yah jman is one of the most solid balanced people I know...the nuts obviously...besides sleeping like 17 hours a day =P nice Well though phil

This was a hell of a read, and I'd like to thank you for creating one of the best and most insightful 2p2 threads I have read in quite some time. Hopefully I will think of some questions later.

What are your feelings towards teaching aids such as twoplustwo, coaching, cardrunners, etc..?

I'll be more specific..

If you could turn a switch and totally remove all of the "easily accessed and reasonably priced" teaching aids available, would you? Why, or why not?

Do you feel like you "owe" anything to the poker world? And if so, do you feel that posting on 2p2 (or coaching, or making videos) satisfies that?

Do you post (not lurk, post) on 2p2 for personal benefit of seeing what other people think about your ideas? Or is it mostly to help others?

And when it comes to "helping others" learn how to play... is it rightly justified to teach someone you've never met and have no idea what type of person they are morally to play the game and take money off of other people whom you've also never met?

Feel free to answer/discuss only the parts you so choose... =D Great well btw Phil..

wow this thread is awesome. Thx a bunch for doing this.

I'm not sure if this was asked before, but...
What do you do to keep motivated? I feel a lot of poker players are lazy, myself included...like I have a good month where i'm playing well and looking at my hands in PT after sessions, etc...Then the following month I just don't care about poker, and when I do play it's like i'm on permanent tilt, which usually results in lost monies

Thanks a ton for doing this...

How has having huge amounts of money changed your day-to-day life?

What do you think the number one misconception about poker is? (On 2p2, not the general public consensus that its all about bluffing)

What are the chances (%-wise, if you want to give it) of you writing a book in the next couple of years?

I'm still reading through the thread, so i don't know if u found this post yet, but i would love to read it.

Has playing such high stakes made you value money less in your day to day life? Basically, how do you maintain a healthy separation between life and poker?

BTW, your responses have been extremely well thought out and well written. It was/is a pleasure to read and I wish you the best of luck in the future!

This may be the thread he is talking about
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...73#post1507373
(even if it isn't, it is a good companion thread to this one to check out until Jman returns). Post #48 in that thread includes, "As you may know, I have hired multiple coaches in my poker career, because I care more about becoming a better player than I do about the money it costs to hire them. The last coach I hired, Tommy Angelo (www.tiltless.com), taught me a lot of things that I never thought had anything to do with being a good poker player. Since then, I’ve been rethinking some things...."

There may be another thread where he goes into his experince with coaching in more detail, but I haven't found it.

ty greg for the link

Thanks Phil for answering all of these questions. Here are mine:

1) In a lot of your responses you mention the importance of having the right thought processes at the table. Can you please elaborate on what some of the correct thought processes are and what a player should be asking himself or thinking about at the table and during a hand?

Is this basically the process that you use?

2) You also mentioned that when players have coaches, they often don't ask the right questions. In your opinion, what are some of the things most players should be focused on but aren't?

Thanks again and Merry Christmas!

Awesome questions MN,

They got me thinking about some things, so some of what's written below is probably more personal info/opinions than most ppl care to know, but I figured after writing it, I might as well post it.

This one is kind've a vague question. It depends how you measure success. I suppose though, in all ways you might measure it, I won't be as successful as I otherwise could be if I had more motivation.

I don't think there is a whole lot I can do about it though. I know a lot of people think lazy people are kind've pathetic, but I don't think it's as easy for me to be motivated to do things as it is for most people. What I mean is, I don't think it's as much my fault as most people probably do.

I think a lot of laziness is just part of the personality that you are born with. I've always been the way I am. Was always bored and unable to focus in school.

Besides having the tendency to be lazy in my personality, it was reinforced throughout school. I never did any work in school, but always was an A or B student just because the work was easy. I remember getting a mini lecture from teachers almost every year, "You know, Philip, you did fine this year, but things won't be so easy in 3rd grade. You're gonna have to start working harder."

"This won't cut it in Middle School"

"You're not gonna pass High School classes without doing the work"

It probably is a bad thing that I've been so lucky, because perhaps I would've been forced to learn to work hard.

Every year I didn't try and every year I was fine. Everything has always worked out for me, so I just kind've expect it to. I mean, I was a Philophy major with no plan for my future (which didn't worry me at all) and then poker came along.

I guess that brings me back to your question. I became a little bit obsessed with poker. I have an obsessive personality, and a competitive one. So I wanted to be the best. I still was too lazy to do work I found boring, like analyzing equity in spots, etc, but I found reading poker books and forums, and thinking about the game fascinating. And playing and seeing myself improving and making money was amazing.

So, I think I'm able to do 'work' if the work interests me. So I believe that if anything that comes along that I really badly want to do, I'll be interested in learning about and working at it.
I guess I'm fairly selfish. I don't think more than the average person though.

Hmmm. Tough question. I definitely care about other people. I have a a few very good friends, and of course family members, who I probably care about their wellbeing almost as much as my own.

Other than that though, most of my actions are motivated by self interest, though I think that's normal.

I do a lot of seemingly selfless things. I'm non confrontational, and a bit of a pushover, so I let other people get their way a lot. I don't do that out of caring for their happiness, but for my own comfort.

I think I'm a nice and friendly person. I help friends out all the time with their problems. People end up coming to me for advice a lot, and I always try to help. Part of it is because I want them to be happy, but a lot of it is because it makes me feel good about myself. Is that selfish?

I definitely have a problem with selfishness when it comes to poker. When a good friend of mine makes a big score, it's tough for me to be happy for them. Well, it used to be much tougher than it is now. Basically, I can be happy for a friend if they do well as long as they aren't doing better than me. Then I get jealous. Especially if I think I'm more deserving.

Luckily I do pretty well now, so when one of my friends final tables a big event, he can triple his roll and I can still have more money than him. Then I can be truly happy for him.

I know that's pretty lame of me. I'm not sure how to fix it though.

My main life goals are to not have to worry about money, have good friends, and start a family/be a good father. It would be cool to be completely filthy rich, but I'll be fine with being in the upper middle class. Looking back it looks like you didn't really ask about money I think. But there, I answered anyways.

I like writing. Maybe I'd like to write a book. One not related to poker would be cool, but I don't know yet what about. I'm still young and idealistic, so I have dreams now and then. I'd like to write movies and TV shows. Probably TV shows since I'm more into TV than movies.

I used to think that I wanted to be famous. But being an R level online celebrity has made me realize it's probably not as cool as I thought it might be.

As far as doing something significant, I dunno. I think there are a lot of problems with the world, of course. I always kind've assumed that anyone in a position of power knows what they're doing. I've started to realize that a lot of people who make decisions aren't all that smart, just because most people aren't. The general public has no understanding of a lot of important concepts, mostly logic and probability related. It completely blows my mind that anyone making huge decisions doesn't understand logic and bayesian probability in and out.

I just wrote out a few paragraphs about government before realizing that I dont know **** about government and I'd sound stupid. The basic idea is that I believe the public needs to be better educated in order for a lot of things to work better. I was always interested in education. I think I might've ended up teaching if I hadn't found poker.

If I were to do something significant, (I think this is what you mean) it would have to do with rehauling the public education system. I took a pretty cool class on philosophy of education once actually. I really enjoyed it. Anyways, I'm not sure how I could possibly acheive it, but I am pretty sure that if I were put in a position to change public education, I would definitely change it for the better.

As for working to acheive something like that, I'm sure laziness would get in the way. As well as the fact that I'm a college dropout gambler who none of the public would respect as an authority on anything.

I think I mentioned in earlier posts, but the opportunity I have right now with poker is too good to worry about anything else right now. I think what I should do know is work to make as much money as I can, so that when I have the drive and opportunity to do something else, I'll have the freedom to also.

NP
Yes, but I was talking about against a tight opponents only, and I didn't mean to say that 3betting KQ is the best play vs. them. I was just listing reasons for it.

Your logic is pretty much on. I think you might be overestimating the tightness of players' calling ranges, but you may not be. The main differences between profitability of plays like that for you and me are the games we play in and our images. Both result in people calling you much tighter than they would call me, I assume.

You are thinking in the right direction though.

One extra factor to consider, it's not a terrible thing to rr with AQ oop, have him fold J9s and win the money in the pot already.

Thank you very much, iRock. I appreciate that.
I don't gamble as much as I used to. My roll is bigger now, and I still grind 25/50 quite often to offset the bigger games I play in. If I'm running bad and there is a good big game, I sell action from time to time.

I guess there are a couple reasons I'm drawn to the bigger games. One is that I'm a competitive person. I want to be the best in the world, often times more than I want to make money.

Another reason is that though, money. I think my hourly rate in most of the bigger games is significantly higher than my hourly at 25/50. The swings that come with it are enourmous though. That's the drawback of course. I'm willing to accept the fact that I have very little control over the short term in return for my average EV to be higher.

In the short run, it totally feels like I'm just gambling. One thing I caution you against if you move up, is to lose sight of the basics. At times, because of the crazy swings that I have no control over, I think that my decisions don't matter. I just autopilot and wait to run good. Don't forget how EV works, and that the reason we play the game is to max EV, which will see results from in the long term.

I guess that was more of a note to myself than you.

Exact same question!

Jman, this is the most valuable, insightful post I have ever read on 2+2. I'm beginning to understand the nature of high stakes thought process and certain things in poker that people do wrong or have the wrong approach to.

As for my question, I'm a mostly 1000nl-2500nl HU player trying to make the jump to true high stakes. Is there anything specific you suggest for me to do or think about as I try to make this jump?

Obviously it's the biggest transition I've taken, beginning at 100nl HU. FWIW I'm making somewhere around 8bb/100 at 1000nl and swongin' all over the place at 10/20 and 10/25.

I'm not really sure what's gonna happen with poker. I think it'll still be around. I could see plo becoming the main game a few years from now, though maybe it's too complicated for the TV audience to enjoy and the casual gambler to want to learn. The variance involved and the fact that you can play so many hands and hit so many flops makes it a game that will attract fish.

I'm not really following the legislation right now. I have no idea what the future holds for online poker.

I wouldn't be surprised if the games continue to get tougher, but I don't think the 'new class' in 5 years or so will have any inherent edge over us as long as we stay in touch with the advances in theory. I expect to be beating the biggest games if I'm still playing.

Unless of course I decide to play lower variance poker.
Thank you. I don't really enjoy playing you.

I'm friends with the SIHBs and technically a crew member. And I love them. The truth is, the Shipitholla Balla image is as embarrassed of me as I am of it.

I'm pretty much the anti-baller.

I've lived in a college town with regular broke roommates since I started playing poker. All of my friends that I hang out with regularly here don't know anything about poker.

I don't own anything that costs $5,000 or more. Actually, besides my one TV and my computer stuff, I don't think I own anything worth $1,000.

I mean, I definitely don't think twice about buying a lot of things. My friends think I'm wasteful because I order delivery food all the time, buy plane tickets at the last minute, and because I go and buy new clothes sometimes when I don't have any clean clothes. But those are just for convenience. I like to think I'm pretty down to earth, all things considered.

I remember. You thought I sucked. You were kind've a spewbox.

What are your thoughts on Perrier water? Club soda in general?

Mikey Stotz?

I went to Wootton and was friendly with your brother =)

I don't crunch numbers as often as people probably think I do.

I think I am good at doing some rough math in my head on the fly, as far as hand combos and ranges go. Lemme think about my thought process...

So, in any situation, my first thought is what I'm trying to accomplish with a play (a bet, ck, raise).

So I decide, let's say, I want to get my opponent to call a river bet (because I have a strong hand that I want to get value from). If he's gonna call a river bet, that means he has to think he has the best hand often enough to justify a call.

So then I think about what hands he might have. If he has marginal made hands a lot, I have to make him believe I'm bluffing, since he can't beat a value bet. I think about what hands in my (perceived) range I might bluff in this spot, and what my bluff size would look like (in his eyes). Then I bet that amount. If I know my (perceived) range is completely full of strong hands, I decide not to VB as thin.

If I think he often has strong hands, but my hand looks very made, I'll often try to make it look like I'm value betting a worse hand (by considering how he thinks I might play 2nd pair top kicker, and doing that)

If I'm considering bluffing a river, I make sure that I can credibly rep something. I make sure that it looks to him like a large part of my range in this spot consists of legit hands. I often over think things and don't make a bluff just because I know that I wouldn't play many legit hands that way.

I agree with you that people overuse the excuse of "that's a terrible call vs. my range" to justify bad plays of their own, and to sound smart.

I don't try to put my opponent in spots where he can't make a right decision vs. my range. I try to get him to make the wrong decision for my hand.

I am, however, very very careful to never take a certain line with only one kind of hand, unless I'm playing a complete fish. This is more of a weird obsessive compulsive thing with me. I know good players that only check shove flops after 3betting with their draws. It tilts me so hard knowing that they do that.

You're welcome. Where did we meet exactly? I think I'll remember.

Man, I'm 99% sure I wrote something on this. I think for Bluff. Does anyone know how to find all of the articles I've written online?

If nobody finds it, and I forget, bump this post in a couple days.

Thank you, Bobbo.

Man, you picked really close ones. Like, really, I think these vvvvv close.

Me at 100/200, PA at 300/600

(PA at any stakes when I don't know it's him playing )

In a single 100bb freeze out, I guessssss genius.

If they played continuously, I could see Cole burying G28 if he got out to a big early lead, and I don't see G28 capitalizing on the momentum as well if he starts out hot. Soooo, that might make Cole the overall favorite.

You're welcome.

No. Maybe a tiny bit less happy on average. I'm still a happy person, but I was probably even happier before poker.

It's definitely made me a more confident person.
At first: Enjoyment, competitive drive, money, something to do

Now: Money, competitive drive, end of list.

I can't say I ever have felt better right after a big loss than right after a big win. I don't know if I ever will.

I have felt really good on occasion after losing a lot, being upset, then recovering emotionally and being happy, then being really proud of myself for being able to do that.

If I answered, it would be a completely meaningless guess. I'm sorry.

They were fine questions. Hmmm. I realize now I don't know how these threads work. I can't answer questions forever. When do I stop taking questions?

sick well, thanks a lot for doing this.

Assume the button opens on your BB and the sb folds. You look down at JTo and JTs (or for that matter offsuit or suited broadways) I'm assuming you both defend and 3bet these hands. Do you prefer to 3bet or call the suited handed and the same for the offsuit hand? Or do you just mix it up on gameflow, etc.

Man, this is gonna get me in trouble.

Assuming I'm in the mood to play 200/400nl HU (most of the time, but occasionally I don't want to swing), I wouldn't deny action to anyone over 30 online.

Live, I think wouldn't play Ivey (Maybe I would to see how good he is and for a challenge, but I don't know if I'd expect to be +EV).

I definitely wouldn't play PA live, and I don't like to play him online either unless I'm reallly focused, but I don't think he's 30.

I don't think I'd deny action to anyone else 30+ live, but I reserve my right to change my mind after playing with them for an hour. I've never played in a big live HU game, so I don't want to say I'm sure I would be a favorite over people until I have more exp.

You're one of the players who I haven't been able to find a strong leak on. I think everyone has leaks and I'm able to identify them for almost all of my opponents. I think I haven't played with you enough, or maybe you just don't have any glaring leaks. Also, a lot of the time I've seen you play, you've been living with people in Vegas and I don't know how much of certain plays were you and how much were KRANTZ et al.