Q+A

I read this on Badblood’s blog and since my brain has been reduced to mush since I’ve returned from Vegas and can’t think of anything interesting to write about, I’ll just answer these questions.

Q1: What is the biggest mistake people make at a NL table?
A1: Overplaying semi-strong hands and getting yourself pot-committed in the process. An example would be raising with AK, hitting an ace and pot-sized betting the flop and turn against a solid opponent. At this point there is so much money in the pot that no matter what they do or have, your stack is almost committed and you only have one pair. What often happens is you justify calling big bets on the river or turn with the hopes that they are bluffing or are on a draw. Probabbly not the biggest mistake you can make, but definitely one I see often, and fall into as well.

Q2: What is the biggest mistake people make at a limit table?
A2: I’m not much of a limit player, but I would have to imagine that preflop hand selection would be the most important aspect of limit holdem. Calling raises with small pairs and suited connectors with only 1-2 opponents would seem to be a huge leak as you won’t hit often enough to break even.

Q3: Why do you play poker?
A3: Currently I play poker for income. I started playing for fun, as most people do I would imagine, but as the stakes got higher, and the hours got longer, the fun invariably decreased. At this point the only true fun I have when playing is late stages in a MTT, live home games with friends or the occasional live casino game if the right people are there.

Q4: If you weren’t playing poker, what would you be doing?
A4: As far as income is concerned I would undoubtedly be working some horrible 9-5 office job with suicide on my mind 24/7. As far as a hobby goes, I would probably just find some other form of online entertainment, probably a random addictive video game.

Q5: What is your favorite poker book and why?
A5: I would have to go with the Harrington on Hold’em books for sure. They are simply a fantastic guide to hold’em fundamentals, especially for tournaments. The books force you to think about each check, bet or fold you do and why you do it. After I read these books I realized that I was making a lot of bets without truly having much reason to do so. Being conscious of the reasons for every move allows you to improve your game immensely as you now can base your future decisions on past ones, rather than just some sort of intangible feeling.

Q6: Who is your favorite poker player and why?
A5: I would have to say Ted Forrest simply because I’ve seen him make some ridiculous reads and having the balls to go with them. For example, in a high stakes poker episode I saw him see a 3-way raised pot with 53s with Barry Greenstien and someone else. Greenstien had raised preflop from the SB and the flop came KQ8 or something. Barry bet out and Forrest raised him somehow with 53s. Greenstien had 99 and had to fold. There is no other single player that I’ve seen make similar reads and moves like he has and I would hate to play against him.

Q7: Which poker player do you dislike the most and why?
A7: I’d say Hellmuth, but he does make me laugh often so I’ll have to go with Michael Mizrachi. First of all, just based on appearance I hate this guy. He is your classic douchebag with his jewelry and the get-ups he wears. Besides that, he is such an arrogant prick at the poker table, letting everyone know when he makes a good laydown or a well timed bluff. And he does it with such a smug look on his face that you can’t help but dislike him.

Q8: Do your coworkers know about your blog.
A8: Coworkers? But if I did have a job, I’m sure one or two close friends would know about it.

Q9: What is the most you have won in a cash game or MTT (both live and online):
A9: I can’t remember any 4 digit type cash game pots, so I’ll have to go with one pot I won in my recent trip to Vegas when I flopped a set vs TPTK and the donkey called my check raise all in for an extra $250 or so creating about a $600 pot. My biggest MTT win was back in February when I took down an online $20 game for $3,813. My biggest live MTT win was just a week ago when I won the daily Sahara tournament in Vegas for $2600.

Q10: What is the most you have lost in a cash game or in one day total (both live and online)?
A10: Live I’ve never lost more then $300 in one session. Online I’ve lost $832.50 on April 18, strictly playing SNG’s.

Q11: Who was your first poker blog read?
A11: Definitely Tao of Poker. I read it during last years WSOP daily updates and became hooked instantly. At the time I was working at a terrible office job and they had software installed to block any site that had an immoral theme (sex, drugs, gambling etc.). But blogs passed the filter no matter what the content was so I was able to read poker blogs all day with impunity.

Q12: What satisfies you more, your aces holding up for a big pot or a bluff working for a big pot?
A12: Definitely a bluff. Nothing gets your adrenaline going like pulling off a massive bluff. I’ll take this time to mention the biggest bluff I pulled off of my life just recently. In a live 1/2 NL cash game I was dealt TT in mid position and raised to $12. A solid opponent in the SB reraised me preflop, something I had seen him do exactly one time in a few hours and he had AA. I called the reraise and saw the flop of A74 rainbow. He immediately fired out a pot sized bet of about $100. At this point I had about $200 behind. His reraise preflop told me that he had a big hand, probably QQ, KK or AA, with the slight possibility of AKs. I knew no matter what hand he had, I was beat at this point. But then I thought, out of all the hands he could have, which would he bet big on this flop with? I assumed he wouldn’t bet that strongly if he had AA, and figured there was a good chance that he was actually afraid of that ace. So I pushed all in and he insta mucked. Fucking gorgeous. I could only raise him an additional $100 but because he probably had KK or QQ, he just simply couldn’t call to my “obvious” AK.

Q13: Why do you blog?
A13: Like most poker bloggers, I started to keep track of my results and to have a written account of the evolution of my game. That has pretty much stayed the same. I've enjoyed the writing aspect as well since I've never really considered myself much of a writer and I've definitely seen improvement as far my engrish goes.

Q14: Do you read blogs from an RSS reader like bloglines or do you visit each blog?
A14: I visit each blog, although bloglines seems like a much more efficient method.

Q15: Would you rather play poker for a living than do what you currently do for a living?
A15: I’ll answer this by saying that at this point in my life, there is nothing I could see myself doing that can outweigh the advantages poker has given me. That being said, I have no intention of doing this for more than a few years, and getting some sort of normal form of income will definitely be in my future.

Q16: Do you wear a tinfoil hat on occasion?
A16: No, I’ve trusted the internet and any kind of technological advance like I trust myself.

Q17: If you had to pin it down to one specific trait, what does a great poker player have (or do) that separates them from an average player?
A17: Their total indifference to money. They seemingly can win or lose thousands and treat it like nothing happened.

Q18: Is Drizz the coolest person on the planet for naming his baby Vegas?
A18: I don’t know him or read his blog, but if he did name his baby Vegas I think that’s actually kind of lame. I wouldn’t want to be named Vegas, especially as a baby as you would invariably have to deal with the “Vegas Baby” jokes.

Q19: What is your primary poker goal and are you close to accomplishing it?
A19: My poker “goal” at the moment is to not only survive off poker income, but to obtain enough additional capital from it to be able to use it for future investments and endeavors. I don’t have any aspirations of becoming a world famous poker player or anything like that. I just want to make enough money off it before I get completely burned out so I can do something else.

Q20: What is your primary online site and why?
A20: Definitely Poker Stars. I mostly enjoy it because of its abundance of tournament and Sit&Gos, but also their software is flawless and their support and cashouts are the best I’ve experienced.

Q21: What site do you dislike and why?
A21: I really haven’t enjoyed many other sites I’ve played on, with Full Tilt being the only slight exception. I suppose Party Poker would be my least favorite, simply because of its buggy software and horrid interface.