Quote:
Originally Posted by FreakyWeirdo
Wow thx for the opportunity to ask you some questions. You are a FL Legend and i want to know some of your thoughts about Fixed Limit Gameplay:
1. Do you think there is a significant difference in the overall winrate of the sameplayer if he plays 34/24 or 29/21. Or in other words, does preflop have really an big impact for the winrate?
2. Do you think you have a special gift, or be a mathematic genius, or any other reason why you were the best online grinder?
3. What is the street in FL were the most mistakes are made, Flop, Turn or River?
4. Can you tell us, what you think ist the most common mistake, which break even regs on Fixed Limits have? (for example: less valuebetting, less bluffs, too aggressive, to passive etc...)
5. Do you ever testing playing more than 4-5 tables? and whats your experience for the winrate for 6-9 tabling compared with 3-5 tabling?
6. How many fishs (40/8, 50/35 etc...) are enough to play a table for you?
7. Do you think exploiting the enemies is more important than a overall balanced Gameplay?
8. Do you ever thinking about join No Limit, the games are softer and its easier to make money nowadays? Maybe you tried in the past? Also more games are available, which was one of your reasons to quit poker.
Thanks if you could find the time to answer these questions. Wish you all the best in your new life. You are a great inspiration for me.
FW, first thanks for the kind words, I really do appreciate it. These kinds of compliments were the only thing outside of money that was motivating me to play the past couple of years.
1. I do think preflop play is extremely important and is probably the most misplayed area among mid/high stakes players. If you search my blog I made an old post titled something like "The Importance of PreFlop Play" that gets into all the math of why I think it's so important.
I wouldn't put too much stock into exact VPIP and PFR numbers though. Both of those statistics, especially VPIP, are a function of your opponents. So what might be an optimal VPIP and PFR in one type of game will be sub optimal in another.
2. Ha no I definitely don't have any special gifts and am not a genius in any one area. I do have a very strong mathematical/logical mind and also the ability to empathize very well.
Being able to put yourself in another persons mind is a blessing and a curse in poker. It's a blessing because being able to understand what your opponent is thinking and feeling is really valuable in anticipating their actions. It's a curse because it's very difficult not to get caught up in the emotions of the game of that point. In a sense you're trying to eliminate all emotion playing poker while simultaneously trying to understand the emotions of the other player. It's just human nature to experience those emotions you're trying to understand so at times it can be very difficult to separate the understanding from the experiencing.
More than math and empathy though, my success has been due to hard work.
I've had an incredibly strong work ethic ever since my mother passed away about 15 years ago. I'll spare all the details here but I had an unbelievably difficult life from the time I was about 16 to 29 and this really shaped me. At one point I was sitting in an office doing data entry for 8 hours a day and being refused any higher paid positions because no one had confidence I could do them. I wake up every day almost on a mission to prove people wrong and make the most of every minute I have.
I think it was Einstein who said something to the effect of "It wasn't that I was smarter than everyone else, it's just that I never gave up when I couldn't figure something out". I really believe there's a lot of truth to this statement. Give me the choice between a lazy genius and a hard working person of above average intelligence and I'd choose the latter.
3. Preflop is where I see the most mistakes being made. It's also where I see the most differentiation between people's play. You've got guys opening 60% from the SB while others open 100%. You have people opening 30% UTG and others opening 15%. Etc., etc.
That said, It's a lot more difficult to identify postflop mistakes because nearly any play can be justified in the context of a broader strategy. I remember battling the bots on UB and every now and then they'd make a play that looked so incredibly bad to me. As time went on I understood that this was part of a much broader strategy and even though the play taken out of context looked so bad, it actually made a lot of sense when put back into context.
I don't think there's as much of this preflop. In other words there's not as much need ,or in some cases, even ability to balance ranges in preflop spots. As a result it's a lot easier to determine optimal (or close to optimal) play and identify mistakes in others.
Good questions, I will get back to you on the rest. Still getting caught up here. I think half the appliances broke in my house while I was out of the country so still trying to restore order here and get caught up.