Haven't been ripped off, and haven't made any horrible investments yet (that I know of, though I am invested in some startups), but have been screwed twice on the borrowing money thing. I don't loan money outside of a circle including ~6 people.

Thank you for doing this Well! I have always really looked up to your knowledge and perspective on things.

How often do you play poker nowadays? stakes?

How old are you now?

Do you have a girlfriend/fiance? If so, have you thought about having kids?

best of luck in your future!

No problem. I play poker zero nowadays. I am considering going to Macau for 2 weeks after new years, but that is up in the air. I may go to PCA, but that is the less likely destination. I may go to Vancouver and snowboard for 2 weeks. This summer I will probably spend ~3 weeks in Vegas at the beginning of the series.

25

Yes to girlfriend. I think about kids a lot, but I am in no way ready for them. 10 years maybe.

Thanks!

How often do you play HON? Whats your MMR? We have a group who plays super often, will you play w/us sometime? ;P ( Karakadin in HON )

but video games / kidding aside , your the man, you've been around a long time and always been super successful and seemed like a really nice and genuine guy. I'm also considering going back to school eventually but haven't been able to pull the trigger in the last 5 years due to poker. What was the biggest catalyst in you deciding to leave poker and go back, and how rewarding (or -EV) do you feel it has been?

Thanks again for the Well

Was hoping you could explain in greater detail why you dropped poker. I know you said that you like school, but still your giving up so much money. Are you worried about long term sustainability? I know you mentioned in previous threads how losing hurt more than winning helps. Did you really lose the love for the game?

any regrets not doing school the first time around (18-22 yrs old)? looking back now, do you think you could have done both college and poker during those years and had success at both?

throughout your poker career have you ever been jealous of a friends success at any point? if so, who and under what circumstance?

i know you played and coached high school baseball so i imagine you have some interest in the sport. favorite MLB team/year (like for example '93 rangers, '01 dbacks, etc.)? most memorable baseball moment as a fan?

Not often these days with school, maybe 400 games total? I am decent, certainly not great. My cs is usually among the best, but I am still learning how all the heroes work. MMRs got reset recently, but mine was never that high. I only play when I have friends online, so def add me. Raptor517. PM me ur gchat/aim and we can work out a time to get some games in. I play a mean accursed, and my silhouette is getting good (I started out playing a ton of support because I didn't know how anything worked). I played dota on and off for like 5 years before hon.

I think I just reached a point where I would wake up and be like, is this what the rest of my life looks like? Don't get me wrong, it was a good life, but it wasn't a life I ever wanted. I want to maximize my options for the future, as I am still unsure of what I want to do or who I want to be. I figured school would be a good way of staying flexible. There are also a lot of things I want to learn that I don't have the discipline to learn on my own. School forces it on you in a way that I can't do myself (some people surely can, but not me).

It is very hard, and only marginally rewarding right now. I would expect that speaking fluent Mandarin will feel pretty cool, but I don't know if I will make daily use of it in the future. As far as ev, school is costing me a lot right now probably. If I didn't go now though, I probably wouldn't ever go, so it is worth it to me.

What's your favorite type of pie, and what would you say to somebody who was exlusively in favor of inferior pies (such as pumpkin)?

I don’t actually like school all that much. I like the idea of school. Sitting at the library all day studying just plain sucks. It is unfortunate that I really like knowing things but don't particularly enjoy learning them. I did really enjoy learning poker, but I think once I hit a certain point I started to see the same situations over and over and there were no longer enough new and exciting situations to hold my interest and 'love'.

I am definitely worried about long term sustainability if I want to eat at fancy restaurants all the time or fly first class when I travel everywhere or keep 4 houses and cars. I don’t think I have ‘set for life’ money if I live in the way I did for a few years. At the same time, I realized that I don’t really need many of the things that excess money allows. If I have a comfortable bed, air conditioning in the summer, people near me that I like spending time with, and decent food year-round, I’m good to go. I sold most of my material stuff, houses, cars, etc, and keep shipping money into startups. While doing that I get to be involved in the businesses and learn about a bunch of different areas from the ground up. This is the best thing about having money for me.

I think I lost me ‘love for the game’ pretty early on. Sit and Go’s really were miserable. Learning PLO and NL was fun though, and I really love the friends I have made through poker. It never was an end itself though, just a way to give myself that freedom I have always craved.

How ridiculously insanely cool is it that you made millions by riding high on a once in lifetime opportunity?
ie: people who got to invest in google IPO before it goes public or facebook employees about to go public or the day trading craze.
and then the internet poker age.
A+++ to you and I wonder if you ever have moments of "whoa I made more money than I ever dreamed possible in the coolest of ways??"

nice thread

Well, I dropped out of school pretty much instantly at 18, but I went back the next year and did the whole fraternity thing and partied it up. I got that out of my system pretty quickly, though it was a great experience. I don’t think I had the maturity to do both poker and school back then, and I think it would have been counterproductive for both.

Yes, though ‘jealous’ implies some negative connotation. I didn’t want any of my friends to NOT be successful, I just wanted to be able to match or surpass that level of success (I am very competitive). I spent a lot of time with durrrr, and there were a couple of times where I would actually have more money than him, but he would be playing 5x bigger stakes, go on a superheater and have twice my net worth the next day. It made me feel like a bitch. Happy for him, but still a bitch.

I was a Texas Ranger's fan growing up. I signed up for a raffle for the 1995 All Star Game in Arlington and won 4 tickets. I was super stoked and went with my family. I can't recall who was playing or anything, but I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever. I sure did like the Rangers last season, but honestly I am not a huge fan of watching baseball these days. College football is much more interesting to me.

I saw you grappled with Travis Lutter. What did you think of him and how scary good was he? What belt level are you? I used to train and follow mma very closely so it interests me more so than poker.

Of all the places you've traveled to and visited, which place did you like the best and why? Any places you would ultimately like to call home?

What does your g/f think of your poker career? What does her family think?

Have you ever taken the Miggs-Breyer personality test?

It would be interested to know what you are. I recently took this test, and it's been very helpful in understanding how my brain works and how I react to the world, and how I process information.

I love pecan pie. My gf makes an awesome pecan pie, though she holds out until Thanksgiving-Xmas time. I think pumpkin pie is really bland, and I don't particularly love fruit pies (though some are good). In general I am not a fan of mixing fruit with dessert, I like my dessert to be as unhealthy tasting as possible. I would probably tell the pumpkin pie fan nothing and eat the rest of the pecan pie.

would you 669 with me and johnny weir?