The Well: Shannon Shorr

[ShannonShorr]

A stranger is being shown around a village that he has just become part of. He is shown a well and his guide says "On any day except Tuesday, you can shout any question down that well and you'll be told the answer." The man seems pretty impressed, and so he shouts down: Why not on Tuesday? and the voice from in the well shouts back: Because on Tuesday, it’s your day in the well.

I've gotten about half a dozen requests to do this in the last year or so but always kind of shyed away from it. 2p2 has helped me out a lot though and I feel like this is a chance for me to give something back. Fire away and I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have.

Thanks.

SS

[gobbo]

I'm going to get this one out of the way...

Poker story, etc. I know you had success in Australia and that helped you out, but full poker story would be cool.

Also, who is Snannon Snorr?

[ssnyc]

second on story from the beginning...and nowadays do you play more cash or tourney? Stakes/Buy ins? Live vs Online?

[greengon]

what is your strongest game?
how you got good at this game?

[xxjondxx]

What are some mistakes you see online players make transitioning to live play.

[Tony Lepatata]

Originally Posted by gobbo

I'm going to get this one out of the way...

Poker story, etc. I know you had success in Australia and that helped you out, but full poker story would be cool.

Also, who is Snannon Snorr?

i frequently find myself asking the same question.

[ShannonShorr]

Originally Posted by gobbo

I'm going to get this one out of the way...

Poker story, etc. I know you had success in Australia and that helped you out, but full poker story would be cool.

The first time I ever played poker (atleast NLHE) was November of 2003 in the form of a $5 house game at my apartment with college friends. I lost for a while before finally figuring it out. I made a $50 deposit onto PartyPoker in April of 2005. I begun playing low LHE, $5-10 SnGs, etc. I lost for a long, long time. I remember my social life that spring semester coming to a virtual standstill. I came home from class and immediately jumped onto my computer, stopping only to sleep and occasionally study.

I had a co-op job every other semester though, so I still had some income coming in. I continued to make $50-$200 deposits onto Party until I eventually started to crush SnGs at stakes all the way up to the $2000 "Step 4 Highers" in late 2005. Around that time PP started running their Aussie Millions SnG Steps. I decided to buy into the Step 4 for $1000. I slipped down one step, I think, then eventually made it to Step 5 where I remember waiting like 4 weeks for the thing to fill. With one player getting the package, I remember being 4 handed and getting all the chips in with AQ vs TT and rivering what still might be the biggest Ace of my life. I went on to win the satellite.

I got to Aussie as a 20 year old and just basically ran like God. I was just an unknown who went deep in a tournament like you see all the time now. That fourth place finish provided me a bit of a bankroll to play bigger online. I started playing some cash online and really started to see my bankroll fly. I got to the 2006 WSOP and played 23 preliminary events where things went poorly. I did have a monster stack in the WSOP main event that year early on but busted around 570th for like $20k. A couple weeks later I guess, as an afterthought I decided to direct buy into the $10k Bellagio Cup main event. I sold 10% of myself to a friend for $1300. That is the last time I ever played (even a portion of) anyone's money but my own.

Things just worked themselves out in that tournament. I do think I was playing much, much better at this point then I was in the Aussie Millions. I chopped with Danny Wong and the other guy 3 handed, so I grossed about $575,000 there. The rest is sort of history.

[ShannonShorr]

Originally Posted by ssnyc

nowadays do you play more cash or tourney? Stakes/Buy ins? Live vs Online?

I almost only play online tournaments right now since I'm staying busy with school. I've played most of the Sundays this semester online but only a couple of other weekdays because I have a schedule that isn't very conducive (sp?) to playing the nightly tournaments.

SS

[ShannonShorr]

Originally Posted by greengon

what is your strongest game?
how you got good at this game?

My best game is definitely NLHE. Sadly, I never really dedicated the time to learning to play the other games THAT well. Maybe someday. I guess the clique answer is so say that I just put in the hours and really learned the ins and outs.

SS

[ShannonShorr]

Originally Posted by xxjondxx

What are some mistakes you see online players make transitioning to live play.

Online and live tournaments are two totally different animals. Most of the online players that you do see in the live arena, at least at the highest levels, are very, very good players, so they're not making too many mistakes.

If I had to pick one out though I would say that they just don't adjust to who they're playing against. If you're in the 100r on Stars with a bunch of young guys who are opening raggy hands from UTG, then you could justify reshoving 15 blinds with T9hh on him, right? I think some of the online guys just fall too in love with the "stack size" game when they're playing live. The 65 year old guy who's opening up front is going to call you so fast with KK here that your head spins. You can make cases for just cold-calling and stuff live that you wouldn't normally do online.

SS

[grebeson]

Shannon,

In your opinion when playin STT's, do you recommend playin turbo's or non-turbo's? Why?

BTW, how sick are the Bama students partying this football season? Good lck w/ rest of the season!

[Todd Terry]

You've had two insanely profitable years and one horrible one live in between the two of them. Is that the result of variance in your opinion, or do you think you played better in the big years than you did in the down year last year?

And why would anyone voluntarily spend time with Mike Katz?

[G_train24]

Shannon,

In your opinion what would be the most important thing to master in terms of online MTTs that most average players looking to go to the next level need to get a grasp of??

Comin back to Aussie Millions in 09'??

[cking]

How did u keep ur head (and money) after such a big score? Did u find urself spewing way money everywhere and if so how did u stop it? (assuming u did stop)

[ShannonShorr]

Originally Posted by grebeson

Shannon,

In your opinion when playin STT's, do you recommend playin turbo's or non-turbo's? Why?

BTW, how sick are the Bama students partying this football season? Good lck w/ rest of the season!

I might not be the guy to ask about STT's since I haven't played one in probably two years, but I remember always playing the turbos in the past because of the volume you could get in and because of my knowledge of ICM.

The city of Tuscaloosa is just insane right now. Everyone is really excited. Hopefully we can get through these last two SEC games and then put away Florida in the SEC championship.

SS