Thanks for writing this. I must say, out of all the threads, blogs and player profiles I ever read, you're actually the only person that did exactly what I would have done if I was this good at poker. I think making a few millions (by binking some sort of imaginary tournament, kind of hard with the stakes I played) from poker and investing in Solar energy (btw, and no disrispect to your start-up, but solar>>>>>>>>>>>>wind) has been my dream through almost all of college. And altough I actually took the conventional road, went to a good school, and landed the 100k+ job out of undergrad that I thought would end all these fantasies, I am still daydreaming about this imaginary tournament (now it takes the form of an imaginary hedge fund, slightly more likely but still very delusional ). And altough i am now in a career path where my long term EV is probably higher than some of the college drop-outs who made those absurd amounts of money at an age where most people are burrying themselves in debt ( btw >5M is really ABSURD), I think I'll always be envious of people like you who actually caught their opportunity to be REALLY free. Making >1m a year certainly buys a lot of things, but even if I get there, I will still never reach the level of freedom you enjoy, because of all the constraints and stress one faces to be succesful in business. And I can't think of anyone that actually drops the >1m job once he has enough liquid cash to be free, just because once you are in this kind of role, society doesn't expect this from you, and it is actually hard to face gf, parents, friends etc to pursue some foolish idea of freedom.

I admire your success, and envy your freedom . Keep doing what you love and living the life so many are too afraid to, and i'm sure you will find similar success an happiness in any path you choose. And if you could write from time to time, it would help all the 80+ hours a week life grinders like me daydream from time to time .

biggest win u had taking pieces of someone in a cash session? same question for tournament?

if u had to stake someone 100% of your networth to play 200400+ nl/plo who would it be?

have u ever had a fear of not being succesful? like waking up in the morning and worrying that your not using your time wisely?

Seems like he does pretty darn well. I honestly haven't talked much poker with him over the last couple years. Haven't really watched him play either other than some hand histories from durrrr challenges. I still think he is a monkey.

Soho, though I don't know a ton about new york locations. I live way uptown around 110th on the west side. 56th and 5th seems way too crowded, I don't know much about 20th and park, and I like a lot of the food and bars in soho.

Yasuda is great, I have been there twice. Both times I just said "surprise me" and got a ton of awesome fish. I really like Gotham Bar and Grill

I have had snails and alligator, so I would go for snake just to try em all.

I don't have any good ones. American consensus is that it is really hard to learn, so I said what the hell. Honestly though, I think learning languages is cool and interesting. I would like to be able to speak the top 3 at some point in my life, so I need to pick up Mandarin and Spanish. This is a long road, but somehow I feel like it will make me a better person.

What things do you do in a live poker hand to try and remain readless, especially while firing off barrels.

If I poured warm chocolate all over my naked body would you gently wrestle with me? Also would it help if there were candles and flowers all around us?
If yes pm
If no pm I have another situation that I don't think you can turn down.

Awesome stuff. I remember the first time I met you was at a WSOP table circa ~06.. was my first year at the Series and I got moved to your table in some 2k NL event or something.. You were clearly the table captain, playing most pots, talking a lot, joking, etc.. I instantly pegged you for a young douche who thought he was way better at poker than he was. Shortly thereafter I realized who you were and subsequently how bad I am at categorizing people at live poker.

# of online cash game hands played lifetime?
% of lifetime earnings from: online SNGs, online cash, live?

I've always thought of you as one of the online crushers who (like Dan said) seems to have a great ability at winning the exploitative-based strategic war.. same with Tom and pretty much most of the original nosebleeders.. do you still consider yourself that type of player or was there a point in time where you started thinking a lot more about game theory, overall frequencies, constructing ranges, using stoxEV type analyses, etc? If there was such a time, when was it roughly?

I watched other people play a LOT. I talked to other nosebleeders about how to play hands all the time. I picked everyone's brain. I tried to break down each player that I thought was good, tried to understand what they did, why they did it, how it worked, then implement pieces of everything into my own game.

Best advice is play presently. Don't just go through the motions. Don't grind hands. Actively think about each play you are making and make sure you have a good reason for it. When I get complacent and autopiloty I start to not win as much. When I am thinking about each decision and trying to make the best play every single time, I crush. It makes a big difference. If you are in a downswing or break even stretch, cut your tables in half for a few days and really try to work on your game.

For all the kind words, many thanks. What do you have in mind regarding writing?

~150k or so, over a couple sessions. ~650k for the tournament. It was a big one.

Yeesh, tough Q. Probably Phil G

I often feel like I am not using my time wisely. In certain areas I go for maximum efficiency, but sometimes I just dick around on reddit for 2 hours, or play a bunch of HoN in one day. I don't generally fear the lack of success, but that is probably because I am spoiled by success already.

I try to avoid firing off barrels, but when I do, I stare at the felt and try not to move. It is a great time to practice meditative breathing, and I try to just 'breathing in I am aware I am breathing in, breathing out I am aware I am breathing out' a la Tommy Angelo. I usually don't get too nervous and think I do the live thing pretty well. I played live ~2 years 3-4 nights per week before I ever touched online poker, so I feel like I have a leg up on most of the other young internet guys. Probably not now though, lots of people have put in way more hours at the felt.

No more from you silly skates

Anything, from blogs, to actual contributions in newspapers, or even books. I think the perspective of a 20-something with your financial freedom and your eagerness to get involved in all kind of ventures could be quiet interesting and unique. Although there are quiet a few interesting poker players, I still haven't read anything "truly" interesting from all the successful players that have blogs etc... Most seem to have interests revolving mostly around poker, and in few cases travelling etc... I'd like to hear from someone who actually tries to get invested in some start-ups, learn new things, would be much more interesting from my perspective (altough i'm sure a lot of people are happy with only poker-related content).

As a whole, would you describe the people you have met in the high stakes world to be "good" people? Who are the 3 best and 3 worst people you have dealt with in poker?

PM received. ty