Well, phil z hac used them, Tom didn't. I am not anti hud, I just think I do well worrying less about the numbers. The numbers can tell you a lot, but they can't tell the whole story. I think that when we focus on the numbers, we neglect some of the smaller things that are also very important. I would use them now, but I wouldn't rely super heavily on them.

Have you ever had friends in the past asking you to run some money up for them online ? if so , did you ever carry out this request ?

Mike, I am not sure about translation software. I am sure it will continue to improve over the years, but I think you lose something not being able to speak and understand the language yourself. You lose a lot of the nuance, the intricacies, the inflection, sarcasm, whatever. I remember with ancient greek, the coolest thing was that I could pick up 30 different translations of the Bacchae and they would all say different things. Literally, each translation would be fairly different. The message would be the same, but the way the translation was conveyed was different. I enjoyed learning ancient greek and making my own translation. Something pretty cool about that.

I have never done an OCW course. My plan is to get a group of people together and have ‘class’ twice a week. That way we all stay on top of it, kida like a workout buddy.

I agree, dunking is hard. I am with you on the cardio vs getting huge thing. I want to be strong, but I also want to be able to run around for a while and feel like I have some level of fitness. Being a fat strongman is not appealing to me at all.

Thanks for reading ☺

1. Do you think you can ever convince durrrr to do a well?

2. When you're at a random party or wedding or something and you talk to a stranger and they ask what you do, do you usually tell them about poker and if so, are they usually shocked and ask you 100 q's about the subject?

3. Who's the best at beerpong out of your poker friends? Who's better you or durrrr?

1. Other than the ME, what would be the tournament you'd most like to win?

2. Have you ever been to Prague? If so, how'd you like it? If not, wtf dude GO!

3. What's your favorite city in Europe?

4. Biggest single bet you've ever made as a bluff?

5. Do you remember the biggest pot you won/lost?

Just want to say I appreciate the enormous amount of effort you put into this well. Keep it up!

Q: When you played someone else who is viewed as very good, how much of your edge do you attribute to your strategy being fundamentally better, and how much to exploitation of timing tells, betsize tells, and specific gameflow/soulread spots?

Probably the best well I've seen on 2+2. Didn't read all the latest posts so apologies if any of this has been asked:

1. Of the countries you've been to, which has the highest overall quality of life and why?

2. Do you golf? I feel like you would enjoy it

3. Biggest skill difference you've noticed between live/online between someone you've played significant hours with at both?

4. Best cities for eating well in the U.S.?

5. You mentioned that you wish people were more open in general. Do you think that many people are closed off because of insecurities, social pressures, or other reasons? Do you find that more intelligent people are generally more or less open? (Obviously gonna vary massively person to person but just curious about thoughts on these trends)

not sure if u skipped my 2nd lot of questions by mistake but thought id give them another shot

thanks for doing this raptor.

1. Probably not

2. I don't tell strangers I am a poker player. I am a student!

3. Some days I think I am good, but it fluctuates a lot. I haven't played much in the last 4 years, but I played a bit with my roommates tony and philip when we had a crawfish boil. I think I lost a bunch to Taylor C and CTS at some point during all that too, but I don't remember.

1. Any big 6max event, or a big HUNL event. Players championship would be pretty sweet too. I dno anything I play really I want to win, I have never won a tournament.

2. Never been to Prague.

3. I haven't been to many. I spent the most time in Belfast and liked it a lot, but this is a bad question for me because my experience is pretty limited.

4. Over 100k I'm sure, it probably didn't work.

5. No. I bluffed off in a 300k+ pot vs PA once, oops. Played the hand horribly. I have lost others that were close to as big, definitely won some around that size, I don't really remember though.

My strategy is like 90% exploitation of timing tells, betsize tells, and specific gameflow/soulread spots. Everyone successful understands the fundamentals of good HU play, but the nuance comes from figuring out how to exploit your opponent. People tend to describe the way I play HU in a lot of different ways, and I think that's because I don't have a pre-set 'strategy' or anything. I do certain things for certain reasons, like the button limping and occasional min raising, but for the most part I raise most buttons, bet most flops, put pressure on them while I'm in position, etc.

1. I think people overrate my travels. America has the highest standard of living from what I can tell. I really liked Vancouver and hope to spend more time there in the future. I haven’t spent a ton of time in Europe, never been to Asia or Australia.

2. I wouldn’t say I golf. My dad is a pretty solid golfer, maybe like a 6 handicap or something. Not bad for an old dude. The reason I tried to get into was to spend more time with him, but it is pretty boring to me. And I suck. For like 3 months I went to the driving range 3-4x per week and played maybe 10 rounds during that time. I got a lot better, but didn’t ever start liking it much. This was a few years ago though so things may have changed. I went to Louisiana for a wedding and played with some of the groomsmen, I had a really good time even though I was pretty bad. It seems like something I will get into later in life, just not ready for it yet.

3. I think a lot of the superstar online guys have a little trouble adjusting at first to the live environment. It is different deal having to control your emotions, your reactions to cards falling, the way you make bets, your overall awareness of the table, etc. I think it is really important to do things in a consistent way while playing live. I always try to make bets the same way, look at my cards the same way, etc. I am sure there are people that are great at picking up ‘tells’ or whatever, I am certainly not one of them.

4. Healthy or yummy? New York food is awesome. San Francisco food is awesome. Vegas food is pretty great too. I like Del Frisco’s in Fort Worth, and the Mexican food. Healthy stuff I don’t really know, it isn’t generally difficult to eat healthy if you are fine making your own food. Most bigger cities have plenty of options for eating out, and even mcdonalds has some damage control items.

5. I don’t think intelligence has anything to do with openness. Some people are just very sealed off emotionally (I am like this a lot). I don’t have a problem at all saying what I think, but the way I feel is a lot harder to talk about. I think insecurity is a big part of it, but social pressure plays a role as well.

Damn I thought I answered every question. Give me a minute.

1. My story is probably not too hard to track down, I don’t want to type it all out again. I did something in my blog called 5 years ago today and 4 years ago today that may be worth looking at. I haven’t read it since I wrote it, so maybe I will go back and read that too.

2. Oh I dno, the really fun stuff is mostly public knowledge and has been all over 2p2. The shark thing was only for 10k or maybe even 5k. I think the whole streaking through Denny’s thing is pretty funny. We all did dumb **** at some point. I think it is pretty crazy that he went to China first and played in the biggest games ever before anyone else. Seems like a cool thing.

3. Over 1m

4. I have mentioned this a few times, I don’t want to name drop people I feel like I crush, but urnot, jungleman, any dang or durrr or galf give me trouble. I am sure a lot of other people gave me trouble or would give me trouble, but I can’t think of them right now.

5. I think I will play online poker again, I only stopped because of black Friday. If I had the option I would definitely be getting in 5-10 hours per week.

Sorry for skipping out the first time around!

have always been a big fan of your blog, and this well is awesome as well, thanks

question: would you have liked to be in more televised poker shows than your one appearance on PAD?

Shark tank was me, for $5k. For some reason people still think of that as absolutely insane on my part. I think the risk was close to non-existent, and as much as I've changed as a person since I was 18 or 19, I would probably still do it again / end derail.

Nice well, Raptor. I'm not sure we ever met, though we used to talk a bit on AIM back in the day. Glad you're doing so well, and living in my old neighborhood. Lived on 108 and B-Way till August when I moved abroad. Get a bagel at Absolute for me when you get a chance - everything toasted with LIGHT butter if you would. And an apple juice. Then take your dog to Riverside, not Central Park. Fewer park Nazis there, so you can let him/her off the leash.
Harry

Do shrooms: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...tudy-says.html

I have a kid I've helped raise who is a freshman in college. Shrooms are the only drug I would actually encourage her to do.

We never met, but I remember our chats. I go to absolute at least once per week (I go for the toasted everything with ham, bacon, and egg), and my dog loves the off leash dog haven down around 106th and riverside.

I edited a paper for a kid in my class who talked about the benefits of psilocybin. It made me want to try it, but I am kind of a wuss about that sort of thing these days.

Generally the televised shows were pretty sick good cash games, so yes. In general, I don't love the idea of being a recognizable face, but in some ways it would be pretty cool.

Were you an only child into your adopted family? If not, how close are you to your siblings? Also, how often do you visit/talk to you parents?

Nice Well!

Raptor- Awesome for you to do this. Did you carry over your competitiveness from poker into the other pursuits that you're currently involved in? How important is it for you to finish something that you start?

Also, FWIW, the Jiu-Jitsu Yoda, Marcelo Garcia has a school in NY. http://www.marcelogarciajj.com/nyc/
You should definitely check it out when your shoulder is better. Best of luck in your future pursuits.

Thank you for doing this, raptor/Dave. I have a lot of respect for you and your game.

Have you read A Dance with Dragons? What are your thoughts on it if you have? Has GRRM lost it with all the new characters, the ironborn and Daenyris chapters being totally crap? Can he turn it around somehow?

Please recommend some fantasy books, something with well written characters? I've tried reading some stuff, but most of it is just garbage.

If one of your best friends got seriously depressed and fed up with life, what would your advice to him/her be? Other than to seek professional help, of course.

Hypothetical scenario:

You've played some poker, but aren't very good. 150k hands lifetime. You are struggling to beat .25/.50nl but are properly rolled for it. For 2 years, you've been trying to figure it out on your own. It's December 2011 and you decide you want to be able to beat 1/2NL by the end of next year.

-What games/stakes would you play? HU/6m/FR?

-How would you go about learning?

-How would you build your poker network? (You don't know any winning players personally)

Regards,
Brian A.

Thanks for doing this well!

Don't think this has been asked yet

1. Have you done a lot of coaching and if so at what games and stakes?

2. If so, what do you think are the most common things that hold lets say midstakes players in either game back from breaking into the tougher lineups?