a great idea and P5's owes you big for starting one. Now to my question:
How, if at all, has playing poker full time changed you as a person? (I think the cop-out answer made by a lot of people would be "it hasn't", but you seem like an honest and open person so I'm interested in hearing your response :)
At times I feel like I've become incredibly lazy and ungrateful for what I have. You get used to anything in life. This was my dream when I was 17, but I mean...its a fun job but its still a job. There's things I don't love about it. It can get monotonous.
I think I am a more positive person. You can choose to grow as a person or become a child, when it comes to poker. Poker really helps you learn how to hope for the best but prepare for the worst, and just enjoy the ride ...If you choose to be that way. It's really easy to get negative and bitter when you're not producing for a while, or you're playing too much. There's a lot of poker players that just bitch about how bad they run, and how good some guy runs. It's bad for growth and it's bad for you. I'm lucky enough to have a number of positive-minded friends.
It's broadened my mind and already given me a lifetime of experiences, as I've gotten to see so many cultures. It's one thing to read about a culture, it's another thing to argue with your landlord in another country, to have a beer with the people and listen to them talk, to get into an argument with a girl there and have to rely on your language skills then to get you through it. I could never put a price on those experiences and what they've taught me. I wouldn't trade them for the world.
At times its made me more withdrawn as a person. When I just grinded 60-80 hours a week alone in a shit apartment I had a hard time talking to people for a while. I grinded myself out of my mind for a while.
That was a big reason for the travel, like a year or so ago. I just did nothing but play poker, so I won a seat to APPT Manila and just went out two weeks early. I wanted to just get out of my shell.
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In your profile is the following:
Former SNG Shovebot Turned MTT Degen Turned Cash Game Grinder
I'm currently at the "SNG Shovebot" stage. I'm not sure what to do next, but I'd rather not play SnG's for the rest of my poker career. Do you have anything you'd like to suggest?
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What hand is the hardest for you to play and why? Do you avoid playing it because of that or have you adapted?
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What could I do to run better in big tournies??...specially against u :)
PokerStars Game #22576368546: Tournament #123476553, $1000+$50 Hold'em No Limit - Level X (300/600) - 2008/12/02 23:23:14 ET
Table '123476553 11' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: dreamgirl3 (15351 in chips)
Seat 2: egyptian1 (11478 in chips)
Seat 3: cleo95 (20420 in chips)
Seat 4: marroca5 (21930 in chips)
Seat 5: Assassinato (19543 in chips)
Seat 6: China_White1 (9890 in chips)
Seat 7: detroitj6 (35457 in chips)
Seat 8: dricadrica (17824 in chips)
Seat 9: oneandahalf (23628 in chips)
dreamgirl3: posts the ante 60
egyptian1: posts the ante 60
cleo95: posts the ante 60
marroca5: posts the ante 60
Assassinato: posts the ante 60
China_White1: posts the ante 60
detroitj6: posts the ante 60
dricadrica: posts the ante 60
oneandahalf: posts the ante 60
dricadrica: posts small blind 300
oneandahalf: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to marroca5 [Kd Kc]
dreamgirl3: folds
egyptian1: folds
cleo95: folds
marroca5: raises 900 to 1500
Assassinato: raises 2950 to 4450
China_White1: folds
detroitj6: folds
dricadrica: folds
oneandahalf: folds
marroca5: raises 3950 to 8400
Assassinato: raises 11083 to 19483 and is all-in
marroca5: calls 11083
*** FLOP *** [9h Ah 4s]
Assassinato said, "nh"
*** TURN *** [9h Ah 4s] [Th]
marroca5 said, "damn so obv"
*** RIVER *** [9h Ah 4s Th] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
marroca5: shows [Kd Kc] (a pair of Kings)
Assassinato: shows [Ks As] (a pair of Aces)
Assassinato collected 40406 from pot
Assassinato said, ":/"
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| 99NvrLosez: | |
the obvious, jessica alba or jessica biel?....who do you think is the best online tournament poker player other than yourself? :P, and what was your favorite nonasian country to visit so far?
Alba.
Menlo. Imperium. SCTrojans when he's not tilting.
I love Malta man. The people are so chill here, things are cheap, and living right on the ocean is just so nice. That and this IP runs amazing.
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| X360fund: | |
what limits or sngs or MTTs were you playing when you decided you were a 'pro' and no longer just making some coin. thanks for this, mad props.
$30.00 SNGs, and then $16.00 turbos. A few months later I started playing 180 mans.
Probably wasn't the smartest idea to quit my job then.
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