hey david,

1) sng - u played turbo or normal and why? only 9-max? and what was the averge amount of tables u played at once?

2) u ever folded kk or qq pre flop? cash and sng/

3) would u fold an all in bet from the chipleader on sng bubble when ur 2nd in chips and u have aj,aq,ak or 1010-kk? to make it difficult lets say vilian has 6500 chips, u got about 4200 and the other two has 1500 chips or less.

1. I played everything. Back in Part Poker days they only had 10 person sngs and no turbos, so that was my bread and butter for a couple years. I was probably among the first people to 16 table, but I was more comfortable with 12. I did as many as 32 at one point, but it was realllllly hard. I timed out a couple times and didn’t really like that so I cut it back down. I could do 24 without ever timing out (this is all pre-software), but I think I missed out on a lot of stuff. That was more for rakeabck grinding.

2. QQ plenty, KK probably once.

3. Depends on what money is involved and how the payout structure works. Blinds also matter a lot. If the blinds are like 150-300+ I am calling all of those hands and shipping a win assuming it is a 5-3-2 payout 10 person sng.

Do you know who 1Il|1Il|1il| is on pokerstars?

How were you payed on ftp? Hourly rate or yearly salary?

no idea

I was on the lowest tier I believe. It was 35 per hour and 100% rakeback. I got paid something like 5k for tv appearances in tournaments and cash games if I was wearing FTP gear. I think in total it worked out to 150kish in bonus money over my time there. They just transferred it into my account each month.

1) Thoughts on Rafi Amit? Would you crossbook Phil Galfond vs him in a big live plo game?
2) any political aspirations?

Really cool you doing this, a well like this is basically the only way a lower stakes player can ask a direct question to a high stakes player.

I've noticed that sometimes smaller stakes players open threads in HSNL to ask a question. Those questions are usually countered with a 'we are way above you' 'you dont belong here' response. Kinda unfriendly, but I understand. Discourage people to prevent clutter. I know, they can get the info they want in another sub forum and that 2 plus 2 is stake structured but people want to hear it from 'you'. Which brings me to my question...

1) Do you think it would be appropriate to create a well structured containment thread in HSNL where lower stake hands can be posted? Or would it be a thorn in the eye of the HSNL community to see that thread floating around in the forum?

2) Does the concept 'Ask a high stakes pro' perhaps have place somewhere else on the forum? maybe a new subforum even where a designated team of reputable players give advice, do some handanalyses. (With sometimes new additions to the team or people going as they please)

(willing) HS pro's could answer those 'simple' questions there without being sarcastic or sounding arrogant. Moderators can stop closing penny threads. Some HS players might actually enjoy it, gain some appreciation from it.

I guess I might be completely off the mark but I ask anyway.

1)how can you abuse timing tells when everybody is multitabling and some time tells are obvious delays from other decisions/tea spilled on the keyb etc?

do you only abuse timing tells when it is too fast=strong?

2) do you consider yourself a bold bluffer or you base your game mostly on good precise decisions on calling/raising etc with adequate hands.

1. I like him. He is very smart/funny, and a very tough player.

2. It seems unlikely, but I won't rule it out. I generally tell it like it is, which doesn't seem to do so well in the political world. I don't like putting on a show.

1. I don’t think it would be a thorn, there are just more appropriate forums for that. MSNL and SSNL were created for that reason.

2. This is a better idea, a good one even.

1. Well, it is obviously much harder to do when 12 tabling. Generally if someone is in a big hand they will give most of their attention to that hand, but timing tells are less effective if you are grinding smaller stakes. I get a lot more out of it in the bigger games. As to the too fast=strong, this isn’t always the case. Some people snap shove all in over your bet on the river with pure air occasionally, and you have to know who is capable of that. A lot of making the best use of timing tells is understanding what the opponent is trying to accomplish and why. This is not an easy thing, as the way people are trying to accomplish certain things can be different.

2. I used to never bluff. Literally, never. I won a lot of money this way. I started working bluffs into my game pretty late in my career, but found a lot of success with it. I probably took it overboard and had to scale it back a little bit. I think you misinterpret bluffing the way your phrased your question. Bluffs are a very important part of precision poker, and shouldn’t be done boldly/blindly. It isn’t easy to pull the trigger on a bluff sometimes, but if it makes sense based on how the hand played out, you would be making a mistake by checking back the river. Try to look at each decision as +ev/-ev or more+ev/some+ev. Always go with the more+ev option even if it is a little scary. Also, even if there is 938509238592 in the pot, sometimes it is best not to ship it in on the end in hopes of winning. They usually have the nuts and are smiling behind the screen.

I feel like my biggest weakness is not knowing when to bluffcatch.

I look for a combination of the following:
1. Aggressive opponent
2. I look weak
3. Board looks scary
4. Opp looks strong
5. Very few hands he can have
6. What he's repping doesn't make sense for how he played

What other things should I be looking at, and in what order of importance? How would you go about teaching someone to bluffcatch?

thanks for the reply but i meant other multitabling not you. what i mean is that in modern online poker where everyone is multitabling how do you know their delays are not random. obv the fast act timing tell is something to work on, but a pure delay maybe isn't thats what i meant sorry for not stating it right.

I'd still like to see some pics of that $5k apartment.

I feel my biggest weakness is tilt and I lose a lot of money being stubborn. How did/do you deal with this or do you never tilt?

Awesome well!
You have come such a long way since we use to talk on AIM, congrats.(hope you dont take that wrong)
Best of luck and HNY

I think for most people, learning how to bluff catch shouldn't be a priority. That can come later. Your list seems good, I don't really know what I would add. It is something that comes with playing thousands of hours and I don't personally know any shortcuts.

I feel like my biggest weakness is that I die a little inside thinking I might fold the best hand. It's problem?

No sweat. I guess what I meant was more like, when you are playing high stakes, there aren't really any other tables running that people would be playing on that would slow them down a lot. If it is 200-400 PLO, there are like 2-3 tables max running, and it is easy to see who is on what table. Other than that, if you are 4-6 tabling someone HU, it is pretty unlikely they are playing someone else at the same time or running to the bathroom in the middle of a hand.

It's a 1k sqft 2 bdrm 2 bath absolutely nothing special to it apartment. NY is just expensive.

Never had issues with this afaik. I always took a very rational approach to poker. Every decision you make can win or lose you money, and that was more important than feeling annoyed or whatever at that moment.

Thanks

I die a little inside too thinking that, and lose more money than necessary because of it. I have made some pretty sick calls, but probably more mind numbingly horrible calls.

Rap-tor, Appreciate the thread and time. Couple questions if you're interested:

1.) What has been one of the most important or influential "lessons learned" during your poker career? Forgetting about poker strategy for a minute, What about from a philosophical / life perspective?

2.) Most memorable moment playing / associating with poker? Most memorable moment in life in general?

3.) What's your biggest / worst "addiction"? What personal skill set or outlook / approach on life do you feel sets you apart the most from others?