No. I was raised Catholic, pretty much everyone I knew growing up was Christian with the exception of a few Jewish kids. Religion stopped making sense sometime around age 14 I think. I started to wonder why so many people could believe such radically different things, yet everyone is 100% convinced their viewpoint is the only viewpoint and everyone else is an idiot. I don't like that attitude, and try to have an open mind about everything. I am not ruling out a God, I just think it is incredibly unlikely.

Already answered a little.

Nope. I did flop a straight with the 52o on A43 at commerce in a 2-3 NL game once. I jumped out of my seat and started whooping and celebrating, then check raised all in for like 50x pot and got called by AQ. A few 2p2ers were there, it was great.

I probably wouldn't feel great about it. If it was someone I knew personally I wouldn't play them under those conditions. Otherwise, I didn't pick up poker to lead a life of altruism. We enter an agreement as adults and if you are willing to take my money, I am willing to take yours. That being said, I don't think anyone feels particularly great if having a good day at the tables means ruining someone's life.

Do you think online poker will get juicy again with an influx of new players or do you think it will continue to get more difficult?

Have you ever used Adderall while studying/playing poker, do you have any friends who take it? If so, what was your/their experience with it?

Benefield- Does it bother you that certain things you will never be able to comprehend? Like tangent universes, how we came to exist, progression, how the terminator won the election. I mean considering your a level 5 thinker, do you lose sleep when you cant break something down logically or atleast loosely understand it?

You do believe in reincarnation, right?

When I'm running well in PL or NL games I can't imagine how anybody can ever lose long term. When I'm running like death I can't imagine how anybody can ever win long term. Looking back, did you have any moments in your rise where if a few shots or whatever hadn't worked out you would have just resigned yourself to being a mid/high player instead of nosebleed? Or would your competitive nature always trump these set backs no matter how long it took?

Unlike most in this thread, I got into poker quite late so I've had to actually look up who you were in the poker world and only recently learned of your success. It looks like you're kind of sick good. I read your post in KB24's thread and found it quite interesting that you decided to come back the road numero uno after being so far down the second road. you seemed very happy now as a person. If you had advice for aspiring poker players looking to go down the road that you been, what would it be? What desires or values do you think lead you to seek other "options for the future"?



and found this while looking you up



still seems like a very reasonable plan who woulda thought that the dude who posted this would be posting about how he's crushing school post poker


thanks for the thread dude

I certainly hope so. I would imagine that online poker will be legalized at some point in the US and it will open up the floodgates once again.

I have never used it for poker, but I have taken it while studying a few times. It was very helpful for maintaining my focus for prolonged periods of time. I worry it changes the WAY I think a little bit, but I am not sure how. I have heard mixed reviews about pokering while taking adderall, and I wouldn't risk it.

On some levels it bothers me, but I also tend to think pretty highly of my ability to understand things that I want to understand. Some things are definitely way over my head, but I don't really lose sleep over it. The one thing I have learned in the last 3 months is that there are a lot of people that are a lot smarter than me at a lot of things.

Not really sure I like the way you phrased that. Makes me think of people that are like "You DO believe in GOD right?"

I suppose it depends on how you mean reincarnation. Do I believe I have some spirit that lives eternally that will follow me from form to form? No. Do I believe that when I die all my cells and stuff will break down and go into other things? Yes.

I suppose it depends on how you mean reincarnation. Do I believe I have some spirit that lives eternally that will follow me from form to form? No. Do I believe when I die all my cells and stuff will break down and go into other things? Yes.[/QUOTE]

life tilt dwamdsaAMNKLSDM/SADKNL/DL/KASCNKL/CA/CD/NLCD/LJ. Im tryna live forever

I have always been a shot taker. I got beat up for a long long time trying to make the jump to 10-20 NL, and by the time I did, UIGEA came in and said no sir. When I did finally break into those games as a regular I felt more than ready. I actually skipped over 5-10 NL on the way up because I felt those games were tougher than the 10-20 party games.

I never took shots that would ruin me. I was always good about firing a couple barrels than giving up for the day. If it went bad, I would grind all day the next day (or all night that same night I suppose) and take another shot in a good game. I think the biggest thing was that I saw other players in the bigger games making what were, to me, very clear mistakes that I could capitalize on. I didn't just blindly try to move up to the next level once my bankroll hit a certain point. I think a lot of people struggle with this and it is the wrong attitude to have.

Advice... If you really want it, go for it. Listen to the people that say you can't do it, but use it as fuel and prove them wrong. I always hated when people told me I couldn't do things, so it really lit a fire when people told me I was an idiot for quitting school to play poker.

I think my values have changed a lot, as your quote of me shows. I used to have a very... dismissive attitude about a lot of things. I like looking back at myself at 18-20 and seeing how much I have changed. Two completely different people, and I find that very cool. I would not even be friends with my self of 6 years ago, so it is quite a transition.

I certainly never would have thought. "Day by day nothing seems to change, but pretty soon, everything's different." I love Calvin and Hobbes.

Thanks for answering my previous question. What do you want to achieve in the next year?

I want to ask awesome/profound poker questions but right now all I can think of is...

Any cool Doyle Brunson stories? Seems like in Nits vs Nets you were one of the few Nets that Doyle could endure.

This is a long list.

Language goals: Speak enough Chinese to be able to practice and feel comfortable at any restaurant in China Town. Go to Beijing for 9 weeks this summer for the intensive language program. Figure out an efficient way to learn how to read and write Chinese characters (this is tough for me right now, but it is getting better).
Health goals: My nutrition hasn't been particularly good of late, but it is improving. Keep eating better, but don't get obsessive about it. Start doing either jiujitsu or boxing again. Get involved in some athletic group at Columbia.
Programming: Take the MIT intro to compsci in Python course while doing my other classes next semester. Use that to segway into the Java course at school (I want to have some background before jumping right into it, I heard it is pretty hard).
Other stuff: Read a lot more nonfiction. Learn as much as I can about green energy, specifically lighting options and wind power. Dunk on someone in basketball. Wean myself off of chapstick. Do something that really takes me out of my comfort zone.