any regrets not doing school the first time around (18-22 yrs old)? looking back now, do you think you could have done both college and poker during those years and had success at both?

throughout your poker career have you ever been jealous of a friends success at any point? if so, who and under what circumstance?

i know you played and coached high school baseball so i imagine you have some interest in the sport. favorite MLB team/year (like for example '93 rangers, '01 dbacks, etc.)? most memorable baseball moment as a fan?

Not often these days with school, maybe 400 games total? I am decent, certainly not great. My cs is usually among the best, but I am still learning how all the heroes work. MMRs got reset recently, but mine was never that high. I only play when I have friends online, so def add me. Raptor517. PM me ur gchat/aim and we can work out a time to get some games in. I play a mean accursed, and my silhouette is getting good (I started out playing a ton of support because I didn't know how anything worked). I played dota on and off for like 5 years before hon.

I think I just reached a point where I would wake up and be like, is this what the rest of my life looks like? Don't get me wrong, it was a good life, but it wasn't a life I ever wanted. I want to maximize my options for the future, as I am still unsure of what I want to do or who I want to be. I figured school would be a good way of staying flexible. There are also a lot of things I want to learn that I don't have the discipline to learn on my own. School forces it on you in a way that I can't do myself (some people surely can, but not me).

It is very hard, and only marginally rewarding right now. I would expect that speaking fluent Mandarin will feel pretty cool, but I don't know if I will make daily use of it in the future. As far as ev, school is costing me a lot right now probably. If I didn't go now though, I probably wouldn't ever go, so it is worth it to me.

What's your favorite type of pie, and what would you say to somebody who was exlusively in favor of inferior pies (such as pumpkin)?

I don’t actually like school all that much. I like the idea of school. Sitting at the library all day studying just plain sucks. It is unfortunate that I really like knowing things but don't particularly enjoy learning them. I did really enjoy learning poker, but I think once I hit a certain point I started to see the same situations over and over and there were no longer enough new and exciting situations to hold my interest and 'love'.

I am definitely worried about long term sustainability if I want to eat at fancy restaurants all the time or fly first class when I travel everywhere or keep 4 houses and cars. I don’t think I have ‘set for life’ money if I live in the way I did for a few years. At the same time, I realized that I don’t really need many of the things that excess money allows. If I have a comfortable bed, air conditioning in the summer, people near me that I like spending time with, and decent food year-round, I’m good to go. I sold most of my material stuff, houses, cars, etc, and keep shipping money into startups. While doing that I get to be involved in the businesses and learn about a bunch of different areas from the ground up. This is the best thing about having money for me.

I think I lost me ‘love for the game’ pretty early on. Sit and Go’s really were miserable. Learning PLO and NL was fun though, and I really love the friends I have made through poker. It never was an end itself though, just a way to give myself that freedom I have always craved.

How ridiculously insanely cool is it that you made millions by riding high on a once in lifetime opportunity?
ie: people who got to invest in google IPO before it goes public or facebook employees about to go public or the day trading craze.
and then the internet poker age.
A+++ to you and I wonder if you ever have moments of "whoa I made more money than I ever dreamed possible in the coolest of ways??"

nice thread

Well, I dropped out of school pretty much instantly at 18, but I went back the next year and did the whole fraternity thing and partied it up. I got that out of my system pretty quickly, though it was a great experience. I don’t think I had the maturity to do both poker and school back then, and I think it would have been counterproductive for both.

Yes, though ‘jealous’ implies some negative connotation. I didn’t want any of my friends to NOT be successful, I just wanted to be able to match or surpass that level of success (I am very competitive). I spent a lot of time with durrrr, and there were a couple of times where I would actually have more money than him, but he would be playing 5x bigger stakes, go on a superheater and have twice my net worth the next day. It made me feel like a bitch. Happy for him, but still a bitch.

I was a Texas Ranger's fan growing up. I signed up for a raffle for the 1995 All Star Game in Arlington and won 4 tickets. I was super stoked and went with my family. I can't recall who was playing or anything, but I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever. I sure did like the Rangers last season, but honestly I am not a huge fan of watching baseball these days. College football is much more interesting to me.

I saw you grappled with Travis Lutter. What did you think of him and how scary good was he? What belt level are you? I used to train and follow mma very closely so it interests me more so than poker.

Of all the places you've traveled to and visited, which place did you like the best and why? Any places you would ultimately like to call home?

What does your g/f think of your poker career? What does her family think?

Have you ever taken the Miggs-Breyer personality test?

It would be interested to know what you are. I recently took this test, and it's been very helpful in understanding how my brain works and how I react to the world, and how I process information.

I love pecan pie. My gf makes an awesome pecan pie, though she holds out until Thanksgiving-Xmas time. I think pumpkin pie is really bland, and I don't particularly love fruit pies (though some are good). In general I am not a fan of mixing fruit with dessert, I like my dessert to be as unhealthy tasting as possible. I would probably tell the pumpkin pie fan nothing and eat the rest of the pecan pie.

would you 669 with me and johnny weir?

I think it is really cool that I was lucky enough to find poker when I did. It really wasn't a lot more than being in the right place at the right time, having the freedom to shun all obligation and just sit in front of the computer and play a game.

There are people who seem to have an uncanny ability to guess right (I kinda think you are in this category but we have not played too much against each other). I've been trying to work on this, but it's incredibly difficult to be objective. I feel like I resort to game theory way too often in spots when I should be more confident trying to exploit someone. On the other hand, when you fold 100% of your range on the river, and are wrong, it's obviously a complete disaster.

Do you have any suggestions on how to try to become a better 'guesser'?

ever since going pro, what is the biggest percent/downswing of your "official" bankroll have you lost?

in PLO, only at stakes 25/50+, whats the biggest downswing youve ever been on in terms of buyins??

What do you think of staking people in WSOP events now that poker is where it is, lots of work for not much edge? What do you think of someone who makes less than 6 figures/year in online cash taking a month off to play small WSOP and vegas live MTTs?

Also, why would anyone who doesn't generally mix fruit with dessert be taken seriously? And pumpkin pie is rich and kinda exotic. If I wanted pecans I'd get a mixed nut bowl and the prolly just leave them for the cashews.

Lutter is insanely good. Just so fluid and locks you down and you can't do anything. I trained no gi exclusively for over a year. When I was at my best, I was tapping blue belts somewhat regularly. With a gi on white belts collar choke me on the reg. Now I am probably pretty bad, haven't rolled in over 2 years.

I have gone about traveling in a not so great way. Most of my overseas travel has been for poker and I rarely left the casino area. I spent a summer in Ireland after high school and really enjoyed it, but further than that.. I haven't exactly seized the moment with travel. I do really like Vancouver though, spent a little time there for a wedding and may go in a few weeks.

She probably thinks it is weird/interesting. She is also probably reading this. Her family probably used to think it was horrible, but now they probably also think it is weird/interesting/cool.

I did, but i don't remember what I was. If I do it again I will post results, but I probably won't do it again any time soon.

No.

I am curious about many things in life and that probably carries over into my poker game. I think I don't play the best fundamental poker, but I think I am very good at understanding what other people are doing and why they are doing it. This probably results in me being able to pick off bluffs/bluff in the right spots more often. As far as how to get better, call when stuff doesn't make sense, that's what I usually do.

When I was like 18-20 I lost 75% a number of times. Never enough to wipe me out but always enough to be miserable. In the last 4 years or so no more than 25-30% I think.

Number of buyins probably in the neighborhood of 50.

I think tournaments these days are incredibly difficult to make a living in. I was never a great 'tournament' player as far as I can tell. I think it is cool to take a month off from online cash for a month to take a shot at the series. This was my plan before cash games got big and I started doing well. Grind for 10 months, go to vegas, put 80% of bankroll on wsop events and try to get lucky (obv this changed).

I like really sweet desserts, pumpkin pie is usually not that. It's just pretty boring/doesn't do much for me. If I want to eat fruit, I can eat a bowl of strawberries or an apple by itself and they are awesome/healthy. Also, lol at kinda exotic, it's just boring man.

nice well. holla

(pretty sure I got that right)

Awesome thread. Thanks for doing this.

You said you never doubted your skill level in a downswing. Was this even through 30BI+ downswings (if you've had them) ?. I feel like a major problem in my game is maintaining confidence (I get way overconfident when running good, and loose almost all confidence when running bad).

This leads me to often doubt whether it's worth it for me to play this game anymore (esp considering the so uncertain future of it) or to spend my time doing something else. I do enjoy poker but I always think of things in terms of "What is the most valuable thing in can do with my time, financially"
Not to say that all I care about is money, I definitely want to do things I like, but to be honest, If it wasn't for the possibility to make money, I wouldn't be taking poker seriously.

You seemed to also like poker more for it's financial potential, so if you have any advice on this, or how to be more motivated to grind, that would be great. Thank you

Also, what would be the Top 3 things you would recommend doing for someone trying to move up/get better at poker as quickly as possible.

Again, thanks for doing this thread

If isildur1 had a friend that tells him when to stop and Viktor listens to him, would he be in your top 3 of nl and plo players? You think you have an edge over an untired Viktor?

Out of tom, Phil and dangs, who do you think is the best nl player and who's the best plo player?

While playing poker what % of your bankroll would you be willing to shot-take in a super juicy high stakes game?

If you had to start from ground zero, how aggressive would your bankroll management be to get yourself back to high stakes?

Quick test: How do you say in Chinese:
Raise
Call
Pot
Allin

why do you say this?

seeing that you are very much the raptor of poker, what do you think gives you such a prestigious name? what are your most raptor-like qualities?