I'm happy to be back in Portland after six weeks in Vegas. On the 25th, I start a new job in Chicago solving more puzzles, except that these ones will have to do with the stock market.

I'll talk more about the job at some point in the future because I haven't even started it yet. For now, I'll just say that I'm really happy that pursuing something I'm so passionate about (poker) led me to this kind of opportunity. I underperformed in college, especially with regard to grades, but working so hard at poker ended up opening this door. I'm aware how lucky it is to go after what you love and have it work out so well in more practical ways, and I'm very grateful for that.

With major poker operations suspended, I can post $300,000 in profit, most of that in the last year, including that one magical $100,000 with bonuses month with an average stake of $300. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished in my coaching program, with more students than I ever imagined posting five figure months after joining and everybody down to the $10 players reporting high levels of satisfaction. I've been a lot of places in the HUSNG world, from grinding exclusively reg speeds to exclusively turbos to exclusively superturbos and every mix in between. I've put my heart into about 50 HUSNG.com videos and numerous strategy threads, believing that I should pass along what I know for those who are willing to devote themselves to it, just like everybody from spamz0r all the way back to jay_shark left for me, because of the great meritocracy that poker is (or should be). It's been a wild ride.

Going forward, I'll still be making videos for the site, and we're running a demo right now in FastTrack, testing out HokieGreg in there to see what it might be like if he were to start running the show with me in more of a supporting role (look for more details later in the month if you're interested in that).

Feel free to ask poker/vegas/life/teaching/coaching/random questions, whatever you care about. I'll wake up to USA/France (SWAG) and start answering.

mers

first

Thanks for doing this by the way.

Do you have any history with other formats of the game?
Did you ever consder branching out in your poker career?
Will you ever write a book?
How many regs have you warred/for how long/how did things end?
Any reg in particular who crushed you?

How tough do you think the games are now compared to when you were first going through the levels?
Due to the sheer amount of learning material out there, do you think HUSNG is becoming tougher than other forms of poker?
Are you going to continue to play some form of poker in future or go totally cold turkey?
What is the cloest you ever came to leaving poker behind before?

Any AHA moments? And how they touched you/your attitude to the game, changed etc.?

Do you find anybody having decent edge over you? Maybe in specific format?

1) What do you think are the main reasons that winning midstakes regs $50 - $100 end up getting stuck at that level and what separates them from players who move up to beat $500s+?

2) How much of your improvements to your game do you think came from statistical analysis in PT3/HM? How important do you think it is to constantly look for leaks this way?

3) How do you see the future of online poker and will you continue to play as a major part of your income?

4) Coach me?

Experience with getting scammed (scamming?)
Experience with staking?

How do you win with AA ? you either win small pots or you lose big pots with them!

How did you start with poker?
Are you going to profit from the downfall of companies?
How much did coaching improve your own game?
Who is hotter Justin Bieber,LadyGaga or Megan Fox ?
Do you use a HUD?How many tables do you play?
Who is the best not too expensive coach for a 30$ reg?
Why do birds suddenly appear, everytime you are near?
Do you prefer Eggball or Football?

edit:
Forgot to get myself a freeroll.

Coach me?

did you ever play live poker??
any funny anecdote????

have a nice day

can you write a poem about the highstakes HUSNG world?
how many people have threatened to punch you in the face?
what % of your recent profits came from regs?
are there any HUSNG players that are so good, it's impossible to beat the rake against them?
What degree did you do/where did you do it/what grades did you get?
What's your biggest losing day?
one funny vegas story please

thanks

How much did you work with spamz and do you share the same view of poker with him? What are the differences between you two and where would you disagree nowadays?

In the summer of 2007, I was working at an amusement park making curly fries and ice cream for minimum wage. I deposited $600 and grinded full ring NL25 on FTP, making about $500.

I also played a decent amount of razz during that time, making a few hundred.

Eventually I tilted and went into HUSNGs to win it back and realized something...HUSNGs are a beautiful way to put in a large volume of +EV wagers and make a ton of money if you're a winner at them. Since then I pretty much devoted myself to them but always tried to become decent at other games because it helps develop good poker thinking.

Spending the summer in Vegas playing live MTTs was definitely branching out for me, but in general, I was just making too much money playing heads up to do much different online.

I actually have a project in the works (already more than half completed) that isn't a book, but is something like it. It will be free and likely come out near the end of 2011, but don't quote me on that.

I just play too many games to really think about things like this. I've played almost all the midstakes regulars at least for a few games and many for a dozen or two but even the few I've played for a couple hundred, that's like 1% of my total games so it's hard to really think too much about it. I strongly disliked a player named badbeater777 back in the day but I don't know if he plays anymore.

Plenty have done well against me. I don't think I've ever been crushed over any real sample, but anyone can correct me if I'm wrong.

It's hard to say because I have no idea how good the stakes above me were back when I would never play higher than $100. I'd guess it's different but not crazy drastic.

No.

I'll probably get my fix in social games with wealthy finance fish.

There was a time in college where I had to take a few months off and thought I was quitting for good because I wasn't able to balance everything.

Plenty of little aha moments here and there. The most global one is just realizing that a lot of people were discussing poker situations that don't really matter, and then valuing relatively unimportant things in those situations. I really tried to focus on realizing what's actually important in whether something's a call or a fold or a raise or whatever, and going from there.

A handful of players have a small edge against me in STs, a good deal many more in turbo/reg speed.

This is going to be controversial, but honestly, I think most people fall into one of two categories.

1) Not enough natural talent.
2) Not enough balls.

I had a creeping suspicion throughout my entire poker career that oftentimes the only thing that separates regs at one level and regs at another level is balls. One player said "I'm moving up, I'm taking my shots, I'll learn it as I go and work my ass off to make it work", and the other player said "I'm doing well here, no need to mess with a good thing". And so one person becomes a famous mid/high stakes reg but there's nothing special about them other than the fact that they took the plunge and the other stays with a middling amount of success before eventually moving on.

It helped, but you don't have to ever do this. It's like watching videos help, but plenty of high stakes players have never watched a video.

No online for me until the US situation clears up. I think we're in an uncertain time but it'll get back to being more stable.

Hope for the fasttrack being open with Hokie and I in August!

Only minor welches here and there.

So much to say about staking...ask me something more specific.

jam pre!

Social games with friends. In class in high school we'd play "dollar hands", a simple game:

You get dealt a hold em hand. You look at your hand. If you're in, you keep your hand and put $1 into the pot (empty if nobody else does this). If you're out, you pay nothing. Then a full board is dealt with no betting.

Thinking back, it was a good early introduction to theory/practice. In theory, everybody should only play AA. But because nobody's doing that, you want to play much wider, anything that's profitable. But because nobody will want to play with you (or they just won't like you) if you play strictly to profit in a $1 game, it's good to learn the best social and profitable strategy in this game.

No. One of the reasons I took the job is because I'm very confident that the company I'm working for isn't evil. The role they perform (this is oversimplifying) is basically just decreasing the vig people have to pay when they buy or sell stocks. That's a good thing.

A ton.

I'm a Lady Gaga fan. I'd like to have her at my dinner party.

yes but didn't for a long time. anywhere from 1 to 6.

depends too much on who you are and what you're looking for.

love both, phenomenal sports.

6 weeks of live donkaments this summer. Loooong time to be in Vegas.

Lots of really funny live poker comments from other players. I think I most enjoyed talking with the dealers and getting all their stories about the way things are and the way things used to be.

What is the best way to work on your superturbo game? How did you do it?

Yes.

Threatened to cause me bodily harm, probably 400. I induce this from fish sometimes, and have had my fair share of it from other regs who get upset about one thing or another.

Not really sure. 40%?

Never impossible. There are players who I am -EV against though, yes.

Psychology, Princeton, bottom 20% of class. I ignored grades to a fault for sure, trying to focus on "what mattered" (but was a little too hipster/counter Princeton culture about this, shouldn't have neglected them so much).

-20k?

I'll start with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITgB-8hHk2Q

I look ridiculously bro/douchey while freefalling I guess, a ton of fun though.

Was never really in spamz's core inner circle, it was mostly a one-way relationship with me learning a ton from his strategy posts. I think his endgame article has some errors in it but obviously you can say that about plenty of stuff I've written in the past. I've modeled a lot of my approach after his.

Can't believe nobody asked yet: when did you first realized you like men? ;p

On a serious note,what do you think is your biggest strength/weakness when it comes to poker?

Learn about common situations. Work them about yourself, talk about them with other good players.


OK, sleep time, be back in 5 hours.

What is the most common leak of an average low/med/med+ hu sng grinder

Thanks for doing this.
Haven't read the questions/answers yet bc I have to leave soon, but I've been wondering:

are you homosexual?